Tong Guan knelt down on the ground in fright, and said in panic: "Your Majesty, I don't know that this Peng Dazhu is fake. Please forgive me."

"Is it enough to just say I don't know?"

Huizong threw the confession in his hand towards Tong Guan. Since the confession papers were not stapled together, the pieces were scattered everywhere.

"Due to your dereliction of duty, the military and court officials of the Song Dynasty were leaked, which put the Song Dynasty in danger of being attacked by Xixia at any time. Do you just want to dismiss me with just a word of ignorance?" Huizong shouted angrily.

"I have betrayed your majesty's great trust and deserved death. Please forgive me."

Tong Guan was completely panicked now. His mind was filled with the fear of beheading. He could no longer think of how to defend himself. He just kowtowed and begged, hoping to save his head.

"Your Majesty, although Mr. Tong has a certain degree of responsibility for this matter, he cannot be completely blamed. No one thought that Peng Dazhu actually had a twin brother, and Peng Erzhu was too cunning to come up with such an insidious plan.

, it would be difficult for anyone to detect it. Therefore, I sincerely ask your majesty to forgive Mr. Tong this time." Cai Jing left the office and said.

At this time, he must stand up and speak, not only because Tong Guan is very important to their treacherous group, but once he falls, it will be a heavy blow to the entire treacherous group, so we must do our best to keep him.

At the same time, as the chief figure of the traitor group, Cai Jing must play a role in uniting the entire traitor group. If he does not stand up and speak for Tong Guan at this time, it will inevitably chill the hearts of other traitors and no longer trust him.

Without the support of these treacherous ministers, big and small, his end will almost come.

Therefore, although he knew that speaking for Tong Guan at this time might offend Huizong, he could only bite the bullet and stand up.

"I object to the Grand Master's statement."

Shi Song came out of the class and said: "Your Majesty, Tong Shuguan, as the envoy of the Privy Council, is in charge of all the military secrets of the Song Dynasty. He should be vigilant at all times. Now Xixia's spies have stolen a large amount of military secrets under his nose.

Secret, this will not only increase the casualties of the Song Dynasty soldiers, but also cause the instability of the Song Dynasty. If Tong Guan is spared so easily, then other officials will follow suit in the future, and the Song Dynasty will be destroyed.

Yet?

Therefore, I believe that not only should Tong Guan not be spared lightly, but he should also be severely punished to serve as a warning to prevent similar things from happening again in the future, which will bring greater harm to the country."

Lu Zhengxin then stood up and said: "I second my opinion."

"I second the proposal." Sima Hong also came out and said.

"I second the proposal."

"I second the proposal."

"I will remove the matter."

Su Yuanjing, left to remonstrate with the doctor Zhao Ding, and right with the doctor Lu Xiuping, the three of them also went out to second the proposal.

Gao Qiu, Su Yuanjing, Sima Hong and others also stood up to target Tong Guan, but Huizong actually beheaded Tong Guan because of his sudden enthusiasm, so he quickly stood up and said: "Your Majesty, Mr. Tong has been working diligently in these years in charge of the Privy Council.

, worked hard and did not complain. In the previous battle with Xixia, Mr. Tong personally led the army to severely defeat the Xixia army and made great contributions to the Song Dynasty. I beg your majesty to forgive him this time for the sake of his great contribution to the country. I believe that after this time

After learning the lesson, Mr. Tong will definitely be careful not to make the same mistake again."

"Does having military exploits be a reason to evade punishment?"

Hua Ju sneered and said: "Tong Guan is not the only person who has made great contributions to the Song Dynasty. If everyone evades responsibility on the grounds of military exploits, then why should the laws of the Song Dynasty be used? Moreover, Tong Guan not only neglected his duty

On top of that, there is also the crime of arbitrarily mobilizing troops for his own personal use, so he must not be leniently spared."

"What, mobilizing the army without authorization!" Huizong's face suddenly turned frighteningly cold.

"Mobilizing the army without the holy will is a serious crime of beheading." The ministers present were also shocked.

You must know that although the Privy Council has the right to mobilize troops, it does not mean that they can mobilize troops at will. Instead, they must obtain the emperor's approval before they can mobilize troops, and after each troop deployment, they must report the details of the troop deployment to the emperor.

The purpose of this is to prevent someone from taking the opportunity to cause rebellion and overthrow the imperial court. Otherwise, they can mobilize all the troops in the country at will without the emperor's permission. It is very easy to rebel.

"Lord Hua, you must have evidence for what you say. Talking nonsense and maliciously fabricating charges is a serious crime of deceiving the emperor." Gao Qiu said in a stiff tone.

"You want evidence?"

Hua Ju sneered and said to Huizong: "Your Majesty, while Peng Erzhu was lurking in the Privy Council, he not only stole a lot of military and political secrets, but also learned a lot about Tong Guan's unauthorized mobilization of troops from various places for his own personal use. Your Majesty only needs to ask him

You can know the details.”

Huizong stared at Peng Erzhu and said, "Tell me everything you know about Tong Guan's private transfer to the army."

Peng Erzhu immediately revealed the contents of the secret letters sent to Tong Guan by the generals stationed in various places that he had secretly seen many times.

After hearing this, Huizong became furious and yelled at Tong Guan with a stern look: "Tong Guan, you are so courageous. You dare to secretly mobilize the army for your use behind your back. What crime do you deserve?"

Tong Guan was so frightened that he fell to the ground and trembled and said, "Your Majesty, I don't know, this, this, this is all nonsense told by Peng Erzhu, your Majesty, please take a closer look."

"Your Majesty, the criminal did not lie. What he just said is true." Peng Erzhu said.

Cai Jing said: "Your Majesty, Peng Erzhu is a spy of Xixia. His words cannot be trusted."

Gao Qiu also followed up and said: "What the Grand Master said is true. As the saying goes, catch the thief and take the stolen goods; catch the traitor and catch the couple.

Hua Ju then said: "Your Majesty, if you want to know whether what Peng Erzhu said is true, it is easy to do. You only need to send someone to escort back the general who has secret correspondence with Tong Guan and you will find out."

"Gao Qiu, immediately send someone to bring back all the generals that Peng Erzhu mentioned who have close contacts with Tong Guan."

Huizong attached great importance to this matter and immediately issued an order.

Just when Gao Qiu was about to receive the order, Hua Ju said first: "Your Majesty, Captain Gao and Tong Guan have always had a relationship. According to the principle of fairness, they should avoid suspicion. Otherwise, no matter what the generals say, it will cause controversy and will only make the case more complicated.

.”

Gao Qiu and Tong wore a pair of trousers and asked him to send people to take people away. This would give him the opportunity to collude with those people to confess, so Hua Ju wanted to stop him.

Huizong thought for a while and felt that what he said made sense, so he asked: "What should I do in your opinion?"

Hua Ju said: "This matter is not a trivial matter. There cannot be any mistakes, and it is necessary to prevent someone from leaking the situation to the generals in advance. Therefore, it is not appropriate to send the Imperial Army, the Guards, the Ministry of Justice, or the Dali Temple. Instead, we should send a group of people to Dali Temple."

The name is an official who has nothing to do with the Forbidden Army or the Guards, is loyal to His Majesty, and is an upright and honest official. This will ensure that no secrets are leaked in advance and no collusion occurs."

"Those generals are all located in different places. Is there one officer missing?" Huizong said.

Hua Ju said: "It is a serious crime to mobilize troops privately. Just once is enough to convict you. So as long as you bring back a true proof that he did mobilize troops privately, you can convict him. As for the others who followed his orders and mobilized troops privately,

The generals can deal with it later."

Huizong nodded and said, "That's right. Who do you think is the right person to send?"

Hua Ju looked at Su Yuanjing and said: "Su Yuanjing, the Taiwei in front of the palace, is upright and honest, and is loyal to His Majesty. He will never leak secrets or collude with confessions, so it is most appropriate for him to lead the people there."

"Well, this proposal is very suitable for everyone."

Huizong said to Su Yuanjing: "Su Qing's family, it's up to you to bring them back."

"I obey the decree."

Then Su Yuanjing thought for a while and asked: "Your Majesty, which general will I bring back?"

Just when Huizong was about to speak, Hua Ju said: "Your Majesty, in order to prevent someone in the court from tipping off the general who is about to be brought back, I think it is best for your Majesty not to say it outright, but to write it in the imperial edict. This way, even if someone wants to tip off,

I don’t know who to report to when I report it.”

"This Huaju is really very thoughtful, but do you think we can't report the news this way? That's too underestimated of us." Cai Jing and Gao Qiu sneered in their hearts.

Huizong thought it made sense, and asked Wu Chenghai to prepare the imperial edict. He wrote the names of the generals he wanted to bring back on the edict, then handed it to Su Yuanjing and said, "Set off immediately and be sure to bring the people back within three days."

"I obey the decree."

Su Yuanjing took the imperial edict, turned around and left Zichen Hall.

"Your Majesty, how should Tong Guan be punished now?" Shi Song asked.

Huizong looked at Tong Guan, thought for a while and said: "Tong Guan will be removed from his official post as Privy Envoy and will be sent to the prison for custody. He will be escorted back to Su Qing's family and will be interrogated before he is released."

Tong Guan did not expect that the position he had worked so hard to climb to would be lost like this. Especially when he thought that he would lose his life in a few days, his whole body went limp and collapsed on the ground.

Cai Jing thought for a while and said to Huizong: "Your Majesty, Privy Tong is a member of the imperial court after all, and it has not been found out whether he has ever mobilized troops privately. It is really inappropriate to imprison him in the sky prison. If the news spreads out to the imperial court, it is not appropriate."

It would be disgraceful. In my opinion, it is better to put him under house arrest. This will not only ensure that he is not allowed to escape, but will also not cause too much shock to the government and the public."

Huizong thought for a moment, nodded and said, "Okay, just put him under house arrest in his own home, but he is not allowed to go out."

"Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty." Cai Jing said.

"Here comes someone."

Huizong shouted to the guards, and the imperial guards came over. He pointed at Tong Guan and said, "Take Tong Guan back to his home and keep him under strict guard. He is not allowed to have contact with the outside world, and he is not allowed to escape."

"According to the decree."

The imperial guard stepped forward and took off Tong Guan's official uniform, then dragged him out of the Zichen Palace.

"Come here, push Peng Erzhu and Tuoba Moyun out and behead them," Huizong said.

Hua Ju said: "Your Majesty, the Western Xia and the Song Dynasty are currently eyeing the Song Dynasty and have stolen many of the Song Dynasty's military secrets. In particular, they have found out the military strength and defenses on the border. I believe they will launch an offensive against the Song Dynasty soon. Peng Erzhu has been in Xixia for many years, and he has been working as a supervisor.

He has received training from the Xixia people and is very familiar with the situation in Xixia. Tuoba Moyun is originally from Xixia and is more familiar with the situation in Xixia. Keeping them may be useful in the future. Therefore, I think it is better not to kill them for the time being.

good."

"Your Majesty, what Mr. Hua said is true." Shi Song said in agreement.

Sima Hong and Lu Zhengxin also seconded the proposal.
Chapter completed!