Chapter 88 The Emperor's Fury
After hearing this, Li Yueyao looked at Yuan Zhiying standing below as if she was looking at a corpse.
As expected, the emperor flew into a rage when these words came out, and asked sternly:
"When the explosion occurred in Beijing last night, where were you, the Imperial Censor? Why weren't you there?"
Yuan Zhiying heard the emperor's angry questioning, but he remained calm and said:
"Your Majesty, the explosion at the Firearms Workshop was handled by the Jinwu Guards and Jingzhao Prefecture. This is no reason for the Right Prime Minister to disobey your orders.
Whether I appear at the scene or not will have little impact on the overall situation."
“You…you…”
What Yuan Zhiying said made a lot of sense. The emperor was speechless for a moment and didn't know how to refute it.
Li Yueyao glanced at Shen Zhengming.
Shen Zhengming stepped out and said, "Your Majesty, I also have something to report."
The emperor was angry, and when he saw Shen Zhengming, he said angrily, "Speak."
"I impeach the Imperial Censor Yuan Zhiying for accepting bribes, forcing confessions under torture, and for making unjust judgments, which have resulted in the destruction of families."
The emperor became excited when he heard this.
Just when I was worrying about how to deal with you, this handle appeared.
Then he sat up straight and said, "Present the memorial."
After the emperor read the memorial, his face turned pale and he threw it down from the table with a raised hand.
"Good job, Yuan Zhiying, I see that you have a strong character, so I appoint you as the Imperial Censor and entrust the entire Imperial Censorate to you.
Is that what you did?
You have failed to fulfill my trust and deserve to die.
Come here, take Yuan Zhiying to the prison immediately for trial.
The Dali Temple will continue to investigate to see if he has committed any other illegal acts."
Yuan Zhiying went to court originally intending to bring down Feng Shenyu completely, but he never expected that the situation would take a turn for the worse after he had just said a few words, and he was thrown into prison.
So he quickly cried out that he was innocent.
The emperor was furious and said, "It's unfair. The evidence is all here. What injustice have you committed?
Come, drag him away."
After Yuan Zhiying was dragged away, everyone in the court was trembling with fear.
The emperor is kind and has never sent a third-rank official directly to the Heavenly Prison since he ascended the throne. It seems that he is really angry this time.
Li Yueyao saw the change in the attitude of the ministers below and said:
"Your Majesty was assassinated two days ago, and the matter has not yet been resolved.
Yesterday, it was discovered that the treasury of the Ministry of War had been robbed, and three eight-ox crossbows and seven thunder bombs had disappeared for no apparent reason.
Furthermore, these three Eight Ox Crossbows, one was aimed at the Qin Prince's Palace, one was aimed at the Right Prime Minister's Residence, and the last one actually appeared on the palace city wall."
As soon as Li Yueyao said this, there was a buzzing sound in the court.
Seeing this, Sun Fu stepped forward and shouted sharply, "Silence."
After the court quieted down, Li Yueyao continued:
"There were seven thunder bombs, one of which appeared in the weapons depot last night.
Finally, it was detonated by a clerk of the Treasury Department himself, blowing up the small warehouse on the east side of the firearms depot.
Fortunately, there were only some miscellaneous items inside and no casualties.
Not to mention where the remaining six thunder bombs are, the Treasury, the Firearms Depot, and the Ordnance Inspectorate are all secret places of the court.
These places have been infiltrated by spies, which shows that the situation in the court is already extremely critical.
When you all go to court today, shouldn't you first think about how to catch the spies, how to stabilize the people's hearts, and how to consolidate the court? Instead, you only know how to attack others.
How can Your Majesty not be furious?
Do we want the common people to accuse the officials in the court of being idlers?"
Li Yueyao's words were very serious, and all the ministers knelt down and apologized:
"Your Majesty, please calm down. We are guilty."
Seeing the situation, the emperor could only slowly say, "My dear ministers, please stand up."
Then, regardless of the reactions of the people below, he continued, "Come here, tell the Right Prime Minister to come to the palace."
Feng Shenyu returned home at three quarters past midnight last night. He had just laid down when he was called to attend the morning court.
He was completely confused. He sat in the sedan chair and took a stimulating pill to wake himself up before going to the palace.
"Your Majesty, Fengshenyu greets you."
The emperor saw that Fengshenyu looked like he hadn't slept all night, so he said, "Stand up. Tell me what happened yesterday."
Feng Shenyu heard this and said, "It was Zhang Shun, a clerk in Kubusi, who detonated the thunder bomb last night and was also killed in the explosion.
It happened that Huan Shaoqing was investigating the people who stole the Eight Ox Crossbows and the Thunder Bomb in Jiashanfang, and he found a group of thieves hiding in an abandoned house.
This group of people had a fierce battle with people from the Dali Temple and the Ministry of War. The situation was reversed only after Gan Qing arrived.
This group of people are now in the Dali Temple prison, and they should have uncovered a lot of information by now."
The King of Qin had just heard Li Yueyao say that an Eight-Ox Crossbow was pointed at his palace yesterday, and he immediately became angry.
When he heard someone was caught, he asked:
"Do you know who these thieves are?"
"A person from Nanli." Feng Shenyu replied.
"It's this group of Nanli people again!" said the King of Qin angrily.
Gao Hongchen frowned and said, "Didn't the Duke of Zhenguo say yesterday that the group that tried to assassinate His Majesty were also from Nanli? Could it be that they are the same group?"
As soon as these words were spoken, Li Yueyao, the Emperor, King Qin, and Feng Shenyu all looked at him.
Anyone can ask this question, but it seems the strangest when Gao Hongchen asks it.
Now everyone suspects that he is the man behind this.
But when he asked this question, he seemed very sincere, as if he was really asking it.
Gao Hongchen saw that everyone was looking at him, and said in surprise:
"Why didn't the Duke of Zhenguo come to court today?"
Feng Shenyu looked at Gao Hongchen and replied with an unfathomable expression:
"Yesterday, the Duke of Zhenguo followed the clues from the assassination scene and found the Ordnance Inspectorate.
We have now taken all the Arms Supervisors under control and are currently interrogating them. I believe we will have news soon."
"Armament Inspector? What is the business of the Armoury Inspector?" asked the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War.
Because Fan Yong was still being interrogated with Huan Zi'an in the Dali Temple, he did not attend court today.
The left and right assistant ministers of the Ministry of War were both in court today. When they heard the mention of the Ordnance Inspectorate, they looked puzzled.
Li Yueyao slowly spoke from the top:
"The guards protecting His Majesty on the day of the assassination were from the Imperial Guards, but arrows from the Imperial Guards were found at the scene yesterday.
And they were a batch of Xiaowei arrows whose tung oil hadn't even dried completely."
The King of Qin nodded and said, "That should indeed be the problem of the Ordnance Supervisor."
After hearing this, the two assistant ministers of the Ministry of War looked very unhappy.
The Treasury, the Ordnance Inspectorate, the Firearms Depot, and various departments of the Ministry of War have been experiencing frequent incidents. It seems that I have to go back and review the Ministry of War carefully.
Grand Master Zong was also in the court today. Seeing this, he said, "Your Majesty, it looks like this thief will be caught soon."
The emperor nodded, and then said, "Although there are problems with the Armoury, arrows from the Guards were found at the assassination scene. The Guards must also conduct internal inspections to avoid any mistakes."
The General of the Left Guard stepped out of the ranks, stepped forward and bowed in response.
Li Yueyao looked at the General Deng Feng of the Left Guard in front of her thoughtfully. She had been blocked outside the Xuanwu Gate when she tried to return to the palace before.
Cai Xun, the commander of Xuanwu Gate, was later found to be Deng Feng's man.
After the morning court session, Feng Shenyu and Li Yueyao returned home and sent someone to the Dali Temple to summon Shen Zhengming.
When Shen Zhengming arrived, Li Yueyao asked, "How did the interrogation go?"
"Master Huan is still interrogating them. This is the confession he obtained. Your Highness, please review it."
Li Yueyao took the stack of confessions presented to her and looked at it.
"It says their leader is a Nanli man named Lei Jing. He appears and disappears mysteriously, and no one has ever seen his true face.
All I know is that he was a thin man, about seven feet five inches tall, with a scar on the base of his right hand.
After Li Yueyao quickly read it, she handed the thing in her hand to Feng Shenyu.
Feng Shenyu looked at it and said, "Did Lei Jing get caught?"
Shen Zhengming shook his head and said, "They had a leader who was in direct contact with Lei Jing, but that leader was killed in the melee.
Among those captured alive now, no one has ever seen Lei Jing’s true face.”
Li Yueyao nodded, and at this moment the Duke of Zhenguo suddenly came in from outside, looking exhausted.
"Your Highness, the head of the Armoury committed suicide early this morning."
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