But Cai Min was seen hunched over, squatting on the ground eating, and he seemed unaware that someone had entered the room.
The guard leading the way immediately became anxious and shouted, "Cai Min, are you blind? The emperor is coming, why are you still so careless and not paying your respects quickly?"
Cai Min was startled when she heard this, and immediately turned around to look outside the door. Sure enough, she saw two people standing at the door. However, due to the dim light in the room and the backlight, she could not see the identity of the people for a while.
As Cai Min was trying to distinguish the facts carefully, he heard one of them say to the guard, "Don't be rude. Lord Cai hasn't been dismissed from office yet, so we can't treat him badly." It was Zheng Xin's voice.
Cai Min was surprised and delighted when she heard this. She quickly threw away the bowl in her hand and crawled to the door. She saw that the tall man in the lead was indeed the Grand Prince Zheng Xin. She bowed hurriedly and said, "Grand Prince... Grand Prince..." But she could not say anything else.
Zheng Xin ignored him and waited for the guards to set up the table, chairs and candles. After they sat down, he said, "Cai Min, please sit down first. I have something to tell you."
Cai Min waved his hands hurriedly and said, "I am guilty. How dare I sit in front of His Majesty?"
Zheng Xin did not force him, and said, "If you don't want to sit, just stand and answer." He paused and said, "Just now I heard you say the word 'guilty', it seems that what Li Shenshi said is true?"
Cai Min nodded and said, "What Li Shenshi said is indeed the truth. I have been dishonest as a person and careless in my duties as an official. I have brought shame to His Majesty, the court, and His Highness. I am truly ashamed..." After saying that, he actually burst into tears.
Zheng Xin let him cry for a while, and when he calmed down a little, he said coldly: "Cai Min, you think too highly of yourself. There are at least 800 officials of your rank in the Han Dynasty. Among them, there are inevitably one or two shameless people like you, which is not surprising."
Qiu Yizi felt very happy when he heard Zheng Xin insulting Cai Min openly. Hearing that Cai Min was sincerely convinced, he said repeatedly: "Your Highness is right. I am indeed shameless and not an important person. Please forgive me for the fact that I have worked hard and uncomplainingly for decades!" After that, his knees softened again and he fell to the ground and knelt.
When Qiu Yizi saw Cai Min crawling on the ground and sobbing, she couldn't help but feel pity for her; however, when she thought of how he had used threats and inducements, and even sent troops to force her to release Miao Zhen, the only remaining compassion in her heart disappeared in an instant.
So Qiu Yizi smiled contemptuously and whispered in Zheng Xin's ear: "Cai Min is so timid, why not scare him and make him reveal more details of the case."
Zheng Xin listened, nodded slightly, and then said: "Cai Min, I think your attitude is quite sincere, but you are still dishonest behind the scenes and refuse to tell the whole story. Don't have the slightest fluke mentality and think that I don't know about the ugly things you have done!"
Cai Min's body shrank when she heard what Zheng Xin said. She said hurriedly, "I am just a little careless in my conduct, but I have never been involved in corruption or abuse of power. Your Highness, please look into my eyes. If I have anything to hide, please pout my eyes!"
Zheng Xin was just bluffing to scare Cai Min. After hearing him speak so confidently and knowing that he had no real evidence to refute him, she was speechless for a moment.
Qiu Yizi beside him laughed dryly and said, "Master Cai, don't swear too early. Be careful not to go astray on the road to the underworld, which will delay your reincarnation. I remember that when we were in court yesterday, the evil Taoist Miao Zhen hadn't said a word yet. Do you want me to call her over so that she can finish her words?"
Cai Min trembled all over after hearing this, but she still held her head high and said, "This is a false accusation! The criminal is barely surviving! Your Highness, please do not believe Miao Zhen's lies!"
Zheng Xin was ordered to be in charge of the Ministry of Justice affairs in the capital. During the few months, he also tried many notorious bandits and corrupt officials, and naturally accumulated some experience in interrogating criminals.
Seeing Cai Min's expression, he knew that he must be hiding something from him, so he smiled and said, "It seems that Lord Cai really has a clear conscience. Lord Cai is a Jinshi, so he must be well-versed in classics and history, and he must know the allusion of the ancients' 'Four Knowledges'."
The so-called "four knowledges" are "Heaven knows, earth knows, you know, and I know".
Zheng Xin paused and continued, "However, if all living things in the world really did something, how could only these four people know about it? Take Lord Cai for example, didn't Miao Zhen know about what you did? If I send someone to the Ciyun Temple to investigate carefully, I'm afraid I might be able to find some evidence against Lord Cai, right?"
After hearing this, Cai Min suddenly raised her head, stared at Zheng Xin with her triangular eyes wide open, but murmured in the air and could not utter a word.
Zheng Xin saw the slightly panicked expression on Cai Min's face through the dim light, and knew that his words had worked, so he suddenly raised his voice and said, "Cai Min! I want to leave you a way out, and don't want to see you fight against the stone with an egg! If you don't understand my painstaking efforts, then I will let you die without a burial place, do you believe it? It's fine if you die alone, but are you afraid that all your descendants will be buried with you, so that you will never be able to turn over a new leaf, do you believe it?"
Zheng Xin's shouting frightened Cai Min so much that his psychological defenses, which were not strong to begin with, completely collapsed.
Cai Min immediately lowered his head, kowtowed, and begged for mercy: "Your Highness, please show mercy, please show mercy!"
Qiu Yizhi saw that Zheng Xin, who had not known each other for several months, had developed such authority - to the point that with just a few words, he frightened a cunning old official like Cai Min - and he couldn't help but admire him very much, so he quickly said, "Cai Min, you have no room or capital to bargain now! If you want His Highness to show mercy and grant you extrajudicial clemency, you should tell the truth to His Highness!"
Zheng Xin listened, fearing that Qiu Yi's words were insignificant and not powerful enough to deter others, so he added: "This is your last chance. If you still dare to conceal it, I will not show you mercy again!"
After all this trouble, Cai Min finally realized that if he didn't confess completely today, he would never get through. He could only sigh and said, "Alas! It's all my fault that I made a single misstep that led to eternal regret. I didn't remember the principle of preventing and treating problems before they arise, and finally ended up in this situation." Then, Cai Min told Zheng Xin and Qiu Yizi in detail about his relationship with "Ciyu Temple".
It turned out that Cai Min himself had nothing to do with the "Ciyu Temple". He only heard that the former emperor Zheng Yong and the governor Yin Chengliang both believed in the Huang-Lao school of thought. Therefore, on the recommendation of a subordinate, he went to the "Ciyu Temple" not far from Yuezhou Prefecture to practice some Taoist techniques. However, he did not do so to pursue some illusory way of ascending to immortality, but just to have more common topics and to chat with some Taoist quotations when interacting with his superiors.
Surprisingly, the nuns in the Ciyun Temple were not very good at reciting the Tao Te Ching, but were very proficient in the Baopuzi. When the old nun in charge saw that it was the governor who came, she sent two young and pretty nuns to serve Cai Min, the official, without thinking.
It was also Cai Min's own fault. The two Taoist nuns became so infatuated with each other without much flirting and stayed in the "Ciyu Temple" that night.
From then on, Cai Min became uncontrollable and whenever she had free time, she would go to the "Ciyu Temple" to indulge in sexual pleasure.
Because she went to the Taoist temple frequently, others thought she was "obsessed with Taoism instead of government affairs" at most. Besides, the emperor Zheng Yong at that time was also "obsessed with Taoism instead of government affairs". Even if others had some complaints, they would not dare to rebuke her in person. So Cai Min turned "Ciyun Temple" into her own forbidden lover. After a year, one of the Taoist nuns suddenly said that she was pregnant with Cai Min's child.
After Cai Min got the news, he immediately panicked - you have to know that although his colleagues in the officialdom usually appear to be gentle, respectful and frugal, they are actually keeping a close eye on each other - if such a solid excuse could not be concealed and was known by his political enemies, it would immediately ruin Cai Min's future.
Therefore, Cai Min made up her mind: as soon as the child was born, she would immediately send him away or throw him into the river to silence him, and that would be the end of it. But who knew that ten months later, the child born by the nun turned out to be very cute, with eyebrows that resembled Cai Min herself, and it was a boy with a penis.
Cai Min thought that although he had a son, he took the woman's surname because he married into the wife's family. After he became successful, the concubines he took in were pregnant for several years without any children. If the illegitimate child he and the nun gave birth to died, his Cai family would be in a situation without an heir.
Despite all this, Cai Min did not make up her mind after all. She sent someone to secretly borrow the youngest son from the "Ciyu Temple" and also used all the advantages to make her most beloved concubine recognize her as the child's mother.
Cai Min thought that the whole process would be seamless and no one would know the inside story. But she didn't know that the news had leaked from the beginning and she was the one who was kept in the dark. It was not until five years later that she was exposed at such a critical moment, catching her off guard.
At the end, Cai Min sighed and said, "If it weren't for His Highness coming to investigate the case, I don't know how long this matter would have been concealed. This matter has been a pain in my heart. Today, I have confided everything to Your Highness, and I feel relieved."
Zheng Xin sneered and said, "Your plan is a good one! Even if I don't come, if one day you offend a colleague or a colleague wants to offend you, this matter will definitely ignite like a hidden fire and burn you to ashes."
Cai Min was stunned for a moment, and thought for a while, then suddenly laughed out loud, "Your Highness is right. I thought this matter was kept secret, and maybe Yin Chengliang's means and eyes and ears would have heard about it in Jiangnan Road, but other officials should not know about it. Who would have thought that a small county magistrate in a remote Shanyin County under my command would also know about it, which is really beyond my expectation!"
Qiu Yizi took over the conversation and said, "So Lord Cai was the first to lead his army to attack me because he was afraid that Yin Chengliang had something on you, so he had no choice but to obey his orders?"
Cai Min nodded vigorously and said, "It is just as Lord Qiu said. However, I and Yin Chengliang have always been at odds with each other, so I did not follow his order carefully. Otherwise, with the large number of soldiers from Yuezhou Prefecture, how could we not take down Shanyin County?"
After hearing this, Zheng Xin couldn't help but let a sarcastic smile appear on his face.
During the rebellion last year, Zheng Xin was in charge of the logistics of conscription, transportation of grain and grass, and administration of Youyan Road in the rear under his father's military order. However, he had heard about Qiu Yizhi's many life-and-death experiences on the front line, and his achievements were no less than those of himself, Zheng Sen, Zheng Miao, Cui Nan, and Wei Hulai. Even the emperor had praised Qiu Yizhi's military achievements more than once.
Therefore, Zheng Xin knew in his heart: If the weak Yuezhou Road Jiedu Army alone could defeat Qiu Yizhi, then Cai Min was the buried military genius! (To be continued)