"Copper bell informants? We set up copper bell informants to listen to both sides, but over the years, there have been many informants. Most of the informants are either groundless groundless accusations that are proven to be false or trivial matters of the common people that need to be reported to the imperial court. We have grown tired of looking at them. Is there something special about them that you've specially reported to me? "
Wu Zetian's voice was a bit tired and she seemed to lack interest in this matter.
The copper bell was set up in the palace, the Imperial Court, and the bustling streets of the capital. It was like a modern reporting box. Periodically, someone would open it, sort out the informants inside, and then report them to the imperial court.
Wu Zetian had originally set up the copper bell to attack her political enemies. As she had been walking step by step towards the throne, she had sensed with the sensitivity of a woman that many of the court officials harbored ulterior motives and were still loyal to Li Tang. If she wasn't careful, she could be consigned to eternal damnation. As a result, she had set up the copper bell to receive informants.
At the same time, she had placed Zhou Xing, Lai Junchen, Suo Yuanli, and other ruthless officials in important positions. Based on the targets exposed in the copper bell, she had cleverly connected them and executed several hundred members of Li Tang's imperial clan and court officials, as well as countless officials below the rank of Provincial Governor. This was an important tool for seizing her political power.
But now, the copper bell had lost its original use.
Although Wu Zetian believed that there were still many officials with malicious intentions, she was confident that with the power she currently possessed and the powerful eyes and ears of the three law departments, they would be enough to deal with them. While the copper bell informants exposed wrongdoing, it had also become a tool for the various political factions to kill each other. As a result, it had been a long time since she had cared about the informants from the copper bell.
Now, the more important copper bell informants were directly sent to the three law departments for processing. At present, Wu Zetian was old and didn't even have the energy to deal with memorials. How could she have the leisure to sort through the vast ocean of informants?
However, even though the original purpose of setting up the Copper Centipede was to attack political enemies, it was not only cruel officials and treacherous officials who could use the Copper Centipede. Everyone could submit a letter. In the process, she could more or less have some objective understanding of the people's will.
What she didn't know was that when she thought she no longer needed the help of the copper puppet, she was surrounded by even more disloyal officials, including the lackeys she had cultivated. Her ears and eyes had been completely shut off. This old lady, who lived high above the palace, could only get all her information from these people with different intentions.
Zhe Zhu bowed and said, "Yes, this notice came from the imperial palace. Because of these two points, I feel that I should take out this report and report it to His Majesty alone. "
Wu Zetian was somewhat curious and asked, "What are the two points?"
Zhe Zhu said, "The first point is that the identity of this informant is only an official slave, not even ten years old. This subject finds it very strange. Another point is that the identity of the informant is not ordinary, so I feel that … it is not appropriate to send it to the Three Law Divisions. "
Wu Zetian frowned slightly. Displeased, she said, "Not even ten years old, and an official slave? What could a discontented child know? As an official slave, the so-called report is nothing more than to report that the Three Law Divisions have enforced the law unfairly, to complain about the injustice of his father, brother, and family members who have committed crimes. We will not look at it. He does not believe in our Three Law Divisions, but We do. Send him to the Three Law Divisions to be punished! "
Zhe Zhu quickly glanced at Li Zhaode. Li Zhaode's eyes lowered slightly. Zhe Zhu gathered his courage and reported, "Your Majesty, the strange point is that this child is not complaining about the injustice of his father, brother, or family members. Rather, he is complaining about several ministers who have been convicted of crimes."
Li Zhaode interjected, "Haha, this is strange. Your Majesty, this old subject is also very curious about this mischievous child who is not even ten years old. Since the Chamberlain has said so, there is no harm in Your Majesty reading it to relieve your boredom. This old subject will also join in on the fun … "
Li Zhaode stroked his beard and smiled. "I believe that if the Three Law Divisions enforced the law strictly and impeccably, their reputation would not be tarnished by a single report."
At the present time, the cooperation between Wu Zetian and Li Zhaode was in the honeymoon phase. Wu Zetian was quite willing to listen to his words. Seeing that Li Zhaode was also interested, Wu Zetian reluctantly said, "Since that is the case, bring out the report. We will take a look!"
Little Hai took the secret letter from Zhe Zhu's hands and presented it to Wu Zetian with both hands. Wu Zetian had only read half of the letter when her complexion changed. Her expression wavered for a long time before she asked in a low voice, "This child is currently a servant of the Sinong Temple?"
Zhe Zhu replied, "Yes!"
Wu Zetian said, "Bring him to see us!"
Zhe Zhu's eyes flashed with a trace of joy. He promptly bowed and said, "As you command!"
Zhe Zhu bowed and withdrew. Wu Zetian slowly let out a breath and handed the secret letter to Li Zhaode, saying, "Zhaode, come and take a look!"
Li Zhaode promptly stood up and took the secret letter from Little Hai's hands. He opened it and began reading.
In fact, he had already known about the entire operation of the Sinong Temple's slave reporting the grievances of the ministers. In order to ensure that Wu Zetian would definitely receive this child, he had rushed to Wucheng Hall to meet with the Son of Heaven so that he could provide support at any time.
The child who had reported was the son of Prime Minister Le Sihui. Le Sihui, the Prime Minister, had fallen very quickly. After Wu Zetian proclaimed herself as the Empress, she changed the era name. Before the twelfth month of this year had passed, it had become a new year halfway through. After the turn of the year, Le Sihui was appointed as the Prime Minister to replace Fu Youyi, who had been dismissed due to his incompetence.
In the end, he had only been the Prime Minister for half a year before Le Sihui was executed for 'treason.' The one who handled the case was Lai Junchen. All the women in Prime Minister Le's family were sent to the palace to be servants. His sons, who had already reached the age of fifteen, were all executed. Because this youngest son was still young and hadn't reached the age to be executed, he was sent to the Sinong Temple as an official slave.
The result of Zhao Yu and the others' operation was to use this child to give Wu Zetian, who needed to solve this case of treason, a dignified way out. Li Zhaode didn't have any relations with the Hidden Sect. However, when some officials looked for him and brought up this matter in a roundabout way, Li Zhaode immediately agreed.
Di Renjie, Ren Zhigu, and the others were all core members of the Li Protection Faction and were his accomplices. Of course, he had to protect them. It was just that he hadn't found a suitable opportunity yet. Now that he had this opportunity, he naturally wouldn't let it go. On the other hand, Li Zhaode hated the ruthless officials of the Three Law Divisions. Even if Di Renjie, Pei Sigu, and the others hadn't been imprisoned, he would still spare no effort in striking them down.
Furthermore, the existence of the ruthless officials was a serious threat to him. Among the Prime Ministers that Wu Zetian promoted before and after her ascension to the throne, only he and Wu Chengsi hadn't been imprisoned. However, as long as these ruthless officials were still around, his good luck would eventually run out.
Li Zhaode had already discovered that one of the main reasons why he was able to remain unscathed in this series of political storms was because of his violent temperament. He always liked to stand up for the ruthless officials.
Back then, when Wang Qingzhi led the people of the capital to petition to make Wu Chengsi the heir to the throne, he was the one who beat Wang Qingzhi to death. Later on, he was the one who secretly submitted a memorial, causing Wu Zetian to remove Wu Chengsi from the position of Prime Minister.
He was also the most blunt with the officials of the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Court, and the Imperial Censorate. Of the Three Law Divisions, the Imperial Censorate had the greatest influence. Back then, he had been the Left Minister of the Imperial Censorate and was Lai Junchen's senior. Now that he was the Prime Minister, he was the most courageous when the ruthless officials were running amok and everyone was afraid of being framed.
His open conflict with the ruthless officials caused him to be marked in the Emperor's heart. Even the Emperor knew how terrible his relationship with the officials of the Three Law Divisions was. This became his greatest protective umbrella. This was because the ruthless officials were well aware that there were three types of people that could not be easily offended, because offending these types of people would easily invite trouble for themselves.
The first type were ruthless officials who were even more powerful than he was. These people were more skilled at manipulating people and could easily backfire on them. The second type were people that the Emperor deeply trusted. What was emphasized here was trust, not importance. Those entrusted with important responsibilities by Wu Zetian naturally had to obtain Wu Zetian's trust, but the primary basis for this was their ability. And they might not necessarily be the person that Wu Zetian trusted the most.
Being the most important and being the most trusted were two different things. Thus, the Prime Minister could be manipulated, but people like Xue Huaiyi, Shanghai Wan 'er, and Wei Tuan' er, who were especially close to Wu Zetian, had to be kept at a respectful distance.
The last type was someone like Li Zhaode. He had a particularly bad relationship with the ruthless officials, but the ruthless officials did not pull him down at the moment he began to shine. In fact, even the Emperor was well aware of how bad their relationship was. If you wanted to mess with such a person, the Emperor would easily see that you were abusing your position to avenge a personal grudge.
Thus, even the old fox Di Renjie had fallen into the hands of Lai Junchen, while Li Zhaode had been actively bypassed by the ruthless officials in the midst of all the disturbances. Their plan was to weaken people like Li Zhaode and clip his wings. Unless it was absolutely necessary, they did not want to have a direct confrontation with him.
The things that they concocted could not stand up to scrutiny. What if the Emperor investigated seriously because of Li Zhaode's involvement in the case and found out that there was something wrong with them? Thus, they were not willing to easily add Li Zhaode's name to the list of criminals that they concocted. Li Zhaode was now a pile of smelly dog shit in the hearts of the ruthless officials. Unless it was absolutely necessary, no one was willing to step on his shoes.
However, this favorable situation for Li Zhaode would not last forever. Now that he was the head of the Prime Minister, a tall tree would attract the wind. If he wanted to avoid open spears and covert attacks, he needed to get rid of these ruthless officials for his own benefit. Thus, he could be said to have hit it off with those officials who wanted to launch another counterattack and rescue Di Renjie and the others from prison.
Very quickly, Le Sihui's son was brought in. Le Sihui's son was now an official slave in the Sinilong Temple. The Sinilong Temple was in charge of the storage of grain, the management of the granaries, and the distribution of the salaries of the officials in the capital. This yamen was also within the boundaries of the Imperial City and was not far from the Palace.
Wu Zetian looked at the delicate nine-year-old child kneeling in front of her and said in a dignified manner, "You are Le Sihui's son? Child, you reported that Lai Junchen enforced the law unfairly and framed an official. Do you have any evidence? "
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