Zhuo Buyi accompanied Fang Jie all the way back on foot. From time to time on the street, he would meet patrolling officers and soldiers armed to the teeth. Although Prince Yi's case seemed to be over, the atmosphere in Chang'an City was still tense. It can be seen from the number and frequency of officers and soldiers patrolling the city that the impact of this case is far from over.
"You are the luckiest young man I have ever seen."
Zhuo Buyi couldn't help admiring as he walked: "It took less than two years, and before he graduated from the Academy of Martial Arts, he has already been named a fifth-rank Ranger General, a first-class villager, and has been established for more than a hundred years You are the first one. What is strange to me is that when I saw you for the first time, I didn’t think you were outstanding. Compared with the people around you, you are worse. How come it’s only been more than a year , has improved so much?"
Fang Jie said with a smile: "It would be too embarrassing for me to say that I am lucky, so I firmly believe that I have the strength to match what I have now. If you insist that I am lucky, it means that your majesty bad eyesight."
"Pooh."
Zhuo Buyi rolled his eyes at him: "Use Your Majesty to suppress me?"
"When you just entered Chang'an City, I'm afraid no one would have thought that you could get up so quickly. Apart from your own hard work, it's also a good time to catch up."
Fang Xie knew that what Zhuo Buyi said was right, he really caught up with a good time. First of all, because Huai Qiugong is too old, the court needs, and His Majesty needs a new person from a poor family to become a new model. So it didn't take much time from the moment he came into the emperor's sight until the emperor decided to praise him. Although there were some bumps in it, it didn't affect the result in general.
The second is Prince Yi's treason case, which is not a good thing for the court, for the Sui Dynasty, or for the emperor. But for Fang Jie, this is really not a bad thing, because of this case, the emperor began to trust him more and more. Not only that, he also moved Wu Yidao to him because of this incident.
It is undeniable that if it is placed in a period when there are no major events happening, no matter how hard Fang Xie works, he will never be able to climb to the current height so quickly.
Less than seventeen years old, he has already been made a viscount.
In the absence of military exploits, this kind of thing is almost impossible to happen. But he got it, and more than that.
The most exciting thing is that the emperor deliberately let him enter the East Palace, which is even more enviable than the reward of the first-class countryman and fifth-rank general.
"Actually, I always thought... After Hou Wenji defected, His Majesty would hand over the love affairs to you."
Fang Jie said seriously.
Zhuo Buyi shook his head: "Your Majesty does mean that, but I will never set foot in the officialdom. It is better to have no identity than to have identity, at least for me. For example, in today's scene, you can see that I agree Have you said anything to those people? My temperament is not suitable for intrigue with others, let alone showing my face in public."
Fang Jie was puzzled and said: "But if you take over as the Governor of Qingya, wouldn't it be a good thing for the Ouchi Guards Department?"
"Fang Jie... Sometimes your thoughts are as simple as a child's."
Zhuo Buyi sighed and said: "Although Your Majesty said that he wanted me to take over as the governor of Qingya, that is a decision he would never make. Commander Luo and Hou Wenji seem to be in harmony, but in fact neither of them Who to trust, but this is the situation that His Majesty likes to rest assured. How could His Majesty want the relationship between his subjects to be too close? The relationship between me and Commander Luo is too close. If I take over as the Governor of Qingya, Your Majesty will not be at ease."
"Your Majesty brought it up just to let me know that he has no doubts about me."
Fang Jie was stunned, rubbed the corners of his frowning brows and said, "I did drink too much today, and my mind is getting more and more stupid."
"Because of Prince Yi's case, there are too many people involved. It's impossible for you to imagine it. You don't even know how many aristocratic families have taken actions for this matter. The people involved in this case Nine out of ten of those courtiers are from famous families. And such a big case of treason will implicate the nine clans!"
"In the past month or so, more than 30,000 heads have been beheaded at Caishikou, but the scope is actually very cleverly controlled. His Majesty did not make concessions to those famous families, and of course he did not hurt those families. At this time, His Majesty does not want to be with those famous families. Those people fell out. Once there is another westward expedition, the imperial court cannot do without the support of those aristocratic families."
"You may not believe it..."
Zhuo Buyi shook his head and said: "There are still people begging for mercy, I hope His Majesty can save Prince Yi's life."
"How can this be?"
Fang Jie frowned and said, "If such a felony can be pardoned, the Sui's regulations will become child's play."
Zhuo Buyi said: "Do you think those people who begged don't know that this is impossible? The reason why they pleaded for Prince Yi is actually forcing His Majesty to let go of some people involved in the case. It is impossible for His Majesty to let Yi go." Prince, but you can't get too stiff with so many families, so you have to take a step back. Those family members support His Majesty's execution of Prince Yi, but His Majesty will also give them some face."
"Headache!"
Fang Jie rubbed his forehead: "So many people and so many things are involved in this, His Majesty's head may hurt even more."
"Your Majesty is not a man without courage."
Zhuo Buyi sighed and said: "It's a pity... the current period is really uneasy. The imperial court wants to go west for the second time, and the money and food in the treasury may be enough in a short time, but once the time is delayed, we can only rely on it." The donations from those aristocratic families... His Majesty will never add gifts to the people unless it is absolutely necessary."
…
…
The prison at Ouchi Guards Office is actually divided into three floors. The first floor is the outermost. Although the prisoners are also felons, they are not worth mentioning compared to the prisoners on the inner two floors. The prison of the Ministry of Punishment is not tight enough, so many quacks who violated the law with good cultivation will be transferred to the Ouchi guards.
The prison where Fang Jie was imprisoned was on the second floor.
After returning from Mercury Building, Luo Weiran habitually went to the third floor to check. Since two important figures were imprisoned in the third floor, he has to patrol here at least three times a day. From entering the second floor, the strength of the guards has obviously increased a lot.
A large number of flying fish robes stood straight on both sides of the secret passage by the handle of the horizontal knife, even if a mosquito flew by here, it would be impossible to escape. Moreover, there are a large number of traps installed in this secret passage, if someone breaks through the cage, they will be overturned by the traps in the secret passage. There are also three ten-thousand-jin gates in a row, and even the gods cannot fly out after the heavy iron gates are lowered.
Even though it is so strict, Luo Weiran still can't be completely relieved. Because the people imprisoned in the third floor at this time are too important.
Xiao Yijiu, head teacher of Yiqi Temple in Qingle Mountain, was locked in the special prison at the innermost. The strength of this person's cultivation has surpassed the limitations of people's thinking, and the methods used to trap this person have reached the point of being exhausted. Not only sealed his one hundred and twenty-eight air pockets with gold needles, but also hooked the bones in his body with the iron hooks on the giant chains. As long as he exerted force, those iron hooks would crush his bones. cut off.
On the opposite side of Xiao Yijiu's special prison is an equally solid stone room. It's just that the people imprisoned here at this time are not sealed by various means like Xiao Yijiu's. Except for the shackles on his ankles that make his movements a little inconvenient, there is no shackles on him anymore.
The layout of this stone room is extremely simple, the same as the stone room that trapped Fang Xie back then. There was only one chair, and one stone bed.
Luo Weiran walked to the door of Xiao Yijiu's prison, and looked inside through the bars. Xiao Yijiu with disheveled hair hangs his head by an iron chain, and he doesn't know if he is asleep or lost in thought. It's just that since he was imprisoned a while ago, his spirit has become worse and worse. From time to time, he would go crazy and say some messy and far-fetched words.
After watching Xiao Yijiu, Luo Weiran walked to the opposite prison door.
The middle-aged man in the stone room, even though he was wearing a prison uniform and his feet were shackled, stood in the room with his hands behind his back and looked at the bare walls, he still had the demeanor of a king.
Prince Yi, Yang Yin.
Hearing the sound of footsteps, Yang Yin turned his head and looked towards the window of the iron gate. Seeing that it was Luo Weiran, he immediately nodded slightly. Luo Weiran also nodded, but did not speak.
"There's something I want to ask you."
Yang Yin was silent for a while and asked, "How many people died because of me?"
"Thirty-one thousand six hundred and forty-six people."
Luo Weiran replied.
Yang Yin's face changed slightly, and he slowly shook his head: "Is there no one to persuade the emperor?"
Luo Weiran looked at him, still ignoring him.
"The heart is too cruel. Although I knew from the beginning that the fourth brother was the coldest one among our brothers, I still didn't expect him to kill so many people. Those are his people. Doesn't he feel bad? "
Luo Weiran couldn't help but sighed: "Why don't you blame yourself? Are you still blaming others?"
"I?"
Yang Yin was stunned for a moment, then laughed at himself: "Yeah... If it wasn't for me, so many people wouldn't have died. After all, no matter how cruel the fourth brother is, if it weren't for me, he wouldn't have died for no reason." Killer, right?"
After a moment of silence, he suddenly asked: "Can you let me meet fourth brother?"
Luo Weiran shook his head: "It is His Majesty's order that you are not allowed to step out of this prison until the case is closed."
"help me!"
Yang Yin took a few steps forward, Tie Liao rubbed against the ground and made a rattling sound: "It's not good to kill so many people, and if those aristocratic families are touched, it will not be a good thing for Da Sui! I must see Si... must If you want to see His Majesty, just kill me quickly, and don't involve anyone else!"
"I knew today..."
Luo Weiran sighed softly: "If you were thinking about Da Sui, you wouldn't do anything against him."
"That's two different things!"
Yang Yin raised his head and said: "I became the emperor, so naturally I still think about the Great Sui!"
"Are you still awake?"
Luo Weiran looked at Yang Yin and said word by word: "In fact, you have no chance of winning from the beginning to the end, and you know it yourself. It's just that you have paralyzed yourself, as if you drank a special poison. You lied to yourself After so many years, shouldn't you wake up?"
Yang Yin froze, his shoulders visibly trembled.
"I'm going to lose from the start?"
He murmured, then took a few steps back and sat softly on the chair: "Yeah... I kept telling myself that I would definitely win. But in the deepest part of my heart, there was always a voice shouting... You can't win!"
He raised his head and begged, "I want to see the queen mother... and also want to say a few words to your majesty."
Luo Weiran still shook his head, and then turned around: "You are too self-centered, and you still don't have the slightest awareness. Even if you see His Majesty, what can you do?"