The first county magistrate in history

Chapter 142 You Take Me Away

At this moment, the Imperial Capital Governor Cai Jinyu and the Five Cities Military Commander-in-Chief Li Shigeng were both stunned. Qu Zhengzhuo and the two of them were both disciples of the Prime Minister!

The two men shivered and glanced at Prime Minister Xia Bitu from the corner of their eyes.

Xia Bitu only lowered his eyes and had no expression on his face!

Looking at Qu Zhengzhuo again, his eyes were full of warnings.

The two men were sweating profusely and were scared out of their wits!

The Prime Minister sold them out. How big a deal is this?

"Read it to them!" Xia Mochu said angrily and threw the memorial to An Dehai.

An Dehai quickly took the memorial and read it aloud: "The Imperial Capital Governor Cai Jinyu...

Corruption, dishonesty, dereliction of duty...unforgivable crimes..."

"Central City Governor Li Boliang perverted the law, committed fraud, colluded with bandits, and bullied the market..."

"Li Shigeng, the commander-in-chief of the Five Cities Military Command..."

As An Dehai read out the announcement, all of them collapsed to the ground.

The memorial listed every single instance of corruption and abuse of power that they had committed, and it was clear and true, without any false accusations at all!

At this moment, Qu Zhengzhuo looked at Xia Bitu in surprise, his eyes saying that many charges and incidents were not on my memorial!

Xia Bitu glanced at him and then looked at Qin Zheng, wishing he could bite him twice.

I thought that since he had made such a great sacrifice, Qin Zheng would definitely give him the position of Governor of the Imperial Capital.

As a result, there was no room left at all!

However, it is understandable that if it were him, having achieved this, he would not leave a governor behind. After all, if the governor was still there, he would not be able to completely control the imperial capital.

An Dehai finished reading.

"Are you willing to plead guilty and accept punishment? Are your crimes true? Is there any frame-up? Do you need witnesses and evidence to confront them in court?" Xia Mochu asked, glaring at them.

"I have failed the grace of the Emperor and deserve death!"

"I acknowledge my crime, Your Majesty, and I beg for mercy!"

"Your Majesty, please have mercy!"

The seven people trembled, and no one denied it.

No need at all!

If they had not been intimidated by the Sky Thunder Cannon, they would have continued to argue and resist, but after seeing the power of the Sky Thunder Cannon, they were already scared out of their wits.

It's all obvious. With such a detailed investigation, the evidence must be irrefutable. Denials are pointless. If we really bring in witnesses and physical evidence, we'll only bring shame upon ourselves.

At this moment, I don’t ask to keep my official position, but I ask to keep my head.

"Hmph, show mercy? Just because you mobilized and assembled the palace troops without authorization, you are committing the serious crime of treason. How can I show mercy? Come, put these treacherous ministers in the Sky Prison!" Xia Mochu gave the order.

Several palace guards rushed out like lightning and immediately took the few people away.

Except for a few loyal ministers who were in high spirits and felt proud, all the other civil and military officials were as frightened as if they had lost their parents. They looked at their noses with their eyes, their mouths with their noses, and dared not look up.

In this dynasty, apart from a few loyal ministers and upright officials, who among them has not committed these crimes?

Xia Mochu sighed, "I never imagined that right here in the imperial capital, right under the feet of the emperor, there would be people who disregard the law, take bribes, pervert the law, and deceive the emperor! If the imperial capital is like this, what about the rest of the country? Aren't the people suffering?"

The subject suddenly changed: "This secret investigation was jointly conducted by the Three Judicial Departments, the Prime Minister's Office, the Junior Tutor's Office, and the Five Ministries, and everything has been verified. It's not just these few treacherous ministers..."

Xia Mochu swept his sharp gaze over the ministers.

Some of the civil and military officials began to sweat again.

Xia Mochu sighed deeply, "Most of you were important ministers to my late emperor. Are you doing this to the late emperor?"

The voice suddenly became stern: "Greed leads to the downfall of an official. Those who are disciplined must be put to death! I remember that you are loyal ministers of the late emperor, so I will spare you this time, only this time, and it will not happen again!"

Those treacherous ministers, whose hearts were in their throats, finally breathed a sigh of relief and put their hearts at ease.

However, the empress changed the subject again: "However, a country has its laws, and a family has its rules. Starting tomorrow, all court officials and officials in the imperial capital must truthfully declare their assets and voluntarily surrender any illegal gains. Past offenses will be forgiven. Seven days from now, the Ministry of Justice will be responsible for conducting a joint investigation, with the three judicial departments as auxiliary. Anyone who conceals or transfers assets will be dismissed from office, have their property confiscated, and be sentenced to death! In serious cases, all nine generations of their family will be exiled to Ningguta. In extremely serious cases, all nine generations of their family will be executed without mercy!"

Xia Mochu stood up, walked away, and left a sentence:

"Reward Qin Aiqing and Qu Aiqing with a set of Hongtong County's fine tea sets and a yellow jacket!"

Xia Mo Ning and Li Qiu Han glanced at Qin Zheng and followed the empress away.

Qin Zheng was stunned: "..."

Damn, why am I bleeding again?

An Dehai glanced at the depressed Qin Zheng with amusement and announced, "Dismiss the court!"

"Long live our emperor!" The ministers bid him farewell respectfully.

"Prime Minister, what's going on?"

"Sir, what happened?"

"grown ups……"

As soon as the empress left, many ministers surrounded Xia Bitu.

Xia Bitu had been keeping his eyes on Qin Zheng, but when he was suddenly surrounded, he couldn't help but get angry and shouted, "You guys are asking me, but who should I ask? Get out of here!"

There are some things he will explain to the Four Realm Kings, but as for these people in front of him, what qualifications do they have to question him?

The ministers were frightened and quickly moved away.

Qin Zheng was very depressed at the moment. Empress, please take me away.

Just as he was about to slip away, Xia Bitu grabbed his sleeve and said, "Haha, Lord Qin, can you please have a moment with me?"

Qin Zheng said with a sad face: "Prime Minister, I have to pee urgently, can you please..."

Xia Bitu sneered: "Hold it!"

Qin Zheng: “…”

By the pond.

"Last time, you fell into this pond?" Xia Bitu asked with a teasing smile.

Qin Zheng rolled his eyes: "Uncle, it's not good for you, just say what you want to say!"

Xia Bitu: “…”

He snorted coldly, "Uncle is very angry. I have already given in. How can you keep pressing me like this? Not only do you kick me when I'm down, but you're also taking advantage of this situation to make a fuss?"

Qin Zheng smiled bitterly. How could he be taking advantage of someone's misfortune or making a fuss about something?

Originally, it was agreed with the empress that we only needed to capture the six officials except the governor of the imperial capital, Cai Jinyu.

After all, we have to give Xia Bitu some face.

Afterwards, Xia Bitu will transfer Cai Jinyu away and hand over the military power of the imperial capital garrison to the empress!

In this case, the entire control of the imperial capital still belongs to the empress.

Although Qin Zheng and Xia Bitu didn't discuss the specific details or speak too openly, they were both smart people and knew what to do, and they would definitely not break their promises.

Qin Zheng didn't expect that the empress would change her mind at the last minute, take advantage of the situation, and add insult to injury. Not only did she capture Cai Jinyu, she also wanted to raid the minister's house!

However, Qin Zheng could not say that this was the empress's unauthorized behavior.

He is a man, how could he push a woman out?

"Uncle, His Majesty wants the entire imperial capital. How can the governor be said to have complete control? You still have to thank me." Qin Zheng said.

"I'm thanking you?" Xia Bitu's nose was almost crooked with anger.

Qin Zheng said, "Uncle, if it weren't for me, would Lord Qu still be safe? Simply mobilizing the palace troops without authorization is a capital crime!"

Xia Bitu looked at Qin Zheng and said, "It was His Majesty's idea to capture Cai Jinyu, not yours, right?"

Qin Zheng quickly said, "How is that possible? Your Majesty's targets are Qu Zhengzhuo and Minister of Works Zhu Fengchi. This is already a great favor!"

Xia Bitu looked at Qin Zheng with disdain: "Sir Qin, you disappoint me. I didn't expect that you would bow down to a woman!"

Qin Zheng's old face turned red.

Xia Bitu waved his hand. "Forget it. It's come to this. There's no point in saying more. Monkey boy, I've suffered a great loss this time. You know me well. If you don't calm my anger, you know what I'll do!"

Qin Zheng looked at Xia Bitu in shock. "You, you, you are so shameless? Openly threatening me? Can't you afford to lose?"

Xia Bitu wasn't angry either. He snorted again, "What's the use of having face? Can it be used as money?"

Qin conquered, and he was indeed an old fox who could bend and stretch.

"Uncle, do you want to hide your property and not report it?" Qin Zheng looked into Xia Bitu's eyes.

Xia Bitu looked into Qin Zheng's eyes and said nothing.

Smart people understand it immediately!

After a long moment, Qin Zheng sighed, "Uncle, even if we raided the homes of all the civil and military officials, it wouldn't even be half of your wealth! Aren't you putting me in a difficult position?"

Xia Bitu smiled and said, "Tell me what your conditions are!"

Qin Zheng rolled his eyes and said, "Uncle, my birthday is in a few days, and I'm going to have a big celebration!"

Xia Bitu looked at Qin Zheng, his eyes narrowed slightly. "Are you afraid of those people, or are you still harboring a sense of luck and unwilling to hand over all your wealth? Is that why you want to hold a New Year's banquet?"

Qin Zheng didn't hide it: "Uncle, of course, there's no need to think about it. I'm a coward who gets scared when I kill a chicken. I don't like killing. Fighting and killing is boring. But I can't disobey your order."

Xia Bitu was speechless: "You? You don't even use a knife to kill people. Tell me, what do you want me to do?"

Qin Zheng chuckled: "Uncle, I'm not well educated, my skills are limited, and my handwriting is not very good. I would like to ask you to write the invitation for me."

Xia Bitu was even more speechless. "You are not well educated? Your handwriting is not beautiful?"

But, I already know what Qin Zheng means.

That's the exchange!

Exchange him for his immense fortune!

He wrote the invitation himself, so who would dare not show support for Qin Zheng?

Can I not send a gift?

But it seems that the little monkey is not satisfied with just receiving gifts.

"Do you need me to deliver the invitations for you?" Xia Bitu asked, but in fact he was testing him!