Chapter 1292 Owl Tongue
Although Zu Jue spoke harshly to Sima Xiaonan's house, he was actually not very sure about how to deal with the persecution of Zhao Yanshen.
Although Zu Jue entered the dynasty as a meritorious warrior and completed the transition of status faster than other survivors of the Northern Qi Dynasty and successfully integrated into the Tang Dynasty, his status as a meritorious warrior did not bring much to him. Because of his power and prestige, he could bully the weak and do evil, otherwise he would have been able to find out the inside story of Zhao Yanshen's self-redemption, instead of misunderstanding that Zhao Yanshen had a rich family and spent a lot of money.
At the moment, Zu Jue is just pretending to be a tiger using the tiger's skin as a banner. In his heart, he still hopes to scare Zhao Yanshen and force him to bow his head obediently and donate a generous sum of money to himself.
After Zu Jue left, the guests and hosts at Sima Xiaonan's house were no longer in the mood to continue the party. Especially Zhao Yanshen, who had been blackmailed by Zu Jue, frowned and said nothing.
The master Sima Xiaonan was in an extremely bad mood at the moment, but he was still a little puzzled and asked: "Why did Mr. Zhao have a grudge against this villain Zu Jue?"
After Zhao Yanshen heard this, he sighed. The matter is very simple. Before he was in charge of the Northern Qi Dynasty and the provincial personnel affairs, Zu Jue repeatedly asked for his appointment, but he did not appreciate him very much. In addition, at that time, the leader of Qi Gao played against Zu Jue. He didn't like him very much, so he excluded Zu Jue from the election several times, which naturally led to an old grudge.
If the Northern Qi Dynasty had not been destroyed in previous years, Zhao Yanshen would naturally not care about it. He held a high position and since he wanted to do things, he would inevitably offend others. Therefore, there were countless people who hated him, but there were only a few who could really take revenge on him. But now the world has changed its order, and villains like Zu Jue have taken advantage of the situation, which caught him by surprise.
After listening to Zhao Yanshen's story, Sima Xiaonan also sighed: "The world is unpredictable, who can predict it calmly? My ancestor has come to provoke me and wants to harm Mr. Zhao wantonly. I won't allow it! But the situation between the East and the West is at the beginning. It is certain that there will inevitably be troubles in personnel matters again. With these old grievances brought to bear, Chang'an has become a place of right and wrong for Mr. Zhao, so it would be safer to leave as soon as possible! "
Zhao Yanshen nodded after hearing this. He also heard that although Sima Xiaonan was willing to protect him, he did not want to cause trouble at the same time, so he advised him to leave Chang'an as soon as possible. And he did have this intention. There was nothing worthy of his nostalgia in Chang'an, so it would be a good idea to take this opportunity to stay away from right and wrong and return to Jinyang.
Not to mention the discussion between Sima Xiaonan and Zhao Yanshen, Zu Jue did not see Zhao Yanshen coming to deliver gifts after waiting for two days, so he asked around acquaintances and learned that Zhao Yanshen had quietly left with his family. Chang'an.
After learning about this situation, Zu Jue was greatly ashamed and angry. Not only was he angry that the blackmail failed, but he was also ashamed and angry that he was ignored. So he returned home and made a fuss at his desk.
Although Zu Jue did not have much authority to punish others at will, it did not mean that he had no way to control Zhao Yanshen. He was clever by nature and good at diction, so although his conduct was not good, he also served as a close confidant in the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi. During the Tianbao period, he once entered Zhizhong Shusheng, and thus he also knew some of the secrets of Qi court personnel.
This personnel information has lost its timeliness with the passage of time, but after Zu Jue's careful organization and clever use, it still poses a certain threat to Zhao Yanshen and other survivors of the Northern Qi Dynasty.
Soon, Zu Jue relied on his own memory and some fabrications to write an indictment exposing the crimes of Zhao Yanshen and several other former Northern Qi officials, including but not limited to the various crimes they made in the Qi court last year against the Western Dynasty. tactics and insulting epithets.
For example, Qi Ting once discussed destroying and excavation of the Heluo ancestral tombs of the Li family in Longxi as a means of defeating the enemy. However, because the ancestral tombs of the Li family in Longxi were moved earlier, they could not implement it and only destroyed some Li family members around Yecheng. It is impossible to find out who entered the grave of Zhao Yanshen. Now Zu Jue took it and pressed it directly on Zhao Yanshen's head. Anyway, Zhao Yanshen has always been a close confidant of the Gao family and his son. Who knows whether the content of their secret room conspiracy involves this one.
In addition, he did not intend to let go of Sima's troubles. When he visited Sima Xiaonan before, he was deeply impressed by the grandeur of Sima Xiaonan's mansion. Now that he was allowing Zhao Yanshen to flee Chang'an to avoid his own blackmail, Zu Jue also filed a lawsuit against him. One condition.
After writing this epigraph, Zu Jue copied several more copies and prepared to send them to different places. Although he entered the court as a meritorious scholar and was awarded casual officials and titles, he had no permanent position and was not qualified to enter the court to meet the saints. He had no channels to reach heaven to hear, so he could only use the stupid method of advertising widely. One part was thrown to the Jingzhao Mansion, one part was thrown to the Yushijia, and he planned to throw it into the minister's car outside the imperial city.
He was good at digging camps. When some people in the Kanto period were still unclear about the status of the various government offices in the Chang'an court, he had already figured out the structure of the court. When Wang Songnian, the minister of Huangmen of Menxia Province, drove into the office for office, Zu Jue rushed out from outside the imperial city and threw the files he had written into Wang Songnian's car.
Wang Songnian briefly browsed the contents of the dossier in the car, and his face couldn't help but change. He led his staff to bring the person who submitted the letter into the province under his control for the time being. He hurried back to the province, presented the dossier to the two servants and After circulating it among colleagues, everyone felt that it should be treated with caution, so they immediately decided to order a supervisor to control all the people involved and report it to the Supreme Being after checking the authenticity.
Next, Sima Xiaonan's residence was taken under control, and Zhao Yanshen's family, who left Chang'an and headed east, were also arrested in Tongzhou and taken back to Beijing. All other people involved, as long as they were in Guanzhong, were also taken under control one after another.
The Menxia Province itself did not have a hall for interrogation. After the relevant personnel were brought to justice, they were transferred to the Censorate. Because this was not an ordinary criminal case, there was no need to cooperate with the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple. The Menxia Province and the Censorate could conduct an interrogation.
Zu Ting was accustomed to the political atmosphere of Northern Qi, which was full of oppression and slander, and was unfamiliar with the judicial process. It was not that Northern Qi did not have relevant judicial institutions and processes, but that everyone from top to bottom was lazy to comply with the procedures. Compared with rules and regulations, they were more willing to exercise their subjective initiative and simplify the process within their power.
The emperor can punish and reward ministers at will, and ministers can attack and slander each other irresponsibly. Even if the prime minister's eyes are smashed out, he can only blame himself for his inferior skills.
So when he saw the Ministry of Personnel and the Imperial Censorate put on such a posture, Zu Ting's heart began to beat in secret, because many of the personnel in his files have some basis to follow except for the beginning, and then they are just catching wind and shadows, and they are directly fabricated when they are written, in order to make the charges bigger. If he really confronts the people involved, he will be more or less guilty.
However, one thing that is more fortunate is that Zu Ting is mainly targeting Zhao Yanshen this time. Even if there are other people involved, they are either just minor details or just to testify the authenticity of what he said. After all, when it comes to one thing, I heard it and I heard it with someone, someone, and someone else, intuitively speaking, the latter is more credible.
Those involved were suddenly brought to the Imperial Censorate, and they were a little confused. When they heard the interrogators asking about the old events of the Qi court several years ago, they were inevitably a little confused.
No matter how outstanding their memory was, they could not remember all the people and events of several years ago clearly in their hearts, and then recount them accurately several years later. Therefore, during the interrogation, it was often the interrogators who brought up some people and some things. They recalled vaguely in their minds, but they could not explain it clearly.
But as long as they said that it was true, they could enter the confrontation stage. Zu Ting had a clear goal and had planned it long ago. He swore and spoke with certainty. Others were intimidated by his momentum, and the vague parts of their memories were inevitably affected by him and tended to Zu Ting's narration.
Therefore, when Zhao Yanshen and his family were taken back to Chang'an City, a considerable part of the old things that Zu Ting accused in the files had been confirmed. Some other things cannot be confirmed, such as whether Zhao Yanshen proposed to dig up the tombs of the Li family in Longxi, and he needs to be tried in person.
Because many things in the files have been confirmed, it is not Zu Ting's deliberate slander. Therefore, while waiting for Zhao Yanshen's family to be brought to justice, the Ministry of Personnel first reported the relevant matters to the Supreme.
However, when Li Tai saw this matter, more than ten days had passed. As the head of a country, he had a lot of important things to deal with every day. Although Zu Ting's report involved the personnel of the Northern Qi Dynasty, the Northern Qi Dynasty had already perished, and the related personnel were naturally not very important, so the Ministry of Personnel did not classify it as a major event when reporting it, but put it in the category of miscellaneous matters.
But things that are not worth paying attention to for the emperor are life and death disasters for some people. For these miscellaneous matters, Li Tai would squeeze out a period of time and deliberately pick out a period of free time to concentrate on reading and commenting.
When he first saw this file, he didn't take it seriously, and regarded it more as a literary work. It must be said that Zu Ting is indeed a very powerful writer. Even if it is obviously an article that makes a fuss and fabricates a crime, it is written with great momentum and is worth appreciating.
As for the charges against Zhao Yanshen listed in it, Li Tai didn't care much. Even if these things are confirmed to be true, it can only show that Zhao Yanshen is an impolite radical hawk in Northern Qi, and those strategies are rarely implemented, and even if they are implemented, the effect is limited.
If this is considered a crime, then Li Tai's uncle Lu Shuhu can't escape. Lu Shuhu certainly didn't offer any pacification strategy to Qi Lord Gao Yan now, and the strategies mentioned by Zhao Yanshen are already a thing of the past. Even Northern Qi no longer exists. There is really no need to hold on to the speaker. Since the person has paid money to redeem himself, there is no need to make waves again.
So Li Tai casually replied that there was no need to investigate the matter further, and he also wrote on the memorial, "You should have noticed the demise of the Qi family, and you should consider for yourself what to offer as a tribute." He ordered the memorial to be returned to Zu Ting, asking him to reflect on himself and think about how he should make a living, and not bring the bad habits of the Northern Qi to Guanzhong.