On the first day of the tenth month, Li Rong woke up early in the morning. After carefully dressing up, she got up and went to the palace.
When she left, the sky was still overcast. A cold wind blew through all of Huajing and hit her face when Li Rong rolled up the curtain.
Li Rong raised her head and looked at the towering palace gates. Her gaze paused for a moment on the high roof before she heard Jing Lan say softly: "Your Highness, it's time to enter the palace."
Li Rong withdrew her gaze and smiled lightly. She put her hand on Jing Lan's and stepped off the carriage.
As she walked towards the main hall, the morning court was about to begin. Consort Rou's people had already requested to confirm the specific date of this year's execution.
In order to comply with the weather, Da Xia only executed prisoners during the winter. Li Rong executed so many people last year and coincidentally resolved all disputes during the winter. Today, Consort Rou imprisoned, exiled, and demoted people, but didn't kill a single person. Everything had to be postponed until the winter.
Now that the tenth month had just arrived, Consort Rou's people were in no hurry to request a specific execution date. Everyone understood that Consort Rou's meaning was not to kill people, but to warn them.
"The execution date is usually calculated by the Imperial Astronomer," Shangguan Xu didn't like Consort Rou's domineering attitude and directly spoke out, scolding the participating officials, "When did it need to be discussed in court? You've been in court for so many years, do you not know the rules? "
Shangguan Xu was the Left Prime Minister. When he spoke, the officials below naturally didn't dare to speak. Consort Rou saw this scene and glared at the kneeling officials. He laughed: "Shangguan daren's words are wrong. After all, today is different from the past. This year, there are many people being dealt with. If a specific time isn't confirmed, I'm afraid it will be delayed until the end," Consort Rou sneered, "Whether or not the execution can be carried out, who knows?"
Consort Rou was implying that the aristocratic families were secretly operating behind the scenes to save people. Imperial Censor Shangguan Min Zhi coldly said: "Why can't the execution be carried out? What do you mean by today is different from the past? The Imperial Court has always been the Imperial Court, and His Majesty has always been His Majesty. The only difference now is that there are women in the imperial harem interfering in politics, causing chaos in the Imperial Court. "
"Shangguan Min Zhi." Upon hearing this, Consort Rou immediately shouted, "What do you mean?!"
Shangguan Min Zhi coldly looked over: "Niang niang, this official is only fulfilling the duties of an imperial censor."
"You're saying that I'm a hen?"
Consort Rou was so infuriated by Shangguan Min Zhi that she laughed. "Then why didn't you say anything when Princess Ping L E was in court? It's only because she's the princess of your Shangguan family! "
"The Princess is the Princess of the Imperial Family." Shangguan Min looked straight ahead. "The Shangguan Family can't have a Princess. I ask Xiao shi to understand that the Imperial Family is different from aristocratic families. Don't overstep your boundaries because of ignorance. "
Consort Rou subconsciously wanted to reply, but when she saw the group of officials from the Imperial Censor behind Shangguan Min Zhi, she choked back her words.
What did she want to do that made her want to argue with people from the Imperial Censor?
This group of people had been stirring up trouble in the Imperial Court for decades, and any one of them was not a good person. Back then, Shangguan Min Zhi had also cursed all the way to the position of Imperial Censor. These years, he rarely spoke due to his status, but that didn't mean that his mouth didn't have fangs.
Consort Rou restrained herself. She laughed and softened her tone: "Shang Guan-daren can only pick up these words to make an issue out of. We're both women, but Her Highness Ping L E is the head of the Department of Supervision, so why can't I be? "
"At least sister didn't make so many false and wrong cases." Li Chuan's voice was very indifferent. "Why are the officials not convinced? Consort Rou niang, shouldn't you reflect on yourself?"
"She's in cahoots with you, so you naturally won't speak ill of her." Consort Rou's tone was cold. "His Highness the Crown Prince said that I made false and wrong cases, but do you have evidence? If you don't, then you … "
"I do!"
Before Consort Rou could finish her words, a clear female voice came from the door. Pei Wenxuan immediately turned his head and saw a woman walking in against the light in front of the hall. She stepped into the hall.
Li Ming frowned and saw Li Rong enter the hall with a scroll in her hand.
Everyone stared at her. She walked through the crowd and calmly stopped in front of Li Ming. She bowed deeply and respectfully said: "This son greets Imperial Father. Long live Imperial Father."
"What are you doing here?"
Li Ming instinctively asked. But as soon as he finished speaking, he knew that he had asked the wrong question.
No matter why Li Rong had come, now that she had appeared in the hall, she was already out of his control.
He shouldn't have let her appear here, so he immediately said: "Without being summoned, you …"
"This son, for myself, for the court, and for the poor students of this world, has come to seek justice from the current head of the Department of Supervision, Imperial Consort Xiao Rou!"
Li Rong didn't wait for Li Ming to finish speaking and suddenly raised her voice. Her words were sonorous and forceful.
As she spoke, Li Rong raised the scroll in her hand: "Your Majesty, please give us justice."
Consort Rou looked at Li Rong and instantly panicked. But she didn't show it on her face. She pretended to be calm and stared fixedly at Li Rong.
Li Rong's reprimand made Li Ming unable to chase her away. Li Ming looked coldly at Li Rong. After a long time, he spoke and reminded: "Ping L E, you should rest in the fu right now."
"Imperial Father." Li Rong wasn't afraid in the face of Li Ming's warning and calmly said: "Invite Imperial Father's accuser into the hall."
"You know that I am your Imperial Father, and you dare to teach me how to do things?"
"Your Majesty," Shangguan Xu said calmly, "since Your Highness has accused Consort Rou, as a wise ruler, Your Majesty should first care about this case."
"Your Majesty, please summon the people related to Consort Rou's case into the hall."
Most of the courtiers spoke in unison. Li Ming stared at these courtiers who were forcing him. He clenched his fists and finally replied: "Summon them."
As soon as he finished speaking, the officials related to the Shangguan Clan who had been imprisoned by Consort Rou entered the hall one by one. At the same time, some people from the Inspectorate of Investigation were also brought in by Shangguan Ya.
After they had all settled down, Consort Rou laughed: "The accusers are these people who have already been convicted?"
As she spoke, Consort Rou's gaze slowly swept over the people of the Shangguan Clan: "Ping L E, the Shangguan Clan, in order to seek a way out for their own people, framed and bent the law for personal gain. How bold of you."
"Your Highness thinks that someone is framing you?" When Li Rong heard this, he laughed. "Then," Li Rong moved aside and made way for the person kneeling behind him, "What about this person?"
After Li Rong moved aside, a young man raised his head. The young man had a square appearance. When his gaze landed on Consort Rou's face, there was a hint of indignation in his eyes.
Consort Rou looked at the young man in confusion: "This is?"
"This commoner is Chen Houzhao." The young man knelt on the ground and raised his voice: "I'm an examinee from Yuzhou's Qingcheng University last year."
After hearing Chen Houzhao's name, Consort Rou's expression instantly changed. After a moment, she hurriedly said: "So it's you? This consort has searched everywhere for you but couldn't find you. Are you here today under coercion? "
Consort Rou took the initiative and tried to push Chen Houzhao's words to Li Rong's coercion.
When Chen Houzhao heard her words, he laughed mockingly: "Your Highness, how could this commoner be coerced? Even if someone could coerce this commoner to be here, how could they coerce your cousin, Xiao Shunwen, to take my place in the Spring Imperial Examination? "
Li Ming's expression changed slightly. He looked at Consort Rou without batting an eyelid. Consort Rou pretended to be calm: "This consort couldn't find you when we were handling the Imperial Examination. If you were wronged, why didn't you complain earlier? Instead, you waited until today to talk about these groundless accusations? "
"Groundless accusations?" Chen Houzhao became agitated: "Do you know how I studied so hard for more than twenty years? Do you know how many clothes my mother washed to pay for my studies? She sewed until her eyes were damaged. My entire family's hopes were pinned on me. Xiao Shunwen, Xiao Pingzhang, that bastard, stole my identity, my exam papers, my twenty years! How dare you talk to me about groundless accusations?! "
"Young Master Chen, don't be so agitated." Consort Rou saw that Chen Houzhao was unable to control his anger and hurriedly comforted him: "I just want to confirm the truth. You don't have to think too much. If you were really wronged, why did you make such a big fuss? You just need to tell me the truth. This consort will not be biased and will give you justice! "
"Justice?" Chen Houzhao sneered: "The justice you want to give me is to send people everywhere to investigate my whereabouts and hunt me down, hoping that I won't come back to life so that this case will never surface?"
"What nonsense are you talking about?!"
"Don't you know what you've done?! You lied that I died of an illness in Huajing and used my brother's future to threaten my mother so that she wouldn't come to Huajing to continue investigating my case. The letter that you promised to nominate my brother as an advisor is still here. "Chen Houzhao pulled out a piece of paper from his sleeve:" You still want to deny it? "
"I understand." Consort Rou heard this and hurriedly turned to Li Ming: "Your Majesty, they want to frame me. The evidence they presented today is all fake. They're all trying to harm me! Chen Houzhao went missing after complaining to Ping Le. If I wanted to harm him, why would I investigate his whereabouts and argue with Ping Le? "
"Your Majesty." Pei Wenxuan spoke slowly. Everyone looked at him. Pei Wenxuan stepped out from the group of officials and said respectfully: "This humble subject thinks that Consort Rou has been wrongly accused."
Hearing Pei Wenxuan speak up for her, Consort Rou immediately looked at Pei Wenxuan with hope. Pei Wenxuan analyzed: "Ever since His Royal Highness Prince Su succeeded the Inspectorate to investigate the imperial examination case, he has been assisted by Consort Rou to seek justice for hundreds of students. He has been impartially enforcing the law and has been praised by the world. Why would he bend the law for personal gain and protect his blood relatives? This humble subject thinks that this case still needs to be investigated. We must not wrongly accuse innocent people. "
"Yes." Consort Rou followed Pei Wenxuan's words and looked at Li Ming: "Your Majesty, how much effort did I put into the imperial examination case? How could I betray Your Majesty's trust in order to protect a few distant blood relatives? "
Li Ming didn't speak. He looked up at Li Rong.
Li Rong was kneeling on the ground. Although she was kneeling, her entire body was ramrod straight. She looked at him with a pair of clear eyes, without the slightest bit of humility that someone kneeling on the ground should have.
"Then, this son will let Your Majesty see the third batch of people who have filed complaints."
As Li Rong spoke, she placed the scroll on the ground. She raised her hand and had the scroll roll to the side. The long scroll unfurled, revealing names that were both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.
"The third batch of people who have filed complaints are the victims of the imperial examination case investigated by Your Majesty Consort Rou. Your Majesty Consort Rou said that you put in a lot of effort into this case and handled it impartially. Then I want to ask Your Majesty Consort Rou, if you are impartially enforcing the law …" The scroll finally stopped and covered half the length of the Great Hall. Li Rong looked up at Consort Rou. "Then why did you threaten these students with the qualifications to participate in the spring imperial examination and persuade them to give up on filing complaints?"
"Letting the impostors get away with it was just giving these students the spring imperial examination spots that should have been given to them." Li Rong's smile carried a hint of mockery. "Is this what Your Majesty meant by 'impartially enforcing the law'?"
Consort Rou was momentarily speechless. She looked at the names on the scroll in shock. Li Ming stared fixedly at the names on the scroll and clenched his fists.
Li Rong looked at the two people in the Great Hall and slowly kowtowed: "Your Majesty, Consort Rou is guilty of corruption, accepting bribes, bending the law for personal gain, deliberately killing people, and framing loyal people. Your Majesty, please detain Consort Rou for a thorough investigation and punish her according to the law! "
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