Chapter 246: Really Know How to Pick the Right Time
Ten days later, a letter of apology from the commander of the Lion Army was hurriedly delivered to the palace.
Considering Huo Gannian's level and his serious confession, the Censorate did not dare to delay and sent it directly to the hands of the court historian.
In the hall, all the provincial historians surrounded the court historian, watching the confession slowly open.
Everyone stretched their necks to read, taking in ten lines at a glance, and then there was a collective gasp.
"Oh my God! More than 5,000 civilians died! This...this..."
"What a tragedy! How could this be?!"
Everyone was shocked and talked about it.
Yun Wang stood in the crowd silently, his eyes quickly scanning the entire letter of apology.
Seeing that the handwriting of the book was neat and the expression was detailed and complete, and the confession of guilt was sincere and straightforward, with the author taking all the responsibility and asking for forgiveness, and a series of appropriate suggestions for punishment, compensation and resettlement were attached, Yun Wang felt much relieved.
The court historian closed the letter of apology, his hands trembling slightly, and said, "Such a major tragedy must be reported to the Eastern Palace immediately!" Then he hurriedly straightened his official uniform and left.
Looking at the anxious back of the hospital historian, everyone couldn't help but worry about him.
"This unprecedented tragedy will surely infuriate the Eastern Palace and even cause public resentment. This is not good."
"General Huo has come to submit a letter of apology! Furthermore, he is confessing his guilt on his own initiative, rather than being impeached by the Censorate. This means the nature of the matter is completely different, and the handling process is vastly different. He should not be severely punished."
"Yes, and this matter was originally carried out to rescue the people. If this action had not been taken, I am afraid that 30,000 people would have become the enemy's meat."
"That's wrong. Merits and demerits cannot be offset!"
"The Lion Army is currently defending the southeast. If severe punishment is imposed, who will lead the army to fight the enemy?"
"General Huo is far too honest. The words in his letter of apology were vehement, completely blasting himself to pieces. He even requested to be stripped of his title and demoted, and even offered to be caned 80 times. This is too much!"
"This kind of human disaster must be the result of my subordinates' incompetence, yet General Huo said nothing and took all the blame on himself. Sigh! It's not easy!"
The crowd was discussing the matter, and was clearly divided into two camps: those who advocated severe punishment and those who advocated offsetting mistakes with merits.
A provincial historian asked Yun Wang, "Why doesn't Lord Yun say anything? What do you think should be done?"
Everyone looked at Yun Wang. They all knew that he was recommended by Huo Gannian, and they thought that Li Ding would definitely "offend for his mistakes with his merits."
However, Yun Wang just smiled calmly, as if Huo Gannian had nothing to do with him. He said:
"I'm new here, and hearing this is truly heartbreaking. In my humble opinion, it would be best to resolve this case by making it a minor issue. Otherwise, the one who will be most in trouble is the East Palace, not General Huo."
Everyone expressed their agreement and were surprised that Yun Wang was actually a neutral person with a clear mind and hit the nail on the head.
"Just wait and see. The impeachment memorial from the Censorate must be on its way. This is going to be quite a fuss!"
"General Huo has already apologized. The incident has already happened, so impeachment is meaningless."
Seeing that everyone was still discussing and had no intention of leaving, Yun Wang sat back at his desk and began to deal with paperwork.
Yun Wang's expression remained the same as usual. After slowly sipping a whole pot of plum soup, he took out a new urgent newspaper. Judging from the cover style, it should be from the Lion Army again.
He opened the urgent report, took a look at it, and was stunned for a moment at the two words "Yun Chen" at the end of the letter. Then he closed the urgent report with a "snap" sound. Without even registering it, he stuffed it directly into the list of "full of nonsense and meaningless" that was returned.
At night, when Yun Wang was writing a letter with Hua Shi in the study again, Hua Shi sensed something strange and said:
"After being promoted to Major General, Sister Chen seems to have not yet thanked the Eastern Palace. Her first memorial was to commend others for their merits and exonerate them. It's too... too..."
Hua Shi didn't know how to put it, so Yun Wang took over: "That's a bit silly."
Hua couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh, "Indeed. The first memorial should at least express gratitude, greet the emperor, and ask for merit."
"Now that the tunnel tragedy has just happened, we need to vigorously promote it so that my brother-in-law can be placed in a sympathetic position as an innocent person implicated. Then we can bring the subordinates who are truly responsible to justice and punish them. At most, we can accuse my brother-in-law of a minor crime of neglecting his duties due to being busy with the war, and everything will be settled. Sister Chen's memorial to plead for the merits of that military advisor Zhi Luo came too early and may even harm things."
Yun Wang frowned worriedly, "Sister Chen is a straightforward person. She doesn't understand the twists and turns of officialdom, let alone how to please the emperor. Now that Sister Chen has become a major general, she can directly petition the Eastern Palace without going through her superiors. I'm afraid she will submit another petition."
Hua sighed softly, "It's not easy for Sister Chen. She has to hide her identity as a daughter and be careful to avoid suspicion everywhere. She can't let anyone know that she has any connection with you and the Yun family. It's really hard."
Yun Wang's lips curled slightly, "It's okay, I'm here, it's okay." Then, as if remembering something, he quickly took out a whole box of fine brushes and famous calligraphy from the bookshelf and said to Hua:
"Has the plum soup package from yesterday been sent out? If not, take these along. Sister Chen has only just started learning calligraphy, and her handwriting is hardly worthy of the Eastern Palace's sage's approval. If it happens that His Highness is in a bad mood, I'm afraid she'll be reprimanded."
The couple was busy in the study for a long time until Yun Liancheng came knocking on the door because he was hungry, and they stopped.
After that, Xinma galloped away.
Seventeen days later, a large package that had been packed and unpacked was delivered to the Lion Army camp.
Yun Chen and Huo Gannian huddled in the commander-in-chief's tent. She added red ginger syrup to the plum soup, drank it happily, and opened Yun Wang's letter.
Huo Gannian was busy cooking the second pot of plum soup nearby and asked curiously:
"Yun Wang has a letter for you? He's very sensible and knows how to avoid suspicion so that no one would guess your relationship. Why would he suddenly have a letter for you?"
Yun Chen lay on the couch to read the letter, crossed his legs and swayed gently, "I don't know. Maybe it's because my memorial was returned the other day."
"You wrote the memorial? Why didn't you tell me?" Huo Gannian stopped what he was doing and asked in surprise.
Yun Chen didn't look at him directly, but turned his body away, facing away from him, and whispered:
"Nothing, I just wanted to plead for Zhiluo... You guys are all busy asking for forgiveness and accusing her of crimes, without even one person pleading for her. This is too much."
Huo Gannian's eyebrows twitched twice, and he thought to himself, it's a good thing Yun Wang is here, it's a good thing.
Understanding Yun Chen as a woman, and therefore being able to put herself in Zhi Luo's shoes, Huo Gan said:
"In this world, it's not easy for women to be officials. They have to endure more than men. They also have to be more outstanding to win the support of the people. But Chen'er, if this happened to you, would you prefer to be lenient and receive a lighter punishment because of your female identity, or would you rather take the blame you deserve to prove that you are the same as everyone else and that there is no need to look down on you because of your gender?"
Yun Chen was stunned for a moment. She had not thought about this question, but she had subconsciously made a decision in her heart.
If it were her, she would take all the responsibility so that no one would be implicated because of her.
Her heartache is actually unequal and unfair to Zhiluo.
"You're right." Yun Chen sat up and wanted to drink another pot of plum soup, but it seemed a bit tasteless. He sighed and said:
"However, merits are merits, and faults are faults. Zhiluo made mistakes, but after such a terrible situation, she was able to immediately dig a road to save the people behind. This courage and decisiveness are amazing. If not, I'm afraid that even dozens of people would not have survived. Alas..."
Seeing that the topic was getting heavier, Huo Gannian quickly filtered the freshly cooked plum soup into a bowl and put it in an ice cube to cool it down. Then he walked to Yun Chen, squatted down, took her hand, looked up at her, and said softly:
"Don't worry about this. Yun Wang and I have made arrangements. But if you have any more requests, remember to tell me so that I can have an idea."
At this point, Yun Chen scratched his head a little embarrassedly, "I sent another one this morning. Is it too late to tell you now?"
"Another one? What's the request?" Huo Gannian asked.
Yun Chen said seriously, "I'm pleading for Yan Shijiu. He led 20,000 borrowed troops from Dongyan to fight the enemy, but was defeated and lost Guying City, allowing the Black Scale Cavalry to advance all the way to Yancheng. Although victory and defeat are common in the military, now that he's been rescued, I'm afraid the Eastern Palace will hold him accountable, so I wrote a memorial to plead for his life. He's my friend, I can't just sit back and watch."
Huo Gannian felt his eyes go dark and his back teeth unconsciously clenched together.
He took a deep breath, "Chen'er, you really know how to pick the time... These two things should be staggered. If they happen at the same time, the Eastern Palace will be furious, and I'm afraid it will affect the decision on the tragic tunnel case... You, you... forget it, let Yun Wang take care of it..."
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