"General Liu, please let me take a look."

Liu Shiyun handed the account book to Li Mu in front of everyone.

Seeing the ledger in Li Mu's hands, Wei Zhong'e and Wei Zhongbao both breathed a sigh of relief, and even their tense nerves were relaxed for a moment.

Li Mu looked serious as he walked towards the desk. He needed to wait for an opportunity to replace the account books.

The plan had progressed to its final stage, and Liu Shiyun, naturally, wouldn't let things fall apart, so he decisively stepped forward.

"Now that General Li Mu is helping to check the accounts, it's time to settle our old scores."

"Oh? What do you want to say?"

Wei Zhong'e raised his eyelids and snorted coldly.

Wei Zhongbao looked arrogant and disdainful.

They hadn't even bothered Liu Shiyun yet, but unexpectedly, Liu Shiyun dared to step forward and court death.

Sun Jian knew in his heart that Liu Shiyun was deliberately trying to stir up trouble and attract everyone's attention, so he quickly stepped forward to act as a troublemaker.

During this time, he would occasionally give Li You, who was standing to the side, a look, signaling him to join in the muddying of the waters.

When Li Mu, who was checking the accounts, saw everyone arguing, he knew his opportunity had come.

He quickly turned to the side and, finding an opportunity, swiftly switched the real and fake ledgers.

"Cough cough!"

After doing all this, Li Mu coughed lightly twice.

He signaled to Sun Jian that everything was ready and they could withdraw now.

Wei Zhong'e and Wei Zhongbao thought that Li Mu was just trying to mediate the fight.

"Generals, please do not quarrel. You are all great generals. There is no need to turn to arms over some differences."

“I have roughly looked through the ledgers and there is nothing wrong with them. It seems that General Liu Shiyun is making a mountain out of a molehill.”

Li Mu got up from his seat at the desk, walked to Wei Zhong'e's side, and handed him the account book.

Liu Shiyun and Sun Jian both knew that the matter was settled, and they suppressed their joy and cooperated with Li Mu to continue the act.

Liu Shiyun argued forcefully, claiming it was impossible.

He said he was determined to find out why the imperial court allocated funds on time every month, but the Tiger Warriors' pay was delayed by a month.

Sun Jian, however, wouldn't let go of Wei Zhongbao's earlier rude remarks, which made Wei Zhongbao so angry that his face turned red and his neck bulged.

After several rounds of arguing, Li You stepped in as a peacemaker.

Originally, Wei Zhong'e insisted on punishing Liu Shiyun, claiming that this was an internal matter of the Tiger Legion and that the Imperial Guard Commander had no say in it. However, Li Mu only said, "Since that's the case, then I have no choice but to report to His Majesty," which made Wei Zhong'e back down.

In Wei Zhong'e's view, the ledger had already been retrieved, and none of them had discovered any problems with it. The best course of action for now was to send everyone away and plan for the future later.

Continuing the stalemate will only result in heavy losses for both sides, with the enemy suffering a thousand casualties and oneself suffering eight hundred.

Wei Zhong'e proposed that, for the sake of the Imperial Guards and His Majesty, today's matter could be forgiven, but the account book error must be made to admit the mistake in public and guarantee that it will not be repeated in the future.

Amidst Li You and Li Mu's polite words, Liu Shiyun feigned displeasure, but ultimately bowed to Wei Zhong'e to apologize, claiming that his suspicions had caused the incident and promising not to repeat them in the future, and that he was willing to accept punishment.

At this point, Wei Zhong'e nodded in satisfaction, uttered a few harsh words in front of all the soldiers, and then stopped.

Everyone was overjoyed to see that the mission was accomplished.

All that's needed now is to follow Sun Jian's plan, bring witnesses and evidence to the palace to meet the emperor, and the three Wei brothers can be declared to have fallen from power.

Li Mu and Li You did not hesitate and immediately proposed that since the matter had been dropped, they should take the Imperial Guards back to the palace.

After all, their previous explanation to the Wei brothers was that they were ordered to escort Sun Jian back to camp safely.

Wei Zhong'e offered to give it to Li You and Li Mu, but Li You politely declined.

In the end, it was Sun Jian and Liu Shiyun who escorted Li You and Li Mu to the gate.

Seeing Wei Zhong'e and Wei Zhongbao leave, the four of them exchanged smiles, overjoyed.

They won the battle, and won it completely.

Gu Hu had been waiting for them for a long time, thirty miles away from the Tiger Army. Without further hesitation, the four of them left the camp.

...

Kyoto City, inside the Taiji Hall.

Emperor Ganwu frowned, his face so gloomy it seemed to drip water.

The assembled officials below the stage dared not utter a word, all waiting for the emperor to make his decision.

After Sun Jian and his three companions left the Tiger Warriors, they presented all the evidence directly to the emperor through Li You and Li Mu.

After Emperor Ganwu reviewed all the evidence and listened to Li Mu and Li You recount the entire incident, despite being prepared, he was still enraged by the audacious actions of the three Wei brothers.

The emperor immediately issued an edict ordering the Crown Prince Li Gancheng, the Governor-General of Yongzhou Yao Tianzheng, the Censor-in-Chief Yu Yiwei, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review Zhuang Qishi, and the Prefect of the Capital Xiong Juzheng to come to the palace to meet the emperor.

This time, the audience with the emperor was not even attended by several high-ranking officials.

Because this is a huge deal!

The identities of those involved are still unknown...

Perhaps even the powerful minister Lin Xuanfu is among them. Of course, this is a speculation that can only be understood but not explained.

When the ministers arrived, they all opened the evidence and memorials to examine them. After reading them, they were all horrified, their pupils dilating in shock.

Yao Tianzheng was easy to deal with, and Zhuang Qishi was furious.

However, due to the presence of the emperor, they could not vent their anger on the spot.

Not to mention their reaction, even Emperor Ganwu was no better.

Emperor Ganwu knew perfectly well that the Wei family had been involved in many shady dealings in recent years.

As his health deteriorated, Wei Jia's ambitions grew ever larger.

Emperor Ganwu turned a blind eye to the Wei family's previous factionalism and attempts to win over court officials, hoping to find an opportune moment to eliminate them all at once.

But who could have imagined that the Wei family would resort to such extreme measures, even going to the extremes of favoritism and corruption?

Emperor Ganwu originally thought that the three Wei brothers had at most embezzled military funds and privately raised a few groups of assassins in the Tiger Legion for unforeseen circumstances.

However, the results of the investigation and evidence collection were far beyond everyone's expectations.

The Wei family did not embezzle military funds to privately raise assassins; rather, they privately maintained an army.

A full ten thousand soldiers!

Their purpose is self-evident: they are waiting for the right opportunity to launch a coup and seize power.

Crown Prince Li Gancheng and Yao Tianzheng exchanged a glance.

Both of them knew perfectly well that the Wei family's actions were probably related to the Second Prince, Li Chengru.

Although the Wei family is deeply entrenched and has followers and disciples throughout the army and the court, with their limited strength and the troops they can command, changing the dynasty is too unrealistic. At most, they can support the second prince, Li Chengru, to ascend the throne and turn him, the current crown prince, into a deposed one.

The courtiers were somewhat skeptical that the Wei family was so audacious, but the evidence was now laid bare before them, leaving them no choice but to believe it.

“Minister Sun, repeat what you said to me earlier to all the ministers.”