Thief Emperor

Chapter 1015 The Great Court Meeting

His Majesty the Emperor frowned upon hearing this.

He frowned and looked at Zhuo Guangrui, and asked, "Brother Zhuo, are you dissatisfied with my actions in Jiangdong?"

Zhuo Guangrui shook his head and said, "I have heard about the things in my hometown. After my father passed away, Zhuo Hongcai took office as the salt administrator. In just a few years, he had already embezzled 200,000 strings of cash. For such a serious crime, Your Majesty only exiled him, which is already a great grace."

Zhuo Guangrui sighed and said, "Besides, this is something that Your Majesty had agreed with me before, and I am convinced."

"I have been confined to my room for the past few months, and have not gone anywhere. I have thought a lot in these few months."

Zhuo Guangrui looked up at Li Yun and said seriously, "Your Majesty, what we are doing is not a matter of one or two generations, but a matter of surpassing the old Zhou Dynasty and becoming a dynasty that will last for hundreds of years or even longer. This is a matter of more than ten generations and concerns countless people."

Zhuo Guangrui said silently: "When I followed Your Majesty, I was not yet forty, but this year I am already over fifty, my hair is gray, and I won't live much longer."

"Such a terrible thing happened in the early years of the country. We need an important minister to shock the court and the public, and at the same time announce to the world the righteousness and determination of the court."

"Compared to that, my life is not worth mentioning. If I die in this case,

He looked at Li Yun, stood up and bowed his head and said: "This can be regarded as the last thing I have done for the new dynasty and for Your Majesty."

The emperor pressed his hand towards him, motioning him to sit down again. After he sat down, the emperor shook his head slightly and said, "The court upholds the law and establishes rules, not just for one or two cases. If Brother Zhuo really died like this, it would not only be a matter between you and my family, but the court and the public would probably criticize me for being mean and ungrateful."

His Majesty the Emperor knocked on the table and said, "Don't say any more about this. Just do as we agreed before. Tomorrow, your Zhuo family will use the red seal and iron certificate to atone for the crime. One of the three red seals and iron certificates will be taken away. Afterwards, Brother Zhuo will rest at home for two or three years."

"Maybe we can get back together."

The Red-lettered Iron Certificates from every dynasty would have the number of times a person was exempted from death or punishment written on them. Some ministers, when in power, would even get themselves Red-lettered Iron Certificates that exempted them from punishment more than a dozen times. The first batch of Red-lettered Iron Certificates made by Li Yun were quite uniform.

Three times of forgiveness.

His Majesty the Emperor paused and continued, "This matter has been settled. Brother Zhuo does not need to worry about it anymore. This matter will not bring disaster to future generations."

"People in later generations don't have red-lettered iron certificates."

Zhuo Guangrui looked at the emperor, seeming to want to say something but stopping himself.

Emperor Li stood up, put his hands behind his back, looked at Zhuo Guangrui, and said, "Brother Zhuo, you and I have known each other for nearly twenty years. At this time, please don't ruin our friendship and our relationship as monarch and subject."

This sentence is to remind Zhuo Guangrui not to do anything stupid, let alone think about committing suicide at home.

Zhuo Guangrui stood up and bowed respectfully: "Your Majesty...Your Majesty obeys your command."

Emperor Li looked at the sky and said, "It's getting late. I won't keep you any longer. Don't think too much and take good care of yourself."

Just as the Emperor was about to leave, Prime Minister Zhuo stood up to see him off. Looking at Li Yun's back, he seemed to want to say something but stopped himself. In the end, he was unable to speak the words that were on his lips.

At this time, he wanted to tell Du He's story.

Because this matter had become such a big deal, the three judicial departments had been investigating it inside and out for several months. They had interrogated everyone involved in the case countless times, and those officials from the Ministry of Rites had been interrogated countless times.

Zhuo Guangrui was not sure whether Emperor Li knew about the deeper things behind this matter.

He didn't know whether the Minister of Revenue Du He had checked the matter with the Emperor.

If the emperor already knew about it, and he didn't say anything at this time, it would be deceiving the emperor.

If the emperor didn't know, and he told it now, then the last time... it was also deceiving the emperor.

In the past few months, this problem has been tormenting Mr. Zhuo, making him lose his appetite and unable to sleep.

It was also because of this reason that he had aged so much in just half a year.

In the end, Zhuo Guangrui was unable to speak and say what was on his lips.

His Majesty the Emperor looked back at him one last time, then smiled at Zhuo Guangrui, turned around and said a few words to the younger generations of the Zhuo family, then left the Zhuo family with his hands behind his back.

After he left, Mr. Zhuo watched the chariot go away, then he let out a long breath and almost collapsed on the ground.

Fortunately, his son was right next to him, and he supported his father and exclaimed, "Dad, what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing, nothing."

Zhuo Guangrui sighed, then stood firm, looked back at his son, and took a deep breath: "Come on, I will teach you what to say at the grand court meeting tomorrow."

The young master of the Zhuo family immediately nodded his head in response.

Mr. Zhuo turned around one last time and looked in the direction where Li Yun left, with mixed feelings in his heart.

Although they had been together for nearly twenty years, at this moment, he could no longer understand the emperor. He had no way of knowing for sure whether the emperor spared Zhuo this time because he really didn't know Du He was behind it, or because he was merciful and didn't want to investigate further.

Or is it…

The emperor did not want to implicate the Du family, at least not at this time.

No matter what, the Zhuo family seemed to have barely passed this hurdle.

Mr. Zhuo brought his son to his study. He stared at his eldest son for a long time before silently saying, "Now, write a letter to your uncle and explain everything to him."

"Let him think carefully about what his father did in the past few years. If he can't learn well and doesn't understand, he should do the same."

Mr. Zhuo closed his eyes and said slowly: "We will separate from them. From now on, the Zhuo family will be divided into two. We will live in Luoyang forever and be our Luoyang Zhuo family."

Master Zhuo was startled, and looked up at his father. Zhuo Guangrui raised his eyebrows and said in a deep voice, "Why don't you write it quickly?"

Master Zhuo then bowed his head and said, "Yes, I will write it right away. I will write it right away."

…………

The next day, there was a meeting in Tai Chi Hall.

This is the first grand court meeting after the emperor returned to the throne, and it is also an extremely important grand court meeting, because some things that have been pending for more than half a year will most likely be completely settled at today's court meeting.

It had not been long since dawn, and when the morning light fell on the main gate of the Taiji Hall, with the eunuch Gu Chang singing loudly, the officials who were whispering outside the door entered the Taiji Hall one after another.

After entering the Tai Chi Hall, everyone quickly stood in line according to their shifts.

Not long after, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince also arrived at the Taiji Hall. When everyone saw His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, they all came forward to pay their respects and called him "Your Highness".

Just as His Majesty the Emperor was about to arrive, a young man in a purple four-clawed dragon robe entered the Taiji Hall rashly. He looked around and found the Crown Prince. He hurriedly stepped forward, clasped his fists and bowed deeply, saying, "Greetings, my brother."

It was the Second Prince Li Zheng.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince stepped forward to help the King of Yue to his feet, patted him on the shoulder, and said with a smile, "Erlang, why are you here too?"

His Royal Highness the King of Yue said with a bitter face: "Someone went to my house yesterday to inform me and asked me to attend today's court meeting. It is probably because I made a mistake in Liaodong. Your Majesty will make it public at the court meeting today."

He sighed and said, "Brother Emperor, save me."

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince looked at the big brother and said with a smile: "Don't worry, don't worry."

"If the emperor really scolds you, I will definitely give you a way out."

The two brothers chatted for a long time before the nearby officials came over to meet His Royal Highness the King of Yue. Then everyone waited for a long time, but His Majesty the Emperor still did not arrive.

The prince looked around, then looked at Gu Chang who was standing at the foot of the imperial steps and asked, "Eunuch Gu, why hasn't His Majesty come yet?"

Gu Chang was giving orders to his men at this time. Hearing the words of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, he became even more flustered. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and lowered his head quickly, saying, "I will go and ask right away. I will go and ask right away."

Not far away, Prime Minister Du suddenly called out to Gu Chang and said, "Your Majesty, are you in the back hall now?"

"Shall I go with my father-in-law to take a look?"

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince also understood at this time, and quickly said, "I will go and take a look with Prime Minister Du."

In this way, Gu Chang led Du Qian and the prince all the way to the back hall. In the back hall, His Majesty the Emperor was sitting on a chair, flipping through the documents in his hand with a sullen face.

Seeing the emperor's expression, even the crown prince realized that something was wrong, and Gu Chang was so frightened that his face turned pale.

Minister Du was silent for a while, exhaled slowly, walked in carefully, and bowed to the emperor, saying: "Your Majesty..."

"The previous court is waiting for your majesty, what happened?"

The Emperor came back to his senses when he heard Fu Duqian's voice. He looked up at Duqian, then at the two people behind him, and then said silently: "Something went wrong with Meng Qing."

Having said this, Emperor Li stood up, managed to regain his composure, and said slowly, "Let's go, let's go to the court."

Du Qian nodded, followed Li Yun, and asked in a low voice: "Your Majesty, is the matter serious?"

Emperor Li stopped, paused, and then continued walking forward.

"It's a bit troublesome."

(End of this chapter)