Marry the Regent [Time Travel]

Not long after, there were footsteps outside again, and Gao Ziming's complexion changed slightly. After seeing the person, the blood on his face faded away, and his lips trembled uncontrollably.

The ones who came in were the women and boys who were brought into the palace today. Before He Yuan found out that the person who ambush Xue Guang was Gao Ziming, but Gao Ziming was nowhere to be found, nor was his family. Fortunately, this time they traced to the valley Gao Ziming was captured by accident, and the people who had been watching Zhongyi Hou's mansion also tracked Gao Ziming's family's residence, and rushed to snatch his wife and children.

The woman was already very nervous, but she turned pale with fright when she saw Gao Ziming who was tied up, and the boy she was holding stared at him for a long time, crying loudly in fright.

He Yuan looked at Gao Ziming indifferently: "How is it? Are you willing to confess?"

Gao Ziming clenched his lips and stared at him intently, his eyes almost burst into flames, wishing to eat him alive.

He Yuan didn't respond to his gaze, but said indifferently: "As long as you are willing to cooperate and explain everything that happened back then, you and your wife and children will leave here with all hands and feet."

When Gao Ziming heard the words "hands and feet are complete", his body trembled almost invisibly. He naturally understood the implication of this sentence. If he didn't cooperate, then they would not be able to have complete hands and feet.What's more, he has heard about the reputation of the regent for a long time. Just looking at the various instruments of torture in this prison, he can know that amputation of hands and feet is definitely the lightest punishment. Gruesome torture.

The boy was still crying loudly, and the woman quickly covered his mouth in fright. The whimpering voice echoed in the prison, making it even more shrill.

He Yuan looked at the cold sweat oozing from Gao Ziming's forehead, and asked, "Have you thought about it?"

Gao Ziming looked at his wife and children with trembling lips. Master Hou was kind to him. If he confessed, he would be disloyal and unrighteous. I'm sorry Master Hou, but looking at his wife and children who were hugging each other and crying in front of him, his eyes began to hurt. Shaking up: "No... I have nothing to explain..."

He Yuan's eyebrows twitched, and he told the people next to him, "Then bring this child to him and chop off one hand first."

The boy was so frightened that his crying was stuck in his throat, his eyes widened and he curled up in the woman's arms, his body shaking like chaff.

Gao Ziming froze and struggled violently: "Let go of my son! Let go of my son!"

Xue Yunzhou rolled his eyes slightly. He didn't know whether Gao Ziming would confess in the end. If he really insisted on being loyal to Xue Chong and never opened his mouth, the boy's hand would definitely be chopped off. It's hard to accept such a bloody thing, but in this feudal society that cannibalize people without spitting out their bones, kindness has no way out.

He looked at He Yuan, and He Yuan looked as usual, but based on his understanding of his second brother, he guessed that he must also hope that Gao Ziming would compromise in time.

The boy was already pinned down on the ground, and the woman struggled and cried miserably. The cry was extremely piercing in this empty dungeon. She was already somewhat incoherent, sometimes begging He Yuan for mercy, and sometimes begging Gao Ziming to be honest.

The torture instrument had already fixed the boy's hand, and the jailer at the side drew out the machete from his waist.

Gao Ziming's eyes widened, sweat pouring down like rain.

He Yuan looked at him, and said coldly: "I'll ask you again, should I recruit or not?"

Gao Ziming pursed his lips, his eyes were red.

He Yuan raised his chin slightly: "Cut."

The machete was raised high, and the woman was so frightened that her whole body went limp and she fell to the ground.

Gao Ziming's body trembled more and more. Seeing that the knife was about to fall, he suddenly shouted: "I'll do it! I'll do it all!"

That night, He Yuan and Xue Yunzhou didn't go to bed until very late, but the outer study of the Zhongyihou's Mansion was lit all night, and Xue Chong was running around in a hurry, scolding all the subordinates to the point of blood.

In the early morning of the next day, Xue Chong asked for leave and was absent, and all the civil and military officials whispered.

The young emperor didn't see Xue Chong, and felt a little uneasy in his heart. He subconsciously glanced at He Yuan, and happened to meet He Yuan's cold gaze.

He Yuan looked at his guarded expression, and thought to himself: The original owner of this body of mine can become the regent by himself, and the boy in front of him is already 15 years old, but he can't even hide his emotions well. , it seems that he usually relies too much on Xue Chong, Xue Chong has to get rid of him.

In the middle of the morning, the sky was already bright, and the sound of rumbling drums suddenly came from outside, over and over again over the palace walls, reaching the ears of the emperor and all the officials, and everyone in the court hall changed their expressions in unison.

The sound of the drum was very close, and one could tell it was the Dengwen drum placed outside the palace gate. But suddenly it rang.

Without the young emperor opening his mouth, He Yuan had already ordered: "Look who is beating the drums."

It took a lot of time to go back and forth from the court hall to the palace gate, and it took a long time before someone answered: "It is Xue Yunqing, son of the late Zhongyi Hou Xue Guang."

The ministers were in an uproar.

Rumors about Xue Chong's murder of his brother Xue Guang have long been spread. Today, first Xue Chong asked for a leave of absence from the morning court, and then Xue Guang's son beat drums to protest his grievances. Convinced in his heart that this matter was true, he couldn't help secretly scolding Xue Chong for being sinister and vicious.

He Yuan said: "Since there are people beating drums to complain, let's go and have a look."

All the officials wanted to go home when they left court, so they naturally followed He Yuan to the outside of the palace.

At this time, outside the palace gate, Xue Yunqing was sitting in a wheelchair wearing hemp and filial piety, holding drumsticks in both hands, and was hitting the drum with all his strength.

It was not surprising for the officials to see such a scene, but to their surprise, there were dense crowds of people standing outside the palace gate, and the blackness stretched out for a long distance.

This posture was a bit shocking. The officials were too frightened to go out again, and even wanted to retreat to avoid it, but they couldn't hide their curiosity and stood there in a daze.

As soon as He Yuan appeared, Xue Yunqing stopped his hands immediately, and was supported to kneel down on the ground. He took out a paper from his sleeve and raised his hands above his head. He said in a loud voice: "The grassroots have a wrong, please the emperor to make the decision! Please the prince to make the decision!"

He Yuan walked over a few steps, asked someone to take the pleading paper, and asked, "Who do you want to sue?"

"Loyalty Marquis Xue Chong."

He Yuan raised his eyes and looked around: "You gathered all these people here?"

"No, they came here when they heard the grass people beating drums."

As soon as Xue Yunqing's words fell, the common people boiled up, and some loudly raised their arms and shouted: "Loyalty Hou abandoned his wife and son, murdered his brother, and bullied the people! Loyalty Hou is not worthy of the word loyalty! Please be the master!"

Some people took the lead, and the crowd became excited immediately, shouting loudly one after another, criticizing Hou Zhongyi every sentence, some said that he killed his elder brother, some said that he murdered his wife's dowry, some said that he allowed his subordinates to usurp other people's fertile land, and some even said that he Bullies.

The officials were stunned, and they all looked at He Yuan: This is what you always arranged, right?

He Yuan looked down at the pleading paper without changing his expression, and ordered the eunuch beside him to pass it to all the officials, and said in a low voice, "Since someone has sued the imperial court, then present the pleading paper to the imperial court."

The official who got the pleading paper shook his hand and almost threw the pleading paper away, but the regent asked him to read it, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and read it.

The officials passed it on one by one, and after reading the imperial certificate with trepidation, they finally understood that the regent was determined to force Hou Zhongyi to death, and the emperor had to push him himself. I don't know how much the emperor would feel. hatred.

The Prince Regent acts according to his personal preferences, and it is not an exaggeration to say that he kills without blinking an eye. However, in recent months, officials have discovered that he has begun to play cards according to common sense, and they have never heard of him killing people indiscriminately. But for some reason, facing On the contrary, they found it even more difficult to deal with the Prince Regent who had changed his temper. Sometimes when they met his eyes, they always felt unreasonable.

At this time, the only thought in most officials' minds was: fortunately, it was Hou Zhongyi who he wanted to deal with, not me.

The imperial certificate was quickly delivered to the emperor, and the young emperor panicked, angry and hated He Yuan, but the matter had already become an uproar, and the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty and the people of the whole capital were all watching eagerly. There is really no way to put this paper on the shelf, so I have to hope that the other party can't find any evidence.

But his hopes were quickly dashed. The blood letter left by Xue Guang back then, together with Gao Ziming's confession, were soon presented to him together.

He Yuan looked at him indifferently, and said earnestly: "Your Majesty, Xue Guang should have returned victorious after winning the battle. Hou Zhongyi not only mutilated his elder brother, but also mutilated Zhongliang. Such a person is a moth of the country and cannot be kept. "

The emperor was speechless for a while, and finally stammered: "The emperor's uncle is right, then degrade the Marquis of Zhongyi to the rank of Uncle Zhongyi."

He Yuan laughed angrily: "The emperor really?"

"No, no, he can't take the word loyalty, so change it to... change it to..."

He Yuan said coldly: "The emperor still wants to retain his title? Do you know how the outside world scolds him and the emperor?"

"Calling me?" The emperor's face froze, his brows were slightly sullen.

"Loyalty marquis kills Zhongliang, abandons his wife and children, oppresses the common people, the emperor favors traitors, and does not distinguish between right and wrong."

The emperor was furious when he heard this, but he knew that he must protect Hou Zhongyi, otherwise he would look at the face of the emperor's uncle even more in the future, chewed his words in his heart, and said anxiously: "How do you start oppressing the people? Isn't this an unwarranted crime?"

He Yuan saw that he was not willing to die until he came to the Yellow River, so he had to take out another testimony from his sleeve: "After he took over the title, he redistributed the farmland in the family, and took all the good land for himself, and distributed the barren land to the side branches. , he even indulged the people under him to oppress the common people, isn’t this evidence enough?”

He Yuan was also very surprised by this latest testimony. He had heard Xue Yunzhou say that those side branches were unwilling to be enemies with Xue Chong. At such a moment, the branch of the Xue family pushed Xue Chong into the fire pit without hesitation, which was relatively rare in the ancient times when the family was relied on.

The emperor looked at the criminal evidence one after another before him, feeling powerless all over his body. After a long silence, he tremblingly said, "According to the emperor's uncle's opinion, how should we deal with Hou Zhongyi?"

He Yuan said without hesitation: "Cut the noble, confiscate the family property, and exile."

The emperor raised his head sharply, staring at him with wide eyes.

He Yuan looked back indifferently: "What does your majesty think?"

The emperor clenched his fists in his sleeves, took a deep breath after a while and said, "Then follow the emperor's uncle's wishes."