Xie Shangguang turned his back, his whole body shrouded in shadow, utterly devastated.
Yelü Qiqi sensed that the atmosphere in the hall had suddenly become a bit heavy, and she couldn't help but ask, "Sister, did I say something wrong?"
Si Xitong pointed at Xie Shangguang and clearly told her that he was the young boy from last year.
Yelü Qiqi's eyes widened immediately, and she looked up at him: "What, it was you!"
As she spoke, she placed her hand flat on her forehead to measure his height, and he was a whole head taller than her: "Silly boy, how did you grow so fast?"
Upon hearing that he had been recognized, Xie Shangguang instantly regained his anger, then clenched his fist and pounded his chest to show that he had grown up.
Yelü Qiqi circled around him for a long time before finally confirming that he was the short man who had saved her.
The two were at the prime of their lives. Si Xitong recalled that Lanzhi had mentioned Shangguang's marriage proposal; it seemed she intended to bring the two together.
Si Xitong glanced at Qi Qi and Shang Guang, and saw that Shang Guang was very passive, stuttering from nervousness just from Qi Qi's question. She couldn't help but shake her head.
Afterwards, she arranged for Zidian to stay with Qiqi. As for whether Qiqi would fall for Shangguang, that was up to fate.
Meanwhile, in the dark and gloomy prison cells of the Shenxing Division, a few oil lamps were lit, illuminating the elongated shadows cast by the earthen walls of the ravines.
Xie Ying was locked in an iron cell, with three corpses placed outside, separated only by a door.
Zhang Ju handed her a bowl of rice from the prison gate, his tone still relatively polite: "Chief, at least eat something."
Xie Ying remained silent, ignored him, and refused to eat.
The author was utterly speechless: "The marshal is coming soon."
Upon hearing the word "Marshal," the woman inside the cell couldn't help but tremble. She buried her head even deeper between her knees.
Until, the cell door was pulled open from the outside, and the jailer respectfully invited someone in. The person's figure loomed over the cell door as soon as he entered, his silhouette obscuring most of the candlelight and creating a sense of oppression.
"Marshal, you've arrived." Zhang Ju quickly put down his rice bowl.
Xie Lanzhi took a special look at the corpse covered with a white cloth on the ground, and even placed it at the prison gate.
She walked to the corpse, and immediately someone from the adjacent cell crawled over, gripping an iron bar: "Marshal! This humble general is guilty!"
Xie Ying's voice made her turn her head to look at her. She looked much more haggard, with dark circles under her eyes as if she had been beaten, and a dried bloodstain at the corner of her mouth.
Upon seeing this, fearing a misunderstanding, he quickly said, "Your subordinate absolutely did not use torture."
Xie Lanzhi realized he had misunderstood.
She said, "You go down first, I will handle the rest."
Zhang Ju led the jailer away. She deliberately squatted down to examine the three corpses. The necks had been stitched up, with neat black stitches connecting the heads like zippers.
The three men's clothes were somewhat disheveled, and one of them had scratches on his face.
She glanced at Xie Ying, and when she saw the corpse, her eyes still held a fierce glint, showing no remorse for killing him.
Furthermore, the fingernails on the corpse confirmed Xie Lanzhi's suspicion that Xie Ying wouldn't have hit someone in this way. Therefore, the fingernails must belong to Wang Shi.
Wang's fingernails were very close to Xie's face, which meant... Xie Lanzhi's eyes suddenly turned somewhat sinister.
She then covered the body with the white sheet again.
She didn't ask anything, only asking, "Do you regret it?"
Xie Ying paused, not daring to answer immediately, because she didn't know if the marshal was asking her about the murder or about her father.
She thought that when her father recovered from his injuries and woke up, his first words to her were: "I regret raising an army." He regretted even more that he hadn't died on the battlefield, dragging her and her daughter down with him.
Xie Ying lowered her head, her expression somber: "I don't regret it."
"I will protect my mother."
Xie Lanzhi said, "It seems that even the land of Jiujin cannot accommodate your family of three."
“I’ve thought about going to Jin, at least there your brother-in-law can protect you there.”
Xie Ying shook her head: "Neither my father nor I will leave Jiujin."
"And what about your mother?" Xie Lanzhi's question directly struck at Xie Ying's Achilles' heel.
Xie Ying's hand gripped the iron bar tightly in her palm, and a trace of fresh blood seeped out.
“Madam Wang needs a stable environment,” Xie Lanzhi reminded her. “She is different from you; she is a true woman. Her whole life will revolve around her husband and children.”
The heavy topics and the obvious choices all point to Xie Lanzhi's final attitude towards Xie Guang's family.
She wouldn't refuse her request. But her family was no longer entitled to clan protection. They even owed a debt to 30,000 people, a debt they could never repay in ten lifetimes.
"I will not run away." Xie Ying released her hand, and looked up with a pleading look in her eyes: "Please, Marshal, send my mother to Yijin."
“Okay. I promise you,” Xie Lanzhi said.
The reason why Xie Ying killed these three people is no longer important. She killed members of the Xie clan, so she will be punished according to the Xie clan's patriarchal laws, and murderers will also be severely punished under the laws of Jin.
Xie Ying's life is ruined.
Xie Lanzhi left the Censorate. Hai Yun was waiting outside, with ten soldiers behind him. They all saluted when they saw Xie Lanzhi.
"Greetings, Marshal!"
Xie Lanzhi spoke with Hai Yun for a few moments: "Lord Hai, please make the final judgment on the case."
"There's no need to make exceptions just because it's me. Just follow the rules and be fair."
"Yes!" Haiyun quickly told Xie Lanzhi the whole process of the case.
The ten members of the Xie family in a small team came prepared. They had already sneaked into the mansion and waited for Xie Guang to leave before sealing off the front and back exits and brutally murdering the elderly people inside. Hai Yun even reconstructed the crime scene, showing that the elderly people were brutally murdered by having their hands and feet chopped off. After the murderers killed the elderly, they assaulted Wang Shi. Wang Shi's struggle alerted Xie Ying, who immediately got up and fought the ten men to the death.
Wang was taken hostage again, and Xie Ying was threatened to put down her weapon.
They launched a sneak attack after Xie Ying put down her weapon, but unexpectedly, Xie Ying still managed to kill them with her bare hands.
When Xie Lanzhi heard that among the ten people were two children, aged thirteen and twelve, she took a deep breath: "Lord Hai, please proceed with the investigation. But I hope you can analyze in detail the grudges between the perpetrator and the victim, as well as the possibility that the survivor broke into the house to commit murder out of revenge."
Haiyun nodded.
Xie Lanzhi felt that if she spoke up about this matter herself, the clan would definitely continue to target Xie Guang's family.
Since this matter originated with her, she should be the one to resolve it.
Xie Lanzhi did not return to Lanzhang Palace after leaving the Shenxing Division. Instead, she rode directly to Wu Qiu's residence and summoned Xie Changwang and Xie Meixiang.
They discussed expelling Xie Guang from the clan and stipulated that no member of the clan should retaliate against him from now on.
What does it mean to be removed from the clan register? It means that after death, one cannot be buried in the ancestral graveyard, and may not even be worshipped by descendants.
Xie Lanzhi's punishment of Xie Guang was a severe blow to the entire Xie family. Without the protection of his powerful clan, Xie Guang was destined to live a life worse than death in this world where the lower classes were preyed upon.
This was something everyone in the Xie family was happy to see. Many felt they had finally gotten their revenge.
Xie Lanzhi asked Wu Qiu, Xie Changwang, and Xie Meixiang to handle the matter.
In an instant, the entire Xie clan of Tianjing, and even the Southern Region, received the news that Xie Guang's family had been expelled from the clan.
The matriarch Xie Lan even wrote a letter, hoping Xie Lanzhi would forgive him. The matriarch knew a little about the inside story, so she hoped she could protect Xie Guang.
Xie Lanzhi was indeed protecting Xie Guang's life, but his reputation had become the most taboo thing for Xie Guang's family. To touch it meant death.
Upon receiving the news, the Xie family of the Southern Region began dismantling Xie Guang's home in the region and severing ties with his relatives and friends in order to preserve their status. Everyone avoided Xie Guang as if he were a plague.
Upon receiving the clan's decision regarding Xie Guang, Xie Ji unusually drank heavily that night. He also received letters urging him to return to the capital as soon as possible to assume the position of Grand General, thus strengthening his lineage.
Xie Ji did not reply. He was already a general; whether he returned or not made no difference. Besides, a life without an opponent did not bring him any satisfaction. In fact, it made him feel somewhat disheartened.
Xie Guang's sins were indeed grave, but his former brothers and friends, his relatives who fawned over him, were all loyal to him when he was in trouble, yet none of them offered him a helping hand when he was in trouble.
This is the consequence of being abandoned by everyone.
Xie Ji did not reply, which worried his entire family to death. Even his wife and mistress wrote to him, asking him to go back and see the child, as the child was about to be born.
Xie Ji was still somewhat hesitant when he heard that the child was about to be born.
Even if not for yourself, you should think about...the child.
Finally, Xie Ji wrote a letter to Xie Lanzhi, in which he did not mention that he was going back to Tianjing, but instead expressed his condolences to Xie Guang, hoping that she could show leniency towards Xie Guang.
Xie Ji's letter was intentionally leaked to the clan. Upon learning this, the Xie family members were furious. Those who had previously supported Xie Ji's appointment as the Grand General of Tianjing immediately opposed his return to the capital.
Xie Ji's faction was dumbfounded. They couldn't understand why Xie Ji would risk his future by pleading for mercy.
Upon receiving the letter, Xie Lanzhi immediately summoned Xie Ji back to the capital to assume the position of Grand General of Tianjing. The new position would be jointly held by Generals Xie Feng and Xie Fengling, with Jiang Jinshi serving as military supervisor to assist them.
Jiang Jinshi was Wu Qiu's junior fellow student and held a considerable position as an Assistant Minister of the Ministry of War. He was also quite intelligent, making him a suitable candidate for the post.
When the Xie family learned that the Marshal wanted to recall Xie Ji to take over the position of Grand General, they were both happy and worried. They were worried because Xie Ji had come to vouch for Xie Guang and had lost the support of many people.
Xie Lanzhi's plan was to use Xie Ji to speak up for Xie Guang and then bring Xie Ji back to take over the position of Grand General. Her aim was to suppress those in the Xie family who still harbored selfish desires to take revenge on Xie Guang.
Since both Xie Zhu and General Xie were protecting Xie Guang and their attitudes were consistent, even if the subordinates were resentful, they would choose to accept it.
After all, the interests of the clan come first.
Meanwhile, Haiyun investigated the case and announced that Xie Ying killed the intruder in self-defense, not intentionally. Furthermore, the victim was not innocent but the murder was premeditated, so she was given a lighter sentence of manslaughter and sentenced to three years of hard labor.
Xie Lanzhi intervened again and demoted her to a commoner, finally bringing the matter to a complete end.
Chapter 160 The Marshal's Schemes and Thoroughness
At the Lanzhang Palace drill ground, Xie Lanzhi raised a silver bow and fired three arrows that hit the bullseye.
After the warm-up was completed, the guards immediately brought over a tray containing towels.
She grabbed a towel to wipe the sweat from her forehead, casually placed the silver bow on the tray, and asked, "Have we arrived at Xieji?"
"Marshal, the General returned to Tianjing by waterway from Weidu yesterday," the guard said respectfully.
"Oh." Xie Lanzhi didn't ask any more questions.
She continued to pick up the silver bow and shoot arrows until one arrow missed the target, at which point she finally put it down.
The target shooter ran to report the count: "Ten arrows hit the bullseye, one missed!"
The personal guard immediately complimented, "Marshal is in good spirits today."
Xie Lanzhi looked at the bullseye a hundred paces away and suddenly asked, "I have a question for you: if three out of ten people are dead, and the other seven are not innocent, how would you handle it?"
The personal guards didn't know why the marshal asked such a question, but as personal guards, they obeyed neither their clan nor the army.