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Imperial prison, as the name suggests, is the prison directly in charge of the emperor, which means that the criminals in this prison are all issued by the emperor himself to write an edict to discuss the guilt, of course, this is just a general reference, in fact, in the Tang Dynasty, but all the officials who have committed more than five grades are locked up in this prison, and it does not necessarily require the emperor to issue a special edict such a procedure, this edict is not a specially set up prison institution, only refers to the prison in charge of the Dali Temple - a special independent prison room in the pavilion, since the first year of Zhenguan, This edict is rarely used, only when the Han King Li Yuanchang and Hou Junji rebelled, there was a full state, on weekdays are basically vacant, very few officials are taken into this prison, therefore, this prison does not have a special cell head guard, and few people go to take care of it on weekdays, however, since the day before yesterday, this prison has been heavily guarded, not only the temporary transfer of the cell head guards as if facing the enemy, but also from the Yulin army specially transferred hundreds of officers and soldiers to guard this prison to the water, but also funny, Such rigor is just for a six-grade petty official - Liu Cheng, a member of the household department and the warehouse!

How many days? Two days or three days? I don't remember, Liu Cheng doesn't remember how long he has been locked up in this dark cell, and he doesn't even know whether it's day or night, he only vaguely remembers what happened before he was escorted into this cell that day, but no one has come to ask him since he entered this cell, except for the occasional few cell bosses who come together to deliver food, he is the only one in this huge cell, no one will come to see him, whether it is crying or shouting, no one will come to see him, Fear and emptiness gripped his heart like the demons of hell. I don't understand, Liu Cheng can't figure out how all this happened, he only knows that he is wronged, he has shouted, cried, and made trouble, but now his throat has long been hoarse, and his tears have long since dried up, but everything in front of him cruelly and ruthlessly tells him that it is all true. At the beginning, Liu Cheng still held on to good hopes, counting on his father, who was in the position of prime minister, to come to his rescue, and hoping that all this was just a joke, but unfortunately in the end, all hope was disillusioned, and all that was left was boundless fear and emptiness.

A rush of footsteps suddenly sounded in the empty cell, and Liu Cheng, who was in a daze, jumped up reflexively, shouting in a hoarse voice: "Wronged, wronged, wronged......" The poignant voice echoed in the cell, but no one paid attention to Liu Cheng's shouting of grievances, seven or eight officials, led by an official of Dali Temple, opened the door of Liu Cheng's cell with a calm face, and rushed up, no matter how Liu Cheng struggled, Liu Cheng, who was put up with shackles and shackles, walked out, walked out of the cell without stopping, and went straight to the main hall of Dali Temple.

"Wei ...... Wu ...... "Just when Liu Cheng was escorted to the entrance of the hall, the officials of Dali Temple who stood in two rows knocked on the water and fire sticks at the same time, and shouted Weilai, and when the momentum came, Liu Cheng, who was struggling and crying, was so frightened that he was completely dumbfounded, and almost collapsed to the ground, but fortunately, the Dali Temple officials who escorted him had already taken precautions, and they held Liu Cheng desperately, dragged him into the lobby, pressed Liu Cheng to the ground, forced him to kneel to the ground, and then retreated to the queue of the officials.

"Smack!" Before Liu Cheng could react, he heard a sudden sound from the hall, and a majestic voice came from the hall: "Who is kneeling in the hall?" Speak! ”

"Ahh The frightened Liu Cheng shuddered suddenly, Huo Ran raised his head, and when he saw Xiao Yu sitting on the top of the Zhongshu Ling, and there were three other big people sitting on the left and right below, he was immediately dumbfounded, not only did he not answer Xiao Yu's question, but shouted loudly: "Xiao Zhongshu helps, the lower official is wronged, the lower official is really wronged......

"Presumptuous, dare to roar in court, come to someone, drag it down and hit the twenty boards!" As soon as he saw Liu Cheng shouting wildly, Xiao Yu just frowned, but Pei Hongxu, the young secretary of Dali Temple, suddenly slapped the hall wood and took the lead in opening his mouth.

"Wait." Seeing that Liu Cheng could not escape this catastrophe, Wang Zhengrin, the superintendent of the imperial history, immediately stopped the actions of the officials, didn't even look at Pei Hongxu, just arched his hand at Xiao Yu at the top, and said unhurriedly: "Xiao Zhongshu, now that the case is not asked, hit the board first, I'm afraid it will be inappropriate. ”

Although Xiao Yu doesn't have much contact with the courtiers, and rarely participates in the dark affairs between the princes, he is not a fool, how can he not know who is standing behind Pei and Wang, and he knows what these two ministers are thinking, but Xiao Yu doesn't pay much attention to it, the reason why he took over this case is because he has his own ideas! To put it bluntly, Xiao Yu intends to establish his prestige among the courtiers by examining this case, so Xiao Yu didn't plan to side at all, just thinking about judging the facts of the case, so as to give birth to a lottery. If you don't say it again, don't blame the old man for being ruthless! ”

Liu Cheng almost took a beating, but at this point he woke up, and hurriedly said loudly: "Liu Cheng, a member of the warehouse department of the lower official household department, implore Xiao Zhongshu to uphold justice for the lower officials." ”

"Hmm." Seeing that Liu Chengxue was obedient, Xiao Yu snorted reservedly, and continued to ask expressionlessly: "The Xiangzhou grain and grass allocation order on April 22, the eighteenth year of Zhenguan, was it recorded by Er himself?" ”

"The lower official is wronged, all the transfer orders recorded by the lower official are filled in according to the account books from the Ministry of War, there is no mistake, Lord Xiao, the lower official is wronged, wronged......" As soon as Xiao Yu asked At this time, Liu Cheng remembered the torture he had suffered in the past few days, and he became sad and cried loudly.

"Shut up, be presumptuous, be careful of the torture!" Pei Hongxu didn't wait for Xiao Yu to speak, he stopped drinking again, and when he landed, Liu Cheng was so frightened that he stopped howling, Pei Hongxu glanced at Liu Cheng angrily, and then turned to look at Xiao Yu sideways, and bowed his hand and said: "Xiao Zhongshu, now that the account books and the original transfer order have arrived in the hall, the official Ken asked the adult to give an order, so that the criminal officer can admit himself on the spot." ”

Although Xiao Yu was dissatisfied with Pei Hongxu's rush to speak several times, but he didn't want to be too much of himself because of the prince's face, and then thought about it, certification in court is also an inevitable procedure, so he didn't refute Pei Hongxu's face, muttered for a while, stroked the long beard on his chest, and said calmly: "Yes." ”

As soon as Pei Hongxu saw that Xiao Yu agreed with his opinion, he smiled proudly, and glanced at Wang Zhenglin, who was sitting diagonally opposite, with great meaning, and then shouted loudly: "Come on, present the evidence!" As soon as these words came out, several officials of Dali Temple came out of the back hall with account books, transfer orders and other physical evidence, and put this large stack of things on Pei Hongxu's table.

After Pei Hongxu waved off the servants, he took out a few transfer orders from the stack of political objects, got up one by one, paced in front of Liu Cheng, who was kneeling in the hall, and went around in a circle, then handed a few transfer orders in his hand to Liu Cheng, and said coldly: "Look at it, these transfer orders are from Er's handwriting?" ”

Liu Cheng took over the transfer orders with trembling hands, looked at them carefully for a while, and found that there was no Xiangzhou transfer list in them, and these transfer orders were all in his own handwriting, although he didn't understand what was going on, but he still said honestly: "My lord, this is all done by a certain person, and there is no mistake." ”

"Are you sure?" A fine light flashed in Pei Hongxu's eyes, and he said calmly, and hurriedly asked.

"The lower official is sure." Liu Cheng had an ominous premonition in his heart, but he still nodded honestly, indicating that there was no doubt about it.

Pei Hongxu raised the corners of his mouth, smiled slightly, and no longer paid attention to Liu Cheng, strode to his position, picked up another transfer order, combined it with the previous ones, and walked to Xiao Yu's copywriting, while handing over all the transfer orders to Xiao Yu, he said loudly: "Xiao Zhongshu, please take a look, these transfer orders are written by one person?" ”

Xiao Yu is one of the famous calligraphers in the early Tang Dynasty, and his eyesight in calligraphy is very good, he picked up the transfer orders and looked at them, and he already had a fixed opinion in his heart, but he did not express his position immediately, but pinched the transfer orders, glanced at the complacent Pei Hongxu, and asked calmly: "Pei Shaoqing, have these transfer orders ever been called for inspection?" ”

"Back to Lord Xiao's words, it has been tested, and it is no different!" Pei Hongxu reported loudly with a little excitement.

"Wait." Before Xiao Yu could speak, Wang Zhenglin walked out from behind the copywriting and shouted loudly: "Xiao Zhongshu, this matter is very important, I am afraid that it is not necessary for the Dali Temple family to inspect it, and the Criminal Department also has a lot of experienced works, can you ask the Criminal Department to check it again to ensure that it is safe?" ”

Although Xiao Yu already had a fixed opinion in his heart, he did not object to Wang Zhenglin's proposal, turned his head sideways, looked at Liao Chengye, the waiter of the criminal department, who had never said a word, frowned and said, "What does Liao Shilang think?" ”

Liao Chengye had already gotten the news from the "Rising Sun" and went with the flow, remained neutral, he didn't intend to help that side, he was happy to hide and watch the play, at this time, he heard what Xiao Yu had seen and heard, and he had no choice but to bow his hand and say: "This is very good, everything is up to Xiao Zhongshu's fate, and the officials have no objections." ”

Xiao Yu saw that Liao Chengye didn't care about this case so much, and he was really a little puzzled for a while, but he didn't pursue it much, frowned, patted the wood, and raised his voice and said: "Come on, go and call the Criminal Department to understand the forensic text, come and see you immediately!" ”

Since Xiao Yu spoke, the low-level officials who had their own heads went to get busy, and after a while, the two scribes dressed as old and young came to the court, and each of them saluted the officials in the hall, and then took those transfer orders, and carefully scrutinized them, and after being busy for a while, one of the old servants went up to the hall and replied: "My lords, these transfer orders are all done by one person, and there is no mistake. ”

"Good! You've worked hard, come on, reward! Pei Hongxu was excited, and rushed to give orders in front of Xiao Yu, but as soon as the words fell, he woke up and realized that this move was very inappropriate, and he hurriedly picked up the account book on his desk, strode to Xiao Yu's copywriting, and respectfully reported: "Xiao Zhongshu, please see, this Xiangzhou transfer order is obviously different from the account book, and it is definitely not something that can be explained by a clerical error." ”

Xiao Yu glanced at Pei Hongxu dissatisfiedly, but at the end of the day, he still didn't get angry, just took the account book submitted by Pei Hongxu, compared it with the transfer order, and immediately found the difference between the two - the account book is marked with the Kwai number Ding Cang, but the transfer order is clearly written with the number of Non Zi C Cang, the two are not the same thing at all, the difference is too far, and there is no such possibility to explain by clerical errors. At this look, Xiao Yu's face immediately became ugly, put down the account book, slapped the shocked wood, and shouted: "Bold Liu Cheng, you dare to derelict your duties, so that you delay the military plane, can you be guilty?" ”

When I heard the Criminal Department say that the transfer order was done by the same person, Liu Cheng already knew that things were not good, but he was afraid of being beaten by the board, so he didn't dare to shout injustice without authorization, and when he heard Xiao Yu's tone was wrong, he couldn't hold his breath and shouted loudly in a hurry: "Lord Xiao, the lower official is wronged, my lord, the lower official is really wronged......

"Hmph, come on, drag it down, and hit the thirty boards again!" This time, Xiao Yu didn't wait for the rest of the deputy judges to speak, and he was shocked and broke off. The officials of Dali Temple below responded to the order in an uproar, rushed up, dragged Liu Cheng up, dragged him to the entrance of the hall, took off his pants, picked up the big board and pumped it up, and beat Liu Cheng to cry wolf.

Wang Zhenglin didn't expect things to go like this, when he saw Liu Cheng being dragged down the hall, he was anxious, but when he saw Xiao Yu's black face, he didn't dare to open his mouth to plead, and when the screams in the hall started, Wang Zhenglin suddenly remembered something, jumped up busily, strode to Xiao Yu's copy, and said in a loud voice: "Xiao Zhongshu, although the transfer order is correct, it is still unknown whether this account book has been dropped, and it is appropriate to verify the existence of the military department first." ”

Wang Zhenglin's proposal is obviously that Dali Temple may have done something in it, which suddenly made Pei Hongxu angry, snorted coldly, and was about to ridicule each other, if the two deputy judges made trouble in the hall, then the fun would be great, fortunately, Xiao Yu saw the opportunity quickly, and waved his hand to stop Pei Hongxu's sarcastic words that were about to blurt out, and did not ask Pei Hongxu's opinion, but looked at the silent Liao Chengye and said: "Liao Shilang is an old criminal name, what do you think of the words of Wang Yushi?" ”

"The lower officials have no objections, everything is at the behest of Lord Xiao." Liao Chengye got up respectfully, but did not say anything, but kicked the ball back into Xiao Yu's arms.

"Well, it's okay, then call the military department to the bottom." Xiao Yu was very dissatisfied with Liao Chengye's indifferent attitude towards such things, and opened his mouth, thinking about reprimanding him, but when he thought that this place was a public court, he just gave up, but glanced at Liao Chengye dissatisfiedly, stroked his beard, and waved his hand to order.

"Xia Guan is willing to take someone to the military department, please allow Xiao Zhongshu." Wang Zhenglin saw that Xiao Yu agreed with his opinion, and hurriedly made a suggestion first.

"The lower officials are also willing to go together." Pei Hongxu secretly hated Wang Zhenglin's previous suspicion of Dali Temple, and secondly, he was afraid that Wang Zhenglin would secretly do something, so he hurriedly stood up and asked for his life.

Xiao Yu knew the thoughts of the two deputy judges, but he didn't bother to break it, waved his hand and said, "Go and come back quickly!" ”

Since Xiao Yu spoke, Pei and Wang did not dare to slack off, they each bowed and saluted, and led the officials of Dali Temple to hurry to the military department, but the military department transferred the file is not as simple as calling a few servants from the criminal department, Pei and Wang went for more than half an hour, and then led the people back to the public court, and hurriedly presented the bottom of the military department to Xiao Yu's desk.

The account book of the Ministry of War is not the same as the account book of the Ministry of Households, it is the general ledger, and it is not easy to find the relevant news from it, but Xiao Yu did not fake his hands to others, but personally flipped through and found it, and after a lot of busyness, he finally found the source. Fifty more boards! ”

Poor Liu Cheng is just a weak scholar, although he also knows some skills in horseback archery on weekdays, but when it comes to the bottom, he is not a martial artist, with fine skin and tender meat, how can he withstand another beating, as soon as he heard that he was going to be dragged down and hit fifty boards, his face immediately turned green, and he hurriedly shouted: "Don't fight, don't fight, the next official is willing to recruit, Lord Xiao spares his life......"

Wang Zhenglin obviously didn't expect such a result, but seeing that Liu Cheng's crime had been confirmed, his heart immediately panicked, and then he saw Liu Cheng crying and shouting to confess, and he was even more angry, but he couldn't see any flaws in this trial, the sweat on his forehead suddenly surged wildly, but he didn't care about wiping it, and hurriedly stood up and said: "Lord Xiao, since this thief has admitted the crime of negligence, this beating will be spared, you must know that the court has its own laws, and if you are indecent and not punished, I hope Xiao Zhongshu will think twice." ”

Wang Zhenglin is clearly interceding for Liu Cheng, but in fact, he is waking up Liu Cheng to bite to death This case is caused by a moment of negligence, and its meaning is to give up the small to protect the big - dereliction of duty to delay military discipline is of course a felony, but after all, this case is not too big, and it will not lead to a loss on the front line, according to the law of the Tang Dynasty, it is also a sentence to confiscate the army, although Liu Cheng himself is not exempt from suffering, but he can finally save his father Liu Xun first, even if he is implicated, it will not be too heavy, at most it will be a punishment, as long as Liu Xun does not fall, Liu Cheng's life or death is insignificant to the Wei Wang family.

Although Wang Zhenglin's calculation was good, Pei Hongxu had already prepared, and as soon as his words fell, Pei Hongxu immediately stood up and said: "Lord Xiao, the lower officials have evidence to prove that this thief's transfer to the household department is against the law, and his internal affairs can be regarded as idle, so he should be thoroughly investigated!" ”

As soon as Pei Hongxu's words came out, the whole hall was shocked, not to mention the officials and officials in the hall, even Xiao Yu also gasped, looked at Pei Hongxu in a daze, and was so stunned that he couldn't speak for a while......

Infinite Excitement (Full Book)