As soon as these words were spoken, the sarcasm in them entered Jiang Zining's ears. Having been the emperor and his subject for so many years, he knew too well what it meant when Emperor Longqing uttered such a mocking sound.
He felt a little flustered, but he tried his best to calm himself and started thinking about how he should make up for it.
He was a man who was good at using means to lure people into the trap, but he didn't expect that Shen Chen had the same ability. Without making any noise, he could set up such a powerful scheme and lure them all in.
He was not stupid. When he saw Censor Chen, he knew that Chu Jingmeng and Chu Jingqian were plotted against by Shen Chen, and they must have left Shen Chen with something to hold against them when they took action.
The most urgent task now is to make sure that nothing is associated with Chu Jingmeng and Chu Jingqian.
Emperor Longqing hated factionalism the most. No matter whether it was the Prince of Linjiang or the Prince of Jin before that, they made him covet them and even wanted to kill them because they colluded with important officials of the court.
If he admitted that he had a relationship with Chu Jingmeng and Chu Jingqian, then in the eyes of Emperor Longqing, he would become a person with bad intentions and a conspirator with deep scheming.
By then, Emperor Longqing would become suspicious of everything he had done before.
Once his previous plot against Prince Linjiang was exposed, Emperor Longqing would completely lose his suspicion of Prince Linjiang and would believe that it was he who had set up the conspiracy to slander him.
He felt his whole body was drenched in cold water, and suddenly he turned to Chen Yushi and smiled: "So you are okay, that's great. I heard that you were in trouble..."
Censor Chen didn't even look at him. He was so thin that he looked unrecognizable, with high cheekbones, sunken cheeks, and even his lips looked unusually pale.
But his eyes were very clear. After looking at Jiang Zining, he quickly knelt down and bowed deeply to Emperor Longqing.
He knelt on the ground, almost with his head touching the ground, and choked up and called out "Your Majesty" to Emperor Longqing, and then shouted loudly: "This old minister is innocent, this old minister is really innocent!"
Jiang Zining felt as if something was blocking his throat, as if thick phlegm had stuck to his throat. He felt very uncomfortable, but he didn't even dare to cough. He pointed at Chen Yushi and asked angrily: "What grievances have you made? The emperor accused you of not supervising the imperial mausoleum properly. Is that wrong?"
This was a warning for him to be careful with his words, but it was also a trap for him.
If he protested his innocence in this matter, it would mean that Emperor Longqing was wrong, but how could Emperor Longqing be wrong
Censor Chen ignored him and hastily explained to Emperor Longqing: "Your Majesty, I have nothing to say about the imperial mausoleum. Your Majesty has punished me, and I am willing to accept the punishment! I am crying out for injustice for another matter..."
Emperor Longqing hummed lightly, glanced at Jiang Zining with a smile, and asked Censor Chen to continue.
Censor Chen straightened his back, knelt straight, stood up, and said calmly: "At first, I thought I was imprisoned because of my poor supervision of the imperial mausoleum. I had nothing to say. After all, the project went wrong under my supervision. It is reasonable for me to be responsible. But later, I found that something was wrong..."
He raised his eyes, still kneeling upright, looked at Censor Chen, pursed his lips, and said with some disdain and sarcasm: "I have a student named Du Ziling. He took a lot of effort to come in to see me and told me that the reason I was imprisoned was probably not just because of the supervision of the imperial mausoleum... Du Ziling worked in the Hanlin Academy and should not have been involved in this matter. However, Du Ziling had a relative who worked in the Ministry of Works. When he knew that he wanted to plead for me, his relative hurriedly persuaded him to stop, saying that it would be no good to speak for me and that it might offend Lord Jiang Songwen..."
Jiang Zining snorted, stared at Chen Yushi coldly and interrupted him: "Chen Yushi, you better be careful with your words! How can you implicate my son for no reason? My son works for His Majesty, I dare not say that he has worked hard, but he has also tried his best... ... Are you saying that my father and I are framing you behind your back?"
Censor Chen ignored him and kowtowed to Emperor Longqing again: "Your Majesty, I dare not say so. I can only say what I know."
Seeing that Emperor Longqing nodded, he immediately said: "Du Ziling asked me how I had offended the father and son of the Jiang family. I really didn't know. I thought about it for a long time in prison, but I couldn't figure it out. Until later, I received news that Du Ziling was imprisoned for pleading for me..."
Emperor Longqing said in an ambiguous voice, and asked in a cold voice: "Because he was imprisoned for pleading for you?" He turned his head and looked at Jiang Zining, who was already sweating, with a smile, and asked him: "Prime Minister, do you know about this? I don't seem to have heard of it."
Everyone in the court knew that Du Ziling knelt at Zuoshun Gate to plead for Chen Yushi, but Emperor Longqing did not know. He was already very sick and dazed at the time, and when he finally woke up, he was in the harem to see the Sixth Prince and Concubine Shu gossiping.
Perhaps Jiang Zining or Jiang Songwen had also reported it, but their details were vague and what they said was not entirely true.
But he really couldn't remember what order he had issued.
Jiang Zining felt his hair stand on end, but he still tried his best to defend himself: "Du Ziling cursed the emperor because she pleaded for Chen Yushi, and the people on earth reported it to him..."
He frowned, looked up nervously at the expression of Emperor Longqing, and said hurriedly: "Then, he committed suicide in prison out of fear of crime."
No one spoke, and no one responded to his words, which made the atmosphere very awkward.
Jiang Zining felt his face burning with anxiety, and shook his head, gritted his teeth and continued: "I... I don't know about this..."
His words were specious, and each one was meant to shirk responsibility and clear himself of blame.
Emperor Longqing looked at him, raised his eyebrows and coughed, waved away the imperial physician who was about to come up, and said coldly: "You said so much, then did I really order Du Ziling to be imprisoned? Or... ... Or did you take the initiative and make the decision for me?!"
The room quickly grew colder. Jiang Zining swallowed and felt a dull pain in his throat. Even the tip of his tongue tasted fishy and sweet.
He knelt on the floor tiles and felt his knees were very frozen. This time, Emperor Longqing did not let him get up after kneeling. He had been kneeling on the ground for so long that he could not bear it anymore. After hearing what Emperor Longqing said, he was even more confused and did not know how to respond for a moment.
Emperor Longqing certainly did not make this decision, he knew it very well. (To be continued)