Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 179 A Second Trip to Henan Prefecture

Zhang Dai's intention was simple: to drag this matter and Wang Shouzhen into the territory of their political enemies and see how they would handle it.

Wang Shouzhen's actions were not merely a revenge attack on Zhang Dai based on personal grudges, but also constituted a crime with irrefutable evidence. Although the Zhang family had lost power, they still had the basic right to live a normal life under the protection of Tang law.

To resolve this issue, it cannot simply be a contest of power between the two sides; more importantly, we must use the weapon of law to defend our right to survival.

Even if the Wang father and son disregard the constraints of the law, the process must be clearly demonstrated, showing what outrageous acts they have committed that defy the law, and who in the law enforcement system is condoning and protecting them!

When Zhang Dai arrived at the Jinwuwei government office, he had already complained to Li Anle, the Zhonglang General of Nayifu, about Wang Shouzhen's illegal activities. However, Li Anle was with Wang Shouzhen at the time and naturally did not respond.

But now that even the Prince of Xin'an, the head of the Imperial Guard, has arrived, it is impossible to let Wang Shouzhen act arrogantly any longer. Of course, a relatively fair judgment must be made.

At first, Zhang Shuo was not quite clear about the specific situation, and feeling extremely ashamed and annoyed, he quickly came to his senses after being reminded by Zhang Dai.

Although the matter may eventually have to be resolved before reaching the Emperor's court, the first step is to confirm the facts of Wang Shouzhen's illegal and criminal activities, and to demonstrate the arrogance of Wang and his son through various personnel actions.

He was a top-notch master of power struggles, and immediately proposed that the Imperial Guard conduct a preliminary investigation and make a determination.

The Jinwu Guard is responsible for guarding the city. They have certain powers to deal with all illegal acts that occur in the capital. However, if the illegal act is too complicated, it still needs to be sent to different law enforcement departments for more in-depth processing.

The facts concerning Wang Shouzhen's gathering of servants to carry weapons in the streets and commit violence in neighborhoods are themselves irrefutable and beyond dispute.

While the case was still under trial, a soldier from the Imperial Guard suddenly entered the hall and reported: "Reporting to the General, a man claiming to be Ma Chong, the commander of the Ten Thousand Cavalry Camp, is leading several hundred armored soldiers and is about to enter the ward!"

Several groups of men from Zhang Dai came to the rescue, but Wang Shouzhen was not alone; he naturally had his followers. As wave after wave of people arrived at the Jinwu Guard's office, his entourage naturally realized that the situation was dire, so they hurriedly returned to the north gate to report the news and fetch reinforcements.

Wang Shouzhen, who had been standing dejectedly in the hall, suddenly brightened up when he heard that reinforcements had arrived. He looked at Prince Xin'an sitting in the hall and said, "This matter was originally a private dispute between me and Zhang Liu, and it has not yet reached the point of violating the law."

It was indeed inappropriate of me to disturb this government office so abruptly, and I deserve punishment. However, I beg Your Majesty to dismiss me from the court; I will certainly handle this dispute properly and will not interfere with the Imperial Guards again. If Your Majesty forces people and matters to remain here, it will only cause unnecessary trouble!

Upon hearing this, Prince Xin'an's face turned red with anger, while Zhang Yue spoke up at the opportune moment, saying, "The case here has been clearly judged. Your Majesty should quickly finalize the case and send down the case file. We will take care of this case elsewhere."

Li Yi certainly admired Zhang Dai, but he also knew that if he kept the personnel here, he would inevitably clash with Mao Zhong, the Prince of the Northern Army. As Zhang said, this was the best solution.

Therefore, he did not delay any longer. After reviewing the case files, he made a judgment and sent it to the Henan Prefecture for further trial and judgment.

The case file was made in triplicate: one copy was kept in court, one was given to the victim, and one was sent to Henan Prefecture along with Wang Shouzhen, the perpetrator. Since Wang Shouzhen also accused Zhang Dai of harboring his runaway slave, Zhang Dai was also considered a perpetrator and had to go to Henan Prefecture for trial as well.

According to normal procedures, the Jinwu Guard should have sent people to transfer the relevant persons to Henan Prefecture. However, at this moment, 10,000 cavalrymen had already rushed into the neighborhood, blocking the Jinwu Guard's office and clamoring for the release of the people. Moreover, the Jinwu Guard itself had quite close personnel ties with the Northern Government.

Li Yi had not been in office for long and could not fully sort out these personnel relationships. If he arranged for the Imperial Guards to escort her, they might release Wang Shouzhen halfway through the journey. Therefore, it was best to keep Wang Shouzhen under his control.

Although Zhang Yue and his entourage consisted of scholars and numbered in the dozens, they were more than capable of escorting Wang Shouzhen. However, the problem lay in the hundreds of heavily armored cavalrymen blocking the gate, making a breakthrough difficult.

"I'll have my servants disperse the North Gate Slave. You all, hurry to Henan Prefecture through the side gate!"

Yang Sixu was very keen on attacking Wang Maozhong. In the past, he had no strategy and was always at a disadvantage, but now that Wang Maozhong and his son had finally offended Zhang Shuo and his grandson, Yang Sixu naturally wanted to lend a hand and make the matter as big as possible. He also wanted to see what methods Zhang Shuo, the former bigwig of the Southern Province, would use to retaliate against Wang Maozhong.

The area in front of the Jinwuwei yamen was already quite spacious, but now that hundreds of 10,000 cavalrymen were standing there, it became crowded and chaotic. The 10,000 cavalrymen envied the Jinwuwei's daily opportunities to patrol the neighborhoods and show off their power, so they shouted very enthusiastically now that they could get close to the Jinwuwei.

However, at this moment, dozens of burly soldiers wielding long staffs suddenly rushed out of the government office, charging into the chaotic formation of the 10,000 cavalrymen and launching a beating. The 10,000 cavalrymen, realizing what was happening, were also enraged, and the two sides quickly engaged in a brawl in the street.

Taking advantage of the chaos on the main street, Zhang Shuo and his party immediately entered the alley through the side gate of the Jinwuwei Guard and headed out of the neighborhood.

As for Zhang Jiuling, He Zhizhang, and others who had accompanied them, they did not come with them. They wanted to wait until the commotion outside subsided before returning to the capital to draft their accusations and impeachments. "Stop hitting! Stop hitting! Wang's eldest son has been led out through the side gate and taken to Henan Prefecture!"

There were also soldiers from the Northern Army in the Jinwu Guard. When they saw the 10,000 cavalrymen fighting endlessly with Yang Sixu's servants outside, they couldn't help but climb up the wall to shout and warn them.

At the same time, Li Yi also gathered the soldiers left behind in the government office and ordered them to rush into the streets and control all the people fighting.

While he certainly did not want to directly clash with Wang Maozhong, it was undoubtedly a serious dereliction of duty for him, as the General of the Left Jinwu Guard, to remain indifferent to the fighting in front of his government office. Of course, he had to respond within his authority.

Leaving aside the chaos in Qinghuafang, Zhang Shuo and his grandson Zhang Dai escorted Wang Shouzhen on a hurried journey.

Wang Shouzhen, though usually audacious and reckless, was now somewhat flustered, stammering, "Zhang Liu, where are you leading me? If you intend to harm me, I... I will never let you go! If you let me go, I will not pursue the matter further. This time I offended you, but I did not hurt you..."

"Gag him!"

Zhang Dai, too lazy to listen to his rambling, gave an order to An Xiaochen, who was holding him captive.

Upon hearing this, An Xiaochen took a piece of felt cloth from his waist that he usually used to wipe his dagger, belt, and boots, crumpled it into a ball, and stuffed it into Wang Shouzhen's mouth.

The felt cloth was covered in grease and filth, and its smell was inevitably pungent and putrid. When it was suddenly put into his mouth, Wang Shouzhen was immediately made to gag repeatedly, tears streaming down his face, and even his eyes rolled back.

"I can go to the government office myself. Father, you should go home first."

Even if Zhang Shuo wasn't the prime minister, he was still the Right Chancellor of the Ministry of Personnel, so it wouldn't be appropriate for him to directly enter the government office to file a lawsuit. Moreover, after such a matter occurred, relatives and friends would inevitably come to inquire anxiously, so Zhang Shuo needed to be at home to receive them, hoping to make the greatest possible impact. Therefore, after arriving outside Xuanfanfang, Zhang Dai spoke to his grandfather again.

Upon hearing this, Zhang nodded first, then added, "The officials at the North Gate are arrogant and domineering. They even dare to gather crowds and cause trouble at the Jinwu Guard's office. It will be difficult to keep the Henan Prefecture safe. If their followers break into the prefecture and try to seize someone, do not resist them. The most important thing is to ensure your own safety!"

Zhang Dai quickly agreed, as he always valued his personal safety and would never act rashly when it was inappropriate.

As for the possibility that the North Gate might come to Henan Prefecture to snatch people, that's exactly what we want them to do. The more they make a fuss, the worse the impact of the situation will be, and the more they will force the ruling bigwigs in the court to speak out.

After parting ways with Zhang Shuo, Zhang Dai, along with the rest of his family, escorted Wang Shouzhen straight to the Henan Prefecture government office in the neighborhood. The yamen runners standing in front of the office were the same ones as before. After all, no matter how much the upper echelons changed, it didn't really affect these clerks who handled miscellaneous affairs.

These people vividly remembered Zhang Dai, who had previously caused chaos in the mansion. Seeing this menacing figure approaching again, they were so frightened that their legs trembled. Two of them immediately sent word back to the mansion: "That menacing figure—no, it's Zhang Yan, Gongsun Zhang Liu—he's here again!"

The New Year had just passed, and the officials of Henan Prefecture were still immersed in the afterglow of the holiday, with no urgent matters to attend to in their offices.

Upon hearing this shout, all the military advisors and even the Grand Magistrate Meng Wenli rushed out from the back of the yamen and shouted, "What is he doing here!"

Leaving aside the tense atmosphere in the yamen, Zhang Dai went straight to the gate of the government office and shouted to the clerks who rushed to greet him: "Quickly go in and tell Magistrate Meng that I have a case to file. Thieves have entered the neighborhood, looted my house, and set fire to my house!"

"Zhang Liu and Lang have come to complain that their house was robbed and their garden burned down!"

Upon hearing this, a clerk hurriedly ran towards the mansion, shouting loudly as he went.

Standing at the door, Zhang Dai shook his head upon hearing the shouts. Although he intended to escalate the situation, did these clerks really need to shout so loudly? And if he wasn't mistaken, the guy was grinning broadly as he shouted, looking like he deserved to be taught a lesson!

Upon hearing the official's report, Meng Wenli's furrowed brows relaxed slightly. He then pointed at the subordinate official, the legal advisor, who was standing in the front courtyard watching the commotion, and said, "Since it's a lawsuit, the legal advisor should accept it. Don't lose your composure and shout in the government office!"

After saying this, he immediately turned and went back to the back of the yamen. As the prefectural magistrate, he didn't have the time to personally oversee every little matter.

But he had just returned to the back hall and settled down, and before he could deal with the previous case, he saw the same legal advisor rushing in with a file in his hand and a look of panic: "My lord, something terrible has happened! Something terrible has happened! The one Zhang Liu brought this lawsuit against is none other than Wang Kai, the son of the Duke of Huo, and Wang Shouzhen, the servant of the Crown Prince! I am not in a position to make a decision on my own, and can only report to my lord!"

(End of this chapter)