"King of Foreign Lands, don't blame me for not warning you! Zhang Chaoshu is an assistant minister of the Bureau of Revenue, an important official of the Imperial Court. He entered the Bureau of Personnel and the Bureau of Revenue to undergo numerous inspections. Moreover, the Imperial Court has investigated him and found that he truly does have outstanding achievements. Civil officials are different from generals. If you slander an important official and insult his reputation, you should know what the consequences will be. If this matter is not investigated in front of the Holy Emperor, this old man will never let you go! "
The Grand Preceptor said, his face ashen.
Wang Chong had even produced evidence, and not even he could do anything about it. Whether the matter was true or false, Zhang Chaoshu had to be investigated.
"Half-truth and half-lie are not false, and half-lie and half-truth are not true. Does the Grand Preceptor not understand this principle?"
Wang Chong looked up at the Grand Preceptor and blushed. He naturally understood the tricks these people were playing, but in front of him, they were just petty tricks.
"And Grand Preceptor, be at ease. I have even more evidence … In a few days, I will send it all to the Imperial Court!!"
"Buzz!"
The Grand Preceptor's body trembled, and he was instantly rendered speechless. On the other side, Zhang Chaoshu's face was as white as a sheet of paper.
"Your Majesty! This subject has nothing more to say. In order to prove my innocence, this subject is willing to accept the Imperial Court's investigation. "
Zhang Chaoshu finally walked out and bowed to the ceiling of the court.
Now that things had come to this, it was no longer up to him.
… …
With the end of the court session, Wang Chong was the first to walk out of the court, his expression cold and aloof, his hands held behind his back.
Unlike on the first day of the court session, all the civil officials were deathly silent, their eyes filled with fear as they stared at Wang Chong's back.
In just two short days, Wang Chong, an Advisor-in-Waiting, had only attended two court sessions, but on the first day, he had refuted the Grand Preceptor, the King of Song, and Li Linfu, making them feel as if they had been beaten black and blue. On the second day, he captured and imprisoned Assistant Minister of Revenue Zhang Chaoshu, who had requested to disband the prefectural armies. His actions could be said to be swift and decisive.
At this moment, no one dared to treat him as a seventeen or eighteen-year-old youth. Even Prince Qi had a slightly more solemn expression on his face as he walked out of the Imperial Court. In the short span of a year, King Qi realized that the current Wang Chong was even more troublesome and difficult to deal with than before.
"Wang Chong, everything is just as you predicted. Putting Zhang Chaoshu in prison and making an example out of him will intimidate the other civil officials. Although we can't get rid of the situation of being suppressed by the civil officials in a short period of time, and we can't get rid of the constraints of the reduction of military strength, but there won't be a policy like dissolving the prefectural armies. "
A series of hurried footsteps sounded from behind. The Tiger of the Empire, Zhangchou Jianqiong, had caught up to Wang Chong and stood beside him.
His admiration for Wang Chong was sincere. It had been half a month since that incident, but Zhangchou Jianqiong had been frowning in worry. As the Minister of War, not only was he unable to defend the interests of the Bureau of Military Personnel and launch an effective counterattack, he was also being suppressed. Wang Chong's appearance was like a ray of light. Perhaps, he was the only one who could break the current stalemate.
"But will this matter really be enough to subdue them? The Confucians won't let this matter rest so easily! "
Zhangchou Jianqiong asked.
Zhangchou Jianqiong's age and experience far surpassed Wang Chong's, but in this matter, he had unknowingly begun to place more and more importance on Wang Chong's opinion.
"This is also what I wanted to say to Lord Zhangchou. The Bureau of Military Personnel and the Bureau of Punishments have a close relationship, so I hope that Lord Zhangchou can make use of your relationship with the Bureau of Punishments to dispatch more manpower!"
Weng!
Hearing Wang Chong's words, Zhangchou Jianqiong's eyes narrowed, and his face warped in shock.
"Wang Chong, you mean …"
"That wouldn't happen under normal circumstances, but we can't let our guard down. Even old officials who have been involved in politics for more than a decade can be replaced. If this goes on, what else is impossible? "
Wang Chong said grimly.
"I understand!"
Zhangchou Jianqiong took in a deep breath, and in that moment, his eyes became extremely profound.
…
The affairs of the royal court were quickly thrown to the back of Wang Chong's mind. After leaving the royal palace, Wang Chong swiftly boarded his carriage.
Compared to the matter of Zhang Chaoshu, what happened next was far more important.
The carriage did not return to the Wang Clan as it usually did. Instead, it turned onto a road that it had never taken before.
"Your Highness, have we really subdued Zhang Chaoshu?"
Not long after Wang Chong boarded the carriage, Zhang Que's voice came from outside. He seemed to be scratching his head in frustration.
"How did you know?"
Wang Chong opened his eyes. He had not told anyone about Zhang Chaoshu, and Zhang Que could not enter the royal palace. Under normal circumstances, it would have been impossible for him to find out so quickly.
"Heh, Your Highness, don't blame me if I tell you. When I went to visit Master yesterday, I happened to see a file on Master's table. Moreover, when we were leaving the palace, I took a look and saw that the servants of the civil officials were all silent when they left. There was no disturbance like before, so something must have happened."
Zhang Que said.
Wang Chong couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. Zhang Que's master was naturally The Eagle. Wang Chong had not expected Zhang Que to be so quick-witted. Although he was not in the royal court, he had still been able to immediately see through the clues.
"That's right!"
Wang Chong nodded. He knew that with Zhang Que's personality, he would not easily give up unless he obtained an answer. Thus, Wang Chong gave Zhang Que a summary of what had happened in the royal court. Although Wang Chong had simplified it, Zhang Que was Wang Chong's commander in charge of intelligence, so this was enough for him.
"Your Highness, do you really have evidence against him?"
Zhang Que looked at Wang Chong, his expression excited and expectant.
"No!"
But a moment later, Wang Chong's answer caught Zhang Que off guard.
"Ah?!"
Zhang Que's expression froze. This answer was completely outside of his expectations.
Wang Chong sat motionlessly in the carriage, his eyes half-closed, but he did not explain. The Confucians had prepared for so long, and their preparations were almost flawless. Even the information on Zhang Chaoshu had been obtained by Wang Chong after a Herculean effort. Two different files were far from enough to convict Zhang Chaoshu of a crime. But Wang Chong had never wanted to convict Zhang Chaoshu of a crime.
"Neigh!"
As he was thinking, there was a disturbance outside the carriage, and Zhang Que's furious and alarmed voice could be heard.
"What are you doing? Let go! "
"Is it the King of Foreign Lands?"
At almost the same time, the voice of an old woman came from outside, accompanied by a fit of coughing.
"You've gone mad!"
Outside the carriage, Zhang Que was dumbstruck. He had followed Wang Chong's orders and driven the carriage east, but for some reason, an old woman selling vegetables on the side of the road had rushed out, stopped the carriage, and grabbed Zhang Que's reins.
The old woman's expression was cold and harsh, and one of her hands was holding a basket of vegetables, but her eyes were not on Zhang Que.
Galloping through the streets was extremely dangerous, but this old woman seemed to be completely unaware of the danger.
"King of Foreign Lands, do you dare to come out and meet me!"
In that instant, the old woman grabbed the reins with one hand while staring into the carriage and said sternly.
"King of Foreign Lands, do you dare to come out and meet me!"
Seeing that there was no response from the carriage, the old woman spoke once more.
"You've finally run out of patience."
Within the carriage, Wang Chong lightly tapped his right index finger, his eyes half-closed and his face expressionless. At this moment, the calmest person was probably Wang Chong.
Peng, there was a soft sound, and the curtain in front of the carriage suddenly opened without any wind. Wang Chong was seated in the carriage when he saw the old woman outside. Around her waist was an apron stained with vegetables, and her silver hair was meticulously combed. Although her face was covered in wrinkles, her eyes were clear and transparent, completely unlike those of her age.
"We finally meet."
Wang Chong indifferently said to the old woman, his face unperturbed. His tone did not seem like he was speaking to an old woman. The atmosphere was strange to the extreme, and Zhang Que felt an indescribable feeling.
"King of Foreign Lands, you've succeeded. I admit that I made a mistake in this matter, allowing you to catch me, but you still haven't won."
The old woman's eyes were wise, and her words were completely unbefitting of her status. Zhang Que's heart chilled. No matter how slow he was, he could still tell that there was something strange about this old woman. She was no ordinary old vegetable seller.
"You did everything, right? The Grand Preceptor, King Qi, the Prime Minister, and perhaps even the First Prince in the palace. Everyone was used by you. Just who are you? I truly didn't think that the Tang Dynasty would have someone like you, someone who could use all these people. Speak, after all you've done, just what do you want? "
Wang Chong got straight to the point, his expression grave.
From Khorasan to the capital, everything had been shrouding his mind like a dense fog, but through Zhang Chaoshu, he had finally been able to break through this fog, forcing the mastermind to come and see him of his own accord.
"Haha, my goal in appearing here is very simple. I hope that the King of Foreign Lands will give up!"
The old woman said.
"Give up? Give up what?"
Wang Chong sneered.
"Give up on the Tang Dynasty and let the surrounding foreigners and the Arabs invade the Tang Dynasty? Or give up on trying to stop you and have you disband the prefectural armies, turning the empire into a land of asuras!
"Can war solve all problems? Even if you can protect this country for a while, can you protect this empire for an eternity? War has no end. Today, you have galloped through Arabia, killing millions of soldiers. The entire Tang Dynasty regards you as a hero, but have you ever thought about the people of other countries? Have you ever thought about Arabia? "
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