The two of them arrived at the palace gates together. As soon as they entered the palace, everyone looked at them.
Everyone knew that Pei Wenxuan caused a ruckus yesterday. Since Li Rong came out of Northern Yan Pagoda today, the Qin Family's matter would be settled.
However, they didn't know how this young princess, who was new to the imperial court, would end this matter.
Everyone had different thoughts. They waited in the imperial court for the whole morning. However, neither Li Rong nor Pei Wenxuan mentioned this matter.
After the imperial court, Li Rong said goodbye to Pei Wenxuan. Then, he listened to Li Ming's summons and followed Li Ming to the imperial study.
After arriving at the imperial study, Li Ming didn't beat around the bush. He directly said, "Now that Pei Wenxuan is back, the case in your hands should be almost finished, right?"
"Yes."
Li Rong respectfully said, "It's almost finished."
"Tell me." Li Ming took out a brush and ink and began to read the memorials. Li Rong stood next to Li Ming and quickly explained the cause and effect. "The aristocratic family wanted to compete with Lord Xiao for military merits in the northwest region. Lord Xiao wasn't easy to deal with, so they planned to make a move on the people around him to intimidate Lord Xiao. Thus, they went to the Qin Family. The higher-ups sent a message to the subordinates saying that they wanted to find trouble with the Qin Family. After searching for a long time, they only found a small problem with the battle in Huangping County. In order to complete the task, the subordinates tore up the explanation at the back of the military log and sent it to the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate. When Wen Ping of the Censorate saw the military log, he guessed the cause and effect and forged evidence to intimidate the witnesses. In the end, the Qin Family became an ironclad case. "
Li Ming listened to Li Rong and frowned. He was quite angry. "They have guts!"
"Later, when I got involved, they killed all the witnesses in order to obstruct me from investigating the case."
"What exactly happened in Huangping County?" Li Ming was a little impatient. "Three thousand soldiers against three thousand soldiers, and it's a battle to defend the city. Won't the Ministry of War pursue the matter?"
At that time, there were many battles, big and small, on the battlefield. For a small-scale battle like Huangping County, Li Ming's memorial only contained one sentence. Now that he had figured out what had happened, he could not help saying, "Qin Feng is too incompetent."
"That's not the case." Li Rong walked to Li Ming's side, raised his hand to grab the ink stick, and ground it for Li Ming. "Back then, the incident in Huangping County involved the military pay."
Li Rong explained what had happened in Huangping County. When Li Ming heard this, he shouted angrily, "They must be tired of living! What is the military pay? How dare they touch it?! "
"Imperial Father, you're right." Li Rong said and comforted him. "For such a big case, we can't let it go at will."
When Li Rong said this, Li Ming was a little hesitant. He was silent for a while and thought about Li Rong's intentions. Then, he said, "Since you know so clearly, why didn't you say anything in the morning court just now?"
"Imperial Father, it's one thing for me to know, but in the end, I still have to listen to imperial father's arrangements. In the morning court just now, I didn't dare to speak casually. "
Li Rong spoke respectfully, showing his obedience to Li Ming. When Li Ming heard that Li Rong put his thoughts first, he felt a lot more comforted. He looked at the memorial and said, "Then what do you think should be arranged?"
"I'll listen to imperial father."
"Tell me," Li Ming lowered his head and said, "Zhen will pardon you."
"Imperial Father." Li Rong didn't directly answer Li Ming, but reminded him, "This time, I want to punish them severely. Punish all the people on my list. This will achieve the goal of shocking the aristocratic families. But in this way, won't the aristocratic families be forced to do something desperate? "
As Li Rong spoke, he lowered his eyes and said, "For the aristocratic families, the most important card is none other than the government troops they have. With their current strength, if they are forced to go to the harem and petition together, the Empress Dowager will issue an imperial edict. I'm afraid that it will be difficult to keep father's position."
As Li Rong spoke, she secretly looked at Li Ming's expression. Seeing that Li Ming only frowned when he listened to her, Li Rong felt relieved and continued to analyze, "For the aristocratic families, if they ask the Empress Dowager to depose the emperor, they will have to appoint a new emperor. They will have to provide money, food, and manpower. Who knows, they might be schemed against in the future. Every family has their own plans, so if the aristocratic families aren't forced to a certain extent, they won't be willing to rashly change the emperor. Now, we need to grasp the balance. How to make the aristocratic families not be angered to a dead end and not feel that the Inspection Department is meaningless is the most important thing for father to consider. "
As Li Ming listened to Li Rong's words, he felt that her analysis was quite good.
He and the aristocratic families were in a delicate balance. The aristocratic families weren't willing to change the emperor, and they also didn't want to be involved in troubled times. Therefore, even if they had a large number of troops, they still had to take Li Ming into consideration.
On the other hand, the aristocratic families had military forces, but more often than not, they also had to look at the imperial court's mood. Unless it was absolutely necessary, no one wanted to be a traitor.
Li Ming thought for a while and finally said, "You decide. The military salary case must be severely punished, but the Qin Clan case … "
Li Ming hesitated for a moment, but before he could speak, Li Rong said, "Settle it privately."
"They killed the witness. This matter is too much. If we don't deal with it, I'm afraid that it will lose prestige. However, if we really deal with it, the Qin Clan case will implicate too many officials. If we alarm the high-ranking officials, they will be unscrupulous and change the situation. It's better to deal with it privately. Not only will it deter the other officials, but it can also be considered a show of goodwill. They won't investigate further. "
"Then we'll do as you say."
Li Ming agreed, then discussed the details with Li Rong. Finally, he let Li Rong go.
When Li Rong went out, Pei Wenxuan was sitting in the carriage with a pile of memorials. He was quietly reading through them. Li Rong entered the carriage and looked at him from head to toe. He was somewhat puzzled and asked, "Why are you doing business here?"
"The old fogeys of the Censorate are all watching me." Pei Wenxuan flipped through a pile of memorials with one hand and declined the teacup with the other. He said indifferently, "It makes people nervous. I'll go back to the residence and hide. I'll go back when everyone's pointing fingers at His Highness."
"Oh, you're going back to the residence during office hours. You're getting more and more capable." Li Rong smiled and said, "What's your reason for coming back?"
"It's simple." Pei Wenxuan raised his head and looked at Li Rong with a faint smile. "I said that the Princess missed me and no one dared to stop me."
Hearing this, Li Rong almost spat out the tea in his mouth.
In his previous life, when Pei Wenxuan was working at the Censorate, in order to build a good relationship with the other officials, he was loyal to his duty and stayed at the office longer than anyone else. It was all to put on a show and make his superiors happy.
Li Rong sighed and said, "You weren't like this in the past."
"I'm young and immature." Pei Wenxuan turned around and looked at the memorials. He sneered and said, "They're all going to die anyway. What's the point of maintaining a good relationship with them? The Censorate is the Third Master of the Shangguan Family. As long as you reconcile with the Shangguan Family, help me put in a few good words. "Pei Wenxuan winked at him." I'll be relying on you for my promotion. "
"From what you're saying," Li Rong took the teacup from the side and said with a smile, "You're planning to live off a woman?"
"After sacrificing so much, I don't even have a woman to live off." Pei Wenxuan sighed. "Your Highness is too stingy."
Li Rong was amused by Pei Wenxuan. He covered half of his face with his fan and couldn't stop laughing. He said, "Good, good, good. I'll reward you with this woman. Do well. Well done." Li Rong raised his hand and used the small fan to poke Pei Wenxuan's shoulder. "I'll promote you."
Pei Wenxuan pursed his lips and smiled. His gaze fell on Li Rong's hand that was holding the fan. He said with a faint smile, "It's not impossible if you don't want to be promoted."
Li Rong raised his eyebrows. Pei Wenxuan paused as if he felt something was wrong. He coughed lightly and turned to Li Rong. "Did His Majesty agree with your idea?"
"He originally wanted to do so."
Li Rong was attracted by Pei Wenxuan's question. He said indifferently, "He doesn't have the ability to really exterminate the aristocratic families."
Pei Wenxuan nodded and said, "If we want to reorganize the aristocratic families, we have to wait until the imperial examinations start again this year and bring in some people."
Hearing this, Li Rong's fan paused. Pei Wenxuan saw that she didn't respond and looked over. Li Rong met his questioning gaze and smiled faintly. He said, "They're all people. Poor aristocratic families can't be that bad."
Li Rong's words were very tactful, but Pei Wenxuan knew that Li Rong didn't directly point at his nose and scold him for "knowing honor and disgrace when one has enough food and clothing". Poor aristocratic families were scum. This was much better.
In Li Rong's heart, the aristocratic families only made mistakes. The poor aristocratic families were only tools used to correct the mistakes of the aristocratic families. In her bones, she didn't really want to support the poor aristocratic families.
When he realized this, Pei Wenxuan's heart was unhappy for a moment. However, he didn't want to argue with Li Rong on this matter, so he changed the topic. He smiled and said, "Has Your Highness applied the fragrance ointment? Why don't this official help you? "
"Look carefully at your booklet." Li Rong raised his chin and then turned his head. He whispered, "Old pervert."
Pei Wenxuan didn't hear Li Rong's words clearly, but his intuition told him that it wasn't anything good. He raised his head and frowned. "What did you say?"
"En?" Li Rong smiled. "Did I say something?"
Pei Wenxuan was speechless. After a moment of silence, he decided not to argue with Li Rong. He lowered his head and continued to look at his booklet.
When the two returned to the princess's residence, Li Rong lifted the curtain of the carriage and saw Xun Chuan waiting at the door. When Li Rong came down from the carriage, Xun Chuan greeted him.
"Your Highness."
Li Rong knew what she wanted to ask, so he said, "Let's talk inside."
Xun Chuan nodded and followed Li Rong into the room. After entering the room, Pei Wenxuan went back to his study to avoid arousing suspicion. Li Rong and Xun Chuan sat at the table. Xun Chuan knelt in front of Li Rong with his eyes lowered.
Li Rong slowly said, "Ask what you want to ask."
"This subordinate heard today that Your Highness didn't mention the Qin Clan's case during the morning court session."
Xun Chuan's voice was a bit hoarse. It seemed like it was very difficult for him to ask. "Your Highness … doesn't plan on investigating?"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
