Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 597 Five Killing Gods

The Dali Temple, the Imperial City Court and the Lin'an Prefecture held a joint trial, which was a very clear signal.

As we all know, for any major event or case, unless one party wants to launch a surprise attack and catch the opponent off guard, such as Yang Yuan using the Zhang Mi case to suddenly propose the restoration of the Taizu system in the Golden Hall, otherwise, any event that has a clear date but does not start immediately is prepared in advance and may even have a result.

The final presentation to the public is just a necessary process.

Therefore, after Lin'an Prefecture announced that Yang Yuan would be tried in three days, the two prefectures, three departments, six ministries, and nine officials all understood that the case must have come to a conclusion.

Therefore, various gods began to find out the results through their own channels.

Be it Liu Yiguan, his direct subordinates, or the Dali Temple and the Imperial City Bureau who had received the case files in advance, none of them would directly tell anyone what they knew.

But, who doesn’t have a few close friends, a few old friends, a few colleagues, and a few old superiors?
They only need to pick three or five people, or even one or two people they absolutely trust, and give them a vague but clear hint. Not only will they immediately understand, but they also have other close friends, old friends, colleagues and superiors, so...

The first day after the news was released was the time for various gods to gather information.

The day after the news was leaked, memorials of advice and impeachment against this chapter flew to the desk of Prince Jin like snowflakes.

There aren't many people who have personal grudges against Yang Yuan, but among the opponents fighting to the death in the court, how many have personal grudges against him?
Different political views, different positions, and different factions are all reasons to take advantage of any opportunity.

Some even regarded Yang Yuan as a traitor to the literati because he demanded the restoration of the "Imperial Song Dynasty Criminal Code" and were jealous of him.
There were also nephews and relatives in the family who could have entered the government through imperial favor, but their future was ruined because of Yang Yuan’s suggestion to cut down on redundant work…

Prince Jin registered them according to their positions, attitudes, and the severity of their criticisms of the reformists represented by Yang Yuan.

Among them, the most radical was Yang Yuan, who was so excited about being imprisoned that he jumped up and down and lost himself in thought. As one of the first on the list, a copy of the name list was secretly sent to the Censorate.

Then I started to sort out the second batch...

The Censorate has been sharpening this knife for so long, it’s time to use it.

After receiving the list, Zhu Zhuo, the Chief Censor of the Censorate, opened the A-level archive, which had the highest level of confidentiality, in the Censorate's archive room.

Inside are files of pending cases that have not yet been handled or investigated since the establishment of the Censorate, including those that have been investigated on their own, those that have been reported, and those that have been implicated in other cases or incidents.

Anyone involved in the list sent by Prince Jin will be immediately filed and investigated.

Left Vice-Chief Censor Xiao Hongji, Right Vice-Chief Censor Tan Qi, and Left Assistant Chief Censor Wang Chenkun each took the lead in handling a major case involving senior officials from six ministries.

At the beginning of the year, the censors who had been sent to various inspection tours returned to Beijing, and almost everyone of them had a case to handle.

Among them, Xiao Yiran, Lu Chengze, Yu Zeping and others were censors who had already become members of Yang Yuan's small group, and some were even responsible for two cases alone.

These censors are equivalent to prosecutors, and each prosecutor has subordinate clerks at his disposal.

There are also auxiliary internal affairs departments, such as the Li Ji Si, Du Shi, Si Wu, Zhao Mo, Jian Xiu and other officials, all of whom are extremely busy.

Xiao Hongji looked at the case he was in charge of and the boiling atmosphere in the Censorate, and sneered in his heart.

Old man Zhu Zhuo has gone crazy. Seeing that Yang Yuan's banner is about to fall, he is so angry that he wants to retaliate against all the officials?
He is already a 70-year-old man, and he has taken the risk. There is no need for Xiao to go crazy with you.

He looked at the file in his hand, which was an investigation into the crime of selling official positions and titles by Li Jianwu, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and the Left Selectman.

The Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and the Left Selector was in charge of the assessment and appointment of officials from the beginning of their careers to the staff positions in prefectures and counties, which was a lucrative job.

It is rare for anyone who stays in this position to avoid failure.

As long as you want to check, almost no one sitting in this position can withstand the investigation.

Sometimes Xiao Hongji also feels very strange. Sitting in a position where three consecutive predecessors have failed, how dare you be greedy?

It really exists.

Xiao Hongji tapped the cover of the file, smiled faintly, and opened it.

Yang Yuan was going to commit suicide, so he could repay the kindness of Mr. Wan.

The Ministry of Personnel is a popular government office and we cannot offend them to death, but if we don't give them a warning, how will they know that we have sold them favors and made them accept our favours?
This force must be mastered well.

After thinking for a while, Xiao Hongji came up with an idea:
Tomorrow, I will go to the Ministry of Personnel first and retrieve the files on the selection of officials for the first time and the county staff positions that Doctor Li is in charge of. If he is not stupid, he will come to me on his own initiative...

……

The fleet from Japan arrived at Longshan Ferry and was guided by ferry supervisors and inspectors appointed by the Privy Council to dock safely.

However, they did not wait for the Song State personnel responsible for receiving the goods.

Fujiwara no Himeka was quite surprised when she heard the news, so she asked the fire chief to restrain his subordinates and limit their activities to the dock.

This is the territory under the charge of officials appointed by the Privy Council, so there won't be any problems.

Afterwards, she took Huayin and Xiaonai, disguised herself, left the dock, and hurried to Nianhua Cottage.

Because they didn't see the contact person at the dock, they became more cautious. When they arrived near the Nianhua Cottage, they peeked into an empty alley and climbed over the side wall to get in.

They found Emmanuelle Belle and learned from her a series of news that she didn't know yet.

Yang Yuan was promoted, and Yang Yuan was imprisoned.

Yang Yuan got married and took in four concubines.

When Hanane and Xiaonai heard this, their eyes were filled with resentment and they glanced at Jixiang without saying anything.

Look, look, I told you that you should have come back earlier, but you insisted on showing off in Kyoto and were reluctant to leave. Now you missed it, didn’t you?
Ji Xiang glared at me like an abandoned woman. Why did you miss this batch? Just wait for the next one. Did it delay your eating meat?

Wait, Yang Yuan is in jail? What crime did he commit? Maybe there won't be another batch of him.

Belle told Ji Xiang what had happened recently.

Belle was not clear about Yang Yuan's specific plan, but after Yang Yuan was imprisoned, Belle was very anxious and rushed to Yang's house to discuss with Luxi, Dan Niang and others how to rescue him.

From their reactions, Belle knew that Yang Yuan should be safe and sound, and there might be something else going on.

So Belle was not panicked.

However, since she didn't know the detailed plan, she naturally couldn't make this guarantee for Yang Yuan, so she just told Ji Xiang about it and didn't tell her analysis.

Bei'er said: "Miss Yuye was imprisoned with him. Bingxin and Yuchan meant to lie low for a while and not take any action, so we didn't go to the dock to meet them.

Because although we don't hold any shares in it, we have been cooperating with Miss Yuye, and they are worried that Lin'an Prefecture will send people to keep an eye on us."

"I see. I'll go find Song Luxi and ask him about this."

After Ji Xiang finished speaking, she waved to Bei'er, and the three of them left Nianhua Cottage stealthily again.

On the way to Renmeifang, Hua Yin reminded: "If what Miss Bei'er said is true, we will attract the attention of those who are interested if we barge into Yang's house so brazenly."

Ji Xiang said, "I understand. It's better to be cautious. When we get to the vicinity of Yang's mansion, let's survey it carefully first. You two will support us from outside, and I will sneak in to meet Song Luxi."

Xiao Nai said with some worry: "Lord, Miss Song... is already the master's wife. When you see her, you must be polite. Don't... offend her. The people of Song have a strict system of hierarchy in their inner chambers, not like in Japan..."

The Japanese emperor and dignitaries also had countless concubines. A general alone would have at least a thousand women serving him.

According to their rules, women over the age of 30 can no longer sleep with their lord, but they still retain the treatment of wives and concubines.

Therefore, in order to secure their favor, many "ladies" would select beautiful girls in advance and keep them by their side to cultivate feelings. When they lose the qualification to sleep with the emperor, they would offer the girls they have personally trained to the emperor.

However, they do not have a strict system of one wife and multiple concubines, and the boundaries between wives and concubines are not strict. The degree of favor of the lord and their family background determine their right to speak in the husband's family.

Xiaonai was worried that Jixiang's unwillingness to suffer any loss and her lack of understanding of the Song Dynasty's system would make their lives difficult if she angered Luxi.

Ji Xiang glanced at her arrogantly and sneered, "So what if the Song Dynasty has a strict system? I am not from the Song Dynasty! The Queen of Japan is my maid. How can I take her, a princess of the Song Dynasty who changed her career, seriously? What a joke!"

"But……"

"Shut up!"

Ji Xiang and the other two disguised themselves as passers-by, hurriedly walked past the gate of the marquis' mansion and turned into a side path.

After realizing that there was no one around, Ji Xiang climbed over the wall and leapt into Yang's house very nimbly.

Hanane and Konai turned around tacitly and walked slowly to the two ends of the alley.

Ji Xiang jumped into Yang's house and after taking a few steps, she saw Old Man Ji watering the flowers.

Ji Xiang had seen how powerful this old man was when she was in Hakatazu, so she immediately stood up respectfully and called out, "Uncle Ji."

Mr. Ji recognized her. After all, Ji Xiang had only changed her clothes, her appearance remained unchanged.

Uncle Ji nodded and said, "Follow me!"

Ji Xiang followed Uncle Ji's footsteps, and suddenly felt that there was a lack of sharp aura among the flowers.

Uncle Ji took Ji Xiang to the main hallway and said, "Luxi, Miss Ji Xiang from Dongying is back."

After saying that, he turned around and gestured to Ji Xiang.

Ji Xiang nodded to Uncle Ji and walked into the main hall.

Luxi was talking with Alihu and Ata in the inner room. When he heard Uncle Ji's voice, he hurried out to greet him.

When Ji Xiang saw Lu Xi, she immediately took small steps forward, knelt on her knees sleekly, placed her hands in front of her knees, touched her forehead to the ground, and said, "Ji Xiang greets Madam."

Lu Xi was shocked. She didn't expect Ji Xiang to perform such a grand ceremony as soon as they met. Kneeling was not a common etiquette in the State of Song.

But in Japan, when a person meets a lower person, he can raise his chin to the sky. When facing his superior, he will behave as humble as his inferior when meeting him.

This change in attitude is a reaction that is ingrained into their bones.

Lu Xi hurried forward to help her up and said, "Ji Xiang, there is no need to be so polite. You and I can just call each other sisters."

Ji Xiang stood up, held her knees respectfully and said: "Ji Xiang came back from Japan, and was shocked to hear that San Yuan Jun was murdered by a villain, arrested and imprisoned, and will be tried tomorrow.

I don't know what happened to Sanyuan Jun. If you need Ji Xiang to rescue him, please let me know, Madam."

Luxi was very happy to hear that, thinking that true friendship is shown in times of adversity. It was good that this Japanese girl did not run away when she heard that her second brother was in trouble, and she still had such feelings for him.

Luxi said to A-Ta, "A-Ta, go back to the room with your sister Alihu to rest."

Ah Ta agreed, took Alihu's hand and walked out of the room. Lu Xi held Ji Xiang's hand and said kindly, "Come, let's go to the inner room and talk."

……

On the day of the trial, Wu Yichen, the commander of the three command posts under the Imperial City Department, and Teng Teng, the chief of the Dali Temple, rushed to Lin'an Prefecture from their respective offices early in the morning.

In the Lin'an Prison, individual prisoners were brought out, put in shackles, and prepared to be taken to the Lin'an government office.

The former head of the Printing Office of the Imperial Decree Court was Xu Hongcheng, and the supervisors of the imperial edict affairs were Yang Leifeng, Li Qiaoer, He Qiqi, etc.

In addition, there were the shopkeeper and accountant of Sanyuan Jewelry Store, as well as Wang Liansheng, Wang Yefan and others from Longshan.

These people will be taken to Lin'an Prison in carts.

Inside the men's prison, Wei Shun bowed to Yang Yuan and said, "I'm sorry to trouble you today, my Lord."

Yang Yuan stretched out his hands and said with a smile: "It has nothing to do with you, come on."

Wei Shun personally put the shackles around Yang Yuan's neck and locked them.

Yang Yuan noticed that the shackles had a layer of khaki-colored coarse cloth at the neck and wrists, which was similar in color to the wood of the shackles.

When Yang Yuan was brought out from the male prison, Fei Yuye was also brought out from the female prison. Wei Shun quickly stepped forward, opened the curtain of a large carriage, and said, "My Lord, Miss Fei, please get in the carriage."

They were not sitting in the kind of prison vans made of rough wood, which were usually used to go to the execution ground and were neither suitable for standing nor for sitting inside.

Now they were being taken to Lin'an Prison for trial. Other prisoners were grouped in groups of six, riding in an open ox cart.

Only Yang Yuan and Fei Yuye shared a canopy and curtained ox cart to prevent passers-by from spying on them as they traveled.

Yang Yuan has been waiting for this day for a long time.

The origin and destination of his so-called large amount of wealth was actually very easy to explain, and the fake notes had nothing to do with him at all.

However, it would be too slow to purge these old ministers of the previous dynasty with complicated backgrounds through normal channels.

During this long process, even if there were no setbacks or accidents, by the time the task was completed and internal unity was achieved, the great opportunity created by the division of the Jin Dynasty would have been missed.

Even if the Jin Kingdom had not wiped out the New Jin at that time, the instability and unrest that had just broken out would have disappeared, which would have created greater difficulties for the Song Kingdom's Northern Expedition.

Yang Yuan took advantage of the situation and gave them opportunities, luring them deeper and deeper step by step. When they could no longer extricate themselves, he had no choice but to take advantage of the situation and create a wrongful case. This was his opportunity.

Currently in Lin'an City, the only three people who know that Yang Yuan and Fei Yuye are responsible for the detailed plan of military aid to the New Jin are Prince of Jin, Shen Gai, and Yang Cunzhong.

This is top military secret.

Yang Yuan was not worried that there would be any problems with Prince Jin and Yang Cunzhong. The only thing he needed to worry about was Shen Gai's attitude.

Shen Gai didn't need to explain it clearly, he just needed to hint and point out, and Tang Shitui and his group would not be able to allow their subordinates to fabricate false evidence so unscrupulously.

In order to guard against this, Yang Yuan also made a contingency plan.

However, during this process, Shen Gai remained seated on the Diaoyutai platform, allowing Tang Shitui and a group of people to jump around there. This is a bit intriguing.

Was it because of a series of reforms that shortened the prime minister's term of office and divided the prime minister's power among the ruling party that caused a rift in the relationship between Shen Gai and Tang Shitui?

A young and promising man, eyeing the opportunity eagerly.

As he is very old, he, as the prime minister, should be the first to make room to retire.

So Shen should be confused for once?
Or is there a more complicated reason?
Yang Yuan didn't know what Shen Gai was thinking, but this also made him secretly alert.

These old guys are all very smart people. Their advanced knowledge and understanding of human nature may not necessarily enable them to crush others, so we must not be careless.

Liu Yiguan arrived at the main hall of the Qianting early in the morning and changed into a brand new official uniform.

Today is his big day. After today, he will either cross the chasm and embark on a smooth path to a higher class, or he will be disgraced and fall into the bottomless abyss.

He will not go into the abyss, the case must be solved into an ironclad case.

Therefore, he prepared a killer move, a killer move that would leave Yang Yuan with no chance of recovery.

Wang Zirui, who had been staying at home claiming to be sick due to shame and anger in recent days, ended his leave and returned to the government office.

However, in recent days, Governor Qiao, who has been single-handedly supporting the overall situation of Lin'an Prefecture and ensuring its normal operation without any chaos, took sick leave today.

laugh!
Thinking of Qiao Zhen, Liu Yiguan sneered again.

An official as capable as he is is now only a magistrate.

A clay or wooden sculpture like Qiao Zhen is ranked above them. How can there be any justice in this world?

……

Himeka brought Tsubakiya Kona and Yazawa Kanon with her, just like a rich girl with two half-grown maids.

Xiaonai and Hanayin were so petite that on the streets of Song State, they looked like two little girls of thirteen or fourteen who had not yet grown up.

Ji Xiang was much slimmer and taller, and among the people of the Song Dynasty, she had an average figure and looked normal.

The three of them were wearing ordinary women's clothes on the outside and ninja uniforms on the inside, and they were patrolling near the Duzi Bridge, which was the only way from Lin'an Prison to Lin'an Prefecture.

After meeting Lu Xi yesterday, Ji Xiang knew the reason and purpose of Yang Yuan's involvement.

What Luxi meant was to keep the troops in place and wait for changes.

However, when Ji Xiang thought of Yang Yuan's disheveled and miserable appearance, she couldn't help but feel excited.

She has not forgotten the past when she was bullied and imprisoned in the cellar by Yang Yuan.

Yang Yuan, ah, Yang Yuan, you have come to this day!
So, she told Luxi that she was worried about Yang Yuan and wanted to come and look after him nearby so that she could be informed of any developments in the case in a timely manner, and so she rushed over with Huayin and Xiaonai.

"Lord God, you didn't anger Madam Luxi yesterday, did you?"

Xiaonai stayed beside Jixiang and asked her worriedly.

This god has always been lawless and even dares to contradict her master. How could she be afraid of Madam Luxi?
However, you can talk back to the master, but you really can't offend the mistress.

The master is easy to please, as long as you use some new tricks...

But if the hostess is offended, she is really offended. How can Xiaonai feel at ease?

"What do you mean I pissed her off?"

Xiaonai asked me this question several times yesterday, and Jixiang became impatient.

She glared at Xiao Nai and said, "Do I need to anger her? Is she worthy of my anger? You are getting more and more timid, girl."

"But……"

"But what? Shut up!"

Fujiwara Himeka raised her head proudly: "There is no one in this world who can make me, the one and only, bow down to him!"

Xiao Nai sighed in despair. It seemed that the bad-tempered God Lord had really offended Madam Luxi.

If the Lord God really made a mess, I will have to find a way to make up for it.

I don’t know if the silver-gray-blue pearl necklace I treasure can please Madam Luxi…

……

Under the Duzi Bridge, a boatman wearing a bamboo hat was paddling a boat under the shade of willows, as if he wanted to take a rest here.

At the bridge head, a vendor selling cherries and wax apples squatted quietly beside the stone railing.

He looked at the passers-by with a smile, without shouting out his wares, and seemed very leisurely.

On the bridge, a wealthy man was walking slowly among the passers-by.

If someone had the leisure to stand at the bridgehead and count the people walking on it, he would have discovered that the gentleman had walked back and forth on the bridge three times.

The official was Gong Jinquan, the peddler was Huang Ji, and the boatman was Yao Kun.

They also have another name: Yidu, Puyang Wenhe and Dabuye.

The three of them were all "Blood Pagoda", while the others hiding on the bridge and on the side of the bridge were just their followers brought from the Jin Kingdom and were not official members of the "Blood Pagoda".

They opened a fake association in Longshan City and distributed the fake association notes to disrupt the economy of the Song Dynasty. This was just one of the missions that the First Buddha Tang Daosheng sent them to the Song Dynasty for.

They also have a more important mission, they are "protectors of the way" and they come to protect the way.

But in order to promote the "Tao" they are protecting, they need to tear apart the political arena of the Song Dynasty first!

The territory of the Jin Dynasty has now been torn apart.

The system of the Song Dynasty made it difficult for them to tear apart the territory of the Song Dynasty using the same method.

But they can use other methods, which, if successful, will be more deadly than tearing the territory apart.

Originally they had several contingency plans, one of which was to first disrupt the economy of the Song Dynasty and then use the economic turmoil to create conflicts in the political arena.

However, they didn't expect that the new and old factions in Song State were already fighting openly and secretly, which gave them a better opportunity.

Yang Yuan was a rising star in the political arena of the Song Dynasty and a banner of the radicals in the political arena of the Song Dynasty. His trial was actually the beginning of the conservatives' counterattack against the radicals.

But at this time, what would happen if Yang Yuan was murdered on the way to trial?

Is the hard evidence about Yang Yuan still convincing?
The Prince of Jin, the regent who is more violent and unscrupulous than the emperor of the Song Dynasty, will go crazy over this, right?
The radicals who are currently being suppressed will also make a big fuss about this incident, and then their chance will come.

If the conservatives, who still make up the largest number in the officialdom of the Song Dynasty, are suppressed to the bottom, they will accept the "Tao" brought by the Jin Kingdom and change the Song Dynasty.

The Fifth Buddha gave them orders to pretend to be Song people, assassinate Yang Yuan and create chaos!
Luo Cheng'an and Yan Qingyu disguised themselves. Their disguise skills were very advanced, and Luo Cheng'an's eyes even became triangular.

Duzi Bridge is adjacent to Dawazi and is crowded with people. Going east is the closest section of the road to Fengyu Gate, which can quickly lead to West Lake. As long as they move faster, the pursuers can only sigh in despair, because they will not be able to determine where the boat carrying Yang Yuan will go.

The State of Song was about to start a trial of Yang Yuan. Luo Cheng'an and Yan Qingyu could no longer wait, so they had no choice but to choose a path they were most reluctant to take: hijacking the prison van!
(End of this chapter)