The emperor narrowed his eyes slightly, wondering what he was thinking about.
Seeing this, Huo Wuyou asked carefully: "Your Majesty?"
After a moment's silence, the emperor said, "Nothing, I know about this matter. You should return to the Dali Temple as soon as possible."
Huo Wuyou didn't understand.
The emperor only tutted his words and turned away, unable to bear the sight. "How dare you leave without signing the testimony?"
Seeing that he still didn't understand, the emperor waved his hand and said simply: "Go!"
Huo Wuyou then stood up quickly and took his leave in a hurry, quietly brushing off the dust on his collar before leaving.
After he left, the emperor suddenly called out, "Peng Hui."
Peng Hui lowered her eyes: "Your Majesty."
The emperor simply sneered and sighed, "This Dali Temple is truly riddled with infestations."
Peng Hui didn't know how to respond for a moment.
The emperor then continued, "I've asked the people at the Palace Court to check the dates of those letters. Have they found any results?"
Peng Hui said, "I'm afraid it will take several days, but don't worry, Your Majesty. I have deliberately intercepted a few words from each of the letters and sent them to the Ye Ting Department. Even the Ye Ting Department itself doesn't know where those words came from."
The emperor nodded: "This way, there will be no possibility for the Ye Ting Division to conceal the results."
The emperor sat down, his eyes frighteningly cold.
Tu Yuxian worked for Chong'er and caused trouble in Chunfeng Tower so that the Dali Temple would come to search the house. He also forged so-called evidence to slander Min'er for secretly raising a spy.
It's really a dead end.
If the handwriting check proves that those letters were indeed forged recently, then Min'er has suffered a great injustice.
Sure enough, less than half an hour later, Huo Wuyou hurried back: "Uncle!"
The emperor looked at him coldly, as if he had already guessed the result, and said calmly: "Speak."
Huo Wuyou looked guilty: "As soon as I got back, I didn't expect... I didn't expect that all those who reported Chunfeng Tower were poisoned to death!"
The emperor just sighed tiredly.
"But!" Huo Wuyou said quickly, "One of them escaped from prison a few days ago. I have caught him in public. After some twists and turns, I have managed to keep him alive. Uncle, do you want to personally interrogate him?"
The emperor looked him over and smiled, "You're quite clever."
…
A few more days passed like this.
Gu Shichong had been in a very good mood recently, not only because Gu Shimin had been punished by his father, but also because the letter he forged secretly contained a lot of evidence against the King Cheng Party. Once his father recovered, he would investigate them one by one.
Gu Shimin and his followers are the ones who have truly collapsed.
By then, none of the remaining princes would be able to compete with him, and he would undoubtedly be the crown prince.
Therefore, when Gu Shichong received the emperor's summons, he did not think of anything bad. He even thought that his request to his father to grant Xue Zhiyi to him as a concubine had been approved by his father, and today's summons was for this matter.
But he didn't expect that as soon as he stepped into the Hall of Eternal Life, he noticed something strange.
He asked Peng Hui, "Eunuch Peng, what exactly did the emperor do today?"
But Peng Hui remained silent and said politely, "How can we servants guess what His Majesty is thinking? His Majesty must have a purpose for summoning you."
Gu Shichong didn't ask any more questions and just walked in.
But when he saw Ge Mingli, the Junior Secretary of the Dali Temple, kneeling in the hall, he still felt a chill.
Looking at the emperor sitting on the high throne, Gu Shichong hurriedly stepped forward and saluted: "Your son pays homage to the emperor, father."
The emperor said nothing, nor did he excuse himself from the ceremony. He just remained silent.
Beside him, Ge Mingli was shaking like a sieve, and the sweat all over his body was soaking the bricks and stones.
Under such pressure, Gu Shichong remained silent, and did not even dare to look up at the emperor's expression.
He knew that there must be something wrong with his plan.
He originally thought that Tu Yuxian was trustworthy and that he had some evidence against Gu Shimin, but he didn't expect that the entire Chunfenglou case was a conspiracy of Gu Shimin from beginning to end.
Tu Yuxian lured him into a trap and asked him to set up a plan to search Chunfeng Tower, trying to accuse him of gathering followers and falsely accusing Prince Sheng.
He wanted to turn the tide and prove Gu Shimin's guilt, so he could only use Ge Mingli to forge a letter as evidence.
Those false testimonies were made in a hurry, and now... I'm afraid that they might have made some mistakes due to the haste.
Now the emperor's silence was like a sharp guillotine hanging on the back of his neck, causing his back to tremble slightly.
Suddenly, the emperor called out coldly, "Gu Shichong?"
Gu Shichong's breath was caught: "My son is here!"
The emperor suddenly laughed: "As expected of my most valued son, he is quite capable."
"Your son...I dare not."
"You dare not?" the emperor asked him. Suddenly, he shouted: "How dare you!"
The emperor held up a stack of letters he'd read countless times and said, "On September 11th, the seventeenth year of the Longshou reign, I proposed that the youngest son of the Li family be the consort of my eldest daughter. On December 8th, the nineteenth year of the Longshou reign, the son of the Deputy Minister of Revenue revealed that he had embezzled 100,000 strings of cash from the snow disaster relief grain. And this year, on February 12th, the twenty-fifth year of the Longshou reign, Minister of Revenue Xue Zhentong bribed Vice Minister of Rites Lu Minchun to cheat in the imperial examinations."
After Xuxu read all this, the emperor was already furious: "These are the letters seized from Chunfeng Tower. You know every detail of them!"
Gu Shichong's voice trembled as he explained, "Your Majesty, I understand that even though the letter was found in Chunfeng Tower, I only learned of its contents today!"
"Really?" the emperor said coldly, "You forged the letter yourself, don't you know what's written on it?"
Gu Shichong had no choice but to deny it. He kowtowed heavily and said, "Your Majesty, I am innocent! I wonder who has slandered you, Father, to believe that I fabricated evidence to defame my sixth brother!"
Seeing him still struggling, the emperor said, "Ge Mingli has confessed everything. It was you who maliciously harmed your brothers and sisters, even going so far as to fabricate false evidence to frame your own brother!"
Gu Shichong was horrified. He stared at Ge Mingli beside him, but saw that Ge Mingli had almost fainted from fright, curled up on the ground, not daring to look him in the eye.
The emperor continued, "The people who cried out for justice in front of Chunfeng Tower, except those who were silenced by Ge Mingli, have already confessed. It was you who ordered them to make false accusations."
Gu Shichong kowtowed profusely, "Father! I am innocent. It was Ge Mingli! He must have framed me!"
He almost cried as he questioned Ge Mingli, "Master Ge! I once called you my uncle. Who on earth did you accept the favor from to dare to frame me?"
"Gu Shichong!" The emperor shouted angrily, frightening him so much that he bowed his head and kowtowed, not daring to say another word.
The emperor's chest was already heaving with anger: "Do you know that you are not guilty of killing your brothers and sisters?"
As he spoke, he rustled the stack of letters in his hand. "But many of the secrets in these letters are true. How did you find out? Are you the one crying thief? The one who secretly set up the secret agency is actually you!"
With a bang, he slammed the letter on the table: "Planning secret agents is considered treason. I can chop you down at any time!"
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