amaotonovel Chapter 671 Tong Guan’s Opportunity
Chapter 671 Tong Guan’s Opportunity
Emperor Qianwu said in a cold voice: "Come here, bring all the people up!"
Soon, everyone saw more than a dozen boys and girls who were searched out of the Third Prince's Mansion, all kneeling on the ground in an orderly manner.
Some people want to associate with powerful people, while naturally there are also people who just want to live a peaceful life.
There was fear on the faces of all the people in the group. Obviously, no matter whether they were favored or not, they had to be very careful when facing someone with Xiao Heyu's temperament.
What shocked many people was that among the men and women in the second row, some had one eye gouged out, some had burns all over their faces and looked hideous, and of course, two had their hands and feet chopped off.
Although Emperor Qianwu did not want to affect the royal reputation and therefore did not announce Xiao Heyu's affair with Long Yang to the outside world, since he was angry and planned to depose him, he naturally did not intend to hide Xiao Heyu's crimes.
"This... Is this really what the Third Prince did? This is so... cruel!"
"Your Highness the Third Prince has corrupt personal morals. No matter what crimes these people have committed, they should not be treated like this!"
"That's right. I never expected that the Third Prince, who usually seems to be benevolent and caring towards the people, would actually..."
Many people spoke from the bottom of their hearts.
In this officialdom, it is indeed not easy to be clean, but such cruelty is not something that everyone can accept.
Xiao Yuncheng's party would not miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and they all spoke out to attack sincerely and unintentionally.
Emperor Qianwu said in a cold voice: "Luo Jing, how is the investigation going on regarding the flood relief funds in Jiangnan?"
"Your Majesty, yesterday Lord Han led his men to raid a workshop that made fake silver. Sixty-eight officials from Jiangnan were also raided. Ten of them committed suicide out of fear of punishment, twenty-two tried to escape but were caught, and another twenty have been escorted back to Beijing. Another sixteen are still being detained and investigated in Jiangnan."
"go on."
"After days and nights of interrogation by this old minister, sixteen of the twenty people who arrived in Beijing have bowed their heads and confessed their crimes. Thirteen of them testified that they were threatened and bribed by Lu Xiong and His Highness the Third Prince and dared not disobey..."
"In addition, upon investigation, the dam was found to have been sloppy in its use of materials and delayed in its construction. Several construction supervisors admitted that they were instructed to do so intentionally, with the intention of causing the dam to burst every year, thus causing continuous flooding."
Emperor Qianwu's face was icy: "Who ordered you to do this?"
Luo Jing said frankly: "I was instructed by Lu Xiong and the Third Prince."
Lu Xiong is the half-brother of Lu Qing and Lu Xiao. In recent years, he can be regarded as a well-known figure in the Lu family and a powerful support for Xiao Heyu's party.
"Hmph, what a great Lu family! What a great Third Prince!" Emperor Qianwu was extremely angry, and all the ministers were silent.
Luo Jing's expression remained unchanged as he gave a detailed explanation of the case of embezzlement of official silver for flood relief in Jiangnan.
"Your Majesty, General Lu Xiao is still fighting on the front lines. It is not appropriate to investigate and punish the Lu family members, so as not to shake the morale of the army." Someone stepped forward and spoke in a deep voice.
Emperor Qianwu said coldly: "Send a message to Lu Xiao, and tell him that I allow him to make meritorious contributions while serving his sentence. If he can capture Xiling and subdue Luo State, his merits and demerits will be offset, and I will give him a lighter sentence!"
Hearing this, the group had different thoughts. However, Xiao Tingshan felt that Emperor Qianwu was really cruel. Even if he wanted to abolish the Lu family, he still wanted to use people to the extreme.
Moreover, once this decree was issued, it would further demonstrate the emperor's benevolence and consideration for old friendships.
If Lu Xiao was defeated, he would be doomed to die. But if Lu Xiao won, even if Emperor Qianwu allowed him to return to the capital, he would surely be stripped of his military power as his merits and demerits would be offset.
By then, the rest of the Lu family would have been severely punished. Even if Emperor Qianwu spared Lu Xiao's life, who knew if he would suffer an accident in the capital? Would he suddenly die of illness?
Moreover, the case of the ghost employee has not been concluded yet. If it is delayed until Lu Xiao comes back, the case will be put on his head. Even if the previous merits and demerits are offset, after this...
Xiao Tingshan collected his thoughts and, on the one hand, considered that he should continue to work for Xiao Heyu for some time to demonstrate his loyalty. On the other hand, he was thinking about which prince he should turn to in order to have a better chance.
*
After the court was dismissed, Emperor Qianwu went to the Xuanwu Hall.
At this moment, inside the hall, Tong Guan and five other eunuchs were waiting with their heads bowed.
Not long ago, Emperor Qianwu summoned him and several other people once, but apart from asking them some questions, he let them leave.
But Tong Guan was very keenly aware that perhaps his chance had come.
Most of these eunuchs were like him, and it was difficult for them to know the political affairs of the court. At most, they could hear some rumors.
But he is different. Ever since he started working for Shen Shuyi, he has gradually built up an information network. Although the time is still short and there are still some shortcomings, it is easy for him to know some things about the court.
Therefore, since the last time he met this emperor who dominated the life and death of everyone, Tong Guan thought that His Majesty would definitely take action.
Sure enough, since that day, Li Yun invited a guard with good martial arts skills to teach them martial arts for a few days.
Although they didn't know why, they all worked hard.
But just working hard was not enough. He did not try to please the old guard like some other people did.
He thought that if His Majesty wanted to employ someone, then he must have something that His Majesty would value.
While they were thinking, Emperor Qianwu had stopped in front of them.
"Everyone, stand up." Emperor Qianwu looked at the six people in front of him.
There were not many eunuchs who knew martial arts, and those who did were mostly only mediocre at it. Li Yun took a lot of effort to pick these few out.
"How do you feel about following Commander Song in practicing martial arts these days?"
As soon as Emperor Qianwu spoke, someone immediately rushed to say, "Your Majesty, Commander Song is a master of martial arts, and I and others have benefited greatly from him."
Emperor Qianwu looked at Li Yun and asked, "Who among these people has made the most progress?"
Li Yun stepped forward and said, "Tong Guan and Zhang Wang are the most talented and have made the most progress. Su Hui is also very hardworking. The other three are just average."
"Which one is Tong Guan or Zhang Wang?" Emperor Qianwu asked in a cold voice.
At that moment, Tong Guan and Zhang Wang stepped forward and replied respectfully.
Emperor Qianwu looked at the two men calmly. Zhang Wang was the martial artist, tall and fair-skinned. However, when Emperor Qianwu remembered that he was tricked into the palace to become a eunuch, he always felt a little bit uncomfortable.
The person he wants must not only be skilled in martial arts and loyal, but also have brains.
Otherwise, wouldn't you be fooled by those cunning court officials?
"Su Hui, come forward." Emperor Qianwu spoke again. Su Hui was the son of a guilty minister, so although he had no one to rely on, as a confidant, Emperor Qianwu had to be on guard against whether he would harbor resentment towards him.
Emperor Qianwu looked at the two of them and spoke in a deep voice, "The Third Prince has disregarded human life, oppressed the people, embezzled government funds, and enriched himself. His entire clan should be executed. However, he is my son and we have a deep father-son relationship. I really cannot do it. What do you think I should do?"