Between the vast sea of ​​clouds

It's Mid-Autumn Festival again, and this day is the emperor's birthday, Qianqiu Festival, which coincides with the Double Festival, and the whole world celebrates it.

But on this full moon day when people gathered, there was a sense of desolation in front of Xie's house in Lingnan, surrounded by officers and soldiers. Yuan Sui led the minister of Dali Temple, and Zuo Yushi of the Metropolitan Procuratorate waited outside the door.The officers and soldiers broke through the door, and the ground was covered with sweet-scented osmanthus in the courtyard, and the fragrance of the flowers was pleasant.

Yuan Sui stepped forward to announce the decree, saying: "The Xie family in Lingnan was originally a model for the family, and it has been blessed for several generations, but now it has an affair with the vassal king..."

In the middle of the reading, the officers and soldiers who entered the house to search for people came out after a while, and said in a panic: "My lord, everyone in this house is dead!"

Dali Temple Minister's expression changed when he heard the words, and he turned to look at Yuan Sui, but Yuan Sui didn't see any emotion in his eyes, he just said: "To live is to see people, to die is to see corpses."

The officers and soldiers immediately carried all the corpses out of the house and put them in the courtyard.There were men, women and children, their faces were swollen, and their lips were black. Yuan's entourage took the gloves from his hands, inspected them, and said, "My lords, they were poisoned to death."

Yushi said: "How do you deal with these people in the imperial decree?"

Yuan Sui said: "Your Majesty's grace is to bestow death on everyone."

Dali Siqing was startled, seeing more and more corpses in the courtyard, the smell of blood almost overwhelmed the fragrance of flowers.Even though she has been an official for several years, she has never seen so many corpses, so she couldn't help asking: "Could it be that Xie's family members committed suicide in fear of crime?"

Yuan Sui's eyes froze, and he ordered: "Count the number of corpses."

Yu Shi asked: "Master Yuan, is he afraid that someone will run away?"

Yuan Sui said: "The two adults and I have never met members of the Xie family, so how do we know that these corpses belong to the Xie family? If they want to escape their crimes, come to a golden cicada to escape their shells—"

Suddenly the arrester said: "My lord, no, these people have calluses on their hands." The officers and soldiers turned up the hands of the corpses one by one and checked them one by one. Did not go?"

The catcher quickly said: "There is also Xie's ancestral hall, which is behind this mountain."

Xie's ancestral hall was built in the back mountain. It was originally discovered that along the steps, there are a pair of stone statues at intervals.The stone statue was low and short, barely reaching a human calf. She ordered someone to scrape off the moss on the stone statue, and carefully looked at the appearance of the stone statue. The human face and fish body looked strange. When Yuan Sui saw it, she thought it was so. The golden account has a deep origin.

But two hours ago, Xie Yuan in the ancestral hall was wearing mourning clothes, his robes dragged the floor, and the corners of his sleeves were stained with blood.She walked into the secret room with a long sword in her hand, and blood dripped down the sword, leaving a long bloodstain behind her.

Many people fell to the ground and fell asleep. Xie Yuan kicked over the incense burner in the corner of the room, and the sound woke one of them up. The person barely raised his head to look at her and said, "You...you can't, the Patriarch said...someone has to , survive..."

Xie Yuan wiped the blood off his face with his sleeve, and said: "So she died first." With a smile on the corner of her mouth, she said: "I cut the knife very quickly."

Blood spattered, she sighed and said: "The living will always say things that shouldn't be said, the dead are more reliable."

When everyone arrived at the entrance of the Xie Family Ancestral Hall, they saw that the door of the ancestral hall was wide open, and there were ginkgo trees planted inside, and the steps were covered with golden fallen leaves.There are many red umbrellas under the courtyard in all directions, and a person in mourning clothes stands with his back to them, which is really indescribably weird.

Yuan Sui frowned and asked, "Who are you?"

Xie Yuan turned around and said, "Your Excellency, you don't need to know." After speaking, she crossed the sword across her neck, and wiped it cleanly, the blood spilled on the red umbrella, winding down.

At the same time, after the canonization ceremony was held in the palace, Tianshu presented the secret report from the secret guard, Chu Jun took a look and said, "Where is the man?"

One person was dragged up blindfolded, Tianshu removed the cloth strip, took the gag from his mouth, Xie Qi coughed a few times and said, "Let me go, I want to see Your Majesty!"

Tianshu said: "Your Majesty will not see you."

Only then did Xie Qi see the surroundings clearly. A palace man was kneeling not far from her with a wooden tray in his hands. On the tray were white silk, a dagger, and a bowl of dark things.

She immediately opened her eyes wide, because she knew that the bowl contained poisonous wine!

Xie Qi struggled hard and roared, "I want to see Your Majesty!"

She yelled like this several times, and the sound echoed in the hall, and finally she fell to the ground exhausted, and a figure appeared behind the curtain.

Someone suddenly said, "You feel wronged, don't you?"

Xie Qi got up from the ground suddenly, Tianshu retreated upon seeing this.Chu Jun sat on the throne and looked at her, lazily said: "Xie's family has already been punished, if you don't come to Beijing, if you die in Lingnan today, the whole family will be reunited."

Xie Qi looked at her in disbelief, and asked in a trembling voice: "The Xie family has done so many things for His Majesty, and they are loyal to His Majesty—"

Chu Jun said coldly: "Really? Your elder sister Xie Yuan is afraid that the clan members will leak the secrets, so she will strike first and slaughter the whole family. How can she have anything to do with me?"

Xie Qi was trembling and speechless, kneeling in the hall for a long time.Chu Jun clasped his fingers, walked up to her, looked down at her and said, "Do you recognize this bowl?"

Xie Qi looked up and shook his head numbly. Chu Jun leaned close to her and said softly: "Don't you remember so soon? This is Shangyang porcelain that was sent to the palace at the beginning of the year. The lacquer is non-toxic, but when it is mixed with cold sandalwood, it can poison people without anyone noticing. At first, it is just physical weakness and dreaminess. Crazy, isn't this a tribute from the Xie family?"

Chu Jun sat down and asked, "Is there anything else I need to say, thank you, sir?"

Xie Qi knew that he would die today, and the hatred in his heart overwhelmed the fear of death, so he straightened up and knelt up and said: "The Xie family doesn't believe you, and you may not believe the Xie family. , what's wrong? If it wasn't for the Xie family's support back then, you might not have been able to take this position!"

Chu Jun smiled contemptuously: "Everyone takes what they need? The Xie family's plan is for the world. Is it true that I want to divide the country into half of you? As for this position, I can sit securely with or without you Xie family. On the contrary, when the late emperor was here, even though the Xie family It seems that you support me, but you are secretly in contact with the king of Qi and Yue. As for you being by my side, you are just listening to the news. The infidelity of a courtier is blamed on the Lord for not being tolerant. You also know in your heart that these things must be all It's not slander."

Xie Qi's eyes were full of hatred, panting like a trapped animal, Chu Jun tapped on the handrail, and seemed a little impatient: "Drink this bowl of poisonous wine, I will reward you, let's get on the road quickly, leave early , can catch up with your people."

After she finished speaking, she stood up again, straightened her robe, and the white jade worn around her waist emitted a warm light in the dark hall. At that moment, Xie Qi suddenly remembered where she had seen the same jade pendant, and she had never figured it out before. Everything about her suddenly became clear at this moment, and she hissed, "The thing I regret the most is that I didn't let Li Qingping die in Yunzhou."

As she said that, she stared at Chu Jun's face, not missing even the slightest expression: "When I was in Chenzhou, I shouldn't let her go so easily, if I knew it, I would send it to Bi Shu...Your Majesty knows What is the best thing about those people in the golden account?"

Chu Jun's expression remained unchanged, and he asked, "What?"

As if all the resentment and fear had found an outlet, Xie Qi said maliciously: "They will cut off her tongue, and then peel her skin!"

Chu Jun's hands in the sleeves were tightly clenched, her knuckles were slightly white, her pupils were dark, she smiled and said: "You are very clear, whether you are from my race or not, your heart can be punished."

Because of his background, Xie Qi hated these words the most. Hearing these words, his eyes cracked: "You!"

Chu Jun overturned the bowl of poisoned wine with a wave of his hand, and said word by word: "Come here, add an official to her—"

Several criminal officers came out from the darkness, tied Xie Qi's hands and feet to two slender benches, and hung his waist in the air. One of them brought a copper basin filled with clear water, and the other held a stack of mulberry paper in his hand. Waiting by the side, Xie Qi kept laughing, his voice like a croak: "It turns out that you also have...someone you care about."

Chu Jun said lightly: "Don't tell her to die too happily."

The criminal officer took a piece of mulberry paper and soaked it in a copper basin, brushed the floor to shake off the water, and then stuck it on Xie Qi's face.

As the number of sheets increased, the paper clearly printed the facial features of the man struggling in pain, leaving several scratches on the bench with his hands, and because of the lack of support in the waist, he suffered even more.And the criminal officer is the best at this method, and he is extremely precise in his measurements.If you see that the prisoner is not well, you will slow down and add new paper. Repeatedly, it took several hours.

Chu Jun returned to the palace early to rest, and Tianshu came to report the next day, she only asked the time, and said: "Drag to the mass grave."

Tianshu said: "Your Majesty, Mr. Yuan thought that the prisoner had escaped and had already asked the Ministry of Punishment to issue a wanted document. Do you want to inform the Ministry of Punishment to take it back?"

Chu Jun thought absently for a while, and said: "No need, let the Criminal Department continue to arrest. Let those aristocratic families know that Xie Qi is not dead and is still fleeing. Their little thoughts should be taken away."