This was Sun Tu's third visit to the palace in two months, and he had already exceeded more than 80% of the courtiers in Tokyo. Among the officials of the Manchu Dynasty, except for those important ministers and favored ministers who were in important positions, they could often see the Emperor. However, it was not easy for ordinary officials, even if they always attended court meetings, to see the emperor, and he was obviously an exception.
Sun Tu, who entered the palace again, felt that he was familiar with it. He followed the chamberlain who led the way, glancing to both sides from time to time, and he had a deeper experience of the Song Dynasty Palace. The imperial palace here is far inferior to the Forbidden City. It is far from the solemnity and solemnity that it has even after it became a museum. The area is also much smaller. Looking from a distance, you can see that many palaces are cramped. Crowded on a small patch of ground.
Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that today's monarchy is far from being comparable to that of hundreds of years later. Of course, this is also inseparable from the Zhao family's consistent line of being close to the people. It can be seen from the densely packed snack vendors outside the palace that Zhao Song The dynasty is indeed the most shameless royal family in history.
However, after meeting Zhao Ji, Sun Tu quickly put this strange thought in his mind behind him. No matter how close he is to the people, he is still a king, which is far beyond what he can despise now, not to mention being close to the people and loving the people are two completely different things. This concept, at least under Zhao Ji's rule, the lives of the people of the Song Dynasty were really difficult. More importantly, a greater disaster is yet to come.
After paying homage to the Emperor, Sun Tu heard the gentle voice of the Emperor above: "The Marquis of Yue came to see me in a hurry today because of the big progress in the Tongliao case?"
"Your Majesty is wise, it is because I have found some very important clues that I dare not make any independent opinions, so I came here to report to Your Majesty for you to make a decision." Sun Tu answered honestly, and then handed over a thick stack of reports. Ben was raised above his head, which stunned the emperor: "Are there so many problems?"
"Your Majesty has misunderstood. Although there is a memorial written by a minister detailing the Tongliao case, there are more memorials written by many officials in the Censorship Station impeaching the Prime Minister Shen Bin. Because the two are closely related, I sent them together. When you come to the palace, please ask your majesty to see the Holy Inquisition!"
"Bold!" Before the emperor could speak, Liang Shicheng, who was standing beside him, couldn't help scolding him. He really didn't expect that Sun Tu would target Wang Shenbin as soon as he arrived. In anger, he looked at Wang Shenbin. After all, this is in front of the emperor.
Fortunately, Zhao Ji was very fond of him and didn't care about this rude reaction. He just glanced at him and said, "Then I will present these memorials. I would like to hear what is going on."
Sun Tu really didn't pay attention to Liang Shicheng at first. After all, the latter was wearing the uniform of a chamberlain and standing next to the emperor, so he could easily get mixed up with the other chamberlains. But following his scolding, Sun Tu recognized this person's identity after a second look. Although he had never dealt with Liang Taifu, he had met him once before, and he was deeply impressed.
This made Sun Tu's heart skip a beat. What he worried about happened. When he led people to take away the Wang family and his son by force yesterday, he had expected that there would be a backlash from the courtiers, especially those with guilty consciences. But he still never thought that the opponent's counterattack would be so fast, and that Liang Shicheng had even appeared in front of the emperor earlier than him! Obviously, before he arrived, this person had used many words to smear and frame him.
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After understanding the inside story, Sun Tu quickly adjusted his established policy. Now it was no longer possible to play it safe and he had to take the wrong approach and strike first to catch him off guard. So without any delay, he reported again: "Your Majesty, originally the minister was not in a hurry to report the relevant information. After all, there are still many things worth considering. But when I interrogated Wang Shenbin last night, I learned from him This matter is actually related to the current Grand Tutor Liang Shicheng. It is really of great importance, so I have to report it truthfully so that His Majesty can make a decision."
"What?" Zhao Ji and Liang Shicheng shouted almost in unison, and the latter shouted with a black face: "Sun Tu, you are so brave, you dare to frame someone like this, your intentions are sinister, and your heart can be punished !”
Zhao Ji also looked at Sun Tu in surprise. After a while, he hurriedly flipped through the top confession file and said at the same time: "Marquis Yue, your words are hard for me to agree with. Liang Qing has always been loyal to me. Geng Geng, how could you collude with the Liao people?"
Sun Tu ignored Liang Shicheng, who was staring at him with murderous eyes, as if he didn't exist at all, and just replied seriously: "Your Majesty, I did not testify that Taifu Liang colluded with the Liao people, but that this matter was related to He’s related too.”
"Is there any difference?" Zhao Ji looked up with doubts on his face and asked directly without looking at the confession.
"Back to Your Majesty, because as Wang Shenbin said, he protected Gu's Trading Company precisely because of Liang Taifu's instructions. He only had 10% of the shares in Gu's Trading Company, but Liang Taifu had 20% of it. It is precisely because of these two companies. The backer thinks that he is as stable as Mount Tai. Only the people of the Gu family business dare to do such a heinous and unethical thing, and actually try to make enough profits by transporting forbidden goods to Liao. Your Majesty, these are all admitted by the head of the Gu family, Gu Youzhi, At the same time, there is Wang Shenbin's testimony as evidence. I dare not impose such a serious crime on Taifu Liang without any evidence!" Although Sun Tu's words were all directed at the emperor, the tail of his eyes still showed a smile intentionally or unintentionally. Glancing over Liang Shicheng, he found that the latter's expression had changed drastically. He was both shocked and angry. He was staring blankly at him, as if he wanted to bite off a piece of meat from his body.
"Is this happening?" Even Zhao Ji was a little convinced at this point. After all, Sun Tu pulled out many witnesses at once, and he also knew something about Liang Shicheng and other close ministers, and knew that they were indeed not What are the honest officials? Most of them have an unimpressive income outside.
After feeling the emperor's reaction, Liang Shicheng was really panicked. At that moment, without caring about anything else, he quickly took two steps, turned around, and shouted: "Your Majesty, this old slave is wronged. Even if the old slave is really deceived by lard, he will never be able to do this. When the treacherous act comes, your majesty will be warned and I will give this old slave his innocence!"
After saying that, he turned back and glared at Sun Tu: "Marquis Yue, what are your intentions in framing me like this? I know that you and I have always had enmity, but I didn't expect you to be so vicious, confusing right and wrong, and trying to confuse His Majesty! Tell me, what kind of peace of mind do you have that you keep arresting important officials of the government and framing them?"
After a pause, he continued to shout: "Also, you said this was Wang Shenbin's confession. I'm afraid it was just a trick, right? It only took one night since you captured Wang Shenbin.
How could he do so many things? It must be that he couldn't bear the torture, so he was at your mercy and had to say such things against his will. Not only him, but also others, who were captured by you, were all tortured, so they could only obey your will and bite them randomly. You are clearly avenging private revenge and seeking to inflict punishment! "
Just from his rapid-fire burst of shouts, we can see that Liang Shicheng was really panicked, because this fact was too unexpected for him. The Sun Tu in front of him was completely different from his previous opponents. Not only was he ruthless in his methods, he was also very courageous, and he didn't act according to common sense. He actually went directly to the emperor to accuse him of being a treacherous person. Isn't this the best way to wait for close ministers? Today, it's actually the other way around!
He was even a little lucky that he had come to see the emperor early, otherwise the situation would have been even more unfavorable if he had taken the lead.
Sun Tu, on the other hand, showed a surprised expression at this time and looked Liang Shicheng up and down: "You... you are Taifu Liang, but why are you dressed like this? How come you have become a eunuch?"
This sudden question made Taifu Liang freeze for a moment, but Zhao Ji above him couldn't help laughing. Although it is a bit out of place, it is indeed interesting. As for the servants around them, they were all suppressing their laughter and their faces were turning red.
It was only after a while that Zhao Ji came to his senses and explained with a smile: "You don't know something, Marquis Yue. Taifu Liang was also a trustworthy person before me. He only changed his clothes today for the convenience of entering the palace."
"I see." Sun Tu nodded as if he just knew it, and then carefully looked at Liang Shicheng, whose face was shrouded in dark clouds. In addition to embarrassing the other party, this question had another purpose. At this time, It's time to say: "Taifu Liang, I have never had any interaction with you, let alone any personal enmity. How could you do such a thing of avenging private enmity? Please take back what you just said, and don't frame me falsely." .”
"You..." Liang Shicheng was so angry that his nose was so angry. Good guy, in the blink of an eye, the other party actually slapped him down and put a false accusation on his head. He suddenly became angry and laughed: "Sun Tu, you are really addicted to talking nonsense. I want to ask you, was it you who killed Yuan Wang in Jiangzhou? Murong Yanchao and He Mo who once worked in Qingzhou, they are all I single-handedly recommended and promoted Wang Shenbin, who was just captured by you. They were all harmed by you. The reason is that Tong Guan behind you is at odds with me, so you want to use Ding Guan to Are they going to use their various crimes against me?”
Sun Tu also thought for a while before he remembered Yuan Wanghemo and others he mentioned. When he went from Bianjing to Jiangzhou, he had indeed cooperated with Cai Jiu to get rid of this official who belonged to Liang Shicheng's lineage. Then during the Qingzhou Incident, they got rid of Gao Xiang and He Mo who wanted to seize their military power, but they didn't expect that the other party's memory was so good, and they could still remember things clearly from a few years ago.
In fact, why did Liang Shicheng have such a good memory? How could a nobleman like him bother to write down the subordinates who died many years ago? He just wanted to defeat Sun Tu this time, so he re-recorded the relevant matters. He just brought it out, but now, after being made trouble by Sun Tu, in order to prove that there is indeed a conflict between the two parties, he just brought it out and said it...