hsntnovel Chapter 2158: Confession.
Chapter 2158: Confession.
The scene was silent at this moment, and everyone was wondering what was written in the book.
And just now Prince Ji was singing and laughing with them, but in the blink of an eye he turned hostile and ruthless.
Many people began to feel uneasy. These people had something to hide, while those who were open-minded were all curious.
Li Shen's cold eyes swept across everyone present. Many people began to dodge after seeing Li Shen's gaze, and some even revealed it underground.
After taking a quick look, Li Shen picked up the account book.
"Some of you may be curious about what is recorded in this book. But some of you should have guessed it in your mind at this moment.
This is an account book that Wang Changshi calculated with a lot of manpower and material resources.
It records all the false and erroneous accounts of Xizhou Prefecture and even Anxi Protectorate over the years.
Every stroke is shocking.
Our Great Tang Dynasty has only been established for over thirty years, and the national treasury has only become richer in recent years.
I did not expect that after only a few years of the people having enough to eat, parasites would appear in the local area. You are the parasites.
The money of the court is all given by me. If you embezzle the money of the court, you are actually embezzling my money.
"Tell me, how do you want to die? Have you found a grave?"
Li Shen finally yelled at the top of his lungs, scaring everyone into silence.
At this moment, no one dared to speak, and no one dared to look at Li Shen. They all lowered their heads.
As Li Shen said, the mountains here are high and the emperor is far away. In the past, most of the salaries they received were corn, silk, and even firewood.
Now that the court has money, it is gradually replacing these cumbersome things and starting to distribute money directly.
These officials, who had never seen large sums of money before, became greedy after seeing such large amounts of money for the first time.
"Humph, I once said in Chang'an that etiquette, law and morality cannot restrain people, only criminal law can.
There is no need for me to explain to you the laws of the Tang Dynasty. You should weigh it in your own minds: will your guilt lead to life or death?
Should he be executed immediately or have his property confiscated and be exiled?" Li Shen snorted coldly, exerting unprecedented pressure on the audience.
After a long while, someone finally couldn't bear the pressure anymore and fell to his knees with a plop.
"Your Highness, Prince Ji, please have mercy on me. Your Highness, Prince Ji, please have mercy on me. I plead guilty and accept the punishment. Please, Your Highness, Prince Ji, please spare my life."
Everyone looked and found that the man was a military sergeant of Xizhou Prefecture, who had served in Xizhou for seven or eight years.
Li Shen looked at the man in his forties kneeling on the ground and said nothing.
His gaze once again turned to all the officials present. His eyes were like knives, as if piercing into everyone's soul, making people feel chilled.
Everyone had only one thought in their mind: Prince Ji was going to kill people, and he was going to kill a lot of people.
Although they were in Xizhou, thousands of miles away from Chang'an City, the legend of King Ji was still spread back to Xizhou through local offices.
Not to mention that Prince Ji had the reputation of being an evil ghost in Chang'an City, his military record alone was frightening. He went out for fun and killed a governor and exiled a founding hero.
They fought their way all the way to Xizhou this time. The thing that all the counties and prefectures along the way hoped most was that King Ji would not stay with them.
The case should have been reported to the court and tried by the Dali Temple, but Prince Ji directly pronounced the sentence and executed the defendant without even giving him a chance to protest.
His Majesty seemed to be unaware of this unruly behavior, and even the court did not react.
This is what scares these local officials the most.
"Pfft!"
"Pfft!"
"Pfft!"
Finally, some people couldn't stand Li Shen's murderous gaze and knelt down together. At first, there were three or five of them, and then more than ten people.
In the end, only half of the people in the hall were kneeling.
"Please have mercy, Your Highness. I am guilty and willing to accept the punishment. I hope Your Highness will have mercy and spare my life."
Everyone began to kneel down and beg for mercy, crawling on the ground. Their request was simple, hoping that Li Shen would show mercy and spare their lives.
Everyone present was shocked when they saw this scene, and Pei Ziyu looked at the officials behind him with a deathly pale face.
Among them, the majority were generals who were in charge of military supplies and the army.
"Your Highness Prince Ji, this..." Pei Ziyu was about to speak when Li Shen raised a hand to stop him.
His eyes were still as cold as before as he glanced at the standing officials.
When they met Li Shen's gaze, several officials could not bear the pressure and knelt down.
“The things recorded in this account book are far more than this. It also includes all the illegal things that I have investigated since I arrived here.
This king knows that some of you are taking chances and think that you have done it perfectly.
Humph, I can find out who is behind Wang Wencheng's affairs. Do you think you can beat them?"
Looking at the standing officials, Li Shen snorted twice in a cold tone, with a confident expression as if he knew everything.
Those who can remain calm at this time are either not guilty of a crime or have strong psychological qualities.
These people were gambling that King Ji had no evidence of their crimes and that they could escape punishment.
However, Li Shen did not give them this opportunity. Li Shen knew very well that in order to trick these people out, he must use some other means.
Thinking of this, Li Shen waved to Wang Xuance who was standing beside him.
Wang Xuance understood and walked forward to pick up the book and opened it. After flipping through a few pages, he fixed his eyes on a person standing in the middle and said loudly:
"Lu Haoshan lied about the military supplies of 8,376 strings of cash and took 3,640 strings of cash from ghost salaries. These are the salaries from the last five years. There is no way to find out more about the salaries before that.
The total amount of embezzlement was more than 12,000 strings of cash.
He also lied about his military achievements, usurped the military achievements of his fellow soldiers, and beat up soldiers for no reason. In five years, he beat up six soldiers, maimed them, and killed three.
"Come here, drag him out and behead him in the street as a warning to others."
As soon as Wang Xuance finished speaking, Li Shen gave an order and several guards came in and lifted up Lu Haoshan.
"Your Highness Prince Ji, why are you convicting me without any evidence?" Lu Haoshan immediately shouted upon seeing this.
"No evidence? Lu Haoshan, since I want to arrest you, I must have solid evidence. Your deputy general has already confessed all your crimes.
I originally wanted to give you another chance, but since you don’t want it, don’t blame me for being ruthless.
Immediately send people to his house to confiscate all his property and put his family members in jail. You are just a small general, but you are so bold. I have to admire you."
Li Shen smiled sarcastically.
"Your Highness Prince Ji, I am a member of the Lu family. I know I was wrong. Please have mercy on me, Your Highness Prince Ji. Please have mercy on me, Your Highness Prince Ji~
I am from the Lu clan......"
Lu Haoshan's voice gradually faded away and finally disappeared at the gate.
(My fingers are burning with pain. Writing these three pictures has helped me master the Six Meridians Divine Sword.)