What's wrong with me, a powerful minister, supporting a few female officials?

Chapter 276 Su Mo fights poison with poison, and the Empress learns something new!
Upon seeing Wang Yao suddenly barge into the courtroom, Zhang Yu was naturally furious.

Not to mention Zhang Yu, even Hu Ye, Tian Guan, and Lu Su who were listening in were all stunned, and then their faces turned extremely dark.

What does it mean?
He Heng's attempt to slander Su Mo failed, so the Wang family couldn't help but step in from behind the scenes!
This completely undermines the unspoken rules of officialdom.
If you lose, you have to accept it and pay the price. If you lose, you can always find a way to get revenge next time!
What does this mean?
They shoved the faces of the three chief officials of the Dali Temple right onto the ground and rubbed them.

Even a clay figure has some temper, let alone the Minister of Justice who has been holding back his anger for a long time!

So what about the Wang family?
If things really come to a head, does the Minister of Justice, a third-rank official, really fear Wang Yao, who only holds a minor civil service position?

Zhang Yu considered himself a scholar, and scholars have their own integrity!
At worst, I'll just quit this official position, but I have to save face, otherwise how can I survive in the academic world? I'll be ridiculed for the rest of my life and for generations to come!

Zhang Yu looked at Wang Yao with a dark face and snorted coldly: "Who is this person in the hall, daring to trespass in the court and disregard the law!"

When Wang Yao saw Su Mo, it was like enemies meeting again, their eyes blazing with hatred!
He glared fiercely at Su Mo, but his anger didn't cloud his judgment. With a stern face, he bowed to Zhang Yu and said, "I am Wang Yao, a senior official, and I greet you all!"

Zhang Yu said with a dark face, "So it's Wang Fengzheng!"

"As a government official, you should know what the punishment is for trespassing in court!"

"If you can't give a proper explanation this time, don't blame me for being ruthless and sentencing you to a crime of disrespecting the court according to the law!"

Wang Yao took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, glared at Su Mo, and then said sternly, "I hereby accuse Su Mo, the clerk of Tianchang County, of spreading rumors, defaming my innocence, and damaging the reputation of noble families!"

Upon hearing this, everyone stared in disbelief at Wang Yao, whose eyes seemed to be blazing with fury.

This charge is no simple matter, especially the last sentence, which immediately brought powerful families and prestigious clans to his side!
But has Wang Yao lost his mind?
It wasn't him who instructed He Heng to slander Su Mo's innocence.
Even the Empress, who was hiding behind the hall, looked at An Wu with a suspicious expression.

Unfortunately, An Wu was also baffled; who knew why Wang Yao would say such a thing?

Su Mo calmly sneered at Wang Yao.

The head of the Wang family sounds impressive, but in reality, he's nothing special.

However, Su Mo also knew that the true head of the Wang family was Wang Hao, the second-in-command of the cabinet.

Zhang Yu exchanged glances with Hu Ye and Tian Guan, then said coldly, "You say Su Mo slandered your innocence, but what kind of slander is that? Where is the evidence?"

“He slandered me…” Wang Yao said, but his voice stopped abruptly, as if he had been suddenly grabbed by the neck of a duck and was unable to speak.

Seeing everyone's eyes on him, especially Su Mo's smug, half-smiling expression, Wang Yao gritted his teeth and said resentfully, "This Su Mo is slandering me and He Heng, saying that we have...we have...we have a homosexual relationship!"

Zhang Yu......

Princess Baicheng...

The onlookers outside the government office were equally astonished.

Even the old fellow Zhang Shouning couldn't help but widen his old eyes and look at Wang Yao in disbelief!
Liu Siyun and Yin Rou, who were kneeling on the ground, were also surprised.

Su Mo had an innocent expression on her face.

Zhang Yu finally came to his senses, but it was too late to leave the court now. He could only cough twice and say, "Ahem... You said Su Mo slandered you and He Heng as having a homosexual relationship. What is your evidence?"

"The evidence is..."

Wang Yao blurted out, about to say that the evidence was the weekly newspaper printed by Su Mo.

But then he realized that he had torn the weekly report to shreds!

Seeing Zhang Yu frowning at him, Wang Yao could only say angrily, "That scoundrel Su Mo printed a weekly newspaper, which published rumors and slandered my innocence!"

"Sir, you only need to send someone out to inquire, and the evidence will naturally be presented!"

Just as Zhang Yu was about to speak, Su Mo suddenly smiled, pulled out a stack of papers from his sleeve, and kindly handed them to Wang Yao: "Lord Wang, is this the evidence you mentioned?"

"When I came from the Dali Temple prison earlier, I happened to find a copy of a story weekly on the ground. I wondered who was so careless as to throw away the paper, so I picked it up and took a look."

Su Mo paused, then sighed and said, "It is indeed written in this week's report that He Heng is Wang Yao's male lover."

His gaze inadvertently fell on Wang Yao: "According to the weekly report, Wang Yao and He Heng have such a deep relationship that they are even closer than husband and wife, which is truly enviable."

"In this situation, I can't help but want to compose a poem: 'I envy neither the mandarin ducks nor the immortals, but only the king every day!'"

Zhang Yu......

Wang Yao was so angry that he trembled all over. He snatched the weekly report from Su Mo's hand, glanced at it, and said angrily, "This is the very weekly report!"

He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down.

Then he said to Zhang Yu in a deep voice, "This is irrefutable evidence that Su Mo has slandered me!"

"Su Mo has admitted that he printed this weekly newspaper. The evidence is irrefutable. The three gentlemen must uphold justice and not let such a lawless madman go unpunished!"

Zhang Yu frowned, asked a constable to bring him the Story Weekly, and his expression instantly turned strange.

He then handed the newspaper to Hu Ye.

After reading it, Hu Ye's expression was exactly the same as Zhang Yu's.

Finally, it was Tian Guan's turn!
Tian Guan looked at the bristling Wang Yao with a strange expression, then at the composed Su Mo. He felt that Su Mo was more like a scion of a noble family, while Wang Yao seemed like a commoner.

He gestured to the yamen runners to deliver the newspaper to Nangong Sheyue and Lu Su!

Nangong and Lu were ordered to sit in on this case, so naturally they had to take a look as well.

The empress, who was bringing up the rear, finally had a newspaper in her hand.

"Huh? Romance of the Three Kingdoms serialized?" The Empress stared in astonishment at the first chapter of Romance of the Three Kingdoms on the front page of the weekly newspaper. "A storybook can be serialized like this?"

An Wu, who brought the newspaper, also praised, "Lord Su's ingenious idea truly impresses this old servant!"

"This first newspaper will be given away for free. Once everyone has read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it will be sold at a high price, and I'm sure many people will want to buy it."

He paused, then said, "In this way, other bookstores won't be able to reprint Romance of the Three Kingdoms anymore. We can't just reprint three or four thousand words of a book."

The Empress frowned, feeling that it was more than An Wu described, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what was wrong.

I could only suppress this thought and look at the gossip column.

Upon seeing this, even the composed Empress was immediately speechless!
Su Mo, that bastard, isn't he a bit too ruthless?

He ordered the Fengming Division to arrest Wang Yi and others, thinking that he had already cut off one of the Wang family's arms in the court and taught the Wang family a severe lesson.

But compared to Su Mo's methods, I am nothing!

Su Mo went straight for the Wang family's vital point!

Although the Wang family suffered a major blow by taking down Wang Yi and others, if there are no further actions against them, the Wang family might be able to quickly rebuild their lives!
Su Mo's move was truly ruthless!
Once people find out that Wang Yao, the head of the Wang family, is such a person, how will the Wang family save face?
Let Wang Yao continue to be the head of the family.

Hasn't the Wang family always been ridiculed?

If Wang Yao is removed from the position of family head, wouldn't that prove that Wang Yao really has a secret relationship with He Heng?

The Wang family spread rumors that Su Mo had an affair with Yin Rou. If this were to spread, Su Mo might not be ashamed, but if Su Mo spread rumors that Wang Yao had a secret relationship with He Heng, then the Wang family would definitely be extremely ashamed!
The Empress let out a deep breath, and said with a wry smile, "That bastard Su Mo is truly vengeful!"

"This is hilarious! I envy neither the mandarin ducks nor the immortals, but only the king every day! What kind of ridiculous poem is this!"

An Wu couldn't help but say, "I'm afraid the Wang family doesn't find it funny at all!" The Empress covered her mouth and laughed, "Anyway, I find it quite funny!"

"But Su Mo is the same. The Wang family just spread rumors about him, and he immediately fought fire with fire, and he was even more ruthless than the Wang family!"

"Hmph, no wonder you've thoroughly studied the Thirty-Six Stratagems and Sun Tzu's Art of War. You must have even more brilliant military strategies, yet you're keeping them hidden and unwilling to teach them to me!"

The Empress felt that she had learned something new from Su Mo!
Although she said that, An Wu could clearly tell that there was something about her that sounded quite satisfying.
He quickly replied with a smile, "Lord Su has always been like this! Even this old servant is afraid of Lord Su and dares not offend him easily!"

"The Wang family is probably going to lose face big time this time."

The Empress suddenly frowned: "Su Mo has vented his anger, but he has also made a blood feud with the Wang family!"

"Now that Wang Yao has filed a complaint with the authorities, Zhang Yu cannot ignore it. How will he respond?"

An Wu thought for a moment: "Lord Su has always been steady and cautious, planning carefully before acting. He should already have a plan in mind."

The Empress thought for a moment, then nodded and smiled, "Then I'll listen to his excuses!"

"This guy certainly has many skills that I can learn from, but he just won't teach me. It's infuriating!"

……

After reading the newspaper, Zhang Yu and the others looked at Su Mo with grim expressions: "Su Mo! Have you thought this through?"

"The laws of the imperial court are not to be trifled with; one must not speak recklessly in court; and one must not act impulsively or spout nonsense..."

Before he could finish speaking, Zhang Shouning said coldly, "This man has already admitted that he printed the newspaper. The evidence is irrefutable and there is no room for him to deny it!"

"Lord Zhang, why don't you quickly take him to prison and petition His Majesty to strip him of his tiger-patterned robe and punish him severely according to the law!"

Zhang Zong, sitting opposite him, immediately said without any politeness, "In my opinion, Lord Zhang would be better off petitioning His Majesty to have the Duke of Anguo handle this case!"

"Oh, this governor almost forgot, Zhang Guojiu is not an official appointed by the imperial court and is not qualified to judge cases!"

Zhang Shouning was so angry that his face turned black!
Although the emperor's brother-in-law was of noble birth, the Duke of Ning did not give him any face, so he really couldn't do anything to Zhang Zong!

The nobility are all one family. Offending Zhang Zong is tantamount to offending the entire nobility class. In particular, the Empress seems to have little affection for her relatives and is far less benevolent to her relatives than Emperor Wu Taizong. The relatives led by Zhang Shouning dare not be as arrogant as before!
Zhang Yu sighed inwardly, turned his head and glanced at Zhang Shouning expressionlessly, then said calmly, "Lord Anguo, please rest assured, I will handle the case with the appropriate measure!"

He paused, his expression turning serious, and turned his gaze to Su Mo: "Su Mo!"

"I ask you, did you order the printing of this weekly story magazine?"

As soon as he said this, everyone looked at Su Mo.

Needless to say, Wang Yao's eyes were blazing with fury.

If anger could kill, Su Mo would have been reduced to ashes long ago!
Su Mo glanced around at the crowd, then specifically looked at the densely packed onlookers outside!
He then smiled and said, "The paper used in this weekly magazine is the cold Su paper that I just developed."

Upon hearing the name on the paper, Zhang Yu's heart skipped a beat, and he instinctively looked towards Hu Ye and Tian Guan!
Both of them looked astonished!
Su Mo continued, "This paper is sturdy and durable, far surpassing the quality of Wang Family Paper, yet its price is the same."

"This weekly story newspaper, sixteen inches in size, contains over three thousand words. It not only features the incredibly exciting serialized version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but also poems and songs by famous scholars and Confucian masters..."

Zhang Yu frowned and coughed twice.

Su Mo seemed not to hear Zhang Yu's prompting and continued to speak eloquently: "Just like this first issue of the weekly newspaper, there is a masterpiece by Mr. Zhiru!"

Zhang Yu originally wanted to stop Su Mo, but when he suddenly heard the words "Mr. Zhiru," he was stunned.

Hu Ye, who was standing next to Su Mo, couldn't help but stare at him and asked, "Is this the Mr. Zhiru who wrote 'If life were only as beautiful as our first meeting' and 'When will the moon be bright?'?"

Zhang Yu and Tian Guan involuntarily pricked up their ears.

Su Mo nodded and smiled, "That's right, it is indeed Mr. Zhiru!"

"I begged for a long time before I finally obtained this poem on limestone from Mr. Zhiru!"

Hu Ye asked urgently, "Do you know Mr. Zhiru?"

Is "Ode to Limestone" a poem or a lyric?

He secretly regretted not finishing reading the weekly magazine!
The empress behind the hall was also at a loss for words, neither laughing nor crying.

That bastard Su Mo actually started advertising for Leng Suzhi in court... well, right there in the courtroom!

Zhang Shouning became increasingly uneasy as he listened. How did this turn into propaganda for this guy? Finally, he couldn't help but shout angrily, "Are you even going to try the case anymore?"

Zhang Yu's forehead creased with annoyance: "Get to the point! Did you really have this weekly report printed?"

Su Mo sighed inwardly.

I almost managed to sing the poem about lime!
Although everyone can see it in the weekly report, it's still not as satisfying as singing it out directly!

From now on, anyone who dares to slander me will probably have to think twice!
We'll settle accounts with that old bastard Zhang Shouning after we've dealt with the Wang family!
His expression turned serious: "It was indeed printed by my men!"

"Such a large weekly newspaper, with excellent content, and paper far superior to Wang's paper, yet it only sells for forty coins..."

Zhang Yu thought to himself that selling it for only forty coins was indeed cheap. He would go and buy a copy after class to take a look at the storybook... Hmm, appreciating it is just like sir's masterpiece!

Oh, and buy more of that cold Su paper too!
Wangjia paper is of far inferior quality to Lengsu paper. At the same price of ten yuan per sheet, Lengsu paper will definitely increase in price in the future!

Thinking this to himself, he still had to interrupt Su Mo: "Since you admit that you had this weekly newspaper printed, and Wang Yao accused you of slandering court officials, have you also confessed to that?"

Princess Baicheng, Nangong Sheyue, and others who were listening in immediately frowned.

Su Mo looked astonished: "Confess?"

"I don't understand what you're saying at all, sir!"

"I only acknowledge that the Story Weekly was printed at my behest, but I have never admitted to slandering court officials!"

As he spoke, he pointed to He Heng, who was half-dead on the ground: "Shouldn't it be He Heng who is slandering me?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Yao flew into a rage and roared, "The weekly report clearly states that I have a homosexual relationship with He Heng. Are you still trying to deny it?"

Su Mo looked at Wang Yao with a dark expression: "Mr. Wang, although you are old and your eyesight is failing, I don't blame you, but you can't just say things like that!"

"The weekly report clearly states that it refers to the Wang family of Taizhou, while the male prostitute is He Heng of the He family. Hmm... the He of He Shui, how did it get involved with you, Mr. Wang?"

He paused slightly, then suddenly remembered something, staring at Wang Yao in shock: "Could it really be such a coincidence?"

"Mr. Wang, are you and He Heng, who slandered my innocence, also friends of the opposite sex?"

"Alas! I never imagined that Mr. Wang would also have homosexual tendencies! Mr. Wang comes from a prominent family; the world is truly going to the dogs!"

Wang Yao felt his blood rush to the top of his head again, and he pointed at Su Mo, his finger trembling: "You...you...you..."

Su Mo frowned and sighed, "No wonder Mr. Wang couldn't wait to jump out and slander me as soon as I proved my innocence. It turns out he's just too eager to protect his lover!"

"But the imperial law does not tolerate personal feelings, and He Heng must be punished. Mr. Wang, please visit your beloved in prison more often in the future!"

"Well, Mr. Wang, you just accused me of slandering your innocence. Now it seems that you will have to go in with me. I beg Lord Zhang to show leniency and lock you up with He Heng. That way, you can share a cell and sleep together, saving me the trouble of visiting you."

　I just got back and immediately started writing. There's still one more chapter to go, probably after midnight.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)