Chastity Layman

"Zhang Liang is a meritorious person in the founding of the country. The court cannot wrong a good man." The prince said slowly, "Gu has already reported this matter to the saint, and the saint's mouth ordered the doctor Yu Shi, the minister of the Dali Temple, and the minister of the Ministry of punishment to jointly hear the case. Sheren, Gishizhong, and Hanlin scholars will try together, and Zhenfu Division will cooperate with Baiqi Division and Dianqian Division to collect evidence."

"Before the results of the investigation came out, Zhang Liang suspended all his duties and went to his province to accept the investigation."

Ma Zhou could tell that he had come prepared.

The prince's attitude is already very clear.

And Chu Suiliang and Han Zhongliang's active appearance of getting into trouble fully shows that Changsun Wuji cannot get rid of his involvement in this matter, and he is even the one who performed the knife.

Fang Xuanling's face was gloomy, and he didn't say a word.

Killing two birds with one stone, attacking Zhang Liang may secretly point to Fang Xuanling, or even Li Ji.

"Let's follow the old rules, investigate what should be investigated, and arrest what should be arrested. I believe that these impeachments are not groundless. We can neither wrongly wrong a good person, nor let a bad person go. Even if it is a founding minister, if If you dare to rebel and cause chaos, you will never be pardoned or forgiven!"

After the prince finished speaking, he got up and left.

The lid has been lifted, and how things will ferment depends on the performance of all parties.

Ma Zhou left disappointed, and he didn't even have time to ask the prince to resign.

Not interested in talking with other ministers, Ma Zhou left the palace, got on a small chariot and left the palace, and immediately issued a resignation form when he got home, resigning from all official positions again, this time his attitude was very firm.

He has no interest in participating in these affairs anymore.

After the speech form was handed out, Ma Zhou poured himself a glass of wine.

Holding the wine glass without drinking, he can't touch the wine now, so he can only smell it.

Smelling the aroma of the wine, I couldn't help but return to eighteen years ago.

He was locked up by Marquis Wu for violating the curfew, and he was beaten. His clothes were full of big footprints, and he squatted beside the street shop in a very embarrassing state. Then he met Qin Lang who was passing by.

At that time, he was still so young, even with a hint of arrogance and frankness.

The two got acquainted like this, he talked to Marquis Wu for himself, and even arranged for him to be a guest in the mansion.

Think about that period of time, how fast it passed.

Qin Lang recommended him to be in the Fusi of the town, and later recommended him to be in front of the sage, and he was favored by the sage. Since then, he has been on the rise, and it only took a few years for a commoner from a poor family to enter the center.

Up to now, it has become the Zhongshu Ling of the Prime Minister of Zhengshitang.

At that time, the emperors and ministers of the Tang Dynasty were united in one mind, thinking about how to fight against the oppression and invasion of the Turks every day, how to solve the governance after the chaos in the world, how to solve the financial difficulties, and how to rectify the army. One problem, and sleepless nights.

But today's Tang Dynasty is so powerful, and the east and west are conquering everything. The once powerful Turks have long since ceased to exist, and the West Turks are only lingering. The imperial court's finances are even better than ever. You can still have a lot of savings every year.

But now there is no feeling of working together as it did back then.

The emperor is now obsessed with cultivating Taoism and serving pills all day long, and does not care about political affairs, and all the government affairs are handed over to the prince to supervise the country and regent. However, although the prince is praised by the people, Ma Zhou feels that the prince has not been able to become what he and Qin Lang once hoped.

The prince is very powerful, but the prince is not benevolent.

A king is benevolent, but a king is not benevolent. This is the misfortune of the country and the hidden worry of the empire.

But these, he can't control anymore, his body has completely failed.

After taking another sip, he couldn't hold back after all, and took a sip lightly.

The wine was swirling in his mouth, and the long-lost taste made Ma Zhou ecstatic.

Opening his eyes again, Ma Zhou picked up the pen again, and began to write a letter to Qin Lang who was far away in the south of Zhennan. This letter did not describe these things that happened in the court. He just recalled that the two met and struggled together. In those days, he finally made a request, hoping that after he left, Qin Lang could help take care of his wife and children.

He knew Qin Lang's character, and he would not be wrong to entrust his wife and family to them.

Ma Zhou's resignation to the prince may be certain.

But Ma Zhou no longer went to court or served, so he submitted his resignation to the prince and emperor.

Not allowed twice, then three times.

On the second day after the third speech was published, the emperor took the prince to Ma Zhou's mansion to express his condolences.

"My minister's diabetes is too serious. Now I can't walk, and I'm mentally weak. I can't do anything. I ask the sage to allow me to retire."

Li Shimin sighed, "My thirst has also worsened, and my breath and wind are concurrent, and my body is getting worse day by day."

Ma Zhou advised, "The sage is also asked to take care of his health, but I have the courage to advise that pills are not medicine stones, let alone cure diseases. Don't mistakenly believe that warlocks are treacherous!"

The crown prince is away, and there are no outsiders around, so Li Shimin doesn't hide it, "I'm just a dead horse as a living horse doctor, try it, good doctors have asked, no one can cure my symptoms. My body I know, it's only been a few years, so I've tried my best to let go in the past few years, let the prince supervise the country, and let him get out of training early."

"Zhang Liang..."

Just as Ma Zhou mentioned Zhang Liang's name, Li Shimin shook his head, "The impeachment of Zhang Liang is true."

"How will the saint deal with Zhang Liang?"

Li Shimin sighed, "If I am in good health, I may be able to spare his life. After all, Zhang Liang is also a founding hero, and the stupid things he committed will not be successful, but how can I save Zhang Liang with my current body?" This kind of fool? So, let me deal with Zhang Liang, so as not to dirty Chengqian's hands."

After hearing this, Ma Zhou didn't intend to intercede for Zhang Liang, "Actually, Liu Ji..."

"I know what's going on. Liu Ji's death is indeed a bit unjust, but I still say the same thing. It's only been a few days. There are some things I want to do for Chengqian before I leave."

"Will Zhang Liang involve other people?"

"By virtue of this matter, I will still beat the one who should be beaten. I plan to dismiss Fang Xuanling and let him retire. He can enjoy his life at home with peace of mind. He has worked hard for most of his life with me to fight the world, and he has made great achievements. Although he took a few wrong steps before, I still hope that he can have a good death.'

"I will beat Li Ji down and demote him to Liaodong to be a governor. Liaodong will not be peaceful in the future. With Li Ji's ability, he can make some more contributions there, and Chengqian will bring him up again at that time. Of course, if Li Ji complains because of this, I will take him away with me before I leave."

These words should not be said to the courtiers, but the emperor did.

Ma Zhou also listened quietly, not too surprised.

After a long time, the emperor broke the silence and took the initiative to talk about Qin Lang.

"The investigation of Zhang Liang's case is basically done now, and now some people are starting to impeach Qin Lang, saying that he intends to rebel."

Ma Zhou looked at the emperor, "Someone wants to use Qin Lang to stir up trouble? Has Prime Minister Fang made a move?"

"It's Master Cui Ren."

"Master Cui Ren?"

"Well, a stupid fellow."

Master Cui Ren was born in the Cui clan of Boling. He handled several major cases when he was a censor in his early years, which was appreciated by Li Shimin.

Compared with Cui Qian and Cui Dunli, who are also Boling Cui, Cui Renshi is actually more capable, but it was Cui Dunli who paid homage to the prime minister in the end. The reasons behind this are also very complicated.

But Cui Renshi is also very capable after all, so his official career has been pretty good these years. When the emperor personally conquered Liaodong, he and Wei Ting were in charge of logistics and grain transportation. , and was removed from office by the emperor for the people.

However, after the emperor returned to the court, he immediately appointed him as the servant of Zhongshu Sheren and the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, which can be said to be very appreciative.

At the beginning, Cui Renshi was dismissed from office and turned into a citizen. In fact, it was not really because of the incident of transporting soldiers who escaped and failed to report. The real reason was that Liu Ji was killed at that time. Some of the officials struck again.

For example, Cui Renshi also supported King Wei before, so the emperor found a reason to dismiss him, and after a while he resumed, and even reused him.

It's just that Master Cui Ren probably didn't learn his lesson.

When it was revealed that Zhang Liang was rebelling against Liang in the court, Cui Renshi, the assistant of the Procuratorate and Criminal Department, not only did not keep a low profile, but also joined in the fun. He actually impeached Qin Lang for rebellion.

The content of the impeachment is not fabricated, and what he said is also well-founded. For example, Qin Lang recruited and trained mercenary guards overseas, and immigrated a large number of overseas to mine and plant, etc. Based on this, he said that Qin Lang had a heart of disobedience and intended to go overseas. Jianguo and so on.

At any time, Master Cui Ren's bullets Li Shimin would have a different attitude, but he chose the period of Zhang Liang's rebellion case, and it was the emperor who wanted to use Zhang Liang's rebellion case, and then severely deal with those ignorant of current affairs. The courtiers with wrong ideas even wanted to beat Fang Xuanling, Li Ji, etc., and Li Shimin was not happy about him doing such a big thing.

Shengming's Zhenguan Emperor immediately decided that Cui Renshi was trying to stir up trouble, not really want to impeach Qin Lang, otherwise he would not impeach you sooner or later, he just wanted to protect Fang Xuanling, and this behavior in Li Shimin's opinion , is the resurgence of the royal party of Wei.

Today's emperor is the most intolerant of the continued existence of the royal party of Wei, or even continued clique behavior. Master Cui Ren hit the emperor's sword.

"I have decided to exile Cui Renshi to Lianzhou."

Ma Zhou asked, "Qin Lang will never have the intention of treason. What Cui Renshi played is actually not a bit of what Chao Zhongxun and Qi family have."

"I don't know that Qin Lang's actions in recent years have indeed exceeded some points, but it is not enough to say that he has two intentions to rebel. The theory of establishing a country overseas is even more absurd. However, some things are indeed a bit too much."

"Then please ask the sage to issue a decree and punish him slightly."

Li Shimin smiled, "I have had a headache for a few days, and I couldn't figure out how to beat and punish for a while, but I was afraid that if one was wrong, this kid would really set sail and go to Linyi to be his regent Yindao has become the king of the South China Sea Island!"

"The sage was joking, Qin Lang is not that kind of person."

"Hahaha!"