Since meeting Yang Feng, the holy army division has become sluggish. When he was tried, he did not say a word, and when he returned to the prison, he no longer hummed obscene little songs, as if he had already accepted his fate.
There was no information in the prison. It was many days after Yun Mengze was breached that he heard the news from Jin Chunzhong.
Instead of arraigning, Jin Chunzhong came to the prison in person, so that the content of the conversation would not be recorded.
"Luan Banxiong has been escorted to the capital, and you will see him soon, probably on the execution ground." Jin Chunzhong said straight to the point.
The Holy Army Division was stunned for a while, then raised his head and said, "I want to see the emperor."
He made such a request in front of Yang Feng last time, Jin Chunzhong shook his head, "You are not qualified."
"Where's Luan Banxiong? Is he qualified?"
Jin Chunzhong didn't answer, "I want to talk to you about Chunyu Xiao."
"Luan Banxiong did everything?"
Jin Chunzhong nodded. He was here for interrogation and did not want to disclose other information.
The Holy Soldier pondered for a while, then sighed, "How many people have died because of a book, is the technique of looking at the breath really deceiving?"
Jin Chunzhong didn't say a word, and had a premonition that the Holy Soldier was finally going to tell the truth.
There was a smile on the scarred face of the Holy Army Master, and he licked his lips, "It's been a long time since I've been drinking. I'll bring some more next time. Those who look for breath rely on this mouth to make a living. You came empty-handed, and I can't speak."
"You are a criminal of the imperial court, I can't come as soon as I want."
"That's your problem." When the Holy Army division talked about wine, his mouth was full of saliva. "Since you bring wine, bring some meat. Roast chicken and sauce elbow are the best."
"You at least say something first."
The holy army division lay on the mat, "No hurry, it has been delayed for so long anyway."
The Holy Army division's bones are hard, and torture is useless to him, so Jin Chunzhong can only say: "I will come back as soon as possible."
"Be generous next time!"
In a formal interrogation, at least three people should be present in the government, one person presides over the trial, one person executes the sentence, and one person records. In many cases, the relevant yamen will send people to listen in, and the number of people varies. Only in this way can the authenticity of the confession be guaranteed.
Jin Chunzhong came to see the prisoner alone, but it was actually very unethical. It was all because of the identity of the emperor's cronies and the messenger of Xuanyi that the prison guards could turn a blind eye.
Bringing wine and meat in it is a bit too much.
Jin Chunzhong didn't want to use the emperor to oppress people because of this trivial matter. He bought a wealth of wine and food at his own expense, and feasted the prison officers and guards in the prison to express his gratitude. Then he left halfway, carrying a pot of wine and a plate of stewed rice. Meat, go to see the Holy Army.
The prison guards are happy to send a favor.
The Holy Army Master shouted from a distance: "Smell it, smell it, bring it here!"
The Holy Army Master sat cross-legged, tidied up the shackles on his hands and feet, and without using a cup, he picked up the jug and took a sip, grabbed half of the roast chicken, and bit down hard.
Like the wind and the clouds, the holy army division ate the wine and meat, and burped, "It's still not generous enough, you just do things for the emperor like this?"
"The emperor's money can also be saved if he can."
The Holy Army Master laughed, "You kid is very interesting. Every time you interrogate, you are not as ruthless as other officials."
The messenger of Xuanyi is not an official position in the court, but a temporary title. Most of the time, Jin Chunzhong is only an observer, and of course he does not need to be too ruthless.
"Drink and drink, eat and eat, you should say something."
The Holy Army Master put away his smile, "Of course, I won't lie to you. Let me think about it, where should I start... Chunyu Xiao is a book."
"Well, Luan Banxiong has already said it."
"Did he say the origin of the book?"
"He got this book from you, nothing else."
"He doesn't know either. There are very few people who know the origin of this book. I am one of them."
The book has no name, and the author calls himself "Chunyu Xiao" in the book. In the process of spreading the book, those who watch it call it "Chun Yu Zi" and "Chun Yu Xiao".
This book was first circulated in the Qilu area. It was seen by very few people, and it was not taken seriously. It was regarded as a bizarre theory. Until a famous person got this book, he was inspired after deep reading, and he applied what he had learned. House of princes.
This person who hoped for qi changed his name to Chunyu Xiao, and accepted many disciples. In the name of teaching the technique of Wangqi, he chose the best ones to teach the contents of the book, but the book itself was kept secret and only shown to a very small number of proud disciples.
After the death of "Chunyu Xiao", his disciples blossomed everywhere, often calling themselves this name, deliberately creating chaos, this is one of the methods taught in the book.
Lin Kunshan and others belonged to the third and fourth generation disciples. They only knew their techniques, but did not know their books. They truly believed that Chunyu Xiao was indeed a real person, while the Holy Army Master was a direct disciple. He treasured this book until he went to see Luan Banxiong. In order to win his trust, he handed over the book and accepted Luan Banxiong as his disciple.
"What exactly is written in the book?" Jin Chunzhong asked.
"The court caught Luan Banxiong, but didn't they get the book?"
The book is in Yang Feng's hands. He hasn't returned yet. Jin Chunzhong still doesn't answer, "Would you rather give the book to a robber than to the court?"
"Haha, don't you understand? My Lord Jin, that is a book devoted to rebellion. How could it be handed over to the government?"
Jin Chunzhong was stunned for a moment, he didn't think there was such a book in the world, "Just because of a book, you will rebel?"
The Holy Army Master was silent for a while, and then asked: "If you get a sword that is known to cut iron like mud, would you like to try it with a piece of iron?"
"Rebels and swords are two different things."
"Are two different things? Since the emperor came to power, he was especially greedy for power, and he wanted to hold almost everything in his own hands. Why? Imperial power is a treasured sword. He has coveted it for a long time. The better the effect, the harder it is to find a hard iron to try again. The reason for our rebellion is similar to this.”
The more the Holy Soldier spoke, the more rude he became. Jin Chunzhong snorted, "You are not allowed to compare with His Majesty."
"Haha, what a loyal minister. Forget it, I'm too lazy to convince you. This time the wine and meat are average, so I'll bring it next time."
"Next time?"
"I'm tired. I have to sleep after eating and drinking. Next time I'll tell you about the book writer."
The Crusader fell asleep.
Jin Chunzhong couldn't, so he packed up the empty pot and plate and left.
When the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Punishment interrogated Luan Banxiong, Jin Chunzhong needed to be present, so he could not see the Holy Army division again after a day.
Since meeting the emperor, Luan Banxiong has never opened his mouth again, neither admitting nor denying all the accusations, as if life and death are at stake. Yun Mengze rebelled publicly, and he didn't need too many confessions. The Ministry of Punishment just went through the motions and did not force it strictly.
However, the Holy Soldier opened the chat box, and when he saw Jin Chunzhong, he said, "Why did you come? I prepared a lot of words and could only speak to the wall."
The Crusaders ate and drank while speaking.
"Who wrote this book? When was it written? Is Chunyu Xiao's real name or a pseudonym? No one knows. Several of our well-informed hopefuls have used a lot of power to find out the truth, and finally came to two diametrically opposite conclusions."
One conclusion is that the book Chunyuzi was written at the beginning of the Great Chu Dingding, because it mentioned a lot of the shortcomings of the previous dynasty and the content of the three parties' struggle for hegemony among Chu, Qi and Zhao, and the latter is the main basis for discussing "rebellion". : Han Fu is a desperado, Zhuang Chui is a tycoon, and Chen Lun is a descendant of an aristocratic family. How these three people stand out among the many rebels occupies a lot of space in the book.
Another conclusion is that the book was written in modern times, and the author is probably still alive. He deliberately did not mention contemporary matters, just to hide people's eyes and ears. In the book, there is an article "Strong and Weak", which discusses how the most powerful emperors are full of loopholes. , did not mention specific characters, but it looked like he was talking about Emperor Wu.
No one could convince the other of the two conclusions. The Holy Army Division was the latter faction. After Emperor Wu died, the Great Chu declined sharply. In his opinion, it was exactly the situation predicted in the chapter "Strength and Weakness".
"'The strong beg for strength, but the strength is easy to break'. When encountering a mediocre emperor, Da Chu will gradually become stronger, and then slowly decline. When encountering an emperor like Emperor Wu, he prospered and fell quickly. Emperor Wu once The courtiers, all of them are wise and protect themselves, and they don't like to be in charge, and the facts have proved that this is the case."
Jin Chunzhong sneered, "But you still failed, a crushing defeat."
"After a crushing defeat, there are not many people left to look out for breath. Otherwise, even if I die, I will not tell you this." The commander of the Holy Army sighed and lay down again, there is still a small pot of wine left to drink.
Jin Chunzhong packed up his things, "Luan Banxiong claimed that 'books can kill people', and he set a trap for Duke Yang in the book."
"Let's talk about it another day, I'm not in the mood right now."
Jin Chunzhong did not force it. Like the emperor, he did not believe that Yang Feng would be fooled.
In the next few days, Jin Chunzhong was very busy and stayed in the punishment department almost every day to observe the sentences one by one.
Assassination and rebellion are unforgivable felonies. Hundreds of people were sentenced to death for betrayal. The first offender, Luan Banxiong, was executed ten days later, and the main offenders such as the Holy Army division were also scheduled to be executed on the same day. The rest were executed after the autumn according to normal procedures.
The Yunmengze group of thieves is about to disappear, and the focus of the court has turned to how to manage the swamp so that it will not become a hiding place for the robbers again.
The day after the emperor returned to the palace from the hunting grounds, Jin Chunzhong only vacated the space and went to see the holy army division with wine and meat.
The Holy Soldier was in a good mood, applauded and welcomed, the chains clattered, ate and drank happily, and even invited Jin Chunzhong to join.
Jin Chunzhong declined, "I've eaten it."
"Well, anyway, you have a lot of days to eat and drink." The Holy Army Master chewed slowly this time, and after eating, pushed the cup and plate away, "If there are books, there will be people who write them. Until now, I have also I believe that the writer is still alive. Luan Banxiong probably used this trick to lure Yang Feng into finding the writer."
The Holy Soldier stretched his back and didn't plan to talk at length today, "Yang Feng won't be fooled, maybe he knows more about this book than I do."
"What do you mean?" Jin Chunzhong noticed that there was something in the words of the Holy Soldier.
"According to the method recorded in the book "Chunyu Zi", we persuaded princes, ministers and robbers, and we succeeded almost every step of the way, but we failed at the stage of rebellion. You can say that our luck is not good, or you can say that the current emperor is unexpected. If it hadn't been for him to be emperor, we would probably have succeeded."
The Holy Soldier clutched the chains tightly, and the expression on his face was still unwilling, "Those who are hopeful are not lucky, and the current emperor is in power, both are related to the same person."
"Yang Gong?" Jin Chunzhong was both surprised and amused, "You want to say that Yang Gong is the author of "Chun Yu Zi"?"
"Otherwise, it would be difficult to explain why Yang Feng knew so much about Wang Qi. He was the only one in the court who kept staring at us, and the emperor's ascension had a lot to do with him. I am more and more convinced that he is the real chess player. The emperor, we and the emperor, are his pawns. I just wonder, who is Yang Feng playing against?"
"Thank you for your wine and meat. I can die in peace. If you have the heart, maybe you will stare at Yang Feng for us."
The Holy Army Division fell and did not speak again.
Jin Chunzhong was at a loss. He didn't understand whether the Holy Soldier was telling the truth, or was he "following the trend" with hopeful people, making up a story and subtly tempting himself to clean up Yang Feng
Perhaps this is the original meaning of "books can kill".