The Four Great Cases of Wu Zetian

Chapter 39

Begging for mercy, beating Zhang Changzong and beheading Zhou Bucheng in anger

But Zhang Changzong paid a visit to Duke Di, and Duke Di ordered him to kneel down in the hall. Knowing that he was deliberately provoking, he turned around and wanted to leave. Who instigated, dared to impersonate Zhang Liulang, passing through the Yamen, why? Now that someone sees the truth, and wants to turn around and run away, isn't it just a dream!" Said, he went up and took him down.

Zhang Changzong knew the trick early, and shouted to the hall: "Di Renjie, you dare to trick me! At this moment, you kneel down, and you are also kneeling for a long time. What can you do to me? You know, sooner or later, you will come out of this yamen. At that time, I will be with you in Jin It's all right to debate in the palace." Di Gong couldn't tolerate it, and scolded loudly: "You bastard, pretending to be a forbidden minister, has been detected by this court, and you are still arguing! Today's patrol of this court is at the head of his house. I haven't heard of him coming. You said it was Zhang Changzong himself. Why did you come to this court? Please explain it quickly! If it matches the case, how can this court not know why? Naturally discuss with you, otherwise it will be impersonated Then he can be punished by all means!" Hearing this, Zhang Changzong suddenly realized: "People say that he has a tricky heart, which is really scary. No wonder he is so pretentious. He is afraid that it is not himself. He couldn't explain his grievances, but still laughed at me, so he asked the truth in the hall, and then waited for me to intercede; then the public would know. He was released because of me, and even if the Queen Mother knew, he could push him down On me. Since you have such intentions, how can you not tell the truth when I have already arrived at the hall?" At that time, he said to Duke Di: "Your Excellency, rest assured, this is me who came here in person, just because Zhou Bucheng offended Huwei, and the case is unforgivable. Although it was Empress Wu's original purpose to inquire about it, it was just a bureaucratic article to deceive people's eyes and ears. I heard that seeking truth from facts and implementing it as usual, so I came here at night, first to pay homage to Zunyan, and second to plead for mercy for this slave, and begging my lord to look down on Zhang. Released here, exempted from prosecution. When he returns to his life later, he will be able to settle the matter with a vague statement, and he will not be questioned after forgiveness." After Di Gong waited for him to finish speaking, he slapped the hall and dropped many With the punishment sign, he shouted loudly: "Left and right, don't beat your servants forty times! It is obvious that this school of words is a random fabrication. Today, this court paraded Zhou Bucheng to the public. Zhang Changzong, a dog head, even yelled at the evil slaves, intending to rob him. Fortunately, Ben The court ordered them to go with them, escort the criminal back, and bring Zhou Buxing to the case for interrogation. Zhang Changzong is the master of the three of them, and he cannot escape the law of the state. He will cry and complain to the Queen Mother, begging for forgiveness. Don't say he dared not Come here, even if you don't know the benefits, you have been humiliated by this court today, you are already ashamed to death, what face do you have to come to intercede? From this point of view, it is not a fake! Hurry up and punish the forty sticks, Then ask him for his confession!" Those court servants in the hall who didn't dare to do anything before, saw that Di Gong kept beating him, and they had nothing to do with his own affairs, and knew that he had abused ordinary people, and hated him to the bone, so they took advantage of this Seeing a chance, he yelled and dragged him down. In an instant, he beat his legs until blood flowed all over the ground.Zhang Changzong had never suffered this kind of pain, and he shouted and insulted at the beginning, but now he can't hold back his voice.Although the servants of the court were afraid of breaking him because of Di Gong's orders, they couldn't get away at that time, so they immediately helped him up, took a bowl of sugar tea, and ordered him to eat. It must be painful before he can speak.At this time, Zhang Changzong only hated his family members for not coming to snatch him, and now he is suffering alone.Do you know why his family didn't ask at this time? It's because since ancient times and now, evil has always been unable to prevail over good. Di Gong's faction has a formidable aura, so naturally, the usual evil atmosphere is suppressed; in addition, the master Fang is at the mercy of Di Gong, how bold is he, dare to ask for trouble?So they were all scared like dead chickens. Although they didn't all leave, they all hid outside the convenient door and looked in.

Seeing that he had finished the beating, Duke Di asked again: "Can you pretend to be Zhang Changzong? If you still refuse to admit it, this court will make up a black gauze and beat you to death! We know that Zhang Changzong is a treacherous minister who misled the country. Even if you really come here, you have to participate in the punishment, not to mention you, you dog head, put on your face! If you don’t say anything, you will be punished!" Zhang Changzong was afraid that if he used torture tools again, his life would die. Bao, although resentful in his heart, had no choice but to pretend to be the truth, and said upwards: "I beg your mercy. A certain is Zhang Changzong's domestic slave Wang Qi. Because his colleague Zhou Bucheng committed a crime, he was afraid that the Lord would punish him, so he pretended to be his master and came to intercede. When I knew I was guilty, I begged you to forgive me and release me." After listening to his confession, Di Gong secretly laughed in his heart: "You have also been manipulated by Di Mou! You can't do anything now, and tomorrow you will do it again." At that time The sentence book recorded a confession and made him draw a fake confession. He thought to himself: "If I teach you to accept it, I have to laugh at you, so that I can know the benefits of this court." Tears dripped the powder on his face, and he immediately shouted: "You are so brave! This court says you are a man, but you are still a woman, which shows that you are extremely lawless." Zhang Changzong is offering a painting as a confession After that, he can be gracious and released, and suddenly he heard this question again, like a thunderbolt, he was so frightened that he was out of his wits, and hurriedly begged: "The villain is really a man, please forgive me." Di Gong said: "You still want to deny it? Man, why do you put makeup on your face? This is a real trace, do you want to argue?" Zhang Changzong couldn't argue, so he could only endure the reason, and said to the country: "Because Zhang Changzong usually enters the palace, he always puts on makeup? Come on, I just painted a lot of it, thinking it was a cover-up. Unexpectedly, my lord will see it through." Di Gong sneered: "You think carefully, and this court will not blame you. Since you want to have a white skin, this court will make you Paint it black, so that you will stop thinking about it next time!" Following orders, he took a lot of filthy sludge from the gutter at the entrance of the hall, and painted his face.

At this time, all the officials sent to patrol and arrest, all of them covered their mouths and laughed, saying that Mr. Di had a poisonous plan.Seeing this, Zhang Changzong felt anxious in his heart. He was afraid that his face would be stained, but he was afraid of being punished by Di Gong, so he didn't dare to ask for mercy, so he had to be manipulated by the audience.Immediately, his face, which was as white as silver, was painted like mud to look like a judge, and the filthy smell came straight to his nostrils. At this stage, he really couldn't laugh or cry.When Di Gong saw that all the people were smeared, he said again: "This court is exercising benevolence outside the law today, and it will be your dog's life. If you use Zhang Changzong's power to coerce officials later, once you visit, you will propose punishment!" He lost his hair, but put his confession in his sleeve and retreated into the back hall.All Zhang Changzong's family members rushed up just now when they saw that Master Di had left. Without asking how Zhang Changzong was doing, they put them into the sedan chair, lifted them up and left.

In the inner hall, after he had left, Duke Di returned to the hall and brought brother Zhou Bucheng and Zeng Youcai to the hall. He said angrily: "You have committed this unforgivable crime, and you dare to pass on the book privately. Let Zhang Changzong come to intercede? How can you forgive me for being so instigated! If you are not punished today, everyone will break the law." Then he asked the king to order the card, and after the salute, the three were tied up in the hall and pushed out of the gate , beheaded him, and then hung his head on the flagpole for public display.As a result, all the officials under the office are frightened and timid.Mr. Nai Di had no intention of executing these three people, because Zhang Changzong came out to stop them, and now he has suffered such embarrassment. He will be admitted to the government tomorrow, and there must be a decree for amnesty. So I took advantage of this time to convict the three of them. When asked by the Queen Mother tomorrow, they were criminals who were ordered to interrogate their confessions and should be beheaded.Moreover, Zhang Changzong, now personally confessed to this, was not easy to change his mouth after he played Mingwu at that time.At that time, after the hair was finished, it was no problem to go to the study to play a manuscript for the next morning.

Let's talk about Zhang Changzong, who was carried into the house. When everyone saw this, they all gritted their teeth and hated Di Gong for using this poisonous trick.Zhang Changzong scolded: "You bastards, you couldn't talk about it just now, but you decided to talk about it. Now that you have suffered from this trouble, you are just talking nonsense here! Can't you see the filth on my face and the blood on my legs? , It’s more than that, why don’t you smoke and wash for me? So that I can enter the palace and cry to the Queen Mother.” After hearing what he said, those people looked at his face again. Not daring to pick up his teeth, hurriedly took off his lower clothes, first washed his face with warm water, then washed his legs with smoke, took a stick of wound medicine, applied it on his behalf, and reluctantly took the sedan chair, Sneaked into the palace through Hou Zaimen.

At this time, Empress Wu was discussing secret matters with Wu Sansi, when she suddenly heard that Zhang Changzong came, she was overjoyed and said, "The lonely family is lonely, so it would be great if he came to accompany you!" Then he announced him to come in.A little eunuch reported earlier: "Liulang is seriously injured and unable to walk, and now he is entering the palace in a sedan chair. Please order someone to bring him in." Empress Wu did not know why, so she had to make Wu think twice, and led the four palace supervisors, Help him in.When Zhang Changzong saw Empress Wu, he burst into tears and said, "I have received your Majesty's kindness and lived in the palace. Who would have thought that Di Renjie had unexpected plans and beat and humiliated me, almost to death." Wu Zetian watched.Wu Zetian hurriedly said: "Because he was an old minister of the former king, the Gu family ordered him to be the governor of Henan. The day before yesterday, they had an argument with the officials of the Huang family and dismissed him. The decree will be pursued, and there will be no more fear afterwards. The Qing family is in the palace at this time, rest overnight, and go to court tomorrow morning, and then investigate." Seeing Wu Zetian's comfort, Zhang Changzong thanked Wu Zetian and got up to discuss various matters with Wu Zetian.

There was nothing to say all night, and the next day, after five drums and martial arts, the court came. The Minister of Civil and Military Affairs and two squads stood up. The play said: "Chen Di Renjie has something to play." I don't know what Di Gong played, but let's see the next chapter.

(End of this chapter)