In the next few days, Qin Mubai inspected several dikes and inspected the rice bags used to build the dikes, further confirming that his inference was correct.
It is true that the Jiangzhou flood was a natural disaster, but some people took advantage of this natural disaster to enrich the country and tried to cover up their previous charges of embezzling flood control funds. In it, people were also murdered.
In the peaceful and prosperous Tang Dynasty, this was already a shocking case!
A few years ago, the Zhenguan Tang Dynasty created a legal record in Chinese history—only 29 people were sentenced to death throughout the country for a whole year!
Three years ago, on September 4th, the eighth year of Zhenguan, an anecdote that shocked the world happened—that day, not one of the more than 300 death row prisoners who had been released by Li Shimin to celebrate the New Year and participate in the spring plowing and autumn harvest was absent. Return to death row and prepare to die on the execution ground!
The cause of the matter used to be this: There was a custom in the Tang Dynasty that all death sentences must be personally approved by the emperor and could not be executed until after the autumn. Moreover, before instructing the death penalty, Li Shimin had to patrol the prisoners. As long as there are prisoners complaining of injustice, no matter how conclusive the evidence is in the case, Dali Temple must postpone the retrial to avoid accidentally killing a good person.
That day Li Shimin inspected the prisoners and found that not one of the more than 300 death row inmates complained of injustice. Li Shimin was quite surprised at the time. Why were there so many more death row inmates this year than the 29 in the previous two years? Aren't these people afraid of death? Seeing that most of these death row prisoners were young adults, Li Shimin had a sudden idea and decided to let these death row prisoners go home to reunite with their families for the New Year and participate in the next year's spring plowing. He also made an agreement with them to let them return to their cells to be tortured in the autumn of the next year. .
This sounds like a fantasy. But a year later, all of the more than 300 death row inmates returned to their cells. After enjoying the last year of their lives with their families, these death row inmates all shed tears of gratitude and were willing to die, which moved everyone including Li Shimin on the spot. Li Shimin immediately granted amnesty and pardoned all these people and released them home.
The Zhenguan Tang Dynasty had always been politically clear and had good public security, and had always advocated "caution in punishment." The crime rate is also quite low. But such a bad incident happened in Jiangzhou. I really don't know how Li Shimin and the more than 300 death row prisoners would feel when they found out.
After several days of secret investigation and evidence collection, Qin Mubai had already made the case almost clear. So he found Li Ke and the two had a secret conversation.
Qin Mubai first told Li Ke the various evidences and inferences he had found, and asked Li Ke's opinion: "Your Highness, is it time to catch these corrupt officials?"
"Not busy." Li Ke waved his hand and said, "Recently, we have been busy resettling the victims, rebuilding homes and restoring mulberry crops. All the officials in Jiangzhou Prefecture are doing their best. If we arrest people suddenly at this time, it will definitely cause a stir and cause chaos. This is not good for the overall situation.”
"What His Highness said is true." Qin Mubai said, "Officials in local prefectures and counties are no better than officials in the capital. They have a very strong cooperative relationship with each other. If we really want to investigate people, I am afraid that all of them will be more or less corrupt." I always feel that this is not a small case in Jiangzhou. The big and small officials here seem to be tightly hugged together, like a deep-rooted tree. , I’m afraid I have to move my whole body. A tree doesn’t have much strength and can be lifted easily, but if its roots are twisted and twisted in the soil, it will not be so easy.”
"Well said." Li Ke's eyes flashed with light and he said softly, "In the past few days, I specially sent Quan Wanji to Jiangzhou City in the name of recruiting people's hands. In fact, it was to find out about Cheng Song The truth about Nian, Ma Kun and others has been revealed!"
"Is there anything special?" Qin Mubai asked.
"Yes. And it's more than ordinary." Li Ke said, "It turns out that Cheng Songnian and Ma Kun are not ordinary officials. Cheng Songnian, a small governor of Wupinzhou, has a great origin. As early as the tenth century More than a year ago, he was a minor official in the palace of Prince Yin Li Jiancheng. After his father ascended the throne, he did not carry out a large-scale purge of these people, but instead pacified them, and most of them were continued to be employed. , Cheng Songnian was appointed as the county magistrate of Ji County, and he served for seven or eight years. Until five years ago, it was not known what kind of connections he had found, and he was connected with the Shengnan Hou Mansion in Jiangzhou. , married his daughter as a concubine, and then his official career went smoothly until he became the governor of the state. Mubai, do you know who this Shengnanhou is? "
"who?"
"He is my eldest brother - the younger brother of the prince's wet nurse." Li Ke smiled to himself, "Don't underestimate the wet nurse. Most of our descendants of the royal family were brought up by the wet nurse when they were young, and their relationship with the wet nurse is sometimes better than that of their own mother. We still want to kiss him. In private, the prince even called him "uncle" when he met him! I treated my nanny's son like a real brother. I was just too crazy about gambling and hunting with them last time. , was he just impeached?”
"So, Jiangzhou is really a big tree with deep roots. The prince is actually involved!" Qin Mubai frowned. Thinking back to what the emperor had explained, he suddenly understood: No wonder the emperor's words were so ambiguous. It turned out that He had long thought that this matter might be related to Marquis Shengnan, thus involving the prince. Nowadays, all the troubles in the court are related to how disdainful the prince is and whether the emperor intends to abolish the throne. If this case involves the prince again, it will be really sensitive. No wonder the emperor repeatedly told Li Ke and Qin Mubai not to rush to alert the enemy, but to let him know first if there were special circumstances.
"The background of Ma Kun is not small!" Li Ke said, "A few years ago, he was just a small ordinary soldier. Why did he suddenly rise so quickly and become a fifth-grade captain in charge of the entire state's army? Where's the horse? It turns out that Ma Kun was Cheng Songnian's brother. The two worked together in Prince Yin's Mansion. Ma Kun was an insignificant person, so he left Prince Yin's Mansion and returned home. He continued to work as an ordinary soldier at most, but when Cheng Songnian became successful, he promoted his brother-in-law until he became the captain of the Jiangzhou army. In Jiangzhou, it can be said that one's hand covers the sky. Coupled with Shengnanhou's relationship in the capital, Jiangzhou will become a country of its own. Of course, the king of this country is naturally Shengnanhou. Cheng Songnian and Ma Kun are just his accomplices and thugs."
"What an irony! How dare a little Shengnan Marquis be so perverse!" Qin Mubai couldn't help but sneered, "Your Highness, what are your plans now? If this report is reported, although we have no conclusive evidence now, as long as the emperor sends The censor and the people from Dali Temple will come down to conduct a thorough investigation, and they will definitely be able to get to the bottom of everything. By then, all the evils from Jiangzhou will be eradicated."
"I know this." Li Ke frowned and looked embarrassed, "In fact, it is not difficult to deal with Sheng Nanhou, Cheng Songnian and others. Although they seem to be stronger, they are only qualified to serve as state and county officials at most. They are running rampant in front of me, but I haven't taken them seriously yet... This matter concerns the prince, so I have to be cautious. Do you know that my father has always hated the emperor's relatives who break the law and use his status to cover up their misdeeds. . The last time I was impeached, one of the important reasons why my father was so angry and punished me so severely was that he couldn't bear to see me hanging out with my nanny's sons. As a member of the royal family, my father reprimanded me. , we must always think about maintaining the dignity of the royal family and take responsibility for it. The status of a relative of the emperor is not used to bully the superiors and subordinates and prey on the common people. If he knows that the prince's wet nurse's brother is so perverse and rebellious... I will be very angry. It’s hard to say whether the emperor will use this to the disadvantage of the prince.”
"I understand how you feel." Qin Mubai said, "Now, the struggle for heir apparent in the court is getting more and more intense. The two camps of the prince and the king of Wei are incompatible with each other. The emperor is very angry about this. , but there is no perfect solution at the moment, so they are all a little worried. If you suddenly read the prince's book at this time... it would really make people wonder what King Wu is doing. Are you helping King Wei to fight for the throne, or do you want to jump in and get a share of the pie? As the saying goes, even if you don't have such an intention, you will not be able to escape suspicion. This torrent will bring unforeseen disasters and blessings.”
"That's right." Li Ke frowned deeply and said, "If I hide it and don't report it, it will be a serious crime of harboring a vicious person. I don't know what to do because of it! In this case, there was Zhu Chengwen who died in an unknown manner. There are the people in the two counties who were poisoned by the floods, the treasury properties that were embezzled by corrupt officials, and the soldiers who died in the flood fighting and disaster relief. In my sleep, there are often countless ghosts haunting me, and those corrupt officials seem to be there. They yelled and provoked me with all their teeth and claws - I am not willing to let those corrupt officials go no matter what!"
"Does Your Highness want a perfect solution?" Qin Mubai said lightly.
Li Ke's eyes lit up with surprise on his face: "What's Mu Bai's clever plan?"
"Yes, there is, but it's not necessarily very good, and it also seems a bit silly." Qin Mubai said with a smile.
"Say it!"
"If we want to have both sides of this problem, we have to start with the analysis from His Majesty the Emperor's side." Qin Mubai said, "Obviously, the Emperor had a vague feeling that there was a ghost in Jiangzhou before he sent us to Jiangzhou. Otherwise, he would He would not be so low-key and secretive, and secretly ordered the two of us to investigate secretly and not to rush to alert the enemy. This is abnormal for the emperor's habit of thundering. Therefore, unless he has already guessed that this matter is related to the prince, he will not do it. so."
"That makes sense! Keep talking!"
Qin Mubai said: "I work as an errand in the harem, and I have contact with the emperor and the royal family every day. I discovered and summarized a characteristic of the emperor. I don't know whether it is right or wrong when I say it. If it is right, your highness will continue to listen to me; If it’s not right, just pretend you didn’t hear anything and we don’t have to discuss it anymore, okay?”
"Okay, tell me." Li Ke said decisively, "You should understand my character. No matter how unbearable I am, I will never betray my friends!"