Lin'an Imperial City is located east of West Lake and is built on Phoenix Mountain. At the gate of the Imperial City, there are two large iron tripods, both of which are more than half a person high and one meter square. The servants of the Ministry of Justice carried several large boxes to the front of the tripod, and poured the letters into the tripod like snowflakes under the attention of a group of officials.

Sima Kao was quite moved with the not-so-smooth surface of the large tripod. He didn't expect that he would one day use the large iron tripod in front of the imperial city to express his feelings, and this iron tripod was newly released here for not too long. After Zhao Taiwei regained Lin'an, considering that Lin'an City had been plundered, the basic situation returned to stability and cast two large iron tripods at the palace gate.

According to Zhao Taiwei himself, it was used for decoration. In the eyes of other people in the Song Dynasty, they believed that it was to suppress luck. The two large iron cauldrons were filled with letters, and the officer poured alcohol on it, and the torch looked inside, and the fire rose up. Seeing the letters burned into black ash, Sima Kao also felt that it was quite obvious.

The attitude of the Ministry of Justice is not outrageous. At most, it is called inhumane, but no one dares to make this statement now. This year is the fourth year of the Republic. Less than four years ago, the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager, the official family, went out of the city to surrender to Mongolia. That means the Song Dynasty has fallen. More than three years have passed quickly, but no one dares to say that the Song Dynasty has entered the days of singing and dancing peace.

After going to court, Xiong Shang watched the fire burning performance of the Ministry of Justice, and Xiong Shang went to the prison of Dali Temple to visit. At this time, several officials were already waiting at the door. As Jinshi, these people pretended not to see each other. There was no glory for relatives and friends who were imprisoned in the prison. If they could, everyone really didn't want to visit the prison.

Xiong Shang came to visit Lu Dingchuan mentioned in the court today. He was a relative of Lu Dingchuan, and most Jinshis in the Song Dynasty were related to Lu Dingchuan. Including Zhao Taiwei, the difference between everyone was just how close the relatives were. Lu Dingchuan was Xiong Shang's cousin, and the two grew up together. He really had to come.

The living environment of the prison in Dali Temple is naturally not much better. After all, these people are Jinshi, so they are stuffed into single rooms. The single room is three square meters in size, except for the earthen kang, straw mat, and bedding, the rest is a toilet. These former Jinshi were locked in like animals. Although the prison guards did not abuse these people, in such an environment, under the strong psychological pressure, many people sighed, and some were already howling wolves of ghost valley. Various sounds echoed among their long peers, making this place gloomy and terrifying.

The jailer brought a stool for Xiong Shang, and Xiong Shang sat outside the gate of his cousin's prison fence. Lu Dingchuan had also turned over and sat down on the wooden stool inside the prison, talking to his cousin across the fence. Seeing that his cousin's face was not particularly bad, Xiong Shang was a little relieved. Lu Dingchuan was naturally nervous and would not collapse.

He whispered to Lu Dingchuan about the things in the court. Xiong Shang saw that his cousin's expression had not improved. He comforted him and said: "Since Sima Kao has already said this in the court, his cousin should not be killed."

"I'm not a Song treason!" Lu Dingchuan said loudly.

Because of the close distance, Xiong Shang frowned at the sound. Lu Dingchuan grabbed the railing with both hands and continued to say loudly: "I am not Song Tse! I did not go to Mongolia for myself. If I abandoned the city, what should the people in the city do?"

Xiong Shang sighed. With his understanding of his cousin, Lu Dingchuan was a very responsible person. When he became a magistrate, he naturally would not ignore the people. This was a very good character and a very respectable character. However, during the time when the Lin'an court collapsed, Xiong Shang hoped that his cousin was not so serious.

So many officials in Lin'an left the court, and their personal character was much worse than Lu Dingchuan. But in the end they became "unstable members" and would not be hired for life. At least they would not be imprisoned.

"You know, I will never sell my country and seek honor. I don't!" Lu Dingchuan continued to say loudly.

Xiong Shang felt sad when he heard this, but he also found that the calmness on his cousin's face had no way to connect with the fluctuations in his heart.

"You have to explain this to me! I don't ask for an official position. If someone scolds me for not being able to serve the country, I should accept it. However, I am not a Song traitor, I am not!" Lu Dingchuan said loudly, completely trapped in his own way of thinking.

Of course, Xiong Shang wanted to help his cousin, but at this time he had no choice. The Ministry of Justice burned letters to clearly express his attitude, and the Ministry of Justice publicly stated that "based on facts and based on the law." Zhao Taiwei had formulated relevant laws, and his cousin had no evidence to prove whether he was for himself or for the people. As for the facts we already know, it was a fact that Lu Dingchuan surrendered to Mongolia.

Therefore, Sima Kao believed that Lu Dingchuan would not be punished for death, and he was already very tolerant. With Empress Dowager Yang's original intention of venting anger with murder, Lu Dingchuan had no other way of living except being killed as a rapist in Song.

Just when Xiong Shang didn't know what to say, he heard someone in the next cell sneering in a sinister voice: "Haha! It's not a traitor of Song! Your Majesty is in a critical moment, and he will give gold coins, land, courtesy and axe, and the title and rank of the titles and ranks. The merits of size are rewarded. Therefore, we should serve carefully and pay great attention. Since we sent troops across the river and over Guang, we have not heard of a deadly battle formation for several months, and those who die in the border or the city walls will not be rewarded or punished enough to persuade them to punish them..."

The man's words sounded familiar to Xiong Shang. When the Mongolian leader Mengge attacked the Song State more than ten years ago, the then Imperial College Chief Secretary Xu Zongren. Although this memorial was not finally accepted, it was widely circulated. Xiong Shang had read it himself, and he felt deeply convinced it when he was young. He firmly believed that it was the defeat of the Song Dynasty caused by the officials' failure to fight to the death.

Now that I suddenly heard someone repeating this, Xiong Shang felt mixed feelings. He really felt sorry for his cousin and hoped that his cousin could be released. However, after Xiong Shang was an official for a while, he realized the despair of the country in times of crisis. All the troops were defeated, and everywhere the enemy went, all the places they fell. The Mongolian army seemed unstoppable, and there was nothing left except for the news of defeat.

Just when Xiong Shang was desperate, he heard the man in the prison cell next to him continue to recite: In the southeast corner, half of the hands of these several people, but the punishment does not damage his hair. The other side has rich resources, lying in a high-spirited house, making His Majesty and the two and three ministers anxious and thoughtful. Is it okay? The three armies are traveling in anger and unjust, saying, "Who is the one who causes disaster, and makes me sacrifice my life and fight?" The people who die, aren't they all complaining and saying, "Who is the one who calls the chaos, and makes me bleed under the sword?"

"Enough!" Xiong Shang shouted loudly. These words rekindled Xiong Shang's painful memories. When Mongolia invaded the south, everything seemed extremely fragile. What made Xiong Shang even more desperate was that when Xiong Shang felt that he was already extremely desperate, he found that he was not the most desperate person, and more people were even more desperate than him. Until Xiong Shang followed the desperate Queen Mother Yang and the others to Fuzhou.

There were Zhao Taiwei and others in Fuzhou. Although Fuzhou was poor, Zhao Taiwei's men were full of energy. They had the confidence and ability to know how to fight. Before Xiong Shang could recover from despair, Zhao Taiwei had already led his troops to counterattack Lin'an. After a series of victories in Huaidong, he forced the Mongolian army to retreat...

Just when Xiong Shang finally pulled himself out of the despair that he had experienced again, his cousin Lu Dingchuan suddenly poked his hand out of the fence and grabbed Xiong Shang's shoulder, "Save me! Save me! Woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo

On the evening of the fourth day after Sima Kao publicly burned the letter of sympathy, Xu Yuanzhi, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, got off work together with other Ministry of Revenue staff. Since the time of the court has been closed for five days, the work time from nine to five has become very fixed. The sundial determines the time at twelve noon every day. Through the loud iron bell, all clocks are proofread at this time, and at least the official clocks will be adjusted by the responsible personnel at this time.

These days have been sunny days, and the time is particularly accurate. As soon as Xu Yuanzhi left the office door, Xiong Shang and several others were greeted by him outside, "Shangshu Xu, why not drink together at night?"

Everyone was smart, and there was no need to talk nonsense at this time. Xu Yuanzhi didn't want to drink, so he waved his hand and asked those people to go back to the office with him. Seeing those officials with a firm and ugly expression following Xu Yuanzhi's Shangshu into the office, the office staff looked ugly. These people clearly wanted to talk about things. With the experience of the office staff, they would definitely say it very late. It would also get late after get off work.

Xu Yuanzhi said to the office staff: "You go to the tea stove room to get two large pots of water, and then go home."

The office staff were overjoyed and hurried to fetch water, then left quickly.

"You think you are going to talk about Xiang?" Xu Yuanzhi said to Xiong Shang and others.

Xiong Shang immediately said, "Shangshu Xu. We all have relatives and friends arrested. Although we know that the national law is ruthless, we really want to defend our relatives and friends. If we cannot defend ourselves, we will feel extremely uneasy..."

As he finished speaking, Xiong Shang had already taken out the file bag, and the people who came with him also held the file bags with the materials written. These people had already discussed that they would submit books to their own family members no matter what.

Looking at the performance of these people, Xu Yuanzhi smiled. He always thought that Zhao Jiaren was a very capable person, but Zhao Jiaren in Xu Yuanzhi's eyes seemed to be an extremely sharp weapon. Although he could cut everything, he always lacked the calmness of being light. Now Xu Yuanzhi felt Zhao Jiaren's changes.
Chapter completed!