Chapter 189: Your Majesty, please retry this case!
After the emperor ascended the throne, it was customary to send his brothers to their own fiefdoms. However, the late emperor had always told him to treat his brothers well, especially the eighth prince. After much consideration, the emperor granted each of his brothers the title of prince and allowed them to live in the capital.
The other princes were all quite well-behaved and had never left the capital over the years. The Eighth Prince in front of us hardly ever left his residence. He knew how to enjoy life, but he wasn't extravagant. The emperor was thinking that after a few years, when the Crown Prince ascended the throne, he would have the Crown Prince grant him the title of Prince. Little did he know that what he wanted was the throne and the entire Liang Dynasty!
These 30,000 troops could not have been assembled by simply drinking dew and shouting slogans. If he had been raising this private army since the death of the late emperor, then with his wealth, he could have supported them for at most a year. But from then until now, it has been at least fifteen years. Fifteen years would not have been possible without several million taels of gold.
The corruption case involving the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, which shocked the court and the public back then, involved three million taels of gold. With the addition of supplies, the total value was five million taels of gold. After the disaster relief funds and supplies were robbed, the Eighth Prince was also seriously injured. He told the late emperor that he wanted to atone for his sins and wanted to personally retrieve all the disaster relief funds. The late emperor trusted him greatly and entrusted him with the entire subsequent handling. In addition, Lord Li offered a reward of one million taels of gold to find his daughter. So when he returned and reported that the supplies had been used by the robbers and the disaster relief funds could not be found, neither the late emperor nor he suspected him at all. They only thought that Lord Li had embezzled the disaster relief funds.
Now it seems that he wasn't actually looking for disaster relief funds; he was transporting them to his barracks. Lord Li was just a smokescreen, a sacrifice he had chosen!
The Emperor frowned: "Madam Li, please rise. I will definitely reopen this case! If it is found that Lord Li was truly innocent back then, I will announce it to the world and clear Lord Li's name! If it is found that he colluded with the Eighth Prince, then you will have to pay the price."
Before Old Madam Li could speak, Zhou Mujiao interjected, "Your Majesty, is the pardon you granted to me for use only by me?"
"You want to use this on this old lady? Miss Zhou, she's from the Li family, and your surname is Zhou. You don't need to do this for someone unrelated—" The emperor paused here, "You're also from the Li family?"
Then he pointed at Zhao Yunjing: "You knew she was from the Li family all along? You've gone to great lengths to do so many things for me, and even sent her to the palace. What exactly are you trying to do?"
"Your Majesty, I beg you to retry this case." Zhao Yunjing knelt down.
"Today, the Eighth Prince rebelled, and even my secret guards didn't receive the news. Yet you managed to turn the tide in less than half an hour after he besieged the city. Did you know his plans beforehand? You knew his plans, but you didn't inform me, allowing him to humiliate and insult me! And you, Duke of Wei! You knew all along, didn't you? Grand Secretary Su, what about you? Ning Xian, what about you?!"
Grand Secretary Su and Ning Xian were dumbfounded. Duke Wei stepped forward, cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I also felt there were many doubts about Lord Li's case back then. However, the chain of evidence was complete at the time, so I had nothing to say. Now, the Eighth Prince's 30,000 private troops have just revealed the whereabouts of those disaster relief funds from back then... I beg Your Majesty to retry this case!"
The emperor stared intently at Zhao Yunjing, feeling that he had been mocked and insulted!
He had never trusted a subject so much, but the subject was not there to serve the court, nor to help him achieve his unification cause; the subject was only there for a woman!
He became a laughing stock!
A murderous intent burst forth from the emperor's eyes, all focused on Zhao Yunjing.
The more I liked them before, the more I hate them now!
Zhao Yunjing looked back and said, "I request Your Majesty to retry this case!"
His eyes were clear and fearless, just like when I first met him!
The emperor loosened his fist and said coldly, "I said before that I would have the Dali Temple retry this case. If you deliberately provoke me again, I will treat you as accomplices of the Eighth Prince and kill you on the spot!"
Zhao Yunjing and Zhou Mujiao's wedding banquet only has about ten tables, with a maximum of two hundred people. If these two hundred people are killed, no one will know what humiliation he suffered tonight!
Zhao Yunjing then said, "I request Your Majesty to re-examine this case."
The emperor stared at him for a long while, then roared at the stunned Zhao couple, "What are you all standing there for? Stop him!"
Uncle Zhao pulled the limp Aunt Zhao down to kneel, trembling as he said, "Your Majesty, please have mercy and reopen this case!"
"They're all fearless bastards!" The emperor was furious, pointing at Zhao Yunjing and yelling, "Retrial! Retrial! You think I don't want a retrial? But the retrial process can't be initiated with just a word from me! There needs to be evidence! Witnesses! Physical evidence! Not a single one can be missing! You damn well better find it right now! Once you find it, I will order the Court of Judicial Review to retry this case! I am the emperor, and my words are law!"
"Thank you for your great kindness!" Zhao Yunjing and Zhou Mujiao helped the Zhao couple and Old Madam Li up. Zhou Mujiao called out, "Uncle Jiang!"
Jiang Wuyu brought Hu Laosan up.
Hu Laosan was crestfallen. When he saw the Eighth Prince, he cried out, "Master, save me! You promised back then that as long as I safely delivered those disaster relief funds to Jiuyi Mountain, you would guarantee my life. The Emperor will surely behead me! Save me! Save me!"
The Eighth Prince's face turned green, and he shouted, "Third Brother Hu, don't talk nonsense! I'm not your master! You're the Emperor's man! You work for the Emperor! The robbery of those disaster relief funds back then was clearly a scheme orchestrated by the Emperor! He knew that Father Emperor wanted to pass the throne to me, so he set a trap to harm me! I saw through his motives, which is why I've been recruiting soldiers and horses for the past ten years! So that I can retaliate if he tries to kill me!"
"Master, what are you saying? All the letters I've exchanged with you over the years have been found by that Jiang fellow! They have your personal stamp on them. Although they weren't written by you personally, they were written by your trusted confidant, who can represent you!"
"The person who handed me the late emperor's edict was also the late emperor's trusted eunuch. If my confidant can represent me, then can that trusted eunuch represent my father? Does that mean my edict is genuine? Does that mean the current emperor's throne is not legitimate and orthodox?!"
Jiang Wuyu laughed: "The late emperor's trusted eunuch has been dead for ten years. Is Your Highness taking advantage of the dead because they can't speak? But it doesn't matter, as long as your trusted eunuch can speak, that's fine. Bring him up!"
A woman was brought in. She stared intently at the Eighth Prince and cried, "Your Highness, for your great cause, I have lived a life that is neither human nor ghost, and I cannot appear in front of people during the day. But as long as you can achieve your wish, I am willing to do so. I do not expect you to give me any title, but you should never let me live!"
"Your Majesty, I was the one who contacted the robbers back then, and I did so under the orders of the Prince! Furthermore, I must implicate another person! That person is Wang Zong, the Vice Minister of Justice! It was he who tortured Lord Li into confessing! It was also he who sent men to abduct Miss Li, forcing Lord Li to confess to this crime!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com