Traveling through Du He, Li Chengqian's rebellion begins

While handing the charges to the Minister of Justice Zhang Liang, Jia Dunyi briefly outlined the crimes committed by the two criminals.

"Minister Zhang, the recorder and military officer Zhang Chao, in order to force a beautiful commoner girl to be his concubine, he brutally killed the man who was engaged to the commoner girl!"

"Even after learning that the man's parents had gone to the government office to seek justice, Zhang Chao sent people to beat the two elderly people so badly that they died on the street not long after."

He paused, then spoke through gritted teeth.

"In order to seize the property of a wealthy businessman who ran a dyeing factory in the city, Zhang Yong, a military officer, repeatedly ordered thugs to cause trouble in the wealthy businessman's shop."

"The rich businessman was very stubborn and fought to the death. He even went to the county government to sue Zhang Yong. That's why Zhang Yong didn't succeed."

"But Zhang Yong not only did not stop, but instead intensified his revenge on the rich businessman, resulting in the murder of the rich businessman's family of five!"

"Now the dyeing factory has fallen into Zhang Yong's hands, allowing Zhang Yong to make huge profits from it!"

These two major events occurred after he became the governor of Luozhou. Jia Dunyi could not imagine how chaotic Luozhou was before he took office.

When he found out the truth and sent a judicial officer to arrest the two corrupt officials, the judicial officer actually disobeyed the order of him, the governor.

In desperation, Jia Dunyi personally led the palace soldiers to arrest the people, but he was stopped at the gate by other palace soldiers and could not even see the two officials who had committed evil deeds.

Even Zhang Liang's other adopted sons warned him not to meddle in other people's business, otherwise they would let him die in Luozhou.

The upright Jia Dunyi could not stand this humiliation, so he wrote a memorial that night and asked his attendants to send it to Chang'an to file a complaint with the emperor overnight.

After hearing what Jia Dunyi said, Zhang Liang's face looked so solemn that water seemed to be dripping out of it.

When he led the officials of the Ministry of Justice to Luozhou, he had already sent his attendants to question his adopted sons at full speed, and he was aware of the huge disaster they had caused.

But the two adopted sons who got into trouble, one was the registrar and military officer of Luozhou, and the other was the military officer in charge of military affairs. They were among the most capable of his adopted sons.

If they were punished according to Tang law, they would surely be dragged to the market town and beheaded.

This would damage his influence in Luozhou, so Zhang Liang has been thinking of ways to save the lives of his two adopted sons these past two days.

He not only had to save the lives of his two adopted sons, but also their official positions.

Zhang Liang took the charge handed to him by Jia Dunyi, flipped it open and glanced at it casually, then put it down.

He stared at Jia Dunyi with burning eyes, then frowned and asked.

"Governor Jia, you reported that Zhang Chao, the military officer in charge of record, and Zhang Yong, the military officer in charge of military affairs, committed heinous crimes. Are their crimes proven?"

“Who are the witnesses and is the evidence they provide accurate?”

Hearing Zhang Liang's question, Jia Dunyi's expression paused slightly.

He knew that Zhang Liang was the adoptive father of these two officials who had committed serious crimes, and when he heard Zhang Liang's words, he was afraid that he might want to protect his two adopted sons.

Jia Dunyi said calmly, "Replying to Minister Zhang, the people who are suing are the families of the two victims!"

"After my investigation, I found that there is evidence of what Zhang Chao and Zhang Yong did!"

"If you are trying the case in court now, I can bring all the witnesses and evidence to the court of the governor's mansion!"

When Jia Dunyi was leading people to investigate the case, it seemed as if there was a mastermind behind the scenes pushing him to quickly catch the two officials.

Although Jia Dunyi had doubts in his heart, he did not notice any abnormalities when he analyzed the investigation process of these two major cases over and over again.

In the end, he attributed everything to coincidence, perhaps God wanted him to punish these two officials who had committed serious crimes.

Zhang Liang was silent for a moment, then spoke in a deep voice.

"We have been traveling for two days. Let's take a rest for a day and continue the interrogation tomorrow!"

Then Zhang Liang turned to look at Zhang Xingcheng, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice, and asked him.

"Minister Zhang, what do you think?"

The person that Zhang Liang is most worried about at the moment is not Jia Dunyi, the governor of Luozhou, but Zhang Xingcheng, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice.

Although there was no conflict between the two of them, Zhang Xingcheng considered himself noble and never attached himself to his cronies or powerful people, making him an extremely difficult opponent.

Zhang Liang knew that he would definitely be serious about it and would not give face to him, the Minister of Justice.

Zhang Xingcheng nodded and said, "I will follow the orders of Minister Zhang."

They had been traveling non-stop for two days, and as he was old, he was already exhausted.

He didn't have enough energy to try these two difficult cases at this time.

Zhang Liang stood up and waved his hand, saying, "Then everyone, please go back and rest for a day, and come back to try these two cases tomorrow."

As he said this, he put his hands behind his back and quickly left the lobby of the Governor's Mansion.

Zhang Liang had a luxurious manor covering dozens of acres in Jishanfang, Luoyang, where his second wife Li, his legitimate son Zhang Yi and others lived.

In the lobby of the mansion.

Zhang Liang looked at his beautiful second wife and saw a young handsome man with red lips and white teeth standing behind him, and they were behaving very intimately.

"Snapped!"

Zhang Liang slammed the table in front of him and pointed at the young man and questioned in a deep voice.

"Madam, who is he?"

Seeing Zhang Liang, who was full of anger, making trouble for no reason, Zhang was not afraid. Instead, a fierce look appeared on her face.

She yelled at Zhang Liang, "Zhang Liang, you've become successful now, and you actually dare to slam the table and yell at me?"

"In the ninth year of Wude, you were working for the King of Qin in Luozhou. You were accused of plotting something illegal by the King of Qi, Li Yuanji, and were thrown into prison. It was my family who helped you to smooth things over, allowing you to escape torture in the prison."

"How else can a coward like you withstand the torture?"

In the ninth year of Wude (626), the conflict between Qin Wang Li Shimin and Crown Prince Li Jiancheng intensified. Zhang Liang was ordered by Li Shimin to go to Luoyang to secretly contact his old subordinates and prepare for an uprising.

When Prince of Qi Li Yuanji learned about this, he went to his father Emperor Li Yuan to report Zhang Liang's evil intentions. Li Yuan immediately sent people to arrest and torture Zhang Liang.

It was also because of the efforts of the family behind the second wife Li that Zhang Liang, who had kept the secret, was released and escaped.

Not long after, the Xuanwu Gate Incident occurred, and Qin Wang Li Shimin ascended the throne. Zhang Liang was awarded the titles of General of the Right Guard, Governor of Huaizhou, and Duke of Changping County for his merits.

When Zhang Liang heard his wife mention this, his angry expression calmed down.

He touched the tip of his nose angrily and said, "Madam, how dare I lose my temper with you? I am just curious about this person's identity."

"Humph!"

Li snorted heavily, then raised his eyebrows and scolded.

"You still have the nerve to ask who this child is?"

"He is the child you had with the maid in the mansion. Don't you, as a father, want to acknowledge your child?"

what?

This guy who looks like a woman, is he my descendant?

Zhang Liang stood up suddenly, his face full of horror.