Jing Min looked at Huang Dezhong weakly, "Who do you think I was instructed by?" ”

"Although the official knows who it is, isn't this your chance to make meritorious contributions? As long as you say it, it means that you are truly repentant, and the official can specifically explain in the interrogation record that you took the initiative to cooperate with the official's investigation, and there is remorse and meritorious service, according to your current crime, if you are judged by Your Majesty, you will definitely be punished by the three clans, but if you have meritorious service and repentance, the official can intercede with Your Majesty to kill you alone, and spare your whole family! ”

Jing Min's eyelids moved, his heart moved, if he could keep his old parents and wife and children, and only he would die, would he have any other choice? This Huang Dezhong's meaning is obvious, that is, to let him involve this matter on the prince.

"If I say that it was instructed by the prince, will you believe it?"

Huang Dezhong showed an appreciative look when he heard this, "It doesn't matter whether the official believes it or not, the important thing is that you have to let Your Majesty believe it, you have to let Your Majesty know that you are persecuted by the crown prince, you are a county guard, and you are also an official who has been reused by His Majesty Longen and the imperial court for many years, if it is not persecuted by others, how can you do something that disobeys the holy order to protect the Sogdian merchants?" Jing Taishou, don't worry, think about it? ”

"I ······"

"Okay, the official will give you a night to think about it, and tomorrow morning, when the official comes back, I hope you have already made a decision!"

After Huang Dezhong left, Jing Min was sent back to his cell, where he was curled up in the corner of the cell, his body was in pain, but his mind was clear.

He knows very well what he has done, for some reason, the interrogation on the side of the Imperial City Division stopped until he provided shelter for the Sogdian merchant Shi Dayou, and did not deliberately bend into a trick and continue to dig deeper, and the Dali Temple also made a judgment based on this interrogation, which was the result he most wanted to see, the crime stopped at him alone, and did not harm his family, but the criminal department had a problem when it was reviewed, and the nature of the case changed, and this Huang Dezhong expanded his crime in the interrogation room to collude with the Sogdians and the enemy country, This crime is completely different, this is to kill the three tribes.

What's going on here? It has been so many days since the incident happened, and he has not fully understood it, but today he has figured out that Huang Dezhong's purpose is to involve this case in the prince, Huang Dezhong is obviously a big man behind him, otherwise how dare Huang Dezhong, a small head of the criminal department, touch the prince? Isn't this hitting a stone with an egg, and not measuring one's own strength?

He smoothed out the things that happened these days one by one, and finally had some eyebrows, which must be inseparable from the king of Shu, but if the king of Shu wants to deal with the prince, some things are too obvious.

For example, the Imperial City Division did not do much in this case, which means that there are no three hundred taels of silver here, and it seems that he is deliberately avoiding it, so can it be proved that the King of Shu has nothing to do with this case?

However, it was said that Huang Dezhong, who was presiding over Jing Min, had just walked out of the prison, and a person who looked like a family man came over and saluted and asked: "Do you dare to ask if it is Lord Huang, the director of the Criminal Department?" ”

Huang Dezhong nodded with a straight face: "This official is Huang Dezhong, who are you?" ”

"Lord Huang, my Royal Highness the King of Shu is invited!"

Huang Dezhong immediately changed his face, and said to him: "Then please ask the little brother to lead the way!" ”

During this time, there were constantly court officials standing on the side of the king of Shu, and they were quite close to Zhao Ping, the king of Shu, this Huang Dezhong was one of them, he wanted to gain Zhao Ping's trust, on the one hand, he wanted to stand in line, so he had to do this; On the other hand, he wanted to give Zhao Ping a handy gift, and it happened that Jing Min's case was taken over by him to re-investigate, and he felt that this was an opportunity to show loyalty to Zhao Ping, so there was a scene in the interrogation room just now.

Who is Zhao Ping? He is the prince, the king of Shu, or the chief official of the Imperial City Division, in the past few years, he has not done it for nothing, how many of his eyes and ears are in this world, he himself does not know, Jing Min's case He has been paying close attention from the beginning to the present.

Huang Dezhong came to the lobby under the guidance of the Shu Wangfu family, he swept his eyes and found that in addition to Zhao Ping sitting on the main seat opposite, there were several officials on both sides, although the official positions of these people were not high, but they were not nameless boys.

"Huang Dezhong, the head of the Criminal Department, see His Highness!"

Zhao Ping raised his hand and said: "Master Huang doesn't need to be polite, this king has been wondering, why haven't you been here these days, what official business are you busy with?" ”

Huang Dezhong immediately expressed his merits: "Your Highness, the minister is investigating a case recently, the former Tianshui Taishou Jing Min colluded with the Sogdian merchant Shi Dayou, openly disobeyed the holy order, and even betrayed the interests of our cadres and colluded with the enemy country!" ”

"Oh? You said that Jing Min disobeyed the holy order, this king knows, he has a relationship with the Sogdian merchant Shi Dayou, received money from others to provide shelter, and disobeyed the will of his father, this king ordered the relevant personnel of the Imperial City Department to arrest him because of this, but you said that he betrayed my Daqian interests to Shi Dayou, and colluded with the enemy country, why didn't this king know? Is there any solid evidence? ”

Facing Zhao Ping's questioning, Huang Dezhong knew that this was a good opportunity for him to perform, so he immediately said: "Your Highness, the minister is looking for evidence, Jing Min should agree to cooperate!" Xiao Chen knew that he was the prince's person, and this time as long as he confessed that he was instructed by the prince and provided relevant evidence, the prince would definitely be in trouble! ”

Zhao Ping was silent for a while, and said: "Huang Dezhong, your thoughts are understood, you are for the good of this king, this king is not a person who doesn't know what to do, it's just this matter······ In fact, after the Imperial City Division captured Jing Min, this king had enough opportunities and means for him to commit it, but this king didn't do it, do you know why? ”

Huang Dezhong realized at this time that he might have done something bad with good intentions, and sweat broke out on his forehead, "The minister is stupid, and I ask His Highness for advice."

Zhao Ping said: "This king has long known that Jing Min is the prince's brother's person, and the Imperial City Division is under the jurisdiction of this king, if this king uses unconventional means against him, the government and the opposition will think that the real purpose of this king is to go to the prince's brother, will the government and the opposition suspect that this king will take such means as bending and beating him?" Even the father will think that the king is deliberately provoking a fight with the prince's brother, do you think the father will be happy with the king's approach? ”

Huang Dezhong's face suddenly turned earthy, "Your Highness, your ······ The minister did not know His Highness······ The minister messed things up, the minister ······" Before he finished speaking, he knelt down.

Zhao Ping raised his hand with a calm face: "I can't completely blame you for this, but you must not act on your own in the future, so as not to disrupt the king's plan!" ”

"Yes, yes, the minister wanted to show himself in front of His Highness, but he didn't expect it······ Xiao Chen didn't dare anymore! ”

After Huang Dezhong finished speaking, he asked carefully: "Your Highness, then next, ······ the minister's side?"

Zhao Ping said: "Didn't you force Jing Min to cooperate with you?" You keep going! ”

"Huh? This ······" Huang Dezhong was a little stunned.

"Things have reached this point, you have already offended the prince's brother, even if you stop halfway, do you think the prince's brother will receive the king's love? The battle has begun, if our side unilaterally dies down, the prince's brother will definitely think that this king is cowardly, and when the time comes, they will accuse our father and the emperor of our torture and fabrication of charges, this king is only afraid that he will not be able to withstand their counterattack, and the first to bear the brunt of retaliation will be you, Huang Dezhong! Moreover, this king also wants to use this incident to test the reaction and strength of the East Palace! ”

Zhao Ping's words made Huang Dezhong enlightened, and he immediately saluted and said: "Yes, Your Highness is right, the minister will continue to do this after he goes back!" ”

At this time, the crown prince Zhan Shi Ningren walked in and reported: "Your Highness, Dali Temple is asking to see Lu Lin!" ”

"What is he here for?" The officials in the hall of the Shu Wangfu all looked at each other.

Zhao Ping was also a little puzzled, Lu Lin's official is not big, but it is not small, there are six separate cases in Dali Temple, this Lu Lin is one of them, but he is not familiar with this person, but this person handed him a letter a few days ago, he did not deliberately get close to this person because this person is Lu Xuan's nephew, lest he be misunderstood that he has something to do with Lu Xuan.

Lu Lin's career did not rely on Lu Xuan's support, nor did he obtain an official position because of his father's merits, but he was promoted all the way to Dali Temple through the imperial examination.

After thinking about it for a while, Zhao Ping said: "Please!" ”

Lu Lin is in his forties and has a good appearance, probably because of his family history, he has a strong Confucian atmosphere.

"Chen Dali Temple is Lu Lin to meet His Highness!"

Zhao Ping smiled and raised his hand and said, "Lord Lu doesn't have to be polite, I don't know if Lord Lu came to see this king this time?" ”

Lu Lin bowed and said: "Your Highness, Jing Min's case was judged by the minister according to the interrogation results of the Imperial City Division, but he didn't expect that the verdict did not pass the review after it was sent to the Criminal Department, and the Criminal Department also submitted it to His Majesty for a holy ruling, and the case had to be re-investigated, it was all the minister's fault, if the minister was not so anxious at the time and detained this case for a few days, there might not have been such a result, the minister may have ruined His Highness's affairs, and the minister came to ask His Highness for his guilt today!" ”

Not only Zhao Ping, but the other people in the hall understood after hearing these words, this Lu Lin said that he was here to ask for guilt, but in fact he came to show favor to Zhao Ping, and the intention to surrender to Zhao Ping was already obvious, he thought that this case was used by Zhao Ping to deal with the prince, so when the trial file was sent to Dali Temple, he was quickly sentenced.

Zhao Ping really couldn't cry or laugh, Lu Lin and Huang Dezhong both wanted to show their loyalty to him and wanted to show some credit to prove that they were useful to Zhao Ping, but they did bad things with good intentions and did them a bad favor, and fired the first shot with the prince in advance when Zhao Ping was not ready!

Things have happened, Zhao Ping knows that it is useless for him to be angry, the intentions of these two people are good, he can't blame them for this matter, otherwise it will discourage the enthusiasm of other ministers and officials who are on his side.

After thinking for a while, Zhao Ping said to Lu Lin: "I can't blame you for this matter, now the case has been handed over to the Criminal Department for re-investigation, this king estimates that this case will be handed over to Dali Temple for a second trial in the end, if you are still in charge, please let Lord Lu inform this king in advance, okay?" ”

Lu Lin immediately shook his head to the ground: "Your Highness, rest assured, next time the minister will never act recklessly!" ”