However, Zheng Xin could not explain the reason to him directly, so he teased, "So, Lord Cai is still a meritorious official?"
Cai Min was shocked when he heard this, and bowed repeatedly, saying, "That's not what I meant... That's not what I meant..."
Zheng Xin ignored him and asked with a sidelong glance: "Cai Min, let me ask you: Now that things have come to this, do you know your guilt?"
Cai Min heard that Zheng Xin's voice no longer had the calmness and composure just now, but was instead filled with intimidating coldness and seriousness. She couldn't help sweating on her forehead, but she was calculating rapidly in her mind: If she said that her crimes were too serious, even if the prince wanted to show mercy, there would not be much room for him to do so; if she said that her crimes were too light, it would inevitably anger Zheng Xin and make him charge her with a more severe crime.
This is really a difficult problem!
Zheng Xin did not wait for him to solve the problem, and said coldly: "It seems that Lord Cai is a little unfamiliar with the laws of the Han Dynasty! But it doesn't matter. I am in charge of the Ministry of Justice by order, and I do have some experience. Why don't you let me calculate it for you?"
As he spoke, Zheng Xin counted on his fingers and said, "First, you had an affair with a Taoist nun and gave birth to a child - this is a crime of immorality and adultery. As an official appointed by the court, you must be severely punished. According to the law, you should be caned forty times and shackled for three months. Secondly, you mobilized troops to besiege Shanyin County without authorization - this is a crime of treason. According to the law, the lightest punishment is beheading and the extermination of nine generations of your family. Finally, you concealed the facts of the case during the trial - this is a crime of perjury. According to the law, you should be caned twenty times and shackled for ten days. In addition, since I am the emperor's envoy, you lied to me, which is a crime of deceiving the emperor. According to the law, the lightest punishment is to be executed and your entire family should be exterminated..."
When Cai Min heard Zheng Xin listing off the charges one by one, her face turned pale.
Zheng Xin seemed to have not noticed Cai Min's change at all, and continued: "According to the Han Dynasty's laws, multiple crimes are punished together. Not to mention the two crimes of caning and shackles, the one of beheading and the one of being thrown into the public are enough to be executed by slow slicing, and the whole family will be implicated. But my father has always been kind, and perhaps he will only sentence you to be cut into pieces by slow slicing because of Lord Cai's achievements during his time in office. Aren't you grateful?"
When Cai Min heard Zheng Xin mention the emperor's title, he quickly stood up, prostrated himself on the ground, kowtowed several times, and said, "Thank you, my Lord, for your grace! Thank you, my Lord, for your grace!"
However, he changed his mind and thought: no matter if his descendants and relatives were harmed or not, he himself could not escape the word "death", and this was the most severe and cruel punishment of all, lingchi. He was already very disappointed, and his legs could no longer support his weight. He collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath, as if he wanted to savor the stale air in the remaining time.
Seeing his expression, Qiu Yizhi knew that Zheng Xin was using a trick to shock the enemy, and it was time to close the net, so he tried to smooth things over and said, "Your Highness, although Lord Cai and I have some disagreements, we are still officials in the same court. Could you please show some mercy and let Lord Cai go?"
Zheng Xin pretended to be quite dissatisfied with what Qiu Yi said, and said: "Why? Lord Qiu, are you going to protect Cai Min? Don't forget that the emperor once issued a special decree against officials forming cliques and pursuing private interests."
Qiu Yizi quickly pretended to be surprised and said, "Please forgive me, Your Highness! But I really have no intention of currying favor with you. I just think that Lord Cai is a talented person. It would be a pity if he lost his life because of a moment of confusion. What's more, he has a little son at home who needs Lord Cai to take care of him!"
Since Qiu Yizhi took office in Shanyin County, he has been against Cai Min in every way; Cai Min also couldn't stand this young and successful subordinate. However, at this moment, Cai Min has never thanked Qiu Yizhi so sincerely as today, and he didn't even hear the obvious sarcasm in his tone.
But Zheng Xin said, "Well, since it's Master Qiu who's asking for mercy, I can't refuse your favor."
He turned to Cai Min and said, "Cai Min! Let me ask you, if you want to die quickly or slowly? Do you want to die happily or painfully?"
This was probably the simplest question Cai Min had ever encountered in his life. He just kept saying, "I want it to be fun... I want it to be fun..."
"Okay! Since you want to die quickly—" Zheng Xin deliberately dragged out his tone, "then I will show you a way to survive. You must know that this is your last chance. If you are still indecisive or deliberately deceive you, don't blame me for being ruthless!"
Cai Min's face, which had just been dry, was covered with sweat again after hearing this. She said, "Your Highness has saved my life. No matter how stupid or foolish I am, I dare not let your kindness down!"
Zheng Xin nodded with a wooden face and said, "That's your blessing! Let me ask you, among the officials in Jiangnan Province, are there any who have committed crimes? Just pick out the most important ones and tell me about them. It will be considered as meritorious service for your crimes. Maybe I can show mercy and leave your body intact."
After hearing this, Cai Min understood clearly that the so-called "making meritorious service while serving one's sentence" meant that he had to act as an informer to expose the crimes of officials in Jiangnan Province.
Cai Min usually looked elegant, amiable, and kind, and had a very good relationship with all his colleagues except Qiu Yizhi. However, at a critical moment like today, the future of any official was insignificant compared to his own life and death.
So Cai Min coughed lightly and began to talk endlessly about the mistakes of the Jiangnan bureaucracy - from the big issue of corruption and abuse of power to the small issue of wasting paper and pens; he even mentioned which official had an extra meal with a wealthy businessman or accepted a gift from a landlord as evidence.
Of course, these things are what Zheng Xin and Qiu Yizi want to know, but what they really want to get from Cai Min is the misdeeds of Yin Chengliang, the highest official in Jiangnan Province. But Cai Min is still talking about some trivial mistakes of small officials, but she doesn't say a bad word about Yin Chengliang.
Seeing that it was already very late, and because he had not had a good dinner, Zheng Xin was already quite hungry, so he interrupted Cai Min and said, "Cai Min, what are you talking about? I don't care about the minor crimes of a minor official like this. Do you still want to be pardoned for these crimes?"
Cai Min was stunned. He thought that he had said so much, and there must be one or two things that suited the temperament of the great prince. However, he did not expect that Zheng Xin was not satisfied with any of them. So he had to ask tentatively: "What does the great prince mean?"
After hearing this, Zheng Xin said impatiently, "What do you mean? If you keep talking like this, I'll be fine if I don't punish you for your trivial procrastination. Do you still expect to make amends for your crime? I'll just ask you directly - among the officials in Jiangnan Road, which other officials have connections with the Taoist nuns in the Taoist temples?"
Cai Min shuddered all over when he heard this - he knew in his heart that the next time he moved his lips, countless officials' hats would fall to the ground; however, he could barely take care of himself now, so how could he take care of the future of other officials
Cai Min pondered for a moment, then reported the names of seven or eight officials to Zheng Xin, and said, "The above officials all have close relationships with Taoist temples in various places... um - close relationships. Some of them were seen by my own eyes, and some were heard from others. Your Highness, please verify them carefully. If what I said is untrue, please don't accuse me of false accusation..."
"Of course, just tell me!" Zheng Xin said with some impatience.
After hearing what Zheng Xin said, Cai Min hesitated. After thinking for a long time, he said, "There is one more thing. I have only heard about it. It is said... It is said... It is said..."
He said "it is said" three times, and then he finally woke up and said, "It is said that Lord Yin... is a rabbit!"
"What!" Zheng Xin and Qiu Yizi said in unison, staring at Cai Min with their eyes wide open.
Cai Min was no longer afraid after saying this, and repeated it again: "It is said that Lord Yin is a rabbit."
(It is said that rabbits can mate regardless of whether they are male or female, so it is also used as a synonym for homosexuality.)
Yin Chengliang, the governor of Jiangnan Province and one of the most powerful officials in the world, was not only so undisciplined in private, but he even had an affair with another woman. This was truly the biggest scandal in the world.
Once this matter is verified, Yin Chengliang will naturally lose the official hat on his head, and his head under the official hat may not be safe either, and even the face of the Han court will be lost by him.
Therefore, Zheng Xin had to be cautious. To confirm, he asked again, "Cai Min, you can't just say something irresponsible. This matter is of great importance. If there is no evidence, you will be punished!"
"What if this is absolutely true?" Cai Min asked, not knowing where he got the courage from.
Zheng Xin glanced at Cai Min and said, "If you can get rid of this parasite for the court, I will definitely be able to protect your entire family, and naturally I can also give you a quick death."
When Cai Min heard the words "protect the whole family", his eyes lit up. After thinking for a while, he said with a happy face, "If Your Highness wants to verify this matter, it is not difficult. You only need to go to the Qingya Temple where Yin Chengliang lives to investigate. Fortunately, Yin Chengliang has been placed under house arrest by Your Highness. Otherwise, if someone leaked the information, the Taoist priests in the Qingya Temple would all scatter and there would be no evidence."
After hearing this, Zheng Xin ignored Cai Min, stood up and walked out the door without saying a word.
Seeing this, Qiu Yizi also hurriedly followed him out.
Zheng Xin saw Qiu Yizhi following closely behind him, but he didn't turn around to talk to him. He went straight back to his Zen room, dismissed the people around him, and said to Qiu Yizhi, "This matter is very serious. You must not make it public before you find out the truth!"
Qiu Yizhi also knew the connection between them, and quickly agreed: "Although this matter is a political matter, it is as complicated and strange as military affairs. I will keep my mouth shut."
Zheng Xin also knew that although Qiu Yizhi was outspoken, he was actually a cautious person. He knew some confidential matters that even he himself did not know. So he nodded with confidence, and suddenly heaved a sigh of relief and said, "Cai Min is so good, she actually handed such a hot potato to me."
Qiu Yizhi pondered and said, "I can't care about so many things now. Please use the imperial seal to mobilize reliable soldiers to seal off the Qingya Temple. This will prevent the Taoist priests in the temple from getting the news and fleeing, and prevent people with ulterior motives from using this to discredit the reputation of the court."
Zheng Xin listened very carefully, knowing that Qiu Yi's words were a primary strategy, and agreed, "That makes sense," and quickly called over his personal guard outside the door. He personally wrote a note, stamped it with the seals of the imperial envoy and the eldest prince, and handed it to the guard, asking him to act according to the plan.
The guard was an old Youyan Dao officer who had been in charge of military affairs for a long time. Without asking the reason, he saluted and trotted off to do his work.
Zheng Xin watched him leave, and then said to Qiu Yizi: "This matter is very difficult to handle. If we cover it up with a brocade quilt, then the case can only be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, and no official in Jiangnan can handle it, which means the trial is in vain. If it is exposed, it will damage the dignity of the court, which is not worth the loss. Alas! This Yin Chengliang, you look so righteous on weekdays, but you are such a ruthless person. I hope you will never be able to turn over!" (To be continued)