I, the prince, only want to be deposed.

Chapter 524: Give father a huge surprise!

"I understand!"

At this moment, all the doubts linking all the events suddenly became clear, as if a cloud covering his eyes was pushed away by a big hand, and Liu Ju's eyes were clearer than ever before.
"This kid actually used himself as bait, trying to lure out all those who oppose me and pave the way for me to succeed the throne!"

"???"

Guo Zhen looked doubtful when he heard this, and didn't quite understand.

It’s not that I didn’t understand what Liu Ju was saying, but I couldn’t figure out the connection between them for a moment.

Liu Ju didn't pay any attention to him, he just shook his head and talked to himself:

"Some fish are too big, some are too cunning. Without extraordinary strength and extraordinary means, it is difficult to catch them all in one net. This made my father determined and convinced the people of the world."

"This kid must have discovered this as well."

"So he actually planned to gamble his status and life as the King of Qi, and hugged these fish tightly to make a plan to burn both sides... The status and life of the King of Qi were indeed barely enough to exchange for a home. This kid has indeed grown a lot."

"But my foolish brother, you underestimated me after all."

"If I want to do this now, why should I sacrifice you... My previous dormancy, tolerance, and escape were just to take care of my father's feelings."

"But now that things have come to this, you have already prepared a nest for me. How can I let you down?"

"This time, let's have a good time... Unfortunately, these fish are not enough for the feast. I will cast the net a little wider and give Father a big surprise to show my filial piety."

"!!!"

After hearing this, Guo Zhen finally understood the role Liu Hong played in recent events, but Liu Ju's last words made him confused.

What does it mean to cast the net wider and wider?
What does it mean to show true filial piety and give your father a big surprise?

The previous list alone covered nearly half of the court. This list was enough to cause a huge shock among the government and the public, and might even cause turmoil.

If Liu Ju wants to further expand the scope on this basis...is he planning to rebel?

Guo Zhenzhen didn't dare to think any further, his heart was beating uncontrollably.

There is only one situation in this world where you can launch a sweeping attack on court officials, princes, nobles and local tyrants and liquidate and reshuffle most of them, and that is changing the dynasty!

Even if the dynasty changes.

During the Zhou Dynasty, the Qin Dynasty, and even the Han Dynasty established by Emperor Gaozu, there were still a large number of princes, officials, nobles, and local tyrants from the previous dynasties who took advantage of the situation and transformed themselves into founding heroes of the Han Dynasty. Not only did they not suffer from liquidation and reshuffle, but their power and status became more secure.

So, what exactly did Liu Ju want to do?
Do you still want this big guy?
Does he still want to be the crown prince?
Are you sure that what he is going to do next is to give the emperor a big surprise instead of frightening him?
Are the words "filial piety" used in the wrong place?
At this moment, Guo Zhen felt inexplicably sorry for Liu Che for a second...

Previously, Liu Ju was the only one causing trouble, but now there is also Liu Hong. The eldest son and the second son are a perfect match, they have the same goals, and they combine internal and external factors...

Was there some unknown huge defect in Liu Che's genes that inexplicably led to such a situation of filial piety right under his nose... This certainly cannot be blamed on Wei Zifu. After all, although Liu Hong was adopted by Wei Zifu, he could not be considered Wei Zifu's biological son in any way.

"Okay, stop standing there, and don't guess what I'm going to do. You can't guess it."

Just as Guo Zhen was getting anxious, Liu Ju had already turned around and looked at him.
"Now that the matter is clear, I should take action... You should immediately send someone to the court to summon Du Zhou to come to Bowang Garden to see me."

……

Half an hour later.

"Du Tingwei, I heard recently that you have only been a Tingwei for a few years, but your family wealth has accumulated to millions?"

After the greetings, Liu Ju motioned Du Zhou to sit down and talk, and ordered someone to pour him tea. However, as soon as he opened his mouth, Du Zhou was so frightened that he jumped up and knelt on the ground with a plop, his legs trembling.

"I admit my crime, Your Highness, please spare my life!"

As a cruel official who did extremely brutal things, if there was anyone in the world that he feared more than Liu Che, it would definitely be Liu Ju.

Even though he is now in charge of the Court of Justice and is one of the Nine Ministers who hold real power.

This is also a form of PTSD.

Until now, he still clearly remembers the time when Liu Ju "destroyed the dikes and flooded the fields."

How Liu Ju treated the emperor's scepter he carried as a fire stick, and how he turned him from a high-ranking emperor's envoy into a deaf, blind, and mute decoration.

He will not forget it either.

How Liu Ju reminded him and gave him opportunities, allowing him to obey the imperial order in certain specific events and perform outstandingly in certain specific events, thus achieving unimaginable rapid promotion even though he might never have the opportunity to be promoted again in this life.

Although in history, he would have been promoted to the position of Chief Justice, and would be promoted to the position of Chief Censor, one of the Three Dukes, in the future.

But how could he know these things in advance except Liu Ju?

So in his heart, all this was given by Liu Ju, and Liu Ju always knew how to appreciate him.

And what impressed him most was...

This was Liu Ju's private instruction to him during the "Salt and Iron State-run Reform":
"You should take the benefits when you should. You don't need me to teach you. Just be more restrained."

Du Zhou is not young anymore and has been an official for more than 20 years. When has he ever received such "considerate" instructions?

This made Du Zhou respect and fear Liu Ju even more. He always felt that Liu Ju was like a worm in his stomach, who knew him better than he knew himself...and a man who could lift him up and knew him so well, could naturally throw him down to the same degree as he had lifted him up before, it all depended on whether he had the intention to do so.

So in most cases, Du Zhou's respect for Liu Ju was greater than that for Liu Che.

At this moment, Liu Ju suddenly said such words, and in his capacity as the crown prince, which gave him an inexplicable feeling that the end of the world was coming, and his soul almost left his body.

"Get up, I don't mean to blame you."

Liu Ju smiled kindly and took the initiative to hold Du Zhou's hand.

"You have done so much for my father and the Han Dynasty, and have offended so many people. You have made great contributions. Now that you are a high-ranking official, it is not wrong for you to enjoy a good life for a few days."

"Thanks to your Majesty and Your Highness for your appreciation. I am only doing my duty. How dare I take credit for it?"

Du Zhou didn't dare to stand up and continued to kneel on the ground to confess his crime.

"Well said. Now there is something that is within your responsibility that you need to do your best."

As he spoke, Liu Ju picked up a scroll from the table and handed it to Du Zhou before saying,

"As a court judge, you should have heard of this. A murder occurred during the Fengshan Ceremony. My father ordered me and Commander Huo Guang to investigate thoroughly. This is what we found. Take a look at it first."

"promise."

Du Zhou naturally knew what murder case Liu was talking about. It was the case of a palace maid who died inexplicably and two cooks who committed suicide by taking poison.

However, the case was not made public and was quietly concluded after the South Vietnamese wizard committed suicide. Except for the people involved and those who were directly related to the matter, no one could tell what exactly happened.

The more mysterious this case is, the more serious it is. Now Liu Ju took the initiative to show him the case file, which might be related to this.

So Du Zhou knelt down and read it quickly. After reading it, he looked up with a look of doubt on his face:
"Your Highness, I never thought there would be such a poisonous fish in the world... The South Vietnamese wizard dared to use this thing to poison the meritorious officials, and then committed suicide. It was really easy for him, but I don't know why he did this."

"This is a case that my father has issued a gag order on. If I tell you the answer to this question, you probably won't live long."

Liu Ju smiled.

"Thank you for saving my life, Your Highness!"

Du Zhou felt a chill in his heart and immediately kowtowed to apologize.

"I just don't know what your Highness needs me to do now?"

"I heard that in the past few years since I was away, many sorcerers from all over the country have gathered in Chang'an, most of whom have used strange and evil magic to deceive the public. These people not only serve my father, but also often offer him advice. Many of them have become retainers of powerful ministers. There are even sorceresses who have entered the palace to teach my father's concubines how to perform sacrifices and perform witchcraft. You should know all these things, right?"

Liu Juxu narrowed his eyes and said slowly,
"Now such a thing has happened during the Fengshan Ceremony, and it happened right next to my father. You should be able to imagine the hidden dangers without me telling you."

"As the Minister of Justice, you should know how to share my father's worries and eliminate such hidden dangers, right?"

Du Zhou had completely understood Liu Ju's meaning:
"I understand, but it involves the palace..."

"If you really understand the purpose of your life and what the court judge does, you wouldn't ask this question."

Liu Ju said calmly.

"promise!"

Du Zhou quickly agreed and dared not say anything more.

These sorcerers and wizards are done.

This time, including the alchemists and wizards that Liu Che had previously kept in the palace, must also be purged. This was the answer to Du Zhou's last question.

Fortunately, Liu Ju did not order him to take action against those powerful ministers and concubines in the harem who favored wizards. If he just dealt with the alchemists and wizards, the pressure on him would not be so great. Moreover, if he did it cleanly and beautifully, he could also be considered to have "merited in protecting the emperor". There was no reason not to do his best.

But first, he should set an example himself and order his men to go back and capture the two wizards he had raised for sacrificial talismans.

To avoid the prince knowing and having a bad impression of me...

……

Prime Minister's House.

"This……"

After hearing Shi De's report, Shi Qing felt that his brain was a little bit stuck.

He had just ordered people to make arrangements in private, preparing to mobilize public opinion before Liu Ju's first morning court session, throwing the dirty water of Liu Che's recent poor health on Liu Ju, and spreading rumors that Liu Ju was secretly practicing witchcraft to curse Liu Che.

The Chief Justice actually took action first, and under the pretext of the safety of the court, launched a large-scale arrest and purge operation against the alchemists and wizards living in Chang'an?
For a time, although Chang'an was not a river of blood, people were immediately in panic.

After all, the speed, toughness and scale of the actions of the Supreme Court this time have reached an unprecedented level.

Not to mention the alchemists and wizards in the streets, even the powerful ministers and the alchemists and wizards who entered the palace were completely eliminated.

Du Zhou even issued a reward order for reporting crimes, similar to the one for reporting corruption.

As long as the citizens actively report the crime, they can receive a reward from the Supreme Court if they are successfully captured. Anyone who dares to harbor or protect the criminals will be punished the same as these alchemists and wizards, and will be thrown into the imperial prison first, regardless of their official position.

If any concubine in the harem dared to harbor the criminal, she would be reported to the Empress Wei Zifu and temporarily handed over to the control of the Ye Ting Ling.

Therefore, for their own safety, the powerful ministers all took the initiative to kidnap the alchemists and wizards they kept at home and send them to the court, for fear that they would be implicated by accident.

From this we can see that the power of superstition is worthless when it comes to one’s life and property.

Not to mention these alchemists and wizards, even the high and mighty mythological gods of the Celestial Empire have been tools since ancient times. They can be shot and chased every day. What's more, these alchemists and wizards not only cannot bring blessings to themselves, but also bring disasters to themselves at this moment?
"Father, should we continue to implement our plan..."

Seeing that Shi Qing was speechless for a long time, Shi De whispered to the side, if the plan was terminated now, all the previous preparations would be in vain.

"Once these sorcerers and wizards are eliminated, it will be like cutting off the source of our plan. How can we continue to implement it?"

Shi Qing came back to his senses, his old face wrinkled into a bitter gourd as he pondered over it.

"in this case……"

Shi De suddenly became nervous when he heard this, and lowered his voice and said,
"Father, do you think someone has informed Liu Ju about our plan?"

"That shouldn't happen."

Shi Qing pondered and shook his head.

"First of all, the only people who really know the whole plan are you, me, Liu Hong and Bu Shi. You and I don't need to say much. Liu Hong and Bu Shi have been involved in many things and can never be cleared. Unless they don't want to live, they will never tell Liu Ju. Is there anyone in this world who thinks life is too long?"

"Secondly, everyone in the world knows Liu Ju's character. He was able to stab Jiang Chong to death in the street. If he knew about this plan, how could he remain calm? I'm afraid he would have come to kill him with a sword in hand. "

“Again, this is the most important point.”

"Once these sorcerers and wizards are eliminated, our plans will be ruined, but at the same time, many things that happened before can no longer be traced. We can write them off at once. Isn't this a help to us?"

"Do you think Liu Ju would do something so stupid if he knew the plan?"

"I took such a risk to plan this because Liu Hong's servant defected. I was worried that the servant knew too much and would eventually implicate the Shi family. In order to protect myself, I had to take this risk."

"Now it seems that my worries are unnecessary. I'm afraid that what the servant knows does not involve us."

"But Liu Hong's situation is very dangerous."

"Before this, the Nanyue wizard named An Yu had always had a single line of contact with Bu Shi. Even if Liu Ju could pry some words out of An Yu, he could only trace it back to Bu Shi and link it to Liu Hong."

"And this defecting attendant must have known that Liu Hong had ambitions to seize the throne, otherwise he would not have run to Bowang Garden to seek refuge. If Liu Ju had met this attendant, he would most likely have known Liu Hong's ambitions..."

Hearing this, Shi De's worried expression became even more serious, and he finally couldn't help but interrupt:

"But father, if Liu Hong has been exposed, Liu Ju only needs to investigate him and implicate us, right?"

"That's right, we can't take any chances!"

Shi Qing nodded slightly, with a sharp light flashing in his eyes.

"Therefore, the most important thing at the moment is to prevent Liu Hong from meeting Liu Ju, intensify the intimidation of Liu Hong, and force him to take the risk."

"If we see that he has a chance to succeed, we will follow the trend and lead those who do not want Liu Ju to succeed to the throne to strongly support him and make great contributions to him."

"If we see that he will never succeed, we will stay out of it. By then, he will have no way out, and suicide will be his only option. Even if we wait for an opportunity to arrange for him to commit suicide, no one will suspect it."

(End of this chapter)