Chapter 147: Events and Feelings of the Past
Guo Zixuan smiled sadly and said nothing.
He knew that it was useless for him to say anything now, but the matter did not succeed after all, and the most he would get for his crime was a demotion.
Although I was unwilling, I was not too scared.
"You don't say anything. Do you think the more you say, the more mistakes you will make? Anyway, with your crime, you will only be demoted." Zhao Xing said.
Guo Zixuan remained silent after hearing this.
"You have been an official for so many years, it is impossible that you don't have other problems. As far as I know, that Master Jin has been following you for more than ten years, and he should know a lot of your secrets. Do you think it is nothing more than exile? With your connections, those people will definitely take care of you, and your life will not be too difficult?"
Zhao Xing smiled and said, "But I won't let you have an easy life. You won't survive to the place of exile. Without you, will there be anyone to take care of your family? When the time comes, I..."
It's no use telling this kind of person that if he confesses, he will be treated leniently, and if he resists, he will be treated severely.
Only threats are most effective.
Before Zhao Xing could finish his words, Guo Zixuan's face turned pale, he staggered and almost fell.
"Your Highness, just tell me what you want me to do," Guo Zixuan said.
Zhao Xing smiled brilliantly when he heard this.
Half an hour later, Guo Zixuan was taken out.
"Your Highness, are you really going to let him go like this?" Gu Tingye asked.
"What? Do you want me to go back on my word?" Zhao Xing asked back.
"That's not what I meant. It's just that he embezzled so much money, but Your Highness still gave him the opportunity to retire and return home. It's a bit too lenient." Gu Tingye said.
"Zhong Huai, although Guo Zixuan is not a good official, he is not an unforgivable criminal. You should understand the principle of buying a horse's bones for a huge sum of money, right?" Zhao Xing said with a smile.
Guo Zixuan has confessed to many people. After today, someone will definitely be able to guess it.
If Guo Zixuan's end is too miserable, who will cooperate with him in the future?
Of course, the reason why Zhao Xing allowed him to resign due to illness was because although he was greedy for money, he did not do anything serious.
Only then did they let him hand over the money he had embezzled over the years and let him go.
"Your Highness is far-sighted and it is I who am foolish." Gu Tingye said ashamedly.
"Stop flattering me. Let's go to the Marquis of Dongchang's mansion with Guo Zixuan's confession," said Zhao Xing.
He originally thought that Xiao Qin was behind this matter, but he didn't expect that the Qin family was also an accomplice.
"Yes!"
Gu Tingye was extremely excited when he thought that his revenge was about to be achieved.
…………
Zhao Xing arrived at the Dongchang Marquis Mansion. After Qin Wei got the news, he hurriedly welcomed Zhao Xing in.
Qin Wei didn't know that Guo Zixuan had already exposed him. When he saw Gu Tingye, he greeted him with a smile and blamed Gu Tingye for not coming to his house to play for a long time.
Gu Tingye felt sick when he looked at Qin Wei.
He and Xiao Qin had been to the Dongchang Marquis Mansion several times before. Qin Wei was very kind to him, and he even called Qin Wei uncle.
It's all just a scam.
"Your Highness, please take a seat." Qin Wei asked Zhao Xing to sit down and ordered someone to serve tea.
"I won't drink the tea. Zhong Huai, please take out the things and show them to Marquis Dongchang." Zhao Xing said.
Gu Tingye took out Guo Zixuan's confession and handed it to Qin Wei.
Qin Wei opened the confession with doubts and read it. When he saw the content, a trace of panic flashed in his eyes, but he quickly calmed down and said angrily: "Your Highness, this is all slander."
"Oh?" Zhao Xing said calmly, "So the Marquis of Dongchang has never been to the Kaifeng government office to ask for help from Judge Guo Tong?"
"Your Highness is wise. I did go to the Kaifeng government office to find Judge Guo, but that was because there was a runaway slave in my house and I wanted to ask Judge Guo to help find him. I did not ask him to help kill those slaves. According to the laws of the Song Dynasty, I could have executed the runaway slave directly. Why did I ask Judge Guo to help, and even kill him in the cell of the Kaifeng government office?" Qin Wei said with a look of grievance.
"But the escaped slave from the Marquis of Dongchang's mansion has confessed. They were ordered to kill the three people living in that house. It is natural and reasonable for the Marquis of Dongchang to silence them." Zhao Xing said lightly.
"Your Highness, those lowly slaves stole things from the mansion and deliberately slandered me. Please look carefully!" Qin Wei hurriedly explained.
"Marquis Dongchang!"
Zhao Xing was too lazy to waste time talking to him, and said in a low voice: "You are still quibbling at this time? Just based on their and Judge Guo's confessions, they are already able to convict you!
He sent people from Bianjing to assassinate him, and after the truth was revealed, he bribed officials from Kaifeng government office to kill him and silence him. Depriving him of his title is the least of his crimes.
"Your Highness, I have been wrongly accused, I..."
Qin Wei wanted to explain, but Zhao Xing interrupted him with a wave of his hand and said, "I know who you sent people to kill, and I also know the reason. I don't want to waste words with you. The ancestors of the Qin family have also made great contributions to the Song Dynasty, and I don't want to take away the Qin family's title. But Xiao Qin must be sent to the Shenjie Division. As for the Gu family, you should find a way to communicate with them. If there is no result tomorrow, I will report this matter to my father, and then the Qin family will be stripped of their titles and punished."
After saying that, Zhao Xing just turned away.
"Your Highness, Your Highness!"
Qin Wei shouted a few times, and seeing that Zhao Xing did not stop, he said anxiously: "Erlang, please help to beg for mercy, your mother treats you as her own..."
"shut up!"
Gu Tingye stopped and turned to look at Qin Wei and said coldly: "She is not my mother, and she is not worthy."
After saying that, he turned around and left quickly.
Zhao Xing got on the carriage and sighed.
In fact, he really wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to seize the title of the Qin family.
But after careful consideration, he gave up the idea.
Indeed, this incident was enough to deprive the Qin family of their title. However, the other lords would certainly feel insecure, thinking that the court wanted to take back their titles.
Even if there were legitimate reasons, those lords would think so.
After all, many of these lords have been passed down for hundreds of years. Who doesn’t have some dirty deeds?
Who knows whether the court will investigate them?
Although he had seized many titles during the previous emperor's time, it was also those people who participated in the fight for the crown prince.
Moreover, after my father ascended the throne, he restored the titles of some families.
If we touch the Qin family at this time, the impact will be too great.
The harvest this time was already big enough, and Zhao Xing didn't want to create any more trouble.
Moreover, if there are reforms in the future, the nobles can also be won over.
Although most of the nobles have no power, they should not be underestimated.
The reform actually had the least impact on the nobles.
On the contrary, most of the nobles had no real power, so reform was a good thing for them.
But what the nobles like most is to protect themselves. After all, as long as they have the title, their wealth and honor are guaranteed.
If you interfere recklessly, it would not be worth losing your title.
There is little point in touching the Qin family, and it is completely unnecessary.
After leaving the Qin family, Zhao Xing returned to the Kaifeng government office.
What Guo Zixuan exposed was not only Qin Wei, but also some officials from Kaifeng government office.
Zhao Xing only took action against a few people with serious problems, and did not take action against those with less serious problems.
Even so, it would cause panic among the people in Kaifeng government office and cause chaos for a while.
As the prefect of Kaifeng, he naturally had to stay in Kaifeng.
…………
After Zhao Xing left, Qin Wei thought for a long time and realized that there was no room for change in this matter.
Although he was unwilling, he had no other choice in order to preserve the Qin family's title.
Qin Wei asked someone to inquire around and found out that Gu Yankai was in the western suburbs camp, so he sent someone to invite Gu Yankai over.
Gu Yankai came to Qin's house and stayed there for nearly half an hour before coming out.
When he came out, he returned to Ningyuan Marquis Mansion with a gloomy face.
After returning home, Gu Yankai went straight to the backyard.
When Xiao Qin saw Gu Yankai coming back, she smiled and asked, "Why did you come back so early today, sir?"
Gu Yankai came to the main seat and sat down, looking at Xiang's mother and said, "All of you leave!"
Hearing this, Xiang's mother looked at Xiao Qin.
"What? My words don't work anymore?" Gu Yankai said coldly.
Upon hearing this, Xiang's mother did not dare to delay and quickly bowed and left.
"Officer, what's wrong with you?"
For some reason, Xiao Qin always had a bad feeling in her heart.
"That year, Bai came to question me and said that someone told Tingyu that she was the one who killed Tingyu's mother. That person was you, right?" Gu Yankai asked.
Xiao Qin's face froze, and she said, "I don't know what the master is talking about. He must be drunk and talking nonsense."
Gu Yankai looked at Xiao Qin and said, "Erlang found the servant that was sold out. When you found out, you asked your eldest brother to send someone to kill him. But the assassin was caught, and you asked your eldest brother to bribe the judge of Kaifeng Prefecture to silence him. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince knows all this and has obtained evidence."
"what?"
Xiao Qinshi turned pale and slumped to the ground. After a while, she came to her senses, crawled to Gu Yankai, grabbed the hem of Gu Yankai's robe and said, "Sir, you must save me."
"I can't save you, but His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has mercifully spared your life and only asks that you be sent to the Shenjie Division." Gu Yankai said.
When Xiao Qin heard Gu Yankai say that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had mercifully spared her life, her face showed joy, but when she heard that she would be sent to the Shenjie Division, her smile froze.
"Hahaha~"
After a long time, Xiao Qin started laughing crazily.
"When you say His Royal Highness is merciful, you mean sending me to the Shenjie Division to save the reputation of the Gu and Qin families."
Gu Yankai closed his eyes in pain and said, "What you have done is not worthy of death. Your Highness spared your life. Isn't that mercy?"
"It's not a pity to die, what a good death." Xiao Qin said sneer: "When Bai died, the master didn't feel sad at all. Now when he says that my death is not a pity, he doesn't seem to feel sad at all. The master is really cruel.
The master has given his heart to my sister, but has he ever given me any part of it? "
Gu Yankai opened his eyes and frowned, "We are talking about you, why are we mentioning your sister?"
"Oh." Xiao Qin sneered and said, "Because I hate her, I hate that she has taken over your heart. When I was a child, I envied her very much. She was weak and sickly, and no normal family would be willing to marry her. But you insisted on marrying her despite your family's opposition, and took good care of her after marriage. At that time, I felt that you were the best man in the world."
Today is the merger of three chapters into two chapters, and the word count is still 6,000.
I was drinking with friends last night and ended up crashing my car into a tree. There were surveillance cameras nearby and I was drunk, so I didn’t dare to file an insurance claim. The car repairs are estimated to cost around 20,000 or 30,000 yuan. I was so depressed and my mind was a bit confused.
I am not saying this to make you feel sympathetic, but to remind everyone to take it as a warning and never drive after drinking.
(End of this chapter)