The two execution guards felt a little uncomfortable when they saw the large and small wounds on his back. Fortunately, they knew the emperor's thoughts well, so they sent him back after the beating, which meant that they could only give him some superficial wounds to scare him.
Don't really hurt the young general's muscles and bones.
But twenty large thorn boards were slapped on the naked skin without any obstruction, and the skin was already torn apart after two or three blows. The pain was beyond what ordinary people could bear.
Whenever the palace was tortured with a stick, the tortured person's heart-rending howl would always arouse the crowd's onlookers, both covertly and openly.
But no one was watching this time, because apart from the sound of the wattle board hitting the flesh, Zhao Changyuan didn't even let out a slight groan. The two guards secretly admired him at first, and finally thought that he had probably fainted. When they walked up to help him,
, only to find that his head was covered with sweat, and the cloth he was biting was soaked with blood. His frowning eyes suddenly opened, and his eyes were still clean and clear in black and white.
"General, you are so strong." They sincerely admired him and helped him put on his clothes gently.
"Thank you for your mercy." After the young general said, he couldn't help but look back at the wattle board leaning against the wall, and smiled to himself. This thing was much more powerful than his military stick.
The emperor calmed down and said sternly: "Okay, now I will give you a chance to continue and see how you want to excuse Pan Jingyuan. If you are talking nonsense, I will reward you with another twenty bucks!"
Zhao Changyuan straightened up, feeling a sharp pain below his waist. A drop of sweat broke out on his forehead, but his face was as calm as autumn water. He said unhurriedly: "I am reporting to the Emperor. I believe that Pan Jingyuan is indeed guilty, but the crime does not lead to death. I beg you."
The emperor takes back his orders."
Hearing what he said, Wei Tingyue walked out of the queue in a rage: "What are you talking about? What crime is not punishable by death? He has three lives in his hands! Did you beat him silly? Huh?"
Zhao Changyuan didn't even bother to look at him this time. The emperor really disliked his blathering, so he glared at him, pointed at him and warned: "Wei Tingyue, if you roar at my Jinluan Palace again, I will hit you forty times and kill you."
Get out!"
Seeing that the emperor was really angry, he reluctantly calmed down his arrogance and retreated: "I know the crime, but I don't dare to do it anymore."
The emperor then turned his attention to Zhao Changyuan again: "And you, after all, you are also an official of the imperial court. Have you never memorized the laws of the Song Dynasty? Killing officials is punishable by death. What else are you telling me about a crime that does not lead to death?" This kid?
When he came to plead for mercy, had he done enough homework? The emperor had no confidence in his heart.
"Reporting to the emperor that he killed an official should be put to death. However, if he killed the comrades of the rebellious ministers and traitors, and wanted to protect the emperor's country and the country, what should be done about it?" Zhao Changyuan said in a neither light nor serious sentence.
The whole hall was shocked.
The one who is most unacceptable is naturally Wei Tingyue. With his explosive temper, and relying on the fact that he is a relative of the emperor, he has never paid attention to a young boy like Zhao Changyuan: "Don't stop talking nonsense! I will go out today.
I want your life!"
As soon as the roar came to the ground, the emperor ordered the guards on the left and right: "Here, bring Wei Tingyue out for me, give him a whip with a cane of forty, and blast him out of the palace."
Zhao Changyuan stretched out his hand to stop him with a calm expression: "Wait a minute, please take back the emperor's order. Some things should be said clearly in front of General Wei."
Wei Tingyue suppressed his anger and stopped talking.
The emperor nodded and allowed the young general to continue: "Well, that's fine, you go on."
"I wonder if the emperor still remembers that more than a year ago, he ordered his ministers to secretly investigate the news that Mr. Luo Xiangye was plotting to rebel?" Zhao Changyuan looked into the emperor's eyes, and finally saw a look of tacit understanding in his eyes.
"Well, yes, I have this impression." It's strange to have this impression. A year ago, the emperor didn't know that Mr. Luo was going to rebel, so how could he order Zhao Changyuan to investigate the matter? From here on, the emperor and his ministers
Started singing the double act.
Zhao Changyuan's heart was filled with satisfaction, but he showed no emotion on the surface: "Wei Chen received the emperor's order at that time, so he searched around, investigated the secrets, and collected a lot of information about the rebellion. However, in the process, he also encountered some people.
Obstacles. Some officials have secretly colluded with the rebels. These people realized that the imperial court was investigating the rebellion, and they repeatedly waited for opportunities to tip off the rebels."
There was another burst of sadness in the hall.
"Go on." The emperor folded his hands on the desk and listened with great interest.
"At that time, in order not to alert others, I decided to silence these traitor comrades. However, I suffered from the lack of a suitable excuse, which would arouse the suspicion of the rebel party. After careful consideration, I decided to borrow the help of Dongdu Xia to kill them one after another.
eliminate."
The emperor nodded to express his understanding, and then asked: "Who are these traitor comrades?"
"I don't dare to hide it. It's the three lives in Pan Jingyuan's hands, the magistrate Lou, Master Lu and County Lieutenant Feng." Zhao Changyuan felt bad for telling such a big lie. He could only regard the current situation as a battle without smoke.
The war. As the saying goes, he is a general who has no choice but to use all possible means to defeat the enemy.
Wei Tingyue's eyes turned red with anger, and he pointed at his back and cursed: "You... you... you are such a slanderer! You are so treacherous and vicious..."
The emperor pretended to be puzzled and asked: "If that's the case, why are you saying it now?"
"Reporting to your Majesty, I have been outside the palace asking for an audience these days, but..." The emperor must be willing to see him.
Wei Tingyue knelt down in front of the emperor with a bang, his voice trembling: "Your Majesty, don't believe his words, he is just spitting blood! If that's true, why didn't Pan Jingyuan say anything?"
"I'm telling you, your Majesty, that at that time, I had gone through so much trouble to find this Dongdu knight, and even if I died, I wouldn't dare to reveal a single word about what happened in the court. That Dongdu knight was Bo Yuntian, and he was heroic and courageous. I just wanted to bear the brunt of these three traitors in the past."
The official bullies who bullied the common people were brought before him, and the atrocities of the three of them were detailed one by one, and he promised the minister to do justice for heaven. Now he is unwilling to recruit the minister, presumably because he is afraid that the minister will be implicated.
As a chivalrous person, a humble minister will go to the temple to face the saint and give him justice, even if he is dead."
The ministers who came to the main hall to plead for Pan Jingyuan began to take the opportunity to whisper and praise the loyalty of Dongdu Xia and the young general.
Only Zhao Xiong was worried about his son's dangerous military expedition.
The emperor's face became more and more relaxed. He knew in his heart that this dilemma was not caused by anyone, and was basically resolved by this little guy. In order not to be true to his words, he still asked: "Do you have any concrete evidence?"
Evidence to prove that these three people are accomplices of the traitors?"
"Back to the emperor, although most of the rebels have been executed, the general Zhao Sude is currently being imprisoned in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment. He may be able to prove whether what the minister said is true. But..." Zhao Sude, who is afraid of death,
He had already made arrangements with threats and inducements all night long. If they were to confront him in court, they would definitely help him testify against the three people from Lou Magistrate County as his accomplices.
"But what, are you scared?" Wei Tingyue stared at him with a face full of flesh, as if he wanted to eat him alive.
He finally turned his head and met Wei Tingyue's eyes, his clear and clean eyes still without any impurities: "I'm afraid that General Wei will be unable to clarify for himself."
"What the hell are you talking about? You bastard, are you saying that this general is also a traitor? I'll beat you to death!" Wei Tingyue's mind exploded instantly, and after speaking, he raised his fist like a hammer and pointed it at Zhao Changyuan.
Smash it straight through.
Under the exclamation of everyone, the young general just raised his left hand neatly and caught the incoming fist in his hand. After being scolded by him all morning, the young general also had a group of anger in his heart that he wanted to vent, and he almost twisted him.
fist, but his reason told him that saving people is more important than creating complications. "You said this all. I kept interceding for the Dongdu hero, and I became his accomplice. The Lou magistrate and General Wei are related by marriage.
, The general has protected him so much today, I don’t know how to escape from it?” He squeezed Wei Tingyue’s fist, and although his tone was calm, his eyes were filled with anger.
At this moment, Eunuch Tong, an unrelated bystander, found that his face turned red in disgrace. He had been looking around for a few days and found several handsome men who looked somewhat similar to Zhao Changyuan, and brought them back to the house to relieve his lovesickness.
.Now it seems that a fake is still a fake. Even though the face looks exactly the same, his temperament, personality, and skills... how can he be compared with the young general?
Wei Tingyue was stunned by Zhao Changyuan's words. He quickly took out his hands and knelt on the ground to express his loyalty to the emperor: "Your Majesty is aware that I really did not participate in the rebellion. I have very little contact with the magistrate of Lou County. Please be aware of this!"
As soon as the words fell to the ground, Pan Yu's sad pleading suddenly sounded outside the palace: "Your Majesty, I know that I have committed a serious crime by not teaching my son the right way. I beg the Emperor to spare my son's life. I am willing to accept death for him!"
This love for his son made everyone in the palace feel a little heavy. Qi Ai. The young general took advantage of the situation and begged again: "Please, Your Majesty, spare his life..."
“I’ll… think about this matter again.”
Zhao Xiong also quickly stepped forward to help: "Your Majesty, it's too late to think about it again. Today is the day Pan Jingyuan will be executed! I'm afraid he has already been taken to the execution ground!"
The emperor sighed: "Well, according to my decree, Pan Jingyuan's case of murdering officials has a hidden secret. He should be quickly escorted back to the Kaifeng Mansion Prison and postponed for retrial."
After hearing this tortuous process, Gong Yueyue returned to the inn room, still feeling incredible and unbelievable. "I can't believe it, I really can't believe it..."
"What do you want to say to me again?" Zhao Changyuan guessed that she must have nothing nice to say again, so he followed her to the bedside, but he couldn't sit down, so he had to put his knees against the bed to let himself rest for a while.
Sure enough, she turned around and tapped his nose, and said with a half-smile, "I didn't expect you to be so cunning! I estimate that the man named Wei will have to vomit blood for at least two days after he returns."
"I had no choice but to take this step." What crime can shut up the mouths of Wei Tingyue and his group better than attempting to commit rebellion? It can also make the people believe that Dongdu Xia's so-called righteous deeds are actually sanctioned by the official
Control. This can not only excuse Pan Jingyuan's murder, but also maintain the court's face and dispel some people's attempts to imitate Dongdu Xia. (To be continued)