The Empress's words of "Minister Li" caused the noisy court to fall into a temporary silence.
Her Majesty rarely said the words "Beloved Minister".
She only addressed the ministers in the imperial court as' ministers'. How could she address a minister who had fallen out of favor as' beloved minister '?
The only possibility was that Li Mu's falling out of favor was just an illusion.
Other than those who stood out to impeach Li Mu, most of the officials in the court showed a look of understanding. Today's scene was within their expectations.
This was a trap set up by the Empress and Li Mu together.
His Majesty and Li Mu teamed up to act as bait in order to lure these people out, and they really took the bait.
At this moment, Zhang Chun cleared his throat and stood out. He said, "Your Majesty, I have something to say."
Mr. Mei looked at him and asked, "What do you have to say, Lord Zhang?"
Zhang Chun pointed at the Minister Counsellor of the Ministry of Revenue and said, "Lord Wei said that Constable Li spent time in the music hall during his patrol and neglected his duties. Then I would like to ask, in the case of Jiang Zhe, who was not afraid of the Academy's pressure? As a constable, Constable Li patrolling brothels, music halls, and restaurants is his duty. If it were not for the outlaws of Luoyang who often bullied the weak and humiliated the musicians, would Constable Li frequent these places?"
Wei Teng opened his mouth and was speechless.
He knew that Zhang Chun was not entirely right, but at this moment, it was not important. The Empress' "Minister Li" just now made him completely panic.
As long as Li Mu did not fall out of favor, no matter what they did, it would be in vain.
At this moment, Zhang Chun pointed at the Minister Counsellor of the Ministry of Rites and said, "You said that Li Mu accepted bribes when he was on duty. As everyone knows, Constable Li is not afraid of power and wholeheartedly serves the people. He has brought justice for many innocent people in Luoyang. The people respect him and love him. When he was patrolling the streets, they understood his hard work and served him tea to quench his thirst and a bowl of noodles to allay his hunger. This is the people's kindness to him. You call this accepting bribes?"
He snorted and looked around at the people in the court. He said, "If this is called accepting bribes, then I hope that all of my colleagues in the court today can make the people willingly accept bribes. Touch your conscience. Can you?"
The Minister Counsellor opened his mouth but could not refute.
He knew what Zhang Chun said better than anyone else, but so what?
His Majesty doted on Li Mu, so the people gave him these gifts to show their love and respect for him.
Li Mu had lost the favor of the emperor, and the commoners had given him these gifts. He had accepted bribes!
This was the court.
They guessed that Li Mu had lost the emperor's favor. That was why they dared to stand up today and use this as a reason to impeach Li Mu. But judging from the situation in front of them, they seemed to have guessed wrong.
One wrong step and the whole game was lost.
In the end, Zhang Chun pointed at the Senior Minister of Taichang Temple and said, "You said that His Excellency Li took advantage of his position to attack dissidents. What is dissident and what is self? His Excellency Li has a noble character and has never formed cliques for personal gain. On the contrary, you all consider yourselves as the new and old cliques. The crime of disrespect in front of the Palace was set by the late Emperor. His Excellency Li respected the late Emperor and carried out the law set by the late Emperor, so he punished you.
How dare you! "The Minister Taichang Temple's face turned red." You are slandering me! "
Many people in the court looked at Zhang Chun with disdain. There were indeed people in the court who respected the late emperor, but Li Mu was definitely not one of them.
Li Mu's passion in the past few months was to overthrow the late emperor's old system. Who in the court did not know that?
Zhang Chun, Li Mu's dog, was really shameless to protect his master.
But no matter what, his words were watertight and no one could refute.
Moreover, the situation in the court was not clear yet. No one was willing to stand up and refute.
Whether Li Mu was guilty or not depended on whether the Empress was willing to protect him. If the Empress was willing to protect him, he would be innocent even if he was guilty. If the Empress was not willing to protect him, he would be guilty even if he was innocent.
At this time, the Empress's voice came from behind the curtain again. "A few days ago, Minister Li was maliciously framed. Did the Ministry of Justice find out who was behind it?"
Everyone in the court was shocked when they heard this.
This happened in the last morning court. The Empress did not say anything about it last time. But today, she suddenly mentioned it. The meaning behind it was self-evident.
The Assistant Minister of Rites's eyelids twitched. He could not help but lower his head.
Zhou Zhong stood up and said, "Your Majesty, the culprit disguised himself as Lord Li and committed the crime. After that, he disappeared. The Ministry of Justice has not found any clues."
"If we wait for the Ministry of Justice to find clues, how long will Minister Li be wronged?" The Empress looked at him and said coldly, "Mei Wei, bring him here."
Mr. Mei looked outside the hall and said, "Bring him here."
Two women escorted a middle-aged man into the hall.
When he saw the middle-aged man, the Assistant Minister of Rites finally could not control his expression.
After the deed was done, he had ordered this person to leave Luoyang and never come back. He did not expect to see him in the court!
Mr. Mei looked coldly at the middle-aged man and said, "Speak. Who ordered you to frame Lord Li?"
When he said this, the officials were shocked again.
They did not expect the Empress to have already captured the culprit. This person used Fu-lu or pills to disguise himself as Li Mu. Even the Ministry of Justice would not be able to find him. The Internal Guards would not be able to find him. The Empress must have done it herself …
The power of a Transcendent powerhouse was beyond their imagination.
Of course, more importantly, the Empress had done it herself for Li Mu. This was enough to prove one thing.
The middle-aged man knelt on the ground and pointed at the assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites. He said, "It was Lord Qin. It was Lord Qin who gave me the Fake Form Pill and told me to pretend to be Lord Li and rape that woman to frame him …"
"Nonsense!" The Assistant Minister of Rites's face was pale. He pointed at him with a trembling finger and said, "I have no grudge against you. Why did you frame me?"
The middle-aged man shook his head helplessly and said, "Lord Qin, it's useless. They all know. Just admit it …"
The Assistant Minister of Rites said sternly, "What nonsense are you talking about? I don't even know you!"
Although his voice was not soft, everyone present could hear the trembling in his voice. Clearly, he was not confident. They all realized something.
They did not expect the Assistant Minister of Rites to be the one who would frame Li Mu like this.
When they thought about it more carefully, the Assistant Minister of Rites' wife was Zhou Chu's sister. Zhou Chu had died at Li Mu's hands. He had enough motive to frame Li Mu.
The middle-aged man waved his hand and images appeared in front of everyone's eyes.
In the image, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites handed a pill to the middle-aged man and seemed to whisper a few words into his ear. If this middle-aged man was the adulterer who framed Li Mu, then it went without saying who the real mastermind behind this was.
Seeing these images, the Assistant Minister of Rites trembled and fell to the ground powerlessly.
At this moment, no explanation would be of any use.
With witnesses and evidence present, they could perform a soul-search on him. At that time, no matter what secrets he had in his heart, he would not be able to hide them.
In the end, this matter was still due to his negligence.
His negligence was that he did not kill this person and completely destroy the evidence after the deed was done.
His negligence was that he was too anxious and believed the dowager consort's words. He thought that Li Mu had fallen out of favor with his wife, which was why he dared to act so recklessly.
Now that things had come to this, there was no use regretting it. He hung his head and sat on the ground, not saying a word. Clearly, he had accepted his fate.
The Assistant Minister of Rites' actions had completely confirmed his crimes. He was even spared from unnecessary interrogation.
At this moment, the Crape Myrtle Palace was completely silent.
Everyone's hearts were extremely heavy because the entire palace was enveloped by a powerful aura.
This aura came from the curtain in front of them. Under this aura, even the fifth and sixth level courtiers felt as if Mount Tai was pressing down on them.
It was obvious that Her Majesty was extremely angry.
"First, you secretly framed him. Then, you joined forces with the imperial court to impeach him. You said that Minister Li was suppressing his dissidents. Who exactly was the one doing so?
"Hiring a murderer to frame a colleague. The Assistant Minister of Rites will be removed from his position and sent to the border counties. The Ministry of Justice will investigate this case strictly. Do not leave out anyone who participated in this case!
"The Assistant Minister of Rites, the Minister Assistant Minister of Revenue, the Minister of Taichang Temple, and the others formed a clique for personal gain and attacked dissidents. They will be removed from their positions immediately and will never be employed again …
"All those related to this case will be severely punished!"
…
In the imperial court, the Empress was furious. She dismissed all the officials who had impeached Li Mu today.
Ever since she ascended the throne, the courtiers had never seen her so angry.
The Assistant Minister of Rites and the others were just ordinary impeachments. Even if the reason for the impeachment was wrong, the consequences would not be so severe. Impeachment was an impeachment based on hearsay. Afterward, there would naturally be internal guards or imperial censors to verify the truth. Every official in the imperial court had the power to impeach.
However, they had chosen the wrong time.
The Assistant Minister of Rites had hired a murderer to frame a colleague in the imperial court. This was something that the imperial court could not tolerate. There were disagreements and conflicts between courtiers. This was normal. However, there must be a bottom line in any conflict.
The Assistant Minister of Rites' actions had crossed the bottom line of the imperial court and the bottom line of the law.
The Assistant Minister of Rites, the Minister Assistant Minister of Revenue, and the others happened to be implicated by him. What should have been a normal impeachment became a conspiracy. In the end, not only did they lose their official positions, but they also had to face prosecution.
This was obviously a test by Her Majesty. While testing the courtiers, she also caught all the courtiers who were tempted to take action against Li Mu in one fell swoop.
She was using this method to protect her favored courtiers.
She was also using the fate of these people as a warning to others.
After today, everyone would know that Li Mu was the Empress's man. If they tried to slander or frame him through clumsy means, they would eventually pay with their lives.
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