If it is not reported in time, it should be punished as a crime of dereliction of duty, in addition to punishing the corresponding officer, the minister, as the leader of the central province, will not be able to escape the blame, and is willing to apologize with death. ”

"This matter is very important, if someone really interferes with it and deliberately takes out the fold, I will definitely investigate it strictly, and no one will be able to run away at that time. If it's not your problem, don't be afraid, and continue to serve your country dutifully. The old emperor stomped his foot, "Did you hear that, according to Zichu's statement, the twists and turns reported by the states and counties need to leave a double mark on the post station and the central province, and I will check these two places, and I can know the truth of the matter by comparing the two." ”

"Your Majesty's sage, Your Majesty's sage is like the light of the sun and the moon. ”

"Then let's be patient and wait for the final result. The old emperor waved his hand, "Liu Yi listens to the order, I order you to investigate this matter thoroughly, and there must be no mistakes." ”

"The minister took the order. After receiving His Majesty's command, the great eunuch Liu Yi withdrew from the Hall of Light.

Watching him drift away, the old emperor leaned his back on the seat of the chair and said unhurriedly: "Let's wait patiently, wait for the final result to come out, during this time, no one is allowed to leave the Imperial Capital Guangming Palace." If anyone wants to confess something, there is still a chance to confess before the results are investigated, and I will reduce the guilt as appropriate, and if the results come out and then confess and repent, don't blame me for ignoring the feelings of the monarch and ministers!"

"Your Majesty. ”

"Wait patiently, the results will come out the day after tomorrow at the latest, and Zuo Zongzheng will also be admitted to the palace, during this time, you will stay in this Hall of Light, and the meals will be arranged for you. ”

Again, the ministers once again imprisoned the old emperor in embarrassment, which was obviously an investigation that only targeted a small number of people, but so vigorously imprisoned everyone, the old emperor's attention to this matter can be imagined.

If it is really the training of the dead soldiers, it is an intention to rebel, and the severity of the crime is completely different, if the crime is implemented, Tuoba Zhen, as the parent of the noble concubine, even if he is favored, I am afraid that it will be difficult to escape. Of course, there is another possibility, everything is fake, it was made up by others to frame Tuoba Zhen, but the probability of this possibility appearing is really small and small.

......

With the old emperor's two-day deadline, the internal affairs office was extremely efficient, and the next day before the time of the day, all the circumstances investigated were summarized in a letter and handed over to the old emperor, which was written like this: "Long live the performance, after the investigation and sorting out by the internal affairs office, the relevant situation is now summarized as follows:

According to Weichen's investigation, there is no record of Zuo Zongzheng's report in the central province, and there is no corresponding transcription template, but the Zhulu County Post House records the date of the excerpt being sent, and there are a total of seven records from the 28th year of the emperor's reign to the present. The information presented on both sides is obviously contradictory, in order to find out the truth of the matter, the minister went to all the post houses on the official road in Chang'an to check it all over, and found that all the records about the excerpt were interrupted in the Surabaya City Post House, that is to say, the Lord of Surabaya City, or the manager of the Surabaya City Post House, has a direct connection with the loss of the excerpt.

After investigation, the minister believed that the matter had nothing to do with the central province, and that there were local forces that interfered with it, so that the problem reported by Zuo Zongzheng could not be known to His Majesty in time and obtained approval. ”

After reading the excerpt, the old emperor's expression became more serious, and he said to Liu Yi: "Those two have brought them." "The old emperor is naturally referring to the lord of Surabaya City and the steward of the post house.

"He is currently being held in the prison, and he has not had time to interrogate him. ”

"It's done, take them up, and I'll interrogate them myself. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty. ”

After a while, a fat and a thin two people entered the Hall of Light under the escort of the eunuchs of the Internal Affairs Office, all of them wore handcuffs and shackles, wearing prison uniforms, even if one of them was the lord of the city, but it was not worth mentioning in front of Liu Yi, the chief minister of the emperor's close ministers, and it was effortless to arrest him at that time, regardless of whether you were guilty or not, directly take the handcuffs and shackles and escort them to the imperial capital.

"Long live my emperor, long live, long live!" The two didn't know what they were arrested, and they didn't dare to express some dissatisfaction after entering the Hall of Light, so they knelt directly on the ground and kowtowed heavily to His Majesty.

The old emperor said, "Raise your head!"

The two did as they said, but neither dared to look directly at the emperor, but stared at each other's toes.

"Which of the two of you is the lord of Surabaya City, and who is the steward of the post house!"

"Your Majesty, the minister is Wang Zhi, the lord of Surabaya City. "It was the skinny of the two who spoke.

"Your Majesty, the little one is the steward of the Surabaya City Post House. "It turned out that the steward of the post house was the fatter of the two, and to be honest, he looked like a big official with a fat head and big ears and a red face.

The old emperor then asked, "Do you know why I am interrogating you above the court?" ”

"Weichen doesn't know, please make it clear to Your Majesty. "What a small wrong. ”

"Rest assured, I will never wronged a good person, nor will I let a bad person go. ”

"Your Majesty, please be clear. ”

"I ask you how long you've been in your current position. "Actually, His Majesty has some impression of the local city lord, after all, it is an official appointed by him personally, but he still asks again, he has confirmed his identity to avoid making jokes, and at the same time he can show an impartial and selfless posture.

"Long live Qiyu, Weichen is the city lord of Surabaya City who has served in the twenty-third year of the emperor, and it has been nine years since then. In these nine years, Weichen kept in mind His Majesty's teachings, fulfilled his duties, treated the people leniently, worked hard, and forged ahead (500 words were omitted later, all of which were his achievements over the years)"

"Stop, stop, you stop me...... You can answer whatever I ask, don't answer what I don't ask, and keep talking about it, be careful that I cut your tongue. ”

"Wechen is guilty, please forgive Your Majesty; The old emperor really felt that this person named Wang Zhi was very annoying, waved his hand impatiently, and turned his eyes to look at the post house manager, "Forget it, let's ask you first." ”

The steward of this post house has a red face, a rich figure, and a blessed appearance, and has been trembling since he entered the palace, his eyes flickering, I don't know if he has never seen such a big scene, or if he knows that he has done something wrong.

The old emperor turned his gaze to him, and saw that the corners of his eyes twitched from time to time on his slightly chubby face, and he was terrified with fear, and commanded with majesty: "Raise your head, let me see your eyes." ”

The steward of the post house raised his head tremblingly, but he dared to make a slight contact with His Majesty's gaze, trembling and clenching his fists: "Your Majesty...... Please...... Just ask...... As long as...... It is the small who knows, and the small must know everything, and the words are endless. He was sweating profusely, the summer was already hot, and coupled with fear, the ground where he knelt was already wet in an instant.

The old emperor's eyes were like torches, and when he saw his appearance, he knew that there must be something wrong with this person, and he needed to open a breakthrough from him.

These two days were the time for the ministers to be imprisoned, and it was also the time for the old emperor to think. Why did he imprison the ministers to prevent them from ventilating in private and secretly communicating with each other, and why did he spend two days thinking carefully, that is, the old emperor was thinking about what the final result of the investigation of this sudden incident would be, and how he should choose and punish him in the face of that result.

Zhen'er had just been imprisoned, and it was too coincidental that such an excerpt written in blood had quietly come into his sight.

What's more, why did the Central Province suddenly present such an excerpt today, and why did the officials of the Central Province all look confused when they asked Tuoba Zi when they first asked about it, and had they never seen this excerpt? Then where did it come from?

Everything was arranged seamlessly, as if something had happened, and everything was strange and uncoordinated.

For two days, the old emperor was thinking about how this matter should be ended, and he was thinking all the time about whether the newly rising Lie'er would be able to resist the huge power of his eldest brother if Zhen'er was executed. You must know that the most important thing as an emperor is balance, so that the forces on both sides need themselves, and either side of the forces will pose a fatal threat to themselves if they are too large. What's more, for the succession to the throne, the old emperor originally had selfish intentions and plans.

What seems simple may not be so simple, and the results that seem to be coming out may not be what you want to see. In any case, through this incident, the old emperor understood one thing, that is, some people can't bear it anymore!

"What's your name. The old emperor asked unhurriedly, he clearly knew that the more he was like this, the greater the pressure on the other party.

"Long live Qi, Chen Bin, the steward of the small Surabaya City Post Station. ”

"Chen Bin, good name, no wonder you are in the post station. "Bin is a double wood plus three skimming, and the post station is an official road built in the forest, so His Majesty said that his name is good," as the post station manager, tell me what your duties and powers are, and what are the rules of the post station. ”

"Your Majesty, as the manager of the post station, the small task is to maintain and manage the entire post station and ensure its normal operation.

According to the explicit regulations of the empire, the post station mainly has the following functions: first, to collect the excerpts played by officials, and send them to the imperial capital in time for His Majesty's review; second, it is responsible for collecting and transmitting some local information, such as whether the local officials have defaulted on their duties, whether there are disasters in the local area, whether the crops are harvested, etc., and report to the chief of the post house in the imperial capital. The third is to ensure the smooth flow of official roads, and repair them in time once they find that the roads are damaged...... "Although the post house is small, the responsibilities are not small, he is under the dual leadership of the imperial capital and the locality, and he must also report to the imperial capital and the local government at the same time when reporting work." In the direction of the imperial capital, he had to give timely feedback to the chief of the post house in the imperial capital, who belonged to the household department and was an important member of the official position; he had to report the problems to the local government in a timely manner, and once the official road was damaged, he needed to find the local government to raise funds and repair the official road in time.

As a result, on the surface, the post house is not big, but in fact, it involves all aspects of responsibility, and it is not easy to deal with people on different lines.

The old emperor showed great patience this time, and only after he had finished saying it all did he say: "The duty is good, I ask you, how did you deal with the twists and turns that entered the post house." ”

"Enlightenment...... Your Majesty...... Press...... According to the Imperial Decree, the entry into the post house must be registered, including the time, the place of origin, the name of the person who delivered the book, and so on!"

"Are you sure?"

"Small OK. ”

"Then I will ask you again, why all the folds sent from Zhulu to the imperial capital have been erased, and why these folds disappeared for no reason as long as they arrived at your small Surabaya City Post House!"

"This ......," the innkeeper hesitated.

"Don't hurry up yet!" the old emperor frightened him.

The steward of the post house was frightened at that time, and kowtowed again and again: "Please spare your majesty's life, please ask your majesty to spare your life, the small one is also a last resort, a last resort." ”

"If you know that you are guilty and want to do it, you deserve to die!"

"Your Majesty, the little one is also forced to do so, Your Majesty, please be gracious" said, the post house steward, a big man with five big and three thick eyes, actually cried bitterly in front of the ministers, "Your Majesty, the little one is the post house manager, the deputy nine-grade official position, the status is low, and he can't help himself, in order to keep his official position and save his life, he can only act according to people's faces."

As you know, Surabaya is the only way to the imperial capital in the southwestern prefectures, and some officials will send people to the post house to inspect them regularly for various purposes, and if they find something unfavorable to them, they will immediately destroy and clear the files. It is not easy to be a small official, and you can only turn a blind eye to this, please look at the 80-year-old mother of the small one, and the child who is waiting to be fed, spare the life of the little one. ”

"Spare you? As an official who knows the law and breaks the law, he still let me spare you? If I don't cut you with a thousand knives, it is a great grace to destroy the nine clans, say, who has been to you, say it quickly. ”

"This ......" The post steward looked tremblingly to the left, was glared at fiercely by the ministers who were standing with their heads down, and then looked to the right, and was treated in the same way, and gasped.

The old emperor said: "I am here, you have something to say, what to do." ”

The steward of the post house sweated like rain. The old emperor said it simply, but when he thought about it in his position, he knew that if he offended everyone, then the end would be the worst.

"What are you still hesitating about, why don't you call me the truth. ”

"Your Majesty, most of them sent people from the house to the post house, and I can't remember exactly whose people are younger. ”

"If you are bold and reckless, you can ignore the edicts of the empire and open the back door openly, what do you think of the empire! Come on, call me, beat him until he remembers. ”

"Your Majesty, please spare the little one, the little one is also involuntarily, Your Majesty. Search for "CM" or enter the URL:.