Capital, Forbidden City, Ganqing Palace.

Zhu Houzhao was facing Xiao Jing at this moment... Xiao Jing took Yang Ziqi to the Tai Mausoleum of Shijia. After returning, he reported to Zhu Houzhao that in order to seek justice, Zhu Houzhao called three Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, six ministers, ministers of the six ministries, ministers of the Censorate, the left and right censors of each temple, and the left and right governors of the Governor's Office of the Five Army, and let them hear the testimony and punish Yang Ziqi without any mistakes.

"...Your Majesty, I have looked at Tailing. There is indeed no water coming out of the Jinjing. The dryness in Xuan Palace may be related to the fact that it has not rained since the beginning of summer this year!"

Xiao Jing also wanted to protect Yang Ziqi, but he was timid and timid. The final result was to tell the truth, regardless of whether there was any trick in the middle or whatever he saw.

But his words were tantamount to pushing Yang Ziqi to death.

Zhu Houzhao was angry: "Since the beginning of summer this year, the northern part of the country was severely drought. This is God's punishment for me, the Ming Dynasty... Even the construction of the imperial tomb was delayed due to trivial matters, and some people actually proposed to relocate. It was really bold! What else can you say at this point?"

None of the ministers present could defend Yang Ziqi.

Even Liu Jian and Li Dongyang who were assigned Yang Ziqi to Tailing had nothing to say, because they knew that if they said too much, they would only be more hated by Zhu Houzhao, which was not good for Yang Ziqi.

Liu Jian glared at Xie Qian because it was Xie Qian who asked Zhu Houzhao to send someone to take Yang Ziqi to the construction site of the imperial tomb to verify that it was Xie Qian. Now this idea is about to kill Yang Ziqi.

Zhu Houzhao glared at the civil and military ministers in the court and shouted sternly: "Eunuch Xiao, where is the surname Yang now? I must interrogate him carefully. Who instructed him to dare to deceive the king for the matter of the imperial tomb? Humph, I want to ask myself to understand!"

Xie Qian stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, this matter must not be done. I openly interrogated the offender in the court, which is not tolerated by the laws of the Ming Dynasty. The offender has no right to enter the Ganqing Palace!"

Zhu Houzhao was quite satisfied with Xie Qian's reply and nodded, "Then I won't interrogate him anymore, take him to the heavenly prison. I will be ready to punish him... Humph, leave the court! I'm going back to rest!"

After saying that, Zhu Houzhao was proud and went straight to the back of the Ganqing Palace. Although Liu Jian, Li Dongyang and others wanted to speak for Yang Ziqi, no one dared to come out to plead for Yang Ziqi in the end. They watched Yang Ziqi go to Shijiatai and come back and then be taken to the Jinyiwei Zhao Prison, and may be beheaded at any time.

The court dispersed, Liu Jian glared at Xie Qian and was about to come forward to question him, but Xie Qian seemed to be fine and headed towards the palace gate. Liu Jian finally held back his anger and did not accuse Xie Qian because he knew that this matter was not on Xie Qian's head. Xie Qian actually wanted to help Yang Ziqi before, but he did not help.

Li Dongyang asked, "Xixian, what should we do today? Do we ignore the suffering of the famous father?"

"What can it be done?"

Liu Jian said distressedly, "After returning, he summoned Hanyuan Qunxian to discuss and write a joint memorial to see if he could persuade His Majesty to change his mind! In addition, it depends on the fate of his father..."

Li Dongyang still wondered: "Realistically speaking, even if the water from the imperial tomb is blocked by someone, it will never reach a dry level. Is there any name in it?"

Liu Jian shook his head: "I'm afraid you will know only by asking Eunuch Xiao, but depending on the situation, Eunuch Xiao dares to help his father in this matter... This matter should be done as I said before. Let Hanyuan come forward and plead for mercy. After all, he is a model for scholars all over the world. Perhaps Your Majesty will give you some face."

...

...

Zhu Houzhao returned to the Ganqing Palace with a depressed smile on her face and clenched her fists and said, "Hmph, I have never been as proud as I am today... I just like to see the embarrassing appearance of Young Master Liu and Grand Secretary Li, so that they always cause trouble for me. Even if they send Yang Ziqi to the imperial tomb to find fault, what if I was still taken down by me in the end? Haha!"

Liu Jin replied with a smile: "It is gratifying that Your Majesty can establish prestige in front of the court officials. I believe no one dares to act arrogantly in front of His Majesty in the future!"

"Yeah!" Zhu Houzhao nodded, "Well, that's what he said. The court is my court. Can what they say count? I just want the ministers to know that whoever I let him have a child, and whoever I let him die. This is just the saying that the king must die if his ministers die!"

Liu Jin felt Zhu Houzhao's joy and asked, "Your Majesty, I wonder what you are going to deal with Yang Mingfu?"

Zhu Houzhao thought for a while and said, "Let's be imprisoned first. I said before that he would be beheaded or exiled. Now the drought in the north must be because this incident has caused too much shock. Even the Emperor did not protect me from the Ming Dynasty. All this blame is on the Yang surname. If he doesn't kill him, it is not enough to calm the public's anger!"

Liu Jin nodded: "Your Majesty is right, but I'm afraid it's not easy to kill this person. I heard that the people have a high opinion of this person. Many people say that he is not afraid of power. He also said that he went to Tailing to write a poem, saying that he knew that several supervisors had blocked the Jinjing Spring that came out of the water and had the intention to die... If Your Majesty killed him, he might lose the hearts of the people!"

Zhu Houzhao's face became extremely ugly.

Zhang Yuan next to him was gloating and thought to himself: "I thought you, Liu Jin, were so smart, but I didn't expect that you would actually say these things in front of His Majesty. It was obviously a search for death!"

But to Zhang Yuan’s surprise, Zhu Houzhao asked with a deep expression: “What should I do?”

Zhang Yuan didn't react for a while. Shouldn't the emperor be sternly scolding him at this time? Why did he ask a eunuch's opinion?

Zhang Yuan couldn't understand this. In fact, Zhu Houzhao wanted to punish Yang Ziqi just to be angry with Liu Jian and Li Dongyang. Now that his purpose has been achieved, Zhu Houzhao began to care about gaining his reputation.

Zhu Houzhao also felt that killing Yang Ziqi seemed a bit too much, but for his face, he kept calling for a fight and killing, but in fact he knew that groundlessness might not be unreasonable. If Yang Ziqi was not sure, how could he write to the court easily? But he knew that it was one thing, and it was one thing to suppress the authority of the cabinet. At this time, the outcome was decided, and he would not be so angry about Yang Ziqi.

Liu Jin said: "I heard that Mr. Xie had met the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager before. When it comes to this matter, it seems that the two old people have some sympathy for Yang Mingfu."

"If Your Majesty asks the Queen Mother and the Queen Mother for their opinions and pardon Yang Mingfu, everyone in the world will say that Your Majesty is both a kind emperor and a filial emperor... I am stupid, and what I mentioned is just a little bit of my own opinion. Please forgive me for your sins!"

Zhu Houzhao thought about it for a moment, and nodded with hissing, "It makes sense... Eunuch Liu, how did you know about this?"

Liu Jin said tentatively: "I know that Your Majesty is worried about this matter, so I pay attention. I happened to learn that the day Mr. Xie went to the palace to pay tribute to the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager. It seemed that when I said this, I thought that Your Majesty was worried about this matter, so I tried to think about it and put forward a stupid opinion..."

Zhu Houzhao was very satisfied and praised: "Oh, I thought the palace was full of wine and food bags, but I just paid for my salary but did not do personnel. I didn't expect that there were ministers who always thought about me."

"Eunuch Liu, you have done a good job in this matter. I will go to see my mother and Empress Dowager and try to talk to them and listen to their opinions. Eunuch Liu, I will first reward you for serving me, and by the way, I will tell my mother that I will ask you to take the errands of the Imperial Horse Prison. What do you think?"

Liu Jin was overjoyed, but he looked nervous and terrified, saying, "Your Majesty, what's the virtue of me?"

Zhu Houzhao smiled and said, "If you are humble, you don't have to say too much. I think you are capable. I want to promote you to the rank of the rank of the Ministry of Education in the future... Oh, Eunuch Zhang does a good job in normal times and is worthy of commendation. However, Eunuch Zhang wants to take good care of my daily life, so I will not delegate you to the first place!"

Zhu Houzhao became more and more skilled in buying people. Seeing Zhang Yuan listening next to him, he knew that he would be favored by Liu Jin without promoting him. It would be bad if this caused resentment, so he mentioned it. Zhang Yuan believed it and said, "Your Majesty, I dare not take credit for me. Everything is the credit of Eunuch Liu!"

"Haha, okay, okay, I have you loyal ministers around me, and I will never have to listen to the old men in the court again... Cough cough, what are the ministers saying, you will do your best to do your work for me, and I will definitely reward you!"

Zhu Houzhao made a promise in vernacular terms, and he had long been accustomed to it. He also knew that he had no power at hand. Even if he wanted to promote a eunuch, he had to consult Queen Mother Zhang's opinions first. At this time, he could only use this method to win over the hearts of the people.

...

...

As Liu Jin said, Xie Qian had indeed met the Empress Dowager Wang and Empress Dowager Zhang before, and reported Yang Ziqi in detail.

Xie Qian was flexible and knew that telling Zhu Houzhao that these things were useless, so he might as well meet two empress dowagers who were pampered and lived a favorable life. The Empress Dowager, who has been devoted to Buddhism in recent years, has been extremely tolerant of the worldly affairs. Empress Dowager Zhang herself was even more unwilling to kill people on the construction of her husband's tomb.

After Zhu Houzhao said this, both Empress Dowager Zhang and Empress Dowager made a statement on the spot: Yang Ziqi cannot be killed!

It doesn't matter whether there is water during the construction of the imperial tomb, but the hearts of the people are the most important. A minister cannot be killed because of his news. This does not reflect the emperor's kindness. Therefore, the Empress Dowager Wang suggested that Zhu Houzhao put Yang Ziqi down and it would be best to restore his post.
Chapter completed!