The emperor would rather have a

Chapter 1: Widowed Sister-in-law and Brother-in-law
Later Zhou, the first year of Xian De (954), February.

It was a time of national mourning, and the city of Daliang in Tokyo was solemn. Some traces of the snow that had fallen a few days ago still remained, and people were hurrying to and fro on the road.

There is a Longjin Bridge outside the Zhuque Gate in the south of the city, connecting to the outer city market commercial area. It has a large flow of people coming and going, and various shops are gathered on both sides of the bridge.

At the bend on the southeast side of the bridge, there is a breakfast shop. The shop is run by a widow named Guo.

Mrs. Guo was pretty and had good craftsmanship, so her shop was usually quite prosperous.

Logically speaking, a good-looking widow would easily attract trouble, let alone open a business.

But in fact, no ruffian in Tokyo dared to target her.

This was because Guo had a younger brother-in-law who served in the Imperial Guards, and was a lieutenant in the Inner Palace Guard, in charge of more than a hundred men.

Since the middle and late Tang Dynasty, local separatist regimes have been fighting against each other, and the armies have been burning, killing, and looting even worse than bandits. The people's fear of warriors has long been ingrained in their bones.

Who would dare to mess with the relatives of a lieutenant colonel of the Imperial Guards?

"Kaifeng Prefecture is investigating a case. All outsiders, please disperse immediately!"

At this time, at the door of the breakfast shop, a young man was surrounded by police officers.

The young man looked to be around twenty years old.

In this cold winter, he only wore a worn short shirt on his upper body, and the muscular outlines on his bare arms showed his unparalleled strength.

What is even more striking is the young man's height.

A rough estimate shows that it is about six feet long (190), and there is a tattoo on its neck in the shape of an eagle, with wings spread and head held high as if about to fly, which adds a bit of fierceness to its appearance.

Looking more closely at the young man's appearance, he has prominent eyebrows and a broad forehead, and a majestic appearance. What a heroic and extraordinary young man.

Perhaps because they were intimidated by the young man's identity as a lieutenant in the imperial guards, and because he looked so strong and majestic, the officers only surrounded him symbolically and did not dare to do anything to him.

It's just a few bucks a month, why bother with that?
"Erlang, it's all my fault..."

Next to the young man stood a young woman, her pretty face full of sorrow and her voice trembling.

The woman had a beautiful appearance, big, bright eyes, and long hair tied up and wrapped in cloth. She was no more than twenty years old and looked like a married woman from the way she was dressed.

The woman was none other than the widow Guo who ran a breakfast shop, and the young man was her brother-in-law, whose full name was Li Yi, also known as Yi Ge'er.

"This guy bullied you first, how can you blame your sister-in-law?"

Li Yi soothed him, "Don't worry, I'm the guard of the inner palace guards, and it was this fellow who provoked me. I accidentally killed him, it's nothing serious."

"Yeah." Mrs. Guo felt a little relieved after hearing this, but she still felt sad.

However, at this moment, Li Yi's heart was not as indifferent as he said. He was already cursing under his calm appearance.

Because the man he beat to death shouted a sentence before falling to the ground -

"My uncle is Zhao Hongyin, the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Guards...ah!"

When the other party shouted this, Li Yi's fist had already been swung out, followed by the other party's scream.

The guy's life force was obviously not as strong as his words. After being punched in the face, he fell to the ground and twitched. After twitching for a while, he became completely motionless.

As for who is the Zhao Hongyin mentioned by the other party?
Now that someone with this name is the commander-in-chief of the imperial guards, there is only one possibility... Zhao Kuangyin's father!

That’s right, it was the father of Emperor Taizu of Song who would later wear the yellow robe.

"God always likes to play such inappropriate jokes..."

Li Yi sighed inwardly.

I just heard Zhao Kuangyin mention it not long ago, saying that his aunt unfortunately lost her husband and came to live with his father in the first month of this year. He was accompanied by his aunt's only son, Zhao Kuangyin's cousin.

Unexpectedly, he would end up killing Zhao Kuangyin's deceased uncle!

But who could have predicted that things would be so coincidental?

Li Yi shook his head and put his complicated thoughts behind him for the time being.

Right now, settling this murder case is the most important thing...

the other side.

The coroner sent by the Kaifeng government office was performing an autopsy: "The victim was lying on his back, with obvious injuries on his face, seemingly caused by a blunt object. There were no other obvious injuries..."

At the same time, an official wearing a lacquered gauze hat and official uniform stood beside the coroner, holding the case in one hand and quickly writing something with a pen in the other.

After the coroner finished speaking, he asked a few more questions before stopping.

"I am Song Rengong, a military officer in the Kaifeng prefectural government."

The official in public service walked quickly up to Li Yi and introduced himself first.

Then he asked, "Are you a general of the Imperial Guard? Did you kill this man?"

"Yes, I am Li Yi, the sergeant of the Second Squad on the Left of the Palace Guards."

"As for this man, I didn't mean to kill him. I just acted carelessly in a fit of anger..."

Li Yi emphasized that he had no intention of killing anyone.

Since ancient times, intentional homicide and manslaughter have been two different concepts, and the sentencing results are vastly different. Naturally, he had to make this clear.

"The guard of the flag and ceremonial guards..." The official in official uniform glanced at Li Yi.

He had some understanding of the organization of the imperial guards and knew that the flag-bearing ceremonial guards were under the Inner Palace Guards and were divided into four groups, the left and right ceremonial guards, each with a hundred people, led by a Ya Ya, who was in charge of the ceremonial flags for the emperor's travels.

Although he was only a low-ranking general in terms of military rank, equivalent to the captain of a hundred-man squadron, as the captain of the emperor's personal guard, his status and treatment were no worse than those of a seventh-rank legal officer like him.

The official pressed the issue, "You said you made a mistake. What's your reason? And what evidence do you have?"

"This man came to the shop to eat this morning and spoke frivolously to my sister-in-law and even tried to make a move on her."

"I stepped forward to stop him, but he became rude, shoved and insulted me, and even slandered me for having an affair with my uncle and my sister-in-law."

"I punched him in anger, but he fell to the ground..."

Li Yi pointed at the crowd and said, "As for evidence, there were other diners present at the time. They saw it with their own eyes. We can tell the truth by asking them."

"It would be better if there were witnesses. I can't just listen to one side of the story."

The official in public service nodded slightly, walked straight towards the crowd and asked about the ins and outs of the case.

Fortunately, Li Yi was speaking the truth, and many people were present to witness everything, making it easy to figure out the cause. A moment later, the official returned to Li Yi and said, "Based on what everyone has said, it was indeed the other party who started the trouble."

At this point, the other party hesitated and said, "But you killed someone in the street..."

In today's world, warriors are used to being domineering and it is not uncommon for people to die. Moreover, the deceased was the one who started the trouble, so this case can be a big or small one.

However, a murder occurred in Tokyo City, and the victim was the nephew of the commander-in-chief of the imperial guards.

Public officials naturally dare not make rash judgments.

"The murderer may not be guilty of murder. I just acted carelessly in the heat of the moment. I had no intention of killing anyone."

Li Yi immediately defended himself, "Seeing my relatives being bullied, am I not even allowed to resist or dissuade them? I can only swallow my anger?"

"According to the six categories of killing in the Yonghui Law Commentary, I was guilty of manslaughter at most and should not be charged with murder."

Against the backdrop of the chaotic Five Dynasties period, laws and regulations were in chaos, but they generally followed the Tang system.

At this time, the Later Zhou Dynasty had not yet established laws and all used the old Tang Dynasty codes. The "Yonghui Law Commentary" was a model for the Tang Dynasty laws and was naturally authoritative.

Even if he had to admit the fact of murder, he would have to be charged with manslaughter, because manslaughter could be atonement with copper.

"Oh?" The official in public service was a little surprised when he heard this.

In this era, few lower-class warriors could read, let alone understand the relatively obscure legal texts.

This Li Yaya's words and expressions were well-reasoned and his behavior was quite dignified. He never uttered a single foul word.

What warrior wouldn’t curse when encountering such a thing?
"drive!"

At this moment, a knight came hurriedly from the street corner, and the one driving the horse was a big man with a black face.

The official in public service obviously recognized the other party and quickly stepped forward to greet him, "Marquis Zhao Yu."

"General Song." The dark-faced man dismounted and replied stiffly.

The big man had a very distinctive appearance, with a big face, broad forehead, short and thick neck, skin as black as coal, and a slightly fat body with broad shoulders and a big waist.

Li Yi even suspected that the image of Bao Gong in later operas was based on this Emperor Zhao.

"..."

Zhao Kuangyin walked straight up to the deceased, lowered his head and stared at the corpse silently. His already charcoal-black face seemed to become even darker.

Damn, you came so fast!
Li Yi muttered something inwardly, then walked to Zhao Da's side, clasped his fists and said, "Brother Zhao..."

He wanted to humble himself and say some soft words to apologize, but when the words came to his lips, he didn't know what to say.

It would be fine if he had just injured someone, but now he was lying straight on the ground, completely cold.

What's the point of saying more?

"..."

Unexpectedly, Zhao Kuangyin did not respond at all, and did not even move his head, still staring at the corpse.

"Uh..." Li Yi couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed.

Seeing that Zhao Kuangyin didn't give him a good look, he simply stopped talking and made himself look bad, and quietly stepped aside.

"Marquis Zhao Yu, the facts of this case are now roughly clear..."

The public service official noticed that the atmosphere was a little strange and was afraid that the two would start fighting if they disagreed, so he quickly spoke up to break the deadlock.

Otherwise, if the matter gets out of hand, he, the legal officer, will also be implicated.

……

"Why has it come to this... Alas!"

After hearing the reasons for the case, Zhao Kuangyin sighed and finally turned around, "Brother Yi, this matter makes me very embarrassed..."

To say how close he was to his cousin would be a lie, as he was ten years older than his cousin.

Before my aunt brought this cousin here, the two sides had only met a few times.

Where is the deep feeling?

He was not even as close as his close brothers in the army.

But the other party is his blood cousin after all, and he is also the only son of his aunt. As a nephew, he can't take sides with an outsider, right?

It just so happened that the murderer was familiar to him, and it was his cousin who took the initiative to provoke him.

If he sided with his relatives and ignored the justice, and insisted on pursuing the matter and making a big fuss, what would the other brothers in the army think?
They might think that Zhao Kuangyin is not someone worth making friends with.

Moreover, the previous emperor had just passed away and the new emperor had just ascended the throne. The situation inside and outside the court was unstable. During this critical and sensitive period, we must act prudently and cautiously.

Whether in public or in private, Zhao Kuangyin had many concerns in his heart.

So he really felt very embarrassed.

"Difficult? Then don't do it!" Li Yi almost blurted out this famous saying.

Fortunately, he finally swallowed this inappropriate joke.

The situation is not yet irreversible, and he is not willing to take the initiative to break off relations with Zhao Kuangyin.

Li Yi could only say with a look of regret: "This matter is my fault for being reckless. I have made such a mistake. I beg for your condolences, Brother Zhao."

As he spoke, he glanced at Zhao Da's expression, but didn't see much clues.

However, it is not easy to tell anything from Zhao Da's face.

Because this face is so damn dark!
Li Yi added, "No matter what the final punishment is, I will bear it wholeheartedly without complaint."

His words gave Zhao Kuangyin enough face.

However, the words "punishment according to the law" were subtly emphasized in his words.

The implied meaning is self-evident.

Kaifeng Prefecture must follow the Tang Dynasty law. Just as Li Yi had previously told the official, he would only plead guilty to the crime of manslaughter at most.

Manslaughter can be punished with copper.

(End of this chapter)