Records of the Cattle and Horses of Chang'an

Cui Bianxu's expression was too obvious for Li Xiaogong to miss. He said unhappily, "Your Majesty, please be merciful. The late Queen's funeral is approaching, and the Crown Prince misses the Queen's kindness and compassion. He is preparing to write a letter to Your Majesty requesting that a group of people be released."

When Empress Wende was alive, half of the people in the palace were released.

Look, this is the retribution for giving birth to a child. Even after you die, your unfilial descendants will use it as an excuse.

Empress Wende passed away at the end of July last year, and there are still two months left!

"Your Majesty is kind and benevolent, and the Queen is loving and loving, which is a blessing to the people." No one can be left out in flattering the emperor. Even if the emperor is not around, they have to do it. Cui Bianxu is not a fool.

As for the prince... forget it, let's wait until he really comes to power.

"This matter is due to my negligence. Although my subordinates had made an agreement with them, they forgot to explain to their families, which led to this misunderstanding. I will go to the Zheng family in person, and the rest is left to you. Don't let rumors spread in the city." Li Xiaogong gave some instructions and stood up to leave.

There are so many new things happening in Chang'an every day. As long as this matter is handled quietly, it will be settled in a few days.

He is taking the blame for his two nephews. His Majesty will definitely scold him openly, but in private, he will always remember his kindness.

He has long since stopped caring about the affairs of the court, but he still has three sons, especially the eldest son, Li Hui, who is very talented...

Cui Bianxu hurriedly tried to stop them: "Prince, please stay. There are two more people involved in this case."

Li Xiaogong felt a headache. He stopped and turned around, frowning, "They are just two women from brothels. They kidnapped people in the street. It's a great favor not to pursue them. Just throw them to Shanghaofang."

He thought Cui Bian was talking about Jin Shiniang and her daughter.

"Prince, Feng Shiliang and Wu Sanniang are still imprisoned in the Dali Temple prison." Cui Bian was talking about these two people, each one was better at acting than the other. He didn't believe that this matter was unrelated to Wu Sanniang.

But this woman was extremely cunning. She always tried to get close to people in prison, saying that she had helped the Dali Temple identify corpses and was the most honest and decent person.

In fact, there were some things he didn't understand. If Jin Shiniang followed Wu Sanniang's instructions, then why did her daughter die?

But now, Jin Shiniang and her daughter are both dead, and Wu Sanniang has decided to play dumb, so there is no good solution for the time being.

Of course, if he used torture, he might be able to get some information out of the others, but he hadn't gone these days. After all, this case...

"There are also the brothel owner and the tortoise in the Golden Powder Dream, and Quchen and Yanyin in the Yue Lao Temple."

Cui Bianxu counted his fingers hidden under his embroidered robe and suddenly felt that he had imprisoned too many people.

A lot of the Dali Temple’s food expenses were wasted by these people!

Li Xiaogong stroked the white jade ring on his finger and thought for a while before saying, "Feng Shiliang is at least a member of the palace, and he has been granted an official position..."

Although he didn't know who the person was, he thought it was a good deal as it would be a good opportunity to sell something.

As for whether Feng Shiliang would be spared by his master behind the scenes after he was released, it didn’t matter.

If he doesn't die, with this person around, he'll be able to find out who's behind him sooner or later.

"I understand." Cui Bianxu suddenly became curious about who this Prince of Hejian belonged to? Or did he simply want to put the matter to rest?

Seeing that he responded readily, Li Xiaogong's expression became more cheerful. "As for those dancers in the Qin and Chu houses, they will be exiled when the weather gets cooler."

Who cares about the life of a lowly woman?

"Just two Taoists, and you, Cui Bianxu, are still asking this king questions?"

Li Xiaogong just felt annoyed, really annoyed. What was the point of dragging so many people into this? I'm afraid Cui Bianxu has filled up the Dali Temple prison!

"Since the prince has said so, I understand."

On the second day, when Jiang Shangxian went out, he heard that the Dali Temple had arrested six criminals. The criminals were brutal and dared to resist when they encountered people from the Dali Temple. They were killed in public and their bodies were placed outside the Dali Temple for the victims to see.

"Oh, I went to see it, it was real, the face was chopped off, and you couldn't even recognize what he looked like, tsk tsk tsk..."

"Those guys were incredibly big and strong. One of them could defeat two of us. The people from the Dali Temple are so powerful. They killed them right away."

"People like this should be hanged. It's too easy for them!"

"You didn't see it, his body was covered in cuts. If we wait for the execution, we'll have to wait until October or November, and it will be a waste of food to feed these people."

The Tang Dynasty had two types of death penalty: beheading and hanging. Due to the numerous incidents, killing was prohibited from the beginning of spring to the autumnal equinox, and the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Court were also prohibited from reporting death sentences to the emperor. January, May, and September were Buddhist fasting months, prohibiting killing. Furthermore, the court also prohibited the death penalty during the "Ten Straight Days," which prohibited executions. Therefore, the only months of the year during the Tang Dynasty where executions could be carried out were October and November.

"No way? Killing so many people should be considered a serious crime."

(The Tang Dynasty stipulated that serious crimes that were unforgivable could be executed at any time and were not subject to legal constraints. For example, a slave killed his master.)

"If this case were left to the Three Courts to judge, who knows how long it would have dragged on. In my opinion, this is just right!"

(Before the execution of the death penalty in the Tang Dynasty, each department had to conduct a preliminary review and a re-examination, which had to go through five reviews. During the execution, if the supervising official did not submit five reports, he would be exiled 2,000 miles.)

"That's absolutely right. From now on, you don't have to worry every day!"

(In short, after Li Shimin ascended to the throne, he established laws regarding the death penalty, which were very complicated and had a set system. So after traveling through time, as long as you don't try to commit suicide, you generally won't die. Even if you die and no one claims your babies, don't worry, the court will pay for their burial! It can be considered a state benefit.)

Jiang Shangxian listened to these words all the way, his eyebrows, which had been wiped with matchsticks, twisted like a wriggling caterpillar. The case of the nine young ladies could barely be considered to have found a scapegoat, but what about the other missing young ladies?

How to accommodate these people?

You can't take them all to the Eastern Palace as concubines, right?

A sense of absurdity, as expected, rose in her heart, and she felt a slight tingling in her throat.

Once again, I told myself that this was a feudal dynasty, and I had already guessed how things would develop. There was no need to still be dissatisfied, as it had nothing to do with me.

Even if it's nine young lives...

For the first time, the supremacy of imperial power truly left an imprint in her heart, and she even had a momentary retreat from her plan to join the Ministry of Food.

But she soon calmed down and realized that only by completing the task could she have the possibility of leaving this era.

Cui Bianxu acted quickly. Within three days, the families of the forty young ladies all knew that their daughters had been selected to be palace maids, and maybe even female officials. If they were luckier, they might even become concubines.