Chapter 483 Winner

Qiao Rushi looked at Chen Chunlai, who was full of confidence and thought that he had obtained the evidence carefully despite many obstacles. Only in this way could he firmly believe that this action hidden in the dark would bring him huge rewards.

He thought he could turn the situation around, so he fought a desperate battle and left no way out for himself.

However, he had no idea what his own granddaughter had said in the Censorate or what evidence she had, which was why he was so anxious.

When you are in a restless mood and have little time, you will naturally make mistakes in a hurry.

It's just a psychological game.

He was too anxious, anxious to drag himself down in exchange for the Shen family not being killed by Shen Lingyi.

The Qiao family is a century-old family. How could Shen Chunlai uproot it?

"It was you who swapped the evidence! It was you who swapped the evidence!"

Shen Chunlai scolded angrily, with some doubt in the first half of the sentence, but seeing Qiao Rushi's still calm look, the doubt turned into certainty.

It must be him, otherwise it wouldn't have turned out like this.

He also carefully checked the carriage at the palace gate. There was no possibility of error in the palace. Qiao Rushi did not have the ability to do anything in the palace!

Qiao Rushi frowned slightly, as if puzzled. "Your Excellency Prime Minister, your words are really puzzling. You showed me evidence to prove that I was a traitor and now you're saying that I changed the evidence. Do you think the court is yours?"

Other voices began to emerge in the court.

"The Prime Minister has always had different political views from Minister Qiao, and now he is framing me out of anger."

"It's probably not accurate to say that it's a frame-up. The Prime Minister must be too old to be so confident in slandering without any evidence."

The two people who were speaking were censors who were very vicious-mouthed on weekdays, and they had offended the emperor many times with their mouths. However, the two were indeed neutral ministers and were only concerned about Dayou, so the emperor just treated them coldly and did not punish them.

Chen Chunlai looked extremely unhappy, but he didn't know what had gone wrong for a moment.

He Zhiyu said in a deep voice: "I think the Prime Minister is indeed old. He started to act recklessly because his granddaughter entered the Censorate. This is not the Prime Minister I remember."

Chen Chunlai was speechless, knowing that no matter how confused he was, he had to swallow his resentment.

Otherwise, if the commotion continued, Qiao Rushi would only become more proud.

He was defeated, but this incident would not cause him to lose his position as Prime Minister!

"It is my fault that I was so confused. Please forgive me, Your Highness!"

Qiao Rushi said, "Master Prime Minister, you are so easy to say. You can be exempted from the crime of setting fire to my mansion by saying you were confused? The Shangshu Mansion caught fire and burned two maids who were cooking. How should the Prime Minister repent for killing people? Just with your mouth?"

He Zhiyu said in a deep voice: "The Prime Minister is a senior official in the court after all. I have to ask my father's opinion before committing such a foolish crime."

Qiao Rushi said: "Your Highness, I have something to say."

He Zhiyu: "Master Qiao, just speak frankly."

Qiao Rushi: "I am terrified by the slander of the Prime Minister. Although I have nothing to fear from my own shadow, I am also afraid of being framed and slandered and causing suffering to my family. If the Prime Minister has prepared evidence of the slander at home, I will be speechless next time."

Qiao Rushi said, "I am worried that the Prime Minister, who is so confident in accusing me of treason and has prepared evidence, may have accidentally taken the wrong evidence. If the mansion has forged evidence, I am afraid I will die unjustly."

He Zhiyu lowered his eyes, "Master Qiao means that you want to search the Shen Mansion?"

Qiao Rushi knelt down but his back was straight. "I have suffered such an unprovoked disaster. Please give me justice, Your Highness!"

Shen Chunlai's expression changed slightly, and he immediately said, "Your Highness, I slandered Qiao Rushi out of confusion. I plead guilty!"

He Zhiyu frowned slightly and did not respond, as if he was thinking about whether to agree to this matter and the impact that would be caused if he agreed.

After a long silence, He Zhiyu responded.

"Send the Imperial Guards to search the Shen Mansion."

Chen Chunlai's breathing stagnated for a moment, and he wanted to grab the person who went to deliver the message to stop him from leaving the hall, but he did not dare to act rashly for fear of being noticed by others for his nervousness and anxiety.

Chen Chunlai realized almost instantly that he had been tricked. Although he was not sure why the evidence he submitted had changed, he now understood that Qiao Rushi must have been outwitting him, or that he had been a chess piece on his chessboard from the very beginning.

He led me into the chess game!

He went there to search the Shen Mansion!

He knew? How could he?

The imperial guards entered the Shen Mansion in large numbers, being polite in words but not in actions.

The Shen Mansion was surrounded by people, and the people in the mansion asked a thousand questions but still couldn't get the answers they wanted. They didn't know what had happened.

It was clearly just an ordinary morning, why did the imperial guards suddenly break in?

This search took a full hour.

The Shen Mansion was turned upside down, and the leader of the imperial guards hurried back to the palace with a box.

Chen Chunlai didn't know how he got through the past hour, he only knew that his heart was beating so hard, as if it wanted to jump out of his throat all the time.

Every moment, an invisible blunt knife cut his heart.

Panic, anxiety, fear...

Despite all the negative emotions, I still hope that good things will come back.

The imperial guards found nothing.

The imperial guard walked to the front of the palace and handed the box in his hand to the eunuch, "Your Highness, I found a secret room in the utility room of the Shen Mansion. The secret room contains evidence of the Prime Minister's dealings with the Zhenyang Joint Envoy and the details of the bribes he received."

When Chen Chunlai heard the last word, he could no longer control his body and fell to the ground. The fear that surged from the deepest part of his heart made his fingertips tremble.

There was an uproar in the court. Some time ago, a man came out of Zhenyang Pass and rang the drum to report to the emperor. Only then did people know that Zhenyang Pass had become a purgatory, the people were in dire straits, and the military governor had occupied the land and become a local emperor.

This is also the reason why King Jing led his soldiers to investigate.

The Jiedushi was able to keep the incident at Zhenyang Pass a secret, and the officials in the court were not stupid and could guess that there must be spies in the capital.

But he didn't expect that this spy was actually the prime minister of the dynasty.

Chen Chunlai might be able to save his life by setting fire to the Shangshu Mansion and slandering Shangshu Qiao, or it is possible that the emperor would order a lenient punishment in consideration of past punishment and save his position as the Prime Minister.

But now, this is a capital crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of the clan.

Colluding with local military governors to disregard human lives, levy heavy taxes and form cliques for personal gain is an act of treason and deceiving the emperor!

He Zhiyu said in a deep voice: "Come here, take Shen Chunlai to the prison of the Ministry of Justice, and detain all the members of the Shen family and await their fate. Send an urgent 800-mile mission to Zhenyang Pass to order King Jing to investigate this matter. There must be no mistakes!"

Qiao Rushi looked at Chen Chunlai calmly. They had been fighting back and forth in the court for so long, so he must have grasped the opponent's fatal weakness before making a move, not giving the opponent any chance to fight back.

Only by killing him with one blow can I feel at ease.

The Qiao family will have no worries forever.

But the fate of the Shen family ended here.