When Wu Sangui made a promise to Mu Tianbo, Xia Guoxiang, who was listening, smiled a little unnaturally. When Mu Tianbo said goodbye, King Pingxi enthusiastically sent him to the gate of the palace. After returning to the living room, Xia Guoxiang knelt on the ground with a puff: "Your Majesty, we can't agree to this!" ”

"What are you afraid of, this king didn't say that he was going to fight Li Dingguo." Wu Sangui chuckled.

"Don't beat Li Dingguo?" Xia Guoxiang felt that jumping out to beat Li Dingguo at this time was purely looking for death. Although the king of Pingxi owned two provinces, compared with Yunnan, which had the support of Sichuan, both food and weapons were far behind; Now that the turmoil in the southeast has been suppressed by Sichuan, maybe Wu Sangui has not killed the border, and the reinforcements from Sichuan will come over in a hula-la, and then Shang Kexi's unreliable guy will come to aid Gui again; If Wu Sangui is really unpopular, maybe Zhang Changgeng will also come to aid Gui. Xia Guoxiang's eyes rolled, and he asked hesitantly, "Is it to fight Annan?" ”

When Xiying collapsed in the twelfth year of Yongli, Annan changed from the neutrality of the Ming army to absolute neutrality; In the thirteenth year of Yongli, the Ming Emperor abandoned the country, and Annam began to change to the neutrality of the Qing court; After Deng Ming made a big fuss about Kunming, Jiangnan, and Gaoyou Lake, Annan's attitude began to shift to the side of the Ming army. But because Guangxi has always been in the hands of Sun Yanling and Wu Sangui, Annan still maintains the superficial disagreement.

Six years after Kangxi, the monarchs and ministers of Annam generally concluded that the Qing court was going to fail, but there was a lesson from the infighting of the three kings of the Southern Ming Dynasty, Annan still paid tribute to the Qing court, and at the same time opened the port to Deng Ming's trade fleet, and also sent the Ming army that fled into Annam eight years ago to Siam politely - Siam has always been the iron core of the Ming Dynasty, Kangxi five years, King Nalai also personally ran to Sichuan, to meet the general Deng Ming. The diplomatic agreement signed between the two sides stipulated that from the fifth year of the Kangxi reign, if either country of Siam and China was invaded, the other side had the obligation to declare war. If a country initiates a war on its own initiative, the other side is also obliged to open its borders to the other side and provide the necessary ports and roads. The treaty also stipulated that Sichuan would provide instructors to help Siam reorganize its troops in an all-round way, and that all the equipment of the Siamese army would be procured from Sichuan.

"It's still not good," Xia Guoxiang thought about it for a while, and said anxiously to Wu Sangui: "It's not easy to fight Annan, and even if we finish fighting Annan, we still have to fight Siam...... It's not going to work. ”

"Not to mention that Annan can't be defeated for a while, not to mention that it will take thousands of miles to transport grain to reach Siam after defeating Annan, not to mention that after the defeat of Siam, it is still far from Burma." The surrounding neighbors see Wu Sangui as evil neighbors, and Wu Sangui sees them as evil neighbors. King Pingxi laughed: "If nothing else, we haven't defeated Annan yet, and all the Qinwang Army, the Crusade Army, and the Gui Aid Army should be killed towards Guilin, do you mean this?" ”

"The king is wise."

"Ever heard of the Battle of Carriage Gorge?" Wu Sangui asked.

"Carriage Gorge?" Xia Guoxiang was slightly stunned, nodded and said: "I heard that Chen Qiyu besieged Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai and other more than a dozen anti-kings in the carriage gorge, but Chen Qiyu mistakenly believed the words of the Liukou, and obviously he could have wiped them out, but he released them all and let them go without reorganization." Not only did they let go, but they also let them take away their armor and weapons, but within two days they were reversed. ”

Wu Sangui seemed to be smiling, staring at Xia Guoxiang for a while: "Don't you think it's strange after you finish talking yourself?" ”

Xia Guoxiang groaned slightly, and also felt that this matter seemed to be strange everywhere, but he couldn't tell what was wrong all of a sudden.

"No one had ever heard of this place name before Chen Qiyu reported that he had surrounded Liukou in the Carriage Gorge; After Chen Qiyu, the Carriage Gorge became famous, but no one knew where it was. Some people say that Qinglong Gorge is the carriage gorge, and some people say that it is somewhere else, but no matter what you say, it is different from what is written in Chen Qiyu's recital. For example, Qinglong Gorge, this king thinks it can't be, Chen Qiyu said that the officers and soldiers are chasing Liukou in the back, and Liukou strayed into the carriage gorge in a hurry, and Qinglong Gorge Zhang Xianzhong has walked at least four or five times before, where can he be wrong? Wu Sangui said unhurriedly.

In fact, not only could no one find out where the carriage gorge was at the end of the Ming Dynasty, but even in Deng Ming's era, he still couldn't find it, and even on the satellite, he couldn't find a place that matched Chen Qiyu's description. Many scholars argued about this, and some people went all the way from Hubei to Henan, and their hair was gray but they still couldn't find the carriage gorge: "If Chen Qiyu hurriedly played, it may also be that he made a mistake in the place name, but after he surrounded the Liukou for dozens of days, he solemnly asked the emperor to agree to him to recruit An, how could he not be able to figure out the place name at this time?" If it was really Qinglong Gorge or something else, why didn't Chen Qiyu use the real place name, but instead of giving this battlefield a new name? This is the one who does not understand this king. ”

After a pause, Wu Sangui continued: "Chen Qiyu described the process of this battle as because 60,000 or 70,000 Liukou were chased by tens of thousands of officers and soldiers in a hurry, and when they saw the entrance of the carriage gorge, they recognized the mistake and plunged into it—for example, they mistakenly thought it was Qinglong Gorge that was connected at both ends. After discovering that something was wrong, the thieves behind continued to pour in, blocking the retreat route, but none of them escaped. It was a dozen tributaries, tens of thousands of horses, all of them plunged into this canyon two horses wide and ten miles long waiting to die. When these rogues are chased by officers and soldiers in a panic, can they still line up in a dense formation and drive into the canyon in a neat manner? It's not that you haven't seen the scene of defeat and escape, when will tens of thousands of people march in order? Is this still a rogue? If the rogues can be so neat, then what are they going to run? Does Chen Qiyu still dare to chase? This king is puzzled. ”

Hear here. Xia Guoxiang's eyes widened suddenly, he had already guessed what Wu Sangui wanted to say, but Wu Sangui still had the following: "What this king is even more puzzled about is that the scale of this battle is comparable to that of Songshan and Zhuxian Town, but there is no name for meritorious service - so many rogues are surrounded, who is chasing the front, who is intercepting on the flanks, who is blocking the rogues desperately breaking through, why is there no name?" Could it be that the local people helped the officers and soldiers throw stones and besieged the rogue to death? Why is there no one to ask for such a great merit? This king is puzzled by the three. ”

Even if Chen Qiyu made a mistake later, it would not reduce the merits of these generals, because the mistake was Chen Qiyu's stupidity, and the fact that he had besieged so many anti-kings before was the real qualifications and merits of the generals who were responsible for encircling and intercepting them. Under normal circumstances, the Ming generals would have to kill the good and take the merit if they didn't meet the rogue, but the carriage gorge was uncharacteristically humble, claiming that he had nothing to do with such great achievements.

Originally, Chen Qiyu said that he only surrounded one Zhang Xianzhong, which is already a great achievement; But later others said that it was more than that, in fact, Li Zicheng was also in it. If it was really there at the beginning, why didn't Chen Qiyu mention it? A few days later, someone found out that Luo Rucai was actually in the carriage gorge...... And then there's the scorpion block...... Old Returns...... Later, it was discovered that Chen Qiyu lived in the net with far more than one Zhang Xianzhong, and almost all the giants who wandered in Henan and Huguang were in the carriage gorge. This is the fourth person that this king does not understand, and there are more small questions as for others. ”

"Yes, yes." Xia Guoxiang muttered: "Everyone said that this matter was true, and the civil and military officials in Huguang and Henan at that time all said that it was true." ”

"It's just talking, Chen Qiyu has the final say in all the processes, and no one is even willing to touch this matter, and no one says that he is also on the scene, confirming that every sentence of Chen Qiyu's recital is true." Wu Sangui smiled slightly: "If this king assumes that the truth is not like this at all, but Chen Qiyu met Zhang Xianzhong and found that he couldn't beat it at all; So Chen Qiyu and Zhang Xianzhong said, don't make trouble, if you make trouble again, you won't be able to protect your head. In this way, I'll recruit you and help you ask the court for a place to stay, how about it? But although Zhang Xianzhong agreed, if the emperor saw that Chen Qiyu's reason for recruiting was because he couldn't beat him, then his head still couldn't be saved, so Chen Qiyu said that he surrounded Zhang Xianzhong in the carriage gorge, and Zhang Xianzhong was at the end of his rope, and Chen Qiyu asked the emperor to recruit them when Liukou was also a son of the imperial court, so that the emperor's face was also saved; As for the location, of course, it is necessary to make up a carriage gorge to come out, so that there is no proof of death. If it is a real place name, what if the imperial court calls a few gentry from the local area to inquire about the course of the war? There are no meritorious generals, and there are not even gentry who lead the township to assist the officers and soldiers! Of course not, because this battle is simply nothing. Zhang Xianzhong is very fierce, everyone can't beat him, and I don't know if Chen Qiyu can end up next. Since the situation is so sinister, no one will rush to take credit until they see the change in the situation. And Zhang Xianzhong can come out with armor and weapons, which is even more normal. No matter how stupid Chen Qiyu was, he should have known to break up the surrendered rogues, but he didn't let the rogues hand over their armor and weapons at all. ”

Because Zhang Xianzhong was not forced to surrender because he was at the end of his rope, but his strength was still there, the magistrates were afraid of him, and no one could restrain him, so he did not dare to let the Xiying army enter the city as Chen Qiyu requested, and the Fengxiang guard also killed all the envoys sent by Zhang Xianzhong; In Zhang Xianzhong's view, this is Chen Qiyu's breach of the contract, and as a result, Zhao'an failed.

The fact that there are more and more rogue leaders surrounded by the carriage gorge is even more logical in Wu Sangui's opinion. Everyone saw that Chen Qiyu had messed up, and suddenly realized that this was a good excuse to shirk his disadvantage of suppressing bandits: Your Majesty, it's not that I encircled and suppressed Li Zicheng, that Li Zicheng was not on my side at all a few days ago, but was surrounded by Chen Qiyu, and then Chen Qiyu released Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong together, and I was also paralyzed because of Chen Qiyu's announcement of recruiting - I was also at fault, but the culprit was Chen Qiyu, the emperor. It's all Chen Qiyu, a fool, who not only let the exile come out with armor and weapons, but also doesn't send officers and soldiers to follow and monitor.

"If Chen Qiyu wants to refute the black water splashed by others, he has to admit to the emperor that the carriage gorge is pure nonsense, and that he can't make the rogue lay down his arms at all. But can he? Since it can't, others have done the same, and all those who are ineffective say that the rogue he has there was also released by Chen Qiyu, but not all the big couges are in the carriage gorge. You see, if you use this assumption, then there's nothing strange about the whole thing, right? Wu Sangui asked with a smile: "The officers and soldiers, the hundreds of thousands of troops of the Liukou have been fighting fiercely for two months, and they can't even find the battlefield in such a big battle, but why hasn't anyone said anything to the Son of Chongzhen?" Because everyone involved needs to have this battle, everyone says yes. Maybe in a few hundred years, some people will wonder why they can't find this place. ”

Xia Guoxiang had already reacted at this time: "The fact that the Son of Yongli Tianzi voluntarily stayed in Myanmar and did not come back is the same as Chen Qiyu's carriage gorge. It's beneficial to everyone, so everyone doesn't want anyone to pick on this matter, saying that Yongli actually wants to come back, and he also sent Mu Tianbo back to China to move the rescuers. It's as if someone said to Chongzhen Tianzi that the Battle of the Carriage Gorge was fake, then everyone would feel uncomfortable. ”

Wu Sangui smiled: "That's right! Mu Tianbo was angry, and the king wanted to treat him well, so that he could ignore Li Dingguo and the emperor, Yang was framing the emperor, and Deng Ming was the main envoy of all this. At the same time, the king made a big fanfare, announcing that he would lead the army to take the road of Yunnan to King Qin, and asked the king of Jin to lend me the road and provide me with grain and grass. ”

Wu Sangui would not send a single soldier into the territory of Yunnan, nor did he expect Li Dingguo to agree to join him with King Qin, but Li Dingguo could not openly oppose Wu Sangui's plan. And Wu Sangui will launch a wave of propaganda offensive, saying that Yongli has been greatly humiliated in Burma, as long as Li Dingguo nods, then Wu Sangui is willing to repay the thief anyway. Sichuan and Yunnan can certainly turn a deaf ear, but such behavior will still be a serious blow to the reputations of Li Dingguo and Deng Ming. As long as Wu Sangui's slogan is shouted loudly enough and shouted for a long time, there will always be people in the world who will begin to believe that Wu Sangui is sincere, and Li Dingguo is still a rogue in nature, not only does he not care about giving him the eternal calendar of the king, but also prevents Wu Sangui from going to the rescue.

"Although this king is anyway, he has not taken the initiative to attack any princes, but only expressed his willingness to go under the command of King Jin, and even willing to hand over part of King Qin's army to the command of King Jin, if King Jin goes to rescue the Son of Heaven, then I can even provide him with some grain and grass. In this way, Sichuan can't find a reason to fight this king, right? The governors of the provinces will watch, suspecting that Sichuan is going to take the opportunity to kill them all. Besides, Wu Sangui still has 100,000 troops in hand, he thinks that as long as he guards against it, Sichuan and Yunnan can't help him for a while, and if the world sees that Wu Sangui is just about to go to King Qin anyway, he is beaten by Sichuan and Yunnan together, how will he feel? Although for the princes, the emperor is like that, but for the people, it still has a certain appeal. If it weren't for the fear of Yongli's appeal to the gentry and ordinary people, the Sichuan Yuan would not oppose his return to China.

"If the Sichuan army dares to attack the king, it will most likely confirm that Deng Ming and Li Dingguo want to join forces to usurp the rebellion. Whoever dares to say a fair word for the emperor overseas will be beaten by Deng Ming and Li Dingguo. At that time, the king could still make Mu Tianbo's words public...... Even if Sichuan is strong now, I don't dare to roast Deng Ming on the fire like this. ”

"This king kept shouting King Qin, and no one on the Ming army liked to listen to it. They must hope that this king will stop as soon as possible, they will come to buy this king, let this king say that there is no such thing at all, Yongli Tianzi is actually unwilling to return to China, and Mu Tianbo did not come to this king for help," Wu Sangui replied with confidence: "And this king is very willing to be bought." ”

"What does the king want?"

"This king doesn't want Hunan anymore, this king only needs Sichuan to admit that this king is Deng Xiang's person, and ask Sichuan to help persuade Zhang Changgeng to give this king more grain and grass. As long as he agrees with the king's crusade against Guangdong, the king will dedicate Guizhou to Deng Xiang, and Li Dingguo doesn't want it anyway. This king is willing to fight in the south and north for Deng Xiang, and the territory he has laid is dedicated to Deng Xiang, and he will never ask for the same price as other princes. Wu Sangui felt that Deng Ming had no reason to refuse his conditions: "If Deng Xiang nods, it is okay to give the northeast outside the Guanguan that originally belonged to the Tartars to this king, and the king of the Central Plains does not want an inch of fiefdom, and whatever Deng Xiang is embarrassed to do with his own hands, this king can do it for him." ”

……

When Wu Sangui was thinking hard about how to blend into the imperial camp, Ren Tang went down the river to Chongming and met Zhang Huangyan, the secretary of the Ming Army. This trip to Rentang was to come as a special envoy of the Yuan Council to welcome Zhang Huangyan to leave Chongming and go to Sichuan to serve as the highest criminal officer of the empire. And this point was also supported by Wen Anzhi - the old inspector basically didn't care, but this time he also nodded. As the importance of the Supreme Judicial Officer grew, He Daoning finally gave up the idea of resigning from his position as a criminal officer and finding an administrative position. The Yuan Association felt that He Daoning's power was too great, and someone was urgently needed to balance it, so it began to debate and look for a second suitable candidate, and the Zhejiang Department was determined to win this.

The Zhejiang system had a great influence in the imperial army, because almost all of Deng Ming's original army was adapted from the Zhejiang army, but the Zhejiang system was much worse in terms of administration. Liu Jinge and Yuan Xiang are all in the camp group, and the staff and subordinate officials of the Sichuan governor yamen left by Gong Yan needless to say also belong to the mountain of the camp; The Qingcheng faction is the largest force in the academy, with the support of many wealthy businessmen, and even Xiong Lan, Qin Xiucai, and Pu Fu are also allied with the Qingcheng faction, and they open their mouths and close their mouths to say "We Lao Sichuan people".

Looking at the Xiying Jin system, which finally moved closer to the imperial system, now Li Siye has served as the prefect of Jianchang, which can't help but make Zhejiang people not anxious. If the Yuan still does not agree to include Zhedong in the system and let Zhang Huangyan take office, then some people have suggested that Ren Tang resign from the military and join politics. Fortunately, the Yuanhui is not as stubborn as it used to be, but believes that the time is ripe for the merger of Zhedong.

"In the rules set by Governor Deng, the rights of the highest criminal officer are really boundless." Zhang Huangyan had studied the Sichuan legal code very carefully, because the latter had hinted at him and felt that Zhang Huangyan was very suitable for the position. The more he studied, the more Zhang Huangyan found that the highest criminal officer in the imperial system had almost no constraints: he was lifelong and had the right to interpret the constitution.

"It is true that the Admiral has always preferred to divide powers, and all matters are decided by vote, with the exception of the Supreme Judge. The Admiral envisages that in the future the maximum number of judges will be expanded to a minimum of five and a maximum of nine, and that the verdict will also be voted on. However, the opinion of only nine people can declare the resolution of the House of Representatives illegal...... Even the Admiral himself had to unconditionally obey the decisions of the Council. Ren Tang was also a little puzzled by this.

"Admiral Deng was reluctant to act arbitrarily because he thought it would be inefficient, and that only by drawing on the strengths of others could the government be more efficient." Zhang Huangyan has his understanding of this issue: "Admiral Deng also believes that the only advantage of arbitrariness is the ability to do whatever it takes. ”

Zhang Huangyan remembered that Deng Ming mentioned the matter of Emperor Lie many times, in order to levy a tax of one or two silver, he did not hesitate to starve to death a family of more than a dozen people, and exchanged so many lives for such a small tax, of course, the efficiency was very low, but the emperor could not care about this price.

"Emperor Lie was able to collect taxes at any cost, and in order to recover the Liao land, he did not hesitate to let tens of millions of people in the interior die; claimed to be going to crusade against the murderous Tartars, but as a result, the number of civilians killed by the officers and soldiers was ten times greater than that of the Liao people killed by the Tartars. Admiral Deng was probably deeply impressed by Jiashen's misery, so he established the system of the Yuan Council - if that happened again, the emperor regarded human life as a mustard and planned to complete his ambition at the cost of tens of millions of people's lives, there would be a Yuan Council that would be able to stop him. Zhang Huangyan knew that the dictatorship system was still implemented in Deng Ming's army, because for the army, the ability to do whatever it took was more important than efficiency: "Admiral Deng also said that the criminal officer is to preside over justice, perhaps Admiral Deng thinks that justice cannot be completely measured by pros and cons, but must be protected at any cost." ”

……

Many years later, Chengdu was brought to the Criminal Division.

The person Deng Ming came to find today was not Criminal Officer Chen Yati, but a colleague of Criminal Officer Chen Ti. While waiting for the man to arrive, Deng Ming chatted with Chen Ya about the recent case: "I heard that you are in charge of the complaint of the queen and the crown prince?" ”

"Yes." Chen Ya nodded. Emperor Yongli made several unsuccessful attempts to return to China, and all attempts by Empress Wang and the crown prince to obtain Chinese citizenship failed. The official in charge of the matter told the empress and the crown prince that this was a resolution of the imperial council, which clearly instructed that the emperor should not be granted nationality. At the beginning of the year, the Empress and the Crown Prince changed their strategy, no longer going to the Burmese embassy to make a big fuss, but entrusted a domestic lawyer to sue the imperial government in court, demanding justice from the Criminal Division.

The resolution of the court was made by the Imperial Parliament in Chengdu, so the lawyer did not go to the Supreme Criminal Division or the Provincial Criminal Division, but sent it to the yamen of the Chengdu Criminal Division, and the file was distributed to Criminal Officer Chen Ti. Looking at Deng Ming's appearance of wanting to speak and stopping, Chen Ya asked with a smile: "Prime Minister, are you curious about how I will judge?" ”

"Yes, very curious." Deng Ming nodded: "I don't know if it's appropriate to ask." ”

"It doesn't hurt to tell the prime minister, because this case is so simple, any criminal officer who glances at it will come to exactly the same opinion as me - the empress and the crown prince pointed out that all the other descendants of Emperor Taizu can obtain Chinese nationality, but only the emperor's family cannot, which is discrimination against the emperor; Moreover, the descendants of the crown prince cannot obtain Chinese nationality, which is undoubtedly strictly prohibited by the constitution; If the emperor chooses an heir from another clan, the court also requires that the chosen person must make a written declaration within 30 days that he will renounce his right to inherit or renounce his Chinese nationality; If the declaration is overdue, the resolution of the House of Representatives will automatically oblige the government to change the person to a stateless person, with the occupation labeled as the crown prince - there is no legal basis for this, and the constitution does not give the House of Representatives the right to forcibly deprive others of the right of inheritance or nationality. ”

"Ahh Deng Ming sighed lightly: "So Criminal Officer Chen Ti will rule that the resolutions of the Senate and the Imperial Assembly are illegal, and the emperor's family can return to China." ”

"Yes." Chen Ya nodded again: "If the preconditions are met, this is an inevitable ruling." ”

"What prerequisites?"

"I asked the plaintiff to give me a statement signed by the Emperor, declaring that he admitted that he and the royal family were under the jurisdiction of imperial law." Chen Ya said in a natural tone: "If the emperor does not recognize that I have jurisdiction over him, how can I uphold justice for him?" ”

"Is the prime minister looking for me?" A loud voice sounded behind Deng Ming, it was Xu Chaoyu, the provincial criminal officer in Jiangnan, who had recently come to Chengdu to collect the files.

"Yes." Deng Ming and Xu Chaoyu walked to an office where there was no one else, and after closing the door, Deng Ming said straight to the point: "Criminal Officer Xu Ti, I just learned that you sentenced Liang Huafeng to life imprisonment and Jiang Guozhu to death. ”

"The jurors unanimously found them guilty of murder, Jiang Guozhu was the mastermind, Liang Huafeng was an accomplice, and I sentenced them in accordance with the law." Xu Chaoyu replied unhurriedly: "If the prime minister has any doubts, I can send a copy of the attachment to the dossier." ”

"No, I didn't question whether the evidence was conclusive, I believe it must be very conclusive." Deng Ming smiled bitterly: "Criminal Officer Xu Ti, I have already pardoned Jiang Guozhu three times and Liang Huafeng twice, I just want to know how many times I need to pardon them." ”

Xu Chaoyu glanced at Deng Ming deeply: "Jiang Guozhu still has more than 1,800 murder, kidnapping, and abuse crimes waiting to be prosecuted, and I think most of them will be established and convicted; Liang Huafeng is less, but there must be four or five hundred. ”

"Although the two rivers have been reunified, and Wu Sangui has also been cut off, our country has not yet been reunified." Deng Mingzhengse said to Xu Chaoyu: "Several northern provinces are watching us, if Criminal Officer Xu Ti can understand the case of Jiang Guozhu and Liang Huafeng as soon as possible, the imperial government will be much calmer." ”

"What the prime minister said is, I agree with it very much." Xu Chaoyu seemed to have been prepared, and replied without thinking: "If Jiang Guozhu and Liang Huafeng admit all their crimes and sign a pledge not to accept amnesty, I think it is acceptable for each of them to live indefinitely." ”

"This is unacceptable." Deng Ming flatly retorted: "I hope that Criminal Officer Xu Ti can combine all their crimes to prosecute." ”

"And then give the prime minister a one-time pardon opportunity to write off these crimes?" There was some irony in Xu Chaoyu's rhetorical question.

"Yes, that's what I intended." Deng Ming didn't seem to notice it at all: "If the governors in the north and the Manchu rabbits and foxes in Beijing are sad, they will resist stubbornly, and the empire will need to fight more wars, spend more money, and let more soldiers die on the battlefield." ”

Xu Chaoyu was silent for a moment, and said slowly to meet Deng Ming's gaze: "I ask myself, if I am in the position of prime minister, I will also hope to win the whole country with a less expensive and more efficient method." But I'm not. I am the criminal commissioner in charge of justice, and Zhang Ti has taught us that how to weigh the pros and cons is a matter for the imperial government and the council, and our duty is to ensure that justice can be done. Moreover, I think he has interfered too much with me. “

Deng Ming shook his head slightly, still trying to convince Xu Chaoyu.

But Xu Chaoyu preempted Deng Ming and said: "Prime Minister, during the trial of every case, I can legally put them in prison; After I was convicted, I could legally delay the sentence for ten days, during which time they would still be in prison; And until the prime minister's pardon is delivered, they will also stay in prison. After taking the first step out of prison, they will be arrested and the next lawsuit will begin - so no matter how many times the prime minister issues an amnesty, they will never get out of this life. The Prime Minister's pardon would only keep them from dying, and I didn't want to kill them, as long as they were willing to sign a confession. In fact, there is no difference from now, and it can be saved. ”

Seeing that Deng Ming seemed to want to argue about something, Xu Chaoyu hurriedly shouted: "Prime Minister, I haven't finished talking yet." We know that sometimes the imperial government needs extrajudicial favors, so the prime minister will have the power of amnesty. However, this pardon power is intended to be applied to those who deserve amnesty, such as those who have made a mistake on the spur of the moment and then sincerely repented. And now that the prime minister is using it to amnesty Jiang Guozhu and Liang Huafeng, I estimate that there will be many villains in the future. In the end, the prime minister's desk will be filled with these scumbags asking for amnesty, and the people will see the government pardon these villains day after day, but not to let them go unpunished, just to survive in prison. This undermines not only the prestige of the government, but also the people's trust in the judiciary and their expectation of justice. One day, the prime minister will feel tired, and at that time, he will find that the people no longer believe that the criminal department can administer justice, and no longer believe that evil will be rewarded in this world after all. Prime Minister, your duty is to weigh the pros and cons for the Empire, do you think it's worth the price? And when the prime minister finally found out that the gains outweighed the losses, I hope the prime minister can still remember - today, until this moment, I still think that the prime minister is a person who knows right from wrong and understands reason. After a slight pause, Xu Chaoyu said in an accentuated tone again: "Prime Minister, take advantage of this amnesty opportunity to exchange their confessions and persuade them." ”

……

When the Qing court was at the end of its rope, the call for a complete solution to the warlord division and the unification of the anti-Qing alliance also rose in the Yuan Council. And Deng Ming, who was the prime minister of the empire at the time, also assured in the academy that he would seriously discuss this issue with the king of Jin. But in fact, Deng Ming only asked the other party a question softly when he went to Kunming to visit Li Dingguo, although the voice was not loud, but Deng Ming knew that Li Dingguo must have heard it clearly. When he left Kunming and returned to Nanjing, Deng Ming told the hospital to wait patiently.

And Deng Ming's conversation seems to have had an effect, as the Jin king carried out radical reforms in the southwest, giving up all the rights he once had, and helping the empire's laws and institutions to be fully implemented. However, the Jin king never finally gave up his right to appoint personnel in Yunnan, and theoretically the Jin king could overturn his own reforms at any time and reappoint officials to every position.

There are many people who speculate that this is because King Jin has seen too much of the government's words since he was a child, so although Deng Ming has promised, he still can't make King Jin feel completely at ease, so he stubbornly wants to reserve such a corner of safety zone for Xiying. If there really comes a day, the imperial government still has to go back on its word to investigate the past of the officers and soldiers of Xiying, then the king of Jin will still resist to the end - the king of Jin is a fighter by nature, even if he has lived a peaceful life for many years, he will never be slaughtered.

Shortly after the New Year, King Jin went to take care of his flower garden as usual, and at the age of ninety-eight, Li Dingguo was still able to water and turn over his garden. In between work, he would often sit by the plants and rest for a while. And this time King Jin rested for too long, and when his family realized that there was a problem and ran to him, they saw Li Dingguo with one hand on his cheeks, and his expression was so peaceful that he seemed to be asleep.

Li Dingguo's eldest grandson read out the will of King Jin to the media, and he, like the Duke of Linguo, renounced his title and fortune in his will, and handed them over to the imperial government free of charge, along with the territory he once owned.

"An era is over." The front page of the Chengdu Daily commented on the death of King Jin. Li Dingguo, Zheng Chenggong, Zhang Huangyan and Li Laiheng are considered to be the four most important military defenders of the stormy Southern Ming Dynasty, among whom Li Dingguo is the eldest, but he was the last to die, even later than Deng Ming, who took over the banner of the four of them.

(End of book) -

The author's note: At the end of the year, there will be more, and tomorrow will be a few consecutive days of meetings of the Municipal Writers Association.

This book is 3 million words smaller, which is equivalent to the sum of the author's first two works. Frankly, by November last year, I was very tired and had a sense of struggling to move forward. I wanted to end the contempt more than once, but I didn't have the strength to create a climactic plot to end it. I'm going to go to the event again tomorrow, and I've finally made up my mind to come to an end today. Come to think of it, this book already expresses most of what I want to express, and there are no regrets.

After returning from the meeting, I will have more chats with you, and there will be plenty of time at that time.

Press again, the dragon set is only to Xu Chaoyu, and the latter is very sorry, but the space is really limited.