bookrandom Chapter 1434
Chapter 1434
"Because when they went to court, they stepped into the Fengtian Hall with their left foot first."
The commander of the Imperial Guard in charge of escorting the people gave an utterly absurd answer in a serious tone.
As he said this, he even felt a little guilty—after all, it sounded too much like a lie. But... good heavens, this news was more real than gold; he heard it with his own ears!
Meanwhile, Zhan Hui, whose hands were now bound behind his back, frowned deeply, revealing a meme-worthy expression reminiscent of an elderly person on the subway. He could barely speak, stammering, "Wh...wh...what??"
He even wondered if there was something wrong with his ears.
What kind of reason is that?!
Zhang Yi, Zhu Shou, and Cao Xing, who were also firmly held by the Embroidered Uniform Guard next door, looked incredulous and dumbfounded. Then they cursed angrily: "Imprisoned because your left foot stepped into the Fengtian Hall first? You can't even come up with a decent reason to fool me?"
"Exactly! Who the hell are you trying to fool?! Even when we wanted to steal something and frame someone, we couldn't come up with this excuse!"
"..."
Clearly, Zhang Yi and his men felt that these Imperial Guards were not telling the truth.
They used to act all high and mighty when they were bullying others and lording it over others, but the young emperor treated these high-ranking officials like child's play.
But they never thought of that.
In the past, they used to bully others by relying on their power and try to give them a respectable title because, although they had great power and a strong presence, they were still subordinate to others.
But Emperor Zhu Yunwen was different. He was no longer the subservient Third Prince of the Eastern Palace, but a true ruler above all others! And with such power that no one could stand against him, even calling a deer a horse would be accepted by others, let alone imprisoning someone.
Regarding the accusations made by Zhang Yi and the others, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard in charge of escorting them was somewhat helpless and said with a wry smile, "You are nothing but prisoners now, why would I lie to you? You heard me right, and we didn't lie to you. We heard these words with our own ears when we arrested people in Fengtian Hall!"
As the words fell.
Zhan Hui awkwardly suppressed the exaggerated and out-of-control expression on his face.
He knew in his heart that there was nothing wrong with what the other party said. In the eyes of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he, Zhan Hui, was no longer the Minister of Personnel and the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate. He was not worth the trouble of others making up lies about him.
Moreover, "Such an absurd thing... seems more like something His Majesty would do."
After a moment of silence, Zhan Hui seemed somewhat apprehensive and hesitant to speak. "Then...then..." He seemed to want to ask something but dared not.
However, the commander of the Imperial Guards who was escorting him patted him on the shoulder with a gloating expression and mocked him as if chatting casually: "Speaking of which, it was because of your case, Lord Zhan, that you displeased His Majesty and this is what caused this trouble!"
He's been very busy these past few days.
It can be said that they watched helplessly as Zhan Hui's trusted protégé, Chen Zhou, stirred up the joint trial of the three judicial departments and joined forces with other officials in the court to make things difficult for Zhu Yunwen.
They served Zhu Yunwen and received benefits from him, so naturally they were loyal to him.
At this point, I certainly wouldn't mind saying a few more words to provoke Zhan Hui, the root cause of all this trouble:
“Not only the Ministry of Justice, but also the Court of Judicial Review and the Censorate... are all currently imprisoned in our Imperial Prison. A joint trial by the three judicial departments is impossible, so we had no choice but to come here to bring you, Lord Zhan, and the three marquises back.”
He kept calling out "My lord" and "Lord Marquis".
But his tone was full of sarcasm: "This time, the imperial prison will be a busy affair for quite a while. Sigh! I'm destined to be a workaholic. I can't finish this physical labor, I simply can't finish it all, hehe..."
His words seemed like complaints, but he was actually eager to try – wasn't this the big job? Interrogating prisoners, the Imperial Prison was the best at this! A good haul of whips, branding irons, and the tiger bench, how satisfying!
Of course he knew that what he was saying was exactly what those traitors like Zhan Hui and Zhang Yi desperately wanted to know, but dared not ask—they were still dreaming of getting rid of them!
And so… he got to see Zhan Hui's face turn pale and then red: "What!? Even the Court of Judicial Review and the Censorate…"
Zhan Hui looked utterly devastated, as if seven or eight tenths of his energy had been drained away. He was completely subdued by the Imperial Guards, staring blankly into space, his eyes filled with despair...
How could he not know that Zhu Yunwen didn't care about whether to step forward with his left or right foot first? "His Majesty... is determined to kill me!! And is determined... to fight to the death with all the gentry in the land! Even if most of the court is willing to plead for me... his mind remains unchanged!"
So he knew... he couldn't get out, he could never get out again!
Think of this.
Zhan Hui felt a wave of despair – that young man who had risen to such a high position was extremely powerful, and in just one year, he had become the most insurmountable mountain in the world – if he didn’t want to, even someone like Zhan Hui, who could influence most of the court, couldn’t shake him in the slightest!
On the other side, Zhang Yi, Zhu Shou, and Cao Xing sensed the faint excitement in the eyes of the Jinyiwei commander in charge of escorting them, and their expressions immediately changed, revealing fear and panic. They nervously cursed, "You people from the Imperial Prison are all fucking abnormal! Perverts!" They hadn't forgotten their experience in the Imperial Prison, which still chilled them to the bone.
"Hey~ My three lords, how can you say that? I am merely receiving His Majesty's salary and doing my best to serve him," the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard replied jokingly.