At this time, the Liu brothers, Liu Guang and Liu Yao, along with other people who were on good terms with the Meng family, also spoke up for Meng Yi and the Prince of Dai. After all, he had done a very good job, and these people naturally had a point of entry to help him.

On the contrary, the officials on the Eastern Palace's side were all indignant, but they couldn't stop those old foxes from being too slippery, and they simply couldn't find a way to attack them.

Ye Ping and the others turned pale. Oh no! The Prince of Dai and Meng Yi have turned the tables and will definitely take revenge on us afterward.

Seeing the situation reversed, the Prince of Dai was delighted and looked at Zu An provocatively: "Lord Zu, that's why everything must be based on evidence. You can't just smear someone's innocence with empty words."

"And even if we take a step back and assume that I really did those things, what's the big deal? My father was killed in Zishan because Murong Tong failed to protect him properly, and the Qin brothers also secretly supported that traitor. It's only right and proper for me to seek revenge on them."

“Even the Prince of Jin knew to avenge his father. As a fellow son of the Emperor, how could I be content to lag behind?”

"Our Great Zhou Dynasty governs the world with filial piety. Filial piety is the most important national policy. We should not only not be punished for doing this, but should also be greatly rewarded by the court. In the future, it will be included in the Classic of Filial Piety and spread throughout the world, so that people can read it and learn our spirit of filial piety."

"Of course, what I said above is just a hypothesis and should not be taken seriously."

Meng Yi nodded secretly. His son-in-law wasn't completely stupid. What was their purpose in doing all this? Wasn't it to provoke Zu An into making a mistake so that they could take the opportunity to get rid of him, cut off one of the Crown Prince's arms, and hopefully even influence a large number of people related to the Crown Prince through the clues?

The Prince of Dai's actions at this crucial moment are absolutely brilliant. Given the fiery temper of that kid Zu'an when he killed the Prince of Jin, he'll most likely be unable to resist taking action.

At that time, we can gather the strength of the entire court and the palace guards to kill this scoundrel on the spot.

Even if the Crown Princess wanted to protect him, she wouldn't be able to.

However, to his surprise, Zuan, whom he had expected to lash out, remained completely calm, showing no signs of emotional fluctuation.

Because all of this was already within his expectations, he just didn't want to disappoint Qin Zheng's loyalty and Jiang Luofu's idealism, so he was just giving it a try for them.

Manipulating the rules is no match for these seasoned cunning strategists who have been entrenched in politics for decades.

The Crown Princess instructed her officials to attempt a counterattack, but they did not expect that the Meng family had dealt with all those in the know beforehand, so these counterattacks were destined to be futile.

After a series of exchanges, the outcome was ultimately decided.

The Empress, seated at the head of the table, glanced at Zu An with concern, and finally said, "This matter is extremely strange. The Qin and Murong families are, after all, important officials of the state. They cannot be used for private purposes without explanation. This matter will be thoroughly investigated by the Embroidered Uniform Guard."

"In addition, a special imperial physician was dispatched to the Heavenly Prison to care for the wounded; another Imperial Guard was sent to be stationed in the Heavenly Prison, and from now on, no one, no matter who they are, is allowed to enter the Heavenly Prison privately."

She knew that Zu'an was very angry, but as the empress, she could not go against the wishes of the court officials, so she could only try her best to appease him.

"Your Majesty is wise!" The ministers knew perfectly well that the Meng family and the Prince of Dai had already erased all evidence. The Embroidered-Robed Envoy was not a god; how could he possibly find out anything?

At this moment, Meng Yi looked at Ye Ping and the others: "These officials of the Ministry of Justice have broken the law by bringing people into the prison to severely torture important national officials. Their crimes are truly aggravated and they deserve to be executed. I hope Your Majesty will deal with them accordingly."

The Empress nodded: "Guards, take the ringleader Ye Ping out of the palace gate and behead him. The rest shall be dismissed from their posts and investigated!"

Ye Ping is truly outrageous, and he's also someone who used torture against the Qin family. Getting rid of him is a way of giving an explanation to the Qin family and to Azu.

Ye Ping was dumbfounded: "Your Majesty, I'm innocent!"

Seeing that the Empress remained cold and unmoved, he panicked. Soon, palace guards came in and dragged them all out.

"Your Majesty, I am innocent!"

“Lord Meng, I was wrong. Please forgive my mistake.”

"Your Highness, save me!"

"Lord Zu, Lord Zu, save me!"

...

He was desperate and tried everything he could think of, but no one paid any attention to him.

Zu An remained calm. Ye Ping's behavior in the prison, especially the evil look he gave Qin Wanru and Jiang Luofu, clearly showed that he had done a lot of disgusting things. He deserved to die.

Anyway, we won't need him anymore.

Meng Yi stroked his beard, and both he and the Prince of Dai looked very smug. Ye Ping had been incredibly audacious in testifying for Zu An, but now even Zu An couldn't protect him. Let's see who in the court will dare to oppose us in the future.

The two men scanned the entire room, and most of the ministers lowered their heads guiltily, not daring to make eye contact with them.

The matter was finally settled, and the officials dispersed.

When he left the Golden Palace, the Prince of Dai deliberately waited for him at the door: "Lord Zu, I'm really sorry for making you so angry today."

Zuan looked at him calmly: "Spit it out, or you might not have another chance."

The Prince of Dai's expression changed. Thinking of the Prince of Jin's fate, he hurriedly took a step back. However, remembering that this was the Golden Palace, surrounded by civil and military officials, and with his father-in-law standing guard beside him, he immediately regained his confidence: "Lord Zu, are you in a fit of anger? Actually, I came here just to tell you something."

"Many people at the bottom of society believe that justice may be delayed, but it will never be absent, and that all grievances will be redressed. Unfortunately, reality is not like that."

"After all, Lord Zu comes from a small place and rose through the ranks from humble beginnings. Unlike us top families who can learn from our elders, he naturally doesn't understand these things. So I'm giving you a few pointers so you won't be so naive and suffer a great loss in the future."

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!