The carriage quickly arrived at the palace gates!

The two got off the carriage and looked back—they still hadn’t seen the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review’s carriage arrive. He was probably still pulling at that rope.

Deputy Minister Yu originally planned to enter the palace together with his father.

But Minister Yu said, “You don’t need to go in with me.”

“Father?”

“You stay here. When the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review arrives later, you must use every means possible to block him from entering the palace. If you can’t block him, then delay him—the longer you can delay, the better. You must delay until after I’ve finished reporting to His Majesty.”

Although Deputy Minister Yu felt the task was difficult, he still nodded. “Yes, your son will do his utmost to block him. However, Father, you must hurry. After all, your son is only a deputy minister. In terms of authority, I’m not qualified to block the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review.”

“I know, but Prince Rong’s plan cannot fail in my hands.” Minister Yu had an air of vigorous determination.

Then he quickly took that memorial and entered the palace.

Fuyang Hall!

Emperor Qizhen was reviewing memorials. On the desk lay a memorial submitted by the Ministry of Personnel.

When his gaze审 reached the last character—

Slap!

He forcefully closed it.

Emperor Qizhen placed his clenched fists on the desk, erupting in fury.

Eunuch Zhang Quan stood beside him watching, slightly bowing as he said, “Your Majesty, please don’t damage your health with anger. Why don’t this servant order the Imperial Kitchen to make you some ginseng soup to warm your stomach? You can rest a while before continuing to review memorials.”

Crash!

Just as he finished speaking, Emperor Qizhen swept all the memorials on the desk to the floor.

Eunuch Zhang was already accustomed to this sight and stood there bowing calmly, his gaze glancing at that memorial from the Ministry of Personnel on the ground.

“Your Majesty, is it about Prince Rong?”

Qizhen angrily said, “Among the memorials submitted these days, every single one impeaches Jingrong for interfering with the Ministry of Personnel’s official transfers. First he dismissed Mountain Huai County Magistrate Zhang Huanping, then dismissed Appeasement County Magistrate Liu Zhiliang. Now this memorial impeaches him for forcibly replacing the Jinjiang County Magistrate with the former Liu Qingping. This is simply absurd! The Ministry of Personnel’s transfers and reviews of officials happen once every six months, yet he repeatedly interferes, forcing the Ministry of Personnel to re-examine officials and arrange new appointments. I sent him to investigate the relief silver, not to review local officials.”

With a wave of his sleeve, his broad palm slammed heavily on the desk.

Jingrong and his party, on their way to the Imperial Prefecture, had successively investigated and dealt with quite a few officials. Those officials were either incompetent and harmful to others and themselves, or corrupt and abusive of power. The result left the Ministry of Personnel in a terrible state, and the entire Ministry of Personnel seemed to be controlled by a prince without real power!

More importantly, he was a fallen prince who had been “exiled” by the Emperor.

Minister of Personnel Peng Yuanhai naturally couldn’t swallow this grievance, so he submitted memorials repeatedly to vent his resentment.

As the saying goes, when a son causes trouble, one must inform his father!

And Emperor Qizhen was so furious because he had sent Jingrong away from the capital to investigate the relief silver case precisely to keep him away from the court and uninvolved in factional struggles. Yet along the way he hadn’t been idle at all—first he borrowed troops from Marquis Kanglai in Mountain Huai County to suppress bandits, resulting in rivers of blood. In the end he had to gift the Golden Threaded Armor to Marquis Kanglai as compensation to settle the matter. Just when he thought it would stop there, Jingrong continued dismissing officials along the way, extending his hand into the Ministry of Personnel.

In the current sensitive period with the Crown Prince position vacant, for a prince to openly interfere in the affairs of the Six Ministries—what would an already suspicious and jealous emperor think?

Naturally, he would overthink it!

But Eunuch Zhang said, “Your Majesty, although Prince Rong dismissing officials through private authority is improper, those local officials truly do have oversights. The Ministry of Personnel can control the beginning but not the end. Moreover, with the capital being far away, when local officials cause harm, Prince Rong cutting out the harm is actually thinking of the court.”

“Are you speaking up for Jingrong?”

“This servant wouldn’t dare. I merely spoke an extra sentence. Please forgive me, Your Majesty.”

“Then why don’t you tell me—how should I handle this matter?”

“Your Majesty naturally has an appropriate way to handle it. This servant is merely a servant and doesn’t dare speak much.”

Emperor Qizhen glanced at Eunuch Zhang from the corner of his eye. Seeing that old fellow standing there respectfully, he turned and thought about what Eunuch Zhang had just said.

He pondered for a moment, looking at the memorials he had swept to the floor. He estimated something in his heart and said with furrowed brows, “What you said isn’t without reason, but I’m suddenly thinking… the memorials all go through the Office of Transmission’s screening before being submitted. Among the memorials submitted recently, almost every one impeaches Jingrong. Could it be that the Director of Transmission only wants me to see these things?”

He started being suspicious again.

Having followed him for many years, Eunuch Zhang seemed to understand his meaning. Holding the whisk in his hand, he walked to the desk, knelt on the ground, and while gathering up those scattered memorials, said with his head lowered, “Your Majesty’s meaning is that you suspect… the Office of Transmission is deliberately submitting memorials impeaching Prince Rong without any screening?”

Hit the nail on the head!

Emperor Qizhen’s palm tightened. While pondering in his heart, he also softly murmured, “Office of Transmission, Office of Transmission…”

Suddenly—

His expression became solemn as he ordered Eunuch Zhang, “You secretly investigate who has been close to the Ministry of Personnel and the Office of Transmission recently, or rather, regarding the impeachment of Jingrong in the memorials, is there any situation between the Ministry of Personnel and the Office of Transmission?”

“Yes, this servant will carry it out.”

Eunuch Zhang acknowledged the order, having already picked up all the memorials from the floor and placed them back on the desk.

At this moment, a eunuch entered on his knees.

He announced, “Your Majesty, Minister Yu of the Court of Judicial Review requests an audience.”

Minister Yu?

Emperor Qizhen thought, if someone from the Court of Judicial Review comes, it must be about the assassination attempt on Jingrong.

With a wave of his hand, “Let him in.”

“Yes.”

The eunuch withdrew. Shortly after, Minister Yu entered.

He knelt in salutation. “This subject pays respects to Your Majesty.”

“Rise.”

“Thank Your Majesty.”

Minister Yu stood up.

Emperor Qizhen asked, “Why has Minister Yu entered the palace at this time?”

Asking despite knowing!

Minister Yu unhurriedly took out the memorial hidden in his sleeve and had Eunuch Zhang present it.

He said, “Your Majesty, this subject has entered the palace regarding the matter of the assassin’s attack on Prince Rong.”

Emperor Qizhen’s face was stern as he flipped through the submitted memorial. After reading through it once, his brows furrowed deeper and deeper.

Then he closed that memorial with a snap.

He questioned Minister Yu, “The assassin is dead?”

Minister Yu lowered his head. “Yes.”

Slap!

Emperor Qizhen slammed his palm on the desk again.

“How does your Court of Judicial Review conduct its affairs? You couldn’t even guard one assassin.” He rebuked and demanded accountability.

Minister Yu immediately bowed. “Please forgive this subject, Your Majesty. This matter was completely unexpected. This subject never imagined the assassin would die the day after being imprisoned.”

Emperor Qizhen curved his fingers and knocked heavily several times on that memorial.

“Then what do you mean by what you wrote in the memorial—that the assassin’s corpse was completely gone without a trace?”