bookrandom Chapter 1067: The Imperial Prison Re-emerges
Chapter 1067: The Imperial Prison Re-emerges
Chapter 1067: The Imperial Prison Re-emerges
The second year of Yuanfeng.
Zhang Yue is still ill.
Once in power, reporting illness became a common occurrence.
For example, when Cai Ting and Chen Shengzhi were in important positions, they did not attend court for more than a year due to illness.
However, Cai Ting and Chen Shengzhi were already old at the time, and they did suffer from many chronic illnesses, so they were not so eye-catching.
When Wang Anshi was prime minister, there were also the five sufferings of birth, old age, sickness and death.
However, it was all due to the discord among the prime minister's team. Zhang Yue, who was in power, unexpectedly fell ill, which made some people speculate whether Zhang Yue had lost the emperor's favor.
But around the second year of Yuanfeng, a major event attracted everyone's attention.
A few years ago, Cai Que suddenly issued an imperial decree to imprison more than 20 officials involved in the Xiangzhou murder case, including Chen Anmin, Wu Anshi, Wen Jifu, Liu Fengshi, and Pan Kai.
This matter is truly shocking. Chen Anmin is Wen Yanbo's brother-in-law, Wu Anshi is the eldest son of Wu Chong, the former prime minister and current judge of Daming Prefecture, and Wen Jifu is Wen Yanbo's sixth son.
They were the best of the best, yet Cai Que wanted to capture and put them in jail. This was something that had never happened before.
Moreover, Wu Anshi and Wen Jifu disappeared overnight, and some people rumored that they were hiding in Zhang Yue's residence.
Chen Anmin was imprisoned in the Ministry of Justice prison together with two other officials who had committed crimes. In addition to them, there were several death row prisoners from the Ministry of Justice, and two or three jailers living with them. They ate and urinated together.
Chen Anmin had lived a life of luxury and had never been treated like this before.
Soon the jailer brought food. First, he placed a large basin on the ground, then poured porridge, cakes and vegetables into the basin, and finally a jailer held a large pestle.
This big pestle was the one used to beat prisoners in the execution hall. Now several jailers worked together to use the pestle to mash all the food in the basin and then stirred it into a paste.
Chen Anmin almost vomited when he saw the food and asked the jailer, "Is this for human consumption?"
The jailer smiled, scooped a mouthful of food from the basin and ate it, then said with a smile: "Mr. Chen, why can't I eat it? I'm eating well."
After saying this, the jailer licked the residue on his hands.
Chen Anmin grabbed the jailer by the collar and slapped him. The jailer was still smiling after being beaten.
"Mr. Chen, if you don't eat today's food, there will be none left."
Chen Anmin turned his head and saw several death row prisoners squatting beside a large basin, eating with gusto. They had eaten half of the food in the basin in an instant.
One official couldn't help but rush to the slop bucket and started eating with his hands.
"This damn Tsai Chi-cheng!"
Chen Anmin cursed loudly, then sat down with a dejected look on his face. In the thick wall next to this cell, Cai Que was watching everything in the room through a small hole.
Cai Que looked at it for a while and a smile appeared on his face.
After a while, Cai Que returned to the Ministry of Justice and said to his attendants, "These people usually live in luxury, but they won't last for a few days. You must remember not to be rude and just use this humiliating method."
Both sides agreed.
Cai Que also ordered: "After these people confess, we will order people to pretend to be officials to review the confessions. If their statements are inconsistent with the original confessions, we will continue to torture them."
Cai Que walked out of the Ministry of Justice and boarded the carriage, saying to his confidant, "Let the rumor spread that all the prisoners in Xiangzhou Prison were tortured by me, Cai Que, and forced to confess!"
The confidant agreed.
Cai Que sneered after giving the order. Zhang Yue wanted to try the same trick on himself to see who would fall into the trap.
Cai Que glanced at the gate of the Ministry of Justice and saw several people in shackles. One of them looked vaguely familiar. However, Cai Que couldn't remember who he was and was too lazy to care.
Cai Que instructed his confidant: "Find another death row prisoner who has nothing to do with this case and drag him out and beat him severely. Make sure all the neighbors hear it."
The man sitting outside the criminal department with shackles on his head was He Qi.
At this moment, He Qi's lips were cracked as he looked at Dou Ping and Zhou Xiaogong, two officials from the Dali Temple who were also in shackles on the other side. These two were the ones who overturned the request for review by Zhou Qing, the official behind the Zhongshu Hall.
Finally, they were taken here and shackled together.
He Qiben was innocent. He had been running errands for Wu Anshi and making a living over the years.
He Qi knew that with Wu Anshi's protection, Zhang Yue was afraid to do anything to him. He knew Zhang Yue's character, and that in his current position, he didn't need to kill anyone, and naturally someone would figure out his intentions and kill him.
He felt a little regretful. Why did he have to pick a grudge against Zhang Yue in the first place? He knew that the other party was not an easy opponent, but he still wanted to provoke him.
Therefore, He Qi lived his life cautiously, not daring to offend anyone, let alone harm anyone.
Now He Qi lives his life peacefully. He has married a wife and concubine, who are his beloved women, and has a smart child.
This child looks very much like He Qi in the past, so He Qi gave him the single character "Hou", hoping that the child would not be like him who relied solely on cleverness, but would be able to be an honest person.
He Qi was ready to live a good life and not think about anything else in this life.
God was playing a joke on him. He lived a good life in the past when he did all kinds of evil things. Now when he turned over a new leaf and became a better person, suddenly one day, disaster struck and he was thrown into prison, an imperial prison.
He Qi knew that he had nothing to do with the matter, but when he saw that even the officials of the Dali Temple were shackled with him, he knew that he was finished.
Because his shackles were twenty kilograms heavier than those of the Dali Temple officials!
He Qi's neck and shoulders are now covered with a thick layer of scabs. The slightest movement will pull everything and make everything bloody.
He Qi gave a slightly bitter smile. If he had known... if he had known... he, He Qi, could not change anything.
As Cai Que expected, these prisoners confessed together a few days later.
The Xiangzhou case was ultimately linked to Wu Chong, the judge of Daming Prefecture. For example, Chen Anmin once wrote to Wu Chong asking him to look after the Xiangzhou case, and Wu Chong agreed to take care of it in his reply.
At the same time, he also learned that Wu Anshi and Wu Anzhi had also inquired about the progress of the case. In addition, Han Zhengyan had served as the governor of Xiangzhou. Cai Que finally took Han Qi's face into consideration and did not arrest Han Zhengyan as well.
In fact, it was because Han Qi was dead that Cai Que didn't have to interfere, otherwise Han Zhengyan and Han Zhongyan would have been unable to escape.
Liu Fengshi also hinted to the Dali Temple to reject Zhou Qing's request for a retrial, which would inevitably involve the fact that Wu Anshi pocketed Pan Kai's 3,000 strings of cash.
After Cai Que obtained the confession, he immediately prepared to go to the palace to report to the emperor.
On the way, Cai Que happened to meet the head of the Censorate, Chief Censor Deng Runfu.
Cai Que didn't know whether Deng Runfu had waited here on purpose, but he still bowed and said, "Cai Que greets the Minister!"
Deng Runfu asked, "Has the Xiangzhou case been resolved?"
Cai Que said truthfully: "I have the testimony and am ready to go to the temple to see the emperor."
After saying this, Cai Que was about to go to the palace. Deng Runfu asked, "Do you think you can advance by fighting? Do you know that you will have no place to stand in the future if you do this?"
Cai Que said: "When Han Weigong's piece of paper knocked down four ministers, there was no mention of fighting. Why is it that it happened to Cai?"
Deng Runfu said with a smile: "I was just joking. I know that Your Majesty has been worrying too much these days. Please do not enter the palace to let Your Majesty know."
When Cai Que heard Deng Runfu say this, he became furious.
But since Deng Runfu spoke, he had to listen.
Cai Que took a step back and said, "I will obey the order of the Minister."
After saying this, Cai Que left. Seeing Cai Que's expression, Deng Runfu said with a cold look, "You, Cai Chizheng, are so obsessed with getting promoted and replacing me. You are too impatient."
Deng Runfu then turned around and went into the palace to meet the emperor.
The emperor saw Deng Runfu and asked, "What important matter do you want to see me about?"
Deng Runfu said: "Your Majesty handed over the Xiangzhou case to Cai Que, but this case is very unjust, and the Dali Temple has never accepted bribes."
"In order to prove his merit, Cai Que dug deep into the prison, which led to many branches and branches, and implicated many officials. People like Dou Ping, who were all appointed officials of the imperial court, were tortured to the point of being completely torn to pieces."
"Now these people have no choice but to frame themselves, forge confessions, and accuse ministers in order to protect themselves. I beg Your Majesty to settle this case as soon as possible and not let these officials suffer any more."
The emperor was shocked when he heard this and said, "According to the ancestral law, officials cannot be punished. I only ordered that the cangue weight must be no more than 10 kilograms, and no torture should be used. Cai Que actually used such a large torture method. Is he trying to force a confession out of him and frame an official?"
Deng Runfu saw that he had succeeded, so he left and went back to the Censorate to meet with Shangguan Jun, the Supervisory Censor. Deng Runfu said, "Cai Que is torturing ministers in the Ministry of Justice. The emperor may know about this, but he may not really blame him. You should impeach him and make sure that Cai Zhizheng is ruined."
Shangguan Jun agreed immediately after hearing this.
Shangguan Jun was a Jinshi in the third year of Xining and ranked first in the emperor's palace examination.
At that time, the emperor was in the process of reforming the political system, and he asked all candidates questions in the palace examination. Ye Zuqia supported the reform in the questions, while Shangguan Jun opposed it.
The examiner of the palace examination was Su Shi. Lu Dalin ranked Shangguan Jun first, while Lu Huiqing ranked Ye Zuqia first.
In the end, Ye Zuqia won the first place and Shangguan Jun won the second place.
Shangguan Jun usually disliked Cai Que. When he heard Deng Runfu talking about Cai Que's illegal deeds, he immediately went home and immediately submitted a memorial to impeach Cai Que for torturing officials in the Ministry of Justice.
The next day, Cai Que entered the palace again and planned to hand over the confession to the emperor, but was stopped by the palace attendants.
Looking at the palace attendant's cold expression, Cai Que couldn't help but feel shocked and angry.
After Cai Que returned to the Censorate, he received a handwritten imperial edict from the emperor.
I have heard that the Censorate's investigation into the Xiangzhou Judicial Department was quite inappropriate, so I have sent another official to interrogate the imprisoned persons based on their statements and to verify whether there are any discrepancies, and to report the charges and guilt to me.
But after reading the imperial edict, Cai Que smiled complacently.
At the moment Cai Que returned to the Censorate, the emperor had ordered several eunuchs to lead the imperial guards to surround the Ministry of Justice and then go straight into the cell where Chen Anmin and his party were.
Deng Runfu and Shangguan Jun also took action upon hearing the news.
All of them suddenly interrogated more than 30 officials, including Chen Anmin, and re-questioned them one by one regarding their confessions.
The oral statements of more than 30 officials were consistent with their confessions. When they were finally asked whether they pleaded guilty, all of them except one confessed. Deng Runfu and Shangguan Jun were shocked, saying that Cai had indeed confessed under torture, so why did these people not change their confessions?
Then the eunuchs peeled off the sleeves of these officials one by one to check their skin, but found no signs of torture.
Deng Runfu was stunned by this scene.
Shangguan Jun asked the official from the Ministry of Justice, "Isn't it said that there are cries and shouts of tortured prisoners every day in the Ministry of Justice?"
The official from the Ministry of Justice said, "They are all from other cases. As for the officials involved in the Xiangzhou case, I dare not torture any of them until I have given my orders."
Deng Runfu and Shangguan Jun's expressions changed drastically when they heard this.
(End of this chapter)