Court.
Hu Shunhai faced the ministers and said: "If there is something to do, we will start to act; if there is nothing to do, we will retreat."
From his point of view, the face of Prime Minister Zhang who had aged much overnight could be seen clearly. What happened in the harem yesterday had spread a lot in Xijing, but most people only knew that Zhang Wanyao had harmed people and did not know that Prime Minister Zhang was trying to bribe.
Compared with Prime Minister Zhang's haggard appearance, the officials were more curious about Yan Wei who suddenly appeared in the court today.
This undistinguished prince actually went to court today, which was rare. The sun was really shining in the west.
Just when the ministers thought that today was another calm day, Fang Qi, standing at the end of the crowd, stood out of the queue with a small box in his arms and tears streaming down his face:
"Please also ask Your Majesty to rectify the affairs of the court and severely punish the traitor!"
Yan Xiu said calmly: "What do you mean, Mr. Fang?"
Fang Qi burst into tears and told the story that Prime Minister Zhang tried to bribe him. Everyone in the hall was shocked, but they did not dare to discuss it openly due to the strict court discipline set by Yan Xiu.
Zhang Xiangqiang kept up his nerves and threatened Fang Qi: "Master Fang must pay attention to evidence when talking and doing things. If you don't get even half of the evidence, you dare to openly slander an veteran from three dynasties in front of His Majesty. What are your intentions?"
Fang Qi opened the small box and held it up with both hands: "This is the evidence! In order to buy off officials, Prime Minister Zhang was not only willing to increase his position by increasing his rank, but he also did not hesitate to use the stolen goods given by the Northern Liang countries to bribe his subordinates."
“What’s in this box is black jade, a specialty of Beiliang!”
Zhang Xiang still pretended to be calm: "Beiliang jade can be found everywhere in Daqin. Master Fang thinks that this small piece of black jade can slander an old minister?"
Fang Qi said neither humble nor arrogantly: "The lower official is just a seventh-grade official with a salary of less than a hundred taels per year. How could he spend a lot of money to buy Beiliang high-grade black jade that is only dedicated to the royal family, just to frame you?"
Yan Xiu: "Send it up."
Hu Shunhai walked down the steps of the dragon chair, carefully took the box from Fang Qi's hand, and handed it to Yan Xiu respectfully.
Yan Xiu glanced at it lightly: "It is indeed top grade, and its size and quality are even better than those in Tai Chi Palace. Prime Minister Zhang, how should you explain it?"
After that, he slammed the box onto the armrest.
Zhang Cheng saw that the meeting was not going well, so he knelt down quickly, but still said harshly: "Your Majesty, I have been wronged. Someone must have been behind this matter, and asked Mr. Fang to use Zhang's incident to slander me."
"The Zhang family, a common man, caused such a catastrophic disaster because of the lax discipline of the old minister. This is the fault of the old minister, and the old minister is willing to be punished. But if someone with intentions takes the opportunity to use this matter to frame Zhongliang, if your majesty is gullible, Wen He If the two emperors have souls in heaven, they will definitely be heartbroken."
Are you using the late emperor to oppress him again? Yan Xiu couldn't help but sneer, do you still think he is the fledgling young emperor?
Yan Wei stood up at the right time: "Your Majesty, I have someone who can testify for Prime Minister Zhang."
Prime Minister Zhang himself didn't even think of anyone who could testify for him. What did Yan Wei mean by doing this? Could it be that he had a brain attack?
Before he could recover, Li Woyun, dressed in official uniform and with a sick face, appeared in the morning court hall. He had not been seen for many days. He had lost his former radiance and was so thin that he was so thin that the ministers recognized him repeatedly. .
Li Woyun walked quickly to the front of the dragon chair, his long sleeves in his broad robe rising without any wind. He knelt down and kowtowed in salute: "My humble minister, Li Woyun, pays my respects to Your Majesty. Long live, long live."
Zhang Dang's expression when he saw him was as if he had seen a ghost, and all kinds of colors were painted on his face, which was wonderful.
Compared to other ministers, Yan Xiu didn't react much when he saw Li Woyun who had borrowed his corpse to resurrect his soul. Anyone with a discerning eye would have known that everything today was a trap set by His Majesty, together with King Fang Qi of Xiang and others, waiting for the big fish like Prime Minister Zhang to take the bait. !
Yan Xiu's eyes were filled with indifference: "Master Li's resurrection from the dead is truly a wonder in the world."
Li Woyun straightened up and clasped his hands again: "Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. I am not here to recount my experience of escaping death during disaster relief in the north."
"The humble minister wants to accuse Prime Minister Zhang and his local gang members of selling disaster relief charcoal and grain and grass issued by the court at sky-high prices when the people in the north were affected by the disaster! They even openly sold their officials and even forced the former Cangzhou governor Liu Ziheng and his family to death."
"I and Mr. Zheng carried the blood letter written by Liu Ziheng and returned to Xijing with Liu Ziheng's second remaining son. Unexpectedly, they were chased by Zhang Dang again halfway. I fell off the cliff with Mr. Liu, and Mr. Zheng... was killed on the spot. Died in the line of duty.”
"I thought that Prime Minister Zhang would let me go, but I didn't expect that after I was recuperating at the bottom of the cliff for three days, I encountered an assassin again. In order to protect my life, Mr. Liu changed clothes with me, disfigured himself, and lured away the assassin with a forged blood letter. Thousands of arrows pierced his heart and he died.”
Speaking of urgency, the corners of Li Woyun's mouth were so excited that blood spilled out. He stepped forward and personally handed over the blood letter stained with Liu Ziheng's blood and tears.
Zhang Xiang stared at the blood letter and knew that he was doomed.
The blood letter he burned turned out to be a fake.
Hu Shunhai quickly ordered people to carry Li Woyun, who was vomiting blood, to sit on a bench aside, and invited the imperial doctor along the way.
Seeing that Li Woyun was so sad that he vomited blood, Yan Wei restrained his cynicism, frowned solemnly and said, "Your Majesty, I also have something to report."
Yan Xiu gently put away the blood book and said with a sad expression: "Retribution."
Yan Wei: "Prime Minister Zhang just kept saying that this black jade was deliberately framed by others, but you didn't realize that you are old and confused! The number of tributes received by the imperial court every year will be recorded in the register."
"I have carefully verified that Da Qin obtained only half of the black jade last year, and all of it was used by your majesty as a reward. And the black jade in Master Fang's hands is exactly the same as the black jade you secretly hid in your old house in Yongzhou."
Zhang Xiang's face was ashen: "It is true that I am from Yongzhou, but everyone knows that Zhang's old house in Yongzhou has been abandoned for many years, how can he accumulate gold and jade!"
At this time, he was still resisting. Yan Wei clapped his hands: "Master Bai, bring the stolen goods in with you."
After giving an order, Bai Heng walked into the hall with countless portable treasure boxes of dragon guards.
Boxes after boxes of treasures were brought into the palace. Hu Shunhai curiously counted them silently, and actually counted eighty-nine boxes!
Yan Wei did not forget to add: "These are only one-tenth of Prime Minister Zhang's private property, and the rest are still on the way. The treasures that Beiliang and other countries gave to Prime Minister Zhang for winning the polo match that day are all in the palace."
"Before Alehong fled back to the grassland, he personally made a list of gifts for Beiliang. He couldn't write Chinese characters, so he wrote Beiliang Cuneiform in handwriting. Mr. Li is proficient in the languages of various countries and asked Mr. Li to read it."
Ignoring that Li Woyun was still feeling uncomfortable, Yan Wei stuffed the list into his arms, and Yan Xiu gave him a hard look.
Li Woyun wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, walked back to the palace with the list in hand, translated it word for word, and the dragon guards also checked it on the spot.
Less than half an hour passed, the list was finished, and the journey of the Zhang family had come to an end.
…
Shangzhou, Lianyin Temple.
Xijing is only more than three hundred miles away from Shangzhou, and the news can be conveyed in one day.
Empress Dowager Zhang was burning incense in the quiet room. Hongmei opened the door and whispered goodbye in her ear.
When she heard the word "property confiscation", the incense in Queen Mother Zhang's hand broke into two pieces, and the slowly burning incense head rolled down the back of her hand.
"He was so eager to take action." Empress Dowager Zhang was heartbroken. "In order to protect his position as the crown prince, the Zhang family fought hard in front of the late emperor, and that was why he succeeded today!"
"Okay, what a move to burn bridges! What a ruthless and good emperor!"
