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The situation in the capital became more and more chaotic, in November, the deposed officials from all over the country gathered in the capital in front of the major yamen and the imperial palace to shout grievances, and with the acquiescence of Zhao Zhen, Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi and others took the lead and several officials were imprisoned, and the situation seemed to ease slightly.

But then a bigger mess happened, on the night of Laba, which was a good day for every family to worship the Buddha and pray for blessings, someone hanged himself in the major downtown entrances one after another, and was found by the people who got up early in the morning, and they were so frightened that they hurriedly reported to the official; Kaifeng Prefecture quickly sent people to the scene, and after identification, it was found that five deposed officials from other places died by hanging, including Liumei Village, the prefect of Raozhou.

The corpses of these people all have suicide notes, which roughly say that after the emperor violated the ancestral teachings and connived at the evil and persecuted Zhongliang, he annihilated the grace of his ancestors, disregarded the imperial system, practiced retrograde methods, and did things that violated the world.

There is also a suicide note that Su Jin borrowed the Taimiao testament mentioned by Taizu Tuomeng in Yingtian Academy the year before last, bluntly saying that the emperor was unscrupulous, violated the ancestral teachings, connived at treachery, tortured and persecuted scholars and officials.

For a time, public opinion was in an uproar, the Beijing division was shaken, and the people were discussing; Originally, the New Year of the fourth year of the celebration was the most anticipated New Year by the people in the past few years, and as a result, the whole city was shrouded in a sense of panic; The rumors that appeared on the streets told how certain officials persecuted dissidents in the name of the new law to enrich their own pockets, how they concealed people's eyes and ears, and how they obstructed officials from petitioning and keeping the emperor in the dark.

The rumors intensified, and the news soon reached Zhao Zhen's ears, Zhao Zhen hurriedly summoned Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi, Fubi and others, and reprimanded them for why they didn't want to comfort the abolished officials who had been wronged, but they took their lives.

Fan Zhongyan and the others didn't expect things to get to such a point, and in the face of Zhao Zhen's reprimand, several people were speechless.

"What now? The rumors outside and the reputation that insulted me, and some people even said that I was not a fool of the emperor, how could I afford such a reputation? Zhao Zhentie said with a blushing face.

Fan Zhongyan stepped forward and saluted: "Your Majesty, there is obviously something hidden in this matter, we did arrest a few officials who made trouble, but they only knew that they were moved by reason, and did not point a finger to them, why they were so angry that they committed suicide, and the ministers were puzzled. ”

Zhao Zhen said angrily: "Do you still need to think about this? Either there are really grievances, and you must not have figured out the situation when you censored it, or you think you are acting decently, but in fact it is rude and simple, hurting your self-esteem, I am a great Song scholar and a literati, you don't know, everyone regards reputation as more important than life, this is good, make up so many things out of thin air, how can I spend this New Year? ”

Fan Zhongyan blamed himself repeatedly: "It's all the ministers who are not thoughtful, please calm the emperor's anger, and the ministers must pay attention to the means of acting in the future to ensure that this incident does not happen again." ”

Zhao Zhen's anger subsided for a while, and he sighed and said: "I don't want to reprimand you, you are also for the sake of the society, the current matter needs to be properly settled, what should you do now?" ”

Ouyang Xiu stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the minister has something to say." ”

Zhao Zhen said: "Say." ”

Ouyang Xiu said: "The more the minister thinks about it, the more he feels that something is wrong, these officials committed suicide in the downtown area, carrying a suicide note slandering the court and the emperor, although it is a feeling of being wronged, but from the time and place of suicide, it seems that it is better to act together; This kind of thing seems very strange, one of the five people who died is Liumei Village, the former prefect of Raozhou, one is Huang Wannian, the other three are Zheng Pisi, the county commander of Dengfeng County, Wan Tongyuan, the county commander of Xiaoxian County, and Li Mengde, the five people are divided into east, west, north, south, and middle, with high and low official positions, and different ages, don't you think this is a little weird? ”

Zhao Zhen said: "What's weird? If you commit suicide and be born on the same day, the same month, the same year? Do you think this is a worship? ”

Ouyang Xiu hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, what the minister means is that these five people don't know each other, their ages and family backgrounds are different, and they are thousands of miles away from each other as officials, but at the same time, they hanged themselves in the same way, as if they were about to die, how is this possible?" ”

Zhao Zhen said: "How is it impossible? Maybe it's because they got acquainted with each other after they came to the capital, and then they made an appointment to do it, which is strange. ”

Ouyang Xiu said: "Maybe the emperor is right, but the minister thinks that this matter is very suspicious, maybe it is not as simple as making an appointment to hang himself, take Weichen as an example, if I admonish each other with death, I will not make an appointment with others, because there is no need to gang up for such things, and I will not write a suicide note slandering the court and the emperor on my body, because since I am determined to die, I will never write a great rebellion and leave a disaster to my family, you need to know that my Great Song Dynasty criminal system has a clear text, slandering the government and not respecting the Holy Lord will punish the people, no matter how stupid these people are, they will not ignore the safety of their families, Drag them to death with them. ”

Zhao Zhen frowned and was silent, Ouyang Xiu's words made some sense, and Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi and the others also felt that there was something strange in it, and they all thought about it carefully.

"Then what does it see?" Zhao Zhen asked quietly.

Ouyang Xiu said: "The minister doesn't dare to say anything, after all, it is disrespectful to slander the deceased, but the five people hanged themselves in the same way, it must be to expand the influence, that is to say, their purpose is to create the current panic situation, but they do not benefit themselves in doing so, but will implicate their families, isn't this a contradiction?" ”

Zhao Zhen frowned and said, "You mean, their death is very suspicious?" ”

Ouyang Xiu arched his hand and said: "The minister is just guessing, maybe this matter can be investigated." ”

Zhao Zhen raised his head and looked at Ouyang Xiudao: "I understand what you mean, are you saying that someone is deliberately creating the current panic situation to obstruct the implementation of the new policy?" ”

Ouyang Xiu said: "The minister does not dare to assert it, but the minister wants to ask the emperor to order and send someone to investigate this matter thoroughly. ”

Zhao Zhen sighed and said, "Then you will come forward to find out about this matter." ”

Ouyang Xiu waved his hand and said: "I'm afraid it's not good for the minister to come forward, no matter what the minister finds out, it will be difficult to convince the public, because the minister is a member of the active implementation of the new policy, and it is inevitable that some people will say that I am slandering others." ”

Zhao Zhen nodded and said, "Then who will check the suitability?" ”

Ouyang Xiudao: "The minister thinks that Bao Zheng is the most suitable, but I'm afraid he won't agree, recently Bao Zheng disagreed with us on many things, he was actively involved in the new deal, but now for some reason he gradually faded out, and recently went back to Luzhou to visit relatives." ”

Zhao Zhen's brows twisted into a pimple and said, "How is Su Jin?" Ask Su Jin to investigate, this kind of thing should not be difficult for him. ”

Ouyang Xiu said: "Master Su is smart and intelligent, he is naturally the right person, but he may not agree, the ministers have asked him to create a new deal several times, but he refused, and persuaded us to slow down the new policy, and the minister is afraid that he will not be moved." ”

Zhao Zhen said: "This Su Jin, I don't know what to think, he was the first to put forward the ten evils, but now that the new policy is implemented, he is a turtle with a shrunken head; Then I came and told them in person, "Stand down, and don't act too radically in the future, and the dead officials should be buried with mercy, so that the crime of slander will be avoided, and their families and children will be comforted." ”

Fan Zhongyan and the others bowed out, they were also anxious, the new policy was implemented for only a few months, and they encountered so much resistance, although everyone did not admit it, but in their hearts they admired Su Jin's admonition in Qinzhou that day; But Fan Zhongyan and Han Qi and others were the ones who retreated in the face of difficulties, although this incident hit them, but it did not shake the confidence of several people.

……

Hearing the news that the five officials hanged themselves on the street, Su Jin's first reaction was not to believe that they were committing suicide, with Su Jin's understanding of human nature, the more fierce people are, the more they attach importance to things outside the body such as fame and fortune.

If you ask such people to make trouble, maybe they will be happy, after all, it is possible to restore their official positions and continue to live a rich and powerful life, but if you want them to die to admonish them, it will definitely not be possible.

Of course, most of the conjecture and analysis are subjective, because Su Jin is preconceived that all events that obstruct the new deal are man-made, which is the reason why he immediately became suspicious when he heard about it.

Objectively, from the way of suicide and the choice in the world, it seems to be carefully designed, and there are obvious traces of man-made, based on these two points, Su Jin is enough to conclude that there are many doubts.

But even so, when Zhao Zhen summoned Su Jin and ordered him to investigate the matter thoroughly, Su Jin still excused himself and said that he would return to Qinzhou in the near future and had no time to handle the matter; Su Jin wanted to be a cold-eyed bystander at all, he finally stayed out of the matter, if he showed up to investigate the case, he would soon be considered to be in league with Fan Zhongyan and others, Su Jin was unwilling to do so.

Zhao Zhen was very annoyed, Su Jin didn't know what was wrong, a radical person's performance in the New Deal was shocking, and he didn't even want to come forward to investigate the case, as a last resort, Zhao Zhen used a killer trick to find out several of Su Jin's charges in Yangzhou, forcing Su Jin to accept the errand; Su Jin was forced to have no choice but to agree to investigate the matter, but asked to do it secretly and not announce it publicly.

Su Jin quickly investigated the scene, examined several corpses one by one, and came to a conclusion in less than a day, which shocked Zhao Zhen greatly.

Su Jin's conclusion was that the five officials did not commit suicide at all, but were killed and hung on the street, faking signs of suicide.