Li Shimin frowned even deeper.

The two most serious problems in this case file are...

First, Chen Zhengtai covers up the escaped slaves.

Secondly, the Wei family’s son was seriously injured.

It's okay to be seriously injured, but the terrible thing is the escaped slave.

Erpigou developed slowly after the disaster, and there were a lot of royal interests here.

But the vast majority of the population of the Tang Dynasty was not actually in the hands of the court, but in the hands of aristocratic families.

This is actually a chronic disease after hundreds of years of troubled times in the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, the issue of fugitive slaves was the foundation of the Tang Dynasty. Even Li Shimin would never touch this problem shortly after its founding.

Because once you choose to ignore the issue of pursuing fugitive slaves in order to protect Chen Zhengtai, it is equivalent to offending everyone's interests!

All the aristocratic families have slaves and servants, and the land of the aristocratic families needs to be cultivated, and these manpower is their foundation.

The Wei family will not let it go today because the hatred between Chen Zhengtai and the Wei family is not as simple as a fight, but because Erpigou has shaken the most fundamental interests of the Wei family who are in Chang'an.

If the emperor encouraged Chen Zhengtai to hide his escaped slaves today, and even the Wei family pursued them, and the Chen family beat the person half to death, the emperor ignored them, what about tomorrow? Tomorrow there will be countless escaped slaves going to Erpigou. In the long run, can the Wei family still gain a foothold in Chang'an?

The Wei family is like this, and the Du family, who is also in Chang'an, is probably very concerned about this matter. Even if it is Du Ruhui from the Du family and other Du family members, although they remain silent at this time, they are still waiting for the emperor's ruling office!

If the emperor protects his disciples, the benefits and losses of the entire Guanzhong clan will be extremely huge, which is digging their foundation.

Therefore... the Wei family's children went to Erpigou to cause trouble, and then a conflict arose. The Wei family decided to take a gamble and chose to fight to the death.

Regardless of whether this Chen Zhengtai is His Majesty's disciple, let's talk about it first. Not to mention Chen Zhengtai, even if it was Emperor Li Shimin himself who shook their foundation, it would be impossible for him to swallow his anger.

Because what they represent is...public opinion.

Of course, this public opinion is not the wish of ordinary people. The public is in a daze. In this era, they have never dominated public opinion.

The so-called public opinion comes from the world's high and poor families.

At this time, Li Shimin's face was solemn. He asked someone to call Fang Xuanling, Changsun Wuji, Du Ruhui and Li Daozong, the Minister of Justice, to come to the front.

Li Daozong was previously the Minister of Dali Temple. He and Li Shimin were of the same clan, so he was granted the title of Prince!

Originally, in this battle to destroy the Turks, Li Shimin planned to let Li Daozong and Li Jing fight against the Turks. To some extent, he also hoped that this general of the same sect could make great contributions and have greater appointments in the future.

Who knew that the Turkic battle had just begun, but it ended because of the prince and Chen Zhengtai.

Therefore, Li Shimin ordered Li Daozong to be the Minister of Justice.

The reason for such an appointment was carefully considered by Li Shimin. Li Daozong was a royal family and a prince. Today, the status of the noble family was too high. If you want to treat everyone equally in prisons and insist on implementing the laws and regulations of the Tang Dynasty, you would have to be punished!

Li Daozong has a high status and can ignore the influence of the aristocratic race.

Li Shimin put down the file in his hand, sighed and said, "What do you think of this?"

Fang Xuanling smiled bitterly and said nothing.

Li Shimin's eyes fell on Du Ruhui: "Du Qing family, what do you think?"

He seemed to attach great importance to Du Ruhui's suggestions in this matter!

The Du family, which is as famous as the Wei family, was also deeply affected by the issue of escaped slaves. Although the Wei family was the one who was at the forefront of the storm this time, in fact... behind this, the Du family is afraid that there are also complaints.

Du Ruhui said with a stern face: "I think you can just deal with it impartially."

Handle impartially.

Li Shimin narrowed his eyes and looked at Li Daozong: "If you are impartial, will the Ministry of Justice have any suggestions?"

Li Daozong saluted Li Shimin: "The minister has sent someone to investigate this case. The result is that Chen Zhengtai hurts people, even encourages refugees, and even hiding escaped slaves. If he is punished for multiple crimes, even if he is given a lighter punishment, he will have to be granted three thousand miles."

Three Thousand Miles... Where have you gone?

Li Shimin couldn't help but feel a little angry when he heard this, frowned and looked at Li Daozong and said, "Does the Wei family have no guilt?"

Li Daozong said: "The Chen family sued the Wei family in Erpigou and trampled on their crops worth millions of gold, which triggered this conflict. However... I think... this is probably just a slander, so I did not adopt it."

A crop of millions of gold, is the land of your Chen family made of gold?

Li Shimin asked with a cold face: "You have adopted all the testimony of the Wei family, why didn't the Chen family accept it?"

"Because this is all false."

Li Daozong could see Li Shimin's eagerness to protect Chen Zhengtai, but he still said with a stern face: "Most of the land in the Chen family is wasteland, and there is no way to plant many crops. This is well-known."

Li Shimin closed his eyes: "In this way, if you come to finalize the case, you will exil Chen Zhengtai?"

"Yes." Li Daozong said without hesitation.

Fang Xuanling, who was sitting next to him, suddenly felt a little regretful. Chen Zhengtai was really a talented person.

Then Changsun Wuji couldn't help but think, "Okay, my widow from Changsun's family has saved it."

Du Ruhui didn't say a word. He actually felt that the punishment was a bit too heavy. Chen Zhengtai was still an immature boy after all, so he just wanted to hit him. Of course, in terms of the interests of the Du family, if he was not exiled, he was afraid that the Du family would also have a grudge.

It was impossible for Li Shimin to let Chen Zhengtai exil, so he said coldly: "What if I ask your family to settle down and make peace?"

"You must not stop making peace with others." Li Daozong said without hesitation: "If you stop making peace with others, then the world will be full of discussions, and then no one will take Tang Lu seriously."

Li Shimin snorted coldly: "What I mean is that I ask you to settle things, are you willing to do it?"

Li Daozong was silent for a moment. He looked up at Li Shimin, as if he was fighting against heaven and man in his heart.

At this time, he felt that he still looked down on the weight of Chen Zhengtai in His Majesty's mind.

Li Daozong then gave a great gift: "If this is the case, then I have to resign and beg your Majesty to ask for another Gao Ming."

Li Shimin was furious for a moment and almost couldn't hold back his words to scold him. I asked you, Li Daozong, to be the Minister of Justice, to allow you to suppress the aristocratic races. Who knows...How dare you do this?

Li Shimin gritted his teeth and said coldly: "If you don't come to trial, then I will personally examine this case and pass on my will. I will personally examine this case. Li Daozong, Minister of Justice and Tang Jian, Chief of the Governor of Yongzhou, are the deputy. What do you think?"

"I obey the order."

Li Daozong actually breathed a sigh of relief at this moment.

In fact, the Ministry of Justice is under too much pressure, and this case itself is indeed Chen Zhengtai guilty. He cannot save Chen Zhengtai from being accused by the world.

Now that His Majesty is going to personally try, he will clear the case.

As for what Your Majesty is, let it go.

On the contrary, Fang Xuanling said worriedly: "Your Majesty, a case of pursuing a fugitive slave is going to work for His Majesty to personally investigate. This..."

Li Shimin said with a determined look on his face: "Isn't this case already known to everyone and the crowd is in full swing? Since that's the case, I'm here to investigate it personally, and there's no big deal. Let's take your leave..."

Looking at Li Shimin's gloomy face, it was hard for everyone to say anything, so Fang Xuanling and others stood up and left.

...

Not long after, only Li Shimin and Zhang Qian were left in the small hall.

Zhang Qian cooked a pot of tea for Li Shimin.

Li Shimin drank tea absent-mindedly, then opened the file again, lowered his head to continue looking at the details in the case.

Zhang Qian advised, "Your Majesty, why should you worry? Even if Chen Zhengtai was exiled for thousands of miles, after a few years, His Majesty will think of him again and recall him to Chang'an."

After hearing this, Li Shimin glared at Zhang Qian fiercely.

Zhang Qian was so scared that he quickly lowered his head and said, "I'm dead."

Li Shimin immediately rubbed his eyes. He had read this document many times, and his eyes were a little stinging!

He tried hard to search every detail in the case file in his memory, trying to find out the flaws.

"Hey... Zhang Qian, you don't understand." Li Shimin suddenly closed the file, but was not furious.

Zhang Qian lowered his head. This time he became smart and dared not say anything.

Li Shimin looked up and looked into the small hall from afar. Then he said, "Chen Zhengtai, since he recognized me as his mentor and mentor, how could he ignore him? He solved many urgent problems for me, and it was too late to reward me, but because of a fight between the young man, he let him exile thousands of miles away. He was a young man, and he had never suffered any hardships. Not to mention thousands of miles, even hundreds of miles. There were so many bumps along the way and so many dangers. Although the world is peaceful now, he offended many people. Once he leaves Chang'an, if someone wants to assassinate him, even I can't protect him."

Li Shimin said, but it seemed to have a real relationship. At this moment, the true feelings were revealed, with a little absent-minded on his face, and he said unconsciously: "I really treat him as my children. My children have made mistakes. Even if they are committing a crime of corruption, I can deal with him and whip him personally. Even if it is a three-day or three-night battle, it must not be... let others deal with it. This time, Chen Zhengtai made a big mistake. I can deal with him personally, but... I must not let him be missed for three thousand miles. Besides... Chen Zhengtai has no unforgivable big mistake in my heart."

When Zhang Qian heard this, he felt embarrassed, but he didn't dare to talk nonsense, but just kept saying yes.

Li Shimin's eyes fell on the file again. He squinted his eyes and seemed to have found the most critical part of the file.

He frowned and said, "The most important issue here is... Wei, the Chen family sued, trampled on their crops worth millions of gold. The Ministry of Justice and the Chief Secretary of Yongzhou, are not accepted here. You can start from it, but... how can you make this crop worth a hundred times the value?"

Li Shimin began to feel a little confused, and he murmured: "In a few days, I will go to Erpigou to make arrangements."

As he was speaking, a little eunuch outside said, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, the Prince's Palace has come down, Your Majesty... has broken in."

As soon as the eunuch finished speaking, he heard a wail: "Father, you are wronged, you are wronged, you are wronged, you are wronged, you are wronged, Chen Zhengtai has been beaten."

Several guards at the door could not stop him. As Li Chengqian said, he rushed in and said with tears in his eyes: "I heard from my own ear that Chen Zhengtai was beaten by someone, and his legs were covered in blood. His legs were almost broken. The Ministry of Justice not only did not uphold justice for him, but also imprisoned him. Father...you have to make the decision for Chen Zhengtai..."

"You are something that is not enough to make trouble." Li Shimin gritted his teeth and stared at Li Chengqian, and said furiously: "Get out."

Li Chengqian had just reached the critical momentum of tears flowing. When he heard his father say he could get out! The momentum of getting out of this sentence seemed a bit big, and his tears couldn't flow out immediately. He hurriedly wiped his face, as if he had stopped suddenly, and said obediently: "Oh, my son-in-law said goodbye."

As he said that, he ran away in disappointment.

"This bastard." Li Shimin couldn't help but curse.
To be continued...