The words of the Minister of Punishment were steady and clear. King Yu's heart trembled when he heard them, and he couldn't help but call out "Father" again. Emperor Liang snorted coldly, his face was still as hard as cold iron, but in his heart

There was already some hesitation.

So far, he has basically concluded that Xia Jiang and Prince Yu are working together to frame Prince Jing, and he is also very clear about Prince Yu's actions in the tragic private artillery explosion. He will deliberately deceive these two people and challenge the emperor's power.

In part, Emperor Liang never thought about the word "forgiveness" at all, but now that the situation is under control, he is not willing to bring all these cases to the court for public trial.

"Cai Qing, I am issuing an edict to remove Zhu Yue from his official title. After the removal, there will be no need for a joint trial by the three departments. You can just handle it with full authority." Emperor Liang said to Cai Quan in a calm tone, "I think the case has been tried.

Zhu Yue's level is enough to calm the people's hearts. Let's end it here. There is no need to interrogate the masters and envoys."

"His Majesty……"

"As for the other people who need to be dealt with, I will deal with them myself," Emperor Liang cut off the words of the Minister of Punishment expressionlessly, "Cai Qing just needs to close the case. Thank you for your hard work."

The muscles on Cai Quan's cheeks were tensed and he lowered his head, hiding the forbearing expression on his face and the deep anger in his eyes. He did not hear the sound of King Yu kneeling in the hall and kowtow to thank him.

, he is trying to control his emotions and force himself not to continue arguing with Emperor Liang, because he knows that arguing is useless.

"Cai Qing, do you understand what I mean?" Emperor Liang waited for a long time, but before the word "acceptance" came from below, he couldn't help but raised his eyebrows and sounded a little more serious.

Cai Quan took a deep breath, paused again, then bowed and whispered: "I accept the decree."

"If there is nothing else, please step back first."

"Yes." Cai Quan pursed her lips tightly into a straight line, bowed rigorously, and exited the Nuan Pavilion. As soon as she left the palace door, the cold wind with snowy air blew over from the corridor, chilling her bones, but the young man

However, the Minister of Punishment felt that his heart was burning and burning uncomfortably. The eunuch serving in the outer hall brought him the cloak that he had taken off before entering the pavilion. He did not put it on, just grabbed it in his hand and strode out.

Outside the palace gate, the sedan chair of the Cai family was still parked where it was. The servants rushed to greet him when they saw him. But Cai Quan did not get into the sedan chair. He grabbed one of the horses accompanying him and climbed up alone.

One person ran towards the city, completely ignoring the panic behind him. He kept galloping like this for an unknown amount of time, and then he gradually heard someone shouting from behind: "Brother Cai! Brother Cai!"

Cai Quan reined in the horse and stopped. The round face of Shen Zhui, the official minister, appeared in front of him. Judging from the panting look, he must have been chasing for a while.

"What's wrong? Look at your face..." Shen Zhui reached out and pulled Cai Quan's horse's head, asking with concern.

Cai Quan raised his head, looked at the gloomy sky, was silent for a moment, and suddenly said: "Brother Shen, come with me to the restaurant for a drink?"

Shen Zhui was startled for a moment, then smiled and said warmly: "You are still wearing court clothes. Come, just around the corner is my house. I have a jar of Zhuangyuanhong that has been stored for sixty years. I don't care if you drink enough."

Cai Quan did not refuse, and they rode into Shen's mansion together. Shen Zhui asked the guests to sit down in the small flower hall in the front yard, and ordered the banquet to be held. As soon as the food and wine were set, Cai Quan drank three glasses of wine in a row.

"Okay, Haidian can't drink like this," Shen Zhui pressed the rim of his cup and asked, "What's wrong? Are you wearing this to enter the palace?"

"Yeah..." Cai Quan sighed, "I mentioned it to you about the case of the private artillery workshop..."

"Has the important witness been examined?"

"Yes..." Cai Quan rubbed his forehead hard, his voice full of exhaustion, "I tried it for several nights, and finally got it clear. I went to report to His Majesty today. But... Your Majesty asked me to close the case, saying that it would be sent to Zhuyue. You can stop here, you are not allowed to continue... you are not allowed to dig out the roots..."

Shen Zhui shook his head sadly and said, "You should have been somewhat prepared for this outcome."

"I prepared it, really." Cai Quan grabbed the wine glass with red eyes and took another sip, "Brother Shen, you don't know how disappointed and uncomfortable I am... His Majesty was indeed angry after reading the confession. He He has been scolding King Yu, scolding him for playing tricks, scolding him for deceiving the emperor, and he has been apologizing, saying that he was just forced to have no choice but never dared to underestimate the emperor's power... But what is the point? The point is not here! Sixty-nine lives, sixty-nine lives! For the emperor, this is not worth scolding, and for King Yu, is this not worth regretting? No one mentioned it, no one took it seriously, they What do they care about? What is it?!"

Shen Zhui was stunned for a long time, then suddenly grabbed the wine glass, raised his head and drank it.

"In order to seek personal gain, such disregard of human life is outrageous, but what makes me feel even more chilling is that...the emperor actually doesn't care about this..." Cai Quan's hands on the table were clenched into fists, and his eyes were Looking straight ahead, "The so-called human life is at stake, that is the bottom line. If we continue like this, what will be the strength of Daliang, and what hope will the people have to survive? Those who don't care about people's livelihood are the ones we will serve. Lord?"

"Who said that?" Shen Zhui suddenly slammed the table, "I have never said this before, but I can tell you now, don't be discouraged yet, there is still His Highness Prince Jing."

Cai Quan's eyebrows twitched, and he slowly turned his gaze to look directly at Shen Zhui, "Since you said it, I won't hide it from you. My expectations for His Highness Prince Jing are the same as yours. It's just... Prince Yu's methods. He is really ruthless, if His Highness Prince Jing doesn’t have someone to shield him from the hidden arrows, he may not be able to reach the last step... We can’t help with this."

Hearing what he said, Shen Zhui's face also dimmed, he shook his head and sighed: "What you are saying is that His Highness Prince Jing is still imprisoned in the mansion to reflect... Why on earth did he not report or plead for mercy? Please find a way..."

"Speaking of this, you don't have to worry." Cai Quan had just vented and felt a little better. "Although I didn't understand it clearly in the palace today, Yue Mo heard that this seemed to be King Yu's handiwork again. It has been The emperor has seen through it, I think His Highness Prince Jing will be fine soon."

Shen Zhui was overjoyed and breathed a long sigh of relief and said: "That's good, that's good. The emperor is finally not confused."

"And it seems that the Xuanjing Division was also involved. When His Majesty was scolding King Yu, he was also scolding Xia Jiang. This has never happened before."

"Xuanjing Division?" Shen Zhui said suddenly, "No wonder... I was outside today and saw the Imperial Army going to seal down the Xuanjing Division... It seems that the storm was indeed quite serious, and His Highness Prince Jing was lucky to have escaped. ."

Cai Quan closed his tired eyes and whispered: "But the situation in the court is really disappointing..."

"You are wrong," Shen Zhui looked at him deeply. "The more the situation in the government is like this, the less we can become disheartened. Since we are in our position, we should plan for our government. Although there are some things that you and I can't do anything about, there are some things we can't do. The thought of serving the country and the people is better than having a meal without a corpse."

Cai Quan stared deep in thought, seeming to be in a trance. After a while, he sighed and picked up the wine bottle again. Although Shen Zhui was trying to persuade him, he was actually very angry in his heart. At this time, he did not stop him. Instead, he accompanied him, one drink for you and one for me. He drank.

While the two ministers of the Sixth Department were drinking to drown their sorrows in Shen Mansion, Meng Zhi also completed his mission and sealed off the Xuanjing Division. The commander-in-chief was sitting at the scene, and it was obvious that he could not get any favor from either soft or hard, so he did not resist at all. He just asked for a face-to-face meeting again and again. Meng Zhi listened indifferently, neither agreeing nor refusing, and stared at the person first. He put on the fine iron shackles, then went straight to the small cell at the back and released Mei Changsu.

To be honest, the Xuanjing Division did not bother Mei Changsu very much. Xia Jiang continued to detain him. It was just that he was unwilling to leave too much time for the extremely capable leader of the Jiangzuo League to study detoxification. He wanted to keep him in custody for a few more days. .But being in jail is still in jail. The medicine for recuperating is gone and the diet is extremely poor. Therefore, in the past few days, Mei Changsu has become more and more skinny and pitifully thin. Meng Zhi looked up and down carefully and couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. Heartache and pain.

Because there were soldiers accompanying him, Mei Changsu couldn't comfort him much. He could only smile and say: "The commander-in-chief came to rescue him personally. Su Mouming felt deep in his heart. It's just that the place is in chaos and it's not convenient to say thank you. I will definitely come to pay my respects another day. Please ask the commander-in-chief to see you when the time comes."

Meng Zhi calmed down, forced a smile and said a few polite words, then turned around and appointed two confidants, ordering them to escort Mei Changsu back to his home. After everything was arranged here, he personally escorted Xia Jiang to the He was imprisoned in the Tian Prison, the most severe room with a Tianzi number, and then he redressed and entered the palace to return the order to Emperor Liang.

"Did Xia Jiang say something?" Emperor Liang had just dismissed King Yu and told him to go back to the palace to wait for treatment, so he was still in a bad mood, and his face was as gloomy as if a thunderbolt would strike at any time.

"He refused to plead guilty and kept asking for an interview." Meng Zhi reported truthfully.

"Of course he refuses to admit it," Emperor Liang sneered, "Xia Jiang is a person who will not give up until the last moment. If he confesses his crime quickly, I will find it strange."

"But Your Majesty..." Meng Zhi took a step forward and said with a look of confusion on his face, "When I was sending Xia Dong to the prison, she kept insisting on defending Xia Jiang, saying... she was responsible for the robbery of Wei Zheng. Qiu makes her own decisions and has nothing to do with her master... Do you think this is really the case?"

Emperor Liang couldn't help but glance at Meng Zhi, "You, a warrior's mentality is too simple. Only you can believe what Xia Dong said. If she only wanted to avenge her husband, she was killed in prison. Why did she pretend to be robbed? ?Didn’t King Ji also see them giving Wei Zheng a favor? They clearly didn’t want him to die. If Xia Dong had done this alone, Wei Zheng would have been dead long ago. I think Xia Jiang probably wants to do something with Wei Zheng. For example, if you secretly put it somewhere under the jurisdiction of Prince Jing, and then send people to search for it, it will naturally become evidence of Jingyan's crime..."

"Ah?" Meng Zhi's expression was frightened and horrified, "This... this is too poisonous... Only Your Majesty can understand these joints. I am stupid... I have never thought about it in this way..."

"I know Xia Jiang's methods," Emperor Liang squinted his eyes with a stern look, "I used to think that he would never deceive me, so I didn't think too much about it. Now that I think about it, it's really shocking...

…”

"Then Xia Dong..."

"What Xia Dong said is just to exonerate her master. Just listen to it. Can you believe it?"

"So Wei Zheng might still be alive..."

"It should still be in Xia Jiang's hands. However, he will never hand Wei Zheng over."

"Why is this?"

Emperor Liang glanced at Meng Zhi again, "You are too simple, but you really don't use your brain? Xia Jiang clearly proved that it was Prince Jing who sent people to kidnap the criminal, but in the end it was him who handed Wei Zheng over.

If you come out, wouldn't it be the same as admitting guilt? I have said that Xia Jiang will not plead guilty so easily."

Meng Zhi actually wanted to laugh very much now, but Langya's second master couldn't even have this bit of self-control, so his expression was still very serious, he solemnly nodded and said: "Conspiracy to frame the prince is really a life-and-death effort.

If Xia Jiang has even the slightest thought of greed for life, he will definitely refuse to hand over Wei Zheng."

"You finally have some enlightenment." Emperor Liang exhaled a long breath, leaned back feebly, and said, "Go and tell Xia Jiang that I don't want to hear him cry out for injustice now, and ask him to think about it for himself and think clearly.

, give him paper and pen, and ask him to write a note."

"yes."

"Stand back." Emperor Liang waved his hand, but he felt tired and unconsciously closed his eyes and fell asleep. Gao Zhan gently stepped forward and asked in a low voice: "Your Majesty, will you rest here today?"
Chapter completed!