Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 348 A son who usurps his father's authority deserves to be punished.

"To be abandoned, to be executed in the marketplace..."

Upon hearing the imperial edict read aloud, Yuan Jie turned deathly pale, stood frozen in the distance, as if his very soul had been taken away.

When Li Linfu heard that he was to be subjected to extreme torture, his mind exploded. He felt dizzy and disoriented, and after a moment, he suddenly roared in a trembling voice, "Zhang Dai, you treacherous dog, you took my life! Even as a ghost after I die, I will never let you go..."

The two reacted very differently, one still and the other moving, but officials from the Censorate quickly stepped forward, grabbed their shoulders, and restrained them.

After the imperial envoy finished reading the imperial edict, he immediately ordered, "Take the man to the Dali Temple prison and execute him at the appointed time!"

Upon hearing this, several soldiers who had accompanied him quickly stepped forward, lifted and bound the still stunned Yuan Jie, and dragged him onto the prison cart. As for Li Linfu, who was still acting like a madman and cursing, no one paid him any attention.

"Your Majesty... I beg Your Majesty to spare my life! I am innocent, I am innocent... It was Zhang Dai, that treacherous dog Zhang Dai who framed and harmed me..."

After the imperial envoy finished delivering the decree, he put Yuan Jie on a prison cart and left the Censorate's Judicial Office. Li Linfu, still unaware of the danger, was still there, kowtowing and wailing in the direction of Xingqing Palace.

The censors standing nearby, seeing Li Linfu's reaction, didn't seem to have any particular feelings. Their work in the censorate was such that they were used to seeing ministers react dramatically and extremely under immense fear; they simply stood by and watched coldly.

"Where is Yuan Jiu? Why am I still here? What... what's going on?"

Li Linfu vented for a while, but when he looked back, he couldn't see Yuan Jie and the imperial envoy. At first, he thought there was something wrong with his eyes, so he quickly raised his hand to wipe his blurry, tearful eyes. When his vision cleared up, he still couldn't see those people. He was naturally confused and turned to the censors around him to ask them urgently.

"The Chinese envoy's visit here was merely to deliver the verdict against Yuan, and did not involve Mr. Li. Mr. Li still needs to remain in prison here."

At this moment, someone else spoke up.

"It's just Yuan Jiu, it's just Yuan Jiu... They didn't sentence me? I don't need to die? I don't need to die..."

Upon hearing this, Li Linfu was overwhelmed with mixed feelings of joy and worry. His face showed a complex mix of emotions that were hard to describe. He stood there stunned for a while before suddenly shouting, "I want to see my family! I want to see... Quickly, quickly bring my family here!"

He hadn't figured out the specifics of the situation yet, but one thing was clear: he was still in danger and needed to quickly mobilize his connections to beg for mercy, otherwise, who knew what kind of punishment awaited him next!
This verdict caused Li Linfu to both cry and laugh, almost to the point of mental breakdown, and had already caused a great uproar at Xingqing Palace before.

"Yuan Jie is to be executed? The punishment is so severe!"

When the verdict was announced, the people in the Hanlin Academy were shocked and immediately looked at Zhang Dai.

Zhang Dai felt uneasy under the astonished gazes of the crowd. This was clearly the will of the sage, so why were they all looking at him like that!

Yuan Jie's crime is clear: he usurped his father's power and interfered in various affairs of the Jingzhao Prefecture by taking advantage of his father's official position as the Prefect of Jingzhao.

Upon hearing the verdict against Yuan Jie, Zhang Dai instantly understood why the Emperor had made such a grand spectacle of the matter, even requiring a joint trial by the three judicial authorities. The severity of the case was secondary; the key was to make an example of him!
Although he was full of doubts before, he had not thought about it in this direction because the Crown Prince was so low-key that he had no presence.

Since Zhang Dai came into this world, he had mostly only heard of the Crown Prince but never met him. This was partly because the Crown Prince was observing mourning for his mother, and partly because there were almost no stories about the Crown Prince in the current political climate.

If it weren't for the fact that many sons of high-ranking officials served as officials in the Eastern Palace and enjoyed high ranks and treatment, and that some of the Crown Prince's relatives and family members could be seen occasionally, Zhang Dai would even doubt whether there was such a Crown Prince in our Tang Dynasty.

With the Crown Prince so low-key and barely noticeable, who would have thought that Yuan Jie would touch the Emperor's sensitive nerve by usurping his father's authority?

Why the emperor was so wary is something outsiders can hardly say. Not to mention the inherent irreconcilable conflict and competition between emperors and their sons, perhaps one night the emperor had a bad night with a concubine, lamented the passing of his prime, and then developed a dislike and wariness towards the young prince. Who can say for sure?
Or perhaps, as the mourning period for the crown prince ends, he will gradually return to the public eye, and the sage will seize this opportunity to make an example of him.

In short, whatever the reason, Yuan Jie was just unlucky enough to run into the very thing that the saint wanted, and as a result, he had to pay the price with his life.

This outcome really had little to do with Zhang Dai. His bringing this matter to the emperor's attention was, at best, his act as a consumer seeking redress, and in the process, he discovered a dual contract (one for official purposes and one for private purposes).

On a grander scale, as a court official who served as a close attendant, he noticed a loophole in the court's procedures for handling stolen goods and petitioned the court to fix it, thereby strengthening the fairness and clarity of the judicial process and helping the court recover its losses. This is what a righteous and upright official should do!

Moreover, setting aside the sage's petty thoughts, Zhang Dai also felt that such a role model should be established.

The abuse of power was already a serious problem in the Tang Dynasty, and the abuse of paternal authority by sons was a common phenomenon. For example, Yao Chong served as prime minister in Chang'an, while his sons sold official positions in Luoyang. Song Jing was a paragon of integrity, but almost none of his sons were good people.

Yuwen Rong, who later rose to power, was similarly demoted again because his son was guilty of embezzlement and bribery. Lu Congyuan, who had been striving to become prime minister, had his path to the position cut off when his son was reported by an imperial censor for selling grain to the government at inflated prices.

These children of high-ranking officials in the Tang Dynasty grew up in the center of power. They witnessed their fathers abusing their power and taking it for granted, naturally imitating them.

However, they lack the corresponding experience and ability, especially the power, so they naturally set their sights on the power held by their parents.

Their actions were rash and reckless, and their goals and methods were sometimes ridiculously shallow, which led to the downfall of their fathers and even the entire clan.

Why did Yuan Jie dare to do these things? It wasn't because he was stupid, but because that was the prevailing social trend.

They naturally treated the authority their parents held as a resource belonging to the family and used it arbitrarily. This wasn't just Yuan Jie doing it; it was a trend and habit within their small circle.

Yuan Jie's execution for arbitrarily interfering in the affairs of the Jingzhao Prefecture will likely serve as a deterrent to some of the privileged sons of officials for some time. Zhang Dai hadn't anticipated this when he submitted his memorial, but since it had such an effect, it was a pleasant surprise.

It is extremely dangerous for these children of officials to arbitrarily dabble in power. This is because the power itself was not granted to them, and they naturally lack the basic concept of being responsible for the source of their power. For them, power is merely a stimulating and addictive toy.

After a day of fermentation, the matter had spread thoroughly throughout the capital region, and the imperial edict issued this morning sentencing Yuan Jie had shocked Shi Liu even more.

Shortly after the imperial edict was issued, a large procession of carriages and horses headed toward Xingqing Palace. Although it was not the day of the grand court assembly, the princes and nobles gathered outside the palace gates were no less numerous than on a grand court assembly day.

Not everyone can clearly understand the intentions revealed by the sage, and even if someone does see it, they will have to bite the bullet and come to Xingqing Palace to see the sage because of the close stakes involved, trying to persuade the sage to retract his order and give him a lighter punishment.

However, these people have often been out of touch with the political scene for a long time and are unable to clearly assess the situation. As for those who are truly at the heart of the political situation, they will not act so rashly and chaotically.

Take Yuwen Rong, for example, who rushed to the Hanlin Academy of Xingqing Palace to severely reprimand Zhang Dai shortly after the incident yesterday. However, after Yuan Jie's verdict was handed down, he did not show up again. It wasn't that he was hiding to avoid suspicion, but rather that he had more important things to do.

The fact that Yuan Qianyao was reassigned and sidelined, while his son Yuan Jie was executed, dealt a significant blow to Yuwen Rong, who was riding high on his momentum.

Although he had long since broken away from Yuan Qianyao and developed his own personnel system, his relationship with Yuan Qianyao was still too close. If someone with ulterior motives were to entangle and confuse him, even if they couldn't completely drag Yuwen Rong down with them, they would probably exclude him from the next round of central power distribution.

Therefore, Yuwen Rong had no energy to deal with these matters. He had to find ways to increase his importance to the current situation in order to reduce the possibility of being ostracized.

Most of the princes and nobles who flocked to Xingqing Palace were not granted an audience with the emperor and had to leave disappointed. However, some lingered outside, repeatedly requesting an audience, their eagerness palpable.

Zhang Dai had been on duty for several days and originally planned to visit the Court of Imperial Sacrifices today before going home. However, upon hearing this plan, he couldn't help but feel apprehensive. It seemed that he would have to be even more careful when going out in the future.

He himself had a clear conscience, but he couldn't guarantee that some people would blame him for it, since these things wouldn't have happened if he hadn't reported it to the authorities.

Although Yuan Jie has been sentenced, Li Linfu has not yet been sentenced. Those who still maintain such a concerned attitude are none other than their relatives and friends. These are all true old money from Guanzhong, and Chang'an is their old nest that they have been operating for nearly two hundred years!

Zhang Dai was still pondering whether to instruct his family to send more people to fetch him when suddenly another eunuch came to inform the Emperor that he was summoned to the Hua'e Xianghui Tower to meet the Emperor.

(End of this chapter)