Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 76 No Pardon

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, prisons were divided into central prisons and local prisons. The prisons set up by the Supreme Court Justice naturally belonged to the central prisons, but because the prisoners in the Supreme Court Justice Prisons were mostly captured ministers and local officials, and their arrest was ordered by the emperor himself, they were also called imperial prisons.

With the help of Yuan Shu, Zhang Yu and his party successfully entered the Tingwei Prison.

Because the imperial prison was built underground, the environment was cold and damp, there was a lack of windows for light, the air circulation was very poor, there was a damp and smelly smell, and rats often appeared.

The three men arrived at the imperial prison. As soon as they smelled the damp and smelly odor, they couldn't help but frown and had to breathe through their mouths temporarily.

Because it was used to detain ministers and local officials, the cells in the Tingwei Prison were not as bad as those in ordinary prisons. However, since the prisoners had enjoyed various preferential treatments, this kind of treatment must be difficult for them to accept.

The jailer opened the cell door where Wang Yun was imprisoned and said, "You are not allowed to take the prisoner away. The rest are free to do as they please."

Zhang Yu took out a coin from his pocket, stuffed it into the jailer's hand, and said, "Tell the brothers on duty tonight to buy some good wine!"

"Thank you!"

The jailer raised his eyebrows and said with a smile: "If there is anything important, just pass on the message."

"good!"

"Your Majesty!"

"Father!"

When the three entered the cell, they saw Wang Yun, who looked haggard, with greasy and disheveled hair, no longer the look he had when he was the governor. However, despite the change in his circumstances, Wang Yun was still in good spirits, reading scriptures and not affected by the environment.

Seeing Zhang Yu, Guo Tu, and Wang Gai, Wang Yun stood up from the cold straw mat and asked in surprise, "Why are you three here?"

Zhang Yu bowed and said, "The governor of Henan Province has been in charge of the prison, so I was able to go to the prison to visit my uncle."

"Jian!"

Wang Yun helped Zhang Yu up and said with emotion: "Ji'an is the magistrate of Zheng County. He is not in charge of the affairs of Zheng County. Instead, he took the risk to sneak into Luoyang because of me. This is not a loyal act!"

Zhang Yu's face was moved, and he said, "It was because of my uncle that I was able to serve as an official. Now my uncle has been framed and imprisoned. When I heard the news, I lost my appetite and could not sleep. I would rather give up my position and sneak into Luoyang to visit my uncle!"

"Before Yu sneaked into Luoyang, he had entrusted the county affairs to the county magistrate. Uncle, please don't worry about Yu and the people of Zheng County. The most important task now is to find a way to rescue uncle!"

Wang Yun sighed and said, "Ji'an is indeed worthy of being the Wang family's good son-in-law. Brother really didn't make a mistake in choosing him!"

"Father!"

Wang Gai took out some food and wine from the basket, as well as some clothes, and said, "My mother is concerned that my father is suffering from cold and hunger in prison, so she specially asked me to bring some clothes and food to him."

Wang Yunwei sighed and asked, "How is your mother?"

Wang Gai replied, "My mother was very sad and worried when she learned that my father was imprisoned. She was afraid that he would not be able to get out."

Wang Yun was silent for a moment, then said, "Go back and tell your mother that I will be released from prison soon, so she doesn't need to worry too much."

"promise!"

"Gong Ze, how are the counties in Yuzhou now?" Wang Yun asked.

Guo Tu gathered his thoughts and said, "Since the Yellow Turbans in Runan were pacified, there has been no trouble in the counties of Yuzhou. And according to outsiders, Your Majesty intends to select someone else to govern Yuzhou on your behalf."

"That's it!"

Hearing this, Wang Yun was silent for a moment, then continued, "I am in prison today, and I don't know if I can escape this calamity, let alone when I can be released. Yuzhou must be governed by wise officials."

That being said, Wang Yun felt a little uncomfortable in his heart, as if he had been abandoned by the court. After all, he had fallen from being in charge of a state to being a prisoner, and had been imprisoned twice, during which time he was reinstated, and then arrested again. It was difficult for ordinary people to accept this.

Zhang Yu said: "You are all working hard for my uncle. He may be released from prison soon. There is no need to worry about this!"

As he spoke, Zhang Yu winked at Wang Gai.

Wang Gai understood what he meant, hesitated for a long time, and said: "Father, Yang Gong learned that you were imprisoned, and sent someone to send a letter to your house. It said that because of the Zhang Rang incident, you were imprisoned twice within a month. The danger is hard to estimate. I hope you can make a long-term plan, endure the humiliation, and stay useful."

"Do something to endure humiliation?"

Wang Yun's expression changed slightly, and he asked in a heavy voice: "But do you want me to apologize to Zhang Rang?" Faced with his father's question, Wang Gai did not dare to look directly at Wang Yun and spoke hesitantly.

Zhang Yu frowned and took the initiative to say, "Uncle, Lord Yang and the governor of Henan think that father should surrender to Zhang Rang and ask for forgiveness. If you all sign your names to the memorial, it will probably save uncle."

Wang Yun looked angry and said in a stern voice: "As a minister, I should help the world and eliminate the eunuchs for the king. Although I have offended the king, how can I ask the eunuchs for my life!"

"I would rather die than live than beg the eunuchs for my life!"

The three of them looked at each other, feeling helpless. As expected, they advised Wang Yun to ask the eunuch for mercy, but given Wang Yun's temperament, this was impossible.

After a pause, Wang Yun slowed down his tone and said, "At the end of this year, the court will have a general amnesty, and three other ministers have submitted petitions. I may be able to be released from prison. You can wait for the news and don't be too anxious."

"promise!"

Zhang Yu raised his eyebrows slightly. He had not heard of the imperial amnesty. It was obvious that Wang Yun had his own source of information. He Jin, Yang Ci, and Yuan Wei should be planning to use the amnesty to jointly submit a petition to rescue Wang Yun.

But Zhang Rang would not sit back and watch Wang Yun get out of prison so easily, and would probably try to stop him. If Wang Yun was allowed to get out of prison easily twice, wouldn't Zhang Rang be embarrassed?
It is difficult to predict the future. But we can predict that in the next period of time, the court will have a fierce struggle over Wang Yun's case. Whether Wang Yun can be released from prison depends on the result of this struggle.

The three chatted with Wang Yun for a long time, and only left the prison at the urging of the jailer.

Before leaving, Zhang Yu stuffed money into the jailer's pocket in front of Wang Yun and said, "Please take good care of me, Envoy Wang. When it gets cold in the prison, please bring some warm clothes to me and don't let me catch a cold."

"It's natural!"

Seeing that the money was even more generous than before, the jailer became even more amiable and said, "If you have any important matters in the future, Envoy Wang can tell you at any time."

After saying this, the jailer bowed to Wang Yun and said with a smile: "If I have not taken good care of you before, I hope you will forgive me."

"Ok!"

Wang Yun's attitude towards the jailer's mean behavior was not good. But he could understand Zhang Yu's actions. After all, the King of Hell was easy to deal with, but the little devils were hard to deal with. Sometimes, treating the little devils well could make his life in prison much better.

After the three men left, Wang Yun looked at their backs and sighed. In the cold imperial prison, being able to receive visits from his relatives and former officials comforted Wang Yun's wounded heart.

To be honest, Wang Yun was not very happy when he first learned that his brother had accepted Zhang Yu as his son-in-law. But as time went by, Zhang Yu continued to prove his ability and convinced him.

To this day, Wang Yun was deeply touched to learn that Zhang Yu dared to take the risk to sneak into Luoyang and run around for his cause. He had to admit that his brother made the right choice to take Zhang Yu as his son-in-law.

After the three of them left the Imperial Court, they discussed and decided to wait for the news of the three ministers' joint memorial. In order to prevent his identity from being discovered, Zhang Yu decided to return to Zheng County first.

Thanks to Du Ji's help, Zhang Yu's behavior of leaving Zheng County without permission was not discovered by anyone.

After returning to Zheng County, Zhang Yu kept in touch with Luoyang while concentrating on handling affairs in the county.

In November, He Jin, Yang Ci and Yuan Wei jointly submitted a memorial, which listed all the achievements Wang Yun had made during his tenure as the governor of Yuzhou, such as working with Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun to appease the Yellow Turbans in Yuzhou and restoring production in Yuzhou after the war.

After reading the memorial, Liu Hong was impressed by Wang Yun's outstanding achievements and was ready to issue an imperial decree to release Wang Yun. However, Zhang Rang insisted on Wang Yun's false accusation and advised Liu Hong not to release Wang Yun easily.

After some consideration, Liu Hong finally issued an edict to commute the death penalty to one level and sentenced Wang Yun to life imprisonment, and continued to detain him in the Tingwei Prison.

Not long after, something terrible happened. Yang Ci, who had petitioned for pardon for Wang Yun a few days ago, suddenly died at home due to illness. The person who succeeded Yang Ci as Sikong was Xu Xiang, the Guanglu Dafu.

Xu Xiang, courtesy name Gongbi, was from the Xu family of Pingyu, Runan. His father and grandfather were both high-ranking officials. In terms of his place of origin and qualifications, Xu Xiang should have been the backbone of the scholar group.

However, Xu Xiang served the eunuchs, and when he was appointed as the Palace Attendant, he was granted the title of Marquis. With the help of the eunuchs, he was promoted from the Palace Attendant to the Grand Master of Imperial Households, and then succeeded to the Minister of Works.

Xu successively took the position of Sikong. Under the order of Zhang Rang, he refused to grant amnesty to Wang Yun at the end of the year on the grounds that Wang Yun had already been pardoned, and continued to execute his life sentence. This made everyone's plan to rescue Wang Yun through amnesty fail.

At the same time, because of Yang Ci's death, Liu Hong ordered a three-day absence from court. The ministers also ignored Wang Yun and all participated in Yang Ci's funeral, which made Wang Yun lose a lot of attention.

For a time, the death of Yang Ci and the promotion of Xu Xiang reduced the number of the three ministers who supported Wang Yun, leaving only the Grand Marshal Yuan Wei and the General He Jin. The situation became increasingly unfavorable for Wang Yun.

Zhang Yu, who heard the news, had to set off for Luoyang to see if he could find a way to rescue Wang Yun. As for the affairs of Zheng County, Zhang Yu once again entrusted Du Ji with the management.

ps: Thanks to New Hope T_T, softpa, Barca.Lemon and other book friends for their rewards!

(End of this chapter)