The Metropolitan Governor's Mansion of Qizhou, the confidant of King Yuanji of Hailing, the Metropolitan Governor of Qizhou and the King of Lujiang, Li Ying (Yuan), was in the study, writing and folding to express his submission to the Tang Emperor Li Shimin.

The door of the study was suddenly kicked open.

Li Ying looked at the person who came, and the person who came was his confidant, Wang Junkuo (kuo), the general of the Qizhou Army.

Wang Junkuo was originally a thief, and in the last years of the Sui Dynasty, the world was in turmoil, and he gathered people to be thieves and plundered everywhere. Surrendered to Wagang Mountain, famous for his bravery, known as "Saiguan Gong", Li Mi treated him not well, and soon he attached himself to the Tang Dynasty and became the guard of Li Ming, the king of Lujiang. Li Ying was promoted all the way, introduced him as a confidant, promoted to the general of the Qizhou Army, took charge of the Qizhou military, and married his daughter to him to win his heart. Wang Junkuo also tasted and said to people: "My Wang Junkuo has today's glory, all because of the king of Lujiang." The king of Lujiang has the grace of knowing me, and he is also my father-in-law and Shangguan, and I will swear allegiance to him. ”

Li Ying trusted Wang Junkuo very much, so he lowered his head again, continued to write his own notes, and said to Wang Junkuo slowly: "Kuo'er, is there something wrong?" ”

Wang Junkuo said coldly: "Li Yi of Youzhou has been defeated, I want to borrow your head to use it in order to seek wealth and nobility, and I hope that the adults will agree." ”

Li Ying was suddenly startled, and the pen in his hand fell to the ground uncontrollably, and he was stunned on the spot. After a long time, he scolded: "Wang Junkuo, you villain, sell me for glory." I treat you well, if you kill me today, there will be retribution in the future. ”

Wang Junkuo didn't hear it, walked up to Li Jin, and cut off Li Jin's head with a knife. Li Ying died, his eyes wide open, full of resentment.

A few days later, Li Jin's head was sent to the imperial capital of Chang'an, and the Tang Emperor Li Shimin agreed to Wang Junkuo's request to lead the Qizhou army and continue to be in charge of the Qizhou military.

Cui Gan, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, recommended Li Xuandao, the nephew of the wealthy family of Shandong and Fang Xuanling, as the assassin of Qizhou, and was in charge of the military and political affairs of Qizhou, and the Tang Emperor Li Shimin played it.

In the early morning of the second day, Li Xuandao went to the mansion of Cui Gan, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, to bid farewell to Cui Gan.

Cui Gan sat upright on the main seat of the hall, and said to Li Xuandao, who was standing in place after saluting himself, listening to his instructions: "This time to Qizhou, I want to ask you for one thing." ”

Li Xuandao bowed down and said, "My lord, please speak." ”

Cui Gan said slowly: "I don't care what method you use, help me kill someone." ”

Li Xuandao was taken aback and asked, "Who to kill?" ”

Cui Gan said word by word: "Wang Junkuo, the protector of the Qizhou Army." ”

Li Xuandao groaned: "Why did you kill him? He is in charge of the military of Qizhou, and it may not be easy to kill him. ”

Cui Gan replied: "Just kill him, if there is anything, I will take care of it." I have already discussed with Lu Shangshu of the Ministry of War, and I will give you 5,000 elite soldiers to escort you to your post. All you have to do is kill Wang Junkuo. ”

Li Xuandao pondered for a while, then bowed down and said, "Obey the orders of the adults." ”

More than ten days later, Li Xuandao arrived in Qizhou and summoned officials of all sizes in Qizhou, but did not summon Wang Junkuo. After that, Li Xuandao did not inform Wang Junkuo of all the meetings, as if there was no such person as Wang Junkuo in Qizhou.

All the officials in Qizhou could see that the new Lord Thorn Shi did not want to see Wang Junkuo.

Wang Junkuo saw that he was gradually marginalized by the officialdom of Qizhou, so he took the initiative to find Li Xuandao and asked, "Why did the assassin underestimate me?" ”

Li Xuandao said sneeringly: "What if I look down on you? How can I trust a man who has lost his loyalty, who dares to kill his own father-in-law, to serve the Son of Heaven faithfully? A person who dares to kill even his own superiors, how can I rest assured that you will be my subordinate? ”

Wang Junkuo looked ashamed, but he had nothing to do, but he could only reluctantly accept the reality of being gradually marginalized.

After that, every day Li Xuandao not only ignored Wang Junkuo's existence, but also beat him every day. Wang Junkuo was afraid of the army in the hands of Li Xuandao, and every day was worse than death, and every day was like a year. couldn't fight, couldn't stay, Wang Junkuo chose to escape, escaped from the Tang Dynasty, and fled to Turkic.

But as soon as he was in Qizhou City, he was caught by Li Xuandao. After that, he was beheaded by Li Xuandao on the charge of traitor to the Turks. The head was sent to the imperial capital of Chang'an.

Qianyuan Palace, looking at Wang Junkuo's head, Tang Emperor Li Shimin's face was pale, and he said coldly: "Cui Gan, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, can you explain to me what is going on?" You, you tell me, how did you get Li Xuandao to kill Wang Junkuo? ”

Cui Gan slowly stood up and replied loudly: "Your Majesty, yes, I asked Li Xuandao to kill Wang Junkuo." But Wang Junkuo should be killed. During the Han and Wei dynasties, Dong Cheng, the general of the chariot cavalry, wanted to murder Cao Cao, the king of Wei, and his housekeeper had an affair with Dong Cheng's concubine and reported Dong Cheng, resulting in Dong Cheng's conspiracy failing and Dong Cheng's entire family being beheaded. Afterwards, instead of rewarding the steward, the king of Wei publicly counted his sins of disloyalty and injustice and beheaded him. Weichen thought that it was because King Wei was mean and thoughtless, ruthless and unrighteous, but it was really to maintain the road of humanity and prevent the following crimes from happening to kill the master with servants. The sages once said: Etiquette, righteousness, honesty and shame are the four pillars that support a country. The minister is the secretary of the Tang Dynasty Rites, in charge of the Tang Dynasty etiquette, maintaining the morality of the country, punishing the evil and promoting the good, this is the duty of the minister. My Datang has just experienced war, for the sake of interests, for survival, etiquette is lost, morality is declining, the world is declining, and the minister thinks that rebuilding the state of etiquette is the most urgent thing for me in Datang. And like Wang Junkuo, a villain who kills the old master, is not ashamed, but is proud, my Datang must be heavy-handed and severely punished, so as to set an example, so that all the people in the world can see, the attitude of my Datang court towards the villain who killed the old lord is not to add officials to the knighthood, let him be free and reckless, but to severely punish the law, behead him on the spot, let his family ruin and regret not at the beginning. ”

Tang Emperor Li Shimin groaned, he knew that what Cui Gan said was right, but the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty, for various reasons, killed the old master and defected to themselves There are not many people, once Cui Gan is praised, it will chill the hearts of these people, and make these people all self-endangered, not to mention that it is with these villains that they can get rid of their henchmen one by one, it is precisely because of these villains that they can sit back and relax and know everything about the world.

Cui Gan saw Li Shimin's hesitation, so he continued: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that Your Majesty can't abolish righteousness with small profits. Wang Junkuo got rid of the henchman of Hailing Wang Yuanji, King Lujiang and the governor of Qizhou, Li Ming, and relieved His Majesty of a big trouble, but once His Majesty does not severely punish a villain like Wang Junkuo, people in the world will follow suit, and all officials will be in danger. The world is declining, morality is declining, the country has no cohesion, and the people are not loyal. ”

Li Shimin's face was contemplative, and he was silent for a long time.