Chapter 77: Stormy Weather in the Imperial Court
The next day in the imperial court, the debate between the various parties was even more intense than that of a rural market.
After the usual morning visit to Your Majesty, there was a moment of silence, with a sense of stillness before the storm!
This is not surprising, before a storm arrives, there is always an suffocating calm...
Even the Emperor himself, looking at the dozen or so suddenly vacant positions and the thick stack of impeachment memorials on his desk, couldn't help but feel a little stunned. Although it was expected, it was also greatly beyond expectation. This is too much!
Although I got the news last night and was furious, after all, it was just a few names on paper. Now looking at it, almost half of the court is empty... This feeling is too intuitive!
To put it in a way, let's say there is a student attending class with 100 people in the classroom. At night, he hears that 30 classmates have dropped out or transferred schools, and he won't feel anything about it. But when facing an empty classroom the next day... The proportion is not much different from what's happening in the Imperial Court of Tianxiang right now.
Yesterday night, the princess was stabbed, and the old master's difficulties added to the fragrance of the red sleeves; inside the Tianxiang City, beacons and smoke were everywhere, and killing machines were all over the ground. More than ten high-ranking officials in the court were beheaded, and among these people, there were many who had been known for their unrelenting feud with your family...
Apart from this characteristic, another commonality among these people is that they have already leaned towards one of the three princes, but this commonality is something that everyone knows in their hearts and won't explicitly mention. This kind of nonsense seems to be indistinguishable from courting death.
Among the twelve people who survived last night, there are four from each of the three princes' camps. There is one Minister of Justice, two Ministers of Personnel, one Executive Officer, three officials from the Ministry of Rites, one official from the Ministry of Revenue, three Imperial Censors, and two Grand Scholars. These are just the ones we can see in front of us, how many more are there that we can't see?
These people are done for, and this is a huge shock to both the ruling and opposition parties, even posing a crisis that shakes the foundations of the country. However, under the manipulation of certain powerful individuals, everything just blows over like that, although this powerful person is currently so angry that their eyes are bulging...
There are also some sharp-eyed and well-remembered officials who have a wide range of knowledge, intentionally or unintentionally discovering that this time in the palace, there seem to be many new faces. The familiar faces that were originally present, even very familiar ones, have mostly disappeared. For example, Mu Rong Qian Jun, the original leader of the imperial guard who wore a sword at his waist, was once promoted so quickly that it was extremely rare. But now, this "extremely rare" rising star of the Mu Rong family is also unknown where he has gone...
It seems that there is no less bloodshed in the palace than outside. Many people's hearts are filled with anxiety.
"What exactly happened last night? Why are there so many fewer people today? Who can tell me?!?" The Emperor glared at Jun Wartian with a fierce gaze, his eyes narrowing into slits. Jun Wartian was clearly exhausted, it could be seen from his face, otherwise he wouldn't have been like this in the imperial court... he was almost dozing off...
His Majesty the Emperor's words, which were ambiguous and misleading, opened the curtain on the attack in the imperial court. Suddenly, a large group of people knelt down in the great hall with a rustling sound.
"Your Majesty, will you take charge for us?" A large group of ministers simultaneously cast down their eyes with tears, bitter and sorrowful, knocking their heads like pounding garlic.
"All of you officials have something to say, speak carefully and truthfully, and all will be forgiven." The emperor furrowed his brow, looking puzzled.
As soon as this statement came out, dozens of officials immediately opened fire on the old public master. Some said that he was self-sufficient and ignored the military law of the empire, and some were arbitrarily mobilizing troops for personal gain; Some said that he disregarded the imperial law and ignored the majesty of the royal family, and acted recklessly without any scruples; Some said that he broke into the residence of a minister, condoned his subordinates' violence, was lawless and extremely evil; There were even those who said that the old master had armed himself with troops and intended to rebel... In short, there were dozens of crimes listed one after another, all of which were said to be true.
Later, it was even more directly suggested that Jun should be dismissed from his post and investigated, slowly executed, and his entire family exterminated, with nine generations of his clan being wiped out... The Grand Hall was in an uproar for a time.
Everyone's face was red with rage, each one filled with righteous indignation, and in the end it even rose to the historic height of "Not killing you is not enough to cleanse the imperial court, not killing you is not enough to calm the people's anger".
Jun Zhan Tian stood with his head held high, his eyes slightly closed, watching the performance of the officials in the hall. He was worried about Sunzi's injury and thought to himself that he would have to find a way to bring back the best imperial physicians after this...
"You dare to defy Heaven! You old man, you really are so unscrupulous, do you have anything else to say?" The Emperor's voice was very severe, as if he was about to erupt in rage!
"I humbly report to Your Majesty, yesterday I heard that the princess was stabbed on the main road outside the imperial palace. Fortunately, the princess's good fortune and blessings were great, and she was not injured; but the villain's actions were so outrageous and disrespectful to the imperial dignity that they made me extremely angry. Furthermore, I received intelligence that the assassin may still have follow-up plans, targeting members of the royal family and high-ranking officials in a large-scale assassination plot. I feared that if I delayed reporting to Your Majesty, it would lead to catastrophic consequences; therefore, without waiting for your orders, I took the liberty of mobilizing troops to surround and capture the assassin. In this regard, I indeed made a rash mistake, please enlighten me, Your Majesty, and punish me!"
The emperor's mouth twitched, and he forcibly endured it. You old man have said it so clearly, what can I still discern? You've spoken of such great righteousness, if I were to punish you, wouldn't that make me a foolish ruler? How do you want me to respond?!
"Continue." The emperor frowned, seemingly displeased. Without this prompt, he really didn't know how to go on!
"Yes; your old minister was worried about this matter, and without reporting to Your Majesty, he got up in the middle of the night, didn't have time to change his clothes, and rushed to the drill ground on horseback. Although the troops were deployed quickly, they couldn't withstand the assassins who came prepared. The city fell into great chaos for a while; your old minister fought bravely, charging forward on horseback, fighting bloody battles, and withstanding countless assassin knives and swords. Finally, he suppressed this disaster and killed all the assassins! There were hundreds of assassins, and their bodies are now hanging from the city gate as an example to the people. However, your old minister does not dare to take credit for this, because there is still a regrettable matter: although your old minister did his best, dozens of officials were killed by the assassins before he could rescue them! This was all because your old minister acted too slowly, leading to such a disaster! Your old minister is willing to accept the blame for this oversight."
The old master let out a long sigh, his voice filled with sorrow: "Those were all the pillars of my Tianxiang Kingdom." He rubbed his eyes, seemingly overcome with emotion, but in reality, he was getting sleepy...
When the old husband spoke like this, the officials on the court looked at each other in dismay: What? You still want to take responsibility for the crime? Take your mother's head! Look at what you're saying, you are actually the great hero who saved the entire Tianxiang Kingdom! Decisive and decisive, saving the country from the brink of collapse, upholding the dignity of the royal family with the greatest loyalty! It seems that if you don't reward him heavily, he will feel too aggrieved to take responsibility for the crime?!
Besides, who here doesn't know that those black-clad men yesterday were all from your family? Assassins? How ridiculous! What's called turning black and white upside down? What is confusing right and wrong? This is it! I've seen shameless people before, but never as shameless as this. To actually take killing people as capturing thieves, and house searches as achievements, this is simply a transcendent state of being!
The mountain is so high that it stops at the sky!
As for the ones hung at the city gate to show to the public, if you let the prison head of the Ministry of Punishment identify them, they will surely find that everyone looks very familiar: They are actually all a group of death row inmates in prison, only to be executed ahead of time by your majesty...
