Tang Dynasty detective

Chapter 400
At this time, a plainly dressed woman was sitting on the head of the bed, feeding an old man with medicine.

The old man was haggard and skinny, half lying on the bed, shaking constantly.

"Father, Master Li, Minister of Dali Temple, is here." Luo Tong said to the old man.

The old man turned his head slowly, and shouted in a rather old voice: "The Minister of Dali Temple is here, how can you stop them from the door? Hurry up and apologize!"

Hearing this, Luo Tong immediately knelt down in front of Li Canghai, and said: "Just now, the grass-roots people were worried about my father's health, so they stopped my lord from the door. If I offended you, I hope your lord will make amends."

Li Canghai helped him up, and said: "You are also filial, how can I blame you?"

In order to prevent the old man from turning his head too hard, Li Canghai walked to the old man's bed, cupped his fists and saluted, "Young Li Canghai, I have met Luo Yushi."

Luo Zhong looked at Li Canghai with his cloudy eyes, and said with difficulty: "I never thought that Mr. Li, who is so loud in Luoyang, would be so young. He really is a fearsome young man!"

"Luo Yushi has won the award, this junior just solved a few small cases." Li Canghai bowed slightly.

"Okay, okay, neither arrogance nor impetuosity, calm and calm, His Majesty has not misunderstood the person!" Luo Zhong tremblingly praised, and then said: "Master Li will not make a special trip to visit the old man, right?"

Li Canghai nodded and said, "Since Luo Yushi saw it, then this junior will just say it, 14 years ago..."

"Wait a minute!" Luo Zhong suddenly interrupted him, and he said to Luo Tongdao, "Tong'er, you guys go down first!"

"But... your body...?" Luo Tong was a little worried.

"It's okay, go prepare some food and wine, so that I can entertain Mr. Li." Luo Zhong waved his hand and said.

Luo Tong sighed, bowed to Li Canghai and said, "My lord, my father is seriously ill, so please take care of me."

Li Canghai nodded, and then Luo Tong closed the door with his wife and daughter and left.

After Luo Tong left, there were only the three of them left in the room, at this moment Luo Zhong sighed and said with difficulty: "The one who should come has always come."

Li Canghai frowned slightly, staring at Luo Zhong, said: "Luo Yushi knows the purpose of this junior?"

Luo Zhong coughed suddenly, Tao Ruozhu hurried over when he saw this, and patted him on the back to help him breathe.

After a while, Luo Zhong sighed: "If the old man's guess is correct, Mr. Li must have come here to investigate the case of General Qin Fu colluding with the enemy and treason 14 years ago, right?"

"Not bad." Li Canghai nodded.

Luo Zhong sighed, and tremblingly said: "I didn't expect that this case would be brought up after 14 years. I thought I would bring these secrets into the coffin."

Li Canghai's heart moved, Luo Zhong said so, which means that he must know some inside information.

"Luo Yushi, what happened back then? General Qin Fu really colluded with the enemy and treason? What exactly did the closing statement of the tribunal of the three divisions say?" Li Canghai asked hastily.

Luo Zhong seemed to be lost in memory. After a while, he said slowly: "I have been keeping this secret for 14 years. During these 14 years, I have had no peace day and night. I am ashamed of General Qin!"

Li Canghai didn't speak, because he knew that what Luo Zhong said next would be crucial.

Then Luo Zhong sighed: "Back then, General Qin Fu was so powerful at the border, and he was named General Huaihua by the Holy Master. However, the affairs of the court have always been on the mind. The Holy Majesty reused Li Linfu and persecuted Zhongliang. Everyone dared to be angry but dared not speak out. But only General Qin dared to speak out and remonstrate. It can be said that he is a traitor, which is very satisfying."

"It's a pity that the Holy Majesty had a lot of trust in Li Linfu back then, and he didn't take General Qin's advice seriously. Instead, he advised General Qin and Li Linfu to make peace with each other." Luo Zhong took a few breaths, and Li Canghai hurriedly brought it to him. glass of water.

Luo Zhong took a sip of water, moistened his dry lips, and continued: "Later, an urgent report came from the border, saying that the Tubo army had invaded Guazhou and other places, and at that time General Qin just went home to visit his relatives, so he sent a message The general who came to Qin colluded with the enemy and treasoned the country, and deliberately released the news that the Tubo army had invaded the border."

Li Canghai nodded, and said: "I already know about this matter. Because of this, the Holy Majesty believed the rumors and ordered Qin Fu to be imprisoned. Only because the person involved in the case was General Huaihua, so the Holy Majesty ordered the Dali Temple, the Ministry of Officials, The three judicial divisions of Yushitai and the Luoyang government will jointly hear the case."

"That's right. It took three full days to hear the case at the joint trial of the three judicial divisions. More than a dozen witnesses and several letters were summoned. But Qin Fu never admitted that he was collaborating with the enemy and treason." Luo Zhong squinted his eyes, as if Trapped in distant memories.

"Who are those witnesses?" Li Canghai asked.

Luo Zhong seemed to be stuck in a distant memory, and after a while, he came back to his senses and said: "Those witnesses are all subordinates of General Qin, but when I waited for the trial, I found that these witnesses were all from not long ago. Transferred from other teams to Qin Fu's subordinates. All of them have proved that General Qin and Tubo have colluded with each other, and some even have secret letters between General Qin and Tubo. However, in the eyes of the old man, these people are not General Qin's confidantes, it is absolutely impossible for General Qin to let them know about his collaboration with the enemy."

Li Canghai thought for a moment, then murmured: "In this way, the adults don't believe that General Qin is collaborating with the enemy and treason?"

"In order to protect the peace of the Tang Dynasty, General Qin has guarded the border for ten years. He has gone through hundreds of battles in his life, blood stained his robes, and is loyal. How could he cooperate with the enemy and treason? We naturally do not believe that General Qin will treason "Luo Zhong coughed for a while and said excitedly.

Li Canghai nodded, thought for a while, and said, "When this junior was investigating this matter, he found that the closing statement about this case had disappeared. What exactly was written in this closing statement?"

Luo Zhong raised his head slowly, his cloudy old eyes stared at Li Canghai.

"Closing statement..." Luo Zhong laughed suddenly, and the violent laughter made him gasp even more. After a while, he smiled wryly and said: "There is no closing statement, because I will not wait The results of the trial have not yet been reached, and the records on the file are actually me and the others, and there are doubts about this case, and Qin Fu has not been charged with collaborating with the enemy and treason."

"No closing statement?" Li Canghai frowned suddenly.

"A few people like me were ordered to try the case, but found that the case was full of doubts. Whether it was the witnesses or physical evidence, it seemed extremely abrupt. There was no direct evidence to prove that General Qin colluded with Tubo. In our opinion, The case is not over yet, so naturally there will be no closing statement," Luo Zhong said.

"There is no closing statement, so where did the sage come from?" Li Canghai asked with a frown.

Luo Zhong stared at him and said deeply: "You should guess what's going on."

"Li Linfu?" Li Canghai spat out three words.

Luo Zhong nodded approvingly to him, and then said: "The three judges who participated in the trial of this case, together with the governor of Luoyang, and I only signed one copy of the case, which is the case with many doubts. This case statement was supposed to be submitted to the imperial court, but before I could submit it in the future, it suddenly came out that the closing statement of the Sanfa Division had been sent to the Holy Majesty. After seeing the case statement, the Holy Majesty confirmed that After Qin Fu colluded with the enemy and treasoned the country, he became furious and ordered that General Qin's family be confiscated and exterminated!"

Luo Zhong leaned halfway on the bed, his eyes were lost. He sighed and said, "It's only one day since the holy decree was issued and the whole family of the Qin family was executed. And the imperial decree is transmitted from Chang'an to Luoyang at the fastest time." It will take three days. At that time, the old man knew that there was something else wrong with it. The statement of the case submitted to the Holy Majesty was probably forged deliberately by someone with a heart. On the day General Qin was executed, Li Linfu ordered someone to send the closing statement Words, and coerced us to sign a pledge."

"Li Linfu's power is in the court and the public, and the Holy Majesty has added his favor and trust. Because of his prestige, we can only sign the closing statement. However, what he didn't expect is that we will destroy those so-called closing statements later, There is only one copy of the case that can prove the doubtful points, and at the same time, four people such as me signed the statement." Luo Zhong said.

Li Canghai nodded, and suddenly said: "It turns out that the closing statements of the third division and Luoyang Mansion were all destroyed by you. You just said that there is still a testimony left, where is that testimony now?"

Talking too much in one breath, Luo Zhong was a little out of breath. He rested for a while, and then said: "Li Linfu has a sweet belly, and the four of us participated in the trial of this case, but there was no result. He will definitely not let me wait. , so we resigned one after another."

Speaking of this, Luo Zhong suddenly showed a sad look on his face.

He sighed and continued: "The governor of Luoyang at that time was sent to the army by Li Linfu for the crime of robbing the women of the people, and died tragically on Lingnan Road. Killing, only me and Lord Lin, the Qingqing of Dali Temple, wandered all the way. But later in Qutang Gorge, we were ambushed by the killer. In order to save me, Master Lin risked himself to lure the killer away, and his life and death are still unknown."

When Tao Ruozhu heard this, he was surprised and said, "So, are those killers Li Linfu's subordinates?"

"To rob and kill the ministers of the imperial court, Li Linfu is trying to kill them! I am afraid that the Governor of Luoyang and the Minister of the Ministry of Officials also died under his conspiracy." Li Canghai's tone suddenly became cold.

A few turbid tears fell from the corners of Luo Zhong's eyes, and he wiped them away with difficulty, and said, "However, Li Linfu never imagined that the old man still holds a testimony in his hand, although this testimony is not enough to prove that Qin Fu was wronged , but it can put Li Linfu to death!"

"Since you have this testimony, why didn't you give it to His Majesty? Instead, you kept it yourself?" Tao Ruozhu asked puzzled.

Li Canghai glanced at Tao Ruozhu, and said in a deep voice: "Li Linfu's power is in the court, let alone whether this testimony can be delivered to the Holy Majesty, even if it is held by the Holy Majesty, the Holy Majesty will not believe such a one-sided statement. Handing it over to the Holy One is equivalent to cutting off one's own way of retreat."

Luo Zhong shook his head and said: "I am not afraid of death, but fear of death is worthless. Although this testimony cannot prove that General Qin is innocent, it contains many doubts. Come on, find out the truth of the matter, and restore General Qin's innocence."

Speaking of this, Luo Zhong burst into tears. He held Li Canghai tightly with his skinny hands, and tremblingly said: "Fortunately, before the old man was about to die, the heavens finally opened his eyes. Master Li, the old man asks you one thing."

"Luo Yushi, please tell me." Li Canghai said.

Luo Zhong hugged the porcelain pillow beside him in his hands, rubbed it lightly, and then slammed it against the edge of the bed.

With a crisp sound, the porcelain pillows scattered in all directions.

At the same time, a folded piece of paper fell out of the porcelain pillow.

Tao Ruozhu hurriedly bent down to pick up the paper and handed it to Luo Zhong.

Luo Zhong took the paper tremblingly, and he said tearfully: "Master Li, this is the case I was waiting for back then. The old man has few days to live, so I will leave this case to the Lord. I only hope that the Lord can accept it." Find out the truth back then! Give General Qin justice!"

Li Canghai took the case statement, he looked at the yellowed paper, and was in awe of Luo Zhong in his heart.

In order to let the truth come out to the world, Luo Zhong kept the case for 14 years.

After several life and death, living a poor life, Luo Zhong did not complain at all.

Datang did have treacherous ministers in power, but this does not mean that Datang has no loyal people.

The same is true for Xiong Asi, the same for Luo Zhong, and the same for the Sanfasi and the governor of Luoyang.

"Senior, don't worry, no matter what, I will investigate the whole matter!" Li Canghai solemnly said.

"The old man believes in you, you have this ability. The old man has fulfilled his wish, and he will die without regret." Luo Zhong said as if he had let go of his worries.

Li Canghai carefully put away the case statement, then thought for a moment, and asked, "Senior, I still have one thing I don't understand, and I want to ask senior. Did General Qin himself admit his crime back then?"

Luo Zhong was stunned for a moment, then he shook his head tremblingly and said: "Because someone once induced him, saying that the Holy Majesty is far away in Chang'an, and if he wants to clear himself of his crimes, he must see the Holy Majesty. According to the previous procedures, the joint trial of the three justices is over. Afterwards, Qin Fu will be taken to Chang'an, and the Holy Majesty will hand him over. I think General Qin must have pleaded guilty because of this, and he wants to see the Holy Majesty in person."

Li Canghai walked back and forth a few steps with his hands behind his back, his brows were furrowed, this reason seemed a bit far-fetched.

After walking a few steps, he stopped suddenly and asked, "Who is the person who induced him?"

"Yang Guozhong." Luo Zhong glanced at him and said deeply.

"It's him?" Li Canghai was slightly surprised.

Luo Zhong nodded and said: "Yang Guozhong, as the supervisory censor, was ordered to supervise the case. He was in prison and persuaded General Qin to plead guilty so that he could see the Holy Majesty. Unfortunately, General Qin not only did not see Your Majesty, on the contrary, he was found guilty of collaborating with the enemy and treason, and ended up being separated from the corpse, alas~!"

Li Canghai narrowed his eyes, he didn't expect Yang Guozhong to be involved in this matter.

As far as he knew, although Yang Guozhong and Li Linfu were both traitors, they didn't get along well.But he didn't know that Yang Guozhong and Li Linfu were in collusion at the beginning, and the two conspired to persecute many loyal ministers and righteous men.

(End of this chapter)