Chapter 1252: Investigate to the End (2)

The Court of Judicial Review minister did not go to the West Mountain camp to attend the military parade today, but he knew that Qi Haoran had gone to there today. Therefore, he was very surprised to see Qi Haoran appear in the Court of Judicial Review.

The Court of Judicial Review had always only investigated major cases. The Court of Judicial Review minister thought to himself that if King Rong unreasonably asked him to investigate some trivial matters, he would chase him out.

Ignoring the Court of Judicial Review’s vigilance, Qi Haoran pointed at the dozen or so people who were tied up and said, “These are all assassins who tried to assassinate the Crown Prince and Prince Rong. Lord Bai, His Majesty has ordered the two of us to investigate this matter thoroughly.”

The Court of Judicial Review gaped and asked, “Isn’t this matter handled by King Rong?” Lord Bai said vaguely, “After all, this matter involves foreign countries. As such, it’s not convenient for the Court of Judicial Review to interfere.”

Everyone knew that the Crown Prince and Qi Wenjin had kidnapped the Emperor of Great Yuan together and forced him to increase their troops so that they could take the opportunity to take back their territory that had been occupied by West Xia. Therefore, both Great Yuan and West Xia hated them to death. Before the two of them arrived in Shandong, they had already caused a ruckus in the court before encountering the assassin.

However, although everyone looked indignant, they felt that it was only right. If their Emperor was captured, they would definitely try their best to kill the culprit to avenge the insult.

Without waiting for Lord Bai to finish thinking about all this nonsense, Qi Haoran threw down a bomb and said, “These people are all from Great Qi. His Majesty ordered that we must find all their accomplices.”

Lord Bai’s expression changed. His first instinct was that the competition for the throne had begun again, and that the princes in the palace were not behaving themselves. Unexpectedly, King Rong said with a cold glint in his eyes, “I want to see if Qin Fang left more people behind than the ones that I captured!”

As these words traveled from his ears to his brain, he raised his hand and interrupted Qi Haoran. “Wait a moment, Your Highness. Who did you mention just now? I don’t think I heard you clearly.”

Qi Haoran replied with an exasperated expression, “Qin Fang. The traitor of the previous dynasty, Qin Fang. Is that clear enough, Lord Bai?”

“But didn’t he die 13 years ago? It was you who surrounded him before he died, King Rong!”

Qi Haoran’s expression darkened even more. He reiterated righteously, “I didn’t kill Qin Fang. He was killed by the previous dynasty’s traitor, the Second Prince!”

‘Yeah, but you were the one who forced him to do that.’

Lord Bai wisely didn’t say this out loud. He coughed lightly and asked, “Your Highness, do you have any evidence to prove that they were ordered by the treacherous Prime Minister Qin?”

The evidence that Little Treasure and Little Bear handed over was very sufficient. Not only was there a portrait of Qin Fang in the tunnel, but there were also letters between Qin Fang and his adopted sons. There were even assets that he had given them to provide them with a way to raise private soldiers.

The more Lord Bai read, the more shocked and angry he became. In the end, he couldn’t help but slap the table and stand up. “This is ridiculous. Qin Fang has been dead for more than ten years, but his people are still around causing trouble! He’s dead but yet to topple over. No wonder the commoners call him ‘the demonic prime minister’.”

There were many people who had the same thoughts as Lord Bai.

When the news of the Crown Prince being assassinated spread out, the Imperial Court could not help but be shocked. When the news of Qin Fang’s incident and those bandits’ declaration of resistance spread, the Imperial Court was even more shocked.

The ministers were excitedly condemning the traitorous Qin in the Imperial Court, but most of the officials left behind from the previous dynasty felt threatened, afraid that the Emperor would pursue accountability for things that happened in the previous dynasty.

One had to know that back then, Qin Fang wielded great power over the court. Other than a few elders in the court who dared to show their displeasure in front of him, everyone else would greet him with a smile. Four-fifths of the ministers of the previous dynasty had even given him gifts…

Perhaps because they were guilty, these people’s condemnation was especially loud. Qi Xiuyuan felt a headache coming on.

Soon, the commoners heard about it. The Great Qi Times had also specially reported on this matter and even used a full page to detail Qin Fang’s sins. However, how could one page alone be enough?

Therefore, at the end of the article, there was a word written in bold, “etc.”

The commoners were even more agitated than the ministers in the court. When they found out that Qin Fang’s adopted sons and subordinates actually worshipped his portrait, the commoners drew his portrait and stepped on it in front of their houses to express their hatred. This matter was discussed in teahouses and restaurants everywhere.

Some people even cried at the government office and requested to dig out Qin Fang’s corpse and whip him…

13 years was a very long time, enough time for a newborn baby to grow into a youth. But 13 years could be considered short, too. There were still surviving middle-aged people, youths, children, and even the old who lived through those chaotic times.

The pain of losing their home and compatriots, the despair that they might not live through the day, was still deeply engraved in their bones.

To the Han people in the north and west, they had lost their homes and relatives. They had to face the pain of being betrayed by their homeland and being enslaved by the Jin people and the West Xia people. To the people in other places, their hatred towards Qin Fang was more about the harsh taxes and exploitation that had accumulated over the years.

They could not understand why there were still people loyal to such a person!

Even Qi Xiuyuan did not expect the civilians to be so passionate about condemning Qin Fang. His expression darkened as he said to the ministers in private, “The people have a deep grudge. The regions’ government office has to guide the evacuation as soon as possible to avoid conflict.”

Yan Du hated Qin Fang deeply. When he heard this, he said, “Your Majesty, since Qin Fang has committed a heinous crime, why don’t the Imperial Court come forward and convict him? It’s better than the commoners condemning him spontaneously. Accidents are more likely to happen that way.”

Rong Xuan’s expression darkened. “Lord Yan, Qin Fang’s crime was already determined 13 years ago. How can he be convicted again?”

Yan Du lowered his eyes and said, “But the people are not satisfied with this. They have been oppressed by Qin Fang too much, so they have to vent their anger.”

Rong Xuan was very displeased to see him forcing the Emperor to take up the suggestion of digging graves and whipping corpses. He continued, “But Qin Fang is already dead. Not to mention that all the grudges should have disappeared, no one should be talking about his corpse. Besides, how can a wise ruler like His Majesty order to dig up graves and whip corpses?”

Although Qi Xiuyuan also hated Qin Fang, he really didn’t want to dig up someone’s grave. As for whipping someone’s corpse, it wouldn’t serve any purpose since he was already dead. What he wanted to do now was catch the spies left behind by Qin Fang, not deal with the dead Qin Fang.

He looked at the other ministers and asked, “What do you think?”

“Your Majesty, I agree with Minister Yan. Now that the people are agitated, we have to find a way to appease their anger.”

“I don’t think this is appropriate.” One of them agreed, while the other immediately jumped out and said, “Lord Left Prime Minister is right. Your Majesty absolutely cannot do such an immoral thing considering the person is already dead.”

Seeing that they were arguing among themselves, Qi Xiuyuan immediately waved his hand with a headache and said, “Alright, alright. Tell the government office to pay attention to evacuating the people first. Make sure no accidents happen. We’ll discuss the other matters tomorrow.”

After chasing them out of the Imperial Study, Qi Xiuyuan immediately got someone to look for Qi Haoran and asked, “How’s the investigation going? If we don’t find them soon, there will be chaos outside.”

Qi Haoran’s face was ashen as he said, “They’ve used all kinds of punishments, but Qin Fang’s men still refused to open their mouths. They’re really loyal to Qin Fang.”

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