Chapter 975 Crimes against humanity
As the head of a noble family, the ability of old man Dou is naturally beyond doubt.
As early as when he found out that His Majesty was going to push Yun Ye out to compete with the Dou family, he had already made all preparations.
All the connections that the Dou family had built for many years were in motion, like a huge spider web, surrounding Yun Ye from all directions.
He had already arranged for officials from all over Chang'an, and even the imperial censors. Those memorials impeaching Yun Ye were also written after the Dou family collected intelligence from everywhere. He personally reviewed and studied them, and there would never be any loopholes.
He had also made detailed arrangements for the Cheng family, the Niu family, and the Li Jing family, who were friendly with the Yun family. Various interest exchanges had already been sent out, just waiting for the Cheng family and the Niu family to respond.
If there were no accidents, at dawn, countless memorials impeaching Yun Ye would fly into the palace like snowflakes.
Old man Dou only needed to sit at home and watch Yun Ye being harassed by officials in the court, and even doomed to fail.
But why, why did such a thing happen on the eve of the plan!
Old man Dou lay on the low couch, staring at the ceiling absentmindedly, his mind constantly flashing with the green bamboo sitting cross-legged on the ground with his hands clasped together, and the note fluttering in the cold wind.
This was something that Old man Dou had never encountered in his life, and it was also the source of his panic.
"Boom!"
There was another deafening thunder, and Old man Dou suddenly woke up from his absent-mindedness.
He remembered what Yun Ye had said to him in the palace, and Yun Ye's identity as a suspected disciple of the gods.
If there are really immortals in this world and gods in the sky, then will the evil deeds done by the Dou family really be punished?
Just as the emotion of fear gradually emerged in Old Man Dou's heart, a servant suddenly came to report outside the door.
Old man Dou sat up with the help of the old servant. He had not slept all night and his face was exhausted, but at this critical moment, he still had to listen to the information he should hear.
Sure enough, the servants came to report that the Yun family sent people to the county government to deliver the complaint, and also sent a large number of guards to post notices everywhere in Chang'an City.
The people of the Dou family quietly tore off a piece and brought it back. After reading it, the old man Dou tore it into pieces angrily.
The reason is also very simple. Yun Ye dared to slander the reputation of the Dou family with facts and truth. It was really unreasonable!
What's more infuriating is that the Chang'an County Magistrate Zuo Kui actually had the courage to accept the complaint. Is this going to go against the Dou family? !
The old man Dou was a little anxious, but more urgent things were still to come.
The second servant who came back to report the news said: "As soon as the city gate opened, the merchants of the Yun family rode fast horses and took the notice out of the city. I heard that they ran in all directions as soon as they left the city. I think they will not stop until they post the notice all over Guanzhong."
It takes time for the news to ferment, so on the first day, it did not cause much waves.
However, this is only the calm on the surface, and the undercurrent in the dark is still surging without stopping.
People from the Yun family, Cheng family, Niu family, and even the academy and the East Palace, scattered into the 108 markets in Chang'an.
Combined with the notice posted by the Yun family, they continued to spread the terrifying news that the Dou family liked to turn people into human wax.
The people in Chang'an City did not dare to offend the Dou family, but they also secretly remembered the news, and in the mood of mourning for the rabbit's death and the fox's grief, they took the initiative to spread the matter more and more widely.
The worst thing is that Yun Ye also took advantage of the situation and gave different ways of dealing with different people.
For example, for those families with missing people, the people who spread the news secretly made them think that the missing people in their families might have been captured by the evil Dou family and turned into human wax.
There are many other means like this, like a gust of wind, blowing this fire more and more vigorously.
On the third day, the heavy rain that lasted for three days finally stopped, but there were still thick dark clouds over Chang'an.
With the spread of the Yun family knights, the entire Guanzhong region has known about the evil deeds of the Dou family, and the reputation of the aristocratic family has been completely destroyed.
Also today, Yun Ye personally took to the streets and beat the drums in public.
In the Tang Dynasty, ordinary people had no way to sue officials. Even if the lawsuit was won, the back stroke of eighty strokes would not be reduced.
But Yun Ye was not an ordinary citizen. He was the Marquis of Lantian in the Tang Dynasty and a general who had returned from a great victory. As soon as he arrived at the county government, the Chang'an County Magistrate Zuo Kui and the County Magistrate and County Lieutenant personally came out to greet him.
But Yun Ye seemed to have not seen them. The county magistrate was standing next to him, but he had to beat all the drums on both sides.
This behavior immediately attracted the attention of the people of Chang'an. The county government was soon crowded with people watching the excitement everywhere.
But the people in the county government didn't dare to come out to drive them away, because Yun Ye was standing in front of them, and the guards of the Yun family were also standing beside them, vaguely blocking the way of the yamen runners.
Not only that, after entering the hall, the Yun family guards also stopped at the door, not allowing the county government to close the door, striving to let everyone see what happened in the county government.
Looking at Yun Ye sitting in the hall, the magistrate of Chang'an County smiled bitterly and said: "Lord Yun, since the promulgation of the Wude Law in the seventh year of Wude, my Tang Dynasty has never had this crime against humanity. As a people-friendly official, I have also dabbled in the laws of all dynasties, but I have never heard of this law. I hope Lord Yun can explain it to me."
"Don't you understand?"
Yun Ye glanced at Zuo Kui and said lightly: "Then let me ask you, since China has criminal law, various harsh punishments have emerged one after another, why are there fewer and fewer tortures in my Tang Dynasty?"
Zuo Kui hesitated and said, "This... is of course because of your majesty's leniency!"
Yun Ye agreed, "You are right, your majesty is lenient, so my Tang Dynasty has abolished all kinds of torture. Those harsh corporal punishments are now only whipping and beating, such as dismemberment, digging out eyes and cutting tongues, but now they are all gone."
"This is the general trend and what your majesty wants."
"The so-called rule of the country with courtesy and the prosperity of the country with benevolence. Yun believes that as a citizen of my Tang Dynasty, you should enjoy the most basic human rights. Even the lowest and most humble slaves should be different from livestock and beasts."
"Therefore, anyone who treats my Tang people as livestock and abuses them is a crime against humanity!"
Hearing Yun Ye's words, the officials in the hall were thoughtful and understood what Yun Ye meant.
Yun Ye glanced at them, then turned around and shouted angrily at the crowded people outside the county government.
"Now that our Tang Dynasty has conquered the Turks, it is a sign of the coming prosperity. But at this time, such a terrifying evil happened in Chang'an City!"
"The Dou family in Xinghuafang is said to be a thousand-year-old family with a family tradition of poetry and etiquette. But in order to vent their anger, they actually treated a 15-year-old girl as a human-shaped livestock and turned her into human wax!"
"Since the founding of our Tang Dynasty, there are many things to be done and the population is sparse. Every time your majesty offers sacrifices to heaven, he will sincerely pray for the prosperity of the people's descendants and the reproduction of livestock. What are you doing, Dou family, you are taking human lives lightly!"
"From the moment a person is born to the time he grows up, how many hardships he has to go through, how much effort his parents have to put in, who would want the child he has raised with great difficulty to become a candle lit in the Dou family's mourning hall?"
"Tell me, who of you wants your child to become a candle?"
As Yun Ye's angry voice came, the people outside the county government office were excited and roared, rushing towards the county government office.
Seeing the crowds outside the county government office, not to mention the many officials in the hall, even the Yun family guards at the door couldn't help but hold the hilt of the knife, and big drops of cold sweat flowed down their foreheads.
Looking at the excited people around him, Hong Cheng, dressed as a yamen runner, couldn't help swallowing his saliva, with some fear in his eyes.
As the leader of the Hundred Cavalry Division, Hong Cheng appeared here, naturally under the instruction of Li Er, to cooperate with Yun Ye's actions.
But what he never expected was that Yun Ye's words were so inflammatory that the people of Chang'an were mobilized by him.
It is foreseeable that if Yun Ye continues like this, this flood of public opinion is likely to turn into an uncontrollable riot.
Thinking of this, Hong Cheng couldn't help but cast a horrified look at Yun Ye.
Yun Ye stood at the door of the county government office, glanced at Hong Cheng, and gestured to him that the plan would not change.
Hong Cheng's forehead was covered with cold sweat, but since Yun Ye was confident, he had no choice but to obey His Majesty's order, waved his hand and rushed to Xinghuafang with the elite soldiers of the Hundred Cavalry Division disguised as yamen runners.
...
...
On the other side, in the Dou family's house, old man Dou stood under the eaves, staring at the dark clouds in the sky absent-mindedly.
Since the day he left the palace, heavy rain fell in Chang'an for three days, and it only stopped today, but the dark clouds in the sky did not dissipate. Instead, they covered the sky of Xinghuafang and also covered the heart of old man Dou.
For some reason, he always felt that this dark cloud was coming for him, which made him tremble with fear.
Just then, a noisy sound of footsteps and panicked shouts came from the front yard.
Old man Dou frowned, and immediately took his old servant and a group of guards to check, and found that a team of uninvited guests dressed as yamen runners broke into the Dou family from the main gate of the mansion.
Dou Huai'en, the third son of the Dou family, angrily ordered the guards to stop them.
But unfortunately, this team of yamen runners was obviously not the useless people in the county yamen who just wanted to eat and wait for death. They used the water and fire sticks in their hands to perfection.
The guards of the Dou family were also good men picked from a hundred, but they were no match for this group of yamen runners.
In an instant, more than a dozen guards were beaten to the point of breaking bones and tendons, and the rest of the guards also ran away in all directions.