GBP Chapter 188 Forcing the Head Down and Directly Poisoning the Wine
Chapter 188 Forcing the Head Down and Directly Poisoning the Wine
"If you are innocent, the sun will probably rise in the west tomorrow."
Although Liang Huaiting was kneeling, it didn't stop him from having his men bring up the things they had collected as instructed.
Four or five large boxes, each one completely full.
There was also a small box filled with letters exchanged between people.
Wen Yunhe was always cautious; he would never keep the letters he had read, but would burn them immediately.
As long as he stubbornly denies it, the charge of treason can be pinned on him.
"Your Majesty, these are all false accusations by others, an attempt to smear this old minister."
Shen Yuchen looked at Wen Yunhe with a puzzled expression, "Prime Minister Wen, did I ever say that these were pieces of evidence against you?"
Wen Yunhe inwardly cursed himself for being too hasty and didn't know how to respond for a moment. He opened his mouth, but in the end, he didn't say a word.
"However—these are indeed items collected from your residence, and I still hope that Prime Minister Wen can give me a reasonable explanation."
Wen Yunhe couldn't quite figure out Shen Yuchen's thoughts. The little emperor seemed to have long since slipped out of his control, and all that had happened before was just an act.
"Your Majesty, this old minister has never seen these items before, and the letter is not in my handwriting. I beg Your Majesty to investigate further."
"Then what explanation do you have for your multiple private meetings with Cheng Que of the Northern Witch?"
“Your Majesty, Cheng Que and I are old friends. Due to the relationship between our two countries, we can only communicate in private. Moreover, when I meet with him, we only talk about the past and never discuss politics. If Your Majesty uses this as the basis to convict me of treason, I am afraid it will be difficult to convince the public.”
Shen Yuchen flipped through the letters and found that they were not in Wen Yunhe's handwriting; they contained only some unimportant greetings.
"Prime Minister Wen, I must say, you have been extremely cautious throughout your years in office. Even when I was still the Crown Prince, I noticed your unusual behavior, but to this day I have been unable to find any evidence against you. It's just a pity—"
At this moment, Shen Yuchen approached, beckoning Xu Zhi, who was standing to the side, to come over.
He whispered in Wen Yunhe's ear, "Prime Minister Wen has no choice but to admit it. I can't find any evidence, but all of this was prepared for you. Tonight, Prime Minister Wen will probably be leaving Weiyang Palace lying on his back..."
The voice was deep and ruthless, causing Wen Yunhe to look at the person he had never looked at before with fear in his eyes.
"When Wen Xiang was found guilty of treason, he committed suicide by poison. All the women of the Wen clan were enslaved and all the men were beheaded and their heads displayed to the public."
"Your Majesty, you—"
Before Wen Yunhe could speak, Xu Zhi wisely covered his mouth and nose and, in front of Cheng Que and the officials present, forced him to drink the poisoned wine that had been prepared beforehand.
"Your Majesty, Prime Minister Wen—"
"With witnesses and physical evidence, if any of you feel that I have wronged Prime Minister Wen, you may investigate yourselves."
The several boxes of evidence were all fabricated by him, and now the falsehood has become the truth.
The witnesses, including Qing Tang, were all their own people. Since they couldn't kill Wen Yunhe openly, they would take advantage of the palace coup to lure him into the palace and deal with him directly. Once he was dead, the living could decide what to do next.
"Your Majesty, the Ming King is now dead, this matter..."
Mo Ran still had other tasks assigned by Shen Sangwan to complete, and he needed to quickly hand over the two corpses in his possession before leaving the palace to handle other matters.
"Thank you for your trouble, General Mo. It is getting late tonight. You should go back first. We can discuss the matter of the Ming King tomorrow. Xu Zhi, send someone to carry the body to the Taiji Hall for proper burial."
"Wei Chen retire."
"I humble my position and take orders."
Mo Ran and Xu Zhi knelt down at the same time. After the handover was completed, Mo Feng led his men out of the palace and headed straight for the recruit camp.
Xu Zhi then sent four trusted men to carry away the bodies of Shen Yujing and Mo Xuan, while he himself remained at Fuyu Pavilion to protect Shen Yuchen.
"Your Majesty, the Empress is also a member of the Wen family. Since the Wen family has been punished, then—"
"Lord Jiang, are you implying that I should depose the Empress?"
Minister of War Jiang Sheng knelt down somewhat fearfully, "Your Majesty, I did not mean that."
"Heh—Consort Yi has been favored lately, which has given the Jiang family some other ideas."
Jiang Sheng felt that if he defended himself, it would prove that he did indeed have that intention; if he did not defend himself and let the other party put a bad name on him, he would probably lose his position as Minister.
Shen Yuchen will not touch the positions of the four ministers for the time being, but will reduce their power and have other agencies replace them. He will then gradually erode their power and eventually eliminate them.
Seeing that the man was still kneeling on the ground, pondering how to deal with him, Shen Yuchen spoke directly, "Lord Jiang is getting old, and the affairs of the Ministry of War are quite complicated. In the future, it would be better to let Lord Xu, who is temporarily in charge of the Military Affairs Office, share some of the important tasks with you, so that you can relax a bit."
Jiang Sheng, who had his power stripped away under the pretext of taking advantage of the situation, just wanted to slap himself. He could have brought up the matter of deposing the empress anytime, but he just couldn't control his mouth and had to say it. Now he was angry but dared not speak out, and could only kowtow and express his gratitude.
"We will discuss the matter of the Empress after I bring the Empress Dowager back from her temporary palace. If I hear anything about the Empress again, I should think twice about whether I still want to wear my official hat."
After all, there are many rising stars like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.
"Your Majesty's orders will be obeyed."
Shen Yuchen was also quite tired. After dismissing the court officials, he inquired about the cleaning situation in Fu'an Palace. After learning that there was no problem, he returned to Xingde Hall.
Shen Sangwan in the main hall was currently shoveling food into her bowl, as if possessed by a hungry ghost.
"Your Highness, there's no one to compete with you for food, so please take your time."
He chewed on the chicken in his mouth while shaking his head, and then continued to put more food into his bowl.
After swallowing it all, he looked at Wen Yuening with a accusing gaze, "You're a well-fed person who doesn't know the hunger of an starving person."
"It's His Highness's own unwillingness to eat it, so how can you blame Yue Ning?"
Shen Sangwan felt her brain short-circuiting while eating, and it took her a while to understand what the other person meant by "eat". Her cheeks puffed up with anger, and she slammed the bowl and chopsticks on the table.
He said very seriously, "Ah Ning, according to the modern world, you're only eighteen years old and just an adult. You want me to lay a hand on someone who's just come of age? Am I even human? So I was planning to raise you a bit before eating you, but who knew you'd do that—hey... don't move, you sit there!"
Seeing Wen Yuening get up and walk towards her, Shen Sangwan immediately jumped up from the stool and quickly found an obstacle to hide behind.
He pointed to the spot where he had been sitting and told Wen Yuening to sit back down quickly.
"Who called Your Highness—"
"You should also shut your mouth. Stop spouting out offensive and inappropriate words every day."
Wen Yuening was obedient this time, doing whatever Shen Sangwan said, which aroused her suspicion.
In this situation, either the other party has done something wrong and feels guilty, or they have some ulterior motive.