Chapter 486 Supporting each other can lead to further progress

The cold wind, which had been calm for the whole morning, suddenly began to howl.

At this moment, the officials of the six ministries and nine ministers gathered in the cabinet duty room. Although the Minister of War Shi Nai was not there, there were more than ten people including the five cabinet ministers. The duty room was not too big, so they were all crowded together, sitting shoulder to shoulder on the chairs.

The door of the duty room was covered with a thick cotton curtain. Two large braziers were burning in the middle of the room. The sound of wind and snow outside and the heat inside made everyone look frosty but with flushed faces.

The chief minister of the cabinet sat on a chair in front of the desk, his eyes slightly closed, his beard trembling slightly.

There was silence, and the air seemed to have frozen.

Jia Jing gave a look to the Minister of Rites Jia Yucun.

Jia Yucun understood, coughed, and said, “Prime Minister, it’s better to prepare early.”

The Prime Minister still didn’t open his eyes, but just uttered two words: “Silence!”

Jia Yucun had no choice but to swallow his words.

Minister of Personnel Zhen Yingjia and other officials from the six ministries looked at each other. The poison had already penetrated into the emperor’s internal organs. The collapse of heaven and earth would happen in an instant. The emperor had no brothers, and Emperor Yongchang had two sons, Prince Kang and Prince An.

King Kang was captured and married the daughter of the false Tartar emperor, which was a great damage to the reputation and authority of the royal family. Neither civil officials nor military generals would agree that he would inherit the throne.

King An is the only choice.

At this time, a cabinet clerk hurried in and whispered something in the second assistant’s ear.

The assistant suddenly stood up and asked: “When did it happen?”

The clerk: “I heard from the messenger that Young Master Sun was taken away at noon.”

The second assistant glanced at the clock in the corner. It was two quarters past five!

Without time to think about it, Ci Fu picked up the cloak from the hanger and hurried out.

The clerk followed him out.

“Stop.” The Prime Minister opened his eyes.

The clerk walked back and bowed to the Prime Minister: “Prime Minister.”

The Prime Minister looked at him and asked, “What happened?”

The clerk replied, “To reply to the Prime Minister, the family of the Second Prime Minister came to report that Young Master Sun was taken away by the people from the Imperial Household Department.”

Jia Jing’s eyes flashed. Li Hu’s movements were so fast!

Prime Minister: “Oh? Which Young Master Sun?”

The clerk: “It’s the young master Sun who accompanied the emperor to study.”

All the officials were shocked and a riot broke out.

Wumen outer duty room
The eunuch in red came in hurriedly holding a case record.

When they arrived in front of the big case, the eunuch in red reported to Li Hu, “Duke, the boy has confessed.” Then he handed over the case record.

Li Hu took the case record and looked at it, then said, “Then arrest all his servants and the people in the bookshop and interrogate them.”

“Yes.” The eunuch in red turned and walked out.

Li Hu sighed as he looked at the trial record. This was basically the case. Regardless of whether Jia Jing was the culprit behind the scenes, no evidence would be left.

Thinking of this, Li Hu picked up the cloak on the chair, put it on, and walked out.

As soon as he stepped out of the door, Li Hu was shocked.

Through the snow, he saw several carriages coming from the Zuoye Gate.
On the carriage, the dead bodies were piled up like a mountain.

Li Hu walked over quickly and asked the red-robed eunuch in the lead, “What’s going on?”

The Red Eunuch: “Without the Emperor’s order, all suspects must be buried with the Emperor in the underworld.”

How could this old man be in such good health? He woke up in such a short time!

Li Hu suddenly realized what was happening and asked anxiously, “Has the emperor passed away?!”

The red-robed eunuch shook his head and said, “The Supreme Emperor took people to the Wenhua Palace.”

Li Hu was startled and ran into the Zuoye Gate like a flash.

Before he could even walk out of the Zuoye Gate, Li Hu was stopped by the second assistant who came in a hurry.

The assistant panted: “Why, why do you want to catch him?”

Li Hu directly handed him the trial record: “Take a look for yourself.”

The assistant took the exhibition and looked at it. His eyes suddenly widened and his face turned as pale as paper!

Li Hu took the case record from him and trotted into the palace.

After a while, Ci Fu came to his senses and chased in.

Wenhua Hall was just in front of the Cabinet. The Supreme Emperor personally came to Wenhua Hall with a sword in hand and dozens of imperial guards in a murderous manner. Such a big commotion naturally alarmed the officials who were waiting for news in the cabinet’s duty room.

The chief minister of the cabinet, Jia Jinghe and two grand secretaries, as well as Zhen Yingjia, Jia Yucun and other officials from the six ministries and nine ministers all came, but they all stood outside the Wenhua Gate, and no one went in.

Li Hu reached out and pushed aside the Minister of Works who was blocking his way, and looked inside the door. At this moment, dozens of officials from the Zhanshi Mansion, both big and small, were all kneeling on the snow.

The Supreme Emperor stood on the stone steps of the main hall, pointing his sword at them, his eyes full of murderous intent: “How could it not be you useless bastards who were poisoned? If you hadn’t complained, the bad guys wouldn’t have taken advantage of the situation. Catch them all, take them out and execute them!”

The officials’ faces turned pale and they kowtowed repeatedly: “Supreme Emperor, please spare us! Supreme Emperor, please spare us.”

Supreme Emperor: “Take him out and behead him”

The Crown Prince’s Secretary said in a trembling voice: “The Emperor was poisoned, and we are guilty of negligence. You cannot kill innocent people!”

The Supreme Emperor looked at him with a grim smile: “I just want to kill as many people as possible.”

The imperial guards immediately rushed forward, grabbed the officials from the Zhanshi Mansion and dragged them out.

“Supreme Emperor, spare my life!”

“Kill them all!”

“Supreme Emperor, please spare my life.”

The Supreme Emperor waved his sword wildly, shouting, “Kill them all! Leave no one alive.”

Ci Fu also chased after him at this time, and his shrill cries made him tremble!

Looking at the officials of the Zhanshi Mansion being dragged away, Li Hu sighed. The Supreme Emperor was going to start a massacre!

At this time, the Supreme Emperor came out of Wenhua Gate holding a sword. He saw Li Hu at a glance and walked straight towards him.

The officials around hurriedly moved to the sides, making way for the horses to run.

Looking at the Supreme Emperor approaching with a sword in hand, Li Hu felt a little frightened, worrying that the old man had really gone crazy.

Fortunately, the Supreme Emperor walked and stopped three or four steps away from Li Hu.

Li Hu stepped forward, bowed respectfully, and then handed over the case record.

In the heavy snow, the Supreme Emperor held the sword in one hand and the trial record in the other and began to read it.

Suddenly, there was a “thump” sound behind Li Hu.

“Oh no! The assistant fainted!”

Li Hu turned around and saw Ci Fu lying straight in the snow.

Prime Minister: “Quick! Send him to the Imperial Hospital.”

Several cabinet clerks hurried over and lifted the deputy prime minister up.

The Supreme Emperor spoke: “Send him to the Silijian’s duty room, and have the Imperial Hospital take his pulse.”

All the officials were shocked and looked at him in confusion.

The Supreme Emperor looked at Li Hu and motioned for him to explain.

Li Hu coughed and told the general story.

All the officials were shocked.

Li Hu kept his eyes on Jia Jing, but he couldn’t see anything.

The Supreme Emperor: “Keep investigating!”

Li Hu: “Well, I haven’t rested for two days and one night. I can’t stand it any longer. The next matter can be handed over to the Southern Pacification Division for trial.”

The Supreme Emperor frowned and was about to get angry.

Jia Jing helped to speak up: “The case has basically been solved. The next step is to arrest people and interrogate them. These are what the Southern Pacification Division is best at. The Ministry of War still has a lot of official documents waiting for Duke Lu to deal with.”

The Prime Minister also remembered: “Liaodong is still waiting for the Ministry of War to allocate money, food and military equipment.”

Li Hu: “Give young people more opportunities.”

The Supreme Emperor snorted and said, “You don’t know what you are talking about!” After that, he walked towards the Palace of Tranquil Longevity with his sword in hand.

Did you agree? Li Hu looked at the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister said: “You should deal with the backlog of documents in the Ministry of War as soon as possible. I will send someone to inform the Southern Pacification Office.” After saying that, he turned and walked towards the cabinet.

All the officials also dispersed.

Only Li Hu and Jia Jing were left outside Wenhua Gate.

Jia Jing came over and said with a smile: “You are really cunning. You knew that there would be a big fight, but you decisively withdrew and pushed Wang Ren into the fire pit. How are you going to thank me?”

Li Hu looked at him and said, “Don’t let me say anything nice.”

Jia Jing understood that Li Hu had guessed it, and smiled at him calmly: “We are relatives, and only by supporting each other can we make further progress.”

One step further? Above the duke is the prince, is this considered a promise?
Li Hu looked at him, clasped his hands, turned and left.

Jia Jing stroked his beard and smiled, then turned and walked towards the cabinet.

(End of this chapter)