Chapter 463

Inside the Chengqian Palace, the civil and military officials stood in silence, looking at the Second Prince, Third Prince, and Fourth Prince who stood at the front, their minds constantly flowing:

These three princes haven’t been to the morning court since the late emperor passed away, and today they are here in such unison, so I’m afraid that something will happen. Especially the second prince, he was given the title of De by the late emperor, and is the elder brother of the emperor, so his status is the most supreme. The third prince was imprisoned before, but later, the late emperor passed away, the world amnesty, the third prince’s imprisonment is also unsealed, although the emperor did not reward him, but now how to occupy a prince name, and behind the back of the fourth prince this brother, how to look at it is also not good to think with.

Shen Ninghua sitting on the throne above, vision faintly in the temple all officials swept a circle, “Today the Palace specially asked people to invite the three princes to come, in order to discuss the war in the northwest. All of you think also know, the northwest bitter cold, and year after year suffered a natural disaster, the emperor has let people send the news to the palace, said the northwest cities without food available, soldiers, people eat bark, roots for a living, now the two countries are at war, if the soldiers and generals do not even have a meal, how can they have the strength to go into battle to kill the enemy?”

Words fall, the officials at the bottom can not help but discuss open, they thought of the Northwest should be difficult conditions, but how did not think that even eat tree roots, bark, so is not too miserable some?

Third Prince Baili Jin Yu snorted, “Empress, you are too alarmist, although the conditions in the Northwest are difficult, but when Father was on the throne, every year ordered the Northwest to stock up on grain, in order to prevent wars from occurring without food and grass available, how can there be a little bit of food today?”

“The third prince this is a good question, this palace is also very curious, every year the hoarded grain to the hands of what people, the northwest region of the local officials, the power than the general local officials is much larger, the official warehouse grain is also completely under their jurisdiction, the emperor let a person pass the news, said that these local officials in order to be able to please the boss, they secretly sell the grain, will be the silver as an offering to send it up. It is said that this layer by layer is sent upwards to be able to be sent to the middle of Kyoto.”

The moment these words came out, many officials’ faces changed greatly, some time ago the Emperor disposed of a large number of old school officials, the crime is corruption and bribery, now the country is at war, the situation is even more critical, if something happens at this time, for the sake of the stability of the country, it will not be beheaded directly?

The third prince laughed coldly, “Empress Mother, as far as this king knows, the Emperor arrived in the Northwest has not been a few days, right, even if you find out what news is not conveyed to Kyoto at all, the words you have just said are simply speculation, there is no direct evidence.”

The Empress looked at the Third Prince, a hint of mockery flashed under her eyes, after experiencing what happened before, Baili Jin Yu still hasn’t learned his lesson at all, “Third Prince, before the Emperor’s trip, he had already sent out people to investigate, do you think that the Emperor dared to go on an imperial expedition without having far-reaching plans and considerations?”

“Oh, the Empress has proof that the Northwest officials are sending silver to the officials in the middle of Kyoto?”

Shen Ninghua shook her head, “This Palace has no conclusive evidence.”

“There’s no proof, so what are you talking about today?”

“Naturally, it is to dispose of a group of corrupt officials.”

The Third Prince laughed out loud, ”Empress, without evidence, you dare to go after court officials? I’m afraid you’re ruling out dissenters, aren’t you? Empress, you’ve only just supervised the country for a few days, and you’ve already begun to eliminate people in the court, the purpose behind this is really chilling in one’s heart ah …”

The fourth prince also stood out, before he came he received the news, naturally he knew that Shen Ninghua was going to lay hands on them, so today there is no need to hide it, simply tearing his face off is it, Baili Junyi is not there, a woman, they are not afraid of her:

“Empress Mother, you should have heard about it, nowadays there are rumors going around outside, many many people are complaining, complaining about why the Emperor didn’t accept the peace terms of the Great Yue Country, otherwise you wouldn’t have to go through the pains of the war, and now that you are in such a hurry to eradicate the officials in the courtroom, you can’t help but make this King and the others wonder if you have a treasonous heart!”

When these words came out, the hall was in an uproar. Many old-school officials began to float, although they were left alive by the emperor, but look at the emperor’s tactics, who knows if he will continue to pursue their previous faults, if the emperor returned from the expedition, completely stabilized the throne, then pack them is not a matter of lifting their hands.

Shen Ninghua took in the floating thoughts of the crowd under her eyes, and a hint of darkness flashed under her eyes, “Fourth Prince, the folk rumors are all over the place, in which you and the Third Prince have contributed a lot, and haven’t done much pushing behind the scenes, have you.”

“Empress, you are spitting blood. As a member of the royal family, this king naturally has to uphold the majesty of the royal family, so how could he spread these words? Do you have any witnesses, any physical evidence?”

Shen Ninghua voice cold, “If not because of this matter, the Palace does not know that the fourth prince is a meticulous person, some time ago, your relatives Wang Wu, a family was killed, under the steward Ning An family, late at night at home on fire a family of all the old and young burned to death, and another twenty-six people, such as idle people, a night of violent deaths, these people is that you are used to spread rumors of the people, you in order to Not to let this palace to find out, in their spread rumors after, immediately after they will kill them to destroy the trace of the body, but also really waste a lot of painstaking.”

The fourth prince stood firm, his face full of justice, “Empress Mother, these people were killed, this king is also very heartbroken, these days has been letting people in the search for the murderer, only, Empress, how can you rely on your own speculation, and then put things on this king’s head? What rumors, what destroying the corpses, is simply nonsense, today the Empress must give this king a statement!”

As soon as these words came out, quite a few people below began to agree, “Yes, please ask Empress Mother to explain the reasons to the microconsultants and others, or else it won’t be able to convince the public!”

“Yes, one cannot be convicted indiscriminately on the basis of one’s own speculations, especially when the one to be convicted is the king of the dynasty.”

“This wind must not be allowed to grow, or the country will surely be in turmoil.”

“…”

The newly promoted officials’ faces are not good, they support Baili Junyi, and they also respect Shen Ningshua’s wrist, however, today, the Empress rushed out, it is indeed too much in a hurry, there is no evidence, not only can’t convict the Fourth Prince and the others, but it will also make him bite back, the situation is not good ah! Immediately, many people stood out to speak for Shen Ninghua:

“This incident involves many human lives and deserves to be taken seriously, the Empress Mother is only guessing one or two things, but you and others are reacting so greatly, isn’t there a suspicion of a weak heart?”

“Exactly, the body is not afraid of the shadow, if one has not done anything wrong, naturally there is no need to be in a hurry to refute it.”

Zhu Zheng, the representative of the speech officer, suddenly stood out and looked at the third and fourth princes with an unkind look in his eyes: ”Fourth prince, rumors stop at the wise man, the rumors outside that abolishing the empress will calm the war is simply a piece of nonsense, the Great Yue Kingdom is ambitious, clearly trying to do everything possible to bully and humiliate my Da An Kingdom and suppress its morale, the empress is the mother of a country, how can you lightly talk about abolishing the empress? The fourth prince was aggressive in the courtroom and said that the Empress is suspected of conspiracy, do you have any evidence? If you’re talking nonsense without evidence, are you not also an insubordinate?

What’s more, so many people died in the Fourth Prince’s residence, it should be the first time to inform the Empress Mother, so that she can send people from the Ministry of Criminal Affairs to investigate, although you are now a noble prince, you do not have the power to investigate the case, and you are overstepping your authority when you send people to investigate the cause of their deaths!”

Good! The newly promoted officials secretly screamed in their hearts, worthy of being able to sit from the former dynasty to the current dynasty of the speech officer ah, this fighting strength is not ordinary, these words even knocked, the fourth prince’s face is black.

The Fourth Prince turned his head to look at Zhu Zheng, cursing the old undead in his heart.

Shen Ninghua slightly unnoticeable hooked the corners of her lips, and then her eyes mockingly looked at Baili Jinjing, “Fourth Prince, you just were not too anxious some, this Palace has said that there is no evidence? Did you say that everything is speculation?”

Baili Jinjing’s face darkened, a sense of ill will rising in his heart, “So you have proof?”

“Not bad, there, the Minister of Justice, why don’t you say it?”

Has been the old God in the Ministry of Justice Secretary hastened to come forward, from the sleeve pocket took out a sonnets, “Reporting back to the Empress Mother, after inquiries, was detained up witnesses identified, the four wangfu killed people, it is the original spread rumors of the people, which there are also people to give the silver, so that they expand the rumors, the hidden silver has also been recovered.”

Baili Jinjing stared at the Minister of Justice with unkind eyes, “What witnesses, where did you find them?”

“Rumors to find out the root cause is not easy, fortunately the Empress has prepared, just afraid that some people take advantage of the time of war to shake the people’s heart, so in the important teahouse, restaurant, etc., have sent a manpower to stare at, just happened to see this thing through clearly, although there is no time to catch the people who directly spread the rumors, they have been killed, but their first contact with the people have been brought to the the Ministry of Justice for questioning.”

“The people? How dare you make the people witnesses?”

Shen Ninghua raised her eyes, “What, are the people not allowed to be witnesses? Fourth Prince, now that there is evidence that the rumors were spread by your people, what else do you have to say?”

“Even if it is proved that those people spread rumors, so what, do you have proof, Empress, that they were instructed by me?”

Shen Ninghua looked at his certainty and couldn’t help but smile coldly, “I don’t have any evidence.”

Baili Jinjing smiled smugly, without evidence, what could he do?

“I don’t have evidence, but a lot of things don’t need conclusive evidence, come on people, escort the third prince and the fourth prince back to the mansion properly, let them recuperate in the mansion properly in these days, no one is allowed to come to the door to disturb them.”

The Third Prince’s face changed, “Empress, are you trying to put us under house arrest?”

“How?” Shen Ninghua was surprised, “This palace is only letting people send you back to recuperate well, and incidentally sending people to protect your safety, where is it under house arrest?”

“You …”

Shen Ninghua was unwilling to continue arguing with them, “Special period, several princes’ identities are valuable, so extra people should be sent to protect them, come on, escort the two princes back to the house! Oh wait, there’s also Lord Qi, Lord Liu, and Lord Chen … who just spoke, they are also important ministers of the country, special protection for special times, send someone to send them back together as well!”