Upon hearing this, Emperor Cheng'an's heart sank to the bottom. He gritted his teeth and rebuked Xue Shen: "Prince Qin, how dare you!"

Xue Shen remained calm and flattered Emperor Cheng'an, saying, "Your Majesty is a wise ruler and would certainly not want to wrongly blame loyal ministers and generals because of a momentary oversight."

Emperor Cheng'an sneered: "From what you're saying, if I don't listen to you, I'll be accused of plotting against loyal ministers and generals?"

Xue Shen replied calmly, "Your subject dares not."

He presented the list and ledgers, saying, "Please take a look, Your Majesty."

Emperor Cheng'an's face turned ashen. He glared at him for a long time before finally ordering Qi Zhong to take over the list and account books.

He had been casually flipping through the pages, but after a few, his expression changed. After reviewing all the evidence, he abruptly looked up at Xue Shen: "Where did you find this?"

Xue Shen said, "When I was searching for General Shen's body at the bottom of the cliff where he had the accident, I found it by chance in a hidden cave. Later, when I returned to the capital, I met with the Shen family father and son. When I mentioned this matter, General Shen said that he was being chased and had no choice but to jump off the cliff with the evidence."

"After falling off the cliff, he was lucky to survive, but he was unlucky enough to encounter the Tibetans. He could only hurriedly hide the evidence in a cave, then pretend to be seriously injured and unconscious. He was captured by the Tibetans and taken to Tibet."

Xue Shen even defended Shen Mingjiang's disobedience to the imperial decree, saying, "The reason why General Shen disobeyed the imperial decree and did not return to the capital was because he had made contact with General Shen and risked his life to lead his personal guards to the border of Qin Prefecture to meet General Shen."

Emperor Cheng'an listened to his eloquent words, which completely absolved the Shen family father and son of any wrongdoing, and sneered, "I know that the Shen family father and son are the maternal family of Princess Qin. Even if you want to protect your wife's family, you don't need to make up such an absurd story to fool me."

“Shen Xiuyi actually went to Tibet with the Tibetans. Whether it was his own intention or not, he did indeed betray the enemy.”

Upon hearing this, Xue Shen said with righteous indignation, "Your Majesty has misunderstood. It is true that General Shen Xiao pretended to be seriously injured and unconscious and was taken to Tibet, but he never had any intention of defecting to the enemy. On the contrary, he pretended to have amnesia and infiltrated Tibet, waiting for an opportunity to disintegrate Tibet."

"After being captured by the third prince of Tibet, he pretended to have amnesia. The third prince valued his abilities and took him in to handle some shady and clandestine matters. This included killing the eldest prince."

These words caused an uproar throughout the court.

Someone said, "Just recently, news did come that the eldest and third princes of Tibet died one after another, and the only remaining fourth prince has become mentally impaired and is now being manipulated by his maternal grandfather as a puppet."

Xue Shen said, "This was all done by General Shen Xiao on his own. He first pretended to have amnesia and was used by the Third Prince to help him kill the First Prince. Then, he was ordered to kill the Fourth Prince's fiancée, which drove the Fourth Prince crazy. Finally, he seized an opportunity to assassinate the Third Prince. At the risk of being hunted down by the entire Tubo, he kidnapped the Fourth Prince and abandoned him on the border between the Great Wei and Tubo, which led to the current internal strife in the Tubo royal family."

"General Shen only went to Qin Prefecture because he learned of his plan and was in a critical situation, so he had no choice but to disobey the imperial order and lead his troops there."

"And the facts have proven that the father and son's plan was correct. Now that Tibet is in internal strife, we have ensured peace on the border without losing a single soldier."

"Such loyal and capable generals are being accused of treason and collusion with the enemy. This is truly disheartening for loyal and capable ministers. His Majesty has always been kind-hearted and wise in his decisions; he will never allow such a thing to happen!"

Emperor Cheng'an listened to him put on a one-man show, even having said everything he wanted to say. He gave a half-smile and snorted, "According to the Prince of Qin, the Shen family father and son are not only innocent, but also meritorious?"

Upon hearing this, Xue Shen immediately bowed and proclaimed loudly, "Your Majesty is wise!"

Chang'an was choked so badly that his face turned ashen, and he couldn't speak for a long time.

After a long while, he finally found his voice and forcibly steered the conversation back on track, looking at the ledger in his hand: "The matter of the Shen family father and son's treason will be discussed later." He handed the ledger to Qi Zhong, indicating that Qi Zhong should let the other court officials review it: "However, the matter of embezzling military funds is more urgent and the evidence is more conclusive."

Emperor Cheng'an looked at the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review and said with displeasure, "Order the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review to thoroughly investigate this matter."

Having achieved his goal, Xue Shen, seeing that Emperor Cheng'an avoided discussing the handling of Shen Mingjiang and his son, immediately spoke up: "Your Majesty, since there are still many doubts in the case of Shen Mingjiang and his son, and the thorough investigation will certainly take a long time, I implore Your Majesty to release them first. If, in the final investigation, it is found that Shen Mingjiang and his son have indeed committed crimes, then it will not be too late to arrest them and bring them to justice."

Emperor Cheng'an naturally wouldn't let him have his way. He said coldly, "The case is not yet clear. The Shen family father and son have special identities. To prevent any unforeseen complications, let them stay in prison for now. If it is found that they are indeed innocent, it will not be too late to release them."

Seeing that he said that, Xue Shen did not insist. He cupped his hands in greeting and then returned to the group.

Seeing that there was nothing more to discuss, Emperor Cheng'an, who really didn't want to see Xue Shen's repulsive face again, ordered the court to adjourn.

After the court session, Xue Shen was surrounded by many ministers who questioned him about the Tibetan issue.

Even Xie Lianhong, who usually avoided speaking much to him, came over and asked, "Is what Your Highness said earlier true? Is there currently internal strife in the Tibetan royal court?"

Xue Shen smiled and said, "How could I joke about such an important matter? The definite news should reach the capital in a few days. At present, the Tibetan royal family only has a foolish fourth prince left. The fourth prince's maternal grandfather is using the emperor to command the feudal lords and is integrating various tribes with the intention of establishing himself as king."

"As far as I know, Tibet is currently having frequent exchanges with the Northern Rong."

Xie Lianhong said with concern, "This is a good thing, but not entirely a good thing. The Tibetan royal family and the Northern Rong people have a long-standing feud and there is absolutely no possibility of an alliance. But now that the Tibetan royal family has collapsed, the Qingmu tribe in power is ambitious. If they join forces with the Northern Rong people to move south, I'm afraid the border will be unstable again."

Xue Shen agreed with him: "General Shen did not kill the Fourth Prince back then for this very reason. Now that the Fourth Prince is still alive, the Qingmu Tribe still has some reservations. Even if they want to join forces with the Northern Rong, it won't be so easy. We still have time."

A group of people surrounded Xue Shen and discussed it for a long time before dispersing with worry.

Xue Shen returned to the Prince of Qin's residence. Shen Youying, having heard the news, greeted him at the gate and asked worriedly, "How is it?"

Xue Shen patted her head and comforted her, "Today, we have forced the emperor to thoroughly investigate the case of embezzling military funds. However, my father-in-law and elder brother will not be released so soon. They will probably have to suffer in prison for a few more days. But don't worry, Zhao Zhao, I have already made arrangements. My father-in-law and elder brother will not suffer much in prison."