My son, Fusu, please abdicate the first emperor!

Chapter 673 Who will win the flower?
Your Majesty has always been cruel.

But the prince is not a pushover either.

Now the two tigers are fighting together, and their power is not mutual.

Your Majesty is old, stubborn and self-righteous. He only trusts himself and refuses to trust others.

Facing the prince's attacks, he had almost no power to defend himself. It was all because he had been too proud over the years.

But the prince is still young and strong, and his mind is quick-witted.

I am guilty, but if I surrender at the critical moment, will the prince hate me? Even if I cannot be promoted, I am already one of the nine ministers, so the final outcome will not be bad.

Although the Crown Prince has not expressed his ambition to become emperor, by restricting Your Majesty in this way, he already has the power to replace You.

Now I have to choose who to help, the situation is very clear.

Yao Jia and Zhou Qingchen left the palace side by side.

The city of Xianyang began to become a mess.

The villains were leaderless, and the gentlemen were even more leaderless. Chaos ensued.

There were cases one after another in the Palace of the Supreme Court. Although Zhao Ying was the Supreme Court, he was always unable to handle these matters.

Soon, Ying Zheng sent his trusted and important minister Meng Yi.

Meng Yi, now 33 years old.

A man's most glorious stage.

Meng Yi, who has experienced so much, is no longer as passionate as he used to be.

After coming to the Imperial Court to do his work, he had become much more mature than he was three years ago. He no longer hated his superiors for flattering them and bullying them, and he no longer wanted to whip his subordinates to death for being cunning and treacherous.

But when it comes to criminal cases, I still like to get to the bottom of it.

"I don't care who his relative is. If he breaks the law, he must be dealt with according to the law."

In the lobby, several clerks were trembling with fear.

"You guys, go tell Prime Minister Feng that four of the county magistrates he recommended have committed malfeasance. As a prime minister, you must set an example. How can you be the first to make mistakes?"

Several officials looked at each other, crossed their hands and began to gesture randomly.

"I?"

"What's wrong? What's the problem?"

"We are just the lowest-ranking clerks. How can we easily meet the Prime Minister? Even if we do meet him, how many of us would dare to say such words to him?"

Meng Yi's face suddenly became as gloomy as iron.

In Xianyang City, only the virtuous and the upright would agree with Meng Yi, and there were very few such people. And among the upright and the virtuous, only one-fifth of them were willing to associate with him.

Because Meng Yi was a Legalist and a cruel official at heart.

There will be plenty of opportunities to show this side of him in the future.

However, Meng Yi and Ying Zheng were "birds of a feather flock together" in this regard. They loved the law very much and used the law to handle everything.

But Meng Yi would not show favoritism, but Ying Zheng was different.

Ying Zheng liked Meng Yi very much and thought he was his right-hand man in the palace.

In the past few days, the fifth official Zhao Ying was punished by Ying Zheng for his poor handling of Zhang Cang's affairs.

Ying Zheng was anxious to re-establish his authority in front of his ministers and subordinates, and killing people was the most direct and effective way to do so.

When gods fight, someone is bound to suffer.

What’s more, they are the two most powerful people in the empire.

As one of the Nine Ministers, Zhao Ying had to go through a long process to be tried. He had three chances to write a letter and meet the Emperor to defend himself in person.

This is the law of the Qin State.

Now, he is entering the first stage. He has been impeached for framing Zhang Cang and is now in jail.

Speaking of which, the most puzzling person in this big case is Zhang Cang.

He was thrown into jail on trumped-up charges, then rescued, and finally told that he was framed.

Zhang Cang participated in a war that had nothing to do with him. After experiencing this wave of political turmoil, Zhang Cang behaved himself for a full six months. He is now doing his job in the Ministry of Finance, and he is not seen impeaching anyone again.

However, the ministers in the court were impeaching others in his name.

Anyway, it was a fish, and there were so many people in the court, how could they only eat it once? Zhang Cang became a person who was repeatedly recycled.

Let’s get back to the topic. Today is a big day for the Supreme Court.

Meng Yi was sending his subordinates to do something important, and he planned to impeach the prime minister.

Not long ago, he had just impeached Zhou Qingchen, but to no avail.

Eight years ago, he impeached Zhao Gao, but failed.

Five years ago, he impeached Yao Jia but failed.

As for the rest of the court, none of them were spared. But they all received the punishment they deserved. Only these few people were left.

Feng Quji, Yao Jia, Zhou Qingchen. Although Zhao Gao died, he did not receive the punishment he deserved. According to the law, he should have been torn to pieces, but the prince only cut him with a dozen swords.

This matter has always been a hurdle that Meng Yi could not get over.

Now, there are only a few hard nuts left.

Meng Yi used to work in the Censorate, and now he has finally been transferred to the Supreme Court, which is a great opportunity for him.

Everyone in the Supreme Court was trembling with fear today.

Everyone was very scared. If Meng Yi stayed in the Supreme Court, everyone would have a hard time.

Just when Meng Yi was planning to impeach Feng Quji, the bureaucrats from the former Supreme Court came to find Xiao He.

Xiao He was chatting with his new subordinate Wei Dian.

"Your Majesty is not going on the Eastern Tour anymore. The Crown Prince is very powerful. I don't know who is instructing the Censorate recently, but they have uncovered various cases. They also said they want to enforce discipline."

"I don't know what happened, but the court has been in chaos recently."

Wei Dian knelt down to collect the documents, frowning, "I'm afraid something will happen again. Then we will have endless work to do."

In the courtroom, Xiao He knelt down with a calm expression. He handled the case in an orderly manner. He opened the case file, read it carefully, understood the general situation, and decided whether to approve it based on his experience and legal provisions.

Those that have passed are placed on the left and directly stored; those that have failed are almost always placed on the right due to insufficient evidence or insufficient motivation.

Facing Wei Dian's nagging, Xiao He simply said, "Do our job well."

Wei Dian couldn't help shaking his head when he saw Xiao He working so conscientiously and meticulously.

"How could anyone know that you work so hard? Your Majesty doesn't care about these things."

Xiao He did not speak. He was doing this job for the common people, not for His Majesty the Emperor.

Just the sentence "Your Majesty doesn't read these" made Xiao He fall into deep thought.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, how can he pretend not to see it?"

Xiao He asked painfully.

The Qin officials on both sides looked at Xiao He, and their faces became serious.

It has been five years since Xiao He entered Xianyang.

During these five years, Xiao He had seen too much of Ying Zheng's actions and was greatly disappointed with him.

Originally, they hated the Qin State, a country that treated people like livestock. The forced birth control system deprived countless young men and women of their happiness, but now it also imposed heavy taxes and forced people to serve as soldiers, making them work endlessly for Ying Zheng.

The Qin officials who were originally law-abiding and dedicated to their duties met an emperor like Ying Zheng, and were influenced by his thoughts and the environment, so that soon the whole Qin State was full of cruel officials. Ying Zheng and his officials only wanted the people to obey and be obedient, so that they could use and exploit them as much as possible, but never thought about how to make their lives better.

As a result, conflicts became more and more numerous, the number of crimes increased sharply, and cases broke out frequently.

Some cases were judged arbitrarily in order to capture able-bodied men to serve as prisoners for Ying Zheng; some were caused by people who, due to living in this world, gave up on themselves and committed crimes.

When others acquiesced to these choices and even tried to gain benefits from them, such as arresting more criminals as a means of evaluating their performance in official promotions, Xiao He chose to seek truth from facts.

Xiao He was a very kind man.

This kind of kindness is extremely precious in times like this.

It's just that his movements are limited, otherwise he could emit greater light and brightness.

He had no power, and the person who supported him was always just a prince. Even though he had great influence in the court, this also severely restricted Xiao He.

In fact, all the wise men under Fusu are now facing the same problem - they are unable to exert their strength.

Of course they can tolerate it for ten days or half a month, but if you give them three to five years, their minds will change.

Even if Fusu himself didn't want to do anything big, they would urge him to do something.

Chen Ping is very active in this regard. He is simply the most suitable and strongest assistant in palace fighting.

He just couldn't stand the boring life of luxury and he hoped to realize his ambition as soon as possible. It was not a big deal to distribute rewards and salaries to a group of eunuchs and maids in the palace, but it was a real man to distribute them to the people of the world.

The same was true of Xiao He, who had a deep understanding of the times. He knew that under the rule of Qin Shihuang, he was doomed to do nothing, which would cost him his life. Therefore, when the Qin imperial inspector wanted to summon him to the court, he refused.

Fusu did invite Xiao He in, and based on this relationship, Xiao He would not have any second thoughts.

But Xiao He did not like political struggles, he did not like intrigues with others, he just liked to shine quietly in one place and do what he should do.

He was a very peaceful, genuine and knowledgeable son of a wealthy landlord.

The comfortable life since childhood and the teachings of his parents made him a gentleman, not telling lies and not doing hypocritical things.

From birth to adulthood, he has always lived on his own land. The stable and secluded life has cultivated his character that likes stability.

This is different from others.

Most of the rest of us like war, war, and more war.

Xiao He didn't like it, he liked peace. In the end of the war, he was like a non-mainstream existence. He always did his work in a methodical manner.

When he was busy with official duties, he worked diligently; when he was not busy, he read books alone.

Untouchable.

It was such a person with strong execution ability who won the hearts of the people in the entire Tingwei Mansion with his actions day after day.

If Li Si had not been appointed as prime minister, Xiao He would not have been able to stay in office for long. Li Si would have definitely gotten rid of Xiao He, who was affecting his position.

However, Xiao He just likes peace and stability. It doesn't mean that he is stupid. Xiao He is not good at intrigue, but he knows the harm of human nature and has a very strong sense of vigilance against people.

Xiao He followed under Li Si and soon realized that his superior Li Si was a flatterer.

Those who flatter their superiors will inevitably bully those below them.

Therefore, Xiao He always behaved very mediocrely, fearing that he would be killed.

But even if you bury gold in the sand, it will shine sooner or later.

A talent like Xiao He cannot be hidden.

Because he would never be able to stamp and seal a case that is obviously wrong or fake.

Xiao He would always stay and re-examine.

Fortunately, Zhao Ying still had a conscience. After he took office, he chose to protect Xiao He. Everyone knew that Xiao He was the prince's man.

To offend Xiao He is to offend the prince.

What's more, the emperor was also very interested in Xiao He.

It was with the support of power that Xiao He did some things, such as giving good officials in the world a reassurance. Xiao He used practical actions to tell them that there were still people in the court who were doing practical things, and that the cases they carefully examined and the judgments they made were watched by others.

As for those who did a perfunctory job or just filled in the numbers, they were also beaten back.

So within half a year, Xiao He became very famous.

By now, Xiao He was a well-known figure in the entire Xianyang city.

A representative figure of the first generation of honest officials in the Qin Empire.

His appearance gave the students in the Qin Imperial Academy and even the Qin officials all over the world peace of mind. When Qin Shihuang was collecting prisoners on a large scale, there was a man like Xiao He who radiated his own light and warmth.

It was through these small changes and the slow influence of individual figures that the Qin State began to retreat from the cliff of death.

It’s just that Xiao He has too many things he wants to do, so this little thing is nothing at all.

Moreover, it is always a method of closing the fold after the horse has bolted, which cannot truly benefit the common people and cannot make the social cycle run in a healthy way.

Xiao He discovered a very serious weakness of the Qin State - the cycle of its commercial economy had been completely blocked.

In another three to five years, the entire Qin Dynasty's monetary system will completely collapse.

The second is the heavy taxes, which put too much pressure on the common people. The emperor used these taxes to dig a hole for him and attack Baiyue.

In addition, there are various secondary disasters caused by Emperor Qin Shihuang's abuse of the people's power.

There are more widows left in the village, does that mean there will be more innocent things in the world? There are more left-behind children without anyone to discipline them, does that mean that well-behaved and sensible offspring will emerge from the fields.

The system has such a huge impact on a country.

Xiao He was extremely worried, but all he could do was to do his job.

Xiao He was very angry with Ying Zheng. He was dissatisfied with all his actions. He was too proud and thought that his decisions and actions were supreme and extremely wise.

In fact, it was just his wishful thinking and the bragging of treacherous officials.

After he ascended the throne, few of his policy proposals were correct. To be precise, when the news of Qin's victory over Chu came, Ying Zheng had already begun to change. He was already planning to attack Baiyue, and the generals in the court fully supported it.

Fortunately, Xiao He did not attend the court. Otherwise, if he had been face to face with Qin Shihuang all day, either Qin Shihuang would have wanted to kill Xiao He, or Xiao He would have wanted to destroy Ying Zheng's business.

Xiao He was working hard, and the Qin officials around him couldn't help asking questions.

"Now that the five great officials are in prison, they will be tried by the prime minister, and all the nine ministers will be present to hear the case. Now the court of justice is leaderless, and you have been the left shoulder for many years. We plan to ask you to recommend yourself and strive for the position of court justice."

The officials under the Tingwei included the Zheng and the Zuojian and Youjian. Zheng was the highest, followed by Jian.

Xiao He was surprised. "Me? How can this be possible? In terms of law and qualifications, it is not even my turn to be the Chief Justice."

Xiao He lowered his head and said, he didn't want to go to court and face those people all day.

When the officials saw Xiao He's refusal without hesitation, they left in disappointment.

Xiao He looked at their backs and could only sigh helplessly.

Really, this wasn't the time for him to go out.

At this time, the Zhengbai Camp of the Supreme Court came hurriedly to find Xiao He.

"Quick, think of a way to send Censor Meng away. If he comes to the Imperial Court, he will make our entire Imperial Court a mess."

Why would Xiao He do such a weird thing? It's so disgraceful.

"But he is the man appointed by His Majesty to temporarily take over the position of the Court Judge."

"It's not just a temporary appointment. Your Majesty really intends to let him serve as the Chief Justice."

When this news came out of Zheng's mouth, it immediately caused an uproar in Xianyang City.

"Something big has happened. Censor Meng is going to be the Chief Justice!"

When the news came out from the Supreme Court, officials in Xianyang felt that the end of the world had come.

(End of this chapter)