Chapter 399: High profile when committing the crime, low profile after the crime
"Thank you Yuan Zhen for your hard work!"
Ying'er took the lead in flying back, and one day later, Guo Yuanzhen and his men returned to Luoyang City covered with dust, and Li Yan came to greet them outside Dingding Gate.
"It will be a great honor for us to welcome Lao Liulang personally! Haha!"
After all, Guo Yuanzhen is young and in good spirits. He hasn't been seen for half a year, but he is a little darker. He has a hearty laugh and a strong physique. He seems to be practicing hard.
Many of the inner guards under his command looked haggard, and some even looked sick, and they weakly saluted: "Leader Li!"
In this era of hard work and travel, a trip to Lingnan is really too much work. Li Yan said sincerely: "I will keep your contribution in mind. I have already held a banquet at my house, please!"
Everyone suddenly became excited, and Guo Yuanzhen even laughed and said: "It is the most comfortable to work for Liulang. Liulang will never treat us badly! Let's go, have a good meal tonight, and you won't come back until you're drunk!"
After they were full of wine and food, Li Yan asked Xu Da to prepare fine cloth tea cakes and send them home to the guards, leaving Guo Yuanzhen behind: "How about the land of Lingnan?"
Guo Yuanzhen raised his brows, patted his chest, and said very proudly: "It's not worthy of the name. Although it's hot enough, I didn't get sick, and it's not as terrible as others said!"
Li Yan thought to himself that in history, you were a Jinshi, and you worked there as a county captain for more than ten years, and you actually enjoyed it very much. There were not many like you.
Under normal circumstances, the governors of more than 300 states in the world are all third-grade purple robes in terms of rank. But the governor of a remote lower state may not be willing to let a sixth-grade official from Beijing go. There is no doubt that Lingnan
It’s the place you least want to go to, bar none.
Of course, there are not without talents there. For example, in the original history, Guo Yuanzhen was recognized by Wu Zetian and was regarded as the most representative scholar from a poor family. Another example is Zhang Jiuling, a famous official in the prosperous Kaiyuan era, who was also born in Lingnan.
But special cases are special cases. The real situation is that there are often vacancies among prefecture and county officials in Lingnan. Many officials are unwilling to take up their posts wherever they are sent. They return home due to illness on the way to smoothen relationships and find new jobs. Anyway, they use all their abilities.
Guo Yuanzhen also happened to mention this point, frowning and saying: "There is a serious shortage of officials in Lingnan County, and those in office are also procrastinating in doing things and passing the blame to each other. If they weren't so inefficient, I wouldn't have delayed my return for so long. Liu Lang saw that
Have you passed the case file?"
Li Yan took out the case file that Ying'er brought before: "I have read the information you collected. The biggest suspect at present is the 'Wu Wang' who was called in the courtyard on the night of the crime, which is Wu Guogong."
"In the fourth year of Yonghui, Duke Wu was hanged within the confines of Chang'an Palace. His four sons were all underage, and they were all exiled to Lingnan. Four of his daughters were also punished to guard the Xianling Mausoleum."
"Have you had any contact with this son of Duke Wu?"
Guo Yuanzhen said: "I have been in contact with all the criminals who were exiled in Lingnan. I used my identity as an internal guard and asked about everything I could see. It is no exaggeration to say that I now know more about those criminals than the Ministry of Criminal Affairs.
Prisoner."
Li Yan praised and said: "In your opinion, what do you think of Wu Guogong's fourth son?"
Guo Yuanzhen said: "The eldest son of Duke Wu was tolerant and ambitious, the second son contracted an illness and died in Lingnan, the third son was smart and steady, and knew our inner guard the best, and the fourth son was an ordinary husband."
This summary is simple enough, and Li Yan secretly nodded at Guo Yuanzhen's ability to recognize people.
In history, Li Ke's fourth son was pardoned during Wu Zetian's Guangzhai period and returned to Luoyang to ascend the throne.
When Wu Zetian was in power, the eldest son Li Qianli had always been very obedient and offered auspicious gifts several times. However, later he brazenly participated in the Shenlong Revolution and overthrew Wu Zetian's rule.
After Li Xian came to power, he became king and held a high position. However, he was addicted to coups. Later, he followed Prince Li Xian to launch the Jinglong coup, but was defeated and killed.
This experience is almost exactly the same as that of Li Jingxuan's son Li Sichong in history. First, he supported the restoration in the Shenlong Revolution and entered a high position. Then he followed Prince Li Xian's coup and wanted to restore his glory, but the result was tragic.
Li Ke's third son later became quite talented. He served as the governor of six states during the Wuyi Dynasty, and worked with his brother Li Qianli to quell rebellions in remote areas. His line of descendants became even more prosperous, and high-ranking officials emerged in large numbers.
Li Ke's fourth son is more mediocre and has done nothing.
Although Guo Yuanzhen's few words of evaluation were not completely accurate, they roughly corresponded to the lives of several people. Li Yan felt more confident in adopting his opinion: "What do these three sons think of the former Duke of Zhao?"
Guo Yuanzhen said: "Hate is definitely hateful. It can be seen that they are quite comfortable with the death of the entire Changsun family. But if they want to take revenge on the Changsun family, not to mention whether they have the courage or the ability."
Li Yan nodded slightly: "What about the other members of King Wu's clan? Many of his subordinates in the palace were also exiled. What happened to those people?"
Guo Yuanzhen said: "Most of them have died of illness. The land of Lingnan is fine for strong young people like us. It is just hot and humid, but it is not suitable for the elderly. There are also mosquito bites and snakes and ants infested.
It’s really hard.”
Li Yan's eyes flashed: "Cable reports said that before his death, Duke Wu denounced the former Duke of Zhao, saying that he harmed good people and that the clan was spiritual. The clan was destroyed not long ago. Is this possible?"
Guo Yuanzhen recalled it carefully and shook his head: "I have never heard such words..."
This paragraph is very famous. Before his death, King Wu Li Ke cursed, saying that Changsun Wuji was stealing authority and harming good people. If the Li and Tang royal family showed up, they would destroy his clan next. However, the Changsun family was not destroyed.
Yes, it can be described as retribution.
But this paragraph actually comes from an unofficial history novel and was later quoted in "Zi Zhi Tong Jian", so the authenticity can be imagined.
There is no way, the ancients especially liked this kind of prophecy. For example, when Shangguan Wan'er was pregnant, there was a divination that said "a noble son should be born, and Bingguo will weigh it." After giving birth to a girl, others laughed at it as false, and it turned out that Shangguan Wan'er specialized in domestic affairs.
, as the accountant said, this paragraph is a collection of prose from later dynasties, not official history, and its authenticity is doubtful.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Another example is that Li Chunfeng said that after the third generation of the Tang Dynasty, the Wu family rose and was destroyed. This paragraph comes from unofficial history, and it is basically certain that it was only spread in the market after Wu Zetian ascended the throne.
To put it bluntly, they shoot the arrow first, then draw the target. After the incident occurs, they then fabricate the prophecy of the year and declare the destiny.
Since Guo Yuanzhen had not heard that Li Ke had scolded him, it meant that the possibility of reprimanding him face to face was unlikely. Li Yan frowned slightly: "Yuan Zhen, have you ever thought about it, if the motive of this case is really to avenge Wu Guogong, then
That's all, the two sides do have a big grudge, but if not, why did the murderer frame him?"
Guo Yuanzhen didn't quite understand: "Because Wu Guogong has the most status and hates his eldest grandson Fuji the most, isn't it logical to frame him?"
Li Yandao: "This is a normal idea, but the question is, was the case suppressed afterwards?"
Guo Yuanzhen nodded, and then came back to his senses: "I understand what Liu Lang meant. The murderer chose Wu Guogong to frame him. It is reasonable and reasonable in terms of motivation, but once these two are involved, things will become big!"
Li Yandao: "This is why the lawsuits all broke down and the case files were burned."
"If the newly appointed officials notice the details of the case and report it to the 'former Zhao Guogong' and 'Wu Guogong', then the late emperor will definitely investigate the case. Only if it is burned down and the Lingnan matter cannot be conveyed to the capital, can we temporarily
Stay safe."
"And precisely this point also revealed that the murderer did not want this case to be paid attention to. This in turn conflicts with the details of the revenge of King Wu's ghost. He was high-profile when committing the crime and low-key after the crime. Isn't this contradictory?
"
Guo Yuanzhen was greatly impressed: "As expected of Rokuro, he was able to analyze so much just from small details. So, there must have been some kind of accident during the crime, which caused the murderer to have to cover up everything afterwards?
"
Li Yan was a little helpless: "The above are still in the guessing stage. It takes too long. We can only start with logical analysis. If there are more clues, it doesn't have to be like this..."
Hearing this, Guo Yuanzhen hesitated and said: "Liu Lang, I heard a theory, but it's not easy to deal with. It has something to do with the Queen Mother's relatives."
Li Yan said: "But it doesn't matter."
Guo Yuanzhen said: "I heard that Wu Yuanshuang, the elder brother of the Queen Mother, is the father of Wu Chengsi, the Duke of Zhou. His death from illness is somewhat related to this case."
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Li Yan's happy expression and hurriedly persuaded him: "Liu Lang, that is Zhou Guogong after all. Should we be more roundabout when asking, otherwise the Queen Mother will lose face and give the ministers an excuse to criticize."
Li Yan laughed: "You just came back, I'm afraid you still don't know that the children of the Wu family now are no longer the children of the Wu family before you went, and the Queen Mother has also lost some face..."
"Did they do something wrong again?"
Guo Yuanzhen thought of what Wu Yizong had committed before and knew that these Wu family members were all trash. It was not surprising that these guys were committing evil again, but he still said: "Blood is thicker than water, and the blood relationship between them and the Queen Mother cannot be separated after all.
."
Li Yan thought that this was what Empress Wu hated the most right now. Just because her bloodline was predestined, no matter how disgusted or repulsive she was, she would be blamed for every bad thing Wu did.
Thinking that the next part would be his favorite part, he first recounted the previous fraud case and treason: "The two arrested Wu family members will be executed at the Ministry of Punishment next. I will supervise it, and you will also come and take a look.
?”
Guo Yuanzhen was both shocked and amused when he heard this. He laughed and said: "How can such a good thing be without me? Let's go together!"
The two rested for a while, and then rushed to the imperial city when the time came.
As expected, Qiu Shenji was the first to arrive regardless of the weather. When he saw Guo Yuanzhen, he smiled and said, "Yuanzhen is back from Lingnan? You are in good spirits. What a coincidence for you!"
Guo Yuanzhen looked at Qiu Shenji's scarlet robe with some envy: "Isn't it what I always wanted to be able to accompany Qiu Jiyi to watch the execution?"
Qiu Shenji puffed out his belly and let out a hearty laugh.
The officials from the Ministry of Punishment looked at them with fear. They really didn't understand how such mentality was cultivated, and they even couldn't help but tremble with fear.
After all, this was the killing of a relative of the emperor and a direct relative of the Queen Mother. Even though Wu's son had long been discredited in the eyes of the nobles, for officials like them, it was still difficult to erase the class awe in their hearts.
Even the executioner's posture of waving the instruments of torture is no longer so high-spirited, rather cautious.
This kind of friction that could not be cut off quickly made Wu Chengye and Wu Yuanzong even more frightened and wailed endlessly until Li Yan pointed out thoughtfully.
It is no longer a stone, no longer a thin needle, but its own strength is bursting out, like an invisible sword energy flying out.
In front of everyone, but no one could notice it, he only felt a cold wind blowing by, quietly piercing Erwu's neck.
Wu Yuanzong fell first, followed by Wu Chengye.
[Buzai Wuming (effective)]
[Wu Yuanzong’s highest attribute is family background, and the extraction of family background attribute points failed]
[Buzai Wuming (effective)]
[Wu Chengye’s highest attribute is family background, and he successfully extracted 1 point of family background attribute]
…
The executioner didn't know about his achievements and was robbed. Finally, he broke his awe of the royal relatives and beheaded him with one knife.
Looking at the falling heads and the blood splattering everywhere, even Guo Yuanzhen, who had just smiled playfully, fell silent for a long time without saying a word.
Until Li Yan took him and Qiu Shenji away from the Ministry of Punishment, he said a leisurely expectation that made him unable to hold on any longer: "Once the child is born again, he will become familiar again. If Wu's son does evil again and kills too many of his relatives, he will be executed again."