The next morning, Tang Feng came to see Sun Tu again with a gloomy look. The latter just looked at him and laughed: "Why, did you hand everyone over to the Criminal Department?"
"Exactly." Tang Feng responded with a salute, but then he said unwillingly: "Lieutenant, I feel that I have given in too much this time. We don't have to be afraid of them at all!" Only in front of Sun Tu, this man named It was only then that Sizheng of the Imperial City, who was talking fiercely among all the officials in the capital, showed his unstable side.
Seeing this, Sun Tu laughed again and shook his head: "Isn't it just a little aggrieved? I didn't say anything. Why are you so anxious?"
"I am just angry because of the Lieutenant. The behavior of those officials yesterday was really outrageous. Their words and deeds did not show the slightest respect for you, but on the contrary, they were respectful to Li Gang. It is really unreasonable!" Thinking of the scene in front of the palace yesterday, he felt a burst of anger.
Sun Tu looked at him and said: "Why, such a trivial matter made you confused? Didn't you see that everything yesterday was just an act?"
"Acting?" Tang Feng frowned slightly. After all, he was different from back then. Yesterday, he was only affected by his emotions and did not see the problem. Now after Sun Tu pointed it out, he immediately understood the problem: "You mean those officials, including Li Gang had already planned this and deliberately showed it to us? Just to take people away from us?"
"Otherwise, is there any other reason to explain why Li Gang happened to pass by the palace gate at that time? If you think about it carefully, in the past two years, he, the so-called prime minister, has appeared in the political hall several times. His appearance itself is It's so weird!" Sun Tu sneered and said, "They clearly want to use this momentum to get me to give in. They even pretend to make noises about wanting to see the emperor. In the end, they are just cooperating with each other. Some people are pretending to be bad guys, and some are just pretending to be good guys, and they are targeting us.
"In the situation at that time, if I still refused to nod, they would have threatened hundreds of officials on the scene, and even more people, to fight with me. Even if I could persuade them, I am afraid that the rest of the matter would not be easy to deal with. So I At that time, I could only make concessions as I wished."
"These guys are really insidious and their intentions are to be punished!" Tang Feng took a breath and said, "Then how should we deal with it now? We can't just let the matter go, right?"
"Yes, this matter must not be let go like this." Sun Tu's face also darkened: "But there is one thing that I still don't understand. It is obvious that they were well prepared for what happened yesterday. First, those dudes The children suddenly took action and injured someone, and then I caught the person, and their parents started to take action to cry out for injustice. How can there be any haste in the matter? But if they were really prepared, they should find ways to remove the person from us It is only within their own control that they can get it into their own territory, so why did they take a step back and hand it over to the Ministry of Punishment?"
"Is it because they know that if the person is handed over to the chief interrogator of Dali Temple, the Taiwei will not agree?" Tang Feng asked speculatively.
"No, how can things be so simple?" Sun Tu shook his head decisively and said: "They must have other motives for doing this, but they just couldn't figure it out for a while. By the way, have the people under the Imperial City Division discovered anything recently? ?”
"
There aren't many differences, but there are a lot of contacts between those officials, and they are obviously colluding with each other. Tang Feng pondered and said: "If we investigate the specific details carefully after I return to humble position, I will definitely be able to find out their flaws." "
"Well, we can't let anyone go. We have to investigate, including Song Jiang." Sun Tu suddenly said this, but Tang Feng was shocked: "Song Gongming is one of our own, will there be any problems? "
"Something is fishy, so we have to be on guard." Sun Tu frowned and said, "There must be a reason why it's him. Be careful to stay safe. If you wrongly accuse him, just apologize." There was something he didn't say clearly. In fact, he had always had reservations about the relationship between Song Jiang and himself. This subordinate who had been with him for many years was not as obedient as he seemed on the surface.
Although Tang Feng thought it was strange, he was absolutely obedient to Sun Tu and immediately responded: "I obey your orders. I will ask people to keep an eye on them and not let anyone take advantage of them."
"Okay! Since they want to fight with me, I will accompany them, but I want to see what other methods they can come up with. A bunch of mean people, I really don't dare to attack them because I am so talkative. This time, I will call them You know who has the final say in Tokyo!" Sun Tu's eyes flashed with murderous intent. As these guys became more and more unruly, he knew that he could no longer indulge and must kill their majesty!
In the next few days, the Ministry of Punishment, led by Song Jiang, began to judge the case.
The fact that Song Jiang is currently on the job of the Minister of the Ministry of Justice does mean that he is under a high position, because he is only one rank lower than Sun Tu. He was also on the job of the Minister of the Ministry of War before. In terms of status, his reputation is better than his reputation. There are many ministers of the Ministry of punishment. But just last year, he took the initiative to propose to Sun Tu the idea of leaving the Ministry of War and serving as an official in another yamen.
Sun Tu also understood the reason, because the Ministry of War really had no sense of existence in the Song Dynasty. If placed in other dynasties, the Minister of War could be said to control the promotion of generals in the world, the mobilization of grain and grass and other complex military affairs, and he would naturally have great power. However, the Song Dynasty also had a Privy Council and a Transshipment Department in the middle of the court, which immediately gave away the military power and the power to mobilize military supplies that originally belonged to the Ministry of War. As a result, the Ministry of War has really lost its usefulness and has become almost a decoration.
This is obviously not a position Song Jiang wants to sit in for a long time. He is only in his forties, how can he be willing to live in old age like this? So, he approached Sun Tu and politely proposed that he wanted to be transferred from the Ministry of War. It just so happened that at that time, many officials in the Ministry of Punishment had different opinions with Sun Tu, so he demoted him as Minister and sent more than a dozen major officials out of the capital, leaving a lot of official positions vacant. Song Jiang was also proficient in the art of punishment when he was a superintendent in Yuncheng County. Although the size of the structure was quite different, he was still in tune, so Sun Tu transferred him to the Ministry of Punishment and served as Shangshu.
During this year, Song Jiang worked really hard as Minister of the Ministry of Justice. He worked diligently and handled many beautiful cases, and finally secured his position. Until this time, when he took over this case, Only then did he feel troubled again, things were getting difficult to handle.
Especially at this moment, when facing those colleagues who came together to plead for mercy, he felt even more headache. Watching more than a dozen distinguished officials who had previously ignored him bring him
When Song Jiang begged him to show his favor with a flattering smile, he could not say any words of rejection for a moment. After a while, he smiled bitterly and said: "Dear colleagues, I know that it is related to the future and reputation of your nephews and brothers, as well as the reputation of your family, so I want to Please let me let go gently. However, after all, this case is related to the face of a Minister of the Ministry of Industry, and even more to the face of the court. We really cannot abandon public service for personal reasons."
"I cannot agree with what Song Shangshu said. We are not here to ask you to bend the law for personal gain, but we just hope that you can truly make a just decision and not unjustly accuse innocent people because of the pressure of Sun... Taiwei Sun." ! Although my disciples and I have been reported to be unruly on weekdays, we have not been able to injure a high-ranking official of the imperial court in public."
"Yes, they have also read the poems and books of saints since they were young. How could they act like this? They were all forced. It was Xu Shangshu who destroyed our family business first and then they were angry and surrounded him - you It’s time to hear about the dike digging of Jinming Pond. If he is willing to wait two more days, not only will our manor not be damaged, but the royal Qionglin Garden can also be saved - but even so, they can’t really attack Xu Shangshu. , there must be something hidden in it.”
"Yes, there is one more thing I want to say, that is, although our disciples have a personal grudge, we are more interested in the justice of the court. It is because we are dissatisfied with Xu Shangshu that he destroyed Qionglin Garden, so we want to find him theoretical."
"Song Shangshu, you are not a Jinshi, so you don't know the special significance of Qionglin Garden to our generation. When we passed the imperial examination, we went boating in Jinming Lake and feasted in Qionglin Garden to win the respect of the late emperor. But now, these represent the glory of our civil servants. The place where they went was destroyed at will by them, which is unacceptable to anyone... "
These people talked to each other, and the more they talked, the more energetic they became. And as the words deepened, they even called their own children heroes who eliminated harm to the people. However, Xu Jue, on the other hand, now seems to have brought the blame on himself. It's a huge blessing to be able to save one's life. Do you still want to harm those children who have a bright future
Song Jiang fell silent at this time and had no intention of refuting them. It wasn't until they finished saying what they should and shouldn't say that he continued: "I already know what you all mean. Our Criminal Department will investigate this case carefully and will never wrongly accuse any innocent person. But you just Don’t worry, just listen to my news.”
Seemingly feeling the sincerity in his words, these people also showed smiles on their faces: "I am relieved that Song Shangshu can be so reasonable. Then I ask you to judge the case as soon as possible. My third son is weak. , but he can’t withstand being detained in the sky prison.”
"Definitely, definitely." Song Jiang said and stood up, as if to send them away. As for what he was thinking in his heart, others could not guess.
Just as he was saying goodbye to each of the officials with a polite smile, one of them suddenly touched his hand, and immediately, a paper ball was stuffed into his hand. This made Song Jiang slightly startled, but he still stabilized in the end. , made no move.
It wasn't until everyone left that Song Jiang opened the paper ball with some curiosity. It was not a bribe, but a piece of paper filled with words. After reading the content on the paper, Song Jiang's expression suddenly changed, and he fell into a long silence...