Chapter 202: Splitting the Red Lotus (Below)

Marquis Wei! The two marquises of the Wei family in the capital – Marquis Xian’an and Marquis Feng’an, those are resounding relatives of the state, how did they get involved in the bombing case? The people clamored.

Su Yan boarded up his face, said sternly: “Good wow, no evidence, also dare to indiscriminately climbing relatives, know that this is a big crime to lose your head!”

Grain merchants are crying foul:

“Every word that I have said is true, Your Excellency!”

“It is true that the money was taken from the Tongji money changer, and there are inscriptions on the banknotes, solid proof!”

“I really don’t know what the bombing was about, perhaps Boss Wan doesn’t know either?”

“It makes sense, exactly Wan Xin knows not know, I’m afraid I still have to find him personally to ask a question.” Su Yan touched his bare chin, pondered, “But this Wan Xin is, after all, the inner brother of Marquis Feng An Wei Joon, if this official passes him for interrogation, I’m afraid to offend Marquis Feng An ……”

Some of the people closer to the platform heard his “self-talk”, and a surge of blood in their chests came out of nowhere.

Xu because Feng An Hou in the people wantonly plunder beauty, notorious, sparked a lot of public anger; and this young Su adults in the capital reputation, knocked the DengWenDrum for the teacher of the injustice, are said to be a piece of loyalty and courage. The people don’t understand the power entanglements in the court, and they don’t care, they only recognize a simple truth – the one who robbed the people’s daughter is a dog thief, and the one who is loyal and courageous is a good official.

Therefore, there is a bold student called up: “Lord! But is it the Lord Su who ‘beat the drums at the Royal Gate to clear the wrongs of the master, punishing the evil and eliminating the treacherous twelve Chen’? I’ve heard that Mr. Su is not afraid of power, but because the Wei family is so powerful, we can’t just let it go!”

“That’s right! If even Lord Su backs down, who else would dare to pluck the whiskers of that vicious tiger?”

“Since we are investigating the case, we have to investigate it to the end, and let the big guys know the truth about the White Paper Place bombing.”

“Your Excellency must do right by the grasshopper’s family members who died in the bombing!”

“I beg Lord Su to do right by the people ……”

“Lord Sue ……”

The people’s feelings surging, the people’s hearts like fire, Su Yan moved to wet eyes, arching his hand promises: “This official will live up to the pleas of the folks, even if there are thousands of difficulties and dangers, but also will never retreat!”

There was a roar of approval from the stage.

Behind the vice-inquisitor’s table, Zuo Guangbi, the langzhong of the Ministry of Justice, rolled his eyes vaguely and said to Chu Qiu, the imperial inspector of the Duzha Academy, “I can kind of see what we’re here for today.”

Chu Qiu years but thirty years, is a mountain eyebrow water eyes of the handsome appearance, six years ago, a bachelor’s degree, first into the Hanlin, and then let go of the noble prospects do not, self-requested to go to the Academy as a royal historian, so far is still the seven products. He sniffed and said: “to do what, close to the brother is to put words to understand.”

Zuo Guangbi said, “I’m here to be a chaperone. Seeing the drama on and off the stage, Su XII’s reputation is going up again.”

“…… You’re insinuating that he’s caging the people and the city’s enjambment?”

“Isn’t it?”

Chu Qiu light: “That also have to have the grace can city, have righteousness can Jia. Today this public trial, Su Qinghe and Wei family feud really on stage, immortal, together with the Empress Dowager side, also counted openly offended. Near the brother may be willing to take the same risk, to the civilian population to the city of the city of this grace?”

Zuo Guangbi was embarrassed by his rhetorical question and turned red: “Brother Lingchuan, this is meaningless. He Su Qinghe and you are only a few faces away from each other, is he as close as I am to you?”

“Kindred naturally can’t compare. But brother Konnichi, see that Xiezhi?” Chu Qiu raised his chin towards the official robe patch on Su Yan’s back, “He is wearing the robe of a speech officer, which means that he is handling the case in the capacity of a royal historian. If this case can be recorded in the history books, it will be a colorful addition to the merits of our dynasty’s magistrates. Public justice outweighs personal feelings, Brother Konichi.”

Wordsmiths have a strong sense of community, so love to embrace the group, this point Zuo Guangbi is aware of, but still feel dissatisfied: “also do not see this Su Yan as one of the wordsmiths, or a few days ago, how to suddenly expose the Jia Gongji Jia imperial history in the court meeting, resulting in its removal from office to be investigated? Beware of him stabbing you in the back.”

Chu Qiu suddenly felt disgusted – this left close to the I do not know whether it is in the officialdom mixed for a long time or how, but also became jealous of the virtuous, so that he felt the face of hate.

He held back his unhappiness and said in a hard tone: “The officials are united, not for the benefit of the group, but in order to more firmly fulfill the duty of supervision and correction, to go forward and backward, and to clear up the source. Like Jia Gongji like, the duty as a tool for personal fame and fortune-telling, is not worthy of being called a ‘speech officer’! Even if Royal Secretary Su doesn’t make an issue of it, I, Chu Lingchuan, will sooner or later have to take him to court!”

Zuo Guangbi was hit in the face and shut up resentfully, no longer paying attention to his former friend.

The old friend centrifugal, Chu Qiu does not mind too much, after all, the road is different, not for each other. He can voluntarily from the training of “storage phase” of the Hanlin Academy out, willing to do an obscure royal historian, walking is an ordinary official can not understand the road – do not envy the green clouds, only hold the bones.

Su Yan did not know that when he was interacting with the people on the stage, the small boat of friendship between the two deputy inquisitors behind him had almost capsized.

He pushed the boat with the water and let the jinyiwei take the driving invitation to summon Wan Xin to the Tongji Chancery, which was actually to go to the imperial prison to lift the person out and bring him to the public trial assembly.

To say that Wan Xin this person is also a good hand to avoid harm, the original death also refused to testify on stage, for fear of provoking and even pit the Wei family, even if he is no longer a good relative can be attached. Stone eaves frost was going to torture him, Su Yan prevented: “This kind of person, everything is only for their own intentions, even if the moment fear of torture to submit, and so on the stage may want to change their minds. We have to make the stakes clear to him, he will take the initiative to cooperate.”

So Wan Xin “accidentally” from the two brocade guards of the private conversation, learned inadvertently revealed the inside story of the case: Wei family to rebel! Being used by the Vacuum Cult to commit the crime of assassinating the emperor is a major crime that will kill all nine clans! Not to mention that the emperor’s face is furious, the empress dowager’s side, even with Mrs. Qin’s relationship, but also absolutely can not forgive the plotters.

Wan Xin had suspected that the big explosion and the Wei family, and the Vacuum Cult could not be unrelated. Who would have thought that it was really dim-witted to conspire against him! In this case, in order for him not to be implicated in the situation of having his family copied and exterminated, in addition to cooperating with the special investigation team, there was no second way to live.

He made a statement to Su Yan with a snotty nose and a tear in his eye, saying that he would take the credit for the crime, as long as he could be taken out of this case and leave his family’s old and young a life.

As for his sister and brother-in-law, he couldn’t care less when it came down to it. Moreover, they were the ones who concealed it in the first place, and they can’t be buried for their crazy and absurd behavior.

Su Yan congratulated him for making the right choice, then had Stone Eaves Frost give him an earful.

So at the public trial assembly, the brocade guards brought Wan Xin.

Wan Xin in Su Yan’s series of interrogation, the first is a sly one, and finally “forced” to confess the accuser.

–Even if the conditions were negotiated in advance, he still left a heart and soul, did not mention the Wei family in the slightest, and only said that it was all under the coercion of the Vacuum Sect to act.

The word “Vacuum Cult” appeared on the scene of the public trial of the bombing in such a way that the general public was caught off guard.

Many people lost their words in shock and looked at each other, creating an undercurrent of whispers in the crowd.

Su Yan took a look at this situation, and knew that the people of the capital city believed in the vacuum religion of not a few, and was deeply poisoned, and did not believe Wan Xin’s testimony.

But no matter, so-called superstitions are meant to be broken step by step.

Perhaps the first knock, only slightly vibration, followed by the second, third …… many times, persistent knock, there is always a time when the load can not be, suddenly broken.

Su Yan frowned at Wan Xin and droned, “The Vacuum Sect was banned by the government back in the early years of the founding of the country, so where did the Vacuum Sect come from! Could it be that you are pretending to be an empty-headed sect in a vain attempt to get off the hook?”

Emperor Taizu once ordered to prohibit the vacuum religion preaching, the people are aware of it, so they only dare to believe in private, never dare to say in the open.

When Su Yan asked this question, the whispers became even smaller, and the scene fell into an eerie silence.

Wan Xin shouted, “The grasshopper is innocent! If the grass people are so bold, black hearted and rotten lungs, they can’t do such a heinous thing as blowing up thousands of people, ah! Really is the teach ‘pass the head’ of the authorization, the grass people have …… have incense long token as proof!”

He kneeled down and took out a tooth plate engraved with eight-petaled lotus flower and the word “Xiang Chang” on the front, and two lines of words “The great catastrophe is encountered in the darkness of heaven and earth, and the red lotus appears into the vacuum” on the back, and presented it to Su Yan.

Su Yan took it and finished flipping through it, and then had the brocade guards hold the token and display it along the edge of the crowd.

Someone in the crowd whispered, “Indeed it is the Holy Lotus Order …… I have seen it in the hands of other incense chiefs, exactly the same.”

“Are you a ‘mass’ too?”

“Yeah, it looks like they’re all parishioners …… You guys say that the bombing was really, was it the godfather’s idea?”

“Can’t be! Doesn’t the scripture treasure scroll say that our sect breaks the darkness, kills evil demons, and saves all living beings, so how did it backfire and blow up thousands of innocent people in White Paper Place? This is impossible ……”

“It is said that this explosion came strangely, is the wrath of heaven, is the omen of the arrival of the Red Sun Cataclysm. But just now we also saw, clearly is that what dust …… dust explosion triggered. Seems to have nothing to do with the wrath of God ah? Could it all be a lie?”

“I don’t dare to talk nonsense! Don’t forget that if your heart is shaken, not only will you not be saved from the calamity, but you won’t be able to return to the Vacuum Realm after you die, and you’ll have to be reduced to an animal for all eternity.”

“Maybe it was one of the ‘transmission heads’ who was corrupted and trespassed, setting up the Sect Leader for wrongdoing?”

“It’s possible …… but it’s also not right, if the Sect Master can’t even see through or stop this trick, how can he call himself ‘Buddha present and leading all beings’?”

For a while there were many different opinions, and many of the people were caught in a fog of truth and falsehood.

Su Yan put the dental plate into the evidence bag and added: “Just based on a plate, but it’s not a conclusive proof. It’s ridiculous for you to identify a non-existent sect as the real culprit of the bombing. Not to mention the other things, if it was really done by the Vacuum Sect, what was the motive?”

Wan Xin had memorized half a day’s script, which came in handy at this moment, and immediately replied, “In order to confirm the prophecy! When the white paper workshop explodes, it will be ‘a thunderbolt sign of great calamity, darkness in heaven and earth, and no light in the sun and moon’, right?”

There was a child in the crowd who sang along in a clear voice: “‘The vacuum saves suffering, the red lotus appears, and chaos reopens.’

The child said with a cheeky smile, “Auntie, just now the Bizarro Closet also blew up a good-sized red lotus! Isn’t it also an omen of the Great Tribulation?”

The surrounding people turned their heads to look at him. The child’s mother was startled and hurriedly covered his mouth, “Don’t talk nonsense! What does a small child know.”

The child became upset, struggled to break away from his mother’s grip, and shouted, “I’m not talking nonsense! Your adults said the same thing, that the big explosion that night was the wrath of heaven. That day’s was, how come today’s explosion isn’t?”

As if a word woke up the dreamer, several people showed horror, doubt, anger and even shame on their faces. The believers were suddenly awakened, some were obstinate, some beat their chests, some fainted on the spot, some cursed, some cursed back, and there was a tumultuous clamor.

Su Yan saw the situation gradually out of control, quickly ordered soldiers to maintain order, drummers beat the drum a dozen passes one after another, temporarily suppressing the tide of chaos.

“This official sees that we all have our own ideas, and since no one can convince anyone, why don’t we leave it to the heavens to judge? See if this Vacuum Cult, which has been banned by the officials, is really acting on behalf of Heaven, or is it just a fake Heavenly Order Pedestrian Thing, deliberately creating explosions to be used to corroborate the rumors that they have made up.”

When Su Yan finished speaking, someone asked in a loud voice, “How to judge? Even if the heavens open their mouths, we mortals can’t hear them! Will he really send a god from the sky?”

“This official has heard that the will of heaven is often entrusted to miracles. In that case, this official will ask about the will of heaven on this high platform, in full view of the public.”

The soldiers brought two long poles, tied a wide white cloth, and invited a few gentlemen who are good at calligraphy and painting to draw a huge eight-petaled red lotus with vermilion sand on the white cloth according to the pattern on the token.

Su Yan personally copied the mop-like brush, with black ink around the red lotus painted a large circle, the circle and then write a large “cheat” character.

The pole was erected and the white cloth was unfolded, the black circle and the word “cheat” on the red lotus mark were so conspicuous that they could be seen from a hundred feet away.

Su Yan put the large pen aside and raised his voice, “It is said that the Vacuum Sect’s Holy Lotus Seal is bestowed by the heavens, and if this official desecrates the Holy Lotus, the heavens have a spirit and will definitely send down thunder and burn this contaminated white cloth to punish this official.

“This official will wait on this stage for two hours, until the eleventh hour after nightfall. If there are thunderbolts and fires, then God is doing justice to the Vacuum Sect. If the winds and waves are calm and nothing happens, it means that the heavens do not care about the Vacuum Sect, or they want to use this official’s hand to punish this false sect.

“What does everyone think?

“Whether or not that Vacuum Sect Master of the ‘Buddha’s Present’ will be able to exert great power, sense the heavens and earth, and attract thunder, we shall see–“

Outside the people are clamoring, say what have. Su Yan put down the word, no matter how the following clamor, back to the desk behind the tea rest.

The two deputy inquisitors were staring at him, the left langzhong’s face was cloudy, and the Chu imperial historian frowned in thought.

Su Yan smiled, “I still have to sit withered for two hours on my side, if the two adults have other official business, they can make themselves at home.”

Chu Qiu thought for a moment and said, “I am somewhat curious as to how this declaration of war against the Vacuum Sect will end with Lord Su using Heaven’s Will as his sword and spear. I dare to ask to be accompanied to the end.”

Zuo Guangbi had already gotten up to leave, and sat back down after hearing this, “Since Royal Secretary Chu said so, then this official may as well wait patiently to see who the heavenly thunder finally strikes.”

The three of them each drank tea, read books, wrote and drew, and did not talk to each other.

The people in the field are not durable and so on, gradually dispersed; also heard the strange news, one after another from all directions to see the fun; more home to eat a dinner, with a bench, peanuts, melon seeds, tea, and come to the scene to occupy a good position, waiting for the results.

Many people climbed up on the stone paths, the steps outside the gates along the street, between the well fences, and even on the eaves of the houses, just to get high enough to get a good view.

The night gradually descended, and the time passed moment by moment, from the hour of shen to the hour of you, and then to the hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

The wind was clear, the moon was bright, and there was not the slightest sign that thunder was going to strike.

Su Yan pulled out his Western enamel pocket watch and looked at it, it was past eight and almost nine o’clock, so he got up and announced, “It seems that the heavens really don’t care about the Vacuum Sect and its sect leader, and they don’t want to show their spirit even with a cluster of small sparks-“

Before he finished speaking, he saw a teenager in the crowd pointing at the western sky and exclaiming, “Look! A shooting star–“

Su Yan turned his head violently, and his afterglow glimpsed a stream of light cutting through the night sky, flying rapidly toward the high platform, not knowing what it was.

“It’s not meteors, it’s sky fire! Heavenly fire is coming to burn!”

“It’s a miracle!”

–It’s really coming! Unfortunately, it was just a fight of trapped beasts. Su Yan shouted, “Archers!”

Immediately, all the vectors fired, but none of them hit the mass of streaming light.

Seeing the stream of light falling towards the white cloth on the high platform. At the edge of the crowd, King Yu, dressed in civilian clothes, smiled disdainfully, and the three-stone strong bow in his hand loosened the string and released the arrow.

The arrow shot out and met the mass of streaming light in mid-air, but instead of dispersing it, it dug into its edges and brought it to be firmly nailed to the wooden beams of the street entrance pagoda.

This feat of both intensity and precision was simply divine, staggering Su Yan.

After the crowd froze, they gathered around the pagoda. The soldiers stopped the human wall and lined up a pathway for Su Yan to enter.

Zuo Guangbi and Chu Qiu recovered from their consternation and could not sit still, so they followed in to see what was going on.

Everyone was looking up, pinned by an arrow, was a strange object in the shape of a large crow, still smoldering from the kerosene cloth stuck to its back and wings. Two tubes of gunpowder cartridges were tied to its belly. The amazingly accurate arrow, perfectly avoiding the gunpowder cartridges, went through the crow’s wings and nailed it to the wood.

At the sight of the gunpowder cylinders, the populace recoiled in terror.

Su Yan lost his smile and turned his head to the crowd, “Come and see, this is the firearm used by my Daming army, called the ‘Divine Fire Flying Crow’. Relying on the thrust of the ‘fire’, the flying crows will be shot up to a hundred feet away, and when the crows fall to the ground or touch something, the gunpowder inside will be ignited, triggering an explosion. When it explodes, the sound is like a thunderclap, right?

“–When you can’t ask for a miracle, you use ‘divine fire flying crows’ to impersonate it. The Vacuum Cult is really well-intentioned!”

After a short silence, someone yelled, “Liar Cult!”

There was an outpouring of response:

“False teachings!”

“Cult!”

“Killed so many people, the murderous Vacuum Cult!”

“Liar Cult!”

“Liar Cult!”

The three words, “Liar Cult”, finally merged into a torrent of neatly harmonized voices that echoed over the streets of the East City for a long time. The light of the lanterns on both sides of the road reflected the angry faces.

Su Yan’s line of sight crossed the back of the pagoda, and by the stone lions beside the steps, he saw the figure of King Yu holding his bow. King Yu shook the strong bow in his hand, raised his sword brows, and smiled lazily.

Pretentious! Su Yan commented in his heart.

…… But it’s pretty cool to pretend.