Chapter 131 Epidemic in Jiangnan
Prince An knelt in the middle of the Golden Palace with his head bowed to the ground.
"Your Majesty sent the Shadow Guards to the palace for the safety of the birthday banquet, but I forged the imperial edict for my own selfish reasons and used them to deal with Ye Chutang. I am guilty, please punish me, Your Majesty."
He actually wanted to put the blame on his daughter.
If it weren't for this idiot who fell into the water instead of Ye Chutang, the subsequent events would not have happened at all.
But the shadow guard could not possibly obey the orders of Princess Anping, so he had to take the blame.
Few people believed Prince An's confession.
The shadow guard is not a fool, how could he do things for Prince An just based on his words?
Therefore, everyone knew that Prince An was taking the blame for the Emperor.
Naturally, no one dared to question it.
When the emperor saw that no one questioned him, he felt relieved.
He was really afraid that the scene that forced him to issue a confession of guilt would happen again.
"Prince An, how could you do such a thing as forging an imperial decree and murdering an official's family? Although you didn't commit a serious crime, your crime is unforgivable. You will be demoted to earl, given the title of Yongning, fined for three years, and will not inherit. Princess Anping will be stripped of her title, and Lady Yongning will have her imperial decree revoked."
This result was worse than King An had expected, but he did not dare to refute it.
"I accept your order and thank you for your grace."
"From now on, the palace is taken back. Earl Yongning will choose another location to build his palace. Go down."
Prince An... no, now it's Earl Yongning who stands up and takes his leave.
As soon as he left, Ye Jingchuan took a step forward.
"Your Majesty, my daughter was assassinated yesterday. The Dali Temple and Jingzhao Prefecture captured many people alive, but they didn't find out anything. I need an explanation!"
The emperor knew about this yesterday and was very angry.
His face was livid as he said, "Lord Kang, Lord Zhang, I'll give you three days to find out who's behind this!"
The Dali Temple Minister and Jingzhao Prefecture Governor quickly responded, "I obey your order."
After Kong Qingyuan heard this, his heavy heart instantly sank to the bottom.
He originally thought that with Prince An in charge, the Yunyin Lake case would be left unresolved.
As a result, Prince An was demoted and the Emperor demanded a thorough investigation!
He didn't understand why the emperor wanted to kill Ye Chutang but at the same time forbade anyone else to touch her?
We must not let the Dali Temple and Jingzhao Prefecture find any clues, otherwise the Kong family will be really finished!
Thinking of this, Kong Qingyuan got excited and sued Ye Chutang.
"Your Majesty, I think Ye Chutang is related to the 'Ghost Thief'. Please investigate thoroughly."
The emperor looked at Kong Qingyuan in confusion, "Why do you say that, Lord Kong?"
"minister……"
Kong Qingyuan was just about to say that as long as someone dealt with Ye Chutang, the "ghost thief" would definitely steal that person's house.
But in doing so, he would be incriminating himself.
Because as long as we steal it from the Confucius Mansion and infer it backwards, we can prove that Ye Chutang was surrounded in Yunyin Lake and it was him who did it!
Then, the words that were about to come out of my mouth suddenly got stuck.
The emperor saw Kong Qingyuan paused after saying one word and questioned him in dissatisfaction.
"Why didn't Lord Kong say anything?"
Kong Qingyuan broke out in a cold sweat and barely came up with a lame excuse.
"I just think it's weird that the 'Ghost Thief' saved Ye Chutang."
Upon hearing this, Prime Minister Qin Zheng sneered, "Minister Kong means that my son and Prince Chen are also related to the 'Ghost Thief'?"
Kong Qingyuan knew that the emperor wanted to deal with Prince Chen, and nodded calmly.
"That's the truth. It's understandable that I think so."
The emperor looked at Qi Yanzhou, who was attending court for the first time since the accident, with eyes full of oppression.
"Lord Chen, the 'Ghost Thief' only appeared after you returned to Beijing from Southern Xinjiang. Do you have anything to say?"
Everyone could hear it, and the emperor suspected that the "ghost thief" was Qi Yanzhou's man.
Qi Yanzhou met the emperor's eyes calmly.
"I don't know the 'Ghost Thief' and don't know why he saved me, so I have nothing to say."
No matter what the emperor suspected, he could not be held accountable without solid evidence.
As for his suspicion that the "ghost thief" was related to Ye Chutang, there was no need to tell the emperor.
Thinking of this, he said to the emperor: "Your Majesty, since Minister Kong suspects that the 'ghost thief' is related to me, Miss Ye and Master Qin, he should be asked to investigate and clear our name."
The emperor had checked, but found nothing.
He thought it wouldn't hurt to have one more person to check, so he nodded in agreement.
"Lord Chen is right. To prevent people from using the 'ghost thief' saving people as an excuse, we should investigate thoroughly."
"Your Majesty is wise. Lord Kong is the Minister of Justice and is best at investigating cases. I think three days should be enough."
Kong Qingyuan was about to refute when Qi Yanzhou added another sentence.
"Minister Kong, please don't think that the time I give you is too short. I can't keep enduring your suspicions if you can't find out the truth."
Ye Jingchuan also didn't want Ye Chutang to have anything to do with the "ghost thief".
He quickly agreed, "Your Majesty is absolutely right!"
Qin Zheng had been immersed in officialdom for decades and had long heard the hidden meaning behind Qi Yanzhou's words.
He said hurriedly: "No matter what the truth is, the longer the investigation takes, the more detrimental it will be to the reputation of the three victims. I think that since Minister Kong dares to accuse King Chen, he must have evidence in his hands. Three days is no less than no more."
The emperor also felt that Kong Qingyuan would not have mentioned the "ghost thief" for no reason.
He made the decision and said, "Lord Kong, give me a result in three days."
Kong Qingyuan had no choice but to agree.
"I obey your order!"
After Qin Zheng received the order, he spoke again.
"Minister Kong, if the result is that the 'ghost thief' has no connection with the three of King Chen, what will you do?"
Kong Qingyuan heard the deeper meaning of these words and his heart skipped a beat.
He tried to force a smile, "If we can clear the suspicion of the prince and his men, everyone will be happy."
Qin Zheng suddenly knelt down in front of the emperor.
"Your Majesty, even if it turns out that Minister Kong's attack was a false alarm, I still don't feel happy!"
As soon as the emperor heard this, he knew that Qin Zheng was going to cause trouble.
Sure enough, Qin Zheng immediately said, "Your Majesty, although my son is a playboy and his words are not taken seriously, he should not be slandered for no reason, let alone Prince Chen who recovered Southern Xinjiang and Miss Ye who wrote a good recipe to cure the plague!"
Qi Yanzhou nodded in agreement.
"Prime Minister Qin is right. If Minister Kong can't find anything, it's slandering me. This is a crime of insubordination and must be severely punished. Otherwise, no one will dare to make trouble for me in the future!"
Kong Qingyuan never thought that a few evasive words would put him in such a passive situation.
He couldn't refute anything, so he could only agree to it.
"If my suspicions are wrong, I am willing to be demoted two levels."
Being demoted is no big deal. As long as he works hard, he can get back on his feet in a few years.
Qi Yanzhou shook his head, "It's not enough, I have to parade through the streets to apologize."
“Your Majesty…”
Qi Yanzhou interrupted Kong Qingyuan, who had an angry look on his face.
"Minister Kong can slap me in the face in front of all the civil and military officials, so I will let you lose face in front of the people of the world. This is called fairness!"
The emperor was not interested in listening to the two people's verbal battle, so he agreed to Qi Yanzhou's request.
"Just do as King Chen says."
Kong Qingyuan didn't dare to say anything else, and replied respectfully: "I obey your command."
The officials thought that the matter was over and it was time to go to the morning court.
As a result, the emperor suddenly asked Qi Yanzhou.
"Prince Chen, what should we do if Lord Kong finds out that you are related to the 'Ghost Thief'?"
"I will leave it to the emperor to deal with."
Hearing this, a calculation flashed across the emperor's eyes.
He glanced at Eunuch De beside him.
Eunuch De shouted sharply, "If you have something to say, come forward and report it. If not, leave the court!"
Qi Yanzhou thought of the secret letter he received from Xi Ze last night and said, "Your Majesty, an epidemic has already occurred in Jiangnan."
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