My father is Emperor Wu of Han, how can I be different from him?

Chapter 82 The Death-rusher

In the past, if court officials colluded with princes, even if the emperor wanted to kill them, he could only find other charges to deal with them.

But after the introduction of the supplementary benefit law, there is no need to go to great lengths to find excuses.

There are already laws to follow.

Therefore, as soon as the Chief Justice opened his mouth, he thought that the Prime Minister had colluded with the princes and directly put Li Cai in prison for violating the Fuyi Law!

The prime minister was imprisoned, which was truly shocking.

The news spread throughout the entire Chang'an city in a very short time. When people knew why Li Cai was being questioned... the noisy court and the public fell silent again!

Can you make friends with princes casually?
What's even more terrible is that even if you want to make friends with him, what's the point of choosing the King of Jidong?
Don’t you know who his father is?

The answers to all the questions are not difficult to guess, that is, the Prime Minister knew what the King of Jidong represented, but still chose to interact with him!

That's the case.

You are the one seeking death, you can't blame others...

This time, as a party with laws to follow, the emperor made the decision very quickly without having to summon the ministers to discuss how to deal with the situation.

After Liu Che finished reading the letter from Prince Jidong to Li Cai, he only said one sentence: "Let the jailer interrogate the prime minister."

The words were spoken lightly.

There is no intention to kill.

But after hearing this, the court officials were all shocked. After hearing this, Li Cai in prison no longer had any illusions...

……

Tingwei Mansion, prison.

Deep inside the prison, in the single cell used to hold high-ranking officials, Liu Ling was once imprisoned there, and now, the prime minister of the current dynasty is imprisoned there.

Seeing the jailer standing outside the cell and not moving, Li Cai was in a trance for a while, then he reacted and sighed, "Should I commit suicide?"

"Yes."

The unknown clerk outside the fence replied calmly.

Suicide.

This tradition has a long history. Since the Spring and Autumn Period, there has been a rule that no punishment shall be imposed on doctors... Well, don't get me wrong, now we are talking about the rule that no punishment shall be imposed on doctors before the Han Dynasty.

It doesn't refer to the Song Dynasty.

Remember, there is a fundamental difference between the two!

It is said that the current punishment is not imposed on officials, which means that castration, amputation of limbs, destruction of skin, cutting of hair, etc. will not be used on officials such as dukes and ministers.

Whenever scholars and officials were guilty, they would often choose to commit suicide in order to preserve their dignity and avoid castration or other humiliation!

If a superior wants to kill a scholar-official but also wants to give him basic dignity protection, he will hint at him through actions and words.

E.g.

King Fuchai of Wu gave the sword to Wu Zixu, and King Zhaoxiang of Qin gave the sword to Bai Qi...

After the founding of the Han Dynasty, this phenomenon still existed.

Emperor Wen wanted to kill his uncle Bo Zhao, so he ordered officials to drink with him and hinted that he should commit suicide. Bo Zhao was unwilling, so Emperor Wen ordered all officials to mourn for him.

Bo Zhao had no choice but to commit suicide...

During the reign of Emperor Jing.

Zhou Yafu was questioned by the Supreme Court and humiliated. He could not bear it, so he went on a hunger strike for five days and died of vomiting blood.

In chronological order, it comes to the reign of the current emperor.

The King of Huainan Liu An and Princess Liu Ling mentioned in the previous article have already followed this path. Now, it is Li Cai's turn!

When the emperor said "let a mere jailer interrogate the head of the Three Dukes", it was like Emperor Wen ordering people to mourn Bo Zhao and Emperor Jing letting the court judge interrogate Zhou Yafu.

The implication is obvious, commit suicide.

"Bring me the wine!"

In the cell, Li Cai sat upright on a straw mat, just like Liu Ling, dressed neatly, and not tortured. The emperor gave him this respect, and Li Cai was ready to accept it.

Hear the words.

The clerk took out the key, and after a rattling sound of iron chains, the fence was pushed open. The jailer who had been waiting nearby since early morning came with a tray with a wine jug and a wine cup on it.

“Dudududu…”

The jailer filled his glass with wine and then stood in front of Li Cai, looking at him straight in the eyes.

Ah!
Li Cai didn't know whether he was mocking others or himself. He glanced around the dim cell and shook his head.

"I didn't expect that I, Li Cai, would die in a place like this?"

"sad!"

After saying this, he picked up the wine cup and drank it all in one gulp!

The wine went down his throat, it felt spicy at first, then warm, and then... it should be the poison that caused death, right?
"The poison doesn't take effect that quickly." What interrupted Li Cai's thoughts was the ordinary jailer in front of him.

now.

The clerk outside the cell had disappeared.

The jailer standing in front of Li Cai, whose face could not be seen clearly due to the dim light, was bending slightly and whispering in a voice that only the two of them could hear:
"So that the Prime Minister can die with a clear conscience, the Crown Prince asked me to give you a message."

"The nobles of various counties took the initiative to find Zhuo Chengye, but the Prince of Jidong was the one that the Crown Prince specifically ordered Zhuo Chengye to find for you!"

The words have not yet fallen.

When Li Cai heard the word "Crown Prince", his pupils dilated. After hearing the whole sentence, only anger and shock were left on his face!

"Oh... yes... yes..."

Veins bulged on Li Cai's forehead. He wanted to say it was the prince, but after the poison went down his throat, he couldn't even utter a complete sentence!

Li Cai was not without suspicion because of how quickly the incident happened. However, the emperor was too harsh in his actions. His house was searched, he was imprisoned, and he was sentenced to death. Bad news came one after another.

Before he could recover from his shock and ponder over what was wrong, he didn’t need to ponder over it anymore, because he was about to die…

however.

At this moment of death, someone told him that he was dying quickly because someone had found a ghost to hasten his death! ?
At this moment, Li Cai understood everything.

He pointed at the jailer in front of him and wanted to scold or roar, but the pain in his stomach prevented him from lifting his arms or exerting any strength. He could only struggle, tremble, and hysterically grab the other's trouser legs.

"Heh...heh Prince!"

Beads of sweat rolled down Li Cai's forehead, and the straw mat beneath him rustled as he struggled.

"I know, I know, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince." The jailer squatted down and patted Li Cai's shoulder gently, as if to help him calm down.

"Don't think about calling anyone."

"I spoke only after you drank the poisoned wine, just to prevent you from talking nonsense. Besides, do you see anyone outside the cell?"

There was no one outside the cell. Right now, there was only Li Cai waiting to die, and...

Jin Midi who delivered the poisoned wine!
"His Highness said that since you were the first person to lay a dirty hand on him, he cannot let you die too easily, otherwise wouldn't that be unfair to you?"

"Yes, breathe in, breathe out."

"I specially replaced the palace poison wine for you. I replaced it with the poison used in our tribe. In the past, the wizards of the Xiutu tribe liked to make some weird things..."

In the empty and lonely cell, Jin Midi chattered on and on, talking about the past with a dying man and recalling his life on the grassland.

Li Cai didn't listen, he didn't hear anything.

Because he was really going to die...

Tinnitus, numbness in hands and feet, unbearable pain in the abdomen!
When he was dying, many people and many things flashed through his mind, but for some reason, the last picture was frozen under an old locust tree.

There, there once sat an old man who once said something to him.

Looking back now, Li Cai realized that he had not listened to him at first and had ignored him...

(End of this chapter)