Iron Armored Emperor

When all the officials came to the court, they saw Du Ke, who was carrying a heavy shackle and weeping bitterly, and Zhu Beihe, who was kneeling beside him without the shackles, reconciled.

His Majesty and Marquis Ding Guo came hand in hand.

All the ministers waited for Marquis Dingguo to come and stand opposite the prime minister, and then he called Long live and greeted him.

Di Qiye and Jiang Yang met each other hastily, and before they had time to communicate, Gu Lie smashed the notebook down, all the officials fell silent, and even Du Ke, who was sobbing, stopped instantly.

Gu Lie gave him a cold look, and ordered: "Read."

The Jinyi guard on duty stepped forward and spread the booklet on the ground in front of Du Ke.

This is Du Ke's note to Gu Lie after he murdered Hu Tang's family and blamed the refugees. In it, he expressed his regret for Hu Tang's tragic death, and then expressed his loyalty even more, begging Gu Lie to give A chance to be reinstated.

It’s shameless enough to write this, but obviously this is not the pinnacle of Du Ke’s shamelessness—at the end of the excerpt, Du Ke also vowed to catch the culprit of Hu Tang’s tragic death and cut these refugees into pieces , to comfort Hu Daotai's spirit in heaven.

Du Ke was shaking like he was sifting through the chaff, saying this sentence was like slapping himself in the face, His Majesty must have added fuel to the fire, how dare he say it?

Du Ke could only cry and howl: "Your Majesty, the guilty minister knows his mistake, the guilty minister knows his mistake!"

Gu Lie didn't even move his eyebrows, and asked calmly: "Are you going to resist the imperial edict?"

Du Ke's face turned pale immediately, and he trembled like dead leaves on treetops in the cold autumn wind, and he began to read his scriptures in fear.

Du Ke read tremblingly, Gu Lie's eyes hung between him and Zhu Beihe, Zhu Beihe was so ashamed that he couldn't help but whisper among the officials, Gu Lie listened to his heart The anger is getting stronger.

"Tsk," Marquis Ding Guo couldn't help it like Baiguan, he didn't deliberately lower his voice, and sighed normally, "It's so shameless."

As soon as Di Qiye opened his mouth, he naturally interrupted Du Ke. Du Ke didn't dare to continue reading. At this time, he lay down on the ground to plead guilty, and said "the guilty minister knows his mistake" several times.

The anger in Gu Lie's heart did not continue to rise.

Gu Lie knew that Di Qiye was interrupting Du Ke on purpose, and he probably didn't want to see him get too angry, so he calmed down and asked Zhu Beihe, "Do you have something to say?"

I wish Beihe a deep bow: "I owe the great kindness of Your Majesty, and I cannot bear the heavy responsibility. I bent the law for personal gain and made a big mistake. I should be guilty of the same crime as Du Ke."

Everyone could see that Zhu Beihe was full of guilt, he didn't defend himself, Gu Lie expected it, but Zhu Beihe really didn't explain in detail, the fire in Gu Lie's heart flared up again.

It's not that if Zhu Beihe confessed and explained in detail, Gu Lie would let him go.But after all, Zhu Beihe was an important minister that Gu Lie had entrusted to him since Jing Xin raised his troops. If Zhu Beihe woke up before or even immediately after making a mistake and came to confess to Gu Lie, how could he have made such a fuss?

In other words, why didn't Zhu Beihe come and confess to Gu Lie earlier?Is it distrust, or dare not?

Gu Lie thought hard for a few days, but he was disappointed besides disappointment.

No longer looking at Zhu Beihe, Gu Lie turned to the ministers below and asked in a cold voice: "The criminals in this case have all the evidence and the ins and outs are clear. What do you think, how should the case be closed?"

Gu Lie's words were like water dripping into a frying pan, and the hall suddenly became lively.

Du Ke was a heroic foreign military general, and he had several in-laws with the group of retainers. They didn't dare to persuade Gu Lie to raise their hand, and said a few words in a dignified manner, "If you think of the merits of establishing Chu, you can avoid death and life." Still dare.

As for Zhu Beihe, he is a great meritorious official, and also a branch of Zhu's family. He has a good relationship with Jiang Yang, Yan Fagu and other important officials. All the officials know that he is also one of His Majesty's close officials, so there are even more people who intercede.

They talked about love lively, but the ministers gradually realized that Marquis Dingguo closed his eyes and didn't speak, and Prime Minister Jiang Yang didn't speak... Each of them was in a bad mood, and Fengtian Palace gradually returned to the dead silence.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Gu Lie asked calmly.

No one dared to answer.

Gu Lie looked at Mu Lian: "You Yushi, tell me."

Mu Lian pointed out the clauses in the Great Chu Law, and combined with the circumstances of the case, he preliminarily drafted the punishment for the two: "Du Ke harmed his colleagues, deceived the king and ignored him, and ransacked his family and punished him, so as to imitate others."

"Zhu Beihe is a crime of dereliction of duty. Dereliction of duty is a crime. If it is serious, you will be relegated, and if it is light, you will be fined. In this case, Zhu Beihe was deceived by others, and he was coerced by his mother. It is the dilemma of loyalty and filial piety. According to the law, The punishment should be lenient."

Just when the ministers thought that Mu Lian, a lunatic, also learned to talk about human feelings, Mu Lian changed the subject: "However, Zhu Beihe, as the minister of Dali Temple, knows the law and broke the law. If he continues to be in charge of the prison, how can he serve the public? Zhu Beihe As a meritorious official and veteran, but conniving at the nepotism of in-laws, and causing great misfortune, if we are not severely punished, how can I, Great Chu, convince the people?"

After hearing this slap in the face and intercede, all the ministers resented Mu Lian in their hearts, not to mention, Jiang Yang was as anxious as an ant on fire.

Jiang Yang understood His Majesty's way of doing things too well, and also thought of His Majesty and Da Chu wholeheartedly, so as soon as he found out about this, he immediately scolded Zhu Beihe for being stupid, and urged Zhu Beihe to plead guilty to His Majesty as soon as possible.

But since Zhu Beihe knew about the tragic death of Hu Tang's family, he was so ashamed that he couldn't forgive himself, half of him was shameless to face Gu Lie, so he dragged on, waiting for His Majesty to send someone to arrest him and put him in the shackles.

Jiang Yang was so anxious to him, but Jiang Yang couldn't tell Gu Lie directly, it was tantamount to betraying his brother, and Jiang Yang couldn't keep silent, it was tantamount to deceiving the king.

In a dilemma, Jiang Yang really had no choice, so he went to recall the past with Gu Lie.He wanted to recall Gu Lie's past memories and intercede with Zhu Beihe in advance in a disguised form, but he also used this method to remind Gu Lie that something was wrong.

Jiang Yang understood Gu Lie, and Gu Lie understood Jiang Yang, so he immediately sent someone to investigate.

Gu Lie knew very well that Jiang Yang and Di Qiye were the only ones who could claim to be completely loyal to the emperor among the civil and military dynasties of the Great Chu in the previous life, and they were on his side from beginning to end.

This is not easy, and it does not mean that it can be done with all loyalty.Moreover, Di Qiye intentionally avoided the government in his previous life, and was also deliberately alone. After all, he didn't have so much involvement, not to mention that Di Qiye was actually partial to Gu Lie.

Compared with Di Qiye, Jiang Yang, who is in the center of the retainer network and bears the burden of the rise and fall of the Jiang family, can be completely loyal to the emperor. It is conceivable how much he suffered in the cracks and how much he racked his brains to make trade-offs.

Gu Lie was not a monarch who was too demanding on others, and he knew how to check and balance his courtiers, but the key was that Zhu Beihe was a close minister whom Gu Lie trusted. Yang and Di Qiye compared each other, Zhu Beihe's behavior in this case can be said to have disappointed Gu Lie.

Gu Lie was silent, and no one dared to speak.

Du Ke didn't know if he was frightened by this silence, or he was afraid of death. Regardless, he took out the old calendar and cried: "Your Majesty, I was the first to descend to Chu in Xinzhou back then, Your Majesty! I stand for you and Da Chu has made great achievements."

Gu Lie shouted: "Shut up!"

Originally, Gu Lie was dissatisfied with the courtiers' pleading behavior, but Du Ke committed such a tragedy single-handedly, and even wanted to bring out the meritorious qualifications of the hero to intercede for himself, which really added firewood to Gu Lie's heart.

For his own greed, he killed Hu Tangman's family, and even did it in the Daotai mansion of Liangzi. He killed people and destroyed the corpses and traces.

Gu Lie clenched his teeth.

This is ignoring the laws of Great Chu!

These courtiers don't take Da Chu's country and society at heart!

"You vicious person who perverts the law," Gu Lie finally said, his anger could not be concealed, "You have no rules, violated laws and regulations, filled your own pockets, and supported your in-laws. You will not be allowed to be left by a widow or your whole family! You are not lying , do you want to catch the culprit who killed Hu Tang and cut them into pieces? This widow will fulfill you!"

"Preach the decree! The widow wants to destroy him all"

"His Majesty!"

Someone dared to stop it.

All the ministers saw that he was the Marquis of Dingguo.

Di Qiye knelt down on one knee and shouted again: "Your Majesty!"

Di Qiye didn't look at Gu Lie, but bowed deeply, "This person has committed a heinous crime, and he deserves to die. It's okay for his in-laws and family members to move around according to the law, so as to serve as an example to others."

"However, the use of torture will not only frighten the hearts of the people, but also not conducive to His Majesty's original intention of purging the government and eliminating harm for the people."

"I dare you, Your Majesty, please think twice."

Where is this boldness?

This is obviously audacious, Ding Guohou almost said that His Majesty would take back his life, when did Jinkou Yuyan hear that it can be changed?His Majesty is angry!

Moreover, is it necessary to contradict His Majesty for such a wolf-hearted thing like Du Ke?Is Ding Guohou just sensationalizing, or has he really been praised so highly by His Majesty?

All the ministers looked at me and I looked at you, and they watched the joke of the Duke of Ding carefully.

Jiang Yang, Mu Lian and the others looked worriedly at Di Qiye who was kneeling on the ground, but no matter how puzzled or worried they were, they did not dare to speak out to annoy Gu Lie at this moment.

Fengtian Temple was silent again.

What His Majesty said again was beyond the expectations of almost all the courtiers.

"Marquis Dingguo's words are justified," Gu Lie resumed his usual calm tone, "deliver an order to confiscate Du Ke's family and behead him, confiscate his family property, emigrate to Xizhou, and not return to Beijing for generations."

"I wish Beihe won the post of Minister of Dali Temple, he will be fined for one year, he will shut himself up and think about his mistakes, and he will not leave the mansion."

Weiyang Palace.

As usual, Gu Lie came back after dealing with affairs for a whole day in the political affairs hall. As soon as he entered the palace, his face was completely stiff, and he couldn't get up the energy to make half an expression.

Di Qiye sat behind another case and flipped through the book, not disturbing His Majesty's self-reflection.

Rather than self-examination, it is more appropriate to demand oneself without a bottom line.

Thinking of this, Di Qiye sighed inwardly, couldn't sit still anymore, and went to Gu Lie's side.