Chapter 71: Grievance
"Your Highness, these are the children of officials and nobles, it's not a big deal, is this right..."
"You mean something's wrong?"
Zhao Xing interrupted Liu Sanshi and said, "They interrupted my fun. What's wrong with me keeping them here for a few days? These people are relying on the influence of their ancestors and will be given titles in the future. How can I count on them in the future?"
Liu Sanshi didn't say anything else after hearing this.
"Why did you stop? Let's continue." Zhao Xing said.
The musicians continued playing music upon hearing this, but one of the two dancers gritted her teeth and knelt down with a plop.
"I beg Your Highness to make the decision!"
Zhao Xing frowned slightly and said, "What do you need me to do?"
He was not surprised that the woman could guess his identity. Just now, Cao Qin and Liu Sanshi both called him "Your Highness", and he also called himself "Gu".
The women here are not ordinary dancers, but were sent here after being trained by the Music Bureau.
Some of the women in the Jiaofangsi were relatives of criminals, and some were officials who were convicted of crimes and were sent to the Jiaofangsi.
The Song Dynasty was relatively tolerant, and generally speaking, family members would not be implicated unless the crime was serious.
Just like Lin Xiaoniang, although her house was ransacked, she was not punished and sent to the Jiaofangsi.
It was normal for the woman to guess his identity by his name.
"My father was the magistrate of Shezhou. Five years ago, a drought hit Shezhou and the relief grain allocated by the court was lost and burned. As a result, he was convicted and exiled to Rongzhou." said the woman.
"Your father is Li Daoquan?" Zhao Xing asked.
He had some impression of this incident. Five years ago, a drought occurred in Shezhou and the imperial court urgently allocated grain for disaster relief.
However, the tens of thousands of kilograms of grain that had been transported earlier were all burned up due to a fire before they could be used to provide relief to the victims.
Although the quantity is not large, it will take time for subsequent relief food to arrive.
Because the government failed to provide timely disaster relief, a rebellion broke out.
When my father learned about this, he was furious and sent people to Shezhou for a thorough investigation. The result of the investigation was that the fire was completely accidental.
However, such a big thing happened, and as the chief official of a state, Li Daoquan naturally had an unshirkable responsibility. He was sentenced to exile and his family was confiscated by the Jiaofangsi.
"Yes." The woman nodded.
Zhao Xing frowned and said, "Although this incident was just an accident, your father did fail in his duty and deserved it. It's useless for you to beg me."
"Your Highness, if it was really my father's fault, I would have no face to beg Your Highness for help. However, the fire was not an accident at all. It was man-made. My father was framed." The woman cried.
Upon hearing this, Zhao Xing looked at Liu Sanshi. Liu Sanshi understood and asked the musician and another dancer to step down, then followed him out.
"Do you have any evidence to support your claim? Moreover, the imperial court sent people to investigate the matter thoroughly at that time. Why didn't your father say anything?" Zhao Xing asked.
"Your Highness, I have no evidence, but my father does. This was done by the recorder of Shezhou at the time. This person colluded with the imperial envoy and framed my father. In order to quell the anger of the people, the imperial envoy reported to the court but did not escort him to Bianjing for a joint trial. He was sentenced to exile and was directly escorted to Rongzhou." said the woman.
Zhao Xing looked thoughtful when he heard this. He was still young at the time and didn't pay much attention to this matter.
However, he also knew that his father seemed very angry at the time and directly sentenced him to exile, and there was indeed no joint trial by the three courts.
According to the rules, major cases must be re-examined by the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple under the supervision of the Censorate, and a conviction can only be made after the three courts reach a consensus.
As the prefect of a state and a sixth-rank official, it was impossible for Li Daoquan to convict so hastily.
What my father did at that time was not in compliance with regulations.
However, at that time, Shezhou caused a rebellion due to the untimely disaster relief. In order to quell the public anger, it was normal to make special arrangements.
What this woman who claimed to be Li Daoquan's daughter said was indeed possible.
"What's your name?" Zhao Xing asked.
"My name is Li Wanling." Li Wanling said.
"I cannot just listen to your one-sided story on this matter. I need to investigate. You will come back to the East Palace with me later. I will investigate it thoroughly. If what you said is true, I will definitely give justice to your father." Zhao Xing said.
He couldn't even confirm Li Wanling's identity now, so naturally he couldn't believe Li Wanling's one-sided statement.
"Thank you, Your Highness!" Li Wanling kowtowed excitedly.
Although Zhao Xing did not directly agree to rehabilitate her father, it at least gave her some hope.
Zhao Xing waved his hand and said, "Cai Die, take her to change her clothes first."
"Yes." Caidie responded and led Li Wanling out.
As soon as the two of them went out, Liu Sanshi walked in.
"Your Highness, I have confirmed the identity of that woman. She is indeed the daughter of Li Daoquan. I have also informed the musicians and dancers and will not speak nonsense." Liu Sanshi said.
"Yes." Zhao Xing nodded and said, "Tomorrow you go check who was sent to Shezhou to investigate the matter, and who was the recorder of Shezhou at that time."
"Yes!" Liu Sanshi replied.
"Why hasn't Cao Qin come back yet?" Zhao Xing frowned.
Speak of the devil, here comes the devil. As soon as Zhao Xing finished speaking, Cao Qin walked in and saluted, saying, "Your Highness, all those who participated in the fight have been arrested and sent to the Kaifeng government office."
"Okay, time is short..." Zhao Xing saw that Cao Qin's face was bruised and swollen, and asked in surprise: "What happened to your face?"
"Your Highness, Gan Dalang grabbed Wei Sanlang and refused to let go. I wanted to separate the two, but he punched me." Cao Qin said somewhat embarrassedly.
"What a fool! He even dares to hit my people. Now we have even more reason to lock them up." Zhao Xing sneered.
He had also heard a little about Gan Jia Dalang. His biological mother died of illness when he was a child. Due to some trauma, his brain became a little abnormal.
I'm not a psychopath, I'm just a bit stubborn sometimes.
As the eldest grandson of the Duke's Mansion, he was granted a military position and joined the army a few years ago.
As a result, this guy joined the army and often fought with others over trivial matters.
He has been practicing martial arts since he was a child. He is tall and strong, with great strength. He is also stubborn and fights without restraint.
He injured many people in the military camp, and finally the matter was brought to the attention of his father.
He was stripped of his official position and sent home with the rank of military official.
Cao Qin was the eldest son of the Duke of Wei and the nephew of Empress Cao.
He is also one of the top young masters in Bian Jing, and now he is in charge of Zhao Xing's guards. Everyone in the second-generation circle in Bian Jing knows him.
Only this idiot dares to take action.
"Let's go back to the East Palace." Zhao Xing stood up and said.
……
After returning to the Eastern Palace, Zhao Xing had Li Wanling taken away and settled down, while he went back to his bedroom to wash up and sleep.
He was sleeping soundly, but the homes of those captured young masters were in chaos.
After those young masters were captured, their followers hurried back to report the news.
When their family learned that their son had been in a fight in Fanlou and was seen by the prince, they ordered his men to arrest him and send him to the Kaifeng government office. They were almost furious to death.
Although he was angry, he couldn't just ignore it, so he asked someone to prepare a car and go to Kaifeng government office to bring the person back.
At this time, the officials of Kaifeng Prefecture had already left the hall and went home, and only the minor clerk was left.
When Cao Qin sent people to bring the person over, he specifically instructed them not to release the person. How could the clerk dare to release the person? He could only tell them vaguely that the prince had instructed not to release the person.
Those people only realized at this time that something was wrong. At first they just thought that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was angry and wanted to teach their son a lesson.
Now it seems that things are not that simple.
But it was already late at night and the palace gates were closed, so they couldn't go into the palace to apologize to the emperor.
I can only go back first.
(End of this chapter)