Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 44: Duke Yan's Lu Ke's Transmission to Zhang Lang
Zhang Luo was suddenly faced with this zero-frame attack and oppressive scolding, and he was stunned for a while. It took him a long time to react.

He was naturally furious, but considering the huge gap in their status, especially the current situation where he was at the mercy of others, and it seemed that Li Linfu was not the kind of person who liked others to challenge his authority, Zhang Luo decided to respond in a more conventional way first.

He wore an expression of panic and grievance, and hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed, replying in a rapid voice, "Your Highness has misunderstood. Every word of my complaint is true, and there is absolutely no false accusation! I beg you to examine it carefully. If even one of my words is false, I will be punished with the utmost punishment rather than bear any grudge."

"Now that I'm here, the power is mine. I'll punish when necessary. It's not up to you to decide!"

Li Linfu snorted again, then angrily said, "A son should protect his father, and relatives should protect each other. This is the right way of human relations. This brat has violated this ethics and dared to claim innocence!"

Hearing that Li Linfu was still putting pressure on him, Zhang Luo roughly understood his intention. He simply wanted to break down his psychological defenses through continuous pressure, making him easier to manipulate.

So he simply obeyed the other party, his expression becoming more panicked, his face buried deep in his arms, and his mouth tremblingly said: "Zhongcheng, please spare my life, spare my life... I know that what I did is a serious crime, but I am really desperate and helpless.

The elders of the sect have always disliked me because I am a bastard. Recently, I fell seriously ill and closed my door without any medicine or stone. I almost died. Fortunately, God took pity on my life and saved me. Family affection is cold, and if I don’t save myself, I am afraid I will not live long..."

Li Linfu listened to the boy's crying, his expression still stern and serious, but his eyes flickered. After a while, he spoke again: "Stand up!"

Zhang Luo hurriedly stood up as he was told, and looked up with tearful eyes. His eyes met Li Linfu's for a moment, and before he could see the other person's appearance clearly, he lowered his head like a frightened deer.

At this moment, he also contributed his acting skills, trying hard to imitate Aquaman whose phone was suddenly checked. Although he was panicked to death, he still tried his best to show his innocence and grievance of not being trusted.

Li Linfu was quite satisfied with the boy's reaction, but then he said coldly, "We have our own methods of identifying traitors and criminals here. If you are lying or not fully truthful, I will skin you alive and tear out your tendons, and punish you with all kinds of torture! Even your great-grandfather, Zhang Yan Gong, will not be spared and will still be held in the criminal household. Be careful, young man."

"I dare not hide anything, I dare not! I am the illegitimate grandson of Zhang Linggong, and my biological mother is a distant relative of Empress Dowager Wu..."

Zhang Luo hurriedly spoke again in a respectful voice. When Li Linfu heard this, his eyes suddenly lit up and he knocked on the table and said quickly, "Wait a minute, what is the situation of your mother's family? Tell me in detail!"

When he said this, Li Linfu deliberately knocked on the desk, then raised his hand to signal the clerk in charge of recording to put down his pen and stop recording.

Zhang Luo took in this detail and knew that Li Linfu had taken the bait, so he continued to add to his life story.

In order to highlight this factor, he even concealed the fact that his mistress Zheng discriminated against and excluded him, and only emphasized that his father Zhang Jun disliked him as a remnant of the Wu family for his own political future. The purpose was naturally to strengthen his own motivation for behavior.

But to be honest, the Wu family bloodline or any connection with the Wu Zhou regime was not a big taboo during the Kaiyuan period.

The vast majority of the ministers of state and commerce during the early Kaiyuan period had already made their mark on the political scene during the Wu Zhou era. Even Li Linfu's subsequent rise to power was greatly aided by members of the Wu clan. Wu Zhou politics already had a lingering connection with the mid- to early Kaiyuan era, even forming a lingering succession relationship.

It can be said that apart from Wu Huifei's demands, which are too easily reminiscent of Wu Zetian herself, Zhang Luo's roundabout relationship is not even qualified to be purged.

But this is not important. What is important is that Zhang Luo wants Li Linfu to believe that he is suing the Zhang family because his father Zhang Jun has innate discrimination against him, and his interests are not consistent with those of the Zhang family.

In short, he wanted to make Li Linfu think that this little bastard really didn't want the Zhang family to be well, and even wanted the Zhang family to be destroyed quickly, so he took advantage of Zhang Shuo's misfortune to muster up the courage to add insult to injury.

After hearing his statement, Li Linfu frowned and fell into deep thought. He didn't continue to threaten, but softened his tone and said, "Although your grandfather, Lord Zhang Yan, was impeached by the Censorate, it was due to the disarray of state affairs. What is this young man reporting that you actually dream of bringing down such a senior official?"

"I know my great-grandfather is extremely powerful, so, therefore, I have never dared to... I have only secretly searched for the crimes of my family members and have recorded them in great detail. Now I boldly present them to you. However, I am afraid they might be intercepted along the way, so I have also hidden a copy. Please read it, and you will see that my family members have committed serious crimes and must be severely punished!"

As Zhang Luo spoke, he took out a wrinkled memorial from his bosom and held it up with both hands. This was the record he had copied earlier of the Zhang family's occupation of land. He only copied two copies, one for Zhou Lang and one for himself. As for the memorial thrown into the bronze box, it naturally contained other content.

Seeing this, Li Linfu hurriedly asked the clerk to present the memorial. After unfolding it, he quickly glanced at it, but after reading it, he was disappointed. Just a quick glance, Li Linfu knew that the charges were true, because he had seen similar charges before.

It should be noted that Cui Yinfu, the Imperial Censor, had previously served as the Governor of Henan Province. How could he not have known about the Zhang family's occupation of land around Luoyang? Therefore, they immediately brought up the relevant crimes as part of their attack on Zhang Shuo.

The charges submitted by the young man from the Zhang family were even more detailed than those provided by Cui Yinfu, which made Li Linfu believe that this young man really had no good intentions and really wanted to mess with the Zhang family all the time, which was why he secretly inquired about and recorded his family's dirty deeds so clearly.

The problem is that these charges would be serious if applied to ordinary people, but they were nothing when applied to Zhang Shuo. Even when the Censorate listed these charges, they were used as evidence that Zhang Shuo was not respectful of his family and could not control his family, rather than as a separate crime.

So, after reading it, Li Linfu immediately lost interest. His attitude became stern again. He pointed at Zhang Luo and said in a deep voice, "Is this the extent of your so-called exposing of crimes?"

"Isn't this enough? The Zhang family has barely a hundred members, yet they've seized over a thousand acres of farmland in Henan Prefecture. Countless families have lost their land and homes, and have fled. Isn't this a grave crime?"

Zhang Luo immediately showed dissatisfaction when he heard this. He raised his head and glared at Li Linfu. Only then did he see clearly what the other party looked like. He saw that he had a handsome figure and a slightly thin face. Although he didn't know how tall he was sitting in the hall, he looked tall and handsome, and had a certain majesty brought by his status and official position. He didn't look cunning or mean at all.

This was not surprising. After all, if Li Linfu had truly been so bad as to reveal his true colors, he wouldn't have had the opportunities and prospects he had later. Furthermore, he had started out as a Qianniu Guard, a close attendant to the Emperor. While this was due to his background, if he had been ugly and unattractive, he would have had a hard time being selected.

He was indignant that Li Linfu had belittled the evidence he had painstakingly gathered, so he glared and said, "If Li Zhongcheng can't resolve this, could you please pass this on to Yuwen Zhongcheng? Yuwen Zhongcheng is a minister of state, ordered to collect household and land censuses. He must understand the severity of this crime, enough to bring the entire Zhang family to justice!"

"You are so arrogant! Does the Xiantai need you to teach me?"

When Li Linfu heard this, his face suddenly darkened again, and he pointed at Zhang Luo and shouted angrily.

But after habitually showing off his power, his thoughts began to race again. The evidence provided by Zhang Jiazi was certainly not enough to bring down Zhang Shuo, but his identity could still be used to some extent.

Moreover, just by looking at how detailed the evidence of his clansmen's crimes was, one could tell how deep the evil intentions he harbored towards the Zhang family were.

It's a pity that the illegitimate son of an idle family has limited knowledge. Although he has evil intentions, he has no evil talent. This time he finally mustered up the courage to add insult to injury, and he must be worried that if his plan fails, he will be severely punished and retaliated by the Zhang family.

After a brief pause, Li Linfu raised his hand again to signal the officials in the hall to leave for the time being, leaving only a trusted follower in the hall. Then he held up the paper filled with the Zhang family's crimes and brought it close to the candlelight and ignited it directly.

"Stop, stop! That was me... Alas, I have no grudge against Li Zhongcheng, why did Zhongcheng kill me?"

When Zhang Luo saw this scene, he immediately showed an expression of grief. He wanted to show more excitement and go forward to fight for it, but when he saw the burly sword-carrying followers beside Li Linfu, he gave up the idea and just pounded the ground and cried sadly.

After burning the indictment, Li Linfu slowly walked down the hall and looked down at the grieving and frightened Zhang Jiazi with a kind smile on his face: "Mr. Zhang, you speak out when you feel injustice and are not afraid of the strong. This courage and bravery far surpasses your peers. It is really admirable!"

"I, I... Li Zhongcheng, why are you teasing me any more? If this thing can't be accomplished, I will die!"

Zhang Luo looked angry but dared not speak, lowering his head to avoid Li Linfu's gaze. After all, he still lacked confidence in his acting skills.

Li Linfu bent down and lifted his collar. His smile became even kinder, and his words were even more touching: "Zhang Lang has such noble sentiments, which makes us even more admirable. Zhang Yan Gong's half-life of fame and honor has not been easy to come by, but if it is passed on to the wrong person, I am afraid it will inevitably be ruined overnight. If it can be passed on to Zhang Lang, you can be said to have found a good person!"

"This, this... How dare I, I really don't dare! I am just a bastard in the family, and all my fathers are strong, and there are legitimate descendants..."

When Zhang Luo heard this, he immediately understood Li Linfu's intention. He was surprised at first, then felt a little secretly happy, and then his face was full of worry, and he said with regret.

(End of this chapter)