Not long after, Wei Zhongxian ran in from outside. When he saw Zhu Youxiao, he fell to the ground and said, "Your Majesty!"

"Get up and say whatever you want to say!" Zhu Youxiao didn't even look at Wei Zhongxian, but just listened quietly.

Wei Zhongxian was scared to death these two days.

Wei Zhongxian was originally quite proud of himself. Now the case was getting bigger and bigger. Once he could pry open Li Ruzhen's mouth, he would be able to arrest more people. Once the case became a big one, he could get rid of all these people and see who would dare to impeach him.

But things took a sharp turn for the worse in the past two days. The emperor actually wanted to hand over several prisoners to the three courts for trial. What did he have to do with it?

It would be fine if he lost all his credit, but once these people were brought to the Third Court, and it was found that there was no evidence and it was all the result of torture by Old Wei, once he was accused of being forced to confess, he would probably have his head cut off.

Wei Zhongxian naturally had to find a way to protect himself and keep the people involved in the case in his own East Factory.

In this world, it's always easier to discredit others than to prove one's own superiority. This is also a common tactic used in so-called democratic elections. Therefore, the competition among elected officials isn't about who's better, but who's less bad.

Wei Zhongxian understood this point very well. He knew that it was useless to ask the emperor to keep the case in the East Factory to prove how capable he was in handling the case.

The most effective way is to prove how bad and rotten the other party is. And that's what he came here to do today.

"Your Majesty, this is a secret report from the Eastern Depot." Wei Zhongxian quickly took out a report and presented it respectfully.

Zhu Youxiao then raised his head, took the secret memorial presented by Chen Hong, opened it and took a look.

After reading it, Zhu Youxiao looked at Wei Zhongxian with a strange look, and then he was very surprised. This secret report did not contain much information, but only recorded the conversation between two people: one was Yang Lian, the imperial commissioner he had just appointed to examine the case, and the other was Zou Yuanbiao, the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate.

The conversation between the two Donglin Party members was recorded in great detail in this secret memorial, including what Yang Lian said and what Zou Yuanbiao said. At the end of the secret memorial, Zou Yuanbiao gave the verdict of the case.

Seeing this, Zhu Youxiao sighed helplessly.

As expected of a Donglin Party gentleman, his words were truly upright. Li Ruzhen was sentenced to death, and Feng Sanyuan, Wei Yingjia, Zhang Xiude, and several others were dismissed from office, and surprisingly, not even one of them was permanently banned from employment. This meant they were retreating to avoid the spotlight, perhaps they would be reinstated one day.

Zhu Youxiao didn't know what to feel after reading this secret report.

Was he disappointed after the confirmation? Or was he relieved? Seeing the reasons given, he knew that dealing with the eunuchs was all about the overall interests and not caring about the details, and that was all done by a gentleman.

But what is the reality?

The case of a border general colluding with court ministers to frame the border minister was suppressed, and the only person dealt with was Li Ruzhen.

Feng Sanyuan, Wei Yingjia, Zhang Xiude and others basically just went home to take a nap. Maybe someone would see them off and say, "It's a very glorious trip."

"The Donglin Party is truly dedicated to the country and the people!" Zhu Youxiao sighed with a smile.

Glancing at Wei Zhongxian, who was standing aside with his hands hanging down, Zhu Youxiao smiled and said, "Alright, I know what's going on. Let's leave it at that for now!"

Wei Zhongxian was stunned. "This is happening first? How could this be possible? They're all planning to do this, Your Majesty, can you still tolerate this?"

"Do you have anything else to say?" Zhu Youxiao looked at Wei Zhongxian and asked.

Wei Zhongxian was stunned. Although he was unwilling, he didn't dare to stay any longer, let alone ask any more questions. He quickly said, "I'll take my leave!" After that, he bowed and retreated.

After Wei Zhongxian left, Zhu Youxiao sighed lightly and fell into deep thought.

Is what Zou Yuanbiao said reasonable? It is reasonable, but the emphasis is different.

In Zou Yuanbiao's view, Li Ruzhen and Xiong Tingbi were trivial matters, while overthrowing Wei Zhongxian was the big matter. It was normal to make choices between trivial matters for the sake of the big matter.

Of course, it is also very likely that Zou Yuanbiao accepted the money, but he was able to come up with some seemingly reasonable reasons.

"As expected, there's no right or wrong in politics, only stances," Zhu Youxiao lamented. Everyone stood on different sides, so it was all in vain to say anything.

Perhaps in the eyes of the Donglin Party, not collecting taxes and listening to me is the right thing to do; otherwise it is wrong.

Just like a certain country in later generations, those who listen to me are right, those who don’t listen to me are wrong, and those who are wrong must be overthrown.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youxiao laughed immediately. He suddenly thought of a movie called "Out of Nowhere" in later generations, in which there was a very famous line: qnmd!

"Your Majesty, you can go to Ciqing Palace for dinner." Wei Chao saw that Zhu Youxiao seemed to be in a much better mood, and hurriedly said respectfully.

Seeing the time had passed so quickly, Zhu Youxiao stood up and stretched his muscles, then said with a smile, "Let's go."

When we arrived at Ciqing Palace, we saw Li Huan and the palace maids guarding the palace gate from afar.

Li Huan was pacing anxiously. It was past dinner time, and he thought the emperor would not come tonight. Just as he was thinking this, he saw a bright yellow figure approaching from a distance.

"Empress, the Emperor is here!" Li Huan ran into Ciqing Palace happily.

Concubine Zhuang's disappointment had turned into joy. The Emperor had arrived. What did this mean? It meant that the Emperor really intended to entrust the selection of a concubine to her. How could she suppress her excitement? After this selection, she would be the Empress Dowager without the title of Empress Dowager? She could not help but stand up and personally go to the palace gate to greet His Majesty.

Zhu Youxiao smiled warmly and said, "My Lady Concubine, be careful not to catch a cold." Then he took the fox fur coat from the palace maid beside him and put it on My Lady Concubine Zhuang himself.

"It's no problem." Concubine Zhuang smiled gently.

They sat down quickly, and Li Huan called for a typical family dinner at the palace. Concubine Zhuang chatted about family matters, and the topic of selecting a queen came up. Although it seemed like an accidental mention, both Zhu Youxiao and Concubine Zhuang knew it was intentional.

"Ever since Taizu established his rule in the Central Plains, there has been an ancestral precept: every emperor must marry at the age of sixteen and establish a queen. Now that Your Majesty is seventeen years old, it is time to follow the ancestral precept and build a harem and establish a queen." After saying this, Concubine Zhuang looked at Zhu Youxiao quietly, waiting for his opinion.

"Yes!" Zhu Youxiao nodded, and then said: "People say that parents' orders and matchmakers' words are final, so let the concubine handle this matter!"

Upon hearing this, Concubine Zhuang burst into laughter and quickly said, "Your Majesty is the richest man in the world, so marriage matters cannot be taken lightly. The Imperial Household Department must assist in organizing it."

Zhu Youxiao nodded gently, then said, "In that case, I'll trouble the Concubine to handle it personally. I'll ask Wang An to assist."

This matter has been settled.