Zhao Defang's road to the virtuous king

Defang is 22 years old, the princess is 23 years old, the eldest son is 5 years old, the second son is 3 years old, and the youngest son is 1 year old

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In the sixth year of Taiping Xingguo, the Song Dynasty sent troops to resist twice and lost to the Liao army. Taizong was very angry, and no one dared to speak about the war. In the morning, the hall was silent. Taizong looked at the civil and military ministers standing on both sides. I was very unhappy.

Zhao Pu, who had just paid homage to the prime minister again, stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, I have ordered a rectification of military affairs, and found many shortcomings. There are officials in the military battalion who embezzled money and withheld special funds privately. The manufacturing of weapons is obviously poor. If there are any other inside information, they are all in the minister’s memorial, please be judged by your majesty.” Zhao Pu presented the paper, Taizong briefly looked at it and became furious, and ordered Zhao Pu to investigate the matter thoroughly.

Defang, who was sitting on the side, looked at it, and understood in her heart that this was just an excuse for Taizong to avoid the embarrassment of defeat, but this excuse would kill many people, and Defang felt a dull pain in her heart. At that time, blood flowed into rivers, and there were countless innocent souls. If the country was shaken by this, it would cause internal and external troubles in the Song Dynasty. Thinking of this, Defang couldn't bear it, so he stepped forward and said when Taizong just made the decree

"Your Majesty, I beseech you"

Taizong looked at De Fang puzzled, "What is your nephew's order?"

"I would like to assist Prime Minister Zhao to thoroughly investigate the fraud case. Fraud in the army is of great importance, not to mention the victory or defeat of the war. I implore your majesty to send ministers to try it together," Defang said.

Taizong was a little surprised, he looked at Defang, then at Zhao Pu, Zhao Pu also looked at Defang, stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, His Royal Highness is a nobleman of the royal family, if you can participate in the trial on behalf of His Majesty, I believe the result will be more convincing , the subjects of the world must be convinced"

Taizong understood what Zhao Pu meant. Although he had planned with Zhao Pu long ago, he was always afraid that the result of the trial would cause dissatisfaction. Now that Defang stepped forward, with the help of his special status, he could just calm down some resentment, so he went along with it, "Well, Nephew Defang has a reputation of being loyal and virtuous, I believe it will be of great help to the thorough investigation of this malpractice case, then I will order you to handle this case with the prime minister."

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Defang bowed.

The trial of the fraud case has been going on for more than a month, and it can be said to be very smooth. All the evidence is complete. Historically, military funds in military camps have always been deducted, so it is not difficult to investigate, but a few people are not enough to explain to Emperor Taizong, so Zhao Pu dragged out a lot of people with the reason of a thorough investigation. Some pawns who were completely ignorant were snatched and convicted. The number of people involved in the case reached hundreds of people at once. There were endless beatings and begging for mercy in the prison. Defang couldn't bear the conviction of innocent people Aggrieved, but really unable to save too many people, he can only do something within his own scope, because Zhao Pu has never let Defang get involved too much in the case, so many things are unclear, and he can't fight Zhao Pu openly, so he just He can start with small corner cases and unimportant people involved, and deal with them within his own authority. Defang looked through the evidence presented, and it seems nothing new, just some unsigned documents, one-sided words, There is no clear physical evidence to support, no one to point to, and the arrested people cry and complain about their grievances, so Defang only gave a few symbolic slaps, and most of them told the criminals after the punishment that the emperor benevolent, let them go back, and do things in the future Be more cautious.As a result, nearly a hundred people who were released kept thanking them before they left. They never thought that they could go back alive after being arrested, especially when they saw the person who was finally convicted, they felt even more grateful for Defang's virtue.