Chapter 11: Amnesty

  The knight brought the amnesty decree of the new emperor of the Great Tang, who had ascended to the throne in July and declared amnesty throughout the land on October 12th after worshipping heaven at Nanjiao in Chang'an. The court dispatched envoys carrying the imperial edict, which was transmitted through the postal stations to all corners of the world.

  "Edict of the Great Tang Emperor: On the twelfth day of the tenth month, before dawn, all those who have committed crimes punishable by imprisonment or worse, regardless of severity, whether they have been sentenced or not, whether they have been convicted or not, including those who are currently imprisoned or on death row, and those who were previously exempt from amnesty but now wish to be pardoned, shall all be pardoned. However, this does not apply to those who have committed murder, those guilty of one of the ten heinous crimes, or officials who have embezzled public funds."

  When a new emperor ascends to the throne, there is always a tradition of granting amnesty. Generally, when a new emperor takes the throne, changes the year number, establishes an empress, or establishes a crown prince, an amnesty decree is issued. This amnesty decree means that all crimes committed before October 12th are not only pardoned but also expunged. Those who have been granted amnesty will have their criminal liability completely cancelled. Those who have not been pursued will no longer be pursued; those who have been pursued will have the pursuit withdrawn; and those who have been sentenced to punishment will have their sentences declared invalid. Of course, this amnesty decree does not apply to everyone. The imperial edict specifically states that those guilty of heinous crimes are not pardoned, intentional murderers are not pardoned, and corrupt officials who have committed serious crimes are also not pardoned. All others are completely pardoned.

  This great amnesty is also called emptying the prisons, a gesture of imperial benevolence.

  The envoy finished reading the imperial edict and then had the town's scribe copy it down and post it in the city to announce to the people.

  Choi Jin turned around and said to Wang Pushan and the prison guard, "The emperor's grace is vast, why not immediately clear up the prisoners? All prisoners who committed crimes before October 12th are immediately pardoned and released from prison."

  "Yes, sir." Wang Pu and the jailer both hastened to carry out his orders.

  At the west city gate, the officer escorting Li Jing and Li Jing himself stared at each other in a daze for a moment.

  Li Jing's heart suddenly became extremely excited, originally he thought he was finished, he even made the worst preparations, ready to escape as soon as he left the city. Who would have thought that after a desperate situation, a new opportunity would arise.

  Now Li Jing's heart is worried about one thing, and that is time, no, it's the timing of his crime.

  The imperial edict has already stated that this amnesty only pardons those who committed crimes before October 12th. Now it's already the end of October, and Li Jing has been in prison for more than half a month. He is anxious and tries hard to recall the last time he entered the town.

  Was it the ninth or tenth of October? It seemed like the ninth, but also seemed like the tenth. Think carefully, think again. Ah yes, it was the tenth of October, the night before Li Jing left, Han Shi specially looked at the almanac and said that the next day, the tenth of October, was a good day to leave.

  On October 10th, he was included in the amnesty list.

  Li Jing's heart was racing wildly, more excited than when he first discovered that he had traveled back to the Tang Dynasty.

  "Your Excellency, I was arrested on October 10th and I am also included in the general amnesty. Please, Your Excellencies, take me back with you."

  "Are you really the one who committed a crime before October 12th? Don't spout nonsense, or we'll get scolded when we go back." said the soldier with a fierce expression.

  "It's settled then, Officer Big Brother, after Little Brother is pardoned, Little Brother will definitely invite several big brothers to drink wine."

  "Alright then, let's go." The fierce-looking big man was actually quite easy to talk to.

  "Wait!" A loud shout suddenly rang out, and Wang Liang exclaimed with a look of alarm: "Don't listen to him, brothers! He was clearly caught after October 12th. Brothers, let's hurry up and get going, don't waste time listening to his nonsense." As he spoke, Wang Liang pulled out a pouch from his body and stuffed all the money inside, about a hundred coins, into the fierce-looking man's hand: "For tea on the road, brothers."

  A burly man with a fierce face tossed the money bag in his hand up and down, causing the copper coins inside to clink loudly.

  "Your Honor, big brother, don't listen to this dog's words. I was framed by him and he had my younger brother thrown into prison. He took advantage of the situation to seize our family's sixty mu of land and still wouldn't let up. He even wants to have my younger brother exiled to Yizhou, which is equivalent to sending him on a path to death. Please, big brother, take me back home. Once you investigate, everything will become clear." Li Jing hastily explained to the fierce-looking man, fearing that at this critical moment he would still be one step behind.

  Wang Liang was in a cold sweat, he had just told Li Jing everything, if Li Jing went back that would be amnesty. But as soon as Li Jing came out, the first thing he did was to find Wang Liang to take revenge.

  "Big brother, as long as you take him out of the city and on the road now, little brother is willing to give away ten mu of good land."

  The fierce-looking man smiled but didn't speak.

  "Twenty mu, all of which are high-quality paddy fields."

  Thirty Mu

  "Forty mu of land, brother, I've given you all my family's possessions."

  That fierce-looking man suddenly kicked out with one foot and sent Wang Liang tumbling to the ground.

  "You really think I don't know anything, do you? If it wasn't for your deceitful tricks, Li would not have been wrongly imprisoned and I almost got dragged into it too. You're lucky I'm in a good mood today or I'd break your legs. And now you want to bribe me with money? Get out! Every time I see you, I'll beat you up. Don't think that just because you follow Zhang Baozi, you can bully others. If you cross me again, you'll be dead and won't even know how." Zhang Tiechui, a fierce-looking man, was originally the leader of the Red Mountain Town army, but he had always been straightforward and not very cunning.

  This escort mission ultimately fell on his head, and the prisoners were sent to Yizhou, where nine out of ten would die. Those who took on this task were no exception. Having received this assignment with a belly full of anger, now that he had seen the real culprit, he naturally vented all his anger on Wang Liang.

  Wang Liang wanted to say something else, but as soon as he saw Zhang Tiechui's furious gaze, he was scared and ran away in a hurry.

  Li Jiong clasped his fists and bowed to Zhang Tiechui, bending at the waist by ninety degrees, and said solemnly: "Thank you very much for saving me today, Officer Zhang. I am deeply grateful."

  Zhang Tiehuan burst out laughing, and his iron-like fist heavily patted Li Jing's shoulder: "What's the point of saying those polite words? I just think you're a good kid. I know quite a bit about your situation too. Luckily, heaven is fair, and the bad guys didn't get away with it, while the good guy was wronged. Come on, let me help you take off this cangue, and we'll go back together to clear your name."

  Back in the prison, things went smoothly. There was an imperial amnesty notice posted on the wall, and the judge took out Li Xuan's case file for a look. The time of the crime was October 10th, which fell within the scope of the amnesty. With a stroke of the vermilion brush, Li Xuan immediately changed from a prisoner sentenced to exile three thousand miles away to a good citizen under the jurisdiction of the law.

  At the prison gate, Li Jing, who had already been cleared of all charges and was feeling carefree, saw Wang Liang again. The guy was carefully following behind Zhang Kuoguan, seemingly still talking about something. Li Jing guessed that he must be talking about his own affairs, but it seemed that Zhang Kuoguan didn't have any intention of killing him off. After scolding Wang Liang a few times, he hastily followed behind Cui Zhenjiang to flatter him.

  Li Jing and Wang Liang exchanged a fierce stare before he turned around, shaking his sleeves, to welcome the crowd of relatives and villagers who were rushing over with extreme joy. The first thing he wanted to do after surviving this great disaster was to repay Wang Liang for the hardships he had imposed on him!

  Some people repay kindness with resentment, some repay resentment with straightforwardness, and some repay resentment with resentment. But for Wang Liang this dog thing, Li Jing will only repay tooth for tooth, blood for blood, and must double it.

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