Yusui Chang'an

Morning court.

Chu Chengyao took the evidence he had found and righteously impeached Minister Sun of the Ministry of Personnel and his trusted officials:
During his tenure, he was charged with dozens of crimes including corruption, malfeasance, selling official positions and titles, shielding his cronies from doing evil, and persecuting virtuous and talented people.

There is evidence for every case. Although the prince was not named, all these crimes were committed during the period when the prince took over the Ministry of Personnel, which happened to be before Chu Chengyao took over the Ministry of Personnel.

The emperor's deep eyes moved between Chu Chengye and Chu Chengyao, but he did not speak.

Minister Sun, who had received instructions from Qin Zongliang and the crown prince, had already looked pale and had a dead look in his eyes before going to court. After listening to Chu Chengyao reading out the evidence, he knelt down and took off his official hat.

He took all the blame on himself, confessed his guilt with tears, and said that he had been greedy, had failed the emperor's grace, and had let the prince down.

Not only did Minister Sun admit to Chu Chengyao's impeachment, he even confessed the things that had not been discovered.

He also confessed that after Chu Chengyao took charge of the Ministry of Personnel, he asked him to arrange the promotions of several officials. He had only done half of the work and had not yet reported to Chu Chengyao.

The intention is to point out that Chu Chengyao threatened him to form a clique for his benefit, and seeing that he had not done it yet, he took this as revenge.

Chu Chengyao was shocked to hear that the list of people from Minister Sun's confession was full of people he had secretly cultivated.

Just after saying a word of rebuttal, Minister Sun, who had kowtowed to the emperor, got up from the ground and resolutely crashed into the dragon-shaped pillar in the hall, causing his head to bleed and also shattering Chu Chengyao's rebuttal.

Everyone in the hall gasped in shock at the sudden change.

The guard stopped with his sword half-drawn, and at Zheng Cheng's signal, went forward to check, but Shangshu Sun was already dead.

The emperor looked at his ministers expressionlessly and left the body of Minister Sun lying in the hall with blood spreading from his forehead. Everyone was silent.

The emperor used Sun Shangshu as an example to warn everyone to keep their duty, and after beating them for a while, he waved his hand and asked the guards to carry away Sun Shangshu's body. Then he called the crown prince out and reprimanded him for failing to supervise him properly, allowing the ministers to deceive their superiors and deceive their subordinates, and punished him to be confined to the East Palace for a month to reflect on his mistakes.

Although the tone was harsh, there was no substantive punishment.

When it was Chu Chengyao's turn, the emperor sent people to check the confession of Minister Sun before his death. Although it was not stated explicitly, this move already implied that he believed Minister Sun's confession.

They say that when a man is about to die, his words are good. Since Minister Sun has confessed everything and sincerely repented, there is no need for him to talk nonsense.

Before the matter is investigated, Chu Chengyao is not allowed to interfere in the affairs of the Ministry of Personnel and does not need to attend court.

Chu Chengyao already knew this would happen, but he still couldn't stop being angry after hearing this:
He didn't understand why his father had no mercy on him but only suppressed and guarded against him. He didn't believe that his father couldn't see that Sun Shangshu was obviously using his death to attack others.

Chu Chengyao knew very well that he could not resist now, so he gritted his teeth and pretended to be obedient, accepting the order and thanking the grace. When he stepped aside, he saw Chu Chengye's mocking smile beside him, and immediately suppressed his anger and unbearableness, returning to his usual calm demeanor.

Chu Chengye, who was threatened by Chu Chengyao with privately made weapons and had no choice but to cooperate with him in investigating Minister Sun, was already full of anger. Seeing this, he secretly sneered:

He is used to putting on airs.

Although he was resentful, Chu Chengye was still happy to see the prince and Chu Chengyao being humiliated. He just felt that the result was not satisfactory and the punishment should be heavier.

Read more latest popular novels at 6.9*shuba!

After the court session, the prince walked forward and said:

"My second brother planned everything, but he only put me under house arrest. Not only did he fail to take back the Ministry of Justice, but even the Ministry of Personnel disappeared. Do you think this is...shooting himself in the foot?" (End of this chapter)