History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 428 Clues Left by Liu Teng
With Xue Zhixiao's case as a precedent, Wei Yao no longer needed to personally preside over the Liu family murder case. She rushed to the palace early in the morning to participate in the court discussion on neighborhood reform.

Whenever the Ministry of Personnel submits a matter, if it is discussed in court, it means that the matter has the emperor's will. Prince Pengcheng, Yuan Xie, would certainly not go against the emperor. However, Yuan Xiang, the head of the Ministry of Personnel, was indignant! This morning he could not take his carriage to the Zhichemen. This old rule was abolished because of Wei Yao's suggestion. If the neighborhood reports were to comply with her wishes, wouldn't she become even more arrogant!
Yuan Xiang raised the difficulties of rectification: "It is indeed inappropriate for officials and merchants to live together, but should the relocation involve moving officials or ordinary people? How should the compensation for the abandoned houses be calculated? The court cannot only compensate the people and not the officials who gave up their houses, can it?"

He, representing the Ministry of Personnel, challenged the Ministry of State Affairs, where Wei Yao was located. Subordinate officials immediately echoed his sentiments: "The size of neighborhoods varies. Some places have more officials, while others have more merchants. The laws governing relocation certainly cannot be the same. Otherwise, the people in each neighborhood will compare and complain. If the people complain, can the county and prefectural governments force them to give up their homes?"

Yuan Shao, Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, said: “The large market in the west of the city and the small market in the east are usually connected to the shops where merchants live. If they are not allowed to live there, they will definitely move their shops away as well. The reason why the commerce in the capital has prospered so quickly is precisely because of the leniency of the court’s decrees. When the decrees are changed without reason and every aspect is unfavorable to business, I am afraid that not only will the local merchants in Luoyang be disheartened, but it will also make foreign merchants hesitate and no longer come here to trade.”

Left Minister Yuan Huai agreed with this statement and raised a question: "We can't just talk about moving out; we also need to think ahead about where to move to, where the original residents of the new place will be resettled, and if there are vacant residential plots in the inner city, we need to establish laws for moving in, whether based on official rank, title, or merit."

Apart from Yuan Huai, all the officials of the Ministry of Personnel looked at Wei Yao, regarding the Prince of Qinghe to her left as a mere decoration.

Seeing this, Prince Qinghe sighed inwardly and completely gave up on vying for the position of Grand Councilor. As for Gao Xian and Zhen Chen, who were sitting to her right, no one paid them any attention.

Wei Yao knew perfectly well that the emperor had ulterior motives in today's court discussion; he wanted to use the Secretariat to suppress the Ministry of Personnel and ensure that imperial power superseded that of all officials!
Therefore, she could not engage in lengthy debates with the officials of the Ministry of Personnel about the details of the neighborhood reform; she had to establish her authority through a forceful attitude.

Wei Yao looked solemnly at Yuan Xiang and asked, "The Ministry of Personnel has thirty-six departments, and there are also three hundred and sixty departments in the outer offices. Each department has one official. Can't they all come up with a law on relocation?"

Yuan Xiang made no attempt to hide his disgust, coldly retorting, "Easy for you to say..."

Wei Yao interrupted him: "The court doesn't support idle officials! Whose job is easy? Does His Majesty find his work easy, working day and night? Does the Minister of Works Yuan find his duties easy? Does the Right Chancellor find his duties easy? Are the duties of my Secretariat easy? If you find it tiring, you can resign, but once you're in office, you can't complain about being tired!"

"Wei Yao! You're just trying to avoid the important matter and talking nonsense!" Yuan Xiang was furious.

Wei Yao replied with a cold laugh: "It's clear that the Grand Tutor's loyalty to the emperor has gone astray, prioritizing his salary over fulfilling his duties. The reform of the neighborhoods is imperative. If you dare not do it, I dare! But there's one condition: of the 360 ​​departments outside your Ministry of Personnel, my Secretariat will take half of them!"

Spit! Bah!
The officials of the Ministry of Personnel secretly sneered, wishing they could all go up and tear Wei Yao's mouth apart.

And so, without any discussion of relocation measures, the reform of neighborhoods proposed by the Secretariat was accepted by the Ministry of Works with a roll of its eyes.

Despite her resentment, no one questioned Wei Yao's diligence. As soon as the court meeting ended, she reported to the emperor and, accompanied by Kou Meng and the chief eunuch Yang Fan, went to the palace guards' prison in the inner palace.

The Grand Chamberlain Bai Zheng's face was very unpleasant. Normally, it wouldn't be a big deal for a criminal slave to die in the palace prison, but this case was being handled by Vice Minister Wei, who was a favorite courtier of the emperor. If she got angry and impeached him, he would probably lose his lucrative position of supervising the construction of the Yique Mountain Grottoes.

As Bai Zheng led the way, he said, "This was my oversight. Liu Teng is usually very patient, so why couldn't he overcome this obstacle? Sigh—"

In the cell next to Liu Teng's, there was a huddled-up eunuch with his mouth bound shut.

Bai Zheng pointed at the other man and said, "His surname is Chang, and his name is Chang Shami. He cleans the cells in the palace prison. Last night, Liu Teng asked him to call me over, saying he had something to tell me. Such a big matter, but this guy was so slow and couldn't tell what was important! It took him an hour to find me. By the time I got here, Liu Teng was already dead!"

Chang Shami remained motionless.

Kou Meng had excellent eyesight. After observing for a few moments, he informed Wei Yao, "He is alive."

Let's go see Liu Teng first. The palace jail has an autopsy clerk. After waiting for a long time, he handed the record to Wei Yao, which already stated the cause of death. He still described it verbally: "Eunuch Liu's fingers were intact, and there was no blood under his nails..."

All clues indicate that Liu Teng committed suicide by hitting his head against a wall, and there were no signs of coercion or fighting before his death.

Bai Zheng continued, "Liu Teng and Su Xingshou have always been at odds. I checked, and last night Su Xingshou was on duty at Jianshi Hall and did not leave the palace."

Wei Yao squatted down to look at the wound on Liu Teng's head. It was a huge bloody hole, which showed that he knew he had no way to survive even if he didn't die when he committed suicide, so he used the force that would kill him.

She asked Bai Zheng and the clerk, "Who examined Liang Xuantong's body when he died?"

The clerk said, "It was me. The way Consort Liu died was the same as Consort Liang's. At the time, Consort Liang's death also couldn't be diagnosed as murder. Let me think... yes, the two of them hit their heads on the same spot." He pointed to the side of his forehead.

Wei Yao stood up and walked closer to the wooden fence to look at Chang Shami in the next cell. When Chang Shami heard the footsteps, he only glanced at Wei Yao and then closed his eyes resignedly without struggling.

Wei Yao asked Bai Zheng, "Is the wooden hairpin on the top of his head his or Liu Teng's?"

Bai Zheng was taken aback for a moment, then immediately went over and pulled out the other person's hairpin.

"Peach wood is not a valuable material."

Wei Yao instructed the historian, then pointed to the hairpin.

The clerk understood, took the hairpin in his hand and examined it closely, saying, "There is no dirt or grime in the carved patterns on it. Logically, this hairpin does not belong to the novice monk Chang."

Chang Shami worked in the palace prison every day without rest, and his body was covered in filth. How could he possibly wear a clean hairpin?

The clerk sniffed the hairpin again, then leaned down to sniff Liu Teng's hair, and this time he was certain: "It belongs to Eunuch Liu!"

However, once the hairpin was determined, what was its purpose? Neither Bai Zheng nor the clerk understood. The former asked, "When people die in prison, the slaves plunder some valuables from the corpses. As long as they are not valuable, the Zhongyin and I turn a blind eye. What is Wei Shaoqing thinking?"

Wei Yao: "I'm wondering, is it more courageous to commit suicide with a hairpin, or to commit suicide by hitting my head against a wall?"

Ling Shi: "If it were me, I would... use a hairpin." His voice trailed off after Bai Zheng glared at him.

Bai Zheng, wanting to curry favor with Wei Yao, followed her train of thought and said, "Does Shaoqing think that Liu Teng's choice to commit suicide by hitting his head against the wall was a deliberate clue? Is the person who drove him to his death the same person who drove Liang Xuantong to suicide?"

Wei Yao: "It's just speculation, there's no evidence." She deliberately acted depressed, but in reality, Liu Teng was dead, and she hadn't originally intended to interrogate this eunuch. The fact that he was forced to commit suicide was actually a good thing, proving that her investigation was on the right track and that she was gradually getting closer to the mastermind behind it all!

She asked Bai Zheng, "Where is Uncle Wang Ji being held?"