So Youran

It was not until the third day that the emperor sent someone to send Qi Feng and You Ran to the hall.

It was the early court time, and the officials of all ministries hadn't retreated yet. Mr. Shen, the head of the Ministry of Punishment, was kneeling in the middle, resting his hands on the ground, not daring to raise his head.The two of them entered the hall and knelt down on their knees to worship the emperor.

Sitting behind the desk, the emperor leaned on the armrest on the left side, and said casually: "You guys get up and talk. Qi Feng, something went wrong when the Ministry of Criminal Justice was interrogating the woman, and the woman died accidentally."

Mr. Shen, the head of the criminal department, trembled.

Qi Feng said: "Isn't the case of the dancer in the music workshop an unsolved case?"

The emperor said: "Although the person died, he left a blood letter, saying that he was forced by your father, the Seventh Prince, to retract his confession in court. I didn't expect to have to go through torture. I was afraid of being punished again, so I chose to die." Of."

Leisurely was startled, he didn't expect them to implicate the Seventh Prince, he looked at Qi Feng's still calm expression, the emperor didn't seem to have any intention of questioning him, although he was uneasy, he could only trust Qi Feng.

Sure enough, Qi Feng said: "Of course the emperor doesn't believe it."

The emperor said: "Such a low-level and childish method is just to find an excuse to kill people and silence them. Not to mention the character of Uncle Qi Wang, even you, Qi Feng, are definitely not the kind of people who do murder and silence people. That person is not too ignorant , is going nowhere.”

Shen Da said: "The emperor has clearly observed that this humble minister would not dare to do such a thing even if he had a hundred guts."

The emperor said: "What are you in a hurry for? I didn't say you did it. However, it seems that the prison in your Ministry of Punishment needs to be rectified."

Shen Daren said: "Yes, I will rectify it immediately."

The emperor said softly: "There is no need for that, I have already sent people there, and all the detainees will be dragged to the front of the hall and beheaded."

Lord Shen was shocked.Since the emperor came to the throne, he has always handled government affairs calmly and gently. The court occasionally expressed dissatisfaction, but he never thought of life and death, so that the courtiers all looked at Prime Minister Xie with winks and echoed his proposition.Today, the emperor suddenly frightened the killing order, which made him break out in a cold sweat.Will he be the next one to deal with?After all, the Ministry of Punishment is under his jurisdiction.

At this time, the servant came to report that the Seventh Prince asked to see him outside the hall.

The emperor said: "Please come in."

The Seventh Prince held a box in his hand with a solemn expression.After entering the main hall, the Seventh Prince just stood and saluted because he was the emperor's uncle.

The emperor looked at the box in the hands of the Seventh Prince and asked, "Come here, show me a seat for the Seventh Prince. Uncle, did you bring me something good?"

The Seventh Prince presented the box in his hand to the waiter, then sat on the chair and said: "Someone sent this to my house today and said it was for Qi Feng. I opened it and looked at it, and thought it was important, so I took it directly Come here for the emperor to have a look."

At this time, the emperor had already opened the box, and there were large and small case files inside. The emperor unfolded them one by one, and looked at them carefully.Except for Qi Feng, the people below all stared at the emperor's expression closely, guessing what was inside.For a while, the hall was eerily quiet.Finally, the emperor read the last case file before looking up at the people below.Said: "Uncle Huang, this is really a big gift. Qi Feng, do you know what is in this box?"

Qi Feng looked at the emperor and said, "I don't know."

The emperor said: "Even you don't know, it seems that I was the first person to see it. Then I'll keep it a secret, let's talk about the Ministry of Punishment first. Internal servant, ask what is the result outside? "

Not long after the servant went down, the head of the guard walked into the study and said, "My Majesty, just now two people have confessed that they took the money and removed the bedding of the female prisoner to make her suffer. I didn't expect people to be so Dead. The person who gave them the money is said to be from the Seventh Prince's House, because this woman offended the crown prince, so she must be punished."

The emperor said: "What happened to that blood letter?"

The leader of the imperial guard said: "They said that a jailer at the gate gave them an idea, saying that the woman committed suicide in fear of crime, so that she could escape responsibility. Neither of them could read, so they asked the jailer to write the blood book for them. I know what is written. But the jailer is nowhere to be found."

The emperor said: "The cooperation is very tacit. A group of people killed people to silence them, and a group of people planted blame. Mr. Shen, how do you think my case is going?"

Mr. Shen's clothes were almost drenched in cold sweat, so he could only keep saying: "Your Majesty is wise, Your Majesty is wise."

The emperor said: "Decree, put these two people in the cell, let them also taste the taste of being frozen. The rest of the people will each have ten boards. In the future, the servants will be killed without mercy. Also, put the jailer If you find it, I’m afraid it’s out of the city.”

The Chief of Guards went down.

The emperor said: "Master Shen, you should also get up, you see, you are not too young now, how about telling your old age and returning to your hometown earlier?"

Mr. Shen is only in his forties this year, not a few years older than the emperor, he knows that the emperor gave him a chance to escape, if he refuses to leave, his family may be destroyed as a result.So he repeatedly bowed his head and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, Long En, thank you, Your Majesty, Long En."

The emperor said: "Decree, the head of the Ministry of Punishment is old and sick, and he will return to his hometown. Zuo Cheng of the Ministry of Punishment will be promoted to take over the post of head. Master Shen, thank you and go down."

Mr. Shen finally stood up, and stumbled away.

The emperor clapped his hands, as if there was something dirty on his hands, then picked up a case file in the box and said: "This box contains some pleadings, confessions, and old cases from the Ministry of Punishment." He handed the case file to the servant next to him and said : "Come and read, please speak louder."

The servant took the case file with both hands, cleared his throat and read: "On October [-]th, the year of Wushen, Li Shiyu wrote the petition. The society depends on the people, and the people's livelihood depends on officials. It's unfortunate, but today there are rich and wealthy people who use their wealth to seek power, so that talented scholars are out of their jobs, corrupt people occupy the magpie's home, grassroots people sue Liu Ningtai for buying officials, and the bureaucracy is colluding from top to bottom, making them I was able to be promoted all the way to the prefect, which harmed the people of one side. I hereby submit a petition to the head of the Ministry of Officials, hoping to be able to listen to the heavens and return the people's livelihood to prosperity."

Hearing this, the head of the Ministry of Officials quickly knelt down on his knees, and was about to plead, but the emperor put his index finger on his lips to silence him, and the words of the chief choked back abruptly.

The emperor handed another file to the servant, and the servant continued to read: "Li Antai, male, 36 years old, formerly the magistrate of Jing County in Wu County, from Jincheng, he was promoted to the county at his discretion, and sent 5000 taels of silver to the Ministry of Officials; Wang An , male, 27 years old, former county magistrate of Lu County, promoted to Sima Liucheng at discretion, and sent 8000 taels of silver to the Ministry of Officials"

The emperor stretched out his hand to signal the servants to stop. At this time, the head of the official department was already sweating on his forehead.

The emperor said: "How do you explain this?"

The head of the Ministry of Officials said: "This is clearly framing a low-ranking official. Just relying on some papers to frame an important official in the court. Please also ask the emperor to investigate clearly."

The emperor smiled and said: "Oh, you mean let me check carefully?"

The head of the Ministry of Officials bit the bullet and said: "I have done nothing wrong, so I am not afraid of investigation." He lost his confidence as he spoke, and he secretly groaned in his heart. Although the silver taels hidden at home are kept secret, if he really wants to thoroughly search, he is also afraid of investigation. come out.

The emperor said: "You said that a piece of paper can't be decided, come here, and bring the two people mentioned in the file just now."

Now the head of the official department's heart is completely cold.I thought that if the emperor sent someone to investigate, I would still have a chance to do something about it, but the emperor had already found a good person in advance. It seems that these were arranged by the emperor in advance, and I could not escape the blame.

Leisurely took a peek at Xie Xiang who had been standing at the side all the time, that person only looked a little pale, and didn't even have any expression.How did he know that Prime Minister Xie has been suffering in his heart, from the emperor's interrogation of the Ministry of Punishment to the current Ministry of Officials, Zong Zong has prepared everything, it seems that he has made up his mind to clean up the court today.Looking at this person in front of him, before he ascended the throne, he had been playing with things and lost his mind, wandering around all day long, having fun and not thinking about making progress. If he was not the only son of the first emperor who could inherit the throne, he might have been abolished long ago.I also imagined letting my daughter marry him. If he is really A Dou, I can be the emperor behind it.However, this Ah Dou suddenly changed. After he ascended the throne, he began to have his own opinions in the court, and handled the government affairs by himself, especially when the envoys came to visit.Today's successive ruthless moves caught him off guard even more.Is it about to target yourself next?He sneered in his heart. Fortunately, he had cleared up all the evidence.

The other officials in the court hall all watched Xiang Xie's reaction, and saw that Xiang Xie had not spoken, and they did not dare to express their views, for fear of getting burned by accident.

Soon two people were brought up, but they were still in a daze, obviously not knowing why they came here.It was also the first time they saw the emperor, and they were all terrified.The two knelt down and bowed their heads, stuttering while speaking.

The emperor said: "I want to see what talents and virtues you have that can be promoted so quickly in such a short period of time."

The two hurriedly kowtowed and said: "The villain is just an official donated with money, please forgive me." The two chattered nonsense, and couldn't make out who was talking.

The emperor looked at the head of the official department.Just watching, not talking.

The head of the Ministry of Officials knew that the situation was over, so he took off the official hat on his head with both hands, bowed his head and said: "The minister is punished by the emperor."

The emperor said: "Since I know it, I will not punish you severely. The decree is that the head of the official department will neglect his duties, accept money and sell officials for profit, be demoted to the post of head of the official department, confiscate his family property, and never be hired."

The head of the Ministry of Officials sighed, it was a blessing that the emperor didn't kill him, he hurriedly bowed his head to thank him.

After all this torment was over, the emperor looked at Qi Feng and said leisurely: "Although the witnesses who identified you before are gone, but the cause of her death has not been found out yet, you and your wife should stay in the palace temporarily."

Seeing that Qi Feng and the two looked very good, the seventh prince was relieved that they had not been treated badly in the palace.None of the ministers raised any objections, and the emperor withdrew directly before they had any objections.