"Of course you can choose not to die, but in this case, the price you will pay will only be greater. What do you think is the crime of colluding with bandits? Is it enough for you to die alone?" Sun Tu was neither arrogant nor impetuous. , asked with a sneer.
"You... what do you mean?" Yuan Wang's heart was shaken, and there was some panic on his face.
"With the evidence we can present now, it is more than enough to convict you of a serious crime of treason. Not only you, but also your family may not be able to escape death. Now Cai Taishou will give you a chance, as long as you are willing to do what we want If you commit suicide, then we can at least help you leave some bloodline, so that your Yuan family will not be completely wiped out. But if you are still stubborn at this time, then don't blame us for not respecting the feelings of colleagues." Sun Tu said , had thrown a piece of white silk in front of him, turned around and said: "I'll say this, so that you can still have some dignity, you can choose for yourself."
Yuan Wang's entire face quickly distorted, and his body began to tremble violently. Looking at the white silk in front of him, it was like seeing a terrifying poisonous snake. He didn't want to die, but in his current situation it seemed that he had no other choice but to die.
After a long while, Yuan Wang finally reached out and took the white silk with a long sigh, threw it tremblingly from the beam above, and then tied it with a knot. While sending his head into the ring, he said in a trembling voice: "Sun Tu... do you know that you are working for the tiger..." Then with one step, he kicked the stool underneath to the ground, and the person suddenly fell into the air. Struggling.
"I know, but I have no better choice now!" Sun Tu said this softly until the other party became silent.
￥￥￥￥￥
Halfway through February, the coldness between heaven and earth has dissipated, warm spring has arrived, and everything has revived. Even the wind blowing has a hint of warmth, which makes people very happy.
Now is a good time for farming in the new year. The most talked about by the emperor and ministers recently is how to encourage farmers to cultivate mulberry trees, encourage people inside and outside Bianjing to work harder to sow crops, and find ways to make the Bianhe River outside the city more beautiful. The good land was used to irrigate many farmlands on both sides of the river.
But today's court meeting was different. After several ministers reported relevant matters to Zhao Ji, Privy Councilor Tong Guan suddenly walked out of the court and said seriously: "Your Majesty, I have just received a message from Jiang Thirty-six officials of the prefecture jointly submitted a report to the imperial court, saying that Yuan Wang, the prefectural government official, colluded with the Liangshan bandits to cause trouble in the city, killing nearly a hundred of our people and more than a hundred soldiers, and rescued The important rebels from Song Jiang were taken away. Fortunately, local regiment commander Sun Tu and governor Lin Henian led their troops to resist. After a hard battle, these thieves were finally driven out of the city."
As soon as these words came out, all the officials present changed their expressions. Although bandits and bandits are everywhere in the Song Dynasty due to various reasons, it has never happened that bandits dare to invade the city. Especially since Jiangzhou is still an important commercial and transportation center in the Song Dynasty, and its status is remarkable. It's really not low.
Zhao Ji's face also changed color quickly, and he said, "This is happening! How do the local officials in Jiangzhou handle their errands, and why do they allow thieves to easily enter the city? They have the responsibility to protect the territory!"
"Your Majesty, this is because the thieves in the city were inside. They not only protected them from sneaking into Jiangzhou, but also informed them of the key points in the city early in the morning, allowing them to make arrangements early to catch the defenders in the city off guard.
"Tong Guan didn't appear to be panicked, and still explained in a calm tone.
"That Jiangzhou official Yuan Wang is so bold! Where is he now? He colluded with the rebels to invade our city and was complicit in the rebellion. He must not be spared lightly!" the emperor said with an angry look on his face.
"When the rebellion was quelled, Yuan Wang had been captured by the local officers and soldiers. Later, because he knew that he could not escape his guilt, he committed suicide in prison." After saying the last sentence, Tong Guan said Then he presented the memorial in his hand.
A forty-year-old handsome chamberlain beside the emperor stepped forward to accept the memorial. When he met Tong Guan's eyes, a flash of light suddenly flashed in his eyes. The other person was really killing him at this moment. He was caught off guard. Although he had known about the changes in Jiangzhou as early as yesterday, he still did not expect that Tong Guan would be so decisive in publicly placing the blame on Yuan Wang. This meant that he wanted to completely break up with himself. .
Yes, the court servant in front of him with a low-browed look was Yuan Wang's patron and supporter. Liang Shicheng, who had won the trust of the emperor and held great power, was known as the "hidden prime minister". Since the current emperor Zhao Ji succeeded to the throne, many of the rules set by Taizu in the Song Dynasty have been broken one after another. One of the most serious violations is that many of the emperor's servants have been entrusted with important tasks, such as Tong Guan and Liang Shicheng.
However, compared to Tong Guan who has almost completely become a minister of the Song Dynasty, Liang Shicheng still plays more of a servant in the palace. Although doing this is not very good-looking in terms of appearance, it has a lot of benefits. He can often accompany him, thus influencing the emperor more.
But today's situation was obviously not conducive to him, because he was just a chamberlain at the court meeting, and even if he wanted to speak for Yuan Wang, he was not qualified to speak. And his party members were also caught off guard by Tong Guan. At this time, they only wanted to protect themselves and did not dare to excuse Yuan Wang.
Tong Guan understood this, so he took the opportunity to finalize the whole matter, and then said: "Your Majesty, it seems that although Yuan Wang committed suicide in fear of crime, his crime cannot be eliminated because of this. The imperial court should continue to investigate this matter strictly. In order to prevent any more collusion between court officials and thieves. In addition, the crime of treason cannot be offset by the death of one person. I think we should suppress the Yuan family to warn the world!"
Upon hearing this, Liang Shicheng's face became more and more gloomy, and he immediately gave one of his party members a wink, and the latter immediately understood. If the emperor really agreed to Tong Guan's request at this time, then Yuan Wang would be completely free of all charges. Moreover, they could take the opportunity to expand the scope of their attack and use it to find excuses for Yuan Wang's complicity to carry out attacks in the court. Implicated, I'm afraid many people from Liang Shicheng will be implicated.
So whether it was to help their master or to protect themselves, they could no longer remain silent. At that moment, Xiao Fu, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, took a step forward and said: "Your Majesty, I think this fact is a bit strange and should be carefully investigated before making a decision. Although Yuan Wang is only a sixth-grade official, he is also a Jinshi. , I have always been loyal to the imperial court, how could I do such a treasonous thing?"
"What? Does Mr. Xiao think that I am wronging Yuan Wang?" Tong Guan narrowed his eyes and asked, with a rather unkind expression.
"I don't dare. I just feel that the court should not make a hasty decision on such an important matter." Xiao Fu replied neither arrogant nor humble.
"I may have wronged him, but more than 30 people in Jiangzhou
Couldn't all the civil and military officials have wronged him? "Tong Guan sneered and saluted Zhao Ji again: "Your Majesty, I also received an extremely important piece of evidence this time. It was written by Yuan Wang himself about colluding with Jiangzhou water bandits to disrupt the place and provide local people with A crime that brings disaster. It was only because Cai Dezhang, the governor of Jiangzhou, thought that he had a good official reputation in the local area and did not want the people to have other ideas about the court, so he was more tolerant of him. But he didn't expect that not long after, he would collude with the Liangshan bandits again. "
"What? He has actually colluded with the bandits a long time ago?" Not only Zhao Ji changed his expression, but also His Highness and his ministers also showed expressions of disbelief.
At this time, Cai Jing also took a step forward and spoke slowly: "Your Majesty, the old minister actually received a letter from Cai Dezhang a few months ago. He once asked the old minister how to deal with the matter. The old minister proposed at that time He should focus on the overall situation. Jiangzhou is located on a traffic thoroughfare and cannot make any mistakes. So as long as Yuan hopes that he can change his past, we should give him a chance to change his ways. But I didn't expect that. , he actually... It is the fault of the old minister, he tolerated the traitor and even caused today's disaster, please punish him." After saying that, he lifted the skirt of his robe and knelt down.
This shocked everyone present. It had been many years since Taishi Cai had so solemnly apologized to the emperor for a long time. Even Zhao Ji was startled, and quickly extended his hand to help: "Grand Master, please get up quickly. You are also doing it for the stability of the Song Dynasty. What's the crime?" He said and winked at Liang Shicheng beside him.
No matter how reluctant Liang Shicheng was, he could only smile and step forward, try his best to help Cai Jing up, and said: "Master, you don't have to be like this. Your Majesty naturally understands the master's painstaking efforts." As he spoke, he deliberately added "painstaking efforts" The word "" emphasized the tone, obviously sending a signal to the other party.
Cai Jing took advantage of the situation and said calmly: "As the prime minister of the Song Dynasty, I am really guilty of failing to distinguish between loyalty and traitors. If I had known this, I should have asked Dezhang to directly impeach Yuan Wang, instead of because of I had some concerns and let him go." When he mentioned the word concern, his old eyes flickered on Liang Shicheng's face.
Liang Shicheng immediately understood that this was a threat to himself. If he dared to continue to obstruct the protection of Yuan Wang, there was no chance that their spearhead would be directed at him.
Something happened suddenly today, and Tong Guan and Cai Jing joined forces to attack again. Even if Liang Shicheng won the favor again, he couldn't resist. Now he had no choice but to abandon his car and keep his commander-in-chief. Then he said: "Grand Master, you don't have to blame yourself so much. It's really not worth hurting yourself for a little prisoner. I think Your Majesty also understands your painstaking efforts and won't blame you."
"Yes, I naturally won't blame the Grand Master and Cai Dezhang. I also understand that you are worried that once this matter is spread out, the government and the public will talk about you favoring your own son. In fact, you don't have to think so much. I believe you, and I believe that Cai Dezhang is dedicated to serving the public good." Zhao Ji quickly comforted the other party. At this time, he was not eager to pursue Yuan Wang's charges, but was very concerned about Cai Jing's thoughts, which shows that he attaches great importance to and favors Cai Jing. .
"I thank your Majesty for your trust. I am so grateful that I shed tears..." Cai Jing kowtowed his thanks again with an excited look, and then stood up slowly.
With this bow, Yuan Wang's case was completely confirmed. Even Liang Shicheng would not be able to reverse his case...