The case of Taifu Murong Xingyun's treason against the enemy is actually not recorded in detail. The official file handed over to Yun Zheng by the emperor only recorded that Taifu collaborated with the enemy and treason, and the documents were searched from the mansion, and the enemy's annihilation was caught and everything was confessed. The first emperor convicted him resolutely, beheaded all the door, and even Concubine Murong in the palace gave three feet of Bai Ling. On the surface, there is physical evidence, there are witnesses, and Master Taifu also pleaded guilty, and there is evidence, and there seems to be no loopholes.

"Where do we start?" I looked at Yun Zheng, "Evidence? Witness? Or is it the person who made the case? ”

Yun Zheng smiled and said lightly: "Actually, those things are not important. ”

"Why?" I frowned, a little puzzled.

"If a person wants to commit a crime, he must first see what his motives are. What is recorded in this dossier is ridiculous, saying that Murong Taifu was greedy for the huge wealth sent by the Hongyue Kingdom, and with the prominence of the Murong family back then, would he do such a troublesome thing for money? What's even more strange is that this case was only convicted by the first emperor after the first trial of the Criminal Department, and was not picketed by the Metropolitan Procuratorate and refuted by Dali Temple. According to the laws of our dynasty, the main responsibility of Dali Temple is to specifically review the criminal names of the world, and those who have discrepancies in crimes will be refuted according to the law; If there is a wrong, the circumstances must be detailed, and the punishment must be attributed to the guilty, and not the innocent. It is known as the Three Law Divisions together with the Criminal Department and the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and all the divisions are not allowed to be sent to prison without the approval of the Dali Temple. Major cases such as treason with the enemy should be tried by the three legal divisions, with the criminal department and the metropolitan procuratorate mainly in the first instance, and the Dali Temple in the retrial. Yun Zheng finished speaking in one breath, stopped, his eyes fell on the file, and after a while, he smiled slightly, meaning something authentic, "In fact, what is the use of evidence for the crime of collaborating with the enemy and treason?" If the emperor sets the tone himself, it becomes evidence if it is not evidence? ”

I was shocked, and carefully recalled Yun Zheng's words, and the more I thought about it, the more frightened I became. Indeed, from the history I know, there are many courtiers who have been convicted of collaborating with the enemy and treason, and the water behind them is not as simple as it seems. There are also other special cases, the old emperor thinks that it is a talent, and wants to leave it for his son, but he is afraid that he is an old minister, with old qualifications, and does not listen to the call, so he will drive the courtiers out, and as soon as his son ascends the throne, he will pardon him back, and be grateful to the little emperor, such as Tang Taizong to Li Ji. The unjust case created by the emperor is nothing more than these two attempts, but Murong Xingyun's case is definitely not the latter, otherwise it would not be copied all over the house.

Could this be the truth of the Murong family's annihilation? If the emperor wants him to die, then Wei Jinlan is just an executor, did Chu Yan himself think of this, so he would go to great lengths to subvert the world? The Murong family was wiped out, was it because Wei Jinlan was covered in blood to satisfy her own selfish desires, or was she hiding a bigger political conspiracy? Thinking about it carefully, I think that Wei Xiang destroyed Chu Yan's door, but in fact, it was all from Chu Yan's unilateral words, if this matter was said from Wei Jinlan's mouth, would it be a different situation?

"Then the emperor wants you to investigate this case, what tone has you set?" I looked at Yun Zheng, "Does the emperor really want to help Mrs. Murong overturn the case, or is he just putting on a show and dealing with this secret set?" ”

"What do you think?" Yun Zheng looked at me approvingly, it seemed that I had grasped the crux of the problem.

"If the emperor really wants to overturn the case, then this case is easy to investigate, just like you said, if it is not evidence, it can become evidence, and then evidence can not be evidence at any time." I said slowly, "If the emperor doesn't have this intention, there is no need to investigate this case at all." "I even suspect that the emperor deliberately gave me and Yun Zheng some problems and teased us. If the Murong family's unjust case was made by the first emperor, then what is the point of him investigating this case? Do you want to announce to the world that the first emperor did something wrong? If not, the emperor may vaguely know something, or he knows that the person who helped the emperor handle the case back then is now in a high position and is not easy to control, and he wants to remove a thorn in his side through this matter. If we handle it well, it will be okay if we don't handle it properly, and if we don't handle it properly, it is very likely to lead to trouble and become another unjust case, and the emperor can weaken the power of the Yun family. No matter how you calculate it, it is the emperor who takes advantage, and the more I think about it, the more cold my heart becomes.

"Taifu Murong was the emperor's teacher." Yun Zheng said solemnly, "I heard that the relationship between the Queen Mother and Concubine Murong was also very good, although the inside story of the emperor's desire to overturn the case may not be these two things, but the attitude is still very clear." The emperor ordered this case to be secretly investigated, there were many protégés of Murong Taifu back then, and now there are not a few people in high positions in the court. And those who insisted on executing Murong Taifu back then were the remnants of the first emperor, if these people knew that we were investigating this case, they would become oppositionists, and if they had trouble with Murong Taifu's old subordinates, the court would definitely have a lot of trouble. And the Yun family happens to be on both sides, and they have enough ability to investigate this matter, and the emperor's consideration can be described as thorough. ”

That's good, at least I won't suspect that he is deliberately using this matter to embarrass the Yun family. I nodded and said, "Then we will give the emperor a satisfactory explanation, which line to start with?" ”

"The witnesses of that year have already been put to death, and this line can be abandoned. You can go to Dali Temple to collect evidence and see if there are any suspicions. Yun Zheng groaned, "There are also several presiding judges who tried the case back then, and they must also be investigated first." ”

"Then what are we waiting for, let's go right away." I stood up, Yun Zheng held my hand, and said with a smile: "What are you anxious about?" The emperor didn't urge us to solve the case soon, have you forgotten that you are still being stared at? What's more, there are some things that we don't have to do in person. ”

I suddenly came to my senses, yes, what is the status and identity of the Yun family, after so long, I still haven't been used to how to rationally dispose and use the existing resources, and I can't help but feel a little embarrassed.

I have always known that in addition to the three major deacons of the Yun family, there is also a mysterious hidden deacon, in addition to the power of mining, transportation, and weaving, the Yun family also has an invisible force, which includes the court officials supported by the Yun family openly and secretly, the intelligence network of the Yun family, and even the training of the iron guard, etc., which is the lifeblood of the Yun family, that is, the "root of the big tree" that Yun Zheng said. This deacon is responsible for relieving the "roots". But that's all I know, and I don't know who this deacon is, or how he works.

A few days later, we got a file and evidence of Murong Xingyun's betrayal of the enemy, containing a letter written by the king of Qingning County of the Red Kingdom to Murong Xingyun, as well as a small wooden box of tokens that Murong Xingyun handed over to the king of Qingning County, which was said to have been found from the body of the enemy country. The box is locked and affixed with the seal of the official office of Dali Temple. Yun Zheng carefully peeled off the seal, pulled out the copper lock, and opened the box, which contained a letter and a jade pendant. The letter was a little yellowed, and the paper became thin and brittle, Yun Zheng read the letter carefully, picked up the jade pendant and looked at it, and put the things back in the box.

"Do you see anything wrong?" I hurried. Yun Zheng shook his head: "The seal of the letter is indeed the private seal of the King of Qingning County, I have seen it in the official documents of the imperial court, as for this jade pendant, since it was said that it was a token for the enemy, it must be the stuff of Murong Taifu, it will not be wrong." The prima facie evidence doesn't show anything wrong. ”

After Yun Zheng finished speaking, he opened the file, which contained the information of the three presiding judges who tried the case that year. Strangely, two of these three adults angered Long Yan for some reason during the trial of this case, and were exiled to the official position, one was exiled to southern Xinjiang, and before he reached the place of distribution, he was poisoned by the miasma and died on the road, and the other was exiled to Dunan Island, which is a poor place, and this lord died after staying in Dunan for seven years. And the last remaining chief judge has been in Beijing and has been an official in peace, but he also died a year ago.

The clues of human witnesses, physical evidence, and people in the case are all broken! I smiled bitterly and said, "That's good, there is no clue to even the superficial evidence, what should we do?" "Those two exiled adults, I am afraid that they were questioned in the trial and offended the emperor, so they were taken away, right?

"Superficial evidence is not that important, and it doesn't hurt to break it." Yun Zheng smiled, continued to flip through the file, turned to the back pages, and the corners of his lips hooked slightly, "Maybe the real clue is here." ”

"What?" I hurried over and saw that the paper indicated that Concubine Murong was given to death by the first emperor because of her brother's collaboration with the enemy, and when she died, she was pregnant with the dragon vein of the first emperor in her belly, and said suspiciously: "This is a clue?" ”

Yun Zheng pondered: "According to the practice of our dynasty, if a concubine commits a capital crime, if she is pregnant with a dragon vein, she is usually put into the cold palace, and when the child is born, it will be dealt with, and it will not hurt the surname of the royal family in any case." And the dossier said that Concubine Murong was only implicated by her brother, and no matter how confused the emperor was, it was impossible for him not to want the royal descendant. In addition, the time of Murong Concubine's death was actually before Murong Taifu, although Murong Taifu was imprisoned in the heavenly prison at that time, but the case has not yet been tried, Murong Taifu has not yet been convicted, and the first emperor can't wait to give death to Concubine Murong who is pregnant with a dragon descendant, don't you think it's strange? ”

I understand a little, could it be that the crime of Taifu Murong is just a pretense, and it is Concubine Murong who is really guilty, and even this crime is so great that the first emperor can't tolerate the child in her belly. Isn't that kid the emperor's? My scalp is numb, if the truth of this case involves a royal scandal, how can we investigate? I'm afraid that even if it is found out, it will also offend the emperor, what does it mean that this emperor threw such a troublesome thing to us?

"Do you mean that we should put aside the line of Murong Taifu and start with the truth of Concubine Murong's death and start investigating?" I looked at Yun Zheng, his face was still as calm as ever, I don't know if Yun Zheng also thought of what I guessed just now, or if he thought more deeply and thoroughly than me.

"Not bad. What we have to do now is to collect the information of Concubine Murong back then. Yun Zheng closed the file and calmly said.

――2007、1、20;