As soon as these words came out, Wei Minzhong hurriedly accepted the punishment and did not give Gu Yun a chance to mess things up. "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace. I will investigate the case carefully in the future and will not dare to make any mistakes again."
Gu Yun crossed his arms across his chest and had no intention of saying anything else. His goal was to hand the case over to the Ministry of Justice for trial. As for Wei Minzhong, Gu Yun knew that he was Empress Feng's man. If Wei Minzhong was really dismissed and investigated, Empress Feng and her party would not give up easily.
But some people don't want to let him rest in peace.
The Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War stepped forward and said, "The commander of the Left Guard came to report this morning that last night, Young Marquis Gu privately dispatched 50% of the troops from the Military Department out of the city without any order, and also mobilized a garrison to defend the city. As far as I know, Young Marquis Gu did not issue any imperial decree."
He glanced at Gu Yun and continued, "Young Marquis Gu abused his military power and privately dispatched troops out of the city. He was suspected of defying the majesty of heaven and broke the law knowingly. If he is not punished according to his crime, I am afraid that military generals with military power in the future will dare to be as bold as him."
The Left Deputy Imperial Censor also spoke up, "I second the proposal. The Wucheng Military Department is responsible for patrolling the capital, but Young Marquis Gu exceeded his authority and privately dispatched troops out of the city, ignoring the curfew. He should be severely punished."
"I second the motion." Among those who voiced their agreement were Shen Tian's party and the prince's party.
These people all knew the inside story of the case very well, and they all knew where the money ended up, but they all pretended to be ignorant.
Dali Temple Minister Wei Minzhong was eager to close the case hastily because he knew the inside story, but no one expected that Gu Yun would appear halfway.
Shen Tian was a cunning and treacherous man, and many people in the court were his followers. As soon as he knew that the official silver for dredging silt in Jiangbei was tampered with by Cheng Ying, he guessed that it was Emperor Ming Zheng who instructed him to do so, so he pretended to be blind and deaf, pretending to be ignorant.
Later, Gu Yun came back from Jiangbei and made a big fuss, exposing the case. Shen Tian then had people set a trap. On the one hand, he wanted to help Emperor Mingzheng settle the matter and please Emperor Mingzheng and Cheng Ying. On the other hand, he wanted to use this incident to get rid of Xu Youzhi, who was always against him and had no sense of propriety, and vacate the position of Minister of Works so that he could arrange his people to take this position.
Wei Minzhong, a member of the Feng family, Marquis Dingbei, worked so hard in this case at the instruction of Empress Feng.
Empress Feng was not favored. Although she had the title of empress, the phoenix seal was in the hands of Concubine Xue. The position of the master of the harem was meaningless and she was not as glorious and favored as Concubine Xue.
Shen Tian had an old relationship with the Xue family, and Shen Tian's party had been obstructing the previous dynasty. In recent years, Emperor Mingzheng became increasingly displeased with the crown prince. If Marquis Dingbei had not been still alive, the crown prince's position would have been in jeopardy.
In order to protect the crown prince, Empress Feng secretly won over many court officials. Unfortunately, people like Liu Ci Fu, who were upright in character, were not moved at all. They neither accepted the Feng family's winning over nor cared about the dispute among the princes.
Empress Feng had no choice but to show her goodwill to Cheng Ying many times. Cheng Ying was deeply favored by Emperor Mingzheng and could influence his mind. If Cheng Ying could be won over, the position of the crown prince would be locked and would be much more secure.
This time, Empress Feng instructed Wei Minzhong to take advantage of the situation and help Shen Tian and his party get rid of Xu Youzhi in order to please Cheng Ying.
"We had to take emergency measures. Young Marquis Gu captured the main culprit in order to recover the dirty silver. It was clearly a meritorious act, and it also avoided a false case. But how come his colleagues regard it as a mistake with no merit and he still needs to be severely punished?" Zuo Tongzheng, the Minister of Public Administration who was on good terms with Wei Minzhong, argued.
As soon as he finished speaking, the Left Imperial Censor said, "Since the emperor has asked Lord Wei to preside over this case, Young Marquis Gu has clues related to this case, and he should inform the Dali Temple in time, so that the Dali Temple can hunt down the dirty silver and the criminals. Young Marquis Gu is greedy for merit and exceeds his authority. He has mobilized troops without authorization and has always been arrogant and lawless. If he is not punished, he may make a big mistake in the future! In the past, he had verbal disputes with the literate people in the Earl's Mansion and beat them up severely, but now he has committed the serious crime of mobilizing troops without authorization. The Left Imperial Censor should not make excuses for Young Marquis Gu!"
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