Chapter 70
That day, Ji Ziming came to the Duke of Anguo's Mansion, and Su Musong told him everything. When Ji Ziming learned the truth of that year, he immediately decided to work with Su Musong to help Xiao Luochen overturn the case.
The Anguo Mansion was sealed off, and Su Musong was unable to move around easily, so the task of ensuring the safety of witnesses and evidence fell on Ji Ziming. Now that he was working in the Censorate, it became increasingly convenient for him to act.
On the third day after the emperor arrived at the enclosure, Ji Ziming went to Prince Ding's mansion under the pretext of investigation and secretly returned the military token that the emperor had previously confiscated to Prince Ding.
Although he was detained at home, Su Musong's contact with the outside world was not cut off. News from all sides was still delivered to Su Musong on time every day.
Su Mubai watched the pigeons circling and flying overhead, marveling. Over the years, he had devoted his attention to scholarship and government affairs, never once paying attention to the family business. While he vaguely knew his elder brother's pigeon loft wasn't just about relaying business news, he hadn't anticipated its expansion to this point.
"Brother, what's the situation in the paddock right now?"
"Prince Ding mustered his troops from the southern suburbs camp last night, and they arrived at the enclosure before dawn today. Brother Ziming has also secretly sent someone to deliver the relevant evidence. If nothing unexpected happens, the Emperor will apprehend the Right Prime Minister and his followers today."
"But Prince Ding's troops can only hide in the surrounding mountains and forests. The commander of the Royal Guards is from the Wang family. Will they take such a risk?"
"Don't worry about that. Don't forget, Crown Princess Yuelong brought two thousand guards. Although the Royal Guards in the enclosure number three thousand, if a fight really breaks out, Yuelong's two thousand men will be able to hold off for a while until Prince Ding comes to their aid."
"If the commander of the Royal Guards is a wise man, he won't act rashly. If he does resort to violence, he will only be charged with regicide and will not affect the overall situation."
"The Right Prime Minister is the Empress Dowager's right-hand man. If we take him down, will there be any unrest in the palace?"
"Why do you think the Emperor went to the enclosure instead of arresting the Right Prime Minister in the capital?"
"To cut off the connection between the Right Prime Minister and the Grand Empress Dowager?"
"Prince Ding's five thousand soldiers have surrounded the enclosure like an iron barrel, and what happened there will not be reported back to the capital. All officials are accompanying him. The Emperor can convene a court meeting to try the Right Prime Minister's crimes. The witnesses and evidence have been prepared in advance and were escorted there by Brother Ziming yesterday. In this way, all that needs to be done is a trial. By then, the situation will be settled, and the Empress Dowager will not be able to cause any trouble."
"Besides, the Emperor has Prince Rui with him. The Empress Dowager is very cautious and would not gamble with Prince Rui for the Right Prime Minister even if she heard rumors."
Hearing Su Musong's confidence, Su Mubai felt relieved, but when he thought of the seemingly insurmountable Wang family, he became discouraged again.
"Even though we have captured the Right Prime Minister, I'm afraid we can't touch the Grand Tutor."
"Let's take it step by step. If the Grand Tutor could be easily shaken, the Wang family wouldn't have the power it has today."
Grand Tutor Wang rose to prominence during the reign of Emperor Zhao and rose to the position of Minister of Personnel. He later married his daughter to the eldest prince at the time and helped the eldest prince ascend the throne, becoming Emperor Hui.
Emperor Hui was frail, and government gradually fell into the hands of the Empress and the Grand Tutor. After five years on the throne, Emperor Hui died. The Empress's legitimate son, Prince Rui, was born with a congenital deficiency and missed the throne. Thanks to the support of the clan, Emperor De ascended the throne. However, the military power previously held by Empress Hui was not transferred to Emperor De.
Emperor De reigned for fifteen years. He worked hard to regain half of the military power and promoted a group of young men from humble backgrounds. This created the current situation where the emperor and the Empress Dowager can confront each other.
"Indeed. Regardless, taking down the Right Prime Minister will open a new avenue of influence, showing everyone in the court that the Wang family is not unshakable. I'm afraid that after this, those wavering will have to reconsider their choice between the Emperor and the Grand Empress Dowager."
The common people always suffer from party struggles, but if Su Mubai does not fight, he will definitely not be able to bear the consequences of letting him watch that group of people collude with each other to disrupt the government, abuse their power for personal gain and exploit the people.
Using a knife to remove a poisonous sore will inevitably injure the skin and flesh, and there is nothing that can be done about it.
After noon, Su Musong received news that the emperor had ordered the arrest of the right prime minister and his followers, and summoned all officials to the enclosure to hold a court meeting and publicly try the right prime minister's crimes.
The ministers in the enclosure felt a chill run down their spines. In their view, while the current emperor was considered diligent and intelligent, the Grand Tutor's clique dominated the court, and military power was wielded by the Grand Empress Dowager and Prince Ding. No matter how they looked at it, the emperor was nothing more than a puppet.
However, the evidence now brought forward not only covers all provinces and prefectures, but also involves other countries. Moreover, some of the evidence would be impossible to obtain without years of meticulous planning.
All these things illustrate one thing: the emperor controls an unknown elite force. Since he can investigate the right prime minister, he can naturally investigate all officials.
For a time, those officials who were usually corrupt and derelict in their duties were naturally trembling with fear, and even those who claimed to be clean had to think carefully about whether they had done anything wrong.
Of all the crimes committed by the Right Prime Minister, the most shocking one was the one that framed the Xiao family for treason.
Since the Xiao family's treason was a false accusation, Wang Zheng, who had escaped punishment by exposing the case and subsequently rose to prominence, became a laughing stock. In fact, it was he who stole the infantry defense map, so of course he could not escape trial.
As the Right Prime Minister listened to Ji Ziming reading the documents, his original desire to fight to the death gradually sank. For the sake of his own fame and future, he had caused Prime Minister Xiao to have his property confiscated and his family exterminated. Over the years, when he woke up in his dreams at midnight, he would be somewhat afraid that the Xiao family would come to seek revenge on him.
When Xiao Luochen's whereabouts were exposed, his only thought was to kill Xiao Luochen. It seemed that only when all the members of the Xiao family died out could his own sins be buried forever.
The emperor did not give the ministers time to react. After announcing the crimes of the right prime minister, he read out the edict that had been prepared early in the morning, which completely sentenced the right prime minister to death.
In fact, the ministers did not dare to have any opinions. After all, Prince Ding's 5,000 cavalrymen were watching from the side in full armor.
Such a shocking change happened in the enclosure, but the spies scattered around the Yongjing City reported to Su Musong that everything was normal everywhere. It seemed that the news from the enclosure was really blocked very strictly and not a single word leaked out.
The Emperor and Crown Princess Yuelong went hunting and returned after six days.
The people of Kyoto were surprised that the emperor had mobilized so many troops, but he only stayed in the enclosure for six days. Why did he need to bring all the officials with him?
However, they soon found out the reason.
The imperial edict announcing the crimes of the Right Prime Minister and the emperor's ceremonial procession arrived in Beijing at the same time.
Seeing that the high-ranking officials who were riding tall horses a few days ago were now locked in prison carts, like stray dogs, on the same street, the prison carts previously carried the escaped criminals of the Xiao family's treason case, but today the prison carts carried the right prime minister who falsely accused the Xiao family of treason, the people felt that the court was indeed treacherous and even more unexpected than what was written in the storybooks.
The Right Prime Minister was imprisoned, and Mu Yi presented the Emperor De's handwritten secret letter asking him to rescue Xiao Luochen. As a result, he was released from prison and reinstated. The ban on the Prince Ding's Mansion, the Marquis of Jingxi's Mansion, and the Duke of Anguo's Mansion was also lifted.
Things seemed to be going unusually smoothly. Although Su Musong expected that the Empress Dowager would not openly protect the Right Prime Minister, he did not expect that she had no intention of intervening at all. She just wanted to save Li Bocheng's life on the grounds that the Right Prime Minister's son was Princess Xinle, who was a royal relative.
Since the Xiao family was framed back then, Xiao Luochen was naturally innocent. Since he was arrested in Xizhou, Xiao Luochen was imprisoned for more than a month and was finally released.
However, Xiao Luochen did not ask the emperor to announce to the world to exonerate the Xiao family. Others thought that he was disheartened after ten years of escape and did not want to get involved with him any further, but Su Musong knew that he was waiting to settle the account with the culprit.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
