After being forced into a marriage with a wealthy family, the virtuous wife caused a huge uproar.

"Don't make false accusations." Minister Gao was so angry at Gu Ce's words that his beard trembled.

"It seems you, as a father, don't understand your own son at all." Gu Ce strolled leisurely to Gao Shangshu's side.

"Gu Ce, do you think you can deceive the Emperor with lies you've made up out of thin air?" Minister Gao was already somewhat flustered, but after years of serving as an official, he quickly regained his composure. He absolutely could not panic at this moment, and he certainly couldn't afford to lose face in front of Gu Ce.

His third son, Gao Shiming, was the only one of his three sons to enter officialdom through the imperial examination. With the help of Consort Cao and the Crown Prince, he quickly rose to the position of Prefect of Qizhou. For the sake of the Crown Prince, he never returned to the capital and remained in Qizhou.

Now, however, Gu Ce has caught them red-handed.

Where would Gu Ce get the manpower?

Qizhou is more than 400 li away from the capital. The third brother has been operating in Qizhou for many years. How did he find out about it?

"Whether it's fabricated or not, His Majesty will make the final judgment." Gu Ce's expression remained unchanged.

"Your Majesty, my son is innocent!" Minister Gao cried out.

"Gu Ce, besides this evidence, do you have any other evidence?" Emperor Taikang had been the ruler for many years and knew that this amount of evidence was not enough to convict the Gao family.

"Your Majesty, there are witnesses as well," Gu Ce said confidently.

"Bring your ID!" Gao shouted.

A short while later, the imperial guards brought several people into the hall, one of whom was carried in.

What was most unexpected was that the person who led this group of people in was none other than Li Xuanye, the heir apparent of the Liao Kingdom.

When Minister Gao saw that it was the Crown Prince of Liao, he understood why Gu Ce was able to find out about his third son; it turned out that the Crown Prince of Liao was helping him.

No wonder yesterday, when Gu Ce dined with the Prince of Liao at Mingyue Tower, the fact that Mingyue Tower used poppies was revealed.

Gao Shangshu was filled with regret.

He never imagined that a sickly man held hostage in the capital, who was also a military officer, would collude with Gu Ce, a civil official.

"Your subject pays respects to Your Majesty." Li Xuanye bowed deeply. Although he was not wearing armor, his tall stature and imposing presence exuded a powerful aura as he entered the hall, creating a palpable sense of oppression.

"General Li, did you bring these witnesses?" The Emperor already knew, but he still had to ask on the surface.

He gave Gu Ce five people, and some necessary information would be passed on to him.

He was happy to see Li Shizi help Gu Ce.

If Gu Ce wants to secure his position as prime minister, he certainly needs a group of capable people to help him.

"Your Majesty, that is indeed the case. Although my health is not very good, fortunately I still have several capable subordinates under my command."

The steward of my household recently went to Qizhou to buy some precious medicinal herbs that I needed. He discovered that the prices in Qizhou were actually higher than in the capital, so he put some thought into it and investigated the reason.

Upon investigation, it was discovered that several major merchants in Qizhou had connections with Prefect Gao. Further investigation revealed that these merchants paid a considerable amount of silver to the Prefect every year, and in addition, they also shared their profits with him, which caused prices in Qizhou to be higher than in the capital.

"The witness I brought is an accountant from the prefectural government of Gao." Li Xuanye pointed to a middle-aged man who was being carried in.

The Emperor, seeing the man's half-dead state, raised an eyebrow: "Were you beaten like this by your men?"

The emperor suspected him of using torture, so this man had no choice but to come forward as a witness.

"Your Majesty, I will only kill the enemy, not attack the people of my Southern Xia." Li Xuanye said solemnly. Was he really such a person who had no sense of propriety?

"This accountant encountered robbers on his way out. Both his legs were broken, and he was stabbed several times. Fortunately, he was saved by my men, otherwise he would have died. So, to repay the debt of gratitude, he is willing to expose the greedy face of Prefect Gao." He continued, adding that whether this was true or not was not important.

Gu Ce almost burst out laughing when he heard Li Xuanye's words.

Li Xuanye was just a rogue soldier who only cared about achieving his goals and didn't care whether his actions were reasonable or not.

It was clearly his men who disguised themselves as bandits and beat the person up like that, yet he became the person's benefactor.

"This humble servant, Wu Youcai, pays his respects to Your Majesty." The man struggled to climb up from the door panel, but it was too difficult, and he fell back down after climbing halfway.

"You, tell the truth honestly." Emperor Taikang waved his hand.

Li Xuanye gave Wu Youcai a sharp look.

Wu Youcai was startled and honestly recounted everything he had learned over the years while working as an accountant in the prefectural government of Gao, including some rumors he had overheard in private.

Emperor Taikang's expression changed several times as he listened, but finally returned to calm.

"Your Majesty, these two women were once the concubines of Prefect Gao. Because they gave birth to sons, they were sold by the Prefect's wife, who also secretly killed their sons."

This woman is the concubine that Prefect Gao keeps outside the palace. The child beside her is hers. When the Prefect's wife learned of their existence, she wanted to kill them, but they were saved by my men." After Wu Youcai finished speaking, Li Xuanye continued to explain the identities of the other witnesses.

Which official in the court isn't shrewd? He could tell at a glance that Prince Li had deliberately gone to investigate Prefect Gao. There was no way that so many coincidences would happen and his men just happened to run into him.

Emperor Taikang's gaze swept over the three women and the child, and all of them lowered their heads.

"Miss Yu, tell me everything you know. The Emperor is here; he will make the decision for you," Li Xuanye said to one of the women.

The woman knelt down with a thud and kowtowed repeatedly. Soon, a puddle of water appeared on the ground; it was her tears.

"Get up and answer." Emperor Taikang felt pity for him.

The woman swayed as she got up.

"Yu Furong, a commoner, is from Qizhou Prefecture. Her family originally ran a small business."

During a trip, the young woman was spotted by Magistrate Gao. Seeing her outstanding beauty, he sent someone to propose marriage, intending to take her as a concubine. However, the young woman already had a fiancé. But Magistrate Gao used his methods to ruin her marriage and then bribed her father, ultimately sending her to the magistrate's mansion.

From then on, the woman's family quickly rose to become one of the top merchants in Qizhou Prefecture, becoming a tool for Master Gao to amass wealth.

"The commoner woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. The prefect's wife, who treated everyone like refugees, even caused the death of the woman's son and framed the woman for having an affair, selling her off. Her parents, for the sake of their reputation and their own interests, dared not speak out and simply pretended the woman was dead." After Yu Furong finished speaking, she began to sob softly. Her suppressed cries moved all who heard them and brought tears to their eyes.

Emperor Taikang then asked two other women.

One of them was a gift from a merchant to the prefect, and she also had a son, but she was sold by the mistress.

One was the daughter of a grain merchant, and the mistress that Prefect Gao kept outside the marriage; their son was already five years old.

Judging from the child's appearance, he does bear a resemblance to Gao Shangshu, indicating that he is of the Gao family lineage.

"Minister Gao, do you have anything else to say?" Emperor Taikang's face was as cold as ice.

Gao Qiliang's face was ashen. In his sixties, he knelt down tremblingly, knowing that Gu Ce had come prepared.

The Gao family has lost, and it is no longer possible for the Crown Prince to promote him to Prime Minister.

The Emperor is trying to completely suppress the Crown Prince.

"Your Majesty, I have failed in my duty to raise my son and am willing to accept punishment. I beg Your Majesty to spare my son's life, considering my years of dedication to the country."

"This old minister is too old to share the Emperor's burdens any longer. It is time for this old minister to retire and live out his remaining years in peace." Minister Gao used this as a tactic of retreat to mitigate the Gao family's punishment.