Has the Han Dynasty been restored today?

The development of a city follows its own pattern, and once built, it will maintain the same layout for many years to come.

Liu Bei's reign as king and emperor was short-lived; even the Chengdu palace was built in the early years of Liu Shan's reign, and the prisons were simply reused from the state prisons of Liu Yan and his son Liu Zhang. However, the state prisons used for the two hundred years from the reign of Emperor Guangwu to Liu Zhang were actually modified from the imperial prisons used by Gongsun Shu, the White Emperor, when he ruled Shu, and now they had become the imperial prisons of the Shu Han dynasty.

Just as Chen Zhi returned to his residence and Jiang Wei went to the Ministry of Personnel to see Jiang Wei, the Minister of Justice Zhao Kang had already met Yang Yi in the imperial prison.

However, it wasn't a prison cell, but rather the guardhouse of the Imperial Prison.

Knowing that Yang Yi had been brought to Chengdu by horse-drawn carriage rather than prison cart, Zhao Kang devised a plan. He offered Yang Yi a seat and thoughtfully arranged for warm water and snacks.

"Chief Secretary Yang, the imperial prison is simple; this is already more than enough in terms of courtesy," Zhao Kang said with a smile, sitting opposite Yang Yi.

After all, he had served as the chief secretary to the prime minister for many years, holding a high position and wielding great power. Before understanding the attitudes of His Majesty and Jiang Wan, it was best for Zhao Kang to treat him with courtesy.

Yang Yi picked up the ceramic cup, took a sip, glanced at the two strong young soldiers guarding him on either side, and sighed deeply.

"Commander Zhao, you've already imprisoned me in the imperial jail, so why pretend to be friendly? And why do you still call me Chief Secretary Yang?"

Zhao Kang is currently in his sixties and comes from the Zhao clan of Chengdu. He is a relative of Zhao Wen, the Minister of Works during the Jian'an era. As early as when Liu Yan was alive, Zhao Kang had already entered officialdom, assisting in criminal matters in the state. Later, he was continued to be employed by Liu Bei. In the ninth year of Jianxing, which is three years ago, he was appointed as the Minister of Justice. This can be regarded as an example of how Prime Minister Zhuge Liang arranged high positions for people from Yizhou.

Although it is called the Court of Justice... in reality, many cases are decided by the Prime Minister's office.

This was the first time Zhao Kang had encountered a situation where the Prime Minister's office couldn't handle it and had instead passed it on to the Chengdu Court of Justice.

Zhao Kang smiled ingratiatingly: "The imperial court has not yet issued a clear decree to dismiss you from your post, so it's best if I still address you by your official title, Chief Secretary Yang."

Yang Yi glanced at Zhao Kang but remained silent. Normally, people like him would be vying to curry favor with him, but today he was imprisoned in their imperial prison!

Zhao Kang rambled on to himself, first mentioning the number of people currently imprisoned in the Imperial Prison, then saying that after Liu Yin returned to Chengdu, Jiang Lingjun sent someone to inform him of the matter, and also mentioning that the Imperial Prison's buildings were dilapidated and urgently needed money and silk for repairs... It didn't sound like an accusation, but rather like a complaint to his superior.

Yang Yi became increasingly agitated as he listened, and finally could not bear it any longer.

"Why waste time!" Yang Yi slammed the ceramic cup heavily on the table, stretched out his neck towards Zhao Kang, and sneered, "Since you want to harm me, I'll do it right here and take my head!"

"Where is the vital point...?"

Before Zhao Kang could finish explaining, Jiang Wan and Jiang Wei appeared outside the door, accompanied by Jiang Wan's calm and deep voice:

"Who wants to harm you?"

After speaking from outside the door, Jiang Wan strode in, followed by Jiang Wei.

Jiang Wan pointed at Yang Yi, her anger blazing: "Yang Yi, you'd better explain yourself clearly. It was you who acted improperly and committed the crime first. How could anyone else have harmed you?"

Zhao Kang shuddered and quickly stood up.

Yang Yi, however, remained unmoved. He simply raised his head to meet Jiang Wan's gaze, speaking in a sarcastic tone: "Lord Jiang, Lady Jiang, it's been a long time! You used to call me 'Brother Wei,' but now that you're the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat, you can't even bring yourself to say 'Brother Wei' anymore?"

Jiang Wan coldly replied, "Did you say 'If I had known this would happen, I would have led my army to surrender to Wei' before the Prime Minister's residence and memorial tablet in Mianyang?"

"So what if it is?" Yang Yi shifted her gaze elsewhere, forcing herself to remain calm.

On his way back to Chengdu, Yang Yi had considered the matter carefully. He had blurted out those angry words without thinking. He now had a vague realization: he feared he might die because of those words.

Jiang Wan said sternly, "Since you have said that, then my twenty-year friendship with you is also null and void! You brought this upon yourself, so how can you say that others harmed you?"

Yang Yi raised his head angrily: "Wasn't it you who ordered Chen Zhi to come to Hanzhong to form an alliance? Wasn't it you who ordered Fei Yi and the other generals to conspire to seize my military power?"

"It really wasn't me!" Jiang Wan raised her eyebrows, also quite surprised.

Yang Yi was also taken aback.

Having known Jiang Wan for many years, he knew that Jiang Wan was always upright and honest; once she did something, she would never lie to him, a prisoner.

The two, one sitting and one standing, stared at each other in the guard room of the imperial prison.

"Zhao Tingwei, please lead your soldiers and wait outside for a while," Jiang Wan casually instructed Zhao Kang, then looked at Jiang Wei: "Boyue, go forward."

"Alright, alright." Zhao Kangcai was unwilling to get involved in the infighting among the people of Jingzhou, so he was happy to leave. He led two soldiers away quickly and thoughtfully closed the door behind him.

Jiang Wei stood quietly beside Yang Yi, listening to their conversation.

When Chen Zhi first arrived in Hanzhong, Yang Yi assumed he was there on behalf of Jiang Wan. After a private conversation with Chen Zhi, Yang Yi then assumed he was there on behalf of Liu Shan. On the way back to Chengdu, Yang Yi pondered the matter repeatedly and once again assumed Chen Zhi was acting on behalf of Jiang Wan.

After a conversation, the two confirmed that Chen Zhi was indeed acting on behalf of His Majesty! He had even managed to scheme against Jiang Wan, who was vying for power!

Including Jiang Wei standing beside them, the three of them were all thinking different things in silence.

Yang Yi sighed with regret.

Jiang Wei didn't know much about Liu Shan, but he felt a growing respect for him. He had heard the Prime Minister recount the bloodshed and upheaval during the power struggles of successive emperors in the Later Han Dynasty. The current emperor, with such a seemingly effortless yet powerful approach, skillfully stirred up the situation with just one person, regaining military power and taking personal control of the government while simultaneously unifying the consensus on national policy – ​​truly a brilliant tactic!

Jiang Wan, on the other hand, felt as if she were walking on thin ice...

Since the end of the Han Dynasty, warlords had been vying for power, and anyone who wanted to do something needed to seize power. Jiang Wan had also harbored thoughts of seizing power. Jiang Wan had gained the favor of the prime minister and also thought about taking charge of the prime minister's office and the army after the prime minister's death, so as to continue to assume responsibility for the military and political affairs of the Han Dynasty.

It's only natural for powerful ministers to seize power. In the two hundred years of the Later Han Dynasty, when were there ever few powerful ministers in power?

But now, there is clearly no chance of such an idea being realized.

Jiang Wan thought he knew Emperor Liu Shan very well and that he had settled things with Chen Zhi, but now he realized that neither Liu Shan nor Chen Zhi were people he could control at this point...

Just as Fei Yi said in his conversation with Chen Zhi in Hanzhong, a subject must act with the emperor's authorization in order to be legitimate. And if a subject has outstanding talent, he can further enhance the emperor's prestige and virtue!

Finally, Yang Yi's words broke the silence:

"Gongyan... given my crimes, shouldn't my entire clan be executed? I know the Court of Justice doesn't handle these matters, so you speak frankly to me."

Jiang Wan paused for a long time, somewhat saddened: "Killing a person acting as an imperial envoy without an imperial edict, executing a minister's entire clan without an imperial edict, falsely claiming to lead an army to surrender to Wei... With these three things happening together, how could there be any reason not to execute the entire clan?"

"If only I had known this would happen... Alas, you're already in prison. If you had died sooner, your family might have had a better chance of survival!"

"Is that so?" Yang Yi murmured in response, feeling a pang of sorrow.