Chapter 125 Wanlichun (Part 4)
"Your Highness really gave it to the emperor..."
Pei Zhiyuan sat beside the charcoal basin, but felt that the red-hot charcoal fire could not warm up his cold legs and feet. He did not finish his words and raised his head cautiously.
"There are some things that you, as a minister, dare not do." Prince Jia had his hair untied and wore a loose gown with animal fur trim. The pain on his shoulder made his face pale. He first glanced at Pei Zhiyuan, then at Meng Yunxian who was sitting beside him . "Even if you are Mr. Meng, as a minister, there are things you cannot do after all."
No matter whether the monarch or father is benevolent or not, as a minister, from the moment he enters officialdom, few can escape his duties as a minister. The more capable a minister is, the more he cannot escape the Three Bonds and Five Constant Virtues: "If the monarch wants his minister to die, the minister must die; if the father wants his son to die, the son must die."
A minister is loyal to his country and serves his king. Even if Meng Yunxian knew clearly the root cause of the failure of the new policy, all he could do was "wait", wait for his king to remember him and use him, and then try his best to live longer, survive the harsh winter, and pray for the coming of spring.
" And Miao Jingzhen, even if the lives of the entire family are in his hands, it would be difficult for him to be more decisive."
If Miao Jingzhen had not been bound by the ethics of a minister, he would have been more decisive, and he would not have waited until Prince Jia personally fed him the bowl of medicine mixed with golden elixir particles.
"You are all adhering to the old rules of ruler-ruler, subject-subject, father-father, son-son. I used to be the same way."
Prince Jia stretched out his hand, the heat of the charcoal burning his cold palm, "But if I don't do this, it won't just be me who will die. Lord Ge will die, General Miao will die, and you, Lord Meng, will die too. Everyone who has anything to do with me or Zi Ling will die."
"I'm not afraid of being exposed, nor am I afraid of being criticized. This is the path I chose myself. It's not clean," Prince Jia's pale lips twitched slightly, "Then let it be not clean."
The thin sunlight shone on the snow on the eaves. Outside the palace, the wind was howling and the charcoal basin was crackling. Meng Yunxian held the tea bowl and the hot smoke blew in his face. He said after a while, "Your Highness, you have indeed saved many lives."
"Now there is still a tricky thing. Although the imperial concubine is imprisoned, the maid who was always by her side mentioned Wu Qingru before she was executed. Duke Lu is now grasping this point. If he finds Wu Qingru..."
Pei Zhiyuan talked about this and couldn't help but say, "Your Highness, Wu Qingru would be a disaster if she stayed. Why didn't you kill her first, but sent her away instead?"
The personal guard Yuan Gang standing beside him could not help but speak up, "Sir Pei, His Highness had originally made up his mind to avenge General Yujie. If the emperor had not suffered a stroke, I'm afraid His Highness would not have survived..."
Yuan Gang stopped talking suddenly, paused for a moment, and then said, "Your Highness let her go because of kindness."
"But in the court, good intentions are useless."
Pei Zhiyuan's words were tactful, but Prince Jia understood them clearly. In their eyes, he was being too soft-hearted by letting go of the imperial concubine's niece Wu Qingru.
"At that time, I didn't know I still had a life to live. The reason why I used the golden hairpin to deal with the imperial concubine was just to make her suffer from rumors before she died. The blood in her belly was suspicious, and everyone had to re-examine her. Even if she gave birth to a prince, it was still unknown whether the prince could succeed to the throne."
"Besides, Wu Qingru is only fifteen years old, and she can't hide many things. I already knew that she was not the biological daughter of the second wife of the Wu family. It was just that the imperial concubine wanted a niece who could be used, so they treated the concubine's daughter as a legitimate daughter and sent her to Yunjing to be engaged to me."
"Her biological mother is a divorced concubine, and is in the hands of Yuan Gang."
In this way, even if Prince Jia died that night, Wu Qingru would never dare to show up and speak a single word for the imperial concubine.
After that, Prince Jia didn't care about the arguments and fights for the crown prince in the court. As long as the imperial concubine was not at peace, he would have peace in his grave.
There was no snow falling from the sky, but it was still very cold. Meng Yunxian and Pei Zhiyuan left Chongming Palace, and the palace maids in the aisle were sweeping the snow.
"Mr. Meng, we are now lacking a reason to punish Duke Lu."
Pei Zhiyuan sighed, "He is a member of the royal family. Even if the emperor is now too sick to speak, we still can't touch him."
"If he could, would he still be allowed to send people to look for Wu Qingru in such a high-profile manner? His family's Erlang works in the military department in front of the palace and has many connections. The rumors that are now spreading among the three yamen guards that are unfavorable to His Royal Highness Prince Jia are also the work of them. The mute Wang Gong refused to come to see you, which means that he also wants to wait for the imperial concubine to give birth to a child."
Rumors are just rumors after all. The imperial concubine is guilty and cannot turn things around, but the baby in her belly is still the lifeline that the old party in the court want to grasp.
Prince Jia was Zhang Jing's student, and Meng Yunxian was Zhang Jing's good friend. Furthermore, Prince Jia had a childhood friendship with General Xu Hexue. Whether it was the officials who opposed the new policy or the officials who opposed overturning Xu Hexue's case, none of them wanted to see Prince Jia succeed to the throne.
This was the fundamental reason why they stood on the side of Duke Lu and tried their best to clear the rumors about the baby in the imperial concubine's belly.
"What are you afraid of? We still have Huang Zongyu. Even if he doesn't want to work with us now, he can't. He has dealt with Wang Gong before. There are many things that we don't know, but he knows. Even if he talks too much, he has to get close to Wang Gong."
Even in such a critical situation, Pei Zhiyuan couldn't help but laugh after hearing what Meng Yunxian said, "Mr. Meng, you really planned to tie Mr. Huang up with us. He is better at protecting himself than I am. But now, he is just swallowing his bitterness and can't say anything."
"Hey, where are you going?"
As he was speaking, Pei Zhiyuan saw him turn around and asked, "Aren't you going back to the Political Affairs Hall?"
"You go back, I'm going to the Censorate."
Since He Tong and Jiang Xianming were successively imprisoned in the Censorate's prison, Meng Yunxian has not visited them. The prison is cold and damp, very dark, and has a strong smell.
Lord Liu from the Censorate carefully invited Meng Yunxian to go inside. There were braziers burning in the prison, and some places were still warm. At the innermost part, there were more braziers, so the room was brighter.
Meng Yunxian first saw He Tong sleeping soundly on a straw mat inside the cell door. He was not wearing any outer robe, and his white inner robe was probably filled with cotton quilting, which looked thick. However, as he had been in the cell, it looked a little dirty.
He Tong was sleeping and snoring loudly. Meng Yunxian saw that the fine cloth wrapped around his head was almost soaked with blood. He lowered his voice and asked, "Why did you beat him like this?"
"……Ouch,"
Lord Liu lowered his voice, his face showing some helplessness, "Mr. Meng, you didn't see Lord Chen, the one who tried Scholar He that day. Lord Chen mentioned the deceased Mr. Zhang a few times, and when he mentioned Mr. Zhang's guilt, Scholar He directly swung a stool and smashed it on Lord Chen's head..."
"I don't know where Master He got all this strength. You only saw that Master He had a head injury, but you haven't seen Master Chen yet. He has a swollen nose and face, and his left arm is broken!"
"If not for this, how could Master He be imprisoned in this prison?"
Meng Yunxian was startled, then looked at He Tong, who was snoring loudly and sleeping soundly. He was about to ask about the situation of Mr. Chen again, but he heard the sound of iron chains rubbing against the ground in the cell next to him, followed by the rustling sound of dry grass rubbing against each other.
He turned his head and saw Jiang Xianming in the cell next to He Tong. He had taken off his official uniform and was left with only an inner robe. His situation was much more embarrassing than He Tong's.
There were shackles on his ankles and hands, and his clothes were not even lined with cotton. In such a cold cell, he looked very frail.
"He was your former superior, after all. Why did you treat him like this? You put him in shackles and refused to give him even a cotton coat?"
Meng Yunxian frowned and questioned the people around him.
"Mr. Meng,"
Lord Liu was sweating profusely and lowered his head. "We don't want to do this either. Yes, it's Lord Jiang who... wants us to treat him this way."
After these words were spoken, Meng Yunxian fell silent.
He and Jiang Xianming looked at each other for a moment, "Master Liu, please allow me to have a few words with Master Jiang alone."
"yes."
Lord Liu did not hesitate at all and immediately took everyone out.
The firelight danced in the iron basin, He Tong's snoring continued, Meng Yunxian walked lightly to Jiang Xianming's cell door and looked at him, "Jiang Jingnian, you are guilty."
"What I have committed is a capital crime."
Jiang Xianming's voice was very hoarse and he didn't drink much water.
Meng Yunxian asked, "The emperor is seriously ill, did you know?"
"I know, but this is the only fate for people who have committed a capital crime. Even if the government doesn't have time to punish me, you will be there to punish me later."
After all, there were still some old friends in the Censorate who were willing to treat him well, so they naturally came to the prison to tell him about the sudden change in the situation.
"A person who is being used is willing to use his own death to punish his own mistakes, while those who are truly guilty of serious crimes have used every possible means. Even if they have accumulated countless lives for this, they never blame themselves, let alone admit their mistakes." Meng Yunxian looked at him, "I know that you, Jiang Jingnian, are a daring person. I also know that this unjust case of General Yujie has weighed on you and made you breathless. You feel that you can only atone for your sins if you are tortured to death."
Jiang Xianming didn't speak or look up.
"But Jiang Jingnian, this is not atonement, this is escape."
Meng Yunxian saw that he looked lifeless, with no trace of his former upright back and worthy appearance. "General Yujie is already dead. Even if you die a thousand times, you can't bring back his life. There is no point in doing this."
"Mr. Meng, you should hate me,"
Jiang Xianming finally spoke up, "You shouldn't have advised me."
"Do you think I'm trying to persuade you?"
Meng Yunxian still cannot be sure whether what he saw that night was just a dream. He curled his hands in his sleeves and said, "Jiang Jingnian, someone asked me to tell you that the account book and the 53.6 million strings of cash have already let him know that you are a good official."
Account books.
Five thousand three hundred and six hundred thousand strings of cash.
That was the proceeds of corruption from those parasites in Du Cong's old account. Jiang Xianming kept this number in mind and never forgot it.
He raised his head suddenly.
"He said that he once asked you, some people are wearing the same official uniform, but some are clean and some are dirty. Which one do you think you are?"
Almost as soon as Meng Yunxian finished speaking, Jiang Xianming immediately remembered the rainy night when he was attacked. He had a secret account on him, and the young man wearing a veil hat and holding a long sword had asked him this question.
After Zhang Jing died, Jiang Xianming never saw him again.
"……who is he?"
Jiang Xianming had seen him before, but he didn't know what he looked like or his name.
"He is the young master Ni who died in the battle of Yongzhou. He was posthumously conferred the title of Langjiang of Huaihua by the government. His name is written on the imperial edict - Xu Jing'an."
Meng Yunxian approached the prison door and gritted his teeth, "Jiang Jingnian, today I ask you to carefully examine the name Xu Jingan. I want to tell you that behind this name is the blood debt of 30,000 people and the death of a general."
"Who do you say he is?"
Meng Yunxian took a deep breath, reached through the prison door with one hand, and grabbed Jiang Xianming's collar. The shackles collided with each other and made a slight sound. Jiang Xianming staggered a few steps and pressed his face against the door. At this moment, he heard Meng Yunxian's suppressed and choked voice: "How useless are we living people to let a person who has been dead for sixteen years return to the world of the living as a residual soul to avenge his thirty thousand soldiers."
Every word was like a knife, piercing into Jiang Xianming's chest and crushing his flesh and blood.
"……you,"
Jiang Xianming's dark beard trembled, his eyes widened, and he said in a trembling voice, "If you don't speak, it's just a bunch of weird things!"
"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it. But I saw him. I'm so old, and you're not young either, but what about him ? He still looked like he was 19 years old. He stood in front of me and told me that he hoped I could put his case aside for the time being. He didn't want more people to die because of him."
Meng Yunxian stared at him closely, "Jiang Jingnian, he even asked me to tell you that the official uniform you are wearing is clean."
He suddenly let go and Jiang Xianming fell to the ground.
Jiang Xianming only felt a roar in his ears. A person who had been dead for sixteen years came back to life. The more he thought about such a ridiculous thing, the more frightened he became. He even remembered what a woman in a veiled hat said to the young man that night.
"What kind of injustice are you talking about?"
"The person next to me is covered in wounds, unable to see his teachers and friends, unable to enjoy his youth, unable to redress his old grievances."
He remembered what he said to the young master, "If you have been wronged, I, Jiang Xianming, will definitely redress your wrongdoing."
This memory almost crushed Jiang Xianming's internal organs. He couldn't help but think deeply about that rainy night. He dug out all the details about the mysterious young man.
Rainy night, the sound of swords.
Red mole.
Jiang Xianming suddenly remembered the man's pale back of the hand and the red mole between the rugged bones.
On the Yongzhou execution platform,
The young general who was executed by slow slicing bleeds a lot under the scorching sun. The blood makes the red mole on the back of his hand, which he could never raise again, look like blood that can never be washed away.
Jiang Xianming suddenly roared, bent down, and banged his head against the ground again and again.
No matter how deep his sleep was, He Tong was frightened by the noise and opened his eyes. The snoring stopped immediately. He sat up and saw Meng Yunxian standing in front of the cell door next door. Inside the cell, Jiang Xianming seemed to be crazy.
"Mr. Meng?"
He Tong stood up and said, "Censor Jiang, what are you doing? Stop it!"
Meng Yunxian said coldly, "Jiang Jingnian, he asked you to live, but you didn't listen?"
After these words were spoken, Jiang Xianming lay on the ground for a long time before he raised his head. Blood was flowing down his forehead. He looked at Meng Yunxian with his throat tight.
"Since we know that the dead can see our actions, we should examine ourselves more carefully, correct ourselves first, and then correct others. This is how we should respect the dead."
Meng Yunxian had a blank expression on his face. "General Yujie's case has not been retried yet. Even if you die now, would you dare to go to the underworld to meet him and Zhang Chongzhi?"
"Do something for him. Think about what else you can do. If you can't do it for him, then you should do it for the people of the world."
Meng Yunxian finished speaking, and without waiting for Jiang Xianming's reaction, he turned sideways and looked at He Tong, whose head was wrapped in blood-red cloth. "You, if you tell others that you are a serious scholar, who would believe you? You broke someone's bones over a disagreement, and made yourself look so undignified. If your teacher were here, he would definitely scold you!"
Meng Yunxian did not stay long. Now the emperor was ill and the crown prince had not been appointed. No one had come to take care of the cases of He Tong and Jiang Xianming. It was not convenient for him to intervene at this time and he could only let them continue to stay in prison.
Lord Liu asked someone to bandage Jiang Xianming's head, but he didn't move at all. No matter what Lord Liu said, he acted as if he didn't hear it and said nothing.
He Tong felt like he had lost his soul. When he saw Lord Liu and the others leave, he asked, "Censor Jiang, what did Mr. Meng say to you? Why did you make such a fuss?"
Jiang Xianming still didn't speak.
He Tong felt bored and couldn't fall asleep, so he simply sat down at the table, poured some cold tea into the inkstone, ground some ink, and dipped his brush in it.
The pen tip hits the paper, making a rustling sound.
The sound of writing made Jiang Xianming look up slowly. He saw He Tong sitting upright at the table with a pen in his hand.
"Master Congratulations."
Jiang Xianming suddenly spoke.
He Tong turned around and heard him ask, "What are you writing?"
He Tong pursed his lips. "It's Xu Hexue's poems. When I came here, they told me that in order to protect me, they burned the ones I had compiled before. But fortunately, I memorized them in my mind, every word. I want to memorize them again."
"Is it because of your teacher?"
“Not entirely.”
He Tong put his pen on the inkstone and said solemnly, "I used to hate him. I thought he was the one who harmed the teacher, but in the end I realized that I shouldn't have hated him. I was sorry for him."
"As his senior, I feel guilty and it's really hard to bear. I wonder what else I can do for him? The only thing I can do is this pen in my hand. I want to preserve his traces and let the world remember his traces."
After listening to his words, Jiang Xianming looked at the pen on his inkstone. The ink was thick and dripping. He held the wooden stake with both hands and said, "You are right. I can still hold the pen."
Meng Yunxian had just left the Imperial Censorate when he heard an official from the Night Office come to report, "Mr. Meng, Deputy Envoy Zhou asked me to tell you that someone wants to sue the Prince of Nankang and his son."
"What? Who?"
Meng Yunxian asked immediately.
The personal officer bowed his head and said respectfully, "Ni Su, Miss Ni, she claims that her late husband Xu Jing'an is a descendant of the Jing'an Army, and wants to sue the Nankang King and his son for colluding with Wu Dai and Pan Youfang to kill General Yujie Xu Hexue and 30,000 Jing'an Army soldiers."
"...Ni Su?"
Meng Yunxian grabbed his arm and said, "No! This is not allowed!"
"Mr. Meng..."
The personal officer said cautiously, "It's too late. Miss Ni has already struck the Dengwen Drum and entered the Dengwen Drum Courtyard."
Meng Yunxian's fingers suddenly relaxed.
According to the rules of Dengwen Drum Court, if one wants to seek justice, one must first be punished with twenty strokes of the cane.
He remembered,
She had been punished for her brother.
She is Zi Ling's wife. Now, does she have to endure the twenty strokes of the cane again for Zi Ling and the 30,000 Jing'an Army?
"Quick! Send someone to invite Mr. Huang, and have him go with me to Dengwen Drum Court!"
