Chapter 16: Decision
The official laughed for a while and asked: "I have ordered people to capture the murderer who killed the people in the Liao envoy group. What does Huaide think of this matter?"< br>
"I also felt that he should be severely punished. The envoy of the Liao State was resolute and insisted on converting the gift coins into grain at the price of food at that time in the Song Dynasty. Punishing the murderer severely could also kill the envoy of the Liao State. Be arrogant and gain the initiative for the next negotiations," Han Zhang said thoughtfully.
"Yes." The official nodded, pondered for a while, and said: "After the person was arrested, the envoy of the Liao Kingdom told the minister of Honglu Temple that he wanted to ask to see me, but I didn't have the time. When you see them, go and comfort them."
"Yes!" Han Zhang responded.
...
Rongxian was ordered to go to Honglu Temple to get people, and he got the official order. He was not as timid as the Cao brothers. With the token given by Zhao Xing, he only dared to transfer a hundred people from the capital. If the Liao envoys take a tougher attitude, they don't know what to do.
He directly mobilized a battalion of 500 people, came to Honglu Temple, and asked the Liao envoy to hand over the murderer.
Between the Liao State and the Song State, the Liao State has always been on the stronger side and looks down on the Song people.
In addition, after the Cao brothers came, the Liao envoys sent guards to stop them, and the other party didn't know what to do.
Although Rong Xian led many people, he thought it was just a bluff, so he didn't care and directly led his guards to confront the Forbidden Army.
However, Rongxian was not a brother of the Cao family. What he received was an order from an official. Seeing that the Liao envoy refused to surrender, he led a group of people to confront him. He waved his hand, and the soldiers and horses behind him directly raised their bows. He aimed his arrows at the envoys of Liao.
The Liao envoys were a little panicked at this time. Although they had guards, there were only two hundred people, but they were all cavalry. The horses are still in the stables.
And they don’t have crossbows. If they fight at this time, they will not be their opponents.
Even if the battle is successful, this is Bianjing. There are hundreds of thousands of troops inside and outside the city, and he only has two hundred people who are useless.
However, he still felt that the Song people were just scaring him and did not dare to take action.
Rongxian did not waste any time. 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 serving the official family." If you don't hand over the people according to the order, you will be charged with harboring them and all of them will be taken down!"
The envoy of the Liao State saw Rong Xian's determination and hesitated for a while before handing over the people.
Rong Xian ordered the people to take the murderer and left Honglu Temple. He ordered the soldiers to return to the palace and led a small team of people to escort the murderer to Kaifeng Mansion Office.
When Chen Tingwen was recalled to the palace by Zhao Xing, he knew that it would be impossible to deal with the murderer.
He personally came forward to appease the people, but it was of no use.
While he was in a panic, Rongxian came with the murderer in custody. After handing the person over to him, he told him that the official wanted to deal with it as he wished.
Not only was Chen Tingwen not happy when he heard this, but he also had a headache.
In fact, the laws of the Song Dynasty were much looser than those of many dynasties, and this looseness was not only reflected in civil servants.
Generally speaking, if it is not intentional murder, but just accidentally killed, the death penalty will not be imposed. Basically, it will be exiled by assassination.
Although the Liao people beat the people of the Song Dynasty to death, regardless of their identity, from the nature of the incident, the person who beat them just hit them harder and did not really want to kill the other person, and the person who was beaten was not on the spot. die.
If both parties are common people of the Song Dynasty, they can only be sentenced to exile.
However, if he sentenced him like this, the family members of the deceased and the people would definitely not be willing.
If the Liao murderer was sentenced to death, how could the Liao envoy be willing?
The most important thing is that Chen Tingwen doesn't know what official means.
If the officials really wanted to deal with the Liao murderers and give an explanation to the people, why did they summon the prince before?
To say otherwise, the murderer was sent to him.
However, the people did not think about this. When Rongxian sent the people over, many people saw it.
The crowd was furious and demanded severe punishment for the murderer.
Chen Tingwen is in a dilemma now and dare not make a decision easily. He can only comfort the people with good words.
It is said that the trial can only be carried out after the trial, so the people should not be anxious first.
After temporarily stabilizing the people, Chen Tingwen wrote a note and ordered it to be sent to the palace to ask the officials how to make a decision. After the official saw the document, he did not approve it, but had it delivered to Zhao Xing.
After reading it, Zhao Xing approved the killing and asked the eunuch to take it back.
The official said nothing after reading it, but ordered someone to return the fold to Chen Tingwen.
When Chen Tingwen saw the word "kill", he knew it was not written by the officials, but since the fold was sent back, it meant that the officials agreed.
Therefore, he had nothing to hesitate and immediately sentenced him to execution at noon the next day.
In ancient times, out of humanity, the death penalty was generally executed after autumn.
Only for some egregious cases will execution be imposed.
Chen Tingwen knew clearly that the murderer was from the Liao country. The longer it was delayed, the more likely it would be that things would change. Since the officials agreed, he also secretly hated the Liao people for their actions, so naturally he wanted to cut through the mess quickly and solve the problem. Lose.
As soon as this verdict came out, the victim's family members cried with joy, knelt in the Kaifeng government office and shouted to the Lord Qingtian.
When Chen Tingwen found out, he quickly came out and told the people that this was the official decision, and he did not dare to take the credit.
Soon, the news spread throughout Bianjing and became a hot topic among the people.
At this moment, a message came out from somewhere, saying that the prince insisted that the government punish the murderer severely.
When the prince was born, the official family granted a general amnesty to the whole country. The following year, the reign name was changed to Tianyou, and the people of Bianjing naturally knew about it.
However, they only knew that the emperor had a son. It was rumored that the prince was a child prodigy and was extremely smart. The common people had not seen it, so naturally few took it seriously.
The news spread, and for a while people in the streets of Bianjing were talking about the prince, and everyone expressed praise.
Ordinary people only find it very satisfying, but wealthy nobles realize that there is something unusual about it.
For the news to spread throughout Bianjing so quickly, it is obvious that someone is secretly fueling the situation.
And this person does not need to think about it, he also knows that he is an official.
They sensed a signal from this. The officials were trying to win over the people for the prince. It seemed that the officials had already intended to enthrone the prince.
Although Zhao Xing is the only son of the Guan family, who can guarantee that the Guan family will not have other heirs?
Before the crown prince is crowned, everything is still uncertain.
Once the prince is canonized, even if there are other heirs in the official family, they will not threaten Zhao Xing's status.
The Tian family has no relatives, so the emperor is very wary of his son and takes strict precautions.
In the past, the official family was reluctant to ennoble the prince. Even if he was the only heir of the official family, the court officials did not dare to contact him for fear of arousing suspicion from the official family.
Now many people are thinking about how to show their favor to the prince.
Those who have children who are studying in the palace with them, they are even told to find ways to please Zhao Xing and have a good relationship with him.
......
Zhao Xing didn't know this. He wanted to visit the palace and see the scenery of Bianjing, but 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.
I came to Zishan Hall the next day and learned from Gu Tingye that Chen Tingwen had sentenced the Liao murderer to death, and nodded with satisfaction.
Thanks to Mingyue Yinggui for the reward.
(End of this chapter)