Tai Shiteng looked closely and, unexpectedly, his entire old face twitched.
"You...you remnant of the six kingdoms, how dare you slander me like this before His Majesty? I am the Grand Historian of Qin..."
His expression shifted between light and shadow, but his tone of voice became agitated.
At this moment, Li Lin knew that this guy was panicking.
So he went on to destroy his spirit, saying, "Lord Wang, you misunderstand. Mo Zhiyuan is not a remnant of the Six Kingdoms. His identity and background as a remnant of the Six Kingdoms were merely fabricated by me to mislead you!"
"What? You!"
"Lord Taishi, you are truly clever. You made me feel troubled for a time. However, the devil is always one step ahead of the saint. You have a series of ingenious plans, but I will certainly find a way to counter them!"
"Li Lin, are you... are you humiliating this old man?"
"Hehe, humiliation? I wouldn't say that. The person who could humiliate me would definitely be a very troublesome enemy, not you, Master Taishi. You're just a bit clever and haven't made me feel troubled!"
Li Lin smiled and made a friendly gesture, showing no sign of contempt or mockery whatsoever.
But that's exactly what he looks like.
What's most infuriating is that...
So smug!
Pah!
"Your Majesty, this old minister is innocent! Please, Your Majesty, see the truth! This old minister has devoted himself to the unification of Qin, suffering more than thirty wounds and beheading countless people! Your Majesty, this old minister is utterly loyal to Qin! Your Majesty, please do not listen to this child's slanderous accusations!"
"Taishi Teng, rest assured, I will not wrong any innocent person, and you are no exception. But if you do something wrong, you will definitely be punished, no matter how many merits you have made!"
The First Emperor narrowed his eyes slightly, turned his head to look at Li Lin, and said with a smile, "Since you, Minister Li, are so certain of your words and there are witnesses here, I will naturally not stop you from exercising justice. Guards, throw Taishi Tengxian into the imperial prison. We will decide what to do after the truth comes out."
"promise!"
"Wait, Meng Yi, you can't be careless this time. Before my ruling, if Taishi Teng makes any mistake, you'll have to answer to me with your head!"
"Your Majesty, please rest assured, Meng Yi will certainly live up to your mission!"
"Yes, take him away!"
"promise!"
Meng Yi immediately stood up and, with the palace guards behind him, took Taishi Teng, who now knew his fate, away.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
"Why is there any 'thank you', Minister Li? I was too biased before, which almost caused you to die in the imperial prison. Fortunately, you are safe and sound now, otherwise the Great Qin would have lost a great talent!"
The First Emperor sighed softly, then turned his gaze to the other ministers.
I noticed that their complexions didn't look quite right.
The way everyone looked at Li Lin seemed a little off, and even the First Emperor could sense a hint of sourness in their eyes.
This made him somewhat amused.
It seems this rascal will face considerable obstacles in his future career. If he doesn't have some of Lü Buwei's iron-fisted strength, he might very well be sidelined by his resentful subordinates while he's in a high position!
"Your Majesty, please do not praise me so highly. I have yet to establish even an inch of merit for Great Qin. Now that I am serving as the Prime Minister of Great Qin, I will certainly work diligently to govern the country, implement reforms, enrich the nation and strengthen its military, and bring harmony to the world!"
"Very well! Since that's the case, I now grant you the authority to establish your own government. I hope you will do a good job within the next six months. I'm delegating this power to you. If you fail to achieve anything within six months, I will remove you from your position as prime minister!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
Li Lin was overjoyed, for the First Emperor had now granted him the power to establish his own government.
That means he is now a true prime minister.
"What?! A mere child who hasn't even reached adulthood has become the true Prime Minister of our Great Qin!"
"My God, is there no justice left?"
"Yes, I, Zhang San, previously thought that His Majesty appointed Li Zhongcheng as prime minister to balance the power in the court. I never expected that His Majesty would actually make him prime minister!"
"How bitter! How bitter! From now on, we'll have to bow to a mere boy who hasn't even grown up yet!"
"Sigh, I thought His Majesty's promotion of me to Inspector General was a good thing, but I never expected it was to cooperate with Prime Minister Li's new policies."
"New policy?"
"Yes, what are Prime Minister Li's new policies? Isn't it just to strengthen supervision? He was previously the Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, and now that he's at the top, resources will definitely be poured into his hands!"
"No way! When Li Si was prime minister, the Censorate was always at odds with him. Now look at him, the Grand Censor is his elder brother, and the Court of Justice is his direct subordinate. That means his power is now greater than Li Si's and Wang Wan's!"
......
The court was immediately abuzz with discussion, many of whom were people who looked down on Li Lin becoming prime minister.
Fortunately, Li Lin was largely immune to these voices.
Otherwise, he would be furious.
[Right now, I've become the most powerful and influential prime minister in the Qin Dynasty, the most trusted advisor under the First Emperor. Good heavens, I think I'm only eighteen or nineteen, not even twenty yet! This is far more impressive than Gan Luo becoming prime minister at twelve!]
This rascal remained outwardly calm, showing no change in expression.
Yet, he was filled with such joy in his heart. If I hadn't been able to hear it, I would have truly believed him to be a saint who remained unmoved by honor or disgrace, and unperturbed even when faced with temptation.
This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
