The first emperor collapsed and the new emperor ascended the throne, and for ordinary people, their lives were not greatly affected by this.

No matter who does this throne, it is an internal matter of the royal family, and it will never be said that because of the change of the throne, the buns on the street will become a penny, and the people's lives are nothing more than firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea.

As long as the newly appointed emperor does not smash the people's jobs, it will generally not cause great repercussions among the people.

But for those who are officials, it is different, there is a saying that once a son of heaven is a courtier, the new emperor ascends the throne is often accompanied by a major reshuffle of officialdom, good officials read that you work hard and work hard, find a reason to let you go home to retire.

And some officials will be settled after the autumn, imprisoned and beheaded, now there are very few officials in prison, let alone beheading, the most powerful is the Wuzong period, because of Wang Haiyan's reform, the first thing that directly allowed Wuzong to ascend the throne was to deal with the new government officials, and asked and beheaded a large number of court officials.

However, there are also some people who are looking forward to the new emperor's accession to the throne, that is, the prisoners detained in various places, of course, this does not include the prison prisons, the prisoners in the prisons around the country are generally thieves and peddlers, the new emperor ascends the throne in order to show his generosity and benevolence, usually carry out an amnesty, that is, as long as the people in the national prison are not guilty of major crimes and capital crimes, even the Yindu Criminal Department prison will pardon a group of prisoners who are arraigned.

Walking into the depths of the Yindu prison, the stench came to the face, and a group of officials walked inside while covering their mouths, and no newcomers had entered this prison for a long time.

The oil lamps in the prison had not been lit for a long time because there was no oil from the officials, and they could not walk as they walked, because the corridors of the prison were full of excrement from the previous prisoners, and in order to reach the depths of the prison, these officials could only sweep with shovels and add oil to the oil lamps.

Footsteps rang out from the end of the corridor, and when I turned right through an iron door, the dark and foul-smelling prison suddenly became bright, with oil lamps on both sides one after another, and there was no filth on the ground.

Although the air is also a little smelly, it is much better than the outside, the official at the head of the office breathed a sigh of relief, and then made a gesture of please, and said flatteringly to the red-clothed eunuch behind him, "Gonggong Han, please inside, the person you are looking for is inside, we follow your instructions, take good care of it, treat the wounds and diseases, and don't dare to delay at all." ”

This man in red with an indifferent expression that was almost cold was Han Zhongxuan, as for why Han Zhongxuan appeared here, these officials didn't understand, and they didn't dare to ask Xue Xun, the secretary of the Criminal Department, so they could only listen to the words from above to attract this palace manager here.

Han Zhongxuan waved his hand, and the subordinates behind him all retreated, and these servants also left.

Walking in the musty prison, Han Zhongxuan's steps were slightly heavy, and as he walked, he heard a sound of grinding ink inside, the sound was very small, but it was particularly harsh in the empty prison.

In the depths of the prison, in a cell, three oil lamps surrounded the old man who was half-lying on the ground in front of him, the old man was unkempt and clean, but he was also tattered.

The old man's hands were dark and stained with a little ink, and on the small square table where the ink was polished was a large pile of finished paper, and on the bed next to the table there was a large bag of unopened cooked paper.

Han Zhongxuan slowly leaned towards the old man, his body just covered the oil lamp behind him, and the entire cell instantly darkened a lot, and Han Zhongxuan's shadow just covered the square table in front of the old man, and suddenly it darkened in front of him, and the person who came put down the graphite in his hand, got up and stretched his waist, and said indifferently, "Isn't this Gonggong Han?" I haven't seen you for more than a year, so I feel like you've lost a lot of weight. ”

Han Zhongxuan smiled leisurely, and moved his body to the left like an old friend, so that the cell was bright again, "I'm old and have a lot of worries, can I not lose weight?" You, on the other hand, seem to be in good spirits. ”

"Thanks to your care, I can stay in this place for five years, by the way, thank you for the pen, ink, paper and inkstone, so that my old bones will not be too boring." The old man sat on the ground, then picked up the wolf pen and said with a smile at Han Zhongxuan.

Han Zhongxuan looked at the old man with a serious face, "This is what the first emperor asked me to bring to you, he respects your integrity, appreciates your talent, and admires your courage even more, but unfortunately in the end, you still refuse to bow your head." ”

"The First Emperor? Your Majesty, he ......" The old man also sensed something when he heard this, and his expression was also serious, and he got up and said.

"Just after the first seven days of the death of the first emperor, the crown prince has succeeded to the throne, and I will let you out." Han Zhongxuan waved his hand casually, only to see the iron lock of the prison slamming to the ground, making a screeching sound.

The old man was slightly stunned, and then knelt down and kowtowed to the south with a serious face, "Chen Bai sends your majesty to the court." ”

The man in front of him is Bai Xiangting, five years ago, Bai Xiangting came to Yindu Guozijian with a longing, thinking that his ability would be further sublimated here, so that he could go back to benefit the people of the East China Sea, but he never thought that he would suffer from the way of the Central Government.

still remembers that Han Zhongxuan brought three boxes of jewelry in front of him and asked him to state the evidence of the guilt of King Gao Xian of the East China Sea; When he saw this scene, Bai Xiangting was stunned, he had never met a talent, and finally met a king of the East China Sea who was willing to use him, Gao Xian, how could he easily betray him.

As a result, Gao Zhen was angry and locked Bai Xiangting in the Criminal Department, one pass was five years, in the past five years, Gao Zhen and Han Zhongxuan have exhausted all methods, coercion and temptation, torture and torture, and the methods that can be used have been used all over again, but the final result is to achieve Bai Xiangting's unyielding loyalty.

A year ago, after Gao Zhen learned that he was seriously ill, he stopped torturing Bai Xiangting, after all, Bai Xiangting was indeed a rare talent, and Gao Zhen didn't want to be tortured to death by himself for such a big talent.

"Bai Xiangting, I still don't understand, you keep saying that you are a courtier of Dafeng, why do you bend your knees and go to the door of Gao Xian, the king of the East China Sea, as long as you open your mouth back then, there will be a place for you in the position of the six Shangshu, and you will not suffer from this unprovoked disaster." Han Zhongxuan asked suspiciously.

Bai Xiangting picked up the paper written on the table and smiled indifferently, "People, there are always things to stick to, I, Bai Xiangting, never talk about my courtiers of the King of the East China Sea, anyone asks me, I will say that I am a courtier."

But I can do Yangzhou Mu to become a courtier of Dafeng is inseparable from the prince, the prince has the grace of knowing me, it is he who made me from a prodigal scholar to a court official.

What's more, at that time, you asked me to list some false evidence of crimes, if it were you, would you do such unfaithful and unrighteous things for those gold, silver and jewelry? ”

Han Zhongxuan nodded thoughtfully, "I don't deny that you are a qualified courtier, but you are still wrong about one thing. ”

"Huh?"

Han Zhongxuan took out a large stack of official documents covered with official seals from his cuffs, and put them in front of Bai Xiangting with true anger, "The criminal evidence we listed at that time was not false, but the evidence was conclusive, this is the investigation report of the Criminal Department after the assassination of the King of the East China Sea, which wrote some of the evidence of the King of the East China Sea, including the preparation of private soldiers, forming a party for personal gain, bribing court officials, stealing court intelligence, and even human trafficking, corruption and bending the law, such a prince, is it still worthy of your loyalty?" ”

"What?"

Bai Xiangting was a little stunned, any of the crimes listed above was enough for the king of the East China Sea to die seven or eight times, and the most terrifying thing was that he didn't know about these things for more than 20 years, and even a king of the East China Sea, Gao Xian, was a minister who was enough to be loyal and assist him for a lifetime, and now it seems that he was completely deceived.

"Lord Wang, assassinated?"

Han Zhongxuan naturally didn't tell Bai Xiangting that he did it himself, but nodded silently, "If you do too much injustice, you will kill yourself, and the king of the East China Sea is also to blame, and he can't blame others." ”

The amount of information received on this day was a bit large, so big that Bai Xiangting didn't come back to his senses, holding the official document of the Criminal Department in his hand, sometimes beating his chest and laughing, sometimes crying bitterly, the loyalty he had gained in exchange for five years in prison was actually a joke, and no one could stand it.

thought that he was an eternal loyal minister who could be with Cai Yang and Wang Shen, but he never thought that he was actually a ridiculous foolish loyalty.

After a long time, Bai Xiangting gradually quieted down, but at this moment, Bai Xiangting did not have the heroic spirit before, and was paralyzed to the ground like a kite with a broken string.

Seeing that the time was almost up, Han Zhongxuan took out a letter covered with Gao Zhen's private seal from his left sleeve, and still placed it on the wooden table in front of Bai Xiangting with true qi, "This is a letter from Your Majesty to you, let me pass it on to you, you can leave here today, no matter how you choose next, whether you choose to continue to be an official or go home to retire, I will not stop you." ”

Bai Xiangting's eyes were red, his old arms like dead trees trembled, and he opened the envelope, and there was still a touch of red on the letterhead on it.

"Bai Qing to the court, Qing was imprisoned for five years, my heart is very painful, very unbearable, this catastrophe is in the East China Sea, the king of the East China Sea Gao Xian has his name, in the name of the king of the great feng to do pigs, dogs and beasts, not only ashamed of the royal blood, but also ashamed of the people of the two states of the East China Sea......"

Reading and reading, Bai Xiangting suddenly stood up, and his originally dim gaze regained its light, even brighter than before, as bright as a star.

"Yangzhou in the East China Sea, an important town in the world, I believe in the wisdom of Qing, and I know that Qing has extraordinary talents, I hereby leave a letter, Wangqing continues to serve as the state pastor, this non-Qing can not be in office, the righteousness of the world, the emphasis is on the body, the loyal and wise people sacrifice themselves for the people, the virtuous ministers bow to the temple, I am ashamed of the loyalty of Aiqing, hereby write to talk about the thoughts, I hope that Qing can focus on the overall situation, go to Yangzhou."

After reading the letter, Bai Xiangting first wiped his tears, and then directly put the letter on the oil lamp and burned it to ashes, watching Bai Xiangting burn Gao Zhen's last handwritten letter, Han Zhongxuan not only did not blame, but showed a look of relief.

Bai Xiangting looked at Han Zhongxuan and bowed heavily, "Since ancient times, kings have known their mistakes and corrected their mistakes and did not admit their mistakes, how can I, Bai Xiangting, let His Majesty write his letter by hand, and humiliate his name, this disaster crime in my Bai Xiangting does not distinguish between truth and falsehood, does not know right from wrong, and is foolish and loyal to others and harms himself, and today I am out of this prison, and I Bai Xiangting is the real minister of Dafeng." ”

Han Zhongxuan waved his hand lightly, and the prison gate opened, "Lord Bai, the carriage is ready, and you can go to work at any time." ”