Yu Shu felt that she was the first person in the history of Da An to be impeached on the first day of the morning court session.
Of the three officials who came forward to accuse her, the leader was the Imperial Censor, Wang Jiao. The other two were Liu Tong, the Northern Yamen's Magistrate, and Yin Zhourong, the Assistant Minister of Revenue, who was the plaintiff.
The three of them sang the same tune. They first described how Yu Shu's mother, Cuiping, eloped with Scholar Yu more than ten years ago and stole some of the Yin family's belongings. Now that Yu Shu had gained power, Cuiping fearlessly went to the Yin family and flaunted her power at the Assistant Minister's residence, angering Madam Yin to the point of illness. Yin Zhourong could not bear it and sent a steward to the yamen to complain. Who knew that Yu Shu would ignore the law and beat up the officials who came to interrogate her, brazenly shielding her mother and refusing to plead guilty.
Yin Zhourong talked about how his wife, Madam Yin, had been humiliated by a servant who had run away from home years ago and was so angry that she was bedridden. His face was full of shame and his eyes were red. Those who heard it felt indignant and those who saw it felt sympathetic.
In the end, Imperial Censor Wang spoke righteously and vehemently, "Mother Yu was of lowly birth and actually committed the scandal of eloping with someone. She and Father Yu did not have an illicit relationship. As the saying goes, like mother, like daughter. Mother Yu is a sinful servant. How can Yu Shu be qualified to enter the court as an official? After Assistant Minister Yin reported her, if she did not have a guilty conscience, why would she beat up and drive away the officials? This official believes that the female Celestial Commissioner, Yu Shu, deliberately concealed her birth and disrupted the court. She is deceiving the emperor and should be severely punished! "
"This official agrees." Liu Zhizhong was equally righteous.
"Please, Your Majesty, give me justice." Yin Zhourong had a bitter and vengeful expression.
Emperor Zhao Qing sat high up on the dragon throne. Only Eunuch Ying, who was nearby, could clearly see his slightly gloomy expression. He didn't dare to look too long. He shifted his gaze and then stared steadily at the civil and military officials below. The buzzing sounds of discussion traveled into his ears. Only the old officials at the head of the group looked down, as if the matter had nothing to do with them.
Yu Shu listened attentively to the distortion of the facts by the trio. Her face did not change at all, but her heart was full of vile thoughts. Beside her, a colleague of the Celestial Commissioner asked her in a low voice,
"Official Yu, this can't be true, right? Is there some kind of misunderstanding?"
Thanks to the Aquatic Conference, Yu Shu had a very high reputation among the Celestial Commissioner. The officials present did not listen to the censor's side of the story. Someone immediately lowered his voice and reminded Yu Shu,
"If there's any misunderstanding, Official Yu, quickly come out to defend yourself. Don't just stand there."
Yu Shu cupped her hands and thanked the other for his good intentions, but she didn't rush out rashly to fight with the censor. She wasn't guilty, so what was there to panic about? Didn't the emperor say anything?
She had calculated that there would be trouble today, but she didn't expect that Yin Zhourong would find a censor from the Imperial Censorate to directly impeach her. This was too ignorant. Didn't they use their brains to think that Emperor Zhao Qing would be happy to see the female emissary he had personally appointed become a criminal who deceived the emperor?
Yu Shu felt slightly annoyed and unconsciously turned her head to look at Xue Rui. She saw that he was looking in the direction of Yin Zhourong and the others. Sensing her gaze, he turned back to look at her with a calm gaze. He shook his head slightly, as if telling her to calm down.
Yin Zhourong knelt on the ground. He didn't wait for Emperor Zhao Qing to speak for a while, but he didn't dare to raise his head to look. Sweat gradually appeared on his forehead. He knew that he was taking a risk out of desperation. The emperor might not want his female emissary Miaoling to be impeached.
However, he had no other choice. Wang Jiao was a stubborn person. Not long ago, he had paid a visit to Wang Jiao's house and exaggerated the relationship between his family and Yu Shu. Wang Jiao could no longer sit still and had taken the initiative to interfere in this matter. Thinking that he had investigated the truth, he thought that Yu Shu was a treacherous and treacherous official, shouting that he would expose her true colors in front of the emperor.
This was exactly what he wanted, but he didn't expect that Xue Rui would suddenly return to the capital. He also didn't expect that the emperor wouldn't continue to suppress the Xue family. Instead, he allowed Xue Lingnan and Xue Lingnan to return to court. That groundless case of treason seemed to have been solved just like that.
He had even tried to make an issue of the relationship between Yu Shu and Xue Rui to make the emperor vent his anger.
He wasn't willing to let Yu Shu off just like that. Moreover, Wang Jiao was eager to show off and kept urging him to do it. He steeled his heart and simply chose to present the memorial on the morning of the first day of the imperial court session, catching her off guard.
It wasn't that he didn't have a plan. Even if the emperor was biased, it couldn't be too obvious under the eyes of the public. As long as the emperor opened his mouth to question the case, he was confident that he could pin that girl to death!
Yin Zhourong stood in the middle of the aisle. Coincidentally, next to him was Jing Chen. He was more sensitive than an ordinary person and caught the sinister calculation that flashed across Yin Zhourong's face. He frowned and moved. He was about to step forward to defend Yu Shu, but the purple-robed and golden-ribboned official standing at the very front opened his mouth before him.
"Reporting to Your Majesty, this official has something to say regarding the Celestial Commissioner."
Jing Chen stopped in his tracks and retracted his leg that had just stepped out.
On the dragon throne, Emperor Zhao Qing turned his body sideways and raised his hand without a word, indicating for him to speak.
The official first looked down at Yin Zhourong, then slowly said, "The person that Censor Wang wants to impeach is a female imperial official of our Kunling Bureau, a female fortune-teller with two ranks and three first rank. She graduated from the Dayan Examination. Although the Celestial Commissioner doesn't stick to one pattern, she won't abuse her authority. Before every official takes office, the Minister of Tai Cheng will conduct a check. Those who don't have a clean background and are of good character will not be appointed. This official sincerely requests Your Majesty to investigate. "
These words were tantamount to warning others — if you want to impeach Yu Shu, you are accusing me, the Celestial Commissioner, of negligence?
Yin Zhourong secretly complained. He had no intention of dragging the Celestial Commissioner down. It was all Wang Jiao's own decision to say those words and provoke this great Buddha. What should he do?
He didn't dare to challenge the official, but that didn't mean others didn't dare. Without waiting for him to smooth things over, Censor Wang stiffened his neck and said —
"You must have been deceived by someone, so you don't know her background. This lowly official has investigated clearly beforehand. This Yu Nuyu's birth mother remarried after her father's death and became a concubine of a wealthy family. She is truly shameless and unscrupulous. Later, her stepfather's family was in trouble and her mother sneaked out. She hid her and waited until the storm died down. Then, she went to the Ministry of Revenue to tamper with her household registration in order to curry favor with Imperial Consort Niangniang at the Hibiscus Gentlemen's Banquet. She thought that she could deceive everyone and enjoy her wealth with a clear conscience. She didn't know that Assistant Minister Yin's house still has her mother's contract of sale. The Ministry of Revenue also has a record that can be found. "
He was full of confidence. Seeing that the official was silent, he thought that he had nothing to refute and raised his voice even louder, "This official dares to guarantee that everything I said just now is the truth. Does the official dare to guarantee that Yu Shu is innocent?"
The great hall was silent for a moment. Everyone shut their mouths at the same time and stared at Imperial Censor Wang, whose face was glowing red.
Imperial Censor Wang enjoyed the feeling of being the center of attention and couldn't help but feel his blood boil. It was as if he could already see the future. Because he dared to admonish the Emperor and confront the Celestial Commissioner Celestial, his reputation would skyrocket and he would be highly regarded by the Emperor. He would be promoted to the position of Imperial Censor, just like those upright officials recorded in the history books who would rather die than submit, unafraid of the nobles and prime ministers.
Yin Zhourong, "…" Idiot.
Yu Shu, "…" Idiot.
The civil and military officials, "…" Idiot.
Even the entire Imperial Censor wouldn't dare to go against the official. A mere fourth-ranked Deputy Imperial Censor actually dared to challenge the official. If he wasn't an idiot, then what was he?
The official stood at the front of the hundreds of officials. He didn't move at first, but when Wang Jiao finished speaking, he stepped forward and bowed to Emperor Zhao Qing. He said, "Everyone knows that Yu Nuyu is His Majesty's bestowed the title of Messenger Miaoling. If her character and background are flawed, then she has failed to live up to His Majesty's expectations. If news of this gets out, it would be a disgrace to the Emperor's dignity and should be punished severely. However, if there are people who maliciously slander her and have ill intentions, they cannot be let off. His Majesty, please issue an edict to have the three departments investigate the matter and reveal the truth. "
These words sounded just, but Yin Zhourong was trembling with fear. The situation was already out of his control. He turned to look at the righteous Wang Jiao. It was too late for regrets.
"My beloved official's words are reasonable." Emperor Zhao Qing nodded. He looked down the stairs and read through the heads row by row. Finally, his eyes stopped on a person in the third row from the back. He said slowly,
"Where is Messenger Miaoling?"
From afar, Yu Shu quivered and jogged out of the ranks. "Your humble servant is here. I kowtow to Your Majesty." After waiting for a long time, it was finally her turn to speak.
"You heard someone impeaching you just now. We ask you, do you have anything to say?" Emperor Zhao Qing had to squint to clearly see the figure kneeling on the ground.
"Reporting to Your Majesty." Yu Shu took a deep breath and raised her head, revealing a calm face. She said in a loud and clear voice,
"If you wish to incriminate someone, you can always find a pretext."
A few steps ahead, Yin Zhourong's back stiffened. Imperial Censor Wang turned to glare at her. The official turned sideways and glanced at her with a smile.
"Good." Emperor Zhao Qing nodded in satisfaction. He said, "Then we will allow the official to submit a memorial and set this as a case. We will order the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Justice, and the Imperial Censorate to conduct a joint investigation. We must find out the truth."
As he said this, his gaze swept across the crowd and his finger pointed in the air. He paused and said, "We will send … Vice Minister Xue of the Supreme Court, Assistant Minister Li Youqing of the Ministry of Justice, and Imperial Censor Wang of the Imperial Censorate to conduct a joint investigation."
The three people whose names were called had different expressions. The first to stand up to receive the decree was Assistant Minister Li of the Ministry of Justice, followed by Xue Rui. Finally, there was trouble with Imperial Censor Wang.
"Your Majesty, you must not do this. Lord Xue of the Supreme Court and Yu Shu are sworn siblings. This is known to all. How can we ask him to participate in the investigation?"
Xue Rui lowered his head and did not speak. He heard Emperor Zhao Qing snort coldly and say unhappily, "That is why we have asked the three departments to conduct a joint investigation and supervise each other."
"Your Majesty is wise." The official took the lead to praise. The Celestial Commissioner and the others echoed and immediately suppressed Imperial Censor Wang's protest.
With the situation developing to this point, Yu Shu was half happy and half worried. She was happy that Emperor Zhao Qing was protecting her. Looking at the three people in the joint investigation, there was no need to talk about Xue Rui. Assistant Minister Li of the Ministry of Justice was her neighbor. She was worried because Yin Zhourong had several pieces of "hard evidence" in her hands. No matter how she looked at it, she looked like the unreasonable person.
Just as she was worrying, another enemy stood out in front of her. It was Ning Wang Liu Hao who wanted her dead.
"Fuhuang Rong Bing," Ning Wang said solemnly, "Just as the official said, this case concerns Fuhuang's authority. This son requests to supervise the trial."
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