Chapter 701: Speak east and attack west

Zhao Ji was wearing a crown and a crown, and had already come out of Wenjing Pavilion. Last night, he had moved from Wansui Mountain to the palace. He always came to the place, and even if he wanted to hide, he couldn't escape. Although Zhao Ji was in a bad mood, he was also energetic at this time and planned to be an arbitrator.

On one hand, there are the Zheng family and the royal relatives, and on the other hand, there are Chen Ao, both an important official and a royal relative. It is a bit ridiculous to fight such a lawsuit in front of the imperial court.

His eyelids couldn't help but jump. He looked at the sky. The sun was warm at noon, making people drowsy. Zhao Ji let out a sigh of relief, his heart was irritated. He thought to himself, what should I do if Chen Ao was judged guilty this time? Let's save his life. He still has a regent in Xixia. He can drive him to Xixia. It's a pity.

Thinking of this in my heart, I will inevitably feel a little disappointed. It is a foregone conclusion that Chen Ao killed Duke Zheng. Since this has happened, even if he wants to forgive, he can do nothing.

Zhao Ji was about to go to the martial arts hall to speak, but an eunuch had already stepped over and bowed and said, "Your Majesty... the Empress Dowager has already set off."

Zhao Jihe nodded and said, "Then let's set off now."

When he arrived at the Martial Arts Hall, Zhao Ji's appearance immediately made the originally quiet hall angry. Hundreds of civil and military officials, nobles from the country, bowed and said with a bang: "Long live my emperor!"

Zhao Ji walked to the Golden Palace, and the Empress Dowager sat in an ear chamber next to the Golden Palace, lowered the curtains, and sat down to the trial.

Zhao Ji said angrily: "Let's just keep calm, what's going to report today?"

The more this time, everyone was no longer anxious. Although many people were eager to see the imperial inspector, and many people were ready to go, now, everyone became reserved. First, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel came out and said, "Your Majesty, the year is approaching, and the merit exam is about to be tested. However, in previous years, the state officials often prepared in advance and got away from the merit exam. Should we take some measures this year to eliminate this matter?"

Zhao Ji sat on the chair and said, "How to stop it?"

"You can let the Ministry of Personnel, Ministry of Rites, Ministry of Revenue, and Dali Temple work together to rush to various places..." The right assistant minister said, but no one said anything.

At this time, those who are interested looked at the minister. What was the purpose of this person saying this? He was obviously from the Ministry of Personnel, but he distributed the authority of the Ministry of Personnel's merit examination to the Ministry of Rites, Ministry of Revenue, and Dali Temple. Is this person's brain worm? So many people already had the background of this minister. Liu Huan, a Jinshi in the third year of Jianzhong Jingguo, first served as an official in Suzhou, and then transferred to Jingji, as the prefect of Jingzhao, serving in the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Personnel, and finally became the minister of the Ministry of Personnel. He was very meritorious. Liu Huan was not very old, but he was around 40 years old. I was afraid that he would be admitted to the Three Provinces in another three or five years.

Just thinking about this slightly, many people couldn't help but look at Duke Weijun Quartz and suddenly understood. Liu Huan entered Beijing in the third year of Xuanhe and had been an official in Suzhou before. At that time, Fang La uprising and occupied the Hangzhou area. Duke Weijun Shi, Tong Guan and others dispatched troops to suppress the army, and the army was stationed in Suzhou. This shows that Liu Huan should be the Duke Weijun Quartz.

The Ministry of Personnel is now in the hands of the crown prince. The prince’s men have become the Minister of Personnel. The greatest power of the Ministry of Personnel lies in the merit test. The life, death, honor and disgrace of officials are controlled by the word merit test. If you evaluate good promotions and poor evaluations, you will be demoted, and you will be dismissed. It can be seen that the power of the Ministry of Personnel is so great that if anyone occupys the Ministry of Personnel, it can only take three years to cultivate a large group of confidants.

Now the Minister of Personnel suddenly wants to divide the power of the public examination into four, and hand it over to the Ministry of Rites, Ministry of Revenue, Dali Temple, and Ministry of Rites. Needless to say, Yang Zhen has always been impartial, so it would be fine to give it to him. The most amazing thing is the Ministry of Revenue and Dali Temple. These two families are both the basic markets of the old party. If this matter was not instructed by Duke Wei County, it would be really a ghost.

Many of the people present could not help but sigh that quartz was indeed extremely powerful. This move was known to everyone to prepare for the next imperial trial, but they were unwilling to make trouble, but they made such a punch, which caught people off guard.

If the right to take the merit exam is released, the Ministry of Personnel will become a decoration, not to mention that if it is placed on the Ministry of Revenue and Dali Temple, the prince will definitely be seriously injured.

But... at this critical moment, why did Quartz offend the prince? If the prince suddenly made up his mind and stomped on Pingxi King later, wouldn't it make the imperial audit a little more variable? Everyone was suspicious and could not guess Quartz's thoughts. If Quartz did this, either completely abandon Pingxi King and instead provoke the prince. Or Quartz was already 100% sure, and I believe that Pingxi King must win this lawsuit.

If you can't guess thoroughly, you just don't guess. Many people looked at Zhao Ji, wanting to see what Your Majesty said. If you really divide the power into four, not only will the prince's vitality be seriously damaged, but the Ministry of Personnel will also have to prepare decorations in the future.

"Father..." Zhao Heng looked at the Minister of Personnel, with a little shock in his eyes. Finally, Zhao Heng stood up and said seriously: "Justice Liu Huan, the Minister of Personnel, said nothing wrong. The merit exam is full of disadvantages. If it is reformed, the administration of the officials will sooner or later be damaged. But then again, all ministries and temples have powers, how can they do things beyond their authority? It is better to do this. The merit exam can be carried out by the Ministry of Revenue, Dali Temple, and the Ministry of Rites together to supervise. However, the person who decides should still be the Ministry of Personnel, otherwise wouldn't this Ministry of Personnel be useless?"

Zhao Heng said this sentence beautifully. He suffered a lot of losses in the past two years and gained wisdom after suffering from mistakes. Now he has learned his lessons, and many people can't help but nod.

Zhao Ji thought for a moment, nodded and said, "The prince is right. Change is to change, but the Ministry of Personnel is the Ministry of Personnel after all, so he will do it according to the prince's wishes, Li Bangyan..."

"Old minister is here." Li Bangyan was overjoyed at this time. Duke Wei suddenly offended the prince and touched the tiger's butt. Although His Majesty only agreed to the compromise method and the Ministry of Personnel retained the right to decide the merit exam, after all, he still gave two ministries and one temple a share of the pie. How could the prince feel happy? Maybe the prince can help him later.

Zhao Ji said lightly: "You, the prince and Liu Huan, together, draft a charter and send it to the imperial court. I will draft an order to handle it."

Li Bangyan said: "The old minister follows the order."

Zhao Ji seemed a little impatient and asked them if there was anything wrong. These people were really worried. They climbed up the pole. What is the reason? He said in a deep voice: "Is there anything else to play? Let's play it together."

There was a silence in the martial arts hall.

Zhao Ji then sighed and said, "Today I propose that the court discuss the matters of Taiyuan Pingxi King and Duke Zheng. All the nobles must have learned that the King Pingxi beheaded the prefect of Taiyuan, Taiyuan Grand Governor and Duke Zheng, are so arrogant, rare in ancient and modern times..." He first cursed Shen Ao a few words, and then his face calmed down: "But King Pingxi has always made many contributions and is loyal to the Song Dynasty. This is a contribution. I will neither favor his sins nor forget his contributions..."

Speaking of this, many people are already confused. Is Your Majesty protecting King Pingxi or severely punishing him? Why is he still confused after listening for so long?

"Your Majesty..." At this time, a person stood up in the class. This person was a little strange to the court officials, but when he spoke, everyone knew who he was.

"Your Majesty, my father has always been kind to others. Although he is a relative of the country, he never regards himself as a relative of the country. He often warns his ministers to always remember the grace of the holy people..."

It turned out that this was Zheng Ke's son, Zheng Chu, Duke of Xinzheng. Everyone couldn't help but look at him, seeing that he was already tearful at this time, as if he couldn't do it himself, some people felt sorry for him, and some were indifferent.

Zheng Chu continued to cry and said, "Who knew that my father had gone to Taiyuan... and this happened. King Pingxi has always been respected. Unexpectedly, he was so crazy that the prince broke the law and committed the same crime as the common people. I begged Your Majesty to be the master of his father and severely punish King Pingxi to serve as a warning." Then he continued to cry, kneeled on the ground and kowtowed constantly. No matter whether the tears were true or false, the people in the palace couldn't help but look at them.

Zhao Ji let out a sigh, as if he was unwilling to watch the scene, so he comforted him: "Duke Zheng has a close relationship with me, so I will handle it impartially and will never teach the father-in-law to be wronged. Please take your tears and return to the class."

Zheng Chu kowtowed three times in a row and said, "Your Majesty's holy grace, I have no way to repay you." This sentence blocked Zhao Ji's mouth and thanked him first, forcing Zhao Ji to stand up for him. Then, Zheng Chu was straightforward and clear, put down his tears, and immediately retreated to the class.

Li Bangyan stood upright, quietly looking at Zhao Ji's face, and couldn't help feeling disappointed. Logically, Your Majesty should be furious at this time, but now he is in such a state of being angry, which is not good.

Zhao Ji's face was calm, and he was silent for a moment. He comforted the case and said, "Transfer my will to bring King Shen Ao, the King of Pingxi, to the Hall of Martial Arts. I will interrogate with all the nobles in the hall."

Hearing this, in the small room next to the Golden Palace, the empress dowager raised a cup of tea, looked at Zhao Ji with a pearl curtain, and then smiled at Jingde, who was serving him, and said, "It took so long to talk to the main point. The Ai family almost fell asleep. This is how His Majesty Su talked about it?"

Jingde bowed and stood behind the empress dowager, leaned his waist and pressed his ears into the empress dowager, saying, "It's always like this, today is pretty good. Eunuch Yang Jian said that sometimes he has to fight for a few hours to stop for a small matter."

The Empress Dowager smiled slightly and said, "No wonder Your Majesty doesn't like Li Chao very much and would rather hide in Wansui Mountain. But the Ai family blamed him wrongly. In this way, the Ai family couldn't sit still for half an hour."

Jingde also smiled slightly and stopped talking.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Outside Zhengde Gate, Shen Ao was still sitting in the carriage. Shen Ao didn't know anything about it. He got up too early today and sat here again, which made Shen Ao a little drowsy. The court talks took half an hour, why didn't you hear the summons? This is a hell, how can you talk so much nonsense?

Shen Ao thought with dissatisfaction, so he came out of the car and said to the messenger of the palace vanguard and Dali Temple: "Can I come out to activate my muscles and bones? If it doesn't work, it won't be over. I won't make you embarrassed."

The palace vanguard and the police looked at each other. This was the first time they had seen such a criminal, but they were so careless and were simply a monster. However, since King Pingxi said this, they had no reason to stop him. The palace vanguard said, "Please get off the car."

Chen Ao jumped off the shaft of the car, stretched his arms, and couldn't help but smile: "I thought King *** is the protagonist now. Who knew that after discussing for so long, I have not had my king's affairs yet. I have become a bystander." After that, he said regretfully: "If you want to be tried, just try it. What's the matter like this?"

The palace gate opened again at this time, and Yang Jian quickly came over and said, "The King of Pingxi received the order and entered the palace immediately."

Chen Ao showed a relaxed expression and quickly met him, saying, "Eunuch Yang, what's going on inside?"

Yang Jian smiled bitterly and whispered to tell what had happened just now. Chen Ao couldn't help laughing and said, "Mr. Wei is not simple either. When this happens, I don't know what the prince's expression is? Unfortunately, I didn't see it."

Yang Jian said seriously: "Wang County Duke did this, isn't he making enemies for you? What's going on?"

Chen Ao knew in his heart that Quartz had received something from Taiyuan when he did this. Now the imperial audit was almost certain to win, and no matter how many enemies there were, he was not afraid of them. So he took this opportunity to beat the prince. If Chen Ao was afraid that such a deal would be done, he smiled and said to Yang Jian: "You just wait and see, there will be a good show later. I will follow Eunuch Yang to the palace. Should I let the palace vanguard take me in?"

Yang Jian couldn't help but smile and said, "Let's go, do you think it's not messy enough?"

Chen Ao thought in disappointment that the Qin criminal was becoming less and less like Qin criminal, so he gritted his teeth and went in side by side with Yang Jian. Walking straight along the way was the majestic martial arts hall. Chen Ao had been here for countless times, and he was familiar with the road, so he quickly walked into the hall. Chen Ao saw the bustling people inside, thinking to himself that today was indeed a big battle. After entering the hall, he bowed to the Golden Palace: "The criminal Chen Ao, I have seen Your Majesty."

When Zhao Ji saw Chen Ao, he could not see whether he was happy or angry on his face, but said lightly: "Come here, I will give you a seat to the King of Pingxi."

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Chapter completed!