First Minister of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 246 Public Trial of the Kings
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Seeing Gao Chong's face change, Changsun Wuji bowed his head and said, "You guessed it, do you want to watch it?"

Gao Chong's face gradually distorted, and he gritted his teeth, "How much, how did he die?"

"A rough count shows that there are no less than 500 people in this hall alone. Most of them died of starvation. People eat each other, and there are few whole bodies."When Changsun Wuji said this, his lips were trembling.

Kaohsiung behind him also trembled when he heard the words, clutching his nose and wanting to gag.

It's not that everyone has never seen a dead person, let's not raise Chong, Kaohsiung, etc. who have fought on the battlefield. Even Changsun Wuji can kill with a sword, and there are several lives under his hands. They have all seen the tragedy of limbs and arms on the battlefield. , but facing this dilapidated hall, Gao Chong couldn't move his legs for a while.

This small side hall, looking around, is not large in size, but it holds no less than 500 people.

"Investigate", Gao Chong gritted his teeth and said, "Find out the reason, find out the real culprit".

Changsun Wuji had been prepared for a long time, and said bluntly: "Basically, the people of Luoyang who were plundered by the false kings and generals of Zheng. After robbing their families, they were imprisoned here and starved to death."

Gao Chong clenched his fists and his veins were exposed. He didn't have the courage to step into this side hall. Hundreds of people were detained here without food.

Hundreds of people were starving inside, and when the hunger became unbearable, the ruthless people would eat other people, this is cannibalism, until in the end, there were very few whole corpses inside, and no one was left.

How tragic is this, the puppet Zheng kings and generals are inhumane, they are simply demons, such a regime, if it does not perish, it is simply unacceptable.

"Here's an order to block the gates of the city and arrest the whole city. None of the Pseudo-Zheng kings, officials, and generals should escape. It is strictly forbidden to harass the people, and those who violate the order will be beheaded. If the people hand over the evil Pseudo-Zheng officials, it depends on the size of the officials. reward".Gao Chong ordered directly.

Then Gao Chong endured the discomfort as he looked at the palace that was exuding the stench, "Order the bold soldiers in the army to cover their mouths and noses, go into the palace to clean up the corpses, transport them out of the city and dig a pit for deep burial. back to camp".

After hearing the words, Changsun Wuji gave orders one by one.

After walking out of the Ziwei Palace, Gao Chong suddenly said: "I don't want to let the false kings of Zheng go."

Changsun Wuji heard the words and said hastily: "You, don't be fooled. They surrendered with Wang Shichong, and they should be dealt with by the saint."

If Gao Chong killed the puppet kings of Zheng who surrendered privately, he would definitely be impeached by the officials.

Gao Chong nodded and thought about it, "I will report to the King of Qin. I believe that the King of Qin will not let them go. After the King of Qin enters the city, a public trial will be held. At that time, it will not be that we will not let these beasts go, but The people in this city are unwilling to let them go."

"Public trial?" Changsun Wuji was a little puzzled.

"Presided over by the King of Qin, the trial will be open to the public on the streets of Luoyang. Anyone can participate. Those who have grievances will seek grievances, and those who have grievances will take revenge."

Changsun Wuji hissed when he heard the words, "Doesn't that cause the people to be restless and scramble to eat the flesh of the fake kings of Zheng?"
"Isn't this group of beasts what they deserve?" Gao Chong raised his eyebrows and said, and then returned to the Luoyang county government office to write down today's events in detail, with a special emphasis on describing the tragic conditions of the palace prisoners, and ordered them to be sent outside the city immediately The camp was handed over to Li Shimin.

Undoubtedly, Li Shimin was terrified and furious when he first heard the tragedy. He summoned Wang Shichong overnight, read the description to Wang Shichong, and gritted his teeth, "Is this true?"

Wang Shichong was also inexplicably horrified, "This... sinners only know that many nephews have committed crimes, but they don't want to, but they don't want them to be so inhuman."

Seeing that Li Shimin was furious, he put his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Wang Shichong looked flustered, and hastily prostrated himself on the ground and said: "King Qin has learned, sinners want to separate Luoyang and resist the heavenly soldiers, how can they be so stubborn.

The sinner once set up a grievance drum outside the Ziwei Palace, personally redressing the grievances of the people, and the sinner personally tried the small things of stealing chickens and dogs in various states and counties.

What's more, there are countless geniuses and treasures in the Ziwei Palace, how can the sinners imprison the people for mere property, and those sinners who have never been to the side hall, the palace people can testify."

A large part of the reason why Wang Shichong took the initiative to surrender the city was to save his life, so that he would not be defeated and captured like Dou Jiande and fall into a passive position.

At this moment, Wang Shichong hated his bastard nephews, if because of this, Li Shimin broke his promise and insisted on killing him, Wang Shichong really couldn't explain it.

Hearing Wang Shichong's eager words, it was completely true, Li Shimin restrained his killing intent, and Wang Shichong had never lied. For such a tragic event, Wang Shichong was at most guilty of negligence.

Seeing that Li Shimin's hand moved away from the hilt, Wang Shichong heaved a sigh of relief, then suddenly remembered something, and hurriedly said: "King Qin, the sinner has reported the Huangmen servant Xue Deyin, and the sinner's military book Yu Xi was all written by him before, and he was ordered to revise the book With Tang Shengren, the indecent letter was drafted by Xue Deyin, not from the hands of sinners."

Hearing this, Li Shimin recalled it. After Li Shimin pacified Liu Wuzhou and led his army eastward, Wang Shichong sent someone to send a "Letter of Credence", in which he reprimanded Li Yuan and scolded Li Yuan for a while. Therefore, he was furious, and it turned out that this document was written by Xue Deyin.

"If you send an order, Xue Deyin, the false Zheng Huangmen servant, can be arrested, and there is no need to report, and he will be executed on the spot," Li Shimin immediately ordered.

Even though Xue Deyin is Xue Shou's cousin and is related to many of Li Tang's courtiers, Li Shimin will not be relentless. You must know that Xue Deyin scolded Li Yuan for a while. As a son of man, the only thing Li Shimin has to do now is to find Xue Deyin as soon as possible, His execution was an outburst of anger for his father Li Yuan.

I believe that Li Yuan will be satisfied with Li Shimin's handling method after hearing about this incident "accidentally" afterwards. If Li Shimin covers up Xue Deyin's background and talent, it will be based on the facts. It is unfilial, Li Shimin would not be so unwise.

Seeing that Wang Shichong was shameless enough to report his subjects in order to survive, Li Shimin also relaxed his guard against him and ordered him to be taken down and imprisoned.

Hearing the news, more than 30 or [-] people committed suicide overnight. These [-] or [-] people must have done all kinds of bad things in their daily lives. They knew that the public trial tomorrow would not end well, so they committed suicide ahead of time.

After Li Shimin heard the news, he was very angry, and he ordered people to strictly guard them. Letting these corrupt officials who carelessly ignore human lives commit suicide is really cheap for them.

The next day, Li Shimin led his troops into Luoyang City. Seeing the depressed eastern capital, Li Shimin was very moved. In Li Shimin's impression, Luoyang, the former eastern capital, was full of people and extremely prosperous. out.

After entering the city, Li Shimin did not check the treasury, nor did he enter the Ziwei Palace, but went straight to Luoyang Dongshi.

(End of this chapter)