Imperial City Division.

Si Cheng He Yong took the interrogation transcript that had been drawn by the prisoner and came to the class room to see Zhao Ping.

"Your Highness, after the interrogation, Bai Shan explained some things, but he obviously doesn't know much!"

Zhao Ping took the interrogation transcript and looked at it, after a cup of tea, he put down the interrogation transcript and said: "The account book was forged by us, and it cannot be used as evidence, according to some of the circumstances explained by Bai Shan, at most Zou Ruhai can only be dismissed, but it is obvious that what he committed is not only known to Bai Shan, let's move him now It's a little early!" ”

He Yong thought for a while and bowed his hand to Zhao Ping: "Your Highness, we have no other entry point now, in the opinion of our subordinates, it is better to use this as evidence to bring him down first, and when he has no official position and power, it will be much easier for us to deal with him!" ”

Zhao Ping was right after hearing it, he picked up the file and got up and said: "Zou Ruhai is afraid that he has received the news of Baishan's arrest at this time, you are in charge here, and Zou Ruhai will be stared at by this king, and this king will enter the palace to see his father and emperor, and he will come back soon!" ”

He Yong arched his hand: "No! ”

In order to be in a hurry, Zhao Ping rode a horse to the gate of the imperial city, and entered the palace after passing the inspection.

Diligent Palace.

Lin Jinghui, the commander of the black-clothed guards, stood in front of the imperial case, and Zhao Junsheng sat behind the imperial case and looked at it carefully with a note, which wrote the detailed process of the black-clothed guard's failure to instigate the rebellion of the displaced people of the Southern Dynasties.

After reading it, Zhao Junsheng pondered for a moment and said to Lin Jinghui: "Although the Southern Dynasty Wandering People's Army has been broken up and divided into several groups, they still retain considerable strength, don't give up control over them, as long as they take down one or two cities, they will definitely not be short of money, what they lack is weapons, armor, bows and crossbows and arrows!" In this way, I asked the military department to prepare a batch of ordnance and transport it to the border, and then your black-clothed guards took over, and found a way to sell it to the exile army of the Southern Dynasty, and the arrears were transferred to the military department, so as to increase the strength of the exile army, so that they can make a comeback, remember that this batch of ordnance can only be used for this purpose, if it is diverted for other purposes, I will only ask! ”

Lin Jinghui bowed and clenched his fists: "Don't dare!" ”

At this time, the eunuch Yuan Jian walked in and reported: "Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the King of Shu asks to see you!" ”

Zhao Junsheng turned his head, "Xuan!" ”

Lin Jinghui saluted again: "The minister retires!" ”

Zhao Junsheng nodded and waved his hand.

Lin Jinghui and Zhao Ping met at the door of the main hall, Lin Jinghui clasped his fists and saluted, and when Zhao Ping went in first, Zhao Ping nodded to him, and was also curious about him, he had seen Lin Jinghui a few times, but he was not familiar with it, and only knew that Zhao Junsheng trusted this person very much.

He came to the front of the palace and saluted: "My son, I see my father!" ”

Zhao Junsheng said: "Did you go and ask your aunt to say goodbye?" Did you go to see your younger siblings? ”

"Uh······" Zhao Ping's face was embarrassed, "Erchen hasn't gone yet!" ”

Zhao Junsheng said: "Do you want to go?" Still don't have time to go? Or are you too lazy to go? ”

Zhao Ping hurriedly knelt on the ground: "Erchen······ Erchen knows that he is wrong! ”

"I see that you are troublesome, and I don't take this matter seriously in my heart, if you pay attention to it, no matter how busy and tired you are, you will take a little time to see them every day!"

Zhao Ping was very ashamed of Zhao Junsheng's words, he really didn't pay attention to this matter, and subconsciously thought that he often met, so why bother to ask for peace every day? lest he be taught a lesson by his mother again, and he was pestered by his younger brothers and sisters to let him take them out to play.

"My father taught me the right lesson, and my son is very ashamed, and I will often enter the palace to say goodbye to my mother in the future, and get together with my younger brothers and sisters!"

Zhao Junsheng sighed: "You have grown up, Grandpa doesn't want to talk about you anymore, you get up!" ”

"Thank you, Father!"

"Tell me, what is the matter with me today?"

Zhao Ping took out the confession of Bai Shan from his sleeve and presented it with both hands, "Erchen and the arresters of the Imperial City Division have found out that Zou Ruhai, the servant of the Criminal Department, and Heluo's huge corruption of ink are indeed related, but the evidence currently in Erchen's possession is insufficient. ”

At the latest, since the Shang Dynasty reformed the law, the laws of all dynasties and dynasties collectively referred to all illegal gains as "dirty", and what Zhao Ping said here is to accept bribes.

Zhao Junsheng took the confession and looked at it, recorded several pages, and after reading it, he said: "Judging from this confession, Zou Ruhai's amount of dirt is not large, and he can't even reach the sentence of exile, right?" ”

"Yes, the law of our dynasty was formulated by borrowing the laws of previous dynasties, and it has also undergone many revisions, according to the current laws of our dynasty, Zou Ruhai's crime is to be imprisoned, and he was sentenced to exile when the amount of dirt received is 5,000 guan, and the total number of dirty he has received is less than 5,000 guan, and the law stipulates that he will be punished with 20 guan and 100 guan plus one class, 1,000 guan and one year, and 5,000 guan and exiled for 2,000 li!"

What is this charge against being imprisoned? It means that the official accepts the property of his subordinates and the people in the jurisdiction, or the official extorts property from his subordinates and the people in the jurisdiction, and the party who grants the property does not have specific requirements, and the official does not handle official business illegally!

This crime is the lightest crime for the crime of accepting bribes as stipulated in the decree of the Great Cadres, and there are two other kinds of charges for accepting bribes, namely "perverting the law by accepting wealth" and "not perverting the law by accepting wealth."

From the literal meaning, it can be understood that "bending the law by accepting money" refers to the illegal and disciplinary acts committed by officials in the handling of official affairs after accepting the property of the parties; The sentence for these two crimes of accepting bribes is obviously much heavier than the crime of being imprisoned, and the maximum sentence for perverting the law is hanging, while the maximum sentence for accepting money is 3,000 li of exile and serving three years of hard labor in the place of exile.

Zhao Junsheng put down his confession and asked, "What do you mean by coming to see me?" Want to catch someone first? ”

Zhao Ping bowed: "Yes, we don't have other evidence at the moment, Erchen wondered if he should be arrested according to the existing charges first, after he lost power, maybe it would be much easier for us to find other evidence!" ”

Zhao Junsheng weighed it, now Zhao Ping not only leads the official position of the Imperial City Division, but also manages the Criminal Department, if Zou Ruhai, the servant of the Criminal Department, is taken down, then the Criminal Department is completely under the control of Zhao Ping alone, he is not worried that Zhao Ping has too much power and threatens his throne, but is worried that the courtiers will criticize it.

Zhao Junsheng thought about it for a while and said: "Yes, you will be fully responsible for investigating this case during this time, and you don't have to take care of the official affairs of the Criminal Department anymore, I will send another person to act as an agent!" ”

"No!"

Zhao Ping didn't have any complaints, he had long known that this criminal department Shangshu would not work for long, and it was impossible for one person to be the head of two powerful departments, even if his father Zhao Junsheng didn't mind, those court ministers would definitely have a lot of complaints about it.

As soon as Zhao Ping came out of the imperial city, a head catcher of the imperial city came up and saluted: "Your Highness, you can figure it out, I just received the news from the brother who followed Zou Ruhai, Zou Ruhai has signs of fleeing, he saw a person in the temple in the east of the city." According to the investigation, this person is the Wu housekeeper attached by Uncle Qu Liang! In addition, the brother who was monitoring Zou Ruhai's mansion sent news that Zou Ruhai's wife, concubine and children had already hurried out of the city and went in the direction of Xinfeng! ”

Zhao Ping was stunned, "Where is Zou Ruhai now?" ”

"After he was separated from the housekeeper Wu in Quliangbo's mansion, he went out of the temple and wandered around the city in a carriage, drinking tea at a tea house in the east of the city at this time!"

He immediately ordered: "Send someone to keep an eye on Zou Ruhai's family and see where they settle!" In addition, you lead the team to arrest Zou Ruhai, don't make too much noise! ”

"Understood!"

Zou Ruhai sat in the private room of the tea house, and next to him was a little lady who was playing the pipa.

Zou Ruhai's heart was very chaotic, he didn't have any intention to drink tea at all, and his mind was always thinking about how to exonerate himself, but no matter how he thought about it, he couldn't think of any good way, at this time he was like an ant on a hot pot, walking back and forth in the private room.

"Are you just sitting still?" Zou Ruhai's mind was a mess, and at this time he suddenly felt a little powerless.

Is there anything else you can do to save yourself? Zou Ruhai touched his forehead and rubbed his temples, so anxious that he could barely control his emotions.

Suddenly, Zou Ruhai thought of a good idea, and he immediately got up and walked out of the private room.

When he walked out of the tea house and was about to get into the carriage, a team of catchers ran over and surrounded him and the carriage, and he found that these catchers were people from the Imperial City Division.

Zou Ruhai said calmly: "This official wants to see the King of Shu!" ”

The head catcher who led the team looked at him and said, "Zou Shilang will see you, please get in the car!" Xiao Yi, you go to catch the carriage! ”

The catcher who called Xiaoyi quickly pulled the coachman down, jumped up and picked up the whip to catch the car, Zou Ruhai calmly got into the carriage, and the catcher waved his hand: "Go!" ”

Before the pedestrians on the street understood what was going on, the catchers of the Imperial City Division escorted the carriage away.

Zou Ruhai was escorted into the detention cell of the Imperial City Division, an iron fence separated him from the outside world, and two soldiers stood guard at the door of the cell, they received orders that no one was allowed to approach the cell, let alone visit.

After lunch, Zhao Ping came to the detention room and met Zou Ruhai.

The cell door was opened, and Zhao Ping, Si Cheng He Yong, and two armor soldiers walked in.

Zou Ruhai saw Zhao Ping like a cat saw a mouse, he quickly got up and knelt in front of Zhao Ping and said: "Your Highness, the minister is guilty, and the minister has a major confidential report!" ”

Zhao Ping's expression was indifferent: "Say!" ”

Zou Ruhai looked at He Yong and the two armor soldiers, and arched his hand: "Please ask Your Highness to retreat!" ”

Zhao Ping thought about it for a while, Zou Ruhai was now teasing his hands and feet, and he couldn't play any tricks, so he waved his hand: "You guys retreat first!" ”

He Yong and the two armor soldiers bowed down with their fists and retreated, and quickly left.

Then Zou Ruhai roughly said the dirty situation he had committed, but he only said some of the things that Bai Shan knew, and did not mention anything else.

After saying this, he said: "Your Highness, the minister knows that he is guilty, and the crime of the minister will definitely be to lose his official position and be dismissed, and he will be flogged and serve a year of hard labor, but the minister still has ambitions, and the minister still wants to serve the Daqian Dynasty!" The minister is willing to be loyal to His Royal Highness, assist His Highness to ascend the throne, and lay the foundation for the Great Qian Dynasty! I beg His Highness to give the minister a chance, and also give himself a chance! ”