Wind rises time and space gate

Chapter 497: Debate
Emperor Zhizheng shouted loudly, and the Jiying Hall fell silent.

Although Jiang Xiang was still angry, he did not dare to act recklessly in the face of the emperor's pressure. He stood straight in his position, unwilling to lose his momentum.

Emperor Zhizheng glanced coldly at Jiang Xiang and the official of the Crown Prince's faction, then glanced at the Crown Prince and Zhao Guangyuan, and said indifferently: "King of Yue, everything must be based on evidence, not just conjecture."

Zhao Guangyuan knew very well that the emperor was protecting the prince, so he was not disappointed. He just said, "The relevant witnesses and evidence brought back from the two places are now waiting outside the palace. Please ask the emperor to summon them into the palace."

After hearing this, all the ministers couldn't help but glance at the palace gate.

The King of Yue had done this, and today we're going to have to decide who wins. The ministers had different expressions on their faces. Those who had stood in their positions in advance couldn't help but secretly worry, and those who didn't stand in their positions were afraid that they would be affected.

The prince couldn't help but clench his fists in his sleeves.

Although the Emperor ordered people to be sent to pick up the King of Yue, he had to recall his men from various places, but he had always sent people to watch secretly and did not see the King of Yue return to the capital with relevant witnesses.

How come all the witnesses were waiting outside the temple in just one night?
The King of Qin glanced at the Crown Prince calmly, with a sarcastic arc on his lips. No matter how his father defended the Crown Prince, he would definitely skin him alive this time! He didn't mind helping the Seventh Brother if necessary.

Emperor Zhizheng was put on the fire by the King of Yue and had to summon witnesses and evidence.

"Certificate of Passing."

"Certificate of Passing!"

When the witnesses were brought forward, all the physical evidence such as account books were also presented to Emperor Zhizheng.

The first to enter the hall were Wanhua County Magistrate Meng An and Luocheng Prefect Xi Fanyao.

Wanhua County is downstream of Zhutou County. The sluice gate of the upstream dam was pulled out, and floodwaters poured down, submerging Niaoshui Village under the jurisdiction of Wanhua County. Many villagers died tragically, and Wanhua County became the victim.

When Meng An came in, his legs were shaking. He had only seen the emperor once, during the palace examination, and that was the only time. After that, he had been serving as an official outside the palace. Now that he saw the emperor again, he did not feel honored at all and just wanted to die.

He secretly glanced in the direction of the King of Yue, and saw that the King of Yue didn't even look at him, and he felt miserable in his heart.

He knew that he could not be an official, and he did not know how the emperor would deal with him. But the King of Yue said that he could save his life, and Meng An felt a glimmer of hope.

He and Luocheng prefect Xi Fanyao knelt together in the main hall, "Knowing our emperor, long live the emperor!"

Emperor Zhizheng ignored the two of them and flipped through the account book submitted by Zhao Guangyuan. His face darkened as he flipped through it. The Ministry of Revenue allocated 2 million taels of silver to Linzhao, but only 680,000 taels were actually received! Zhutou County should have been allocated 750,000 taels, but it actually received 200,000 taels!

The three-cent blue brick account book had twenty-five cents on it! All the materials were inflated!
Now the prefect of Linzhao, Wei Quan, and the magistrate of Zhutou County, Xu Hu, are gone, but the prefect of Luocheng and the magistrate of Wanhua County are still there. The accounts of these two places are consistent with those of Linzhao and Zhutou County!
An account book hit Meng An and Xi Fanyao hard on the head.

"Your Majesty, please calm down. Your Majesty, please calm down!" The two men were shaking like leaves in the autumn wind, and their heads were banging against each other. All the ministers in the hall were listening and were so frightened that their breathing became shallow.

"Drag him out and behead him at the Meridian Gate!"

"Your Majesty, please spare my life! Your Majesty, please spare my life!" Meng An and Xi Fanyao were so scared that they peed their pants. They kowtowed and begged for mercy, and then begged the King of Yue, "King of Yue, save my life!"

Even the most prepared people will feel great fear when they are about to die, and only at this moment will they feel the beauty of being alive. No one wants to die if they can live.

"Your Majesty, the matter has not been fully investigated yet, so it is difficult to convict."

Emperor Zhizheng was so angry that he asked, "Prince Yue, isn't this the evidence you presented?"

"It is my son who has submitted this report, but this matter involves a wide range of people. Wei Quan and Xu Hu are already dead, and we still need to keep Meng Xi and the others. There are still many matters that we have not yet asked."

The prince clenched his fists.

The emperor's pupils also shrank. He knew that the matter was very far-reaching, and wanted to cut the knot in anger, but the Seventh Prince didn't seem to want him to deal with it so easily. He glanced in the direction of the prince, and his face was full of disappointment.

"Are you speaking for these two?" Emperor Zhizheng asked in a cold tone.

"No. They deceived their superiors and subordinates, disregarding the lives of the people in their jurisdiction. They are unworthy of being officials. However, they actively raised funds from various places even though they knew that the funds were insufficient. They still cared about the people. There are no major engineering problems with the levees and dams in Luocheng. The inspectors of the Ministry of Construction can testify to this."

This was also the reason why he failed to find the problem in Narrow Water Village and neglected it.

Although the levee of Zhashui Village was built thin, it was still enough to hold water, and the materials used in the dam were solid. Later, he found out during his investigation that the prefect of Luocheng had extorted a lot of money from the owners of various neighborhoods and wealthy gentry to fill the dam, and the materials used in the project were much more elaborate than those in Zhutou County, Linzhao Prefecture.

When the inspecting official from the Ministry of Works heard the King of Yue calling his name, he hurriedly stepped forward to testify.

Emperor Zhizheng's anger subsided a little.

Just looking at these accounts, thinking about the 8 million taels of silver allocated by the Ministry of Revenue, but only half of it was distributed to various places, and after further deductions by various places, only 50% was actually used for water conservancy, the evil fire in my heart could not be stopped.

Looking at the prince standing in the center of the hall, he felt extremely disappointed. But he couldn't touch the prince. Not only could he not hold the prince responsible, but he had to help consolidate his position.

After Meng An and Xi Fanyao told the facts, the situation in Luocheng County became clear.

However, Zhutou County Magistrate Xu Hu was murdered, so there were no witnesses. Fortunately, Zhao Guangyuan had arrested Zhutou County Workshop Clerk You Guangzu early on, and had the confession materials of Zhutou County Block Master Liu Shiyu and the account books of various block masters, as well as the confessions of Zhutou County Chief Clerk and County Magistrate, as well as the confessions of Linzhao Prefect and others. There was solid evidence about the corruption.

"Take him away and hand him over to the Dali Temple for detailed interrogation."

Meng An, Xi Fanyao and others were quickly taken away.

The matter was already settled and could not be overturned, so the prince hurried out to confess his guilt.

"Because of the previous military incident, I was worried that the instability in the Nine Borders would shake the morale of the army, so I withheld four million taels of silver and sent them to the Nine Borders military camps to appease the soldiers. I also ordered each government to use the government treasury silver to advance the project funds, and I will transfer another four million taels of silver from other places to make up for it. I didn't expect such a big mistake to happen. Please punish me, father."

He also presented the account book of the whereabouts of the four million taels of silver to Emperor Zhizheng.

Emperor Zhizheng held back his anger and read it through his teeth, squeezing out a sentence, "The Crown Prince is concerned about the court, but his actions are not appropriate."

Zhao Guangyuan listened expressionlessly, while the King of Qin and the King of Chu frowned fiercely.

"Father, the Crown Prince embezzled the project funds and allowed his subordinates to deceive their superiors and subordinates. From top to bottom, he neglected his duties and embezzled money, causing the death of 500 to 600 people and nearly 1,000 injured! I'm afraid this is not due to improper behavior."

Just reveal it with just one sentence?

As soon as he finished speaking, several officials from the Crown Prince's faction came out to take the blame, saying that the Crown Prince had nothing to do with the incident and that the Crown Prince had only learned about it a few days ago. "Your Highness, you don't have to take the blame for us. It is we who have failed the Emperor's grace. We are ashamed of the people and the Emperor."

Kowtow and apologize.

"Get up. This matter has nothing to do with you. This matter was supervised by me. If there are any mistakes, I cannot escape the blame. There is no need to plead for me."

"Your Highness is kindhearted. We were sent by your Highness, but we failed to complete the task. We should die as an apology."

The king and his ministers sympathized with each other, and the prince's crime was acknowledged.

"Oh, I have learned a lot today. In order to destroy the evidence, Zhutou County Magistrate Xu Hu sent people to pull out the sluice gate, flooding the people and killing hundreds of civilians. This matter was just a case of lax supervision?" So the prince was not guilty of anything?
"The King of Chu was careful with his words. Xu Hu is dead, and no one has proved that he sent someone to remove the Kongzha."

"Are you saying that I am talking nonsense? You are accusing someone of something just because he is dead?"

The King of Chu was so angry that he laughed. Seeing that the prince seemed helpless, he wanted to tear him apart.

Turning to Zhao Guangyuan, he said, "King of Yue, people look down on you. They say you fabricated evidence. If you don't come up with something substantive, you will be accused of lax supervision, the death of two court officials, and the accusation of throwing dirty water on the crown prince."

Tsk tsk. Although the Seventh Brother suffered a bad fate, he was happy to see it, but he was even more unhappy when the Crown Prince was proud.

The prince also looked at Zhao Guangyuan.

Last night, I discussed with my staff all night and prepared various plans to deal with Zhao Guangyuan's accusations, including who would take the blame if he pleaded guilty. They analyzed it last night and found that these crimes were not enough to shake the crown prince's foundation. The people sent by Xu Hu were all dead, and there was no evidence.

Zhao Guangyuan glanced back at the prince lightly.

He knew that the prince would have a countermeasure, and he never thought that he could completely overthrow the prince in one day, but he believed that he could still shake the prince's position in the emperor's heart.

"Call the witness."

The emperor was stunned. Is there a witness?
As a result, before the eunuch in charge of the palace could call for someone, the person waiting outside had already brought the person in after hearing the King of Yue's words.

Heizi had just stepped into the palace, and he was shaking more than Meng Anxi and Fan Yao. After all, those two had seen the emperor, while Heizi was just a gangster, how could he have seen the emperor, entered the palace, or been to such a place.

He could not even speak clearly. He stumbled for a long time before Emperor Zhizheng knew his identity.

When the prince saw him coming in, he narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth in hatred. How come there is still a fish that slipped through the net?

Seeing that he couldn't make sense, Zhao Guangyuan told the story again...

"In order to escape the crime, Xu Hu tried to cover up the evidence and sent people to remove the gate of the Zhutou County Dam. The people he sent were six people, including Heizi. Afterwards, Xu Hu handed the people over to the prince, but the five people were killed that night. He escaped because he went to the toilet outside."

Then he said to Heizi, "When the emperor asks you questions, you must tell the truth and not hide anything."

"Yes, yes..." Heizi stumbled and talked about how Xu Hu had someone find him, how they acted that night, how they ended up at the Prince's residence afterwards, and how the five people disappeared...

As he spoke, he recalled the blood splattered on the window frame that night, and he couldn't help but shudder again.

There was an eerie silence in Jiying Hall.

Until Heizi finished speaking his last word, officials from the prince's faction jumped up to refute him. They refused to admit what Heizi said and only said that the King of Yue had found someone from somewhere to frame the prince, and that he thought Xu Hu was dead and his superior Weiquan was also dead, so there was no evidence to prove the crime.

It is also very easy to push away a black piece completely.

But Zhao Guangyuan has more than just these.

He learned that night that it was Xu Hu who sent people to do the work, so naturally he got the evidence early and sent people to present the confessions of relevant personnel, the correspondence between Xu Hu and Wei Quan, and the correspondence with the Eastern Palace.

Emperor Zhizheng flipped through the letters with a gloomy face.

Seeing that there was no handwriting of the prince on the letter and that there was no mention of the prince, he breathed a sigh of relief.

He raised the letter in his hand and said, "Prince, you have such a person under your command. He colluded with the officials below and deceived his superiors and subordinates. How can you be worthy of me? You disappoint me so much!"

"Father, please forgive me. I failed to supervise my subordinates strictly and let you down."

Jiang Xiang was dissatisfied, "Your Majesty..."

"Mr. Jiang, you don't have to persuade me. I am extremely disappointed with the Crown Prince. I am writing an imperial decree that the Crown Prince failed to strictly control his subordinates, which led to heavy casualties among the people in Zhutou and Wanhua counties. He shall be fined three years' salary, confined to his home for three months, and not allowed to interfere in other affairs. As for the rest, the Dali Temple shall conduct a strict investigation!"

"Your Highness, I obey your order and stay in the East Palace to reflect on my mistakes."

"Dismiss the court!" Emperor Zhizheng did not give anyone a chance to speak, he stood up and strode away.

In the Jiying Hall, all the ministers looked at each other in bewilderment, unable to react for a long time. Such a big thing was just revealed like that?

"What do you mean by revealing it? Didn't the emperor ask the Dali Temple to try all those people? I guess the Eastern Palace will push out quite a few people..." to take the blame.

The King of Chu and the King of Qin were also unable to react for a long time. Is the prince's position in his father's heart so solid?
He stood there blankly, watching the prince being surrounded by people, gritting his teeth, wishing he could pounce on him and bite off a piece of his flesh. With such a good opportunity, why didn't the seventh brother pull the prince down? He was so useless.

Well, where is the seventh brother?
Zhao Guangyuan had already left the hall with a gloomy expression.

Seeing that the inner guards were coming to arrest Heizi, he hurriedly called out to the two men who had escorted Heizi into the palace, "Follow Heizi, don't let him die. After you get his confession, take him back to the palace."

"Yes."

"Also have someone keep an eye on Meng Anxi and Fan Yao." Their crimes don't deserve the death penalty.

"clear."

Jiang Xiang accompanied Zhao Guangyuan out of the palace gate. He looked at Prince Qi, who was a few steps behind him and chatting with other officials, and cursed him as an old fox. He said he had clearly agreed to say a few words for King Yue. Even if the prince had not been removed this time, this result would not have happened.

As a result, Prince Qi didn't say a word, which made him so angry.

He doesn't want this relative anymore!
Zhao Guangyuan followed his gaze and glanced back, then continued walking forward without paying any attention. From time to time, many officials around him nodded to him, sending friendly signals, and Zhao Guangyuan nodded lightly and took note of them one by one.

He knew this result and was not surprised.

His good father, the Emperor, was not only reluctant to touch the Crown Prince, but also suppressed his achievements. He also suppressed the hard work of the officials of the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue, without any comment.

"Sir, please remind me to express my gratitude to the officials in the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Revenue. They helped me a lot over there."

"Ah? Ah, yes. When I get back I'll tell Wentao to prepare a generous gift."

"Ah."

Jiang Xiang took two quick steps and said, "Your Highness, you are not angry?"

"It's not worth getting angry." However, when comparing the accusations made by the ministers against his royal brother eleven years ago and his royal brother's ending, Zhao Guangyuan still felt some emotions boiling in his heart.

But after so many years, he has been able to cover it up very well.

This time it was not without gain, Zhao Guanghuan's foundation had been shaken. And there was still a long way to go.