klisemfg Chapter 34 Your Highness, according to etiquette, you are to be flogged twice and have your salary d
Chapter 34 Your Highness, according to etiquette, you are to be flogged twice and have your salary d
Prince An did have one redeeming quality: he was obedient.
Although he didn't understand Mu Xiaoguang's decision and was afraid of being convicted, he gritted his teeth and bowed in reply.
"Your Majesty, I believe that Minister Mu's words are reasonable and should be examined by Your Majesty personally."
King Ping shook his head regretfully, flicked his sleeves, and retreated back into the ranks.
There's still hope! Emperor Longyun snorted coldly, "Then it's settled. Mu Bolin, take a squad of Imperial Guards to the Ministry of Justice and bring the man to the Imperial Prison for trial."
"I accept the decree."
Mu Bolin accepted the order and left, and the court fell silent again.
Regardless of the truth of the matter, it seemed to have come to a temporary end. Soon, other officials came out one after another to report on other matters, until half an hour later, Mu Bolin, who had gone to the Ministry of Justice to fetch the person, hurriedly entered the hall again.
Seeing his solemn expression, Lin Shiming roughly knew what was going on.
"Your Majesty, I have just been ordered to go to the Ministry of Justice to arrest someone. But when I went in, I found that the manager of the bookstore in the distance was already dead."
All eyes immediately turned to Prince An and Minister of Justice Mu Xiaoguang.
Prince An was trembling with fear, but Mu Xiaoguang stood tall and fearless.
His behavior was somewhat baffling.
Emperor Longyun was prepared. He knew that the steward would be silenced no matter which prison he was sent to, so he only pretended to be surprised.
"Oh? Dead?"
"Your Majesty, I have examined the evidence. The steward died by running into a wall, which should have happened around midnight yesterday."
Wow! That speed. Emperor Longyun sneered inwardly. If those court officials could use this speed in governing the country, Changping Kingdom would probably have been peaceful and unified by now.
"Minister of Justice, how do you explain this?"
Mu Xiaoguang took a step forward, knelt down, and cupped his hands in greeting.
"I failed to investigate. I believe the steward committed suicide out of fear of punishment."
That's incredibly shameless!
Lin Shiming straightened his sleeves; it was time for him to shine!
"Father!"
The somewhat unfamiliar but loud address startled the officials who were focused on thinking about Mu Xiaoguang's matter.
Lin Shihe in front remained motionless, closing his eyes and pretending to be a block of wood.
Meanwhile, Lu Yuxi gasped. He should have known this guy was up to no good by going off to the military commander's side alone!
Emperor Longyun, who was seated at the head of the table, was also quite startled by his shout.
"...Princess Consort, what is it?"
"Father, I wish to sue the Minister of Justice for disobeying the imperial decree and defying Your Majesty's will. According to the law, he should be executed!"
Upon hearing this, the civil officials looked at Lin Shiming in the middle in disbelief.
The military officers all wore smug expressions. They didn't understand these intricacies, but they were happy as long as those old geezers suffered!
"Your Highness, Crown Princess!" Mu Xiaoguang's expression hardened, and he turned around to retort, "You can't say things like that!"
Lin Shiming scoffed, "Who's talking nonsense to you?"
Yesterday, when Lu Yuxi went to arrest someone, Lin Shiming received another message from Yu Sheng outside.
Yu Sheng and his team separately interrogated one of the fake candidates. It turned out that the nearly one hundred people who had impersonated this year's candidates and gone to distant bookstores to buy exam questions had all previously purchased exam questions for the provincial and prefectural examinations from these same bookstores. This time, masked men had used evidence of their past purchases of exam questions to threaten them into buying another set of exam questions for the metropolitan examination from a distant bookstore.
The Tingyun Army also discovered that the manager had a son who had mysteriously disappeared some time ago. It seems the person behind this was using his only son to blackmail the manager into selling more exam questions. Given yesterday's news, the manager's son probably doesn't have much longer to live.
Furthermore, the only steward who knew all the inside information died last night, leaving all leads dead. With such thorough methods, it seems the person targeting Lu Yuxi will truly be impossible to find.
But Lin Shiming wasn't about to swallow this insult. If he couldn't find the person behind it all, he'd take it out on the Prince An, the one in the public eye. He wouldn't let this go until he'd torn them limb from limb!
If we can't convict you of a crime to silence you, then we'll find an even bigger one.
"Yesterday, the Emperor issued an edict to arrest all those involved immediately and hand them over to the Court of Judicial Review and the Ministry of Justice for trial. Today, the Court of Judicial Review has submitted a memorial regarding the case. What about your Ministry of Justice? Minister Mu, you are not acting according to His Majesty's orders! Isn't this disobeying the imperial decree?"
Mu Xiaoguang's face turned red from being blocked.
He indeed didn't conduct the interrogation; wasn't it because he felt it unnecessary? The person in charge had only handed the case over to the Ministry of Justice a short time ago, before the paperwork was even complete, when Prince An urged the Princess to send a letter ordering him to silence the witnesses. If they were going to silence them, who would bother with an interrogation? What if they actually uncovered something during the interrogation?
But how could Mu Xiaoguang say such a thing?
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I simply didn't have time..."
"If you don't have time, how can the Court of Judicial Review have time? Moreover, you know that Father will definitely ask about this matter in court today, yet you didn't make any preparations at all. It's clear that you don't respect Father at all!"
The Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, who had been used by Lin Shiming to put down Mu Xiaoguang, clutched his heart in fear.
Mu Xiaoguang was speechless. He was prepared for Lin Shiming to use against him for negligence, but he never expected it to be like this. Who would bring up something like this?
"Speechless, is that it?" Lin Shiming smiled coldly and cupped his hands again. "Father, I beg you to issue an edict to have this Minister of Justice executed!"
No one expected things to unfold this way. The An Prince's faction was no exception. But they had already realized what was happening; they couldn't execute him. Mu Xiaoguang was a key figure in the An Prince's faction; if he were gone, the An Prince would be severely affected.
So Prince An, who had just been quite frightened, mustered his strength and jumped out first, saying, "Crown Princess! Don't cause trouble for no reason."
“So what if I’m looking for your business? I have my reasons and evidence! If you’re not satisfied,” Lin Shiming rolled his eyes at him, “then conjure up a memorial from the Ministry of Justice for me.”
Prince An pointed at his nose, trembling with rage, "You are despicable and shameless!"
Ha! Lin Shiming was delighted; he had been looking for an excuse to pick a fight with him!
Lin Shiming took a few steps forward, meeting the fearful gaze of Prince An, and then raised his hand to slap down the hand that Prince An was pointing at him.
"Prince An, where is your manners? How dare you, a prince, point your finger at me, the Crown Princess, and curse me?"
Did I waste all those years of etiquette classes?
Lin Shiming turned his head and glanced at the civil officials. "Where is the Minister of Rites? Who is it? Come out and tell Prince An how to deal with this crime of disrespecting his superior."
After hesitating for a long time at the civil official's place, an old man with a completely white beard and hair came out. Lin Shiming couldn't help but frown. What if he caused trouble at such an old age?
When the Minister of Rites saw Lin Shiming frowning, he thought that Lin Shiming was dissatisfied with his dawdling. He was so frightened that he quickly ran two steps outside, afraid that Lin Shiming would find another mistake on his part.
"Your Highness, Crown Princess," Minister of Rites Xu Shenghong said, his steps faltering, "This subject..."
"Don't look for me, talk to Prince An."
Xu Shenghong then turned to Prince An and said, enunciating each word clearly, "Your Highness, according to etiquette, you should be flogged twenty times and have your salary deducted..."
"Considering this is his first offense, let's leave it at that." Lin Shiming waved impatiently at Mu Bolin, who was still standing in the middle waiting for orders. "Commander Mu, drag him away and beat him."
Mu Bolin was shocked and immediately turned to look at Emperor Longyun.
Emperor Longyun was completely engrossed in this drama. In the past, when his ministers argued in court, they were always polite and exchanged words back and forth. When had he ever seen anyone so decisive and swift, shouting for war right from the start?
I must say, it was exhilarating and exciting.
But he didn't want to be pulled off the field so quickly.
Emperor Longyun ignored Mu Bolin's questioning gaze and pretended not to see it.
"Commander Mu, do my words have no effect?"
"My minister obeys."
Mu Bolin summoned several soldiers guarding the two sides of the main hall and dragged Prince An outside.
"Mu Bolin! How dare you! Release me at once! I am a prince! Lin Shiming! You..."
"Tell him to keep his voice down! Don't interfere with my sentencing of his grandfather-in-law."
Mu Bolin immediately obediently covered Prince An's mouth.
Soon, the dull thud of a stick hitting flesh and Prince An's cries of pain could be heard outside.