Madam, protect me!

Since the powerful officials who participated in the purge of the emperor were arrested and taken to the Dali Temple, news has been coming out one after another.

His Majesty has officially issued an order to demote the King of Han and the King of You to civilians, and the two will spend the rest of their lives in the deep palace.

Although the King of Xin, the King of Xuan, and the King of Ji had nothing to do with the events of that year, they were also implicated and deprived of their qualifications to be regents. If nothing unexpected happens, they can only be idle princes in the future.

At the same time, the news that Jingzhao Yin committed suicide out of fear of crime also spread quickly.

He was one of the masterminds of the East Palace case that year, and it would not be too much to be executed by all nine clans.

For him, taking poison and committing suicide is the most comfortable way to die.

With the crimes he committed, he is likely to be sentenced to slow slicing.

Even if he dies, His Majesty does not intend to stop there.

His body will be hung at the Caishikou and whipped for three days.

And his family members were also captured by the imperial guards at the first time. Although they were not whipped and displayed to the public, the death penalty was inevitable.

It is really sad that a third-rank official, one of the most powerful officials in the court, ended up in such a situation.

In the Dali Temple, the officials and dignitaries who were still in custody were extremely nervous.

In their hearts, they had already cursed the King of Han and the King of You.

If it weren't for the two people's solemn vows that they would definitely get rid of Li Xuanjing this time, they would not have participated in this incident.

Targeting Li Xuanjing, it happened to fall into Li Xuanjing's hands. If they don't pay some price, I'm afraid it will be difficult to leave safely.

Dali Temple, in a cell somewhere.

Several county princes and county dukes, sitting or standing in the cell, all looked gloomy.

"I shouldn't have believed the King of Han at the beginning!"

"Clear the emperor's side, clear the emperor's side, clear yourself to the Dali Temple!"

"What do you think Li Xuanjing will do to us?"

"What are you afraid of? We didn't participate in the East Palace case that year. He can't do anything to us, right?"

Although their mood was extremely bad, they were not worried in their hearts.

The prince of a county is of the first rank, and the duke of a county is of the second rank, so they have certain qualifications for exemption from punishment. Moreover, everyone has a gold medal of exemption from death granted by emperors of past dynasties in their homes, so even His Majesty cannot kill them.

At a certain moment, the door of the cell was opened, and an official from the Dali Temple stood outside and said, "Prince of Ruyang, the Lord of the Temple invites you."

Prince of Ruyang walked out of the cell with his chest puffed out, and followed the Dali Temple official into a room.

This room is decorated quite gorgeously. On a plaque in front, there are four big characters "A clear mirror hangs high", and below is a long table, which is somewhat similar to the Dali Temple court, but there are also great differences.

The floor of the room is covered with precious carpets, and other furnishings are also quite exquisite.

Prince of Ruyang is a first-rank noble. Although he has heard that the Dali Temple has a special place for interrogating dignitaries, this is his first time here.

In the middle of the room, there is a cushioned chair.

Prince Ruyang sat on the chair by himself and asked, "How long do you plan to keep me in prison?"

Li Xuanjing sat behind the desk and said, "The Dali Temple is under the order of His Majesty to investigate the murder of the prince. We need to ask Prince Ruyang a few questions. I hope you can answer them truthfully."

Prince Ruyang frowned and said, "You investigate your case. What does it have to do with me? I have nothing to do with the murder of the prince."

Li Xuanjing said calmly, "King Han and King You wanted to silence me in the name of clearing the court because they knew that I had found clues about the Donggong case. Since Prince Ruyang had nothing to do with the case, why did he participate in this incident?"

Prince Ruyang moved his lips and didn't know what to say for a while.

King Han and King You didn't tell him this. He participated in clearing the court just to kill Li Xuanjing.

The grudge between the powerful and Li Xuanjing has been going on for a long time. After Li Xuanjing's death, who in the whole court dares to openly oppose the powerful group?

But how can he say this in front of Li Xuanjing?

You can't say that it's because he formed a clique for personal gain, excluded dissidents, abused power, abused power, took bribes and perverted the law, murdered loyal people, took human lives lightly, killed innocent people indiscriminately, misled the country and the people, and deceived the emperor..., they want to eliminate traitors for the country and bring peace to the court?

Prince Ruyang cleared his throat and said, "Lord Li is a smart man. You must know that the case in the Eastern Palace has nothing to do with this prince. We were also used by the King of Han and the King of You..."

Li Xuanjing looked at him and said, "But, didn't the King of You say that?"

Prince Ruyang was stunned and asked, "What did the King of You say?"

Li Xuanjing played with the gavel in his hand and said, "The King of You said that the powder he used to murder the prince was provided by the Prince of Ruyang. How do you explain this?"

Prince Ruyang was stunned, and suddenly stood up from his chair, saying in surprise, "The King of You is framing us. Killing the prince, what good will it do for me? No matter who is in power, it will be the same for me. I have no reason to do this! "

Li Xuanjing shook his head and said, "Why did the Prince of Ruyang want to murder the prince? Only the Prince knows..."

The Prince of Ruyang immediately said, "I want to confront the Prince of You!"

Li Xuanjing said, "The Prince of You has been sent to the palace and imprisoned. He does not see outsiders."

The Prince of Ruyang was anxious and shouted, "Killing the prince is a serious crime of treason. You can't convict me of such a crime just because of the one-sided words of the Prince of You. You have to use evidence to investigate the case!"

Li Xuanjing put down the gavel in his hand, looked at him indifferently, and said: "Really, has Prince Ruyang forgotten that you are very good at convicting others of treason based on one-sided statements..."

"What?"

Prince Ruyang trembled, and finally realized something. A chill instantly rushed from the tailbone to the top of the head. He pointed at Li Xuanjing and said in a trembling voice: "You, you, you are taking revenge. I want to see His Majesty, I want to see His Majesty!"

Li Xuanjing said: "His Majesty is very busy and will not see you."

Prince Ruyang was completely panicked and said: "I am a prince from the first rank. You Dali Temple have no power to deal with me. I want to see the Minister of Zongzheng Temple!"

"His Majesty has issued an order that this case will be handled by the Dali Temple." Li Xuanjing looked at Prince Ruyang and said: "However, you reminded me that the next one will be the Minister of Zongzheng Temple..."

Prince Ruyang then remembered that the Minister of Zongzheng Temple was also imprisoned in the Dali Temple.

Not only the Minister of Zongzheng Temple, but all the officials of Zongzheng Temple are here...

Li Xuanjing threw down a warrant and said: "Li Ying, the Prince of Ruyang, participated in the murder of the crown prince and committed the crime of treason. He will be taken to Caishikou and executed immediately!"

The Prince of Ruyang shouted: "Li Xuanjing, you are taking revenge for personal gain and taking human life lightly!"

Li Xuanjing looked at him and asked: "Isn't this the reason why you are clearing the court of the emperor?"

The Prince of Ruyang's lips trembled slightly, and he was speechless for a moment.

He knew that Li Xuanjing often took human life lightly.

But he never thought that one day he would take human life lightly on himself.

Two figures came forward and held down the arms of the Prince of Ruyang. The Prince of Ruyang struggled desperately and shouted, "I am the Prince of Ruyang, you can't kill me... By the way, I have a gold medal of immunity from death, I have a gold medal of immunity from death, let me go!"

Li Xuanjing walked in front of him with his hands behind his back and said, "The gold medal of immunity from death does not exempt from treason, doesn't the Prince of Ruyang know that?"

In the shocked and horrified eyes of the Prince of Ruyang, he waved his hand and said, "Take it away..."

...

Chang'an, a vegetable market.

As the largest vegetable market in Chang'an, this place is not just a place to sell vegetables.

The government occasionally publicly executes people here.

This is a place where people gather. Executions here can serve as a warning. Generally speaking, only death row prisoners who have committed certain major crimes will be sent here.

The body of Lin Fuzhi, the prefect of Jingzhao, is hanging here at the moment. All the people passing by will stop and take a look.

The third-rank Jingzhao Yin is the highest-ranking official who has died in recent years.

Even if he died, his corpse would be whipped once every hour.

However, for the crime of treason, being whipped in public after death is better than being cut into pieces while alive.

"A third-rank official died just like that!"

"This is a crime of treason. Not to mention a third-rank official, even a first-rank official would lose his head and his three clans would be in danger..."

"I can't figure it out. I really can't figure it out. He used to have a high status in the East Palace. How could he betray the prince?"

"Who knows? How can we understand the thoughts of these bigwigs?"

Just as people were talking about it, a prison car drove over from a distance.

Unlike ordinary prison cars, the four sides of this prison car were blocked by bright yellow curtains, making it difficult to see the situation inside.

"What is this?"

"It looks like a prison car, but why is it surrounded?"

"I don't know. I've lived for decades and this is the first time I've seen it."

Most people were confused, but there were also knowledgeable people who were so surprised that they couldn't close their mouths.

The prisoner car, with bright yellow curtains, indicated that the prisoner on the car was a noble.

Not only a noble, but also a noble of extremely high status. On the curtains, there were dragon patterns embroidered, which was at least a card that only a prince could have - although it was not a good card.

The difference between the noble and ordinary people is in every aspect.

Even the execution is different.

During the entire execution, the faces of the nobles will not be seen by people.

The knife used for the execution was also a precious knife made by the skilled craftsmen of the Mohist school.

The execution location at Caishikou has been surrounded by several screens.

The prisoner car opened, and a figure with a yellow cloth bag on his head was taken down from the car and escorted into the screen.

It was not until an official from the Dali Temple read out the verdict that people knew that the person who was about to be executed was actually the Prince of Ruyang.

The Prince of a County is the most powerful among the nobles, only one level lower than the Prince, which means that his father is a Prince, his grandfather is the former Emperor, and the current Majesty is his uncle.

The reason he was sentenced to death was treason.

This was probably the only reason to execute a prince.

Treason was a serious crime, and even the golden medal of immunity from death was inevitable.

The Prince of Ruyang participated in the murder of the prince that year and was sentenced to death by the Dali Temple. This was the first time that the people of Chang'an saw a royal family being beheaded.

The general dignitaries can only be regarded as having royal blood.

But the prince was a real royal family.

There was no "sparing life under the knife" in the play, nor was there any sudden incident of robbing the execution ground. At the order of the supervising officer, the executioner raised his knife and fell, and a pool of blood splashed on a certain screen.

The people licked their dry lips and were shocked.

At this moment, the dignitaries who were high above seemed not so afraid in their hearts.

It turned out that the dignitaries were just like them, and they would bleed and die...

The body of the Prince of Ruyang was quickly taken away.

Although he was beheaded for a capital crime, his funeral still had to be conducted according to certain regulations.

After the execution, the people gradually dispersed, and no one noticed that the blood on the ground was seeping into the ground at a speed visible to the naked eye...