037. Injustice

"So what?"

Zhu Lanshan was flustered for a moment, but soon calmed down. He put his bamboo tablet in his sleeves and said calmly, "The people below are ignorant. Hasn't Xue Shao been arrested and imprisoned?"

"The old case in Jizhou and the two cases in Fushenglou." Rong Se said slowly, "Zhang Haicheng wantonly slaughtered the people, You Changjin openly protected the criminals, Meng Hua tortured the innocent to confess, and as for Minister Zhu, the accounts of Qifengju are making a lot of money every day. Even if the business is booming every day, it is not possible to deposit hundreds or thousands of taels of silver every day. Where does this money come from? You know it yourself. The officials appointed by the court don't think about how to benefit the people, but they are very good at bullying. This is the prosperous and peaceful times that the adults advocate every day!"

Zhu Lanshan felt guilty for being a thief, and his palms were covered with cold sweat. When he heard the question about the account, his face suddenly turned pale.

All the ministers in the hall were humiliated by this scolding. They looked at each other and no one said a word.

Rong Jing acted as a peacemaker at this time, and said gently: "Uncle, calm down. Even if there are a few bad apples, you can't generalize all the officials. Besides, the truth of the so-called old case is still unknown. After all, there is a red mark on the file, so it must be closed because the evidence is clear."

After he said this, officials from the six ministries in Cao's party, headed by the Shangshu Ling Xi Yan, all agreed.

Rong Se remained silent for a moment.

Although he thought that his adopted nephew Rong Jing was a worthless person, he caught a detail from what he had just said.

"Yes, there is the late emperor's red seal on it."

Rong Se suddenly spoke thoughtfully, and slowly analyzed: "The major case that could be sent to Yu was not sent to the Minister of Justice. There are only signatures of officials from the Ministry of Justice on it, but no instructions from the Minister of Justice."

There was a sudden silence in the hall for a moment.

The officials who understood the implication of Rong Se's words were all stunned.

Rong Se, however, slowly and thoroughly revealed the truth: "The reason why the people of Jizhou have nowhere to seek redress is because the one who suppressed this matter was the emperor at the time, my brother."

Rong Se understood it immediately.

The one who came up with the bad idea was Zhu Lanshan, who used the excuse that the Ministry of Revenue had no money to refuse to provide disaster relief food to Jizhou, but instead gave Zhang Haicheng a trick, which was to confiscate the property and exterminate the clans of thirteen innocent merchant families. The matter was settled so quickly because the emperor of the time already knew about it but turned a deaf ear to it, allowing the situation to stabilize as if it were all whitewashed peace.

Rong Se's eyes slowly swept over several important officials in the court, and indeed saw some of them lowering their heads as if they were guilty, with their eyes evasive.

It's not that no one knew about this, but everyone tacitly kept silent about it.

Lu Shangqian's body was shaking and he almost lost his balance. Things had come to this point, what else was there that he didn't understand?

After a while, Cao Lun knew that the outcome of today's incident was a foregone conclusion and he was afraid that it would be difficult to reverse it, so he still said in a deep voice: "Prince, you can't speak nonsense. How can you tarnish the name of the late emperor without any evidence? It is still uncertain whether the Jizhou case was wronged. How can you judge the case based on the words of these two brothers?"

"Okay." Rong Se said loudly, "Pass on my order and order the witnesses outside the palace gate to enter the palace."

We still have to be prepared for war, especially since Rong Se values ​​his life so much. Lan Ying didn't go to Fu Sheng Tower much in the past two days, so she must have something to do.

Soon, Lan Ying led two women and one man into the hall. All three of them were older, wearing coarse cloth short clothes, and they knelt down together to pay their respects.

"Stop kneeling, stand up and talk."

Rong Se was concerned about Lan Ying's injuries and didn't care about Rong Jing's increasingly ugly expression. He naturally used his power as the Regent.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Lan Ying stood up and covered her face delicately, "He is the victim of the Fushenglou case."

Rong Se covered his lower lip with his fingers, and when his smile faded, he put his hands down and nodded: "I know, the others, do you have anything to say in front of the emperor and officials of this dynasty?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a woman suddenly knelt on the ground, trembling and sobbing, "I am Qian Zhao, one of the victims of the thirteen unjust cases in Jizhou. I beg you to make a decision, please make a decision for my late husband's family!"

The Qian family was also one of the merchants whose property was confiscated. The huge house was in chaos. The old woman tore off her clothes to expose her shoulders, which were covered with hideous scars.

"They are nothing more than robbers! Bandits! They dressed in the uniforms of officers and soldiers, broke into the mansion, and killed anyone they saw. I am lucky enough to have survived the mass grave. I have been hiding my identity for these years, waiting for the day when I can seek justice for my late husband and son! Let Zhang Haicheng and those dog officials in Jizhou pay for the lives of more than a hundred people in my family!"

She said this with gritted teeth, tears streaming down her face, she sobbed and kowtowed violently.

The other two people, the man was also one of the victims who had their property confiscated and was lucky enough to survive, and the other woman was a native of Jizhou who volunteered to testify that Jizhou had a total crop failure and the people were living in dire straits. Finally, she kowtowed to the Yun brothers and said with tears in her eyes, "Back then, not to mention a grain of rice, even grass roots and tree barks were eaten up. I was lucky to have the help of Mr. Mei's family who provided porridge for me, so I was able to survive. I have lived for so many more years. Today, even if I die, I am willing to be a witness for the two gentlemen!"

Yun Chu suddenly thought of the mysterious Lan Ying these days, and then he realized that this was Rong Se's arrangement. He knew how much of a shock the Jizhou Thirteenth Case would cause to the court. If this case could be covered up back then, it might be possible today. So he acted in secret and made a big fuss in front of all the ministers during the morning court.

After figuring out the key points, Yun Chu stepped forward to help the woman up, then turned around and bowed deeply to Rong Se.

It was these few people in the hall who, with just a few words, pieced together a hell on earth in this peaceful and prosperous era.

In this case, unless all the officials present keep their mouths shut, this old case will be brought up.

"Lord Cao." Rong Se looked at Cao Lun, his timidity was properly put away, and he said in the most unquestionable manner: "Since you have assumed the responsibility of the emperor's teacher, with the injustice in front of you today, do you still think that the Yongshi Emperor is innocent? Or do you think he is right, and even taught the current emperor the way of being a monarch in this way?"

In the Jin Dynasty, when imperial power was supreme, Rong Se openly slapped the face of the royal family. He sat calmly on the Qilin throne. At this moment, he was not only collecting the debts of the Yun brothers and the Thirteen Cases of Jizhou, but was also speaking up for the original owner.

Rong Xu and Rong Jing, the father and son, are equally evil. They are not worthy of being emperors or as human beings. Even though they are like this, they still dream of gaining the submission and respect of the people of the world. It is simply a dream.

Even if he was lying in a coffin, Rong Se would make Rong Xu lose his reputation and the coffin lid would not be at peace.

Cao Lun finally couldn't help but whispered, "Your Highness, even if the late emperor was wrong, it was for the greater good! Your Highness should also put the greater good first."

"What is the overall situation?" Rong Se said aggressively, "Is it the face of the royal family? What is the emperor for? There was a severe drought in Jizhou, and there was no money for disaster relief, so he killed a few rich people, took their money to provide disaster relief, and then let the world praise the emperor for his wisdom? Lord Cao, how shameless do you have to be to say that such a conscienceless thing is for the overall situation?"

Rong Se seldom curses at others, in fact he would only say "fuck you" when it comes to swearing, but when it comes to reasoning, that is his strong point. His remarks were impolite and even to the point. He said things that could not be said openly, and Cao Lun was speechless. Anything else he said would be just excuses.

In fact, the court of Dajin was not so clean. Real ambitious people, such as Yu Qingzhou and others, had nowhere to display their talents. Lu Shangqian knew even more that it was extremely difficult to overturn a verdict in the hands of the powerful. However, what Rongse said today made countless loyal officials take notice of him.

Even though the Regent was a traitor, at least he knew right from wrong.

When the court officials were discussing in low voices, Lu Shangqian, a veteran official of three dynasties, suddenly leaned over and knelt on the ground, trembling. He was kneeling towards Rong Se.

This old minister had never been respectful enough to Rongse after he seized power, and even impeached him many times. As a censor, he valued etiquette and law, and always felt that the Regent's background was not glorious. His mother was a shame that the royal family could not mention, so he never performed formalities when seeing the Regent, until today, when he kowtowed.

"The great Jin dynasty has a history of more than 300 years. The previous dynasty was tyrannical and harsh on the people. Emperor Taizu founded the country with benevolence. Now, such a tragic case has been covered up for 15 years! If I cannot be ordinary, even if I go to hell, I will not have the face to see the emperor of the Jin dynasty! I request your permission to thoroughly investigate the Jizhou case!"

Rong Se knew that he was an honest and upright official, so he dared not accept such a gift. He immediately stood up and hurriedly went forward to help him up, sighing: "Your Excellency, there is no need to do this. The reason why I brought up the old case today is that I don't want this unjust case to be buried in the sea because of the royal face."

The unjust case that was exposed today made Lu Shangqian extremely disappointed in the royal family. Where did the people fall when they dealt with natural disasters in this way?

"Yu Qingzhou." Rong Se called.

Yu Qingzhou stepped forward and leaned forward, "I am here."

"You and Lord Lu should thoroughly investigate this case together, and you must help Lord Lu to restore justice to the people of Jizhou."

Yu Qingzhou was slightly startled, bowed deeply, and replied in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, I obey your order."

Sitting on the dragon chair, Rong Jing was completely ignored. He gritted his teeth several times and finally couldn't help but speak: "Just based on these few words, can you conclude that Jizhou must have been wrongly accused? It's too arbitrary!"

Rong Se sneered at him, "Isn't this case still under investigation? It hasn't been closed yet. Your Majesty, why are you in such a hurry?"

"I……"

"Your Majesty." Rong Se said solemnly, "Now that things have come to this, there must be an explanation. Do you know why I asked you to learn more? If you want to be a good emperor, you should first learn how to be a good person."

Rong Jing was completely speechless, and even felt an unprecedented panic. At least before today, the reputation of the Regent King was a bad reputation in the court as a man with wolfish ambitions, but after today, perhaps it will no longer be the case...

Even Lu Shangqian was willing to kneel before him. The three dynasties' old ministers recognized Rong Se, which also meant that the neutral and upright group headed by Lu Shangqian recognized Rong Se.

Rong Jing gritted his teeth in hatred, but could do nothing. He subconsciously looked at the Marquis of Dingbei who was standing in line with the ministers. He was accustomed to asking Liang Shenyu for help since he was young. When the teacher tested him on academic knowledge, if he did not know the answer, Liang Shenyu would answer it. When the teacher tested him on martial arts, if he was not good at it, Liang Shenyu would also answer it for him.

But today, Liang Shenyu didn't even look at him, let alone help him like he did when they were young.

Rong Jing's breathing suddenly stopped.

He found Liang Shenyu looking at Rong Se.