Plan to cut off the nine states

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Thinking of something interesting, Lou Chu suddenly laughed and said to himself: "I am also a vain person whose name is too real. I actually think that I am a descendant of the Lou family."

The door opened, and two imperial guards came in and ordered coldly: "Let's go."

Lou Chi stepped out of the house without asking any questions, and the guards escorted him to a nearby pavilion one after another.

The lights in the pavilion are bright, but the scene in the pavilion cannot be seen through a large bush of decaying flowers and trees.

Surrounded by guards and eunuchs, he could not move a step.

Just a few days after the death of the Emperor of All Things, the whole country mourned and all drumming was banned. However, melodious tunes came from the pavilion, and there were women singing in harmony, which were tactful and changeable, but not sad at all.

The guards escorted another person over.

Shao Junqian's face was ashen. She raised her head and glanced at the foundation of the building. She didn't recognize him. She lowered her head and was stunned for a while, then raised her head again, with a surprised look on her face. She opened her mouth to speak, but immediately shut up and lowered her head.

More and more people were being escorted, and none of them knew each other. Finally, there were as many as nineteen people, lined up in two lines, with two guards guarding behind each person.

There was no Zhang Shiyu among them. Shao Junqian stood beside Lou Chu and turned to look again. Seeing that Lou Chu's expression did not change, he felt a little ashamed and his expression softened a little.

A child's scream suddenly came from the other side of the pavilion. The music stopped suddenly. The scream lasted for a while before stopping, and then Liang Shengzhi's voice came: "I asked you to sing some cheerful songs. Why did you suddenly surprise your Majesty?"

The people around him couldn't hear anything scary about the music, but Liang Shengzhi scolded it.

The pavilion was quiet for a while, and an eunuch came over and preached: "Take the prisoner to the base of the building."

The guard pushed, and the building was the first to bypass the flowers and come to the front of the pavilion.

There was a soft couch in the pavilion, and the little emperor was sitting on it, wrapped in thick clothes. Even so, he still felt cold, but he refused to enter the room. Six palace maids behind him and beside him were holding copper plates with erected copper plates. Giant candle.

Several sides of the pavilion are surrounded by cotton embroidery to block the cool breeze. Only one side is open, facing a small open space. The musician who just played was probably sitting here. At this time, he has retired, leaving more than ten small stools.

Liang Shengzhi finally put on clean clothes and stood in front of the soft couch, leaning down to whisper to the little emperor.

Two guards forced the building to kneel down, facing the pavilion.

After a while, the little emperor saw the person outside and asked, "Who is he?"

Liang Shengzhi replied: "Your Majesty, this man is the son of the general..."

The little emperor turned his head and covered his face. Whether it was disgust or fear, Liang Shengzhi spoke faster, "His name is Lou Chu, and he is one of the masterminds of the assassination of the late emperor."

"Kill him."

"He is... Lou Wen's son. He needs to be interrogated clearly before he can be tortured."

"You asked."

There were several more palace officials nearby, spreading paper and ink on the table, preparing to record the confession.

"The people below are the foundations of the building?" Liang Shengzhi asked loudly.

"No need for trial." Lou Chu also replied loudly. Although he could not stand up, his voice refused to weaken, "I am not only the mastermind of the assassination, but I also stabbed the emperor."

Everyone around was surprised to hear such a frank confession. Only the eunuch who wrote the pen remained unmoved and kept writing.

Liang Shengzhi was also taken aback, but he didn't know how to ask further. He coughed twice, "I'm sorry, you're a commoner, but you wouldn't dare to do such a big evil. There must be an envoy behind it. Who is it?"

Just as Lou Chu was about to take the responsibility himself, he suddenly changed his mind and said, "Grand Tutor Liang Zhao asked me to assassinate him."

Liang Shengzhi was taken aback again, his face turned red from holding back, and he was speechless for a moment.

The little emperor stood up and asked, "Who is Liang Zhao? Where is Liang Zhao?"

Liang Shengzhi hurriedly leaned into the little emperor's ear and whispered an explanation.

"So it's your father, he must be a loyal minister." The little emperor sat down and yawned, "I don't want to watch the interrogation, I want to watch the beating, hard beating."

Liang Shengzhi regretted that he was the first to call up the building, and said to the eunuch outside the pavilion: "Bring Shao Junqian up!"

Shao Junqian knelt down and shouted without waiting for anyone to ask: "Unjustly accused! Unjustly accused! I didn't stab you..."

Liang Shengzhi decided to satisfy the little emperor's wishes and said coldly: "First give him ten lashes."

The executioner was already prepared and walked out from behind the guard with a whip in hand. He first looked up at the people in the pavilion and then whipped him hard with his whip.

After only one stroke, Shao Junqian cried out to heaven and earth. After the second stroke, she held her head and cried out in pain. After the third stroke, she loudly begged for mercy. After the fourth stroke, she began to confess in full. After ten lashes, he had summoned the eldest princess of Luoyang.

At first, the little emperor huddled on the couch and did not dare to look. He covered his ears with his hands. Liang Shengzhi observed carefully. Once the little emperor couldn't bear it anymore, he would immediately order the execution to stop.

At the third sound of the whip, the little emperor removed his hands from his ears. At the fifth sound, he sat up and watched. At the seventh sound, he simply stood up. After ten lashes, he had already walked to the edge of the pavilion.

"Good fight!" the little emperor shouted excitedly, and then asked in confusion: "Why didn't you fight?"

Liang Shengzhi reminded: "Shao Junqian said that the eldest princess is the mastermind behind the scenes."

"Catch her and give her ten lashes too."

"The eldest princess is your majesty's aunt. You should not be tortured lightly. You need to interrogate and understand, and then ask the Queen Mother for instructions."

"Then hit him." The little emperor pointed to the foundation of the building.

Lou Chu thought that he would definitely suffer physical pain this time, but he didn't expect that Liang Shengzhi actually let him go and whispered to the emperor: "There are still many prisoners behind."

"Bring them all together and give them all ten lashes!"

The remaining prisoners were brought up. There were only two executioners, each with a whip, and they took turns whipping the prisoners. The whips kept cracking and the screams were continuous.

The little emperor clapped his hands and laughed, much happier than when the music was playing just now.

Everyone was beaten, except Lou Chu, who was skipped. The little emperor just watched the fun and didn't care who was beaten and who wasn't.

The prisoners rushed to confess their accomplices, saying whoever they were, which exhausted the executioner and even busied the clerk next to him. He wrote quickly while listening. Fortunately, there were three assistants to help him, so he didn't write messily or make mistakes.

After the execution, Liang Shengzhi ordered to arrest the relevant people who were confessed, and the prisoners were taken back.

Lou Chu returned to the room and wondered why Liang Shengzhi let him go. Was it because he didn't want to implicate the general too early?

Half an hour later, the door was opened again, and it was not the guards who came in, but Lou Ying and Madam Lan.

Lou Ying rushed over and grabbed his brother's collar, angrily saying: "Are you really involved in the assassination?"

Lou Chu refused to answer.

Mrs. Lan said: "Stop it."

Lou Ying reluctantly let go, but his fat body still blocked his brother. Mrs. Lan had to say: "Get out of the way."

"Mother, this kid deserves to die. He has hurt our Lou family so much."

Mrs. Lan ignored her son and walked in front of Lou Chu, "You are so brave."

Lou Chu smiled slightly, "Madam and the third brother will be able to leave the city soon, right?"

It was just an ordinary sentence. Mrs. Lan was silent, but Lou Ying became even more angry. If his mother hadn't stopped him, he would have punched him, "What did you say?"

The anger of the third brother was a proof. Lou Chu smiled and said: "Father sent me in. , we have to change a few people out. Is the third brother going to Yizhou or Qinzhou? "

Lou Ying's face was slightly red, and Madam Lan said lightly: "Go to Qinzhou first, and then go to Yizhou after the rebellion is quelled."

"How many people can the Lou family go?"

"Ten men and ten women."

"It's a good deal to exchange me for twenty people in the Lou family."

Lou Ying said behind his mother: "Father used his lifelong military merit to exchange us out of the city, what does it have to do with you?"

Madam Lan did not deny it, and sighed lightly: "Things in the court are often like this, there is no reason to talk about it."

"Then what can you say to him? It's just to make the emperor suspicious..." Lou Ying was glared at by his mother and had to shut up.

"I don't seek any reason." Lou Chu once thought that Madam Lan was "a person who can be persuaded", but now he realized that she was an outsider, an outsider who had nothing to do with him. It must be the letter she wrote that prompted the general to hand over his son.

"But the Lou family has not forgotten your contribution." Madam Lan sighed again, "The general and I have already arranged it. As long as you betray the eldest princess, you can be spared from death and sent to Lingnan to join the army."

"Can the crime of regicide be spared from death?"

"Just say that you have discussed the plan with the eldest princess, and don't mention anything else."

Lou Chu thought for a while, "Who wants to put the eldest princess to death? The Liang family should not be so anxious."

Lou Ying shook his head, "You are about to die, and you still care about such things?"

Madam Lan did not think that Lou Chu's question was redundant, and replied: "The Empress Dowager was determined to avenge the late emperor. The eldest princess came out too early that night, which aroused suspicion, so... the eldest princess was not born by the Empress Dowager."

The eldest princess held power for only a few hours longer than Lou Chu. As soon as the prince came back, she also fell to the edge and attracted jealousy.

"Shao Junqian has already confessed the princess."

"It's not enough for him alone. This case will be made public and there can't be any loopholes."

"Where's the general?" Lou Chu asked again. He heard a prisoner shouting the general. Whether it was true or false, it would cause trouble.

"You dare to mention your father?" Lou Ying was angry again.

"The general knew there would be an assassination and sent someone to contact the assassin." Lou Chu told the truth.

"You're talking nonsense!" Lou Ying waved his fist, but he couldn't get past his mother.

Mrs. Lan told Lou Chu with her eyes that she knew the truth, but she said: "Again, some things don't make sense."

"Well, I will consider Madam's advice."

"It's best to have your confession. If you don't, it won't affect the overall situation. It's the general who insisted on giving you a way out."

"Please thank the general for me."

"You are still young. Don't act out of loyalty. If things get awkward, no one can help you."

Lou Chu laughed out loud, and he thought of something funny again.

"What are you laughing at? Father and mother gave you a way out, aren't you grateful?" Lou Ying always thought this brother was weird, and now he looked down on him even more.

Lou Chu endured and endured, and said seriously: "Please forgive my rudeness, Madam. I just... thought of the 'follow the name and hold the reality' I learned, and I felt ridiculous. Please rest assured, Madam, I know what to say when I am tried again."

Madam Lan nodded, "This is all the Lou family can do for you, and the general is also in a dilemma."

"I understand, some things are just unreasonable."

Lou Ying felt that this sentence was like a mockery, and just as he was about to refute, his mother turned around and urged him to leave.

"He..." Lou Ying pointed at his brother, and finally said nothing, leading the way in front, and left with his mother.

Lou Chu stood there blankly, feeling that there were ridiculous things everywhere, but he couldn't laugh. The words "name" and "reality" were like a group of flying insects flying around him, and he couldn't chase them away, and he couldn't see them clearly.

I don't know how long it took, but the door opened again. This time there was only one visitor. He didn't bring a lamp, but stopped at the door for a moment, walked to the front of the building, and said, "I guess you can't sleep either."

The one who came was Zhang Shiyu, the only one among the three "assassins" who was not caught.