Jinyi Night Walk

The prison of the Ministry of punishment, the official prison.

The official prison was empty. After Zhu Di came to the throne, it was full of criminals and their families. Now, those who should be killed, those who should be released, and those who should be exiled.The fate of the family members is roughly the same, either becoming the official wife, official sister, son or young master again, or becoming an official slave and apprentice, a handyman, or a teacher singing in the workshop.

Of course, there are still some who were assigned to the hero's family as slaves. Because the hero's mansion has not been built yet, they are still stranded in the prison, which is good for the more than 200 people in Xia Xun's family. However, they have been moved from the official prison to the ordinary prison.

The only difference is that there are more graffiti on the prison wall, bored prisoners can look at it to relieve their boredom.Although those poems and paintings are messy, they are masterpieces of different time periods and different prisoners from the early years of Hongwu to the present. …

But when they were locked up here, no one knew their fate tomorrow, so even if those poems were a doggerel, they also contained their feelings looking back on their lives and the experience of life and death. Every poem is a person. The portrayal of a lifetime, and the lives of these people are all wonderful, enough to take a lot of time to taste and feel one by one.

Zhou Zewen, the doctor of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Zhang Anle, the Youtongzheng of the General Administration, and Bie Guanghe, the prefect of Guide, were there looking at the messy poems and songs on the wall, killing time, because they had nothing else to do, they They were not political prisoners, but corruption criminals. In order to prevent them from colluding with confessions and affecting the investigation of the case, the cells of the three were far enough apart that they could not see each other and could not talk at all.

But not long after, there was another person in front of Zhang Anle's cell. He was dressed as a prison guard, but his expression and temperament did not look like a prison guard. He and Zhang Anle were separated by the fence, saying something to each other quietly. .

Zhang Anle's face was pale, his hands were tightly gripping the fence, the veins on the back of his palms were all tensed, and he didn't know how much strength he used.

The person standing opposite had his face hidden in the dim light, and his voice was faint, like a hypnotic song: "Master Zhang, think clearly, where to go, all in one thought!"

Zhang Anle hoarsely said: "It's difficult...Is there really no other way?"

"No! The son-in-law can only protect himself now. You know, we are not only righting Chen Ying, but Yang Xu is standing behind him, and the Duke Fu is standing behind him."

"But…"

"My lord Zhang! I have been an official all my life, why don't you understand? Or, be willing to be mediocre, don't choose. Since you have chosen to be attached and gained glory and wealth, you must bear the possible consequences. Winners and losers, things are over At this point, why do you need to say more useless words?"

Zhang Anle slowly lowered his head and remained silent.

The people outside the cell seemed to have read his mind, smiled coldly, and said: "Master Zhang, don't take chances, the legacy of the Taizu, greedy ink sixty pens, peeling and pulling grass; how much benefit did you get? It's not just greedy ink , That memorial was pressed for two months, which is something no emperor can tolerate, if you let this kind of behavior go, wouldn’t the emperor become deaf and blind, just a puppet for his courtiers to fiddle with?"

Zhang Anle hissed: "I died for my son-in-law, told me to go east and dare not go west, there is hard work without credit, can't the son-in-law reach out to rescue me?"

The person outside the cell said in a deep voice: "What happened this time has nothing to do with the son-in-law! Mr. Zhang, it's because I am greedy and bring disaster upon myself!

Zhang Anle was dumbfounded, he really wanted to defend himself, if it wasn't because he obeyed his son-in-law's order, he wouldn't have been exposed to Fu Guogong Yang Xu, but he was so desperate that he didn't even have the strength to defend himself.

The human outside the cell said: "Master Zhang, life is in a hurry, but it is only a hundred years, and you will die sooner or later, and you must die sooner or later. If you are willing to die happily, your family will be safe and will be taken care of by the son-in-law. The son-in-law will take care of them." No worries about food and clothing, after ten or eight years, this matter has been forgotten, and they will still find ways to arrange for their heirs to become officials.

If you don’t want to die, you will die in the end, and you will die in an unspeakable pain, but dragging the son-in-law into the water” Hengheng! The son-in-law may not be able to die, no matter what, he is the brother-in-law of the current emperor after all, but at that time, who will die? Are you still in charge of your family? Mr. Zhang, this life is already at stake, so why don't you think about what's going on behind you?"

Zhang Anle's face was contorted, and his cheeks were twitched from time to time. After a long time, he slowly raised his eyes, a pair of red eyes fixed on the person outside, and said in a hoarse voice: "I..., I can die! Son-in-law he……"

The man outside said happily: "Don't worry! The son-in-law will not only take care of the caretaker's home, but..., when the time is right, he will kill Xia Xun for revenge!"

Zhang Anle said with a bleak smile: "Okay! Please, my son-in-law, remember his promise!"

"Don't worry, no one can stand without trust! If you die for the son-in-law, how can the son-in-law not take good care of your family? Even if you don't care about whether the people under the nine springs will rest in peace, the son-in-law can't let the hearts of the living be chilled, right?"

Zhang Anle nodded, slowly returned to the prison bed and sat down, staring blankly at the wall in a daze.

The people standing outside the fence hadn't left yet. After a while, Zhang Anle said coldly, "Do you want to feel at ease if you see me commit suicide?"

The man outside laughed dryly, cupped his fists at him, turned and left.His footsteps were very light, and the soles of his boots rubbed against the ground lightly, making a rustling sound, like a snake swimming by. His next swimming target was Zhou Zewen, the doctor of the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Chen Ying stayed up all night again, and even his subordinates admired this very much. His thin body seemed to be made of iron. Once he had a case at hand, he would be able to stay up all night, day and night. Dadan worked and was still full of energy in the morning. This is something that many people can't do.

It's just that Chen Ying is so capable, his subordinates have suffered along with him, and they have to keep busy with him, staying up all night.

Early in the morning, Chen Ying drank a cup of strong tea and ate two pieces of snacks, and was about to go to the Ministry of Criminal Justice to interrogate the prisoner. A policeman in official uniform of the Ministry of Criminal Justice came in hastily and greeted him, bowing and saying: "Master Du Yushi, I was ordered by Lord Luo, the main hall of the Ministry of Punishment, to invite you to go to the punishment hall right away."

Chen Ying laughed and said: "Haha Luo Shangshu is even more impatient than this official..."

The messenger said with a wry smile: "Master Du Yushi, Master Luo is not in a hurry. Last night, Zhang Anle and Zhou Zewen both committed suicide in prison!"

"what?"

oo Chen Ying's face turned red and stood up viciously, staring at the policeman like a hungry wolf, scaring the policeman back two steps.

Chen Yingan was sure, and immediately waved: "Prepare the sedan chair, prepare the sedan chair, go to the Ministry of Criminal Justice immediately!"

In the lobby of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, a row of prison guards lay on the ground, their skins were torn apart from the torture. The Secretary of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, Luo Qi, yelled furiously, "How could two people commit suicide at the same time? I asked you to take care of them, why is no one patrolling?" I didn’t realize the difference until dawn! Has anyone entered the cell without permission, has anyone touched them, call! Call me!”

Outside the lobby, Chen Ying bumped into Dali Temple Qing Jiang Linjie who had rushed to meet each other. The two arched their hands together. Obviously, Jiang Linjie also knew about Zhou Zewen and Zhang Anle's suicide. , and immediately walked into the lobby side by side.

"Master Chen, Master Jiang!"

As soon as the two came in, Luo Shangshu hurriedly left the case and came forward: "Last night, Zhou Zewen and Zhang Anle committed suicide."

"Suicide?"

Chen Ying glanced coldly over the battered prison guards, Luo Shangshu said: "Yes, judging from the current investigation situation, it is undoubtedly suicide. The key to the cell is held by two prison guards, one guard In the prison, one outside the prison, no one can get in without them opening it together, Zhou Zewen and Zhou Zewen committed suicide in the prison with their belts..."

Luo Shangshu let the two of them into the hall, watched the seats, and said: "The official is tortured, and the prison guards arrived at the last three shifts, so they were lazy and rested, so they didn't find out. The only thing to be thankful for is that Guide Prefect Sun Guanghe is still alive..."

Chen Ying sighed with a stiff face.Angrily and disappointedly said: "A fish, what's the use of being alive..."

The news spread quickly. When many officials heard the news that Zhou Zewen and Zhang Anle had committed suicide, their first reaction was to relax.gas.They may not have been involved in the conspiracy of these two people against Yang Xu, the Duke of Fuguo, and they may even know nothing about it, but they have cooperated with Zhou Zewen and Zhang Anle in various other aspects, or assisted each other. It may not be a glorious thing that can be brought to the table.

By committing suicide, these two people cut off all future troubles, their uneasy mood was relieved, and their gratitude arose spontaneously.Now that the rumors are getting tighter, it is inconvenient for them to commemorate or go to the homes of these two people to express their condolences. However, it can be expected that when the rumors subside, as long as the family members of the two officials find them, they will definitely do their best. Reciprocating favors for those who help is actually not the exclusive property of a gentleman. They still have to talk about basic morality.

"Zhou Zewen and Zhang Anle committed suicide?"

Xia Xun smiled slightly after hearing the news, and said disapprovingly: "Their use value has disappeared, and whether they die or not has nothing to do with me. It is Chen Ying who has a headache. What we have to do now is just to stare at Mei Yin. What is Mei Yin doing?"

Zuo Dan replied: "I just got the news that Mei Yin is hosting a banquet for the second son of the emperor, Prince Xu, in Juxian Building today."

Xia Xun was startled when he heard this, and his face gradually became serious: "Banquet for Prince Dian?"

"Yes, the Duke thinks, is there anything inappropriate?"

Xia Xun was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked: "Is the old Ci'en Temple cleaned up?"

Zuo Dan was taken aback, he didn't know why he suddenly asked about this matter, he really didn't pay much attention to it, thought for a while, and said: "It should be almost the same, more than [-] laborers were recruited from the vicinity of Jinling, and a total of more than ten laborers were needed. Thousands of people are being transferred from all over the place, and if it is cleaned up, it should be very fast."

Xia Xun nodded and said, "Continue to send people to watch him, but there is no need to report his whereabouts and movements at any time. I will look for him when necessary."

"Yes!" Zuo Dan backed out slowly.

Xia Xun rubbed his chin, and smiled softly: "Take advantage of the situation, use the flower as a sword, this son-in-law is not easy. Okay! Then let's ride a donkey to read the manuscript, we'll see!"