Stay away from corruption
Lu Shiren immediately jumped up and said, "You are really rebelling!"
"The imperial edict has arrived." Eunuch Dequan, who was beside the emperor, came over and said, "Why don't you kneel down and obey the order?"
When everyone saw the eunuch coming down from the sedan chair with the imperial edict in hand, they all bowed their heads and knelt on the ground.
"By the providence of Heaven, the Emperor proclaims: A serious murder has occurred in Linyao. The circumstances are grave, the people are in panic, and this is a matter of great concern to the safety of the country. I hereby order the Third Prince, Yuwen Xin, to thoroughly investigate this case. He must get to the bottom of it and apprehend the culprit as soon as possible to reassure the people. I urge all officials, regardless of rank, to fully cooperate with the Third Prince and obey his orders. You must not act in vain, shirk responsibility, or slack off. Anyone who violates this order will be severely punished. I decree this." Li Dequan put away the imperial edict and presented it to Yuwen Xin with a smile. "Third Prince, please rise and do not betray your majesty's trust."
As early as the day he returned from Lu Shiren's mansion, Yuwen Xin sent a carrier pigeon to the palace, and today was the perfect time to rescue the two.
"Thank you for your hard work, Eunuch Dequan." Yuwen Xin thanked with a smile.
Lu Shiren and Yang Ye were so frightened that their souls left their bodies, their legs went weak and they fell to their knees.
When Zhao Mingshang and the other two arrived at Wu Yun's house, the secret room had been cleaned thoroughly and there was no trace of the crime.
Due to insufficient physical evidence, Lu Shiren and the other man had to be temporarily detained in prison.
"Actually, I have been thinking about a question. Do the Linyao opera troupes use human skin when performing puppet shows?" Xu Ning always felt that there were many flaws in this case. It was like there was a ball of wool in his head, tangled and tangled. At present, he could only sort out this one thread.
Tang Xixu was silent for a moment before he said, "No, it's only happened in the last month or two. The price of puppet shows has skyrocketed in the last month or two."
"Is this the only reason why you're suspicious?"
Yuwen Xin glanced at Tang Xixu thoughtfully.
Qu Yi then interjected, "Not entirely. The umbrellas auctioned at the Yan Huan Banquet have long been sold in Linyao, and are now used by many young ladies from wealthy families. It's said that umbrellas made from freshly peeled human skin attract insects. A geisha paid a large sum of money to buy one, and when she placed it in her room, many flying insects flew around it. As for the puppet show, I've heard some spectators say, 'Although the ticket prices have increased, the show is better than before, like real people.'"
Xu Ning shuddered upon hearing this. "The freshly peeled skin has a fishy smell, so they'll definitely use some kind of aromatherapy to cover it up. That's why human skin umbrellas are more fragrant than ordinary umbrellas, and the scent is pungent. And with puppet shows, there's probably some smell too, but the audience is too far away from the stage to smell it."
Zhao Mingchang also agreed, but still worried: "It's just that His Majesty has issued a secret order to close the case as soon as possible. Now there is only one day left, and the peeling body is nowhere to be found."
"The corpses have a strong fishy smell, and there are so many of them. Even if they are buried in the soil, they will easily attract other things. What does Yang Ye say?" Xu Ning believed that Yang Ye was the mastermind and must know something.
Zhao Mingshang and Yuwen Xin had already interrogated him, using both soft and hard tactics, but Yang Ye was extremely tight-lipped and just said he didn't know.
Zhao Mingchang could only shake his head.
"I remember there was a eunuch at the time. He might be the key to this case."
"There's not even a shadow of a person in sight." Qu Yi sighed, seeing that the case was about to be closed. Although the death penalty could be imposed based on the current evidence, he still felt unwilling to let the mastermind get away.
Xu Ning pondered for a moment, then an idea struck him: "I have a plan. But it may not lead to the discovery of the mastermind behind this."
Regardless of whether it works or not, I decided to give it a try.
"Yang Ye and Lu Shiren, the two of you have colluded with each other, cruelly harmed the people, and accepted bribes and perverted the law. Now there is both witnesses and evidence. According to the laws of Daxin, you are sentenced to death and all your property will be confiscated. All your family members will be stripped of their official household registration and demoted to farmers." The newly appointed judge of Lin Yao announced.
Yang Ye was very dissatisfied and struggled with his bound hands: "You, you, where is the evidence? Where is the evidence?"
"Want physical evidence? Come on, bring up the physical evidence." Xu Ning asked someone to bring up the puppet and umbrella that were in trouble.
"Although the body is nowhere to be found, the burning scent of human skin is special and different from other animal skins. Ordinary animal skins have a smell similar to burning hair when burned. You just need to burn the puppet skin and the umbrella surface to compare the smell of burning hair." Xu Ning first cut off a small bunch of his own hair with a long sword.
Qu Yi was a little surprised: "You..."
"What? Are you planning to cut your hair?" Xu Ning looked indifferent.
Everyone present was shocked. Xu Ning explained in a stern voice: "Don't misunderstand, just treat it as a solved case." Tang Xixu's frown gradually relaxed.
When the three objects were burning, the umbrella and the puppet had a significantly different smell than the hair.
"Now you can finally plead guilty, right?" Xu Ning frowned and spoke sternly, placing the evidence in front of the two.
The Lu and Yang families became deserted buildings overnight, and their people left and their families were forgotten.
The emperor was furious and ordered Yuwen Xin to be beheaded on the spot without being escorted back to the capital.
Yang Ye and Lu Shiren became prisoners. The two local tyrants who used to be dressed in gorgeous clothes and acted arrogantly in Lin Yao were now in tattered clothes, with messy hair and looked unpresentable.
The cell was dark and damp. There was a "drip drip" sound in the dark places and mice were gnawing at the corners. There was only a straw mat but no quilt. In the twelfth lunar month, Yang Ye was shivering with cold facing the wall and had no desire to sleep at all.
"You, what are you doing?" A group of people came at night, put a black hood on Yang Ye and took him away.
The carriage was shaking and swaying all the way, getting farther and farther away from the city. Yang Ye racked his brains but couldn't figure out who it was. He was about to die, who would come to harm him?
"Yang Ye, long time no see." Tang Xixu sat on the high seat with his eyes closed and smiled softly.
"You, who are you?" Yang Ye looked at the young man on the high seat for a long time and couldn't remember who he was.
Tang Xixu was wearing a half silver mask that hid his real face, so it was no wonder that he couldn't recognize him.
"I asked the Dice King to lend you the money to open the casino."
The only person in this world who can make the Three Absolute Dice King obey his orders is Gunyu Piercing.
Yang Ye didn't dare to breathe. He was still wondering why someone would be so "generous" as to lend him money.
The Sanjue Dice King is a gambler who loves to make deals with people, especially those who are profit-driven and addicted to gambling.
"Do you recognize this thing?" Tang Xixu took out a sachet, which was left by the man in black in Shuanghualin.
Sure enough, Yang Ye was extremely excited when he saw this thing. This was the person who joined Wen Liang's camp with him back then. Yang Ye was so excited that his heartbeat accelerated and he was speechless for a long time.
"Pan Qi embezzled half of the disaster relief money back then. Don't you think it's ridiculous?" A provincial judge embezzled half of the disaster relief money, and no other officials were involved. This case is absurd no matter how you look at it.
Yang Ye lowered his head and said nothing.
"I remember you were the one who delivered the memorial at top speed back then. And you took office not long after Pan Qi was imprisoned. But to this day, Pan Qi's case has not been vindicated, and there hasn't even been a retrial. Or maybe the officials all knew about it, but no one dared to step forward to defend him. Just like Mo Wenqing back then."
Yang Ye raised his head and said, "Those are all facts. The crime was sentenced by His Majesty and has nothing to do with me." Then he turned his head away.
"Hmph. It's none of your business." Pan Ruyi walked into the dungeon and took off the hood of her black cloak. "My father never embezzled anything back then. It was you who said you were busy and couldn't leave the money with him. My father knew it was a difficult situation, but he had no choice but to obey the orders from above."
Pan Ruyi had just recovered from a serious illness and was still a little weak, so Pei Shan gently supported her.
"That silver was just a temporary deposit, but it ended up being used to kill my father!" Pan Ruyi was overwhelmed with emotion, tears welling up in her eyes. "Why, why did you want to kill my father? He lived an honest life and never did anything illegal. Why did you want to harm him?"
Yang Ye was silent for a while. He was about to die, and it was time to pay off the debts he owed in his life.
"You can only blame your father for being too incorruptible. He refused the money given by the merchants and turned a blind eye to it, but he investigated everything thoroughly, always claiming to keep his name clean.
They say that when water is too clear, there are no fish, but this is already a pool of muddy water. Your father refused to go along with the officialdom and insisted on taking another path. This was his own choice!"
Pei Shan sneered when he heard this: "Since when has being an honest official become a crime?"
After a while, he glared at Yang Ye. "Gongsun Yi refused fish, Yang Xu hung fish and refused bribes, and Bao Zheng refused to take a single inkstone home, believing that 'purity of mind is the root of healing, and uprightness is the path to self-preservation'"—a clear expression of his uncorrupted mindset. Furthermore, those seeking official positions in the court should fulfill their duties, work for the welfare of the country, and do their duty well. Only in this way can they truly live up to their official robes.
And all you said is just an excuse for your greed!"
It is said that where there are people, there are rivers and lakes. So where there are fish, the water will definitely not be "clear".
Jizhou and Linyao may appear prosperous, but they are actually deeply corrupt. In such a murky water, everyone has fish to eat and meat to eat. Those who refuse both fish and meat will inevitably become outcasts. A group's only options for dealing with outcasts are assimilation or destruction, and Pan Qi clearly chooses the latter.
This is the price of not going along with the crowd.
"I'm afraid it's not just because of this? If that's the case, Pan Qi should have died the year he took office, instead of serving for six or seven years." Tang Xixu hinted at something.
Yang Ye was silent again. Could he speak? But his only father was still in that man's hands. He could die, but his father could not.
"You are a loyal person. But you are using your loyalty in the wrong place. I saw the man you drank with yesterday. He said he would do me a favor and you would leave it to me. Your father has been dead for a long time." Tang Xixu found out that Yang Ye's father was missing. He guessed that he was kidnapped and someone threatened Yang Ye to keep the truth to himself.
Upon hearing this, Yang Ye was first shocked, then felt a pain in his chest, as if an axe had struck him hard. He sighed, still hoping for a peaceful death. "Never mind. Now that things have come to this, I can atone for the evil I did before."
"He really wasn't just motivated by this incident. At the beginning of the 20th year of Zhenning, Pan Qi, armed with evidence from the Mo Wenqing case, wanted to reopen General Mo's case. The case should have been closed, as His Majesty had thoroughly investigated it and closed it long ago. Yet, this man insisted on reopening it. At the time, some scoundrels in the capital were still spreading rumors that Mo Wenqing had deliberately lost to the Jin State. Perhaps for this reason, Pan Qi wanted to reopen the case to prove his innocence."
Pan Qi and Mo Wenqing were classmates, both studying under the current Prime Minister Pei Xianzheng in their youth. They had always been close friends. When Mo Wenqing died, he knelt in front of the Palace of Heavenly Purity for a whole day and night, begging His Majesty to review the case. To appease the people as soon as possible, His Majesty refused.
Pei Shan was surprised. He was still young at the time, and his grandfather had many disciples, so he didn't remember much. But General Mo couldn't be considered a complete failure. Fortunately, he managed to hold Wutong Pass and save Ye County. He didn't know how he was accused of treason. He only heard from his eldest brother that the court and the people were so angry at the time that the emperor had no choice but to not allow General Mo to enter the Lieying Hall, and finally even accused him of a crime, which finally put the matter to rest.
"Someone didn't want him to re-examine the case, so they killed him on trumped-up charges. What a plot." Tang Xixu walked down with an indifferent tone, but his heart was filled with rage.
The young man's eyes were red with anger as he approached Yang Ye and asked, "How much do you know about the Mo family's defeat?"
"Why didn't the reinforcements arrive that year?!" With tears in his eyes and tight lips, Tang Xixu stared at the man tied to the wooden stake.
Yang Ye frowned and shook his head, "I really don't know that. Nor have I ever heard Your Majesty mention it."
Tang Xixu staggered back a few steps and didn't mention it?
That is to say, Your Majesty may not have seen the memorial in which my father requested support.
Yang Ye admired General Mo Wenqing throughout his life, vaguely remembering that when he traveled to Beijing for the imperial examination, it was Mo Wenqing who arranged for him to enter a family. Yang Ye, forever etched in his heart this kindness, sighed, "In my life, I've done many wrong things and slandered many people, but the only person I've never slandered is Mo Wenqing. I'm deeply saddened and regretful about his death."
"Since you don't know about this, let's talk about Wen Liang. Wen Liang, a eunuch, suddenly came to Lin Yao. I don't believe that he is fine."
These cases are scattered and there must be a mastermind.
Yang Ye also knew that the young man had just deceived him, but his father was in Wen Liang's hands, and he would definitely not get any good results after his death.
"He's the one who's in this human-skin umbrella business. But I have no idea why he does it. He's not after money. He shares most of his earnings with his subordinates. Because he gets so much each time, so many officials follow him. Another strange thing about him is that he never gets involved with women, let alone men."
Tang Xixu fell into deep thought when he heard this. He had never heard of Wen Liang being so self-disciplined.
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