Tang Dynasty woman

Chapter 78
Yu Chaoen relied on six thousand forbidden soldiers under his command, and Liu Xixian was very brave, so he had more than twenty confidantes with Jia Mingguan, the ten thousand year official, Yu Linghui, the adopted son, Zhou Hao, the chief of the guard, and Huangfu Wen, the Jiedu envoy of Shanzhou. People gathered to discuss rebellion, how to mobilize troops, how to rob the emperor, all planned in an orderly manner.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Hao and Huangfu Wen have been paid by Yuan Zai to be spies. It turns out that Yu Chaoen has been taking precautions since he became a high-ranking and powerful person. Every time he goes in and out of the mansion or enters the palace for an audience, he always has 100 warriors by his side. Commanded by Zhou Hao, he is called the head of the guard.After Yuan Zai received the secret report from Zhou Hao and Huangfu Wen, he took them into the palace to meet Long Live, and made clear the strategy they had agreed upon. Daizong ordered to be careful not to cause trouble.

On the day of the Cold Food Festival, smoking, fire and food are banned in the palace for one day, and only in the evening can the fire be prepared for meals.That night Daizong set wine in the palace, invited relatives and dignitaries from the court, and entered the palace for a banquet; of course Yu Chaoen was also present.After the banquet, all the officials thanked En and dismissed him. Yu Linghui rushed to the front and greeted the car on behalf of his adoptive father Yu Chaoen.While enriching his personal pockets, Yu Chaoen also became very obese, so he had to take a small car to commute when he went in and out of the palace.

Yu Chaoen got up to thank him, and went down to the hall. On the left was the badge of Yu Ling, and on the right was supported by Liu Xixian, Marquis of Duyu. He stepped into the cart and was about to leave when he suddenly saw an edict from the inner eunuch saying: " Please discuss the matter in the inner hall of Yugong." The warrior pushing the cart pushed the cart towards the inner hall, Yu Linghui and Liu Xixian followed closely behind the cart.When they reached the gate of the inner hall, the imperial guards came up to stop them, so Yu Linghui and Liu Xixian had to stand guard outside the gate, watching the cart push into the inner hall gate.

The car Yu Chaoen was sitting in was pushed all the way to the bottom of the dange before it stopped. As soon as Yu Chaoen stepped off the car, Zhou Hao, the head of his guard, jumped up and grabbed Yu Chaoen's arms. Chaoen just cursed: "Bold slave!" Yuan Zailai walked by on the left, and Huangfu Wenlai walked by Huangfu Wenlai on the right, holding hemp rope, tying Yu Chaoen behind his back, and even the four warriors who pushed the cart did it together , to help push Yu Chaoen to the hall.

As soon as he saw Daizong, Yu Chaoen shouted: "The old minister is not guilty!" Hearing this, Daizong frowned and ordered Yu Chaoen to kneel down sharply. Then Daizong angrily counted how Yu Chaoen recruited power and accepted bribes , How to form a party and plot rebellion and other sixteen major crimes.But Yu Chaoen had a mouth full of ducks, but he refused to give in, and just kept yelling about being wronged.Daizong was so angry that he immediately ordered him to be hanged in the hall.

Immediately, Zhou Hao and Huangfu Wen took action, grabbed Yu Chaoen by the collar, walked down the hall, knelt on the altar, the inner eunuch handed over the belt, strangled Yu Chaoen alive, and then Yu Chao'en's body was loaded in a small cart and pushed out of the palace, followed by his adopted son, Yu Linghui, and sent home.At the same time, the imperial decree came down, saying that Yu Chaoen hanged himself according to the decree, and specially awarded 600 million strings for funeral.Except for Liu Xixian who refused to accept the grievance and was ordered to commit suicide in Yu Chaoen Yu's party, Daizong conferred additional official positions in order to appease people.From then on, Yu Chaoen's party did not dare to rebel.

4. To eradicate the big country thieves
Because of Yuan Zai's meritorious deeds in killing Yu Chaoen, the Emperor Daizong was favored. Yuan Zai relied on his favor and became more arrogant and arrogant. And every state and county has Yuan Zai's confidantes.

Yuan Zai's father-in-law, Chu Yi, was originally a farmer with no talent and knowledge. He had lived in Xuanzhou for a long time.Yuan Zai just gave him a letter lightly, asking him to go to Hebei.Walking to Youzhou, the old farmer opened the letter, and saw a blank page with the word Yuan Zai written on it.Chu Yi unconsciously complained in his heart that this son-in-law was too ruthless, but now that he had come here, he had no choice but to go to see the judge in Youzhou with a letter in his arms.Unexpectedly, once the judge saw the word Yuan Zai, he hurriedly reported it to the Jiedu envoy.The Jiedu envoy immediately held a grand banquet, honored him as the honored guest, and left the old farmer to linger in the Jiedu envoy's office for a few days. When he was about to leave, he presented a thousand pieces of silk and 500 taels of gold.

Such a farmer, got such a huge windfall, enough to feed him for a lifetime.

Yuan Zai's wife and Wang Jin's younger siblings all relied on their power to swagger and accept bribes outside.Yuan Zai's secretary Zhuo Yingqian is even more greedy and cunning, blindly flattering Yuan Zai, especially Yuan Zai's favor.Therefore, people who seek fame and wealth all over the world come to buy Zhuo Yingqian alone, begging him to introduce him.Because of this, Zhuo Yingqian was able to sit on a huge fortune and become a rich man.

Li Shaoliang, the Secretary of Chengdu, wrote a letter stating that Chen Yuanzai's corruption was sinister. Yuan Zai suppressed the memorial and refused to send it away. Then he ordered the censor to impeach Li Shaoliang, and ordered Li Shaoliang to go to Beijing, confine him in a dark room, and beat Li Shaoliang with a mace. , bleeding all over the floor to death.Li Shaoliang's friend Wei Song and the imperial servant Lu Xun knocked on the gate and appealed for his grievances, but Yuan Zai ordered the warriors to capture them in front of the emperor and put them on death row.Wei and Lu were suddenly filled with anger, and they both hit the wall and died.

After Daizong knew about it, he believed that his cowardly character had long been restrained by Yuan Zai. Because Li Qiyun was a loyal and upright minister in the Western Zhejiang Observation History, he secretly ordered Li Qiyun to go to Beijing and worship him as a royal doctor.After Li Qiyun took office, it was not long before he found out that Xu Hao, Xue Yong, Jingzhaoyin Du Jixu, and Yu Shao, the servants of the Ministry of Rites, were all members of Yuanzai's party members, and then a ginseng book let these four be officials together. .Yuan Zai hated Li Qiyun to the bone, and within a few days, Li Qiyun died of poisoning at home without causing any accidents.From then on, Yuan Zai became more unscrupulous, arrogant in everything, and often boasted about his civil and military talents, which were beyond the reach of ancient and modern people.The implication is that the current Emperor Daizong is not as good as him.

On this day, Wu Qin, the younger brother of Empress Dowager Wu, Zhang Jing, the general of Zuo Jinwu, came into the palace. Is it because of this trouble?"

Daizong knew that he was always loyal to the country, and that the two of them were relatives of nephew and uncle, so he immediately sighed and said: "The ruin of the dynasty is all my fault; Yuan Zai's daring to act boldly is also because I usually do whatever I want. To. It is already too difficult to get rid of it now! It’s impossible not to get rid of it..."

Then the monarch and his ministers discussed secretly in the palace until it got deeper.The next day, General Wu quietly summoned Liu Yan, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, Li Han, the official of the imperial court, Xiao Xin, the regular servant of Sanqi, and Chang Yan, the servant of the Ministry of Rites. Only these five or six people are left.Everyone was discussing major issues in the Zhongnan Study Room of General Wu's Mansion, when suddenly a strong man burst into the room, everyone was shocked, and more than a dozen eyes were fixed on that strong man.I saw the strong man covering his face with a black veil, standing upright at the door without saying a word.

General Wu pressed his sword and asked loudly, "Who are you?" The strong man raised his hand and removed the black veil from his face, causing everyone in the room to kneel down at the entrance of the ground in a panic and say long live.It turned out that Daizong saw that the situation was critical, so he changed into forbidden soldiers, sneaked out of the palace, rode a black horse, and ran to the uncle's mansion as fast as he could, jumped off the horse, and rushed straight to the mansion.The mansion has its own guards who will guard the gate. Today the mansion has a secret meeting, and the security is even tighter. When the forbidden soldiers come in, they all move forward to stop them.The forbidden soldier didn't open his mouth, he just raised the small red flag in his hand, and the generals knew that they were secret envoys from the palace, so they gave way.This is the rule of the Tang Dynasty. When the emperor summons ministers for secret matters, he will send a secret envoy from the palace, holding a small red flag with a gold seal on it as proof.

Emperor Daizong invited all the ministers to take their seats, and said angrily: "Last night, an internal servant found out that Yuanzai and Wang Jin had conspired against each other in recent days. Now the commanding power of the forbidden army is in the hands of Yuan Zai, and he will besiege the palace sooner or later, intending to rob me to the west, and take the emperor to order hundreds of officials. All the ministers are loyal and righteous, how can we sit and watch the chaotic officials and thieves overthrow the Li family society?"

All the ministers showed grief and indignation, some sighed, some slapped the table and cursed. After a long time of turmoil, they couldn't think of a useful strategy, and then the group of loyal and loyal ministers were all downcast.

In the silence of the room, another man dressed as a strong man came into the room. It turned out to be Yu Long, the chief guard of General Wu's residence. General Wu immediately ordered him to leave, but Yu Long didn't seem to hear. As the master said, he stepped forward and knelt down in front of Daizong and said: "Long live God is in trouble, the lord is to blame; the lord is in trouble, the villain is to blame. Today's situation is urgent, but the villain has a plan." General Wu hurriedly Ask what the plan is.

Yu Long lay down on the ground and said: "The traitor Yuan Zai has a confidant, and he is Dong Xiu, the general of the left guard who knows the internal servant and the minister." This sentence shocked everyone in the room.It turned out that Dong Xiu was in command of the Imperial Forest Army and was always by the emperor's side. Emperor Daizong also regarded him as his confidant.Now it is heard that this person turned out to be in the same party as the treacherous officials, which is really beyond everyone's expectations.General Wu didn't believe it, and asked him what evidence he had, Yu Long said, "The villain has a brother named Chang Sheng who is a close friend of eight worshippers. In the eyes. Now that the villain and Chang Sheng try to capture Dong Xiu, there will be a way to deal with them."

Daizong nodded repeatedly when he heard this, and said, "Okay! You go and capture Dong Xiu with Chang Sheng, and I will reward you very much when it is done!" Seeing that Wan Sui had spoken to him, Yu Long hurried up to kowtow to thank him. Get up and walk backwards.

Here General Wu advises Daizong: "Today's event is very dangerous. Since Long Live has left the palace, it is not suitable to return to the palace for a while, and he will stay at the minister's house for a few days. After the traitor is arrested, the minister will escort your majesty back to the palace." Then General Wu After tidying up a bedroom in the South Study Room, Emperor Daizong lived in it. On the one hand, he also kept all the ministers in the mansion to accompany him, discussing secrets at any time.

Unexpectedly, as soon as Yu Long left, he didn't come back until the evening. General Wu was in a hurry, and when it was time to light the lights, he suddenly heard a commotion outside the door. Yu Long and Chang Sheng grabbed the left guard general Dong Xiu. to the hall.At that time, Dong Xiu was preparing to go to the secret meeting in Yuanzai's mansion. Unexpectedly, his guard chief Chang Sheng had made a secret appointment with his guards. The vehicle drove directly into the gate of the mansion.Dong Xiu was sitting in the car, and when he entered General Wu's mansion, he couldn't help cursing loudly. When he was asking questions, Chang Sheng stepped forward, slashed his chest, and dragged Dong Xiu out of the car, and then Yu Long went up to help , the two dragged him forward and back to bring him to the hall.

Dong Xiu was dragged so that his clothes were disheveled, his gauze cap was crooked, and he was roaring and shouting loudly when he suddenly saw Wu Qin walking out of the hall with the emperor's edict in his hand, and read aloud: "Dong Xiu listens to the decree!" Dong Xiu had to turn around and knelt down , I heard the edict said, "Yuan Zaimou committed misconduct, and Dong Xiusu served as internal aid. General Zuo Jinwu Wu Qin took it down and tortured him for interrogation."

As soon as Dong Xiu heard this, he yelled and argued, and General Wu yelled: "Search!" Four warriors came up, grabbed Dong Xiu's hands, and searched him inside and out, but found no belts; they grabbed the gauze cap Come on, search carefully in the hair in the hat, but you can't see any flaws.General Wu ordered to take off his boots again, and sure enough, a volume of documents was found in the boots, which was the case file of Yuan Zai and Wang Jin's conspiracy to start an incident.It clearly stated the date of the rebellion, and which groups of soldiers besieged the palace, and which groups of soldiers captured the Minister of State Qi.

After seeing it, General Wu felt furious, and confessed the imperial edict on a public case set aside. Then General Wu sat down in front of the public case, and the warrior pushed Dong Xiu and knelt under the case.The hall yelled: "Hit!" The big sticks and small sticks from the hall all hit Dong Xiu.Dong Xiu endured the pain desperately, without saying a word.General Wu became even more angry, and ordered the traitor to be stripped naked and beaten with a whip.Dong Xiu was beaten to the point of bruises all over her body, she just rolled on the floor, but she just gritted her teeth, and didn't yell about the pain, and didn't confess a word.

General Wu saw that he couldn't think about it, but it was Yu Long who came up with a plan and whispered something into his lord's ear.General Wu nodded, and Yu Long went to the kitchen to get a big bucket of brine, and poured it on Dong Xiu.As soon as the freshly cracked skin and flesh were touched with brine, it immediately felt painful. Dong Xiu couldn't help but screamed loudly, and even said: "The prisoner is willing to recruit!"

It turned out that Yuan Zai and Dong Xiu agreed to start the incident on the first day of March in the 12th year of the Dali calendar.Dong Xiu led the Imperial Forest Army to respond in the palace; Yuan Zai also asked Wang Jin to mobilize soldiers and horses from four cities to surround the capital.

When Emperor Daizong heard that Dong Xiu, his usual confidant, was really a traitor, he was furious and went out to the hall in person.When Dong Xiu saw the Lord Long Live, she was so frightened that she prostrated herself on the ground, kowtowing and begging for mercy.Daizong vented his anger on Dong Xiu, and ordered Chang Sheng and Yu Long to beat Dong Xiu to death in the hall with sticks; A thousand soldiers and horses were raised, quietly surrounded Yuanzai's mansion, and then rushed in with a loud cry.

From Dong Xiu's statement, we know that they all gathered in Cuixiu Xuan. General Wu took the lead with his sword and led more than a hundred warriors straight to Cui Xiu Xuan. The rest of the soldiers fought with the guards in the mansion. Catch the right person in two strokes and start a fire in the corner of the corridor.Unexpectedly, General Wu rushed into the Cuixiu Pavilion to take a look, and he had left without leaving a single one.General Wu rushed to the back garden to search separately. Sure enough, among the flowers and trees and in the caves of rocks, five officials in court were found one by one, but Yuan Zai and Wang Jin were the only ones missing.General Wu looked around, and when he looked up, he saw a man in a red robe crawling on the wall, who seemed to be trying to escape from the wall.

General Wu shrugged, rushed forward, grabbed the corner of the robe, and pulled the man down to the ground. He saw that it was Wang Jin, who was in charge of Tong Pingzhang.General Wu asked, "Where is this traitor Yuan Zai hiding?" Wang Jin didn't say anything at first, but when he saw General Wu holding a sword on his neck, he became frightened, pointed to the outside of the wall and said, "I have escaped from the wall." " General Wu smiled slightly when he heard this, and without looking after him, he grabbed Wang Jin's collar with one hand and returned to the hall.At this time, the three hundred guards in the mansion were all captured alive by the imperial guards, and the courtyard was full of corpses. General Wu ordered the soldiers to take a long rope to arrest the eight officials. They are bound in long strings.Sure enough, as soon as the binding was completed, twenty or thirty imperial guards who had been ambushing outside the wall of the back garden had already captured Yuan Zai who had jumped over the wall, and then tied it with rope to look like a rice dumpling, carried it with a big pole, and sent it to the hall. .When Yuan Zai saw Wu Qin, he shouted: "Uncle Guo, save me quickly, even if you untie it, it hurts me so much!"

Don't say that Wu Qin couldn't save him, even if he thought about it, he couldn't save him. Soon after the public trial, the imperial decree ordered the criminal officer to monitor him, and ordered Yuan Zai to commit suicide.Immediately, the hearts of the people were happy, and for a while, the ruling and opposition parties were cheering.

When Yuan Zai was about to be executed, he only wanted a quick death, but the executioner sneered and said: "Xianggong has been in power for 20 years and has done his best. Today, it is in the hands of the lower officials, and the sky net has been restored. There are many people who humiliate each other. Today It's okay to be humiliated a little bit!" After that, he took off the dirty black socks on his feet, stuffed them in Yuan Zai's mouth, and then slowly hanged him to death, and threw his body under the steps of the Zhengshitang to expose three times. God, let the people watch and trample on it.

Yuan Zai's extravagant and aggressive wife and her three sons who had no success but were re-appointed high-ranking officials were also executed. Not inferior to Yuan Zai, all the family property is now confiscated in the palace, and the wealth is tens of thousands.For example, there is only Hu Shu in it, and there are as many as 800 stones.Now these more than [-] shi Hushu are all distributed to the officials of Taiwan Province under Zhongshu's sect.

Wang Jinyuan was bestowed with death, but he was sentenced lightly by Daizong and demoted to governor of Kuozhou.All other courtiers caught in Yuan Zai's house were demoted.Wei Zhuo Yingqian and his entourage of six officials committed a serious crime and immediately died with a stick in the political affairs hall.Daizong was still angry, and sent his envoys to Yuanzai's hometown to dig up Yuanzai's ancestral grave, destroy coffins and dismember corpses, flatten family temples, and burn family trees. Only then did Emperor Daizong feel relieved.

(End of this chapter)