The prince is more stable

Chapter 267: From Defense to Offense
When talking about Zhou Zhi, Zhao Xiaoqian was no longer sleepy.

Before being summoned to the palace today, Zhao Xiaoqian had already made preparations, waiting for this moment.

The Imperial City Bureau is a secret agency directly under the emperor, but secret agencies also need evidence to arrest people.

Fortunately, Zhou Zhi was not a cunning man. The fact that he secretly colluded with the students of the Imperial College to cause trouble with the intention of disobeying Zhao Xu's decree of reward gave the Imperial City Administration enough evidence to use against him.

The ministers plotted behind the emperor's back, and the targets even involved the emperor. This was a taboo in the court, and no emperor would forgive such behavior.

So when the Imperial City Office questioned Zhou Zhi yesterday, the charge they gave was "treason". Strictly speaking, this charge is not an exaggeration. What Zhou Zhi did really had the flavor of treason.

If you dare to advertise today, you will have to attack your readers tomorrow.

By the same token, if Zhou Zhi dared to incite students to cause trouble behind the emperor's back today, he would surely incite the army to mutiny tomorrow.

If this isn’t treason, what is it?
The Imperial City Bureau is very observant and has strangled the culprit who endangered the Song Dynasty in the cradle. What has the Imperial City Bureau done wrong?

Now that Xing Shu has taken the initiative to mention Zhou Zhi's case, Zhao Xiaoqian will not be polite. He will dig a hole for him first. Maybe he can also identify Xing Shu as Zhou Zhi's accomplice and arrest him together.

Xing Shu had experienced many ups and downs in officialdom. When Zhao Xiaoqian suddenly asked about his relationship with Zhou Zhi, Xing Shu was shocked. His many years of experience in the underworld saved him at this moment.

"I have no relationship with Zhou Zhi. We are just officials in the same dynasty, so we have some camaraderie. As the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, I am in charge of criminal cases in the Song Dynasty. The Imperial City Division arrested Zhou Zhi without going through the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple. As the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, shouldn't I be able to intervene?" Xing Shu's answer was flawless.

Zhao Xiaoqian's expression was suddenly filled with disappointment. The old man ran too fast and there was no way to get him in.

Seeing the undisguised disappointment on Zhao Xiaoqian's face, Xing Shu was shocked and a layer of cold sweat broke out on his back.

This guy... really dug a hole for himself!
He had stepped into a trap just now without paying attention. If Xing Shu said without thinking that he and Zhou Zhi were like brothers, he would have completely blocked his way out. If Zhou Zhi's guilt was proven, could Xing Shu escape?
You said with your own mouth that we have a close relationship, and you said you are not an accomplice, who would believe you?
Xing Shu suddenly realized that he might have just been on the verge of death. The Xing family's ancestors exhausted their ghost veins in the underworld to ensure his return to the world of the living...

People's hearts are evil and the court is treacherous. How could a 19-year-old boy be so bad?
Xing Shu, who had just escaped a disaster, couldn't help but weaken his momentum when questioning Zhao Xiaoqian. He was still feeling scared and had no time to care about Zhou Zhi's life or death.

"Your Majesty, since Minister Xing is determined to rescue Zhou Zhi, I have to produce concrete evidence, lest Minister Xing think that I am framing a loyal and good person..." Zhao Xiaoqian said neither humbly nor arrogantly.

Xing Shu was startled and said hurriedly, "I'm not determined to rescue you..."

Before he finished speaking, Zhao Xu said leisurely, "I believe the Imperial City Administration will not question court officials without reason. If Zi'an has solid evidence, why not present it in front of all the court officials to silence the gossips?"

Zhao Xiaoqian bowed in response, then took out a stack of papers from his arms. The papers were densely written with words, and red fingerprints could be vaguely seen at the signature.

Holding the stack of papers in both hands, Zhao Xiaoqian said, "Zhou Zhi secretly bribed three students from the Imperial College to incite the other students to gather in front of the palace gates in three days to cause trouble, openly defying His Majesty's decree to reward his officials."

"At the same time, Zhou Zhi also colluded with his allies in the court, including two censors, four secretaries, and one official from the Ministry of Personnel. They agreed that on the same day that the Imperial College students were causing unrest, these people would jointly submit a petition accusing me of twelve crimes, in order to force Your Majesty to revoke the reward."

"The Imperial City Division conducted an interrogation last night and arrested all the officials involved. After interrogation all night, I have the confessions of eight officials and three students from the Imperial Academy, a total of eleven criminals. They all confessed to their crimes and signed their confessions with their own hands."

Zheng Chunhe, the eunuch standing next to Zhao Xu, walked down, took the confession from Zhao Xiaoqian's hands, and handed it to Zhao Xu.

Zhang Dun, who was standing in the court, had his eyelids twitching, but his expression remained unchanged, yet his eyes were extremely gloomy.

But Xing Shu's face was pale, and his hands tucked into his sleeves were trembling slightly.

Now he was certain that he had just been to the gates of hell.

It was a close call. I almost got implicated. This guy Zhao Xiaoqian had made preparations before going to court. He came prepared. The confessions and evidence were all ready. It was almost an ironclad case.

He didn't know the truth and thought that the Imperial City Bureau arrested people because Zhao Xiaoqian used public resources for personal gain and wanted to settle personal grudges. He didn't expect that they had even prepared all the evidence and confessions.

No wonder this guy kept asking about his relationship with Zhou Zhi, and even deliberately set a trap by saying that he was determined to rescue Zhou Zhi. He clearly wanted to treat himself as Zhou Zhi's accomplice and deal with him together.

Xing Shu's forehead was covered with cold sweat at this moment, and he dared not speak again while standing in the court.

Zhao Xu, who was sitting in the hall, had hurriedly read the eleven confessions. Then he flew into a rage and slammed the table and stood up.

All the civil and military officials in the hall were frightened and fell silent.

"How dare you! You are a disloyal person who deserves death!" Zhao Xu roared angrily. "They dare to plot and scheme in secret, colluding with their own party to deal with me. Is there anything in this world that they wouldn't dare to do?"

"Zhang Dun, you are the prime minister. There is such a wicked and treacherous person in the court. I will not ask anyone else, I will only ask you, how do you serve as the prime minister!" Zhao Xu immediately pointed the finger at Zhang Dun.

Zhang Dun was also frightened and hurriedly bowed and said, "I have been guilty of negligence. I know my crime."

"Of course you must admit your guilt. I handed the Political Affairs Hall over to you. All officials in the court are under your control. The officials below have acted so recklessly and violated the law to this extent. If you don't take responsibility, who will?" Zhao Xu scolded him.

Zhang Dun stood in the hall with his head down, covered in cold sweat.

It seems that Zhang Dun has no direct responsibility for this incident, but he had to take the blame because of his negligence as prime minister.

But if you dig deeper, Zhang Dun is actually not free from responsibility.

Because the main culprit, Zhou Zhi, was promoted by Zhang Dun himself.

During the Yuanyou period, Zhang Dun and Zhou Zhi, as members of the New Party, were both demoted. Later, when Zhang Dun became prime minister, he immediately promoted his former colleagues from the New Party. Zhou Zhi's appointment was made by Zhang Dun himself.

Is this a big responsibility?

Although Zhang Dun had never participated in the case of colluding with court officials and connecting with students, and was not even aware of it, the fatal thing is that the last time Zhou Zhi impeached Zhao Xiaoqian in court for allowing his troops to plunder, it was Zhang Dun who instructed it.

If the case continues to be investigated, Zhang Dun's future will be very bleak.

Before today, Zhang Dun himself probably didn't expect that the person he promoted would cause him such a big trouble.

Today, all the ministers were supposed to join forces to force Zhao Xu to withdraw the imperial decree of reward and jointly attack Zhao Xiaoqian.

However, for some unknown reason, things turned out like this. Not only did Zhang Dun and others not have the courage to force Zhao Xu to take back the reward, they even became passive and became the targets of beatings.

Zhao Xiaoqian unilaterally assaulted a group of people...

"I acknowledge my guilt. Fortunately, the Imperial City Administration and Duke Zhao were perceptive and discovered Zhou Zhi's disloyalty early on, bringing the treacherous official to justice. Duke Zhao is truly a pillar of the nation and worthy of Your Majesty's grace. His service to the nation by ridding it of traitors is immense. My previous impression of Duke Zhao has completely changed from now on."

After saying that, Zhang Dun turned around and forced an ugly smile towards Zhao Xiaoqian.

In order to escape, the prime minister of the time had to show goodwill to his political enemy in public.

Would Zhang Dun be willing to do such a shameful thing?

Of course not.

But he had to do it, because Zhang Dun knew that the matter was not over yet.

The Imperial City Division will continue to dig deeper into Zhou Zhi's case. As for who will be involved and who will be questioned, to be honest, it all depends on Zhao Xiaoqian's mood.

Given the capabilities of the Imperial City Administration, couldn't they find out who promoted Zhou Zhi? Couldn't they also find out who instructed Zhou Zhi to impeach Zhao Xiaoqian for allowing his troops to loot?

In the hall, Zhao Xiaoqian certainly received Zhang Dun's kindness and that ugly smile.

Zhao Xiaoqian sneered, "Now you know how to give in?"
It’s not too late, it depends on your performance.

But your smile is too ugly. Let me show you a nice one.

So Zhao Xiaoqian also gave Zhang Dun a handsome smile in front of the emperor and his ministers in the hall.

In order to make his smile more handsome, he even stretched out two index fingers, pressed them against his cheeks, and tilted his head...

Yeah! So cute!
"Puff!" Zhao Xu, with a dark face, sprayed out without warning.

What the hell is this guy doing?
It messed up my angry mood!
(End of this chapter)