Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 16 Decision

The emperor laughed for a while and asked, "I have ordered people to arrest the murderer who killed the people in the Liao envoy group. What does Huaide think about this?"

"I also think that they should be severely punished. The Liao envoys were resolute in their attitude and insisted on converting the donated currency into grain based on the grain price of the Song Dynasty at that time. Severely punishing the murderer can also dampen the arrogance of the Liao envoys and gain the initiative for the subsequent negotiations." Han Zhang pondered.

"Yes." The emperor nodded, pondered for a while, and said, "After the people were captured, the Liao envoys and the Minister of Honglu Temple said that they wanted to see me. I don't have time to see them, so you go and comfort them."

"Yes!" Han Zhang replied.

……

Rong Xian was ordered to go to the Honglu Temple to arrest someone. This was an imperial decree, so he was not as timid as the Cao brothers. Even with the token given by Zhao Xing, he only dared to mobilize a hundred people. If the Liao envoys showed a tough attitude, he would not know what to do.

He directly mobilized a battalion of 500 people and went to the Honglu Temple to ask the Liao envoy to hand over the murderer.

Between the Liao and Song dynasties, the Liao had always been the stronger side and had always looked down on the Song.

In addition, when the Cao brothers arrived, the Liao envoys sent guards to stop them, so the other party didn't know what to do.

Although Rong Xian brought a lot of people with him, in his opinion it was just bluffing. He didn't take it seriously and directly confronted the imperial guards with his guards.

However, Rong Xian was not a brother of the Cao family. He received orders from the government. Seeing that the Liao envoys refused to hand over the people and led people to confront him, he waved his hand and the soldiers behind him drew their bows and shot arrows at the Liao envoys.

The Liao envoys were a little panicked at this time. Although they had guards, there were only two hundred of them, all of whom were cavalry, and their war horses were still in the stables.

Moreover, they don't have bows and crossbows, so if a fight breaks out, they will be no match for the enemy.

Even if he could win, this was Bian Jing. There were hundreds of thousands of soldiers inside and outside the city. His two hundred men were useless.

However, he still felt that the Song people were just trying to scare him and did not dare to take action.

Rong Xian didn't waste any words. He took the bow and arrow from a soldier behind him and shot a Liao soldier. He said coldly: "I say it again, hand over the murderer. I am following the order of the government. If you don't hand him over, you will be charged with harboring the murderer. Arrest him!"

The Liao envoy saw Rong Xian's determination and after hesitating for a while, he handed the man over.

Rong Xian ordered his men to bring the murderer away from the Honglu Temple, ordered the soldiers to return to the palace, and took a small team of people to escort the murderer to the Kaifeng government office.

When Zhao Xing was recalled to the palace, Chen Tingwen knew that it would be impossible to deal with the murderer.

He personally went out to appease the people, but it was of no use.

Just when he was in a state of panic, Rong Xian arrived with the murderer. After handing the man over to him, he told him that it was the government's wish to deal with him as he saw fit.

Chen Tingwen was not happy when he heard this, but instead felt even more troubled.

In fact, the laws of the Song Dynasty were much more relaxed than those of many dynasties, and this relaxation was not only reflected in civil servants.

Generally speaking, if it is not intentional killing but accidental killing, the person will not be sentenced to death but will basically be exiled.

Although the Liao people killed the people of the Song Dynasty, putting aside their identities and judging from the essence of the incident, the attackers just hit harder and did not really want to kill them, and the victims did not die on the spot.

If both parties were citizens of the Song Dynasty, the only sentence would be exile.

However, if he makes such a judgment, the families of the deceased and the people will definitely not be happy.

If the Liao murderer was sentenced to death, would the Liao envoys agree?
The most important thing is that Chen Tingwen didn’t know what the government meant.

If the emperor really wanted to punish the murderer of the Liao Kingdom and give the people an explanation, why did he summon the prince before?
If he said no, he would send the murderer to him.

However, the people would not think about these things. When Rong Xian brought people over, many people saw it.

The public was outraged and demanded severe punishment for the murderer.

Chen Tingwen is now in a dilemma and dares not make a decision easily. He can only appease the people with kind words.

They said that the trial can only be concluded after a hearing, so the people should not be anxious.

After temporarily calming the people, Chen Tingwen wrote a memorial and sent it to the palace, asking the emperor for instructions on how to make a decision. After reading the memorial, the emperor did not approve it, but sent it to Zhao Xing.

After reading it, Zhao Xing approved the execution and asked the eunuch to take it back.

The emperor said nothing after reading it, but ordered someone to return the memorial to Chen Tingwen.

When Chen Tingwen saw the word "kill", he knew it was not written by the emperor, but since the memorial was sent back, it meant that the emperor agreed.

Therefore, he had no reason to hesitate and sentenced him to immediate execution, which took place at noon the next day.

In ancient times, out of humanitarian considerations, death penalty was usually carried out after autumn.

Only in cases of serious consequences will the person be sentenced to immediate execution.

Chen Tingwen knew clearly that the murderer was from Liao. The longer he delayed, the more likely it would be that something unexpected would happen. Since the government had agreed, he secretly hated the Liao people for their actions, so naturally he had to cut the Gordian knot and resolve the matter.

When the verdict came out, the victim's family members cried for joy and knelt in front of the Kaifeng government office, calling out "Judge Tian".

When Chen Tingwen found out, he hurried out and told the people that this was a government decision and he dared not take the credit for it.

Soon, the news spread throughout Bianliang and became a hot topic among the people.

At this moment, a piece of news came from somewhere, saying that the emperor was able to severely punish the murderer because of the prince's insistence.

When the prince was born, the emperor issued a general amnesty and changed the reign title to Tianyou the following year. The people of Bianliang naturally knew about it.

However, they only knew that the emperor had a son. There were previous rumors that the prince was a child prodigy and extremely intelligent, but the people had never seen this, so naturally few people took it seriously.

When the news spread, people in the streets of Bianjing were talking about the prince, and all their words were full of praise.

Ordinary people just felt very happy, but the wealthy and nobles noticed something unusual.

The fact that the news spread throughout Bian Jing so quickly clearly showed that someone was secretly fanning the flames.

And there is no need to think about it, and you know that this person is an official.

They sensed a signal from this that the emperor was trying to win the hearts of the people for the prince, and it seemed that the emperor had already intended to enthrone the prince.

Although Zhao Xing is the only son of the emperor, who can guarantee that he will not have other heirs?

Before the crown prince is appointed, everything is still uncertain.

Once the crown prince was enthroned, even if the emperor had other sons and daughters, they would not be a threat to Zhao Xing's position.

The emperor had no relatives in the royal family, so he was very wary and cautious even towards his son.

Previously, the emperor was reluctant to appoint a crown prince. Even though he was the emperor's only son, court officials did not dare to contact him for fear of arousing the emperor's suspicion.

Now many people are thinking about how to show their favor to the prince.

Those who had sons studying in the palace urged their sons to find ways to please Zhao Xing and have a good relationship with him.

……

Zhao Xing didn't know all this. He originally wanted to go out of the palace to travel and see the scenery of Bianliang, but in the end he didn't go anywhere, which made him somewhat depressed.

At noon, I had lunch with Empress Cao, took a nap, and then went to Yonghe Palace to chat with my mother.

The next day, when he came to Zishan Hall, he learned from Gu Tingye that Chen Tingwen had sentenced the Liao murderer to immediate execution, and nodded with satisfaction.

Thanks Mingyueyinggui for the reward.

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(End of this chapter)