In recent days, Huichuan County was in a state of panic. The commoners didn't know what had happened, but the sudden arrival of the troops and the Emperor's entourage had made them extremely nervous and panicked.
Now, when people lined up on the street to buy rice, they saw Prince Zhongshun's entourage being escorted into the city by the troops. Thinking that this Wang Ye was once in charge of supervising the construction of the Imperial Mausoleum, the commoners had their own guesses.
This Wang Ye was most likely implicated by the Imperial Mausoleum.
For the sake of the Imperial Mausoleum, many lives were lost inside!
There were also those who were well-informed or had been to the capital before Pang Xiao came to Huichuan County. They knew the rumors in the capital at that time and secretly discussed it. They were quite insightful and said, "What do you know? Perhaps Wang Ye's job of supervising the construction of the Imperial Mausoleum was deliberately arranged by someone with ulterior motives! "
Pang Xiao didn't care about these at all. He came to the magistrate's office amidst the crowd's discussion. He slowly got off the carriage and went to the back yard accompanied by Xiong Jinshui and Ma Cheng.
At this time, Li Qitian was reading the memorial from the capital.
"Reporting to Your Majesty, Prince Zhongshun is here."
Li Qitian's eyes stopped reading the memorial. He calmly put down the memorial and said, "Let him in."
"As you wish."
Not long after, Pang Xiao, who was wearing a silver-white brocade robe with arrow sleeves and a jade belt around his waist, entered the door "accompanied" by eight imperial bodyguards.
Li Qitian sat at the head of the table and narrowed his eyes as he looked at Pang Xiao. That person walked over with large strides. He was so young and handsome that it made Li Qitian's heart feel even more stifled.
"This humble subject pays his respects to Your Majesty." Pang Xiao respectfully bowed.
Li Qitian didn't answer. Instead, he looked at Pang Xiao with a scrutinizing gaze.
It seemed that Pang Xiao's time in Danfu County was much more comfortable than his.
While he was working hard for the country, Pang Xiao was enjoying himself. In the end, Pang Xiao stole his treasure effortlessly!
Li Qitian, who was originally able to suppress his anger, suddenly slammed the table and angrily rebuked, "Dawn of Annihilation! Do you know your crime?! "
Pang Xiao bowed respectfully. "Your Majesty, please calm down."
"Calm down? You deceived and used me, yet you still want me to quell my anger! "
"This subject does not understand Your Majesty's meaning. Your Majesty, if I have made a mistake, please enlighten me. "
Li Qitian's chest heaved violently. He was so angry that he laughed. "Since you want me to make it clear, I will make it clear to you! Where did you hide the treasure? If you tell me, I can save myself some trouble. "
Pang Xiao straightened up in a daze. He did not even care about the rule of not looking directly at Tian Yan. He said in astonishment, "Your Majesty said treasure? Is it the treasure from the Yan dynasty? "
This person was actually still putting on an act!
"Of course!" Li Qitian stood up angrily. He strode over to Pang Xiao and said condescendingly, "I treated you like a brother and treated you well. But, you repeatedly violated the rules. This time, you knew that the Great Zhou Dynasty needed this batch of treasures. But, you still hid them in private. How can you live up to the feelings of being sworn brothers with me in the past?"
Pang Xiao seemed to be angered by Li Qitian's angry roar. His sword-like eyebrows furrowed and a vertical line appeared between his eyebrows.
"Your Majesty, why do you say that?! This subject has always been recuperating in Danfu County. I have never stepped out of Danfu County. How could I know about the treasure?!
"His Majesty said that I was the one who hid the treasure. Where did you hear such nonsense from? As a subject, my family is now extinct. My fief is enough for this subject. Why would this subject hide the treasure?
"Besides, the treasure from the Yan dynasty must not be a small amount. If this subject moved the treasure, how could this subject not alert others? Who told Your Majesty about this? Someone must have framed you! "
The more Pang Xiao argued, the louder his voice became. In the end, he was almost shouting.
Li Qitian knew that Pang Xiao looked like a careless person. However, he was a very cautious person. So, he wouldn't yell and shout in front of Li Qitian for a long time. But, he had lost his composure because of this matter.
As for why he was so angry, did it mean that he had been wrongly accused?
Li Qitian began to have doubts about Lu Heng's words.
Lu Heng's actions that day were still clear as if they were right in front of his eyes. Li Qitian carefully thought back and found that Lu Heng seemed to be overly calm at the time.
Compared to Pang Xiao's current loss of composure, the two of them acted like Pang Xiao was more believable to Li Qitian.
However, Li Qitian was more willing to believe Lu Heng's words.
"You still want to quibble?! Because of our many years of brotherhood, We are not willing to directly send down an imperial decree to arrest you. We only called you here to personally ask you. You still refuse to speak the truth! Do you want us to open a court to interrogate you or hand you over to the Three Law Departments before you speak the truth?! "
"Then Your Majesty can just hand this subject over to the Three Law Departments!"
Pang Xiao straightened his neck and said in a hurt manner, "This subject is loyal and devoted to Your Majesty. Because of our friendship in the past when we fought for the country together, although I serve Your Majesty as my master, I treat Your Majesty as my older brother in my heart. I did not expect that Your Majesty would believe other people's nonsense and accuse this subject without any evidence! Why should this subject admit to something I did not do?! What treasure do you want this subject to hand over? This subject did not hide it at all. What can I hand over?! "
"Good. Good. You did not hide it. You are wrongly accused. " Li Qitian sneered and turned around. He strode back to the table and sat down heavily. The hand wearing the jade thumb ring clenched into a fist. "If you refuse to speak the truth now, We will have you go to the Three Law Departments to speak!"
"Fine, I'll go!" Pang Xiao actually stood up and said with a red face, "This is simply ridiculous. Your Majesty is the older brother, yet you suspect your younger brother like this? Even if you want to convict me, there should at least be witnesses and material evidence. But now, there is nothing and you are forcing this subject to confess. This subject has never seen any treasure, so how can I confess? How can I say where it is?! Your Majesty is simply ridiculous! "
"You!" Li Qitian was furious and slammed the table. "Do you still have Us, the Emperor, in your eyes?!"
"If you were not the Emperor, I would have beaten you long ago! Look at yourself. Do you still have the appearance of an older brother?! "
"Impudent! Come, drag this insolent fellow away for Us. Give him 20 planks and teach him what rules are! "
The imperial bodyguards standing inside and outside the room had long been scared into silence. They had followed Li Qitian for many years, but this was the first time they had seen an official dare to quarrel with Your Majesty. Now, Your Majesty was so angry that he wanted to flog Wang Ye!
They all felt embarrassed. Prince Zhongshun did not say anything wrong, but he pinned the blame on others without any evidence and even forced them to ask about the whereabouts of the treasure. How could they say anything? Your Majesty has really lost his head over the treasure these days. They just did not know if Your Majesty would regret flogging Wang Ye now.
What if Wang Ye bore a grudge against them and wanted to take revenge in the future?
Several imperial bodyguards came forward to hold Pang Xiao's arms and dragged him out.
Pang Xiao was still angry and shouted, "Your Majesty wronged a loyal subject! Without any evidence, you want to convict this subject of a crime and punish a loyal subject for no reason. This subject is not convinced! "
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