Thief Emperor

Chapter 1076 Evaporated
At this moment, Prime Minister Du actually wanted to pick out a naive young man from among the fourth-rank officials in the court and fill the position in the Secretariat.

After all, young people are energetic, and once they are appointed to the Council of State, they will be full of enthusiasm. At that time, all these things can be entrusted to them, even murder cases can be handled by them.

However, having made a political promise to His Majesty the Emperor, Du Qian would no longer entrust the bloody matter to others.

However, the Central Secretariat is indeed lacking someone who can manage daily affairs. Yao Zhong alone is no longer sufficient.

The two prime ministers exchanged a glance and both sighed.

"If only Zhuo Anping were here."

Zhuo Xiangong, also a former county magistrate, had many years of experience working in the government office, so he was quite adept at handling these daily affairs.

The Central Secretariat had six ministries, and the county government also had six offices, with almost identical functions. In other words, in a sense, the Central Secretariat was just a larger county government.

Unfortunately, Prime Minister Zhuo had already gone to serve as acting head of the Ministry of Revenue, and the Secretariat no longer produced a workaholic like him.

After chatting for a while, Prime Minister Yao pulled Prime Minister Du to sit down and asked, "Prime Minister Du, what did you say to His Majesty today? What are the future rules of the court? I've followed you for so many years, you must give me a sneak peek."

The two had been working together for over ten years, and Yao Zhong rarely referred to himself as "your subordinate" anymore. Now, in order to get some information out of him, Yao Zhong also adopted a very humble attitude.

Du Xiang glanced at him and said quietly, "Starting tomorrow, Xu Ziwang and I will work together with the three judicial departments to thoroughly investigate the Wu traitor case."

"I'll leave the matters of the court and the Secretariat to you, Brother Juzhong."

Upon hearing this, Yao Zhong's expression changed.

He knew that things had finally blown up.

After taking a deep breath, Minister Yao lowered his head and smiled bitterly: "There are only four people in the Secretariat. Tao Wenyuan is hiding, and the two of you are doing this. Does that mean I have to sleep in the Secretariat every day?"

According to regulations, a prime minister must remain at the Secretariat every day to be on duty at night, in case the emperor summons him or asks him any questions at any time.

At the same time, it also makes it easier for the Secretariat to handle some urgent situations.

In the past, with all five prime ministers present, they would only be on duty once every five days at most. Now, under the current circumstances, Yao Zhong will most likely have to sleep in the Secretariat every day.

"This is not an ordinary time."

Du Qian looked at him and said, "Otherwise, I'll be on duty at the Secretariat every day, and you can go with Xu Ziwang to thoroughly investigate the Wu traitor case?"

Upon hearing this, Yao Zhong's expression changed drastically. He shook his head repeatedly and said with a wry smile, "How could I possibly be capable of doing this? I'd rather stay at the Secretariat for night duty..."

Seeing this, Du Qian shook his head and sighed, "This time, the court will definitely undergo a major change, and I don't know how many people will be implicated. However, most of Brother Juzhong's disciples and former officials will be able to remain unharmed."

“In the future, I may still need to rely on Brother Juzhong to take care of me.”

Yao Zhong came from the Jinling Literary Society. After he became prime minister, he naturally gathered a group of newly promoted officials from the literary society and those who had passed the imperial examinations.

Moreover, he became prime minister very early and presided over the imperial examinations twice. To this day, he still has many protégés and former officials by his side.

Their power was so great that it was almost second only to Du Qian.

Yao Xiangong sighed silently: "Compared to Prime Minister Du, I am far inferior. Even if Prime Minister Du were alone, he would be countless times better than me."

To the emperor, Du Qian was not only a subordinate but also a partner, and even somewhat of a business partner.

But Yao Zhong…

To the emperor, they would probably always be subordinates, at most old subordinates.

It's far from that.

Both prime ministers were well aware of this, and after that remark, they tacitly agreed not to continue.

The two prime ministers chatted for a while longer. Prime Minister Du looked at Yao Zhong and said, "Brother Juzhong, the appointment of a new prime minister depends on His Majesty's decision. Moreover, even if a new prime minister is appointed, he will lack experience in governing and it will be difficult for him to take on night duty in the Secretariat in a short period of time. You will probably be working hard in the Secretariat for the next month or two."

"Tonight, I will take your place in the Secretariat for a day. You can go home and rest for the night, and say a few words to your family."

Yao Zhong quickly lowered his head: "If we're talking about hard work, it's Prime Minister Du who's been working the hardest. There are only a few people in my family, and there's nothing to explain. I'll just have someone send a note back later."

He bowed and said, "Prime Minister Du should go back and get some rest."

Du Qian didn't mince words. He nodded and cupped his hands, saying, "Then it's settled. If Brother Juzhong can't hold on any longer, just have someone let me know, and I can come back to relieve you for a day or two."

"Investigating and judging cases doesn't mean being busy every day."

Yao Xiangong bowed his head deeply.

"I obey my orders."

………………

The following day, he was imprisoned in the Dali Temple prison.

Du Xiangong and Xu Xiangong walked out of the Dali Temple prison one after the other, both with solemn expressions. Xu Xiangong looked at Du Qian, lowered his head and smiled bitterly, "These people have confessed to too many accomplices, which is already suspected of implicating others. Moreover, some of them are indeed unaware of the situation. Shouldn't we conduct a thorough investigation first before bringing them in for questioning?" Du Xiangong looked at the list that Xu Ang handed over, and after reading it once, he frowned and said, "Arrest those who should be arrested. Don't be afraid of making a big fuss. This is meant to be a big fuss."

"Don't make a big fuss..."

Du Qian said in a low voice, "It won't quell His Majesty's anger, nor will it deter those people."

At this point, he looked at Xu Ang and said, "If we don't make a big scene, you won't have any say in His Majesty's eyes from now on."

Xu Ang was silent for a while before speaking: "But if we investigate on a larger scale and arrest people on a larger scale, there will inevitably be wrongful convictions."

Du Xiangong said expressionlessly, "Even if there are those who have been wronged, they are still inextricably linked to these criminals. The crime of treason should be punished by association, so just consider it an association."

"The overall situation is more important than the deaths of one or two people or one or two families."

Du Xiangong clenched his fist and muttered, "It's not a big deal."

"I'll take responsibility if anything goes wrong."

Xu Ang sighed and said, "Prime Minister Du, you are looking down on me. This matter was originally my responsibility. I am already very grateful that you came."

"If anything goes wrong, I will take responsibility."

He pulled Du Qian aside and whispered, "Among these people, some are officials from the Eastern Palace, one of whom is a minor clerk, so he's insignificant. But there's one..."

"He is the nephew of Yang Hong, the Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince."

Xu Ang said quietly, "Should we investigate these two people more thoroughly? If we do, might we uncover even bigger problems?"

Minister Du frowned, then said decisively, "The Crown Prince could never be involved."

Even if officials from the Eastern Palace were involved, it would be impossible for them to have any connection with the Crown Prince. This matter must not involve the Eastern Palace.

Minister Du murmured, "These people are deliberately making false accusations; they can't be trusted. And those involved are from the Crown Prince's palace..."

“Isolate them from the list.”

Minister Xu frowned: "Shouldn't we report this to His Majesty?"

"How do I report this?"

Du Qian gritted his teeth and said, "At least, it absolutely cannot be written in official documents, but privately... in private..."

"Let's inform the Duke of England."

Xu Ang nodded silently and said "okay".

Du Xiangong looked back at the Dali Temple prison and said, "The Dali Temple prison is not enough. I will go to the Jingzhao Prefecture to see Prince Jin and ask him to vacate the Jingzhao Prefecture prison."

Xu Ang thought for a moment and asked, "Then shall I go see the Duke of England?"

After thinking for a moment, Minister Du said, "Alright, let's each go about our own business."

He cupped his hands and said, "Brother Ziwang, you've worked hard."

Xu Ang bowed deeply: "Prime Minister Du has truly worked hard."

…………

Three days later, in the prison of the Jingzhao Prefecture.

A middle-aged man in a gray robe, led by two jailers, entered the Jingzhao Prefecture prison. When they arrived at the door of a cell, the two jailers bowed respectfully and said, "Chief Meng, the criminal is inside."

Meng Sizheng looked up at the cell, glanced at the four or five people inside, and then asked in a cold tone, "Who is Yang Ling?"

A young man in his early twenties, dressed in prison clothes, stood up shakily: "I...I am Yang Ling..."

Meng Sizheng glanced at him and said indifferently, "Come on, come with me."

Yang Ling was somewhat frightened and shouted, "Sir, I... I just made some friends. I really didn't participate in the assassination attempt. I knew nothing about it!"

"It was not said that you were involved in the assassination plot."

Meng Sizheng glanced at him, then gestured for the jailer to open the cell door, and said calmly, "The Ninth Division is on duty. You'll have to come with us."

Without saying another word, he took Yang Ling out in front of everyone in the prison.

After that, no one ever saw this young man named Yang Ling again.

It's as if he has disappeared from the face of the earth.

(End of this chapter)