The prince is more stable

Chapter 162 Ferocious reputation
The status of the Imperial City Office is relatively special among all government offices in the Song Dynasty.

It is not under the jurisdiction of any government office in the court, nor is it dispatched by any official.

The only boss of the Imperial City Bureau is the current emperor. Although the officials below are only of the seventh rank, they are only responsible to the emperor, and no other officials have the right to give orders.

Of course, they were not as arrogant as the Ming Dynasty's factory guards, because the emperor kept the power of the Imperial City Office in a cage and did not dare to let it out.

Therefore, the Imperial City Office usually does not interfere with the judicial power of the court, and the two sides do not interfere with each other.

If the Imperial City Bureau came forward to arrest someone, then that person must have committed a very serious crime, or was involved in shameful inside stories within the royal family or the palace, and had a direct relationship with the emperor.

In this way, when the Imperial City Police arrested someone, others would not dare to ask too many questions.

However, today was an exception. The officials of the Ministry of Justice had no idea what was wrong with the Imperial City Bureau. They dared to break down the door of the Ministry of Justice, and thousands of people rushed in openly.

As soon as they entered the prison, they took over the officials, and controlled the lobby. Everything went on in an orderly manner, which was clearly arranged in advance.

Zhao Xiaoqian, wearing a purple official robe and a black official hat with double long wings, walked into the lobby of the Ministry of Justice with an expressionless face.

The hall was in a mess. When the imperial guards rushed in just now, their movements were obviously not very polite. Many files, water and fire sticks, documents, etc. in the hall were scattered on the ground, as if they had just been robbed by a group of bandits.

In the courtyard outside the lobby, nearly a hundred officials, clerks and runners were surrounded by the imperial guards. They were unable to move and stared at Zhao Xiaoqian with fear or anger. Many of them even shouted and cursed, but were forced to shut up after being slapped in the face by the imperial guards.

Wei Jie followed behind Zhao Xiaoqian and bowed to invite Zhao Xiaoqian to sit in the hall.

Zhao Xiaoqian stared at the huge desk in the middle of the hall and shook his head.

He was not an official from the Ministry of Justice. If he sat in the court, he would probably be impeached by other officials.

The court in the Imperial City is where he should sit. It is reasonable and legal. He cannot sit here.

A commander of the Imperial Guards hurried over and clasped his fists, saying, "Reporting to the Marquis, the Ministry of Justice's prison has been taken over by the Imperial City Administration. The magistrate, prosecutor, and jailer inside the prison have been apprehended."

Zhao Xiaoqian nodded and said, "According to the roll call, take Su Zhe out of the prison and take good care of him."

The commander took the order and turned to leave.

At this time, one of the imprisoned officials pushed aside the soldiers and walked to the middle of the courtyard. He pointed at Zhao Xiaoqian and shouted angrily, "Zhao Xiaoqian, you are so bold that you ordered your minions to attack the Ministry of Justice and even dared to break into the prison and rescue prisoners. Don't you want to die?"

Zhao Xiaoqian took a look and immediately laughed.

An old acquaintance, Xing Shu, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice.

Su Che's case was handled jointly by Zhang Dun and Xing Shu, with Zhang Dun giving the instructions and Xing Shu carrying out the execution.

The last time the court discussed the military service law, Zhao Xiaoqian had disliked Xing Shu from all sides. Today, he finally felt relieved. It turned out that they were natural enemies, and there was no problem with that.

"Minister Xing, you're meddling too much. I don't need to explain my duties to anyone at the Imperial City Office." Zhao Xiaoqian said calmly.

Xing Shu suddenly felt a lump in his chest and almost suffocated.

You broke into the door of my Ministry of Justice, kidnapped the prisoners from the prison, and you still say that I am meddling too much?
"Su Che is a wanted criminal in my Ministry of Justice. No one is allowed to take him away before his case is over. Otherwise, he will be charged with jailbreak and will be severely punished by the Council of State! Zhao Xiaoqian, you are playing with your own future and official rank!" Xing Shu said with a grim face.

Zhao Xiaoqian sneered, "I was scared?"
Just as he was about to retort, Liu Dan slowly walked over from outside the hall, still with that shrill and unpleasant voice.

"Who dares to speak so arrogantly in front of an official from the Imperial City? Are you trying to kill yourself?"

The officials from the Ministry of Justice who were surrounded looked carefully and were all shocked.

Liu Dan!

Bingjingwu’s living devil!
Any prisoner who falls into this man's hands would be living a life worse than death, and he should start preparing for his reincarnation early.

It is said that most of the various torture instruments used by Bingjingwu to torture prisoners were invented by Liu Dan, the eunuch. This man took pleasure in torturing prisoners throughout his life, and his notoriety had long spread throughout the court and the country.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Xiaoqian actually called Liu Dan over. This was like sticking a death warrant from the King of Hell on everyone's forehead in advance.

The officials from the Ministry of Justice looked grim, but no one dared to say anything.

The appearance of Liu Dan meant that the Imperial City Division would really kill people. Any further obstruction would be taken to the Bingjing Office by Zhao Xiaoqian. Once in the Bingjing Office, they would fall into Liu Dan's hands. How could they be lucky?
Liu Dan walked into the lobby of the Ministry of Justice, his back slightly hunched. His long-term job made him habitually bend over, and he would never be able to straighten his back for the rest of his life.

He tucked his hands into his sleeves, seemingly strolling leisurely in the garden. His fair, beardless face wore a smile as warm as a spring breeze, and he looked harmless, ready to make friends with anyone. This appearance was so deceptive. Who would dare to believe that this man was actually the notorious living devil of the Imperial City?

Liu Dan made a brilliant appearance and shocked all the officials as soon as he appeared.

But Zhao Xiaoqian was unhappy.

No one was there when we scored the goal just now, and no one was there when Zhao Xiaoqian entered. Now is the time for him to establish his authority, and you came at the right time.

Do you have the protagonist's halo? You have to be the last one to appear and steal my thunder?
So Zhao Xiaoqian snorted coldly in dissatisfaction.

When Liu Dan heard the humming sound, his face changed immediately. He hurriedly ran to Zhao Xiaoqian and bowed to apologize.

"Please forgive me, Lord. I just had to go to the bathroom urgently and need to find a place to change clothes."

Zhao Xiaoqian glanced at his lower body, curious whether he urinated while squatting or lying down, but since this was a serious occasion, he decided not to say anything more.

Walking to the center of the hall, Liu Shan glanced around at the officials in the courtyard with a smile, and said with a bow, "Gentlemen, today is the Imperial City Division's mission. We are mobilizing so many people, you should all understand the importance of it. Please don't obstruct me and make things difficult for me."

The yard was completely silent. No one dared to provoke the eunuch, not even to speak.

Everyone else is afraid of Liu Dan, but Xing Shu is not. He has been suppressed by the old party for many years and has been holding a lot of hatred in his heart. How could he compromise because of Liu Dan?
"Liu Duzhi, Su Zhe is a prisoner of my Ministry of Justice. If you want to arrest him, you must have a personal order from the emperor. Otherwise, my Ministry of Justice will not recognize him! Your Imperial City Division has abused its power and violated the law today, causing such a great disaster. Do you, the County Marquis and the Duzhi, deserve to be charged with this crime?"

Liu Dan's eyes flashed. Of course there was a transfer order from the Imperial City Administration, written by the emperor himself. If there was no transfer order, he, Liu Dan, would not dare to show up today.

But Liu Dan also knew that this transfer order should not be made public. After all, it was the emperor's intention to save Su Che, but the emperor hoped to deal with it in a low-key manner. If the emperor was brought up so casually, what use would the emperor have for him?
Seeing that Xing Shu was still unconvinced, Zhao Xiaoqian took two steps forward.

"Minister Xing, please forgive me. The Imperial City Division has investigated and found that Minister Su Che is involved in another case. Therefore, the Imperial City Division would like to invite Su Che to the Bingjing Office for a chat today. As for what crime your Ministry of Justice has accused Su Che of, it has nothing to do with the Imperial City Division. We only want Su Che."

Xing Shu and the officials from the Ministry of Justice were stunned.

Did Su Che commit other crimes?

This is a huge cancer that has been lurking in my court for a long time.

"What did Su Che do wrong?" Xing Shu asked with a frown.

Zhao Xiaoqian didn't say anything, but just glanced at Liu Shan indifferently.

Liu Shan stepped forward and said with a smile, "Minister Xing is interested in the cases handled by the Imperial City Division? That's great. How about inviting Minister Xing to visit the Bingjing Division as well? And by the way, ask for your guidance on how we at the Bingjing Division handle cases. What do you think?"

The words were polite and the expression was kind, but when Xing Shu raised his eyes, his scalp went numb.

Although Liu Dan was smiling, a murderous intent clearly flashed in his eyes.

If there was murderous intent in someone else's eyes, Xing Shu would consider himself upright and fearless, but he dared not ignore the murderous intent in Liu Dan's eyes.

If I were really foolish enough to follow him into the Bingjing Service, I'm afraid I'd never see the light of day again in this life.

Even if Mr. Zhang could pull him out, he would probably only be able to do it in batches: an arm today, a thigh tomorrow, a section of large intestine the day after tomorrow...

"I...this official, humph! This official has no interest in your Imperial City Bureau's case!" Xing Shu gave a rational answer.

Liu Shan looked around at the officials of the Ministry of Justice with a smile and said, "If anyone else is interested in the Imperial City Bureau, it would be a good opportunity to go with Su Che. As guests are welcome, the Imperial City Bureau will surely treat you as honored guests."

The officials were silent as a mouse, and the timid ones even bent their knees and deliberately lowered themselves in the crowd, fearing that Zhao Xiaoqian and Liu Shan would notice their presence.

Zhao Xiaoqian couldn't help but cast an admiring glance at Liu Dan.

This guy is neither male nor female. I didn't expect him to be so famous. I thought he had to take down a few officials from the Ministry of Justice to establish his authority today. As a result, Liu Dan stunned everyone as soon as he appeared. Even Xing Shu didn't dare to say a word.

Zhao Xiaoqian secretly decided to establish a good relationship with this guy, as Liu Dan would be of great help in future work.

After a long time, under the escort of a team of imperial guards, Su Che came out, supported by two imperial guards on his left and right.

Zhao Xiaoqian walked out of the hall and came to Su Zhe. He bowed and said with a gentle smile, "Mr. Ziyou, it's been a long time."

(End of this chapter)