[Comprehensive] Cannon fodder, do you want to counterattack?

In the main room in the backyard of the Dou Mansion, Mrs. Dou fed Dou Chengji the medicine with her own hands, put down the bowl and waved the girl away, sat down on the edge of the bed, and asked softly: "Didn't it go well this time, why is the master still worried?"

Dou Chengji smiled wryly, and sighed: "His Royal Highness King Qi hates me to the bone, how could he be happy?" Although he felt bitter in his heart, he never regretted it. If he didn't offend King Qi, he could return to his hometown to farm now. How can he be reconciled to the fact that he has spent half his life struggling to achieve what he is today?

Now at least the position of Minister of the Ministry of Criminal Justice is temporarily preserved. The emperor thinks that Pei Ji deserves to die. The minister who clamored to kill Lin Ruo was too frightened to say anything and even couldn't protect himself. No one dared to mention Pei Ji's case again. Launched as a scapegoat.

But in the end, he still couldn't be happy, and said in a deep voice: "His Royal Highness Qi Wang is cruel, and he will take revenge for every little thing, let alone... His Majesty restrained his feet, but he did it in front of so many ministers." Pei Ji saw him off, and often called friends to go out to play, but no one dared to tell His Majesty, why? They were all afraid of him. Tell Your Majesty, at most he would be reprimanded, but the talkative one, maybe the whole family My life is not guaranteed, why bother? I have offended him to death now, and the days to come... will be difficult!"

Madam Dou frowned and said, "After today, can King Qi still be successful?"

Dou Chengji said: "So what if it doesn't make sense? As a prince, there are many ways to embarrass a minister. What's more, I am not an impeccable upright official."

With a wry smile, he said: "I originally thought that if His Majesty abolished his prince in a fit of anger, he would be able to sit back and relax in the future, but... King Qi, he is so smart!"

Mrs. Dou was surprised: "How did you say that?" She had heard many rumors about King Qi, but none of them was related to "smartness".

Dou Chengji said: "If an ordinary person encounters such a thing, he will desperately defend himself, or even confront him... But this is definitely not a good choice, because it doesn't do him any good whether he wins or loses. : If you lose, the evidence will be as solid as a mountain, and it will be difficult to reverse the case in the future. If you win, His Majesty will think that King Qi is indeed a sinister and cunning person, and his previous reckless impulses were all fake...

"Actually, this is not the most important thing. The biggest advantage of King Qi pretending to be crazy and making a fuss is that His Majesty can't deal with him immediately. You don't understand His Majesty's temperament, and His Majesty acts impulsively. Today, His Majesty in the hall Already furious, no matter what King Qi said at that time, he would not listen, if he opened his mouth to deal with it at that time, cutting off his title would be light, but if he missed today, it would be hard to say...

"King Qi's fault is mainly colluding with Pei Ji and others, forming a party for personal gain, and deceiving the king... This crime can be serious or light, depending on what your majesty thinks. When your majesty calms down and calms down, Concubine De Madam and others say more good things, maybe they will soften their hearts..." Dou Chengji shook his head and said: "So I saw that the situation was not good today, and I deliberately bumped into King Qi's knife to make him more or less guilty. It can be safe for a while. After a while, I will deliberately make a small mistake and ask His Majesty to demote me to another place as an official, so I can avoid it for a while!"

Madam Dou bit her lips and said: "Isn't the matter today all the idea of ​​His Highness the Crown Prince? Could it be that he doesn't care about it, so that you will be harmed by King Qi?"

"Prince?" Dou Chengji sneered, shook his head and sighed: "That is a master who cannot be counted on!"

After a moment of silence, Mrs. Dou said with tears in her eyes, "If I had known this, why did you bother to provoke the King of Qi?"

Dou Chengji smiled wryly and said, "You think I'm willing to recruit him? He did it! He usually hides it too deeply. If it weren't for that painting, who would have known that he... The evidence is so strong, only he would hit that painting." The idea of ​​the secondary painting, Zheng Da is also his person, I have to say that someone else did it, and I have to be believed! Besides, is His Royal Highness Qin a vegetarian, allowing me to bite his people at will?"

The two were in a heavy mood, and neither of them was in the mood to speak. After a moment of silence, Dou Chengji said softly: "Go back and sort out Chang'an's property, and sell what can be sold!"

Mrs. Dou responded in a low voice.

While talking, there was a reply from outside the door, and the mother in charge came in and said, "Master, madam, there is news from the front yard that someone is coming outside, and they want to submit some certificates."

Mrs. Dou withdrew her tears, looked cold, and said: "How do you do things, this kind of thing is also reported to the inner court? This is not a yamen, what kind of certificate is there to hand in? Besides, it is a yamen, and there is no way to pass the certificate directly. Handed it to the Ministry of Punishment."

The mother in charge hurriedly said: "It's the servant's fault, and the servant went back to them."

"Wait!" Dou Chengji said, "Did you say who it is?"

The steward in the front yard is not without measure, how could he let people in casually.

The mother in charge thought for a while and said, "It seems to be a servant surnamed Lin, called..."

Dou Chengji shuddered and sat up suddenly: "But Lin Chuan?"

"Okay, it seems to be."

Dou Chengji scolded: "Idiot, I can't understand a word, and I almost missed the master's important event! Hurry up and invite me!"

Now his scalp tingles when he hears the word Lin, but he is even more afraid of avoiding and missing something.

The steward's mother was taken aback, she hurriedly responded, and she led the steward from the front yard in after a while, and the steward presented the things in her hand, and said, "Lin Chuan left the things and left, saying that this is his house. A certificate written by the young master himself."

Dou Chengji didn't wait for him to finish, he glanced at ten lines earlier, his expression seemed shocked, happy, and fearful, and after a long time, he gritted his teeth and said: "Forget it, anyway, if you don't do anything and don't stop, you will already offend people to death, what else is there?" scary!"

He forced himself to get up and get out of bed, and said, "Quickly, go and get the official uniform, and prepare the carriages and horses to go to the yamen!"

Mrs. Dou hurriedly said: "Master, your injury is not healed yet, what can't you wait..."

"Can't wait!" Dou Chengji said: "It's life or death, this is what happened!"

-

Prison is never a pleasant place, be it Dali Temple or the Ministry of Criminal Justice.

It is dark, humid, full of indescribable smells and creepy sounds, and there are skeleton-like figures in the corner with ghostly eyes, which make people shudder.

Lin Chuan was quite courageous, but walking in this kind of place, he was unavoidably a little uneasy, but Lin Ruo, who was walking in front of him, still walked leisurely - he was rarely affected by the surrounding environment.

Because there were a few prison guards like wolves and tigers, there was no one who dared to stretch out his bone-like hands from the railing to scare them. After walking for a while, the prison leader who walked in front said: "It's right in front of you!" ,Coming."

Here is a single room for detaining serious offenders. The environment is much better, and the guards are of course stricter. Lin Ruo hummed, and walked a few steps, and suddenly heard a sneer: "Lin Ruo, it's you."

As soon as Lin Ruo turned around, she saw Li Yuanji, dressed in white prison clothes, barefoot, and with loose hair. Although he was in a mess, his expression was still arrogant, and he raised his eyebrows and said, "Why, come to see the joke of the Lord?"

Lin Ruo really didn't know that Li Yuanji was imprisoned in the Ministry of Punishment, and he was still imprisoned in this kind of place. After taking a look, he casually looked away and said, "Let's go!"

The head of the cell, as if waking up from a dream, kept saying "Oh, oh" and walked quickly to another cell next to the empty room, saying: "This is it."

You have to take out the key to open the door.

Lin Ruo shook her head and said, "No need, let's take a look outside."

The prison chief hesitated to speak, and finally saluted and took the people away.

It's not him!Li Yuanji's expression changed drastically, he grabbed the railing firmly, and shouted angrily, "Lin Ruo!"

This time, Lin Ruo didn't even look back, and quietly looked at the people inside the railing.

Ordinarily, male and female prisoners should be separated, but I don't know if the prisoner is not so particular, or Dou Chengji deliberately arranged to imprison these two people nearby, and only these two people were imprisoned in this area.

Inside the railing was a woman, tall and burly, with thick hands and feet, but now she looked very desolate, with blood stains all over her body and face, full of whip marks, stick marks, and blood stains on her hands, trembling uncontrollably , should have just been on the clamp.She looked up at Lin Ruo who was standing outside the railing in a daze. The young man in elegant Confucian uniform was standing outside looking at her, as clean as if he came from another world.

After she was stunned for a long time, she suddenly remembered who this person was, rushed forward, and yelled frantically: "It's you! It's you! It's you who killed me! You killed my husband, and you're here to kill me!"

Lin Ruo looked at her quietly, and when she finally calmed down, she calmly said, "I don't know how Lai Er died, and I don't care. Whether someone provided poison and let you poison him to death with your own hands, or someone else poisoned him It doesn't make any difference to me to kill him and give you money to frame me. All I need to know is that you first slandered Xiaoshu everywhere and cursed your husband Lai Er to death, and then went to the Yamen to make a false accusation that Xiaoshu In the end, he died in Dali Temple, that's enough."

Lin Ruo's calm and almost cold expression made the woman a little timid, she trembled her lips and did not speak.

Lin Ruo said again: "I haven't seen you for a few months, but you are still a bit plump. It can be seen that after the death of your gambler husband and your windfall, your life is going well. But I really don't understand why you are so relieved.

"Pei Ji, who was ordered to interrogate the case, is dead, the minister of Dali Temple who presides over Dali Temple is dead, the yamen servants and book clerks who tortured Xiaoshu are dead, and the jailers who guarded him are dead... King Qi, who presided over them, lives now. next door to you...

"Why do you think that I will let you and your children who falsely accused Xiaoshu go?"

When the word Pei Ji came to her ears, the woman couldn't believe it, and then she was terrified: Of course she knew that Pei Ji had died, that the minister of Dali Temple had died, and that many masters of Dali Temple had died, but she never thought about it. The deaths of these important people who are not even dared to think about on weekdays would actually have something to do with her... Her jaw trembled and she couldn't speak a word, her body slid down the railing feebly, trembling like a fallen leaf in the wind.

She never thought that the little hexagram master she slandered for a few taels of silver would turn out to be the same existence as Yan Luo-the master of Dali Temple died, the prime minister died, and even King Qi was arrested. The little peasant woman...does she still want to live?

She fell to the ground in despair, but when she heard the word "children", she jumped up like an electric shock and shouted anxiously: "What are you going to do? It has nothing to do with them, I did it alone... you Kill me, kill me, they are innocent..."

Lin Ruo said indifferently: "They are not the only ones who are innocent? Isn't Xiaoshu innocent? Since you can frame innocent people without any scruples, why should I let your child go because of the word 'innocent'?"

He added: "These things were originally not something you could get involved in. Since you bumped in, you have to blame for what happened today. I heard that the government has not found your two children, but you should know my skills. Don't worry, I will find them and let them die in the most tragic way... You don't have to worry in the underworld, I will send them to see you after I have vented enough of my anger."

After saying that, he turned around and left.

"No...no!" The woman knelt down behind him, banging her head on the railing: "Mr. Lin, please spare them! Mr. Lin! You are so merciful, as long as you let them go!" , I will be your cow and horse in the next life! Please..."

Lin Ruo seemed to have never heard of it, she didn't even pause, the woman broke down and cried: "What can I do, what can I do... They gave me poison, if I don't do it, they will definitely kill me If I die, Bao'er and the others will be sold by that bastard Lai Er, what can I do...

"I don't say that Lai Er was cursed to death by that boy, they are going to report me, saying that I killed Lai Er...I can't help it...I was forced, I was forced! You guys The nobleman will only bully us ordinary people..."

Lin Ruo stopped, but didn't look back, and said, "Sorry, I'm not a good person, so I can't understand your difficulties."

As he continued to walk out, a woman's desperate cry came from behind him.

"Stop!" Li Yuanji stared at Lin Ruo who was passing by his prison door, gritted his teeth and said, "What did you do?"

Lin Ruo stopped, turned around, looked at him, and said calmly: "I wrote a letter, suing Lai Er's wife for poisoning and murdering her husband, and falsely accusing others."

Li Yuanji sneered and said: "So you didn't come to see the master's jokes, you came to make trouble."

"To add insult to injury?" Lin Ruo smiled: "Really not."

Li Yuanji laughed mockingly: "No?"

"No." Lin Ruo said lightly: "I just think that the criminals here should be punished for the evil they have done, not for some trumped-up charges-even if you are a prince. After all, this is the Ministry of Punishment. The place of punishment and prison in the Tang Dynasty should have its dignity and justice."

"Ha," Li Yuanji said with a sneer, "I didn't expect Mr. Lin to be so law-abiding... You said it as if Pei Ji wasn't killed by you."

Lin Ruo said lightly: "His Royal Highness Qi has the time to laugh at others, why not think about how to live in the future."

Li Yuanji said coldly: "You don't have to worry about Mr. Lao Lin."

Lin Ruo ignored it, and continued to speak: "In the entire Tang Dynasty, the one who most hopes for His Highness King Qi's failure is probably Lord Dou, Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment, so my certificate is his life-saving straw. As long as you catch it and give it to the woman People who poisoned me and the person who ordered her to frame me, I can continue to investigate along with them, and find out many people and things. If Mr. Dou investigates these things for no reason, I am afraid that some people will say that he deliberately framed me. After all, he There is indeed a motive for doing this, but now that I have my case as an introduction, Mr. Dou can investigate it confidently.

"Every time one of these things is found out, one of them will be known to the people on the street. His Highness has been imprisoned in the Ministry of Punishment, so the people will definitely applaud and praise His Majesty for his sageness and righteousness. His Majesty wants to..."

Halfway through the speech, Li Yuanji had long lost his initial calmness, and now he was trembling all over, with a ferocious expression on his face, and frantically pushed the railing: "Lin Ruo, Lin Ruo! I'll kill you! I'm going to kill you!"

Lin Ruo said lightly: "Obviously, you can't do it."

Turn around and go.

Li Yuanji roared and slammed his fist on the railing: "Lin Ruo! Lin Ruo!"

-

After leaving the prison, Lin Chuan said, "My lord, do we want to meet Lord Dou?"

Lin Ruodao: "What did you see him for? Could it be that you really consider him an ally? Don't look at how he dared to say anything good when he begged me to pry the woman's mouth open. If there is a chance to send us to the guillotine, he will never There will be some hesitation."

Lin Chuan frowned and said, "Since this is the case, son, you will help him again and again?"

Lin Ruodao: "It's not about helping, it's about using. Since you want to use it, it's natural for the enemy or the wicked to come to you. If friends and good people use it, they will feel guilty or owe favors... Trouble."

Lin Chuan was very powerless about his master's logic, so he changed the subject and said, "In this way, the woman will talk? Should I send someone to find her two children? With them in hand, or the woman will Be more cooperative?"

Lin Ruo shook her head and said, "Don't say you can't find it in a short time, even if you find it, don't let her know."

Lin Chuan asked in surprise, "Why?"

Lin Ruodao: "Because this woman has never been a kind person. When she first met her, she chose to do evil because of 20 taels of silver. After that, she even did things like killing her husband and framing her...she will' The words "bullying the good and fearing the evil" are perfect, but at the same time, she has a motherly heart. Even though she was tortured, she did not dare to recruit those people, because she knew that these people would really hurt her children.

"And as long as we show the slightest bit of kindness, she will not take us seriously, because to her, good people can be bullied, because even if a good person is bullied to death, he will not hurt the innocent. So even if we will When her child is brought to her, she will also choose to hide it because she is afraid of the revenge of the wicked in the future... So I have to let her despair, this kind of person will pull everything she can when she loses all hope People are going to hell with her. So she'll be talking soon, and more than she thinks."

Lin Ruo suddenly paused and said, "Go see Mr. Dou later and tell him that you'd better hurry up. If you can't find enough things before tomorrow morning, you can stop talking about it."

Lin Chuan was taken aback, and said, "What's wrong?"

Lin Ruodao: "Didn't you say that His Royal Highness King Qin and the crown prince entered the palace one after another? Right now they are kneeling in the Tai Chi Palace to beg King Qi, plus the pillow wind at night, if there is no accident, with the emperor's character, tomorrow morning It's time to treat King Qi lightly."

"When did you find out about the affairs in the palace again? The subordinates haven't had time to inquire about it yet!"

Lin Ruodao: "You don't need to inquire about it. The King of Qin met Mr. Wei Zheng and Wei yesterday, and Mr. Wei will definitely give him this idea as a vote...Of course he will also give the prince an idea to insist on waiting by the emperor's side, and said I support all the decisions of His Majesty, but the Prince is afraid that he will not listen.

Lin Chuan was surprised and said, "Why would Mr. Wei give the two Highnesses different ideas? Could it be because Mr. Wei decided to side with King Qin, so..."

Lin Ruo shook his head and said, "Master Wei is not such a person, but His Royal Highness must have the same thoughts as you, so he will definitely choose to follow the example of King Qin. But I don't know how much the emperor was dissatisfied with King Qin before, because he felt that he was too cold , the family relationship is weak, so if the King of Qin pleads for the King of Qi regardless of the past, the emperor will be moved, thinking that he was just hard-spoken and soft-hearted before. But the prince...he has always been on good terms with the King of Qi, even if he pleads with the emperor, he will not respond It is better to show a filial and considerate side, and the most important thing is that if he pleads for King Qi, he will definitely annoy another person..."

Lin Chuan had an idea and said, "Master Dou?"

Lin Ruo nodded and said with a smile: "It's hard for you to be smart at last. The crown prince and King Qin don't care whether King Qi will lose his status as a prince, because this change has already made him completely lose his sacred heart. What is there to be afraid of, a powerless prince? But to Dou Chengji, this is very important..."

Shaking his head again, he said, "Our Highness the Crown Prince will always only make the choice that is most beneficial to him. If he is the emperor, or the only heir to the Tang Dynasty, this choice may not be a mistake... Unfortunately, it is not."

It's not that the prince doesn't have the means to win over people's hearts, it's just that he wins over and wins over. When it comes to the critical moment, his nature makes him only care about his own interests.

So Dou Chengji, who was on the same front with him just now, lost his heart in a blink of an eye.