> lifting the ban <

Lin Jianlan really didn't expect that saying this sentence on such an occasion would cause such a big mutiny, and the heavily armored samurai still struggled to maintain order, but if he couldn't stop the anger of the people, I am afraid that in the end, he would still have to fight each other, and in the blink of an eye, it would be a bloodshed that suppressed the people on a very large scale.

Raising his eyes, he saw that Wu Zetian was expressionless, and there was no panic, he still walked up the steps slowly, and turned around and said clearly: "I came to Jiangnan in person today, just to thoroughly investigate Lord Xie's grievances and punish the treacherous. ”

I didn't see her shouting hoarsely, but there was naturally a majesty in this calm tone, Lin Jianlan couldn't help but secretly admire in his heart: "Originally, she was suspicious of Xie Zhongju, so she appointed King Liang and Lai Junchen to come, and at this time, she abandoned King Liang and Lai Junchen in a few words, but she became the person who wronged Xie Zhongju Shen Xue in a blink of an eye, and won it all." ”

Seeing that the people's righteous indignation had decreased slightly, Wu Zetian said slowly: "Set up tents on both sides, and those who want to see me interrogated can stay." ”

It was so noisy outside, and naturally there could be no movement inside, and after a while, I saw the two of them rushing out from the inside with their faces white, and saw Wu Zetian hurriedly kneeling down, and said in unison: "Shu Chen and others are too late." ”

Wu Zetian's face was covered with a layer of frost, and he snorted lightly: "I thought I wanted me to go inside to meet the two adults in person!"

Lin Jianlan saw the two kneeling behind him at this time, one was burly and tall, with a slight beard, and was already a little blessed, although his face was frightened, but it was a little fake, and the other was more delicate, with an innate ruthlessness in his eyes, they were Wu Sansi, who leaned towards the government and the opposition, and Lai Junchen, who made the world resentful.

Wu Zetian said slowly: "You are flat." Lin Jianlan hesitated slightly, then stood up, Wu Sansi and Lai Junchen also stood up and shook the hem of their clothes, but they heard a cold reprimand: "Which one told you to get up?" They hurriedly knelt down again, knowing that Wu Zetian was really angry at this time, so Fang was careful.

Lin Jianlan turned his head and saw that Tang Zimu had just asked someone to arrange the tents on both sides, although the crowd was angry, Wu Zetian's words were clear, and he did not blame the civilians, but placed them properly to prevent them from being exposed to the rain, and at this moment he was no longer loud, and no one was willing to leave, and they all quietly paid attention to the middle of the mansion.

Lin Jianlan saw that the desk and screen had been set up in the middle of the palace, the screen depicted a golden phoenix, gorgeous and extraordinary, and the desk was still the one before, and his heart couldn't help but feel sour, only dozens of days apart, before Xie Zhongju was here to be angry, crooked, strategizing, and behaving freely, but now he has been sleeping on the shore of Taihu Lake.

Wu Sansi knelt and knelt uneasy, the land of Suzhou and Hangzhou, not to mention him, even Wu Hong is here, and he is going to shake three times when he stomps his feet on weekdays, at this moment, he is kneeling here in front of so many ordinary people, losing face, but Wu Zetian ignores him, Tang Zimu smiled, stepped forward and whispered to Wu Zetian: "Imperial grandmother, His Royal Highness King Liang and Lord Lai, regardless of whether they are guilty or not, kneeling in the mud on this rainy day is unofficial, it is really indecent, can you give them to get up and ask questions again?"

Wu Zetian sighed and said, "What you said is, alas, you ...... Flatten. ”

The two of them were busy thanking each other, and Liang Wang Fang flattered: "Why did my aunt come all the way here, and she didn't tell her nephew, and my nephew should also prepare to arrange the driving in advance." ”

Wu Zetian said coldly: "What do you want to prepare? What do you want to arrange? Oh, I understand, Xie Zhongju was tortured to death, so naturally you have to prepare and arrange in advance." ”

When Lai Junchen heard "Xie Zhongju was tortured to death", a trace of joy flashed on his face, and he disappeared for a moment, bowed down and said: "Xie Zhongju was robbed and imprisoned by Taihu Lake bandits, and now he can't see anyone in his life, but he wants to see the corpse when he dies, and there is no evidence. ”

Although he heard Lin Jianlan say that Xie Zhongju was dead, but he had never seen the body, Wu Zetian didn't dare to trust one side, and said: "This son, you just said that Master Xie has gone, what is the basis?"

Lin Jianlan said secretly: "Credentials, do you want to disturb Lord Xie's heroic spirit again and let you dig the ground to see each other?"

He hesitated like this, but Lai Junchen had the confidence to come, and said with a smile: "It's okay, this prince can't come up with evidence, but his subordinates have evidence Xie Zhongju was really robbed by Taihu Lake bandits, last night I was in Suzhou Mansion more than a dozen night patrol officers, as well as the six criminal officers brought by his subordinates were killed by bandits, and now the corpses are still displayed in the back hall, the death is miserable, it is really pitiful, the lower official did not take over just now, it is because of the pension matter in the back hall." Speaking of this, tears welled up in his eyes, and he said loudly: "What Your Majesty doesn't understand is that if you kidnap Xie Zhongju, it's okay, these officials don't have any deep hatred with them, and the criminal officers under Xia Guan are only responsible for interrogation, plus Lord Xie's special status, she doesn't dare to touch a finger, why is she ruthless to this part?"

Lin Jianlan saw that he was pretentious and tried his best to make up nonsense, his angry eyes were on fire, and he rushed straight in front of Junchen and said, "You dare to say that you are not executed?"

Lai Junchen was startled, and he didn't dare to look directly into Lin Jianlan's eyes, so he had to retreat again and again: "You dare to roar at the court and be rude to the officials of the court?

Wu Zetian frowned slightly, and Lai Junchen hurriedly took out a piece of paper from his arms and presented it: "Holy Lord, please see, Xie Zhongju has already confessed to the crimes listed above, and his handprint is here, and there are still people who try to correct her name and overturn the case, which is really ill-intentioned." ”

Lin Jianlan caught a glimpse of the red handprint on the back of the paper, and he was full of excitement, and snatched the paper directly, but his hand involuntarily trembled, and said in a trembling voice: "You said that she confessed and pressed the handprint?

Seeing his terrible expression, Lai Junchen couldn't help but take a step back and said, "It's too ...... It's so rude! Holy Lord, Holy ......"

Wu Zetian didn't squeak, just looked at him thoughtfully, Lin Jianlan hugged his fists and said: "People in the rivers and lakes don't know the etiquette of the court, I hope that the saint is not strange, you can allow me to talk about it in detail." ”

Wu Zetian said: "I forgive you for your innocence, but it doesn't hurt to talk about it." ”

Lin Jianlan said gloomily: "When I saw Lord Xie next, she was already exhausted, her white clothes were soaked in blood, dry and wet unevenly, obviously she didn't stop torturing her overnight. ”

Wu Zetian glanced at Lai Junchen lightly, and did not make a sound, but Lai Junchen was like sitting on pins and needles, Lin Jianlan said again: "Saint, it's just that there was one thing that was quite confusing at that time, since Lord Xie is dead, but he clenched his fists, and he couldn't break it with all his strength, can the saint know why?"

Wu Zetian frowned and said, "Could it be that she is holding something extremely important in her palm?"

Lin Jianlan shook his head and said, "What I think is the same as that of the saint, but the two subordinates who came to the lord helped me solve this doubt." He recounted the conversations between the two criminal officers in the Yongdao one by one, and said sadly: "Lord Xie used his last bit of strength to kill what he was holding in his hand, because he didn't want people to slander her innocence at will. He turned his head to look at Lai Junchen, and said as he walked towards him: "I don't know where your confession with your handprint came from, the dungeon is still there, and you specially transported countless torture instruments from Beijing to this place, which really made you come in handy, and the jade girl climbed the ladder and used it on Lord Xie six times overnight! Every torture instrument in it is painted with gold and color, and it is the work of you, a person who has no humanity at all, and you are naturally reluctant to discard it. Are you really in the back hall making a register for those dead officials and distributing bereavement money? I'm afraid you're busy moving these things away to cover up your sins of punishing the feudal officials?"

Lin Jianlan asked step by step, Lai Junchen kept retreating, retreating to the point that there was no way back, he tripped over the threshold and fell in, and the crowd on both sides shouted: "Kill him! Kill him!" Wu Zetian's face sank like water, looking at Lai Junchen's eyes were high, without a trace of pity at all, Lin Jianlan looked back, saw this pair of eyes, his heart sank, and for some reason he remembered Zhou Xinglai, the enemy of Yuan Xingjian's blade, and said secretly: "This time, is Lai Junchen's chess piece about to be abandoned?"

Lai Junchen knelt down and crawled in front of Wu Zetian and kowtowed: "Saint, saint, his words have no basis, his origin is unknown, how can the saint be credulous?"

Lin Jianlan condensed his anger and said loudly: "There is a witness below!, I also know where Lord Xie is buried, but I don't want to disturb Lord Xie's heroic spirit again, so I haven't mentioned it before!"

Wu Zetian raised his eyebrows and said, "Where is the witness?"

Lin Jianlan said: "I am annoyed that the Holy Lord sent someone to pick it up, but I forgive you for being rude, and the people on the left and right of the Holy Lord can't trust it in the lower club, and you can only trust the King of Linzi." ”

Tang Zimu was stunned for a moment, and then turned sideways and said: "The imperial grandmother sent it, and the grandchildren all obeyed their orders." ”

Wu Zetian said: "You are good-tempered, so you can ask where others are, and bring them to me safely." ”

Lin Jianlan and Tang Zimu glanced at each other, and when they saw him approaching, there was no special expression on their faces, and they knew that they still didn't say anything irrelevant, so they whispered to the place where they stayed, Tang Zimu only nodded, then greeted him, and quickly left with a dozen or so guards.

Waiting is unbearable, for Lai Junchen, it is even more uncomfortable, several times to ask for help to look at King Liang, but see this slightly chubby man as if he didn't recognize himself, a ** expression looked straight ahead, hated to the extreme, but what was even more anxious was that I didn't know what the witness was, the house just as he didn't know the wild boy who came out of thin air and ruined his own good deeds, the torture equipment has not been shipped out, if the saint is more serious, I am afraid that his official position will not be guaranteed, and he will be exiled if he doesn't get it right. Thinking that Zhou Xing was cut like rotten meat on the road, his back bones suddenly tingled.

Wu Sansi was not having a good time at this time, don't look at him standing straight, a pair of legs have already kept calling. Jiangnan Qinglou women are charming and beautiful, all gentle like water, they have died several times in the gentle township last night, and this morning before they had time to rest, they were found by Lai Junchen, and they were still dealing with the aftermath in a panic. At this moment, his back was already wet, and his legs were trembling underneath, but he was still calm, and said secretly: "Looking at the current situation, my aunt just brought Junchen to operate, it seems that it is time to dissociate herself from this person." ”

Everyone was thinking about it, but seeing that Tang Zimu had turned back, he whispered a few words in Wu Zetian's ear, Wu Zetian suddenly looked happy, and looked around: "Luan Xian, but Luan Xian?"

There was a woman standing among the guards, with a green cloth skirt, if it weren't for the clothes she was wearing that Lin Jianlan bought, she would hardly recognize the woman in front of her, after resuming her red makeup, although she was simple, she looked different, but because of Xie Yaohuan's death, her sweet and gentle expression was covered with sadness and grief.

When the woman heard Wu Zetian's greeting, her eyes turned red, and she ran in front of Wu Zetian in a few steps, knelt down and cried: "Holy Lord, Holy Lord, why don't you come one step earlier?"

Wu Zetian showed some kindness and compassion at this moment, and actually personally mixed Su Luanxian up, and said: "Luan Xian, you ......" But seeing the scars on Su Luanxian's neck and cuffs, his face turned gloomy again, and he patted Su Luanxian's hand and said, "You have suffered." ”

Su Luanxian sobbed and said: "To do things for the saint, how to talk about suffering, it's just that Lord Xie was ...... by this group of dog thieves in his life."

Wu Zetian said: "Alas, I know everything. Come to Junchen, what have you done over the years, I know it in my heart, I just remember your past merits, and I hope that you can wake up one day, I don't want you to rely on my favor to you more and more, and become even worse, this time the Qingtian in the mouth of the people of Sanwu was tortured to death by you like this, what else do you have to say?"

Lai Junchen kowtowed and said: "Weichen is guilty, the minister has made such a big mistake, and he knows that he is no longer worthy of haunting the court, if the saint can demote the minister to cloth, the minister is willing to kowtow and thank him." ”

The corners of Wu Zetian's mouth raised slightly: "I have heard people say that the torture tools you have done have been told by people as soon as possible, I heard that the people who were tortured only hate to die quickly, and only hate why they were born as human beings, which can make people miserable, and the people who do this torture tools have been by my side all the time, I am a little shudder at the moment, I don't know if you are a wicked person?

Lai Junchen's face suddenly turned pale, and he said, "Minister...... If the sinner still feels that the sinner is remorseful, he can be sentenced to exile in a bitter cold place, and the sinner is willing to recite the sutra and praise the Buddha every day, wash away the sins, and pray for the saint. ”

Wu Zetian said: "Pray for me? I'm afraid I can't afford it." Speaking of exile, aren't you afraid of ending up like Zhou Xing?"

Lin Jianlan looked up in amazement, and saw that after Wu Zetian sat on the desk, he looked at Lai Junchen with a little playfulness and contempt in his eyes, Lai Junchen found two back roads for himself, but they were easily blocked by Wu Zetian one by one, and the end was self-evident.

Just like the word "kill" whispered in the pavilion that day without a trace of regret or emotion, Wu Zetian's lips lightly opened: "Chop, to calm the anger of the people in the south of the Yangtze River, and to sacrifice the souls of loyal ministers." ”