Chapter 239 The Towering Wave at the Grand Court Assembly

The richest man in Beijing, and the adopted son of the Song family.

His shadow is behind every piece of copywriting.

Li Jin had always thought he was the Crown Prince's right-hand man, and that he was just a pawn following orders.

Therefore, Li Jin naturally assumed that the original goal of these cases was "the Crown Prince wanted Song Zhen to orchestrate the case in order to erase the traces that were not dealt with six years ago."

Li Jin glanced at the teacup in his hand, squinting, his fingertips tracing the edge of the cup.

At this moment, there is no doubt that Song Zhen is the guide.

Therefore, Li Jin finally realized that all his original speculations were wrong, and that the ultimate purpose of these textual documents should be interpreted in reverse.

It was Song Zhen who orchestrated the written cases, gradually ensnaring the Crown Prince, who had been keeping a close eye on Li Jin, into these cases.

It destabilized his camp, aroused his suspicions, threw him into disarray, and caused him to lose confidence in the government and the public.

The heart that has lost the world.

“Only His Majesty knows Song Zhen’s true identity,” Su Siyuan said. “This man is cunning and shrewd, no ordinary person. But for some reason, it is said that he has never even met Your Majesty before, yet he is loyal and devoted to you alone.”

"I've been avoiding His Highness for so long because he said the officialdom is different from the battlefield, and that I'm not good at reading people, which might ruin things. Anyway, the Court of Judicial Review didn't have anything to do with you in the early stages, so he told me to avoid any contact with you unless absolutely necessary."

Su Siyuan clicked his tongue: "He even taught me how to turn the people in the Dali Temple into his own people. Those were all roundabout and underhanded tricks, which make me feel disgusted just thinking about them." He rubbed his hands together and sighed, "...but it worked. I have to admit it."

At this point, Su Siyuan glanced at Li Jin, whose face was solemn, and mentioned it in a slightly lighter tone.

"By the way, Your Highness, who do you think brought Mr. Jin to Your Highness at the beginning of this year?" After saying that, Su Siyuan smiled and drank the tea in his cup in one gulp.

That night, Li Jin, who had returned to the Six Doors, reopened the scroll containing the names of the Crown Prince's henchmen. As he looked at the names corresponding to each pattern, he grew angrier and angrier, and then he slammed the fan down on it.

A loud "bang" suddenly rang out in the quiet of the late autumn night.

He smashed not only the scroll, but also the reasoning that had been led by the nose by Song Zhen and gradually bound.

Someone is guiding us, and that guidance isn't just about uncovering the truth of the case from six years ago; it's also about finding an opportunity.

An opportunity to confront the Crown Prince and reopen the case of Li Mu's rebellion six years ago.

Li Jin stared intently at the scroll in front of him. After a long while, he looked up, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

He will not forgive Song Zhen.

As dawn broke, Li Jin, who hadn't slept all night, changed into his court robes.

Embroidered on his black outer robe were cranes gracefully flying. He tied up his long hair, put on his ceremonial cap, and hesitated for a moment in the courtyard of the sect leader.

Behind him, in a small box on the antique shelf, there was a golden pouch with a crookedly embroidered character "锦" (jin).

After thinking for a moment, he picked up the purse and tucked it into his arms.

After nearly a month of preparation, Li Jin is about to unleash a massive wave that will shake the world at the grand court assembly on the winter solstice.

It can only succeed; failure is not an option.

Standing before the Six Doors, he glanced back at the Shadow Clan, nodded in greeting, and then lifted the curtain of the carriage.

Before he could even go up, Liu Cheng'an's voice rang out behind him: "Your Highness Prince Jing!"

Li Jin paused, turned around, and saw Liu Cheng'an, the prefect of Dingzhou, running towards him.

"Does Your Highness Prince Jing know what happened at the palace gate?" Liu Cheng'an asked breathlessly as he ran. "Was that the Prince's doing?"

"In front of the palace gate?" Li Jin shook his head.

“At least a thousand people are willing to release Mr. Jin in front of the palace gates.” Lin Yongde stepped forward calmly and bowed.

Li Jin paused.

"Your Highness doesn't know?" Liu Cheng'an's brows furrowed. "This... who else could it be but Your Highness?"

Song Zhen. Only this name flashed through Li Jin's mind.

He glanced at Liu Chengan: "Besides having the Dali Temple investigate those protectors, I only arranged for a few trusted officials to submit a memorial. I have no intention of involving the people of the capital."

“Oh dear, they’re not from Beijing…” Liu Cheng’an pursed his lips, “There are quite a few, they’re from Dingzhou, and they’re the family members of the victims whom Mr. Jin helped to catch the murderer!”

Upon hearing this, Li Jin pondered for a moment, then lifted the carriage curtain: "Get in."

The carriage moved forward along the official road. Li Jin lifted the curtain and looked at the people kneeling on both sides of the road.

There were elderly men with their young grandchildren, and couples raising several children.

In the case of the brothel, there is the second young master of the Su family who runs the fish market; in the case of the blind man, there is the small vendor who sells tiger lanterns to Li Jin.

After the Lin Yang case, the Liu family, who had abandoned evil and turned to good, dragged their grandson, along with their son and daughter-in-law, and knelt there, repeatedly begging the officials along the way to say a good word for Jin Shu.

There were the maids of Miss Lin, the manager and waiter of the post station in the suburbs of Beijing, the young master and servants of Chen Wen's family who had long been dismissed, and the manager and actors of Shuangdan Theater.

There was "Yingge's" husband, who was crying uncontrollably with his two daughters, as well as Madam Xu from the porcelain workshop and Boss Xiao from the teahouse.

Only after the coffin was opened and the body examined, and the bones were used as evidence, did the three daughters of the family who brought the murderer to justice kneel by the roadside with their entire family, kowtowing and refusing to rise.

People's words can be cruel. Without her grandmother, the girl holding a thousand paper cranes knelt down with her grandfather for a long time.

The minor yamen runner in Shengzhou, who had accepted a tael of silver from Jin Shu, brought almost half of the people in Shengzhou with him.

Meanwhile, Miss Xu's younger brother, dressed in mourning clothes, knelt there with his entire family.

The entire road was lined with kneeling people.

The voices of petitions resounded throughout the sky.

Li Jin slowly lowered the curtain in her hand, crossed her arms, and remained silent.

The car slowly came to a stop after passing Zhaoyang Gate.

He took three deep breaths in the car before he could calm down from the shock.

Now is not the time to relax.

He jumped out of the car, glanced at Lin Yongde, the Vice Minister of Works, who was waiting beside the car, and nodded slightly.

"Please don't stand on ceremony, Your Highness," Lin Yongde chuckled. "This is all I can do for Mr. Jin."

Only during the grand court assembly and political discussions could he be the first to impeach Jin Shu for deceiving the emperor, and be the first to speak out.

Undeterred, he presented the memorial with both hands in front of all the officials: "This woman disguised herself as a man, causing harm to the court and the people, and deceiving the emperor. Her crime deserves the extermination of her entire family!"

Li Yi held the memorial in his hand and unfolded it, glancing at the top of Lin Yongde's head.

"I second that proposal!"

In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen court officials stepped forward and stood in the middle.

"A woman disguised as a man, bewitching the people, is a monster and must not be allowed to live!"

More and more court officials stepped forward, and in the blink of an eye, half of them had arrived.

Li Yi closed the memorial and his gaze fell on Li Jin, who remained unmoved. He frowned, hesitated for a moment, and then questioned him sharply: "Prince Jing, you are usually so lively, but today your men have caused such a big incident, and you've become mute?"

Li Jin took a deep breath, stood up, and strolled slowly to stand beside Lin Yongde, right in the center of the grand assembly.

"Your subject is not mute. Your subject is simply lamenting that there are such heartless and treacherous people as Lord Lin in this world!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a commotion erupted around him.

"Your Majesty, please look! For the sake of that vixen, His Highness Prince Jing has actually slandered me in this way!"

"Slander?!" Li Jin laughed loudly, then suddenly raised his hand and pointed at Lin Yongde's forehead, "Lord Lin, when your daughter died, it was Jin Shu who worked tirelessly, meticulously investigating the case to catch the murderer, to comfort her soul in heaven. Now you're kicking her while she's down, eagerly demanding the extermination of her entire family. You're even worse than a wolf in sheep's clothing!"

"You!" Lin Yongde's face flushed red.

"Who performed the autopsy on your daughter! Who repeatedly investigated the crime scene for your daughter! Who apprehended the suspect for your daughter! Lin Yongde, have you lost all your conscience?!"

Li Jin's voice echoed throughout the court, and the officials looked at each other, too shocked to speak.

Seeing this, the Crown Prince, who had been silent for a long time, stepped forward with his hands clasped: "Your subject reports that Jin Shu of the Six Doors, disguised as a man, has disgraced the dignity of the law and deceived the emperor. According to the law, her entire family should be executed." Then, the Crown Prince glanced at Li Jin, "However, Jin Shu has made meritorious contributions in solving cases and has solved many strange cases. In order to demonstrate the benevolence of the royal family, your subject believes that her merits and demerits should be offset, and she should be dismissed from her post and given some silver to appease public opinion."

This is a perfect example of boiling a frog in lukewarm water, punishing both sides equally, which drew a chorus of "I second that" from the crowd.

Anticipating that the Crown Prince would take this step, Li Jin smiled and turned to all the court officials who had seconded his proposal, asking them a crucial question: "Gentlemen, you've been so quick to second my proposal, surely you've solved quite a few murder cases in your respective government offices?"

Li Jin chuckled and took out a thick ledger: "Which prefecture, county, or county are you all from? Feel free to tell me, and I will count them for you all in this very day!"

His voice grew colder: "Count how many difficult and major cases you've solved in the past few years! And how many unsolved cases have you left behind!"