Chapter 12: Strike a Heavy Blow
Linghu Da immediately reported:
"According to the information I have gathered, the supervisor Zhao Er was in league with the bully Wu Daode to steal the baby."
He concluded confidently: "I believe that they must have stolen this national treasure ."
Li Ji's face changed and he shouted sternly :
"Supervisor Zhao Er secretly kept the imperial seal and broke the law knowingly, his crime is even more serious."
He raised his hand randomly and threw out a token.
"Come here, hurry to Suiyang and arrest the bully Wu Daode."
Li Ai held a token in his hand and led three shifts of yamen runners from the Dali Temple, a total of twelve people.
They rode non-stop and marched rapidly towards Suiyang.
When Wu Daode, a wealthy man from Suiyang, heard that the supervisor Zhao Er had been arrested, he was shocked and realized that his crime had been exposed.
However, Wu Daode was not in a hurry.
A year ago, he had already prepared a retreat plan and had ordered his butler Wu Laoer to take the silver to the Suiyang County Government.
He firmly believed that if money could get the job done, he would not make people suffer.
That day, he was hugging his wives and concubines in the small building, enjoying the romance , drinking and having fun.
Suddenly, there was the sound of horse hooves, and a group of people had blocked the gate of Wu Mansion.
He thought it was an old friend who came to visit, but unexpectedly, the person who came in was the prison boss and constable.
"What are you doing?"
He stood on the brothel and shouted without changing his expression.
"Hey, that's awesome! Let's go find Mr. Wu."
Wu Daode's expression suddenly changed. "It's me. Which part are you from?"
Li Ai, the housekeeper, shouted: "Please follow us to the mountain temple."
Two constables had already flown upstairs.
When Wu Daode saw someone coming upstairs, he shouted:
"You actually broke into a private house. The housekeeper, kick you out."
Wu Laoer rushed in from the side door with a dozen servants, armed with spears and short swords.
Whizzing!
Li Ai raised his hand and more than a dozen flying knives flew towards him.
Ding ding ding!
The flying knife collided with the spear, and the dagger collided with the sharp sword.
Half an hour later, Wu Laoer and a group of servants were captured.
In the brothel, Wu Daode's family hurriedly hid behind the screen.
The two detectives surrounded Wu Daode, one on the left and one on the right.
Wu Daode was quick and stabbed the yamen runner on the right with a short knife.
The two detectives exerted force at the same time, and with a crisp sound, both of Wu Daode's arms were twisted off.
Li Ai arrested Wu Daode, a wealthy businessman from Suiyang, and brought him to justice.
Li Ji brought Zhao Er from Suiyang Prison back to Shenmiao Village and interrogated him again in court, interrogating him together with Wu Daode.
"Zhao Er, how come the imperial seal is in your private residence?"
"Your Excellency, this jade seal was given to me by Wu Daode from Suiyang."
"Wu Daode, is what Zhao Er said true?"
"Your Excellency is wrongly accusing me, Wu Daode, of stealing babies, which is possible, but accusing me of stealing the imperial seal is a bit far-fetched."
Li Ji shouted, "What do you mean?"
"The reason is simple. The imperial seal belongs to the royal family. I am just a businessman and have never entered the palace. How could I have the opportunity to steal it? Please judge wisely, sir."
"Zhao Er, did you hear Wu Daode's words clearly? He had no chance to steal the imperial seal. Since the imperial seal was found in your home, what else do you have to say?"
Zhao Er responded loudly:
"Sir Li, as a supervisor of the imperial court, I have been working on the construction site day and night. How could I enter the palace and steal the national treasure?"
Zhao Er insisted that Wu Daode was a thief who stole national treasures.
Wu Daode only said that stealing someone else's baby was a fact, but he did not dare to steal the national treasure.
When Li Ji saw the two of them shirking responsibility and arguing, he had no choice but to start the torture.
He shouted:
"Come here, don't wait to serve me, use the severe punishment now."
The yamen runners around him pinned Wu Daode down and started beating him without giving him any explanation.
Wu Daode was screaming and howling at first.
Later, there was only the sound of exhaling, and no longer any sound of inhaling. The bailiffs actually beat Wu Daode to death.
Once Wu Daode died, there would be no evidence to prove his guilt.
Li Ji thought, according to the laws of the Sui Dynasty, you, Zhao Er, secretly kept the imperial seal, which is a serious crime of deceiving the emperor.
Li Ji discussed with Lao Yu and said, "Lao Yu, I see that Lao Yang has not shown up these days. Please tell the emperor to execute Zhao Er and close the case."
Lao Yu thought that Li Ji handled cases word by word in a very neat and orderly manner, and was a good candidate for becoming an official.
Say a few good words for him in front of the emperor, which will also create conditions for talents to stand out.
The next morning, an imperial edict arrived, and Li Ji sent out his elite soldiers to tie up Zhao Er, throw him to the riverside, chop him into three pieces, and confiscate his property.
Li Ji was about to lead people to kill Zhao Er's family.
Lao Yu hurriedly stopped him and said, "The current emperor's three southern tours all relied on the convenience of the canal."
Li Ji said hurriedly: "Although Zhao Er made contributions in opening the river, his contributions did not outweigh his faults. According to the law, his clan should be exterminated."
Lao Yu explained: "Brother, killing is not enough. The emperor showed mercy to Zhao Er because he had made great contributions in opening the river."
Li Ji thought, yes, he saved 50,000 workers who were working on the river dredging because he was considerate of the lives of the people.
Since the main culprit Zhao Er has been executed, why should we pursue the death penalty for the rest of the Zhao family?
Li Ji knew clearly that according to the laws of the Sui and Tang dynasties, if one person committed a crime, the entire clan would be exterminated.
Since Your Majesty has sympathized with the people and pardoned Zhao Er's family, it is the act of a holy monarch.
At that time, Duan Da, the Central Gate Envoy, was stationed in the Eastern Capital and did not accompany the emperor on the journey south.
The emperor issued an edict to the Eastern Capital, granting him pardon.
Then he was demoted to the position of Luoyang Gatekeeper.
The fact that Li Ji did not bring Duan Da to trial was also stipulated by the official system of the Sui Dynasty.
If Duan Da was also brought to Liang County, he would be severely beaten.
He might be beaten to disability or even killed in court.
When a young man investigates a case, he must be full of vigor and vitality.
With the emperor's secret decree in hand, it was inevitable that one might go to extremes.
Wu Daode's family knew that Wu Daode was a rampant person in the village, and everyone was afraid of him and had deep resentment towards him, so they didn't want to get entangled with him.
Even if one is wealthy, the dead cannot be brought back to life, let alone Wu Daode's stealing and selling babies, which is a serious crime.
Beating him to death is what he deserves.
When the people in Suiyang and Ningling heard that Zhao Er had been killed, they all applauded.
Men and women came to the river to watch Zhao Er's body.
The angry citizens smashed his body into a paste with bricks and stones, and only then did they feel relieved.
A skinny old dog crouched aside and waited for the angry crowd to disperse before it slowly started to eat the raw meat and drink the blood.
Lao Yang didn't come to the mountain temple for a while.
Lao Yu said: "People who do big business are always wandering around. You may not see them again after a year or two."
Li Ji said, "I heard that there is chaos and disorder now, you must be careful when you are outside."
"Thank you for your concern. The canal case has been solved. I will tell the government and give you a reward. See you later."
Lao Yu said goodbye to Li Ji and repeatedly told him that the Suiyang County Government was already dilapidated and he hoped that Li Ji could repair it as soon as possible.
Li Ji said: "This place is not far from Suiyang. I have sent people to Suiyang in advance. When the county government office is renovated, I will move to Suiyang to work."
