Chapter 7 Chapter 7 If this isn't true love, then what else can be considered true love...
Late at midnight, in Huangji Palace.
All the civil and military officials in the court were lined up on both sides of the Danchi. Outside the door, there were court officials jogging while straightening their clothes. They must have just arrived.
"I wonder what has changed in His Majesty's personality today? He actually took the initiative to attend the evening court."
"That's right. I just received the news half an hour ago. I hurried out of bed and finally managed to not be late."
The court officials in crimson robes were whispering to each other.
In the queue of generals on the other side.
Wu Jing nudged Ning Wujie with his elbow, "Wujie, how did you know I couldn't leave right away? The transfer order gave me a month to leave, and it turns out the military supplies haven't been gathered yet."
"I don't know what those people in the Ministry of Revenue do for a living." He muttered.
Ning Wujie lowered his eyelids, his eyes dark.
"Guessed." He said lightly.
"I just don't know if Hantie Pass can wait." Wu Jing's tone was full of anxiety.
Ning Wujie secretly clenched his fists.
When he thought of his father, brothers and comrades who were struggling at the border, he became even more worried.
We can't wait and investigate the case slowly. Although we can find out the truth by unraveling the case, Han Tieguan can't wait.
He had some guesses as early as when he was investigating the case. Along with the military supply memorials, there were also memorials requesting relief funds for the Huainan flood and requesting an imperial decree to exempt Guangling and other counties from taxes.
Although there were some unimportant memorials mixed in, the major omissions all involved matters related to money and grain.
He had a guess, and if he was right, he would see the result after today.
As the cry of "Your Majesty has arrived" resounded throughout the hall, a green figure stepped into the hall.
Ning Wujie looked in the direction of the voice and saw that the person who came was not wearing a crown as usual, with his black hair loosely tied up, and the hem of his sky-blue robe dragged on the ground, looking elegant and graceful.
Even though he was standing among the court officials, at a distance from the emperor, he still felt as if a breeze carrying that familiar fragrance was blowing on his face.
He must have been poisoned by the incense.
hateful.
He secretly clenched his fists.
Wen Xing walked slowly up to the palace, as lazy as a crane perched in the clouds, and leaned against the dragon throne, still in that awkward sitting posture.
The court officials all knelt on the ground and shouted "Long live the emperor".
Wen Xing glanced at everyone and said, "Stand up."
"Before we begin, I have to make it clear that there are three matters that are not allowed to be discussed at this court meeting."
"You are not allowed to discuss the restoration of the morning court session, you are not allowed to discuss the power to approve imperial decrees, and you are not allowed to impeach Ning Wujie. Otherwise, you will be punished for disobeying the imperial order."
Hearing this, Ning Wujie looked at the emperor on the high throne with some surprise.
How did this foolish emperor know that the court officials were going to impeach him?
In fact, he rarely read memorials to Wen Xing recently. The most important reason was that most of the memorials were impeaching him.
But he never mentioned it to the emperor.
But this foolish emperor cut off the path of those censors as soon as he came to power.
You actually... love me so much?
Hearing what the emperor said, the censors who had been holding back their energy to speak at length immediately lost their temper.
What can we do if the tyrant emperor is fond of men?
Only Wu Jing had a look of understanding as if he had seen through the world.
Haha, Wujie is the apple of your Majesty’s eye. You hold her in your hands so tightly that she would melt. How could she allow you censors to attack her?
You are worthy of being His Majesty. You shut these people up as soon as you opened your mouth.
Even though he was incompetent, at least he was openly doing good to Wujie.
It can be considered a kind of blessing.
Wen Xing glanced down the stairs and saw that all the ministers had their heads bowed. He then curled his lips and said leisurely, "Let's begin."
According to the rules of the court meeting, after the eunuch in charge of ceremonials finished reading, the court officials came out to speak.
"His Majesty!"
Xu Chongyun, the Minister of War, was the first to step forward and said, "I have a memorial to the emperor."
"Shao Jianan, a sixth-rank official at the Ministry of War, has been missing since being dismissed and investigated. The presiding judge in this case is General Ning Wujie. As the head of the Ministry of War, I would like to seek an explanation from the general."
Some censors secretly praised Xu Chongyun's courage.
All the ministers followed Xu Chongyun's gaze and looked at Ning Wujie.
The young man looked straight ahead at the man on the high seat and said calmly, "Shao Jianan has been negligent in military affairs, corrupt and perverted justice. I have already imprisoned him."
Just a few words came like a bolt from the blue.
"Imperial Prison!"
"Isn't that under the jurisdiction of the Inspectorate?"
"Absurd! General Ning is only the General of the Yueqi Cavalry. What right do you have to take someone to the Imperial Prison?"
"Even if you rely on His Majesty's protection, you can't do whatever you want!"
Seeing the chaos in the court, the aloof young emperor said solemnly, "Half a month ago, to facilitate the investigation, I appointed Ning Qing as the Commander of the Supervisory Department."
Upon hearing this, the officials were horrified.
Your Majesty actually kept this matter secret. Is it because you are afraid that they will interfere with the investigation?
The Supervisory Department was directly under the Emperor, and could bypass the Three Judicial Departments to directly supervise all officials. Official appointments and dismissals did not need to go through the Ministry of Personnel. Now they were caught off guard, without even time to prepare!
I thought His Majesty was just attracted by her beauty, but I didn't expect that he even handed over the Supervisory Office to Ning Wujie!
Everyone looked shocked, except Wu who chuckled in his heart.
Look, as soon as Wujie was questioned, His Majesty rushed out to explain.
If this isn't true love, what else could be considered true love?
Xu Chongyun seemed to be too shocked and stood there without reacting for a moment.
It was Grand Tutor Fang Bingyuan who first cried out in protest, "Your Majesty! The imperial edict is written on behalf of Heaven, and the supervisory office is a sword hanging over your head. Now General Ning holds both the imperial edict and the supervisory office, concentrating all power in his hands."
As he spoke, he glanced at Ning Wujie apologetically, then made up his mind to advise him and continued, "Throughout history, the disasters of powerful ministers usurping the throne all began like this. Your Majesty, please reconsider!"
The censors also stepped forward and said, "We, the ministers of remonstration, are supposed to criticize and criticize the emperor. Your Majesty's actions are detrimental to the foundation of the country. I hope Your Majesty will reconsider!"
Others hung their heads in silence, each harboring their own agenda.
Whenever the Supervisory Office changes its commander, several officials will inevitably be dismissed. This is an unspoken rule that everyone knows.
The more alert ones were already wondering whether Shao Jianan's case would involve themselves.
Xu Chongyun finally realized what was happening. He was shocked but also indignant. "Shao Jianan simply neglected to submit a memorial, yet he's being imprisoned? Once this precedent is set, all officials will be trembling with fear, treading on thin ice. How can they serve the court?"
"I second your opinion. The Imperial Prison is a place of no return. If someone were to suffer such a fate simply for neglecting a memorial, who would dare to serve as an official in the future?"
Wen Xing glanced at Ning Wujie and saw that he looked calm. He curled his lips and said in feigned surprise, "What's your explanation, Ning Qing?"
Ning Wujie stepped out and bowed, "Your Majesty."
"This case is not an isolated one. After I took over the backlog of memorials, I discovered that important memorials had been omitted from various ministries. I realized that this matter was not simple."
"However, it is indeed inappropriate to imprison all the officials involved in this matter simply because of this incident. Therefore, I conducted an open and secret investigation and discovered that Shao Jianan of the Ministry of War was suspected of corruption and bribery, so I imprisoned him and investigated him."
Xu Chongyun sneered, "Shao Jianan is my subordinate. His poverty is well known to everyone. For General Ning to say that he accepted bribes is simply ridiculous."
But Ning Wujie took out the metal box from his sleeve calmly and handed it to the eunuch to pass to the emperor.
"This is the evidence."
Wen Xing feigned surprise as he took the box, then opened it and feigned shock and anger, saying, "How can this be possible!"
He ordered the eunuch to show the tiger bones to everyone in the court, "How could someone steal it from me!"
The eunuch walked past the court officials carrying the tiger bones, and everyone who saw it was shocked.
"Could this be..."
"Isn't this tiger bone? It's said to be worth as much as gold. This piece must weigh at least two taels, right?"
"But this seems to belong to the Imperial Pharmacy...hiss...could someone have stolen from the Imperial Pharmacy to bribe Shao Jianan?"
Ning Wujie carefully observed everyone's reactions.
Xu Chongyun looked at the tiger bone the eunuch showed him in shock, seemingly completely unaware of the situation. "How is this possible?"
Ning Wujie said, "I have thoroughly interrogated Shao Jianan. He said that someone sent these documents to him anonymously in order to get him to withhold some of the memorials."
"As for the purpose..." Ning Wujie pondered for a moment, then raised his voice amidst the officials' confused, guilty, and anxious gazes, "It's because someone has embezzled the national treasury, leaving it empty. Therefore, all the memorials that cost money are withheld. At the end of the quarter, when the new taxes are collected from the national treasury, they use the new to cover the old, thus getting away with it!"
His words were like the sound of a bell in an ancient temple, resounding and echoing in the vast and magnificent hall.
What a serious accusation this is, and what a serious case it points to.
They would hold back the memorials requesting money and ignore them, waiting for the tax revenue to come in and use the new tax to fill in the accounts. Then they would deal with these memorials again, and simply say that they had been neglected before or that the various departments were too busy to deal with them, and then they would cover it up without anyone noticing.
This cycle repeats itself over and over again, and I don’t know how many more layers of taxes are added to the people just to pay the bills.
The scene was in uproar.
The originally quiet Huangji Palace was now in an uproar.
"This is empty slander!"
"Is Shao Jianan crazy and trying to drag others into this?!"
The eunuch in charge of ceremonies shouted several times: "Silence!"
Fang Bingyuan was so shocked that his expression was dazed. He looked at Ning Wujie and asked, "General Ning, are these all Shao Jianan's confessions?"
Ning Wujie thought that it was impossible for a small sixth-rank official to know all this.
These conclusions are just his speculations.
He said frankly: "Shao Jianan could not bear the torture and failed to leave a confession."
Letting Shao Jianan "die" in prison was the condition he agreed to. Only in this way could he avoid being killed and silenced by the person behind the scenes.
As he said this, his eyes swept across the faces of several ministers.
Although they were all veteran officials and each of them had a flawless expression, he still saw a fleeting change in the eyes of a few of them, and they were obviously relieved.
really.
Then he changed the subject: "But all the tiger bones came from the Imperial Pharmacy. The fact that the Imperial Treasury funds were used to bribe officials shows how rampant theft has become within the palace."
"I have already apprehended the head of the Imperial Pharmacy. I believe that those connected to him will be found soon."
Upon hearing this, many officials present showed expressions of fear.
The Minister of Revenue, in particular, had a gloomy and terrified look on his face and no longer cared to hide it.
Ning Wujie sneered in his heart.
Wen Xing said appreciatively, "Well done."
He was still leaning against the dragon throne, and said lazily, "Investigate all the six ministries and nine treasuries."
Everyone understood that this case had escalated from a small piece of tiger bone to an extremely serious matter. The ministers no longer dared to make a noise and fell silent.
Some officials even lowered their heads to try to reduce their presence.
Only Fang Bingyuan still tried to persuade him: "Your Majesty, since there is no confession, isn't it an overreaction to launch a large-scale investigation of the national treasury based on just a piece of tiger bone? I'm afraid such an action will not convince the people."
When Fang Bingyuan stood up and spoke, some court officials' eyes lit up slightly, as if they had found a lifeline. They were still thinking about how to speak to push the old man, but then they heard the emperor on the high platform say, "Teacher."
Wen Xing stood up and asked angrily, "If Ning Qing hadn't made a fuss about nothing, would we have been able to find this tiger bone?"
Fang Bingyuan choked.
"It's just a glimpse of the leopard through the cage. Could it be that the palace just lost a piece of tiger bone?"
Fang Bingyuan: ...
"A mere sixth-rank official, with an annual salary of only thirty taels, was able to obtain a tiger bone worth a thousand gold coins to make medicine for his mother. And this is just him."
The emperor looked down upon his ministers and angrily shouted, "How many Shao Jian'ans are there in this court?"
A resounding voice came from the high seat and echoed in the magnificent hall.
The court officials were used to seeing the emperor being gentle and elegant. Even if his temperament had changed drastically recently due to illness, it was only because he was lazy and idle. They had never seen their own majesty so furious over state affairs.
So the ministers who had wanted to make a last-ditch effort to argue had no choice but to clench their tablets and remain silent.
The young emperor looked down upon the white-haired old man and said coldly, "Teacher, if I had not given Ning Qing the position of commander and allowed him to do what he wanted, this case would have been covered up again if we had followed your rule-abiding approach, wouldn't it?"
"Over the years, the court has unknowingly uncovered countless seemingly minor but actually hidden major cases. Can you imagine?"
"In troubled times, severe punishments must be used."
Wen Xing could now almost guess why the original emperor could not change the fate of the dynasty despite his life and death.
If everyone follows his teacher's method of following the rules and being rational in everything, the case will probably be dropped when the clues are exhausted, and no termites will be found.
It’s no wonder that the court officials dared to embezzle national funds so unscrupulously.
Fang Bingyuan was struck by lightning when he heard this, as if he had finally realized the seriousness of the problem. He dared not say anything else, but knelt down tremblingly and said, "This old minister is pedantic."
"Your Majesty is wise!"
The court officials also knelt down and echoed: "Your Majesty is wise!"
Wen Xing's cold gaze swept over the kowtowing ministers and he made another startling statement: "During the investigation, the Supervisory Office will take over the six ministries and nine treasuries. Each ministry is to hand over its secret keys and account books for inspection."
The officials who were kowtowing were all shocked and their bodies froze, their eyes widening.
Leave it all to... Ning Wujie? !
"Hand it over... now?" someone asked timidly.
"Immediately! Right now!" Wen Xing stood up and left.
All the ministers were left standing there in a daze, and some of them even swayed and slowly collapsed.
It's over...
It's all over.
Ning Wujie glanced at the civil and military officials in the court and saw that some of them looked shocked, some nervous, and some dejected.
A hint of frosty sarcasm condensed at the corner of his lips.
The size of the termites is shocking.
His straight figure stepped over the trembling crimson official robes on the ground and walked out of the palace.
Wu Jingyu proudly chased after Ning Wujie, who was not far away, and said, "Wujie, wait for me!"
Ning Wujie looked back in front of the stone steps outside the hall.
Wu Jing came over with a smile and patted Ning Wujie's shoulder with his heavy hand, making him frown.
"Of course! How did you trick His Majesty into such a mess? He actually let you take over the Jiuku in a case without even a single testimony!" Wu Jing shook his head with emotion, "The storyteller is telling the truth."
"Storybook?"
Ning Wujie frowned. It was fine that His Majesty liked to listen to the book, but when did his childhood friend get involved in this kind of thing?
Wu Jing looked around mysteriously, then pulled Ning Wujie to a remote and deserted corner, took out a book from his arms and stuffed it into Ning Wujie's arms.
Ning Wujie looked down in confusion: "Secrets of the Deep Palace: The Beauty Hidden on the Dragon Bed".
His brows were tightly knitted together, and he had a feeling that this was not a good thing.
Then Wu Jing chuckled, "It's become quite popular in the capital lately. I'm not one to read storybooks, but this one is about you, so I have to take a look."
Ning Wujie's face froze.
"You know what, it really looks like what it says. I see how much His Majesty loves you today. Wow, it's really just as it says..."
"Shut up!" Ning Wujie covered Wu Jing's mouth and lowered his voice: "Are you trying to kill yourself? How dare you read the script that edited His Majesty's plan?"
He stuffed the notebook back into Wu Jing's hands and said, "Burn it quickly!"
"Also, which bookstore printed this? Do you want your entire clan to be exterminated?"
Wu Jing hurriedly said, "They were all printed privately and circulated everywhere, so the source cannot be traced. Moreover, the names used in the book are all pseudonyms, and they also use the name of the previous dynasty. How dare they mention our Majesty by name?"
"But everyone knows it..."
Ning Wujie rubbed his forehead, looked at Wu Jing speechlessly, turned around and left.
Wu Jing chased after him, "Hey, you really don't want to take a look? It's really well written."
"No."
Late at night, the moon was dim and the stars were sparse above the Huangji Palace. The whispers of the two gradually dissipated in the wind.
The author has something to say:
----------------------
5j (eyes down): He blocks my mouth as soon as he comes up. He loves me so much.
Tyrant emperor (picking his ears): Huh?
It's so annoying to go to court. Don't talk about irrelevant things like impeaching 5j. Let's end this quickly.
5j:......
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
