amaotonovel Chapter 767: Subpoena of Witnesses
Chapter 767: Subpoena of Witnesses
"That's right, Minister Zhong, is there any misunderstanding in this matter? How could the Prime Minister and Madam Shen send someone to assassinate your daughter?"
"That's right, why did the Prime Minister do this? This..."
"Of course it's because of the women's college."
Zhong Xingyun interrupted the court official, with anger and sadness on his face.
"Your Majesty, although I have proposed to abolish the Girls' Academy before, I was just speaking from the standpoint of the Ministry of Rites and never intended to go against the Prime Minister or his wife. As for the sudden possession of my daughter, it was really unexpected. The incident happened suddenly, and some remarks that were unfavorable to the Girls' Academy may have been spread, but it was not intentional. But I didn't expect that it would anger Prime Minister Shen and his wife, causing them to kill her!"
Zhong Xingyun took a deep breath and looked sad.
"I just lost a daughter. If the guards hadn't found her in time last night, I would have lost another one. I beg Your Majesty to help me and punish the murderer severely!"
Zhong Xingyun's eyes were red and his body was trembling slightly.
The court officials who were originally refuting Zhong Xingyun, looking at his appearance and thinking of Zhong Yiyu who had just been buried, did not know what to say for a while.
Emperor Xiao's gaze fell solemnly on Shen Yanxi.
"Lord Shen, do you have anything to say about Lord Zhong's accusation?"
Shen Yanxi walked out of the queue and stood beside Zhong Xingyun. "Your Majesty, my wife and I did send someone to the Zhong family last night."
When these words came out, the court officials were all stunned.
I didn't expect that the Prime Minister really sent someone there. It seems that what Lord Zhong said is true.
Zhong Xingyun originally thought that Shen Yanxi would certainly refute and say that all this was just slander from him, and that he would probably deny the two men. He had even thought about how he would start if Shen Yanxi denied it.
But I didn't expect that Shen Yanxi would admit it so easily.
Without giving it much thought, he immediately wanted to pursue the victory.
However, before he could speak, Shen Yanxi continued, "But the people we sent were not there to kill people, but to save them."
"Save people?" Emperor Xiao was puzzled. "What do you mean by that?"
Zhong Xingyun spoke quickly: "Your Majesty, Prime Minister Shen is talking nonsense. The two masked men he sent were clearly intended to kill people, so how could they save people? Moreover, my daughter is staying at home well, why do they need to send people to save her?"
Although Shen Yanxi and Jiang Suining really wanted to save people, how many people would believe such a thing?
In the eyes of others, as a father, he would never harm his daughter. Even if Shen Yanxi and the others said everything eloquently, they would never put the blame on him.
Thinking of this, Zhong Xingyun felt a little proud, but he quickly suppressed it.
He still looked angry and sad.
"Prime Minister Shen, even if you are angry about the Women's Academy, you can come after me. You shouldn't have attacked Yixue. She was possessed by an evil spirit, and was frightened by you last night. Now she is unconscious at home and is seriously ill. No matter what, you must give justice to my Zhong family!"
Shen Yanxi turned his head to look at Zhong Xingyun, and seeing that the other party seemed to have suffered a great injustice, he couldn't help but laugh and sighed.
"Minister Zhong is a really good actor, but he confuses right and wrong and speaks nonsense in front of the emperor. This is a serious crime of deceiving the emperor."
Zhong Xingyun's expression was tense for a moment, but then returned to normal, and he was even more angry.
"Prime Minister Shen, this is what I wanted to say to you. Now in front of the Emperor, do you still want to deny what you did?"
"Minister Zhong keeps saying that we sent people to kill people to silence them. Do you have any evidence?"
"The two people we caught last night can naturally serve as witnesses."
"Then why not summon them to confront the emperor?"
"Of course!" Zhong Xingyun said without hesitation.
Logically speaking, those two people should never be allowed to come before the emperor.
After all, they are likely to reveal their true purpose under interrogation, and they are very stubborn. Their so-called admission that everything was instructed by Shen Yanxi and Jiang Suining is just their one-sided statement.
However, I cannot show any weakness in front of the emperor, so as not to arouse suspicion.
More importantly, he had already made arrangements. The two men would be robbed and killed on the way from the Zhong family to the palace, and then the blame would be put on Shen Yanxi, saying that they had deliberately killed them to silence them.
"Your Majesty, I beg you to allow me to send someone home with a message and have them delivered to the palace."
Emperor Xiao nodded, "Okay."
"Wait a minute." Shen Yanxi suddenly spoke up to stop him.
"Could it be that Prime Minister Shen is guilty and doesn't dare to confront me?"
"Of course not. It's just that the distance from the Zhong family to the palace is quite long. If something happens to the witness during the escort, he won't be able to explain it clearly, so..."
Shen Yanxi looked at Emperor Xiao and bowed.
"I request that the emperor send the imperial guards to Zhong's house to pick up the person and escort him all the way to the palace. And they must be cautious on the way to prevent anyone from intercepting and killing him."
Zhong Xingyun's heart sank.
I didn't expect Shen Yanxi to make such a suggestion.
He was in too much of a hurry last night, so he only sent people to find two assassins to ambush along the way. They were not top-notch kung fu masters, and if they were escorted by the Imperial Guards, he probably wouldn't have much chance of winning.
"Your Majesty, I don't think it's necessary to go to such trouble. Since Prime Minister Shen has made this suggestion, I think he should not have arranged for anyone to take action against the witness, so the witness will naturally be safe."
Pei Zhaozhi sneered, "Did Minister Zhong really not understand what Prime Minister Shen meant, or is he pretending to be ignorant because he has something to hide?"
"Minister Pei, what do you mean by this?" Zhong Xingyun frowned.
"What Minister Pei means is that what I am worried about is that someone is deliberately planning an ambush and then throwing dirty water on my head." Shen Yanxi spoke bluntly, looking at Zhong Xingyun with a hint of ridicule in his eyes.
Zhong Xingyun was completely panicked and could only try his best to remain calm on the surface.
"The Prime Minister is really good at talking. Even in this situation, he is still able to confuse right and wrong and try to put the suspicion on me."
"Since Lord Zhong has no other arrangements, why should we object to the Royal Guards' escort?" Shen Yanxi chuckled.
Pei Zhaozhi chimed in, "What the Prime Minister said is correct. If Minister Zhong has nothing to hide, he would naturally hope that the witness can be seen before the emperor safely. It would be beneficial for the Imperial Guards to escort him, so there is no reason to object."
"I……"
Zhong Xingyun took a deep breath. Now that things had come to this, he had no choice but to take a gamble!
"Your Majesty, I just don't want this matter to get too big, but since the Prime Minister is not afraid, I also ask Your Majesty to send the Royal Guards to pick up the people!"
Emperor Xiao looked at Zhong Xingyun and Shen Yanxi and agreed.
Just as he was about to give the order, Shen Yanxi spoke again...