198. A foolish ruler and treacherous ministers
Qu Zijin was furious: "How can you frame others so wantonly? How are you any different from a tyrannical ruler and treacherous officials?!"
The words were quite harsh, and the behavior was extremely disrespectful.
But Wei Xiuming just sighed, his eyes still showing some helplessness.
The treacherous minister Xie Wenling patiently explained to him, "Lord Qu, you may not know this, but although some of the charges are true and some are false, the two most important ones, treason and forming cliques for personal gain, are absolutely true."
"The other charges are merely for the purpose of flexibly determining the sentence, such as whether to impose a lighter or heavier penalty."
"If the punishment is lenient, all the unnecessary charges will be removed; if the punishment is severe, all the charges will be added."
"Isn't that still framing him?!" Qu Zijin was furious. "If he's guilty, you can punish him openly and honestly, but to pin baseless charges on him, how are you any different from him? You're just as despicable as him!"
Xie Wenling said, "Water that is too clear has no fish, and a person who is too discerning has no followers. Grand Tutor Qu, politics and intrigue are inherently dark."
"The Duke of Anguo's defeat is similar to the struggle for the throne, where ministers who supported the defeated princes faced dire consequences. Did they necessarily commit a capital offense?"
"They just chose the wrong side and did the wrong thing."
Xie Wenling wanted to explain further, but seeing Qu Zijin's stubborn appearance, he finally sighed and said, "Enough. Your Majesty, could you please remove those superfluous charges and leave only the conclusive evidence presented by the Prime Minister and the incriminating evidence that I had Miss Lin retrieve?"
"Can."
"What?! You even took advantage of a child?!"
Wei Xiuming and Qu Zijin's voices rang out one after the other.
Xie Wenling looked at Qu Zijin, who was getting even angrier, and wondered whether he should tell him that he had actually used more than one person.
Finally, he decided to remain silent and, before Wei Xiuming angrily kicked Qu Zijin out, let him focus on the important matter: "Grand Tutor Qu, there's no point in discussing these things now. Let's discuss how to sentence the Duke of Anguo."
"After all, the two major crimes of treason and forming cliques for personal gain can be punished lightly or severely."
"In severe cases, the entire family will be executed; in mild cases, they will be reduced to commoners and expelled from the capital."
"What do you think the verdict should be?"
Qu Zijin took a deep breath and said, "The Duke of Anguo is guilty, and it is justifiable to try him."
"But there were still elderly, weak, women and children in his household, as well as servants who had not participated in the rebellion."
“If we implicate everyone, it would be too harsh and might make the people think that Your Majesty is too cruel, which would damage Your Majesty’s reputation as a benevolent ruler.”
"I believe that only Duke Anguo should be punished and exiled."
“The henchmen will be convicted according to their degree of involvement, which demonstrates both the authority of the law and a compassionate heart.”
Upon hearing this, Xie Wenling shook his head slightly: "Grand Tutor Qu is mistaken. His family has received much favor from him, and they may not be completely unaware of the plot to rebel."
"If we let them off lightly, there's no guarantee they won't collude with the remaining forces in the future to seek revenge and leave behind future troubles."
"In my opinion, at the very least, his entire clan should be exiled to the frontier and never allowed to return to the capital for the rest of their lives in order to eliminate the threat."
“Exile to the frontier is a perilous journey, and the elderly, women and children may not be able to bear it,” Qu Zijin insisted. “The Duke of Anguo’s crimes should not be paid for by innocent people. Besides, Miss Lin was used as a bargaining chip by the Duke of Anguo. It would be too unfair to exile her as well.”
Listening to the argument between the two, Wei Xiuming looked at Xie Wenling and asked, "Minister Xie, in your opinion, how should Miss Lin be dealt with?"
Xie Wenling pondered for a moment and said, "Miss Lin is indeed innocent, but she is, after all, the daughter of the Duke of Anguo. If she stays in the capital, she will inevitably be taken advantage of by those with ulterior motives."
"I believe that we should send her away from the capital and have her watched over. This will ensure her safety and prevent her from getting involved in court disputes. We can make further plans once the situation has stabilized."
“This is still not appropriate,” Qu Zijin retorted. “Sending people to watch over her is no different from house arrest. Miss Lin is already pitiful. If she is treated like this, it may cause controversy. I think it would be better to let her choose where to go, either to seek refuge with relatives or friends, or to stay in the capital. We just need to keep a close eye on her to ensure that she does not associate with any troublemakers.”
Xie Wenling was about to speak again when Wei Xiuming raised his hand to stop him: "What you two said makes sense, but one is too harsh and the other is too lenient."
"Punishing only Duke Anguo is indeed too lenient and will hardly deter others."
"But it could implicate the whole family, and it would also be a loss of benevolence."
"This matter needs further consideration. We must make the traitors pay the price, but we must not harm the innocent, and we must also avoid leaving any future troubles..."
Before he could finish speaking, the sound of a eunuch's footsteps came from outside the door, as if he had something important to report.
The discussion in the imperial study temporarily ceased, and all three turned their gazes toward the door, waiting for the eunuch to come in and report.
The eunuch entered through the side door carrying a tray and placed the items on the table: "Your Majesty, this contains information about all the personnel of the Duke of Anguo's residence."
Wei Xiuming nodded and began to examine it.
Xie Wenling fell silent, his eyes slightly lowered, his expression calm.
Qu Zijin stared at him with displeasure, but he remained completely unmoved.
But soon, Qu Zijin had no time to pay attention to him.
Wei Xiuming snorted coldly, slamming the paper covered in writing heavily on the table, his face full of anger: "If it weren't for this information, I probably wouldn't have known that this Lady Gan, the wife of the Duke of Anguo, was actually a member of the Gan family who escaped the net in the previous imperial examination cheating case! She almost got away!"
The imperial examination cheating scandal a few years ago had a terrible impact and involved a large number of people.
It was the Gan family who secretly manipulated the results, accepted bribes, and switched the answer sheets.
Furthermore, they consistently used their power to suppress the commotion caused by students seeking justice.
If it weren't for a hot-tempered student who rammed his head into the ground and died, causing a fatality, the county government wouldn't dare to protect him anymore, and the matter would have escalated to the point where it reached Wei Xiuming's ears.
Although it was only a provincial examination, Wei Xiuming, who always valued education, was extremely angry. He directly had several key members of the Gan family beaten to death, then confiscated the Gan family's property and exiled the entire clan.
The rest of the accomplices were either killed, imprisoned, or exiled.
This was the only incident; no similar incidents occurred during subsequent scientific expeditions.
But thinking back now, Wei Xiuming is still angry: "At the time, I originally wanted to arrest her and exile her as well, but I was persuaded by the ministers that she was a married woman and that the Duke of Anguo had no intention of divorcing his wife and severing ties, so she was not implicated."
"Who would have thought she'd be back in my sights? Her people are like that, and her husband is like that. She can't be any better! This time, I won't let her off so easily!"
Qu Zijin was startled.
Judging from Wei Xiuming's words, he intended to punish the family severely, which meant executing the entire family.
He quickly stepped forward: "Your Majesty, you mustn't! I have heard of Lady Gan; she is gentle in nature. However, the Duke of Anguo favors his concubine over his wife, and all matters in the mansion are managed by the concubine. The wife has no say whatsoever."
"The Duke of Anguo has never liked her. This time, the Duke of Anguo has committed a crime, which is probably unrelated to her, and she may even be completely unaware of it."
"Moreover, the daughter of the Gan family is Miss Lin, who is a great contributor to helping us obtain evidence. It's one thing not to reward her, but how can we punish her?"
"The punishment of collective punishment is absolutely unacceptable, Your Majesty!"
Now, Qu Zijin agrees with Xie Wenling's "using of children," and even winks at him to quickly speak up for him.
Xie Wenling stepped forward and said slowly, "Your Majesty, the calamity should not extend to family members."
"I don't care about any of that! Since there is such a punishment as implicating relatives, it means that this statement is useless!" Clearly, Wei Xiuming was angry and had made up his mind.
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