Lai Zixun was unable to restrain his anger and roared, "Yang Fan, how dare you disturb the court. Do you believe that I won't …"
When Lai Zixun spoke up to here, he suddenly became tongue-tied. He stared at Yang Fan in a daze and suddenly pointed at him, shouting, "Who are you? You are not Yang Fan! "
In the back hall, Wu Zetian, who was listening to the interrogation, suddenly opened her eyes wide, causing Lai Junchen to jump up. Wu Zetian coldly glanced at him, causing Lai Junchen to shiver and awkwardly sit back down.
'Yang Fan' flicked his long hair and laughed complacently, "Hehe! Imperial Censor Lai, you really have good judgment. I am indeed not Yang Fan! "
Lai Zixun shouted in shock and anger, "Who are you? Why are you pretending to be Yang Fan? You … you guys … who are you? "
He looked at the officials who were escorting 'Yang Fan' and saw that all of them had a strange smile on their faces. His hair stood up and a sense of danger arose.
A handsome young master in white robes waved a small golden fan made of ivory and walked into the hall. He said leisurely, "It doesn't matter why he is pretending to be Yang Fan! It also doesn't matter who they are! What's important is … Pei Xuanli, who is in charge of guiding the money and colluding with them, actually doesn't know Yang Fan. This … isn't it a little funny? "
This person wore a black muslin fedora on her head, and her forehead was inlaid with a piece of beautiful jade. She wore a jade-white robe embroidered with a lotus flower pattern, and a brocade belt was tied around her slender waist. She wore a pair of deerskin boots on her feet, and her eyes were clear like autumn water. She was graceful and charming, and revealed a sense of spirit.
Lai Zixun was intimidated by her bearing and actually didn't scold her. He only asked in shock, "Who are you?"
That 'Yang Fan' glared and shouted, "How dare you! Princess Taiping is here, why are you not going to come forward and greet her! "
"Princess Taiping?"
Lai Zixun initially didn't believe the identity of the female cultivator when she heard the identity of the female cultivator. But when she saw the demeanor of this female cultivator, and when she thought about how she dared to barge into the Imperial Messenger Platform, she couldn't help but believe it.
"Princess Taiping?"
Li Youdao's eyes lit up when he heard this. He rushed forward to speak with Princess Taiping. But, he was stopped by Princess Taiping's underling who was disguised as a class monitor. Li Youdao was so anxious that he stomped his feet and shouted, "Your Highness, this old man was wrongly imprisoned. Please help me tell His Majesty that this old man is wrongly accused, wrongly accused …"
Princess Taiping did not answer him. This was also the intelligence of Princess Taiping. Even though she was a princess, it was not appropriate for her to get too involved in such a major case of rebellion. If she took up Li Youdao's words, would she not care about Li Youdao's grievances? Regardless of success or failure, she was involved in it. Her original advantage of having a transcendent position would no longer exist.
If she only cared about Yang Fan's case, no matter how much trouble she made, her mother wouldn't have any scruples because her mother knew why she was involved in it. But once the case of Yang Fan was overturned, it would shake the foundation of the entire rebellion case. Given the shrewdness of the Queen Mother, she would definitely investigate this case again.
At that time, if it was found that Di Renjie and the others really didn't rebel, these prime ministers, ministers, and assistant ministers would definitely owe her a big favor. If they really did rebel, Princess Taiping wouldn't have to bear any responsibility because what she did was only to save her lover. It wasn't a political dispute.
Although Princess Taiping seemed to have no scruples, she actually had a good sense of propriety. After suppressing Lai Zixun, she immediately turned to Pei Xuanli and asked in a deep voice, "I want to ask you. You said that you acted as a middleman for Yang Fan, causing him to accept Li Youdao's bribe. How many times did you come into contact with him? Where were they? When? Speak! "
Pei Xuanli looked at Lai Zixun and then at Princess Taiping. He wanted to say something but hesitated. Seeing the appearance of this princess, his heart also became lively. He almost wanted to cry out that he was innocent. But when he saw the sinister gaze of Lai Zixun, Pei Xuanli's heart trembled. The words that were about to come out of his mouth were immediately swallowed back.
The princesses of the royal family actually couldn't do whatever they wanted. In fact, the princesses of the royal family rarely collided with the ministers in the court. Because they were the children of the emperor, they had a high status, but they didn't have the power to interfere with the government affairs. If the ministers were afraid that you could speak in front of the emperor, they might give you some leeway out of respect for you as a child of the royal family. But if they didn't want to care about you, you really couldn't do anything to them.
It was just like the Luoyang Magistrate Dong Xuan during the reign of Emperor Guangwu of Han. He stopped the guards of honor of the princess on the street and dragged out the family members of the princess's trusted aides who had committed crimes and killed them on the spot. The princess was helpless and couldn't even gather her family's warriors to resist. She could only run to the emperor and cry her heart out. It was rare to see a princess like Princess Taiping.
Right now, Pei Xuanli was still a prisoner of the Imperial Messenger Platform. His life and death was completely in the hands of Lai Zixun. Moreover, Princess Taiping was clearly standing up for Yang Fan and not for them. What if …
In the officialdom, it was too common for compromises to happen. If he steeled his heart and said everything, Princess Taiping and Lai Zixun would come to an agreement. Lai Zixun would release Yang Fan and Princess Taiping would return home. The one who would be out of luck would be him.
Pei Xuanli didn't know that the current emperor was in the rear hall. When he thought of this, he forcefully swallowed the words that were about to come out of his mouth. He changed the topic and said, "This … this … I have come into contact with him many times. How can I remember the exact time and location?"
Princess Taiping coldly laughed, "What a good 'many times'. Since the two of you have come into contact so frequently, why don't you even recognize Yang Fan's appearance? You actually mistook my carriage driver as the Left Commander of the Imperial Guards? "
Pei Xuanli's face turned red and he couldn't speak. Princess Taiping then turned to Lai Zixun and coldly spoke, "Lai Zixun, what do you say?"
Yang Fan was tricked by Lai Junchen. They clearly knew that Pei Xuanli had never bribed Yang Fan. How could they still bring them up for questioning in the court? Once the words of both sides didn't match, wouldn't they be looking for trouble?
Moreover, they only needed to make the confession watertight and make the emperor believe it. They basically didn't need to care about the thoughts of the criminal. This was even more brutal than enforcing the law. When had they ever thought that someone would come to investigate how they enforced the law?
Lai Zixun saw that if Princess Taiping continued to cause trouble like this, things would get out of hand. She couldn't help but threaten with a stern voice, "Your highness! This place is the court office of the imperial court, not your Princess Residence! I'm the judge in the court here, an official of the imperial court, not a servant in your Princess Residence! Although your highness is a descendant of the Emperor, you shouldn't interfere with the judicial system, let alone barging into the court! This lowly official would like to invite Princess Taiping to leave immediately. I won't go too far. If not, my Imperial Censorate will definitely impeach Princess Taiping and respectfully request His Majesty the Emperor to punish you harshly! "
Although Lai Zixun was shocked by Princess Taiping earlier, her words were powerful and resonant, filled with confidence.
The Imperial Censorate originally had the authority to impeach all officials. During these years, the number of prime ministers, ministers, and vice ministers who had been impeached by them was countless. Even members of the imperial clan, nobles, and even the two surviving princes of the current Emperor had been impeached by them before. If they really started a fight, he really wasn't afraid of this Princess Taiping.
Although Princess Taiping had secretly gathered some henchmen, she still belonged to the side with relatively weak power in the imperial court. The current Princess Taiping was not the awe-inspiring and powerful Princess Taiping of the State. Her power was inferior to Xue Huaiyi, Wu Sansi, and even Wu Chengsi, who had already quit as Prime Minister.
After Wu Zetian ascended the throne, the entire Li Tang's imperial clan was no longer in people's eyes. Seeing that the princess who often liked to socialize at banquets now lived in seclusion and behaved abnormally, one could know the situation of the entire Li Tang's imperial clan. Because Princess Taiping married Wu Youji, she could be considered half a member of the Wu Clan, so she wasn't affected. But she was absolutely not domineering, especially now. What was the reason for this case? It was the prime ministers who wanted to support the Crown Prince to ascend the throne and restore the title of Li Tang. Who was the Crown Prince? He was the elder brother of Princess Taiping. Why was Princess Taiping so keen to intervene in this case? Why did she try to rehabilitate the traitor? Wasn't the answer already obvious?
Lai Zixun felt that she had grasped Princess Taiping's weakness, but she didn't know that Princess Taiping had already given Wu Zetian a preventive injection. The bigger the matter today was, the more it seemed that she had no guilt in her heart and was magnanimous. How would she care about Lai Zixun's threat?
After hearing Lai Zixun's words, Princess Taiping giggled a few times. As expected, there was a look of disapproval on her face. Princess Taiping said, "After Yang Fan came back from the Western Region, because he had made great contributions, His Majesty promoted him to be a general of the Yulin Academy. This was just a recent matter.
Before Yang Fan was promoted to a general, there was no reason for you to bribe him. Your contact must have started after he returned to the capital. Good! I have sent people to investigate the details of Yang Fan's and Pei Xuanli's movements after he returned to the capital. Pei Xuanli, tell me. On what day and where did you meet with Yang Fan? See if the information matches with what this consort has found. "
Princess Taiping's words were naturally a lie. No matter how much power she had, how could she investigate the whereabouts of others in the past few months? However, Lai Zixun had a guilty conscience in his heart. When he heard this, he felt guilty. Pei Xuanli was originally forced to confess. At this time, he was even more crazy. For a moment, they were all frozen there.
There was only one chance to save Yang Fan. She had to be extremely cautious. Therefore, Princess Taiping naturally prepared more than this move. However, when she bribed the jailer to collude with Yang Fan, she unexpectedly found out that up until now, Yang Fan and Pei Xuanli, who 'bribed' him, had not met face to face. Princess Taiping couldn't help but have a strange thought, "Is there anything more obvious than this? As important criminals, the two of them actually have not met face to face! There's no need for that. Just this one is enough! I can't believe that the Censorate Chamber is so ridiculous. "
In the back hall, Wu Zetian's face was already clouded. There seemed to be a faint thunder brewing. Lai Junchen secretly glanced at Wu Zetian. His legs softened. He slipped from his seat to the ground. He took the opportunity to kneel and kowtow, saying, "Your Majesty, please forgive me! I was not strict enough, so … "
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