Corrupt official in the Red Chamber

Chapter 398 Suburban Welcome

As if nothing was wrong, Jia Rui walked with his soldiers on the official road leading to the capital.

He had received the news from Zhao Jin yesterday, but Jia Rui was not prepared to fight back. The more embarrassed he was today, the more the Emperor would favor him. (If he knew the current physical condition of the Supreme Emperor, he would not do this.)

As for being embarrassed in front of the civil and military officials of the court, Jia Rui didn't care at all.

Soon, Jia Rui's team approached Shili Pavilion.

In the vicinity, ordinary people have been cleared out. In the pavilion, the emperor is sitting firmly on a chair, and there are maids and eunuchs beside him, holding tea and snacks.

The civil and military ministers were not so lucky. Those with high official positions could still enter the pavilion to accompany the emperor, while those with lower official positions could only stand in the sun and suffer.

At this time, I saw a man who looked like a eunuch, riding a fast horse, coming towards this side very quickly. When he came to the outside of the pavilion, he immediately got off his horse and trotted to the pavilion and knelt down on the ground.

"Long live the Lord, the fake Marquis's motorcade still has three miles to go."

After hearing this, the emperor waved his hand to ask him to retreat, and then stood up from the chair.

"Dear ministers, Jia Aiqing has arrived. Let's go out to greet him."

After saying this, the emperor walked out of the pavilion, and other ministers followed him to the roadside.

Besides, Jia Rui saw a group of people standing on the roadside to greet him from a distance. The leader was wearing a bright yellow robe.

Seeing this scene, Jia Rui felt proud in his heart, but his face was very serious and he immediately dismounted.

Then he trotted to the front of the group of people. When he saw the emperor's position, he immediately knelt down on the ground, then knocked his knees as his feet, and crawled forward on his knees.

The emperor seemed very excited at this time and trotted forward to help Jia Rui up.

Although Jia Rui did not dare to push the emperor away, he was so strong that he forcibly kowtowed to the emperor three times before standing up with the emperor's help.

The emperor looked at Jia Rui and said with relief: "Jia Aiqing has worked hard this time."

Then he said with emotion: "I am thinner and darker than when I left Beijing. Jia Aiqing has worked hard for the country, and I can't bear it!"

"Don't you dare, for the sake of the imperial court, for the sake of your Majesty, let alone losing weight, even if you die, you will not frown." Jia Rui and the emperor praised each other.

At this moment, a young official suddenly jumped out of the crowd and knelt in front of the emperor, "My lord, Li Junyouben, the censor of the street patrol."

The emperor was stunned for a moment, then looked at Li Jun and said angrily: "It's not the morning court now. If you have anything to do, we'll talk about it in the morning court two days later."

"I will risk my life to impeach Dingxi Hou Jia Rui." The young man said stubbornly.

Jia Rui also showed panic on his face, but he quickly suppressed it, "Your Majesty, since someone is impeaching me, it is better to accept it now to avoid your majesty's reputation being damaged for my sake."

The emperor sighed, then pointed at Jia Rui and said helplessly: "You, you are so serious about things, let me say whatever you want."

Even so, the emperor still sat on the chair brought by Xia Shouzhong, preparing to try Jia Rui's case right here on the street.

"Tell me, why do you want to impeach Jia Aiqing? If you say it well, let it be. If you say something bad, you will go to jail yourself." The emperor's tone seemed to be partial to Jia Rui, but the ministers took it from the emperor's tone. There was a hint of schadenfreude.

"I impeach Jia Rui for corruption, perverting the law, plundering people's wealth, and abusing military force, causing countless casualties to the people of the subject country."

After hearing this, the emperor frowned and stared at Li Wanneng with some displeasure.

My heart said: Who is this person you arranged for? Wasn't it agreed upon that we only mentioned corruption and nothing else? Why did you mention that there were too many people killed in the Southern Barbarian Kingdom?

Li Wanneng was also a little helpless, because this stupid young man was not arranged by him at all, and the person he arranged was still standing in the team in a daze.

This person thought that Li Wan could arrange two people, and he was still complaining: Mr. Li, you just arranged two people, please give me some air! Both sides have to say hello and support each other when it comes to impeachment. What should I do if you show up out of the blue like this?

What can Li Wan do? He could only lower his head and dare not look into the emperor's eyes.

The emperor turned around helplessly and looked at Jia Rui and asked, "Jia Rui, what do you have to say about yourself?"

At this time, Jia Rui also knelt on the ground in great fear and said cautiously: "I have not taken bribes and violated the law. Although I have brought back some local specialties, they are not worth much. Please be careful, Your Majesty!"

Li Jun rushed to speak at this time and said: "Then let me ask you, yesterday you sent people to secretly use more than a dozen large trucks to enter the house. What was inside?"

Jia Rui seemed to be very embarrassed at this time. He lowered his head and thought for a long time before saying: "These are some local specialties from the Southern Barbarian Kingdom. Wei Chen is going to bring them back to his relatives and friends."

"Jia Rui, you traitor still dares to lie in front of the emperor." Li Jun said angrily.

"Why did I lie? Did you even open up my big car and take a look at it?" Jia Rui said unconvinced.

"Although I haven't opened up the cart to see it, I have seen the wheel marks of the cart. The wheels are sunk into the mud. If it wasn't filled with gold, silver and other heavy metals, how could it be so heavy?" Li Jun said angrily Staring at Jia Rui calmly.

This question left Jia Rui speechless.

"Please, Your Majesty, inspect the Dingxi Hou Mansion to see how much money this traitor Jia Rui has embezzled." Li Jun stared at Jia Rui angrily.

Jia Rui seemed to be annoyed by the other party. He jumped up from the ground, raised his hand and punched Li Jun in the face. The frail scholar spit out his teeth and rolled on the ground several times.

If the emperor's personal soldiers hadn't stepped forward to stop Jia Rui, I'm afraid this little censor would have been beaten up by Jia Rui. "Jia Rui, do you still have me in your eyes? How dare you be so unscrupulous in front of me."

When Jia Rui heard this shout, he seemed to have reacted and his mind was clear. He quickly lay on the ground and kowtowed, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Please forgive me, Your Majesty."

"If it weren't for your hard work this time, I would not be lenient. Forget it this time. If there is a next time, it's up to you."

Jia Rui quickly kowtowed.

"Ignoring the property in advance, Li Juntan and you just killed innocent people in Nanman Kingdom. Is this the case?"

When Jia Rui heard these words, his eyes were a little sad, and he said with a little choked up: "Your Majesty, the Southern Barbarians are an enemy country, and the place where I conquer the Southern Barbarians is full of people from the enemy country. These people, regardless of gender, old or young, are all against The Celestial Kingdom is hostile, and if we do not implement severe punishments, how can we suppress these rebellious barbarians?"

Many ministers below heard Jia Rui's explanation and thought it made sense.

At this time, Li Yanneng, the censor of Zuodu, stood up and said, "Master Jia, I heard that you killed all the Southern Barbarian royal family. Is this true?"

Jia Rui looked at Li Waneng, then lowered his head and said, "Everything I do is for the imperial court, for the sake of the Supreme Being and the Emperor. This heart can be learned from the sun."

After he finished speaking, he knelt there with his head lowered and said nothing.

In addition to civil servants, there were also many generals who followed.

Seeing Jia Rui kneeling there, these people couldn't help but feel pity.

These nerds only know how to talk here, but they don't know how difficult and dangerous it is to fight on the enemy's land. If you are not careful, your entire army will be wiped out.

As for speaking, destroying the Southern Barbarian royal family would be of great benefit to the court, but why don't these nerds understand?

Jia Rui's show of weakness consolidated his position among the generals again, and created a gap between everyone and the civil servants.

The emperor did not know that his status in the hearts of military commanders had dropped sharply.

He thought that this time, having Jia Rui kneel in front of him and defend himself in front of the civil and military officials of the court would make Jia Rui, the popular generalissimo, lose all face.

He pretended to sigh, as if he didn't know what to do, and then looked at Li Wanneng: "You are the Imperial Envoy of Zuodu, what do you think we should do?"

"I think Master Jia should be allowed to shut up and think about his mistakes for a while. It won't be too late to give him another reward after the court finds out everything."

At this time, more than twenty civil servants knelt in front of the emperor: "I second my opinion."

Standing in the crowd, Jia Yucun, Shen Wence and other Jia Rui's loyal supporters were also anxious at this time, and were about to ask their companions to kneel down to plead with Jia Rui.

But before they could take action, Jia Rui suddenly raised his head and glared at them fiercely.

These two people are both human beings. One look in Jia Rui's eyes and he knew that Jia Rui would not let them get involved in today's affairs, so he could only stand there and worry again.

The emperor's face was full of helplessness, as if he was very reluctant, but he seemed to be unable to defeat the ministers. "In this case, I will wrong Jia Aiqing for a few days."

Jia Rui knelt there and kowtowed, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness."

After it was over, Jia Rui stood up and staggered aside.

Many ministers were very satisfied when they saw Jia Rui's embarrassment. Aren't you, Jia Rui, arrogant? Isn’t it possible to cover the sky with one hand? Why is it today?

Just when the emperor was satisfied and ready to return to Luanjing, a fast horse came quickly from a distance.

Sitting on top of these fast horses was a dusty eunuch. He came to the emperor and got off his horse. Then he said loudly: "The Emperor has spoken."

After hearing this, the emperor and all the civil and military officials could only kneel to the ground.

The eunuch looked at Jia Rui, who was kneeling on the ground, with an envious smile on his face: "The Supreme Emperor has spoken, and Jia Rui is here to see him."

Jia Rui quickly knelt down and said loudly: "Your Majesty, Jia Rui, accepts the order and thanks the Lord for His kindness."

After that, the emperor stood up with the help of his subordinates, and other ministers also got up and stood behind the emperor.

At this time, Jia Rui respectfully came to the emperor and asked for instructions: "Your Majesty, do you think I should go back to the palace first to think about my mistakes behind closed doors, or should I go to see the Emperor first?"

The emperor's face was very ugly, and he forced out a smile: "Since the Emperor wants to see you, there is something important, so go quickly."

After hearing this, Jia Rui bowed carefully, and then followed the eunuch arrogantly.

It turned out that the Emperor was not prepared to intervene in the affairs between the Emperor and Jia Rui, but he suddenly received a secret report this morning. The Emperor and Li Waneng discussed that Jia Rui should be shut up to reflect on his mistakes and temporarily remove all of Jia Rui's rights.

The emperor could not bear it, so he immediately sent eunuchs to recruit Jia Rui and ruined the emperor's good deeds.

(End of this chapter)