The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 20 Confession
Wang Zhongsi rode up to Li Ying, dismounted, bowed to Li Ying, and said, "Your Highness, this night market is very busy. If you want to come and have fun, you can ask me to clear the streets beforehand."

"It is not necessary to clear the streets unless it is official business. Li Heng smiled and pointed at the Hu man and said, "This man said he recognized you."

Wang Zhongsi heard this and glanced at the Hu man. After thinking for a while, he said, "I have seen him twice at the banquet held by Huangfu Weiming before."

Li Ying said, "So he is Huangfu Weiming's man? He is quite smart. He didn't mention Huangfu Weiming, but pushed the matter to you."

"A cunning fellow." Wang Zhongsi looked at the Hu man, "Your Highness, what has he done wrong?"

Li Ying said, "He just said he wants to buy a princess."

Wang Zhongsi was furious when he heard this and said, "You are disrespectful to the princess and disrespect Your Highness. You shall be slapped 100 times and imprisoned for six months."

As he said this, he gave a look to the soldier next to him.

The three soldiers understood what he meant and ran to the Hu man together. Two of them grabbed him and one of them slapped him in the face.

In fact, this Hu man obviously didn't know that Yang Yuhuan was the princess, otherwise he wouldn't dare to be so bold.

But Li Heng could not intervene, so he just asked Wang Zhongsi, "Why are you here, General Wang?"

Wang Zhongsi came close to Li Ying and whispered, "Your Highness, I rescued Chen Wulang's sister."

"Oh?"

Li Ying did not expect Wang Zhongsi to be so quick. He found the person in less than a day. He praised him sincerely, "The general is very fast."

"Thanks to your great foresight." Wang Zhongsi flattered Li Heng and continued, "The people I rescued in a brothel were guarded by a few Hu people. Unfortunately, those Hu people were surrounded and saw no hope of escape, so they all committed suicide. Not a single one survived."

Li Ying thought for a moment and said, "Then we have no choice but to interrogate Chen Wulang."

"I came to see Your Highness because I hope Your Highness can help to interrogate Chen Wulang," Wang Zhongsi grinned, "I am definitely not being lazy or shirking my responsibility. It's just that I saw Your Highness's talent during the day and I want to follow Your Highness to broaden my horizons."

Li Heng said: "But this is not my responsibility, and since you saved Chen Wulang's sister, he will definitely confess the truth."

Wang Zhongsi said, "I dare not hide the truth from Your Highness. Chen Wulang was willing to die for his sister. Although he was guilty of defying the law and slandering Your Highness, he was also loyal and righteous. And..."

"What else?"

"Chen Wulang's sister knew that Chen Wulang had taken the blame for her, and she begged for death several times, but she was not granted death, and was raped by those barbarians one after another. This brother and sister are really miserable. I don't want Chen Wulang to be convicted of a serious crime because of this."

"Do you want Chen Wulang to confess voluntarily so as to reduce his sentence?" Li Ying asked.

Wang Zhongsi nodded and said sincerely: "Your Highness, please help me."

"Okay." Li Heng agreed, "You come to see me now, do you want me to go now?"

Wang Zhongsi said: "Yes, I am afraid that the night will be long and I will have many dreams."

"Okay." Li Heng nodded.

In jail.

Wang Zhongsi sent Li Heng to the place where Chen Wulang was imprisoned and stayed outside the door himself.

When Chen Wulang saw Li Heng walk into the prison, he immediately kowtowed and cried, "Your Highness, I am ashamed of you!"

Chen Wulang's words and actions showed that he felt guilty for slandering Li Ying.

Li Heng looked at Chen Wulang and said, "You have done nothing to let me down. I am here to give you a chance. If you confess the truth now, you may still have a chance to survive."

"I have already confessed. There is nothing more I can confess." Chen Wulang hesitated for a moment, then kowtowed heavily and said, "I have already confessed. There is nothing more I can confess."

Li Heng said: "Making a deal with the devil will only make you sink deeper and deeper. If you speak out some things now, there may still be room for redemption."

Chen Wulang was startled when he heard this, and said, "It is not a pity for me to die. I am afraid that I will not be able to repay your kindness in this life. I can only repay your kindness by working like a slave in the next life."

Chen Wulang said this quite sincerely.

Li Heng sighed and said, "You said you drugged the Fenglin County Magistrate and Cui Chong and then set them on fire. Did you use weapons against them in the process?"

"This..." Chen Wulang thought for a moment and said, "Probably not."

"Should?" Li Heng lowered his voice, "Yes, yes. No, no. You killed the person yourself. Aren't you sure?" "No." Chen Wulang replied firmly.

"Okay, but after my investigation of the scene, I found that the Fenglin County Magistrate and Cui Chong were killed by weapons first, and then their bodies were burned."

"This"

"What's this? Do you think that if you plead guilty, you can save the people you want? You should know very well who those people are."

"I"

Chen Wulang was stunned.

Chen Wulang thought about it and felt that what Li Ying said was right. If he really died, those people might not let his sister go.

However, if he did not confess, his sister would die immediately.

Chen Wulang looked up at Li Heng and decided to trust him for once. He said, "It was the county lieutenant of Fenglin County who threatened me. Last night, he found me and brought my sister with him. He said that if I didn't plead guilty, he would kill my sister. I was forced into this."

At this point, Chen Wulang knelt down, hugged Li Heng's legs, and said, "I am ungrateful and slandered Your Highness. I deserve death, but my sister is innocent. Please save her."

After saying this, he kowtowed to Li Heng.

"That's enough." Li Ying interrupted Chen Wulang, "Where did the Fenglin County Magistrate meet you? Was he alone?"

"He was in the east of the city. There were several Hu people with him at the time."

"How many exactly?"

"There are seven."

"So you've never been outside the city?"

"No."

Li Ying nodded and left the cell.

As soon as he got out of the cell, Wang Zhongsi asked someone to send Chen Wulang's sister in.

Then, I heard the conversation between the brother and sister in the cell, and finally they burst into tears.

Li Ying and Wang Zhongsi walked out of the prison side by side.

Li Ying asked, "When you went to rescue Chen Wulang's sister, how many Hu people were guarding her?"

"Seven." Wang Zhongsi replied, "All seven are dead. Now we can only capture the Fenglin County Lieutenant. I will do it right away."

"Yeah." Li Ying nodded.

Wang Zhongsi took a few steps and turned back to ask, "Your Highness, should I place all the officials of Fenglin County under guard?"

Li Heng had already thought about this matter.

I have to say that the planner behind this is very smart.

First, he killed the magistrate of Fenglin County, let Chen Wulang take the blame, and framed him. It would be best if Chen Wulang could get away with it. If not, he and Wang Zhongsi would shift their attention to people with higher ranks than the county magistrate. However, the person who really threatened Chen Wulang was the county lieutenant, who was at a lower rank than the county magistrate.

Now, those people must have known that Wang Zhongsi saved Chen Wulang's sister, and the people involved must have gone into hiding.

Therefore, it may be too late to go and see the people guarding Fenglin County Government Office now.

But it’s better to do something than nothing.

So Li Ying nodded and said, "Okay."

"Here."

Wang Zhongsi took the order and left.

(End of this chapter)