strictlysupreme Chapter 381: At the Grand Court Meeting...it turns out that everyone can act!
Chapter 381: At the Grand Court Meeting...it turns out that everyone can act!
Gu Jingzhi, who had half-closed his eyes, suddenly opened them, his eyes flashing with a gleam of brilliance, but soon became calm again.
"His Majesty!"
The censor of the Metropolitan Censorate said solemnly, "The military discipline of the city defense camp is bad. There are frequent cases of people bullying the people, beating civilians, and stealing their property... and other crimes!"
"Commander-in-Chief Yin Kaishan and his officers have disregarded the laws of the court, engaging in prostitution and pleasure, secretly trading military positions within the City Defense Battalion, and exploiting their power to exploit merchants and act as thugs for the powerful... This thief and the bandits under his command have become a cancer in the capital, and the people hate them to the core. I implore Your Majesty to rigorously investigate this thief and all the officers and soldiers of the City Defense Battalion, and restore peace to the capital!"
"Your Majesty, I also impeach Yin Kaishan for condoning the officers and soldiers of the city defense camp..."
"His Majesty……"
As if they had made an appointment, the censors of the Metropolitan Censorate all jumped out to impeach the officers of the city defense battalion, such as buying things without paying, beating civilians without permission, condoning the evil deeds of all kinds of forces in the city, collusion between officials and bandits, etc.!
The conversation between you and me instantly ignited the entire court.
Yin Kaishan, Commander of the City Defense Battalion, Fourth Rank...
More importantly, he is from the second prince's mother's family...that is, Queen Yin's family. In terms of seniority, the second prince should call him uncle, but their relationship is not that close.
The Censorate's mobilization of such a large force further confirmed Gu Jingzhi's previous guess. If things went as expected, Lin Chong would be safe this time!
If they were not absolutely sure, the Censorate would never have acted so high-profile. All the censors were convinced that there was only one answer, that is, they had received instructions from Emperor Xia and had sufficient evidence in their hands.
The Censorate's actions directly touched the Second Prince's bottom line. He turned around and looked at the Left Censor-in-Chief Tian Jingwen, his face gloomy, "Censor Tian, Yin Kaishan is a fourth-rank general. Your Censorate's statement is so convincing. Do you have solid evidence?"
Tian Jingwen seemed to have been prepared, knowing that the Second Prince would attack him. He opened his eyes, walked to the center of the hall, and said with a bow, "Your Majesty, the impeachment of the City Defense Battalion by my colleagues in the Censorate is completely true, and we have sufficient evidence to prove it. If anyone in the court disagrees, I, the Censorate, have brought the evidence and testimonies from all sides!"
"And there are all the witnesses involved in this matter. We can find out the truth in the first trial!"
As he spoke, he gave a wink to the other censors in the Censorate, and they each took out the evidence they had verified.
When Emperor Xia saw it, he immediately gave a wink to the eunuch beside him, and the eunuch ran over happily.
Soon, all the evidence collected by the Censorate was handed to Emperor Xia. Emperor Xia only took a quick look and became furious. He threw all the evidence to the ground!
"What a great city defense camp, what a great Yin Kaishan!"
"The imperial court entrusted the safety of the capital to them, yet they committed corruption and abused their power for personal gain right under my nose! Hateful, truly hateful!"
"In my opinion, there's no need to investigate the officers and soldiers of this city defense camp. Just lock them up and jail them, and punish them according to the law!"
"Wow..."
The Second Prince's face changed drastically. He stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the officers and soldiers of the City Defense Battalion may have made mistakes, but to jail them without investigation is against the laws of the court. Your son..."
"Shut up, rebellious son!"
Emperor Xia roared angrily, pointing to the case files on the ground and scolding, "These files are right here, the facts are clear at a glance. Do you think I'm a tyrant who can't tell right from wrong?"
If he was pretending to be angry at the beginning, then Emperor Xia was really angry now!
As the emperor, how could he not know the court rules? However, since he had spoken, it only meant that there was solid evidence of Yin Kaishan and the city defense battalion's crimes.
His second-in-command is still nagging in front of him, isn’t it because Yin Kaishan is from his faction?
A prince shielding a criminal like this, isn't it just because of the 30,000 soldiers in the city defense camp? As an emperor, how could he not know? What can a prince do with his hands on military power?
Isn’t it just waiting for a certain day?
That's why he was really angry.
He was in good health before, so it was okay to keep Yin Kaishan as the commander of the city defense camp. If they behaved themselves, they could just wait for the right opportunity to change his position.
But he didn't expect that Yin Kaishan, relying on the strength of his family, would be so bold and presumptuous as to engage in the business of buying and selling official positions!
If they were bullying the city's merchants, he could have turned a blind eye. After all, they were from the Queen's family, so he had to give them some respect. He hadn't expected them to be so bold. He, the Emperor, was concerned about his relatives' reputation, yet you came and touched the court's bottom line...
If not you, who else?
When the Second Prince saw the furious expression on Emperor Xia's face, he suddenly woke up. It seemed that Yin Kaishan had really done something extraordinary this time, and someone even caught him!
But I ran out to speak for him without even looking at him. This must have angered my father!
Thinking of this, the Second Prince immediately said in panic: "Your Majesty, I have behaved badly. Please punish me!"
Punishment...
"Humph!"
Emperor Xia glanced at his useless son and snorted coldly, "Get out of here!"
It is true that the second son has his own ideas, but Yin Kaishan’s affairs have nothing to do with him. Even if they are related, there is no evidence. After all, he is his son. Although he has some unreasonable thoughts, it has not reached that point yet. He does not want to embarrass his second son too much!
After scolding the Second Brother, Emperor Xia looked towards the Dali Temple and said coldly, "Yin Kaishan's crimes are unforgivable, and many of his officers and officers have also committed evil. This case will be handed over to the Dali Temple for full responsibility! The Censorate should cooperate with the Dali Temple in handling the case!"
Officials from the Censorate and the Dali Temple did not dare to hesitate and immediately accepted the task!
When the second prince heard this, he thought it was all over!
He had no say in the Dali Temple. Moreover, after the Empty Seal Case, the Dali Temple could be said to be almost Gu Jingzhi's territory. He had tried to win over Gu Jingzhi before but failed, so naturally, Gu Jingzhi would not give him any face now.
As for the Censorate...
This matter was originally caused by the Censorate. If we really give face to the Second Prince, it would be tantamount to destroying our own reputation!
The most important thing is...
He finally realized that his father's fundamental purpose was to remove his military power!
Thinking of this, he looked at his eldest brother with some resentment, thinking how unfair his father was to him. It would have been fine if his eldest brother had firmly sat on the throne of crown prince, but now he was actually helping his eldest brother to clip their wings.
The position of commander of the city defense camp is now vacant, but it cannot fall into the hands of the boss.
However, he had just been scolded and the people who were killed were his people, so it was inappropriate for him to bring it up now.
Fortunately, he was not the only one who thought of this. The third brother cast a subtle glance towards the crowd of officials.
"Your Majesty! While Yin Kaishan and the others are certainly guilty, the City Defense Battalion is crucial to the security of the capital. The commander and many officers are currently under investigation. If no one steps in to control the situation, chaos is imminent!"
"I believe that right now, not only should we investigate the city defense camp, but we should also determine the commander-in-chief as soon as possible..."