You get Lu Bu as your starting character.

Chapter 58 Fang Xuanling

Jinluan Palace.

After the officials took turns reading through the evidence in these memorials, some of them were terrified.

The evidence in the folded document was truly shocking.

No one expected that General Wu Jin would actually conspire with more than twenty court officials, including the Minister of Personnel and the Minister of Rites, to stage a military coup at the General's mansion.

This caused quite a stir among the officials.

To put it nicely, it was a military remonstrance; to put it bluntly, wasn't it a mutiny?
They wanted to use the emperor to command the feudal lords.

What's the difference between this and rebellion?

The officials initially thought this was an excuse Emperor Zhou Chen was using to deal with the Grand General's faction.

However, to everyone's surprise, the general actually wanted to stage a military coup.

What terrified the officials even more was that Empress Wu Ying had actually secretly drugged Emperor Zhou Chen, plotting to kill him.

Furthermore, Empress Wu Ying has been drugging Zhou Chen for several years.

During this period, it remained undiscovered.

This is truly astonishing.

Although the medicine administered by Empress Wu Ying was not fatal, poisoning the emperor was itself a heinous crime.

If Empress Wu Ying were to commit regicide, wouldn't Emperor Zhou Chen's life be in imminent danger of dying at any moment?

All of this must have alarmed the officials.

Such evidence warrants not only the confiscation of property and extermination of the entire clan, but also the extensive execution of all related individuals.

And those officials who were related to Empress Wu Ying's family faction.

At this moment, looking at the evidence in my hands, I can no longer describe it as just being terrified.

Instead, his face was deathly pale.

They were on tenterhooks all day yesterday, fearing that the imperial guards would come and raid their home and exterminate their entire family.

Now, looking at this naked, deadly thing in my hand, my heart is in my throat.

Since ancient times, treason has been a grave crime.

The implications are far-reaching.

Under normal circumstances, anyone associated with the Empress's relatives would be implicated and executed.

After seeing that all the officials had finished reading the evidence, Zhou Chen calmly looked down at them and said, "Gentlemen, have you all finished reading?"

"Is there anything you want to say?"

Zhou Chen scanned the officials expressionlessly, showing no sign of anger or annoyance.

Prime Minister Yuan Bo put down the evidence in his hands and stood up with a pained expression.

"Your Majesty, this old minister is guilty."

"This old minister never expected that the Empress and the General would do such a treasonous thing; they have simply failed to live up to the Emperor's grace."

"Especially the Grand General, he was a trusted minister entrusted by the late emperor to assist the country, yet he did such a rebellious thing."

"I have truly failed the late emperor's trust and expectations."

"Previously, the old ministers and officials were all misled and deceived by the general, pleading for the empress, who was so rebellious."

"Please forgive me, Your Majesty."

After Prime Minister Yuan Bo finished speaking, he knelt down on the ground with a 'plop' and bowed his head.

"The minister is guilty."

Immediately afterwards, the other four ministers of the six ministries, along with all the officials, knelt on the ground to beg for forgiveness.

At this point, even the most foolish person would know to kneel down and beg for forgiveness.

After all, they had previously stormed the palace and submitted memorials together for half a month regarding the affairs of Empress Wu Ying and Grand Tutor Yan Hua.

Now that the evidence is conclusive, Empress Wu Ying and General Wu Jin are all treacherous rebels with ill intentions. If they don't quickly sever ties and kneel down to beg for forgiveness...

Then you really are a complete novice in officialdom.

guilty?

Zhou Chen chuckled inwardly.

If he hadn't swiftly wiped out the General's Mansion and taken down more than twenty important officials from the General's faction, it would have been a disaster.

Would these officials admit their guilt?
The answer is no.

Since ancient times, victors are kings and losers are bandits.

Whether someone is rebellious or not is completely unimportant.

The important thing is the final winner.

Zhou Chen dared to say that if General Wu Jin had been standing on the dragon throne at the morning court session, most of the officials would have been shouting nonsense like "The General is wise and mighty."

This is human nature. Zhou Chen was well aware of this.

Now that the officials have seen the Empress and the General's faction fall from power, they are all eager to distance themselves and kneel down to beg for forgiveness.

It must be said that while these officials may not have shown much else, they were quite adept at self-preservation.

He truly deserves to be called a cunning old fox who has managed to stand firm in the officialdom.

Use retreat to advance.

They've certainly got a good idea of ​​what to do.

However, Zhou Chen has no immediate plans to further implicate others.

Zhou Chen knew that you can't get fat overnight.

Yesterday, we already took down more than twenty people in one fell swoop. If we expand the scope of the operation further...

Then the central government would truly be paralyzed, and if these officials were not replenished in time, it would cause unrest.

This is not what Zhou Chen wanted to see.

Therefore, Zhou Chen could only put it aside for now and wait until the positions of the more than twenty officials who had been removed were filled before taking action.

Zhou Chen watched as the officials knelt down to plead guilty, and said without any change in expression, "If you are guilty, then remember it for now."

"I do not want to hear your apologies now, but I hope you will stabilize the court and the situation for me."

"Because of the Empress Wu Ying and General Wu Jin's plot to rebel, there is some turmoil inside and outside the court. You must keep things stable for me."

"We cannot allow any turmoil to occur in the imperial court."

Zhou Chen surveyed the officials with an air of authority.

Although Zhou Chen had tried his best to prevent the matter of General Wu Jin from implicating many people, there were still many people who needed to be dealt with.

This includes the Imperial Guards who followed Empress Wu Ying in attacking the Hall of Mental Cultivation, as well as the generals among the Twelve Divine Martial Guards.

These people will be treated as traitors.

This will inevitably implicate many more people.

Therefore, these matters cannot be resolved in just one or two days.

The next few days will likely be the time for the real confiscation of property, extermination of families, and killings.

Therefore, Zhou Chen needed to keep the officials in control both inside and outside the court.

Otherwise, the Minister of War and the Eighth Prince alone would not be able to stabilize the situation in the court.

"Your Majesty, rest assured, it is our duty to eliminate the traitors."

"We will certainly assist the Imperial Guards in suppressing the rebellion and stabilizing the court."

Led by Prime Minister Yuan Bo, all the officials spoke in unison.

Those officials who were connected with Empress Wu Ying's faction all secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

It seems the Emperor has no intention of harming them, so they can rest easy for now.

"Your Majesty, more than twenty officials, including the Minister of Personnel and the Minister of Rites, have rebelled and their families have been exterminated. Their positions are now vacant and should be filled promptly."

“Especially important positions such as Minister of Personnel and Minister of Rites should be appointed immediately to stabilize the court.”

At this moment, the Minister of War stepped forward and spoke.

There are currently more than twenty vacancies in the imperial court, most of which are important positions.

If this is not addressed promptly, many important matters in the court will be delayed.

As a loyal minister of the royal family, the Minister of War naturally had to step forward in time to identify and address any shortcomings and remind Zhou Chen of this matter.

Upon hearing the Minister of War's words, Zhou Chen nodded; "I already have a candidate for the position of Minister of Personnel."

"Cao Zhengchun".

"The emperor summoned Fang Xuanling to court."

Fang Xuanling?
Upon hearing this unfamiliar name, all the officials frowned.

Who was Fang Xuanling?
They've never heard of it before.

Judging from the Emperor's words, does he intend to appoint Fang Xuanling as Minister of Personnel?
Upon hearing this, Cao Zhengchun immediately shouted in a shrill voice, "Summon Fang Xuanling to an audience."

The sound came out.

Soon, a young scholar walked into the Golden Palace with his head held high.

Indeed, the visitor was Fang Xuanling.

This is the outstanding person Zhou Chen checked in with yesterday.

I don't know if Zhou Chen was just lucky, but yesterday's sign-in revealed the great talent Fang Xuanling.

"Fang Xuanling pays his respects to Your Majesty, long live the Emperor!" Fang Xuanling knelt down and bowed as soon as he entered.

Zhou Chen looked at Fang Xuanling; "Rise!"

(End of this chapter)