Chapter 619: with translation of chapter title

Gu Jiu Ling has made up her mind to accompany Xiao Yin through knives and fire; even if it's hell, she will go through it once.

But she hasn't yet had the chance to accompany Xiao Yin to hell; the eight great clans of Shang Jing are actually already in hell.

After the Spring Sacrifice, Xiao Yin's methods became increasingly harsh; he promoted officials of low status, letting them volunteer themselves, and even employed some ruthless officials.

Especially the Ministry of Punishments and the Dali Temple, batches of officials were poured into these two institutions to thoroughly investigate the Qi Sha Gu case.

As these cases were unraveled thread by thread, the officials of the Ministry of Punishments and the Dali Temple, seeing the mountains of case files, drew cold breaths repeatedly.

The more these cases are examined, the more shocking they become; the Azure Dragon Army once enjoyed high prestige among the people, but later, due to the Qi Sha Gu incident, was smeared as traitorous rebels who betrayed the nation and defected to the enemy.

Even some ignorant commoners, upon hearing that those soldiers were burned to death in Qi Sha Gu, actually clapped and cheered.

If Qi Sha Gu had not fallen, how could those several southern cities have suffered such a tragic massacre?

Bei Di cavalry first took Yanbei Pass, then took Qi Sha Gu, turning the entire route to Longxi region into flat ground.

Whenever the Bei Di people captured a city, they carried out large-scale massacres; that period was simply wives separated from children, everyone seemed hysterical, blood flowed like rivers, as if on earthly hell.

The news later reached Shang Jing; everyone who heard it was filled with grief, unanimously condemning the Azure Dragon Army for its inaction, for letting the Bei Di villains enter the interior, thus causing such a dire situation.

Now that the truth behind these surface phenomena has been revealed, everyone is dumbfounded.

Outside came a sudden rush of footsteps.

Two subordinate officials hurriedly entered the warm pavilion where Minister of Punishments Vice Minister Zhang, the adult, resides; then they bowed and said: 'Sir, Prime Minister Gu, the adult, has arrived.'

'What?' Zhang, the adult, is a ruthless official whom Xiao Yin promoted from a lower prefecture county, skipping ranks.

He always had his own set of methods in judging cases; he was almost directly summoned to the capital by Prince Rui. 7k graceful strike.

He first trained at the Dali Temple for a few days, then soon became Vice Minister of Punishments; such a skip-rank promotion left other court officials astonished.

But at this time they only felt surprise, without really envying him.

You must know that being an official in the Ministry of Punishments or Dali Temple now is no easy task, as they are handling the case of Prince Rui's former Azure Dragon Army.

If done well, it's fine; if done poorly, it's loss of heads.

Such a post, nobody wants it.

This Zhang, the adult, is now over fifty; suddenly promoted to this position, he did not panic like others, but carefully examined the case files of Qi Sha Gu, unraveling them bit by bit, and thus found some leads.

All these piles of case files on the table are what he and a few subordinates in the Ministry of Punishments have been organizing and copying these days.

Originally, Prince Rui Xiao Yin chose Zhang the adult because he saw that Zhang was fairly upright in character and especially conscientious in his work.

Because his rank was low and he had no faction in the court, he would naturally handle affairs impartially.

When Zhang the adult himself tried cases, he was nevertheless nervous and fearful.

You must know that the person who ordered the conviction of the Azure Dragon Army in Qi Sha Gu was none other than the current emperor.

It is apparent that the current emperor has done something somewhat improper.

Now Zhang the adult is truly in a dilemma; if he were to overturn the case now, it would be to smear the emperor's face.

All evidence points to him; later the emperor mobilized forces, piece by piece, to cover up the truth of Qi Sha Gu, which may whitewash peace, but how can it whitewash people's hearts?

If he merely goes through the motions and does not handle the case properly, he fears offending Prince Rui completely.

Moreover, Prince Rui has shown him favor by promoting him; his purpose in bringing him up is to let him thoroughly investigate the greatest wrongful case in Southern Qi history.

At this moment, Zhang the adult, looking at the pile of evidence in his hands, has long been clear that the Qi Sha Gu Azure Dragon Army case back then was indeed a wrongful case.

A wrongful case that cannot be more wrongful!

But the more he investigates the truth behind the case, the more he finds that all evidence points to that master in the current imperial harem; what can be done?

Just at this critical juncture, Minister Gu himself came to his place; Zhang the adult immediately tidied his official robe and hurried out to meet him.

Just as he reached the second gate, he saw under the sunlight the Vice Minister wearing a half-mask, with a calm visage, the Prime Minister adult, walking slowly toward him.

Zhang Chen had also heard before of this person in the capital, this old-old-old hometown, when he took the imperial examination his fame was great; later he became a proud disciple of Mr. Weng; after that, he went through several promotions and demotions; now he has directly taken up the position; the Prime Minister, in just a few months, has made great progress cutting through chaos, the disordered situation in the south has gradually been brought under control; this Prime Minister is not to be underestimated, he has many methods.

Zhang Chen looked at the Prime Minister adult, who was younger than his own son, stepped forward one step, bowed with clasped hands, and said: 'I, the lower official, do not know why the Prime Minister adult has come down; I hope the Prime Minister adult will forgive me.'

Gu Kang stared fixedly at the person before him whose hair was somewhat white; the egg egg nodded. 'Zhang the adult is responsible for the Qi Sha Gu case; working day and night, very hard; I, the official, have come like gold to see Zhang the adult; if there is any need for my adult, please feel free to bring it up.'

Originally it was the upper part coming down as a tea cup? The work affairs of the ministry's class? Zhang Cheng took it over. Jia Kang's attendant behind brought over a list, inside which were actually some bank notes.

'This adult adult this...' Although the bank notes are few, it's merely a small gift from the Prime Minister sent to the market town; his heart suddenly leapt.

These silver notes that look like gold fluttering indeed made Zhang Chen somewhat breathless; Zhang Chen hurriedly pressed his body deeper into the attack, slowly saying: 'Adult thanks adult, but only lower office receives no reward without merit, this....'

Gu Kang did not want to get entangled with him here, lightly said: 'A little token, to be given to the officials of the Ministry of Punishments, go out for a drink, celebrate a little, also relax; the case of the Old Man of the Moon needs to be handled, but one cannot, for the sake of the case, refrain from eating and drinking and work oneself to death; today you happen to be on a self-study day, go out happily and relax, have a few drinks.'

Jia Kang said this to this extent; the fellow has no reason to disagree? He hurriedly... thanks... the dawn of life's birth... Gu Kang's upper and lower silver notes were borrowed over, then he turned sideways and led Gu Kang into the internal department, woman you when you were small held the tea cup pot. -

Gu Kang sat properly there, his long-knuckled fingers pinching, inserting, lightly sipping a mouthful, also not speaking; for a moment, those entering the inner hall only heard Zhang Cheng's cautious breathing.

Gu Kang slowly put down the teacup in his hand, stared fixedly at Zhang Cheng and said: 'I don't know how the case is going; the Prince of Yue and the Crown Prince are both very concerned about this case; I, the official, have come to inquire about the situation.'

Zhang Chen's cat still lifted those case files to Gu Kang's face; Gu Kang lowered his head, glanced down, flipped through a few pages one by one, suddenly waved his hand, letting his attendants leave, indicating he has something to say privately to Zhang Cheng.