Chapter 4778 Overturning the table

"How can I care about such things?"

Li Xiaogong shook his head repeatedly: "My body is almost exhausted. I am exhausted from helping to prepare for the funeral. I don't know how long I will live. Who will listen to me? Whoever wants to make trouble can make trouble. There are national laws and family rules waiting. Erlang's treatment today is very appropriate. Whoever dares to make trouble will be arrested and let Your Majesty make the judgment. Let's see who dares to make trouble again."

Several people were speechless, secretly complaining in their hearts, if they were really afraid of His Majesty, they would not dare to make a scene, and since they have made a scene, they are naturally not afraid...

However, one can also hear that this "first prince of the royal family" is frustrated. Right now the royal family is in turmoil and people's hearts are unstable. If he gets involved, he might suffer a big setback and his reputation will be ruined. It is wise to stay out of it.

Moreover, with Li Shenfu, an old man from the royal family, leading the charge, Li Xiaogong's prestige was greatly reduced...

Perhaps because Li Yuanjia had left, Li Daoli, the head of the family, finally arrived late. However, his bruised and depressed appearance was really not flattering.

After several people stood up and greeted each other, they sat down. Li Xiaogong asked with concern: "Is the injury serious?"

Li Daoli sighed and shook his head. "It's just a superficial wound. I was in a trance because of my grief, so I messed up in the Jingzhao government office. It was really embarrassing. Where is His Royal Highness the King of Han? I have to apologize to him."

Fang Jun smiled and said, "I am the brother-in-law of King Han. You can apologize to me. I will accept it for him and tell him when I get back."

Didn't you know that Li Yuanjia had already left your home? If you were really responsible, you should have come out and apologized just now, instead of speaking frankly now that he has left.

Li Daoli glared at Fang Jun, very annoyed that this guy didn't give him a way out.

Li Xiaogong tried to smooth things over: "We are all brothers, so it is inevitable that we may have conflicts occasionally. We should stop quarreling and fighting and avoid being laughed at by outsiders."

Li Daoli nodded: "Uncle King is right. I was impulsive before and shouldn't have been so rude to King Han. I will come to apologize in person after my son's funeral is over."

Li Xiaogong was very relieved: "I am also deeply saddened by Jingshu's death, but death is like the extinguishing of a light. Since the culprit has been brought to justice, let's leave it at that. I will go to the palace to see His Majesty and ask him to severely punish the culprit so that the deceased can rest in peace. We who are still alive must live well and not indulge in the memory of the deceased, otherwise Jingshu will surely feel guilty and disappointed in the underworld."

"Hmph!" Li Daoli snorted coldly and glanced at Dai Zhou and Liu Xiangdao. "It's hard to tell the truth from the false. The murderer was caught one moment, and the real murderer was found the next moment... The three judicial officials really enforce the law impartially and fairly. They neither wrongly accuse good people nor let bad people go. This king admires them very much."

The sarcasm in these words was fully revealed. Dai Zhou and Liu Xiangdao were both somewhat embarrassed. After all, the two men, who were always known for their fairness, had never thought that such rare incidents as calling a horse a zebra and confusing right and wrong were actually done at the instruction of His Majesty.

At their position, they have long since gotten rid of simple "fairness and justice". The law needs to make concessions for the stability and harmony of the court. Since Your Majesty requires "to both divide the Xiangyi County Prince's group and avoid direct conflict between the royal family and the Wei family that would lead to turbulent situation", the only option is to remove Wei Shuxia to reduce his guilt.

Although in fact Wei Shuxia was not the "real murderer" who killed Wei Shuxia, allowing the Wei family to shift the blame to the innocent Chai Mingzhang was a complete "miscarriage of justice"...

Since they felt guilty, it would be awkward to sit down. They both stood up at the same time. "We have been busy with office work since early morning and have not had any rest for the whole day. We are really exhausted and have no energy. We will take our leave and go home to rest. We will come back tomorrow after the shift."

Li Daoli said bluntly: "My humble abode is really unworthy of two distinguished guests. Go and get busy with how to confuse right and wrong and how to make a wrongful judgment. If you sit here, I am afraid that my son's soul will be disturbed and come out to cause trouble for you."

Dai and Liu had nothing to say, so they bowed and hurriedly left.

After they left the house, they looked at each other and sighed. Dai Zhou said in a low voice, "Although I have served as an official for half my life and dare not claim to be as clear as water or as bright as a mirror, I have a calm mind and am worthy of this official robe. Who would have thought that I would do such a thing in my old age and make myself infamous. I feel guilty. Alas, what can I do, what can I do."

The reason why he said "what to do" was that he knew this matter was against the law but he had to do it according to His Majesty's wishes. The political situation was stabilized and the internal differentiation of the royal family was achieved, but what he sacrificed was his own reputation and ideals.

Liu Xiangdao rolled his eyes at him and said in dissatisfaction, "You are just the Minister of the Dali Temple. It's okay to do your job well. Even if you have flaws in your official duties, others can understand. I am the Imperial Censor, the most honest person in the court. I can resign, be demoted, or even die, but I can't bend the law for personal gain... You feel bitter, but who can I tell my bitterness to?"

Dai Zhou stroked his beard and felt a little relieved.

To put it another way, if this matter was eventually exposed, he might only be evaluated as "not loyal enough", and Liu Xiangdao, as the Imperial Censor, would probably be infamous for eternity...

So, it is said that "the problem in the world is not the lack of wealth, but the inequality of wealth". I was feeling depressed at first, but now that I see that Liu Xiangdao is even worse off than me, I am not so depressed anymore...

Liu Xiangdao sighed again: "I hope everything will be peaceful from now on, so that our efforts can be worthwhile."

Dai Zhou said in a muffled voice: "I'm afraid the tree wants to be still but the wind won't stop."

The two of them had no more interest in talking, so they bowed and got into their respective carriages. It just so happened that the mansions were located in the east and west, so the carriages went in opposite directions...

……

Li Xiaogong was chatting with Li Daoli, the latter of whom kept complaining about the unfair trial of the Three Courts. Fang Jun was drinking tea and felt extremely bored. Since he had come to pay his respects, it was enough that he had not been disrespectful. The two families only had hatred and no friendship, so he planned to leave.

Before he could stand up, he saw the steward of the Prince's Mansion leading a group of people in. They were a group of princes-in-law, big and small...

Xue Wanche was the first to come in. He bowed slightly to Li Xiaogong and Li Daoli, then sat down on the seat next to Fang Jun. He could not wait for the waiter to serve tea, so he took Fang Jun's cup and drank it all. He exhaled, loosened his collar slightly, and complained carelessly, "It's unbearable to stay in Chang'an. It's sunny during the day and steaming at night. The only way to cool down is to soak in the water. When I get out of the water, I'm all sticky and sweaty. It's too painful."

Zhishisili also came over and said with a smile, "I heard that the Xue family has a manor in Shenheyuan. It's backed by mountains and facing the water, and it's a great place to escape the summer heat. Why don't you take the princess out of the city and stay there for a few days?"

Xue Wanche looked annoyed: "Do you think I don't want to? But in Chang'an City, there are riots today and people die tomorrow. How can it be peaceful? I can't leave even if I want to! One by one, they are giving up their good life but causing trouble all day long. They are so tired of living!"

Li Daoli glared at him and said, "My family is having a funeral. Is it appropriate for you to say that?"

But he forgot who Xue Wanche was. How could he care about this?
Xue Wanche's eyes were bigger than Li Daoli's, and he shouted, "Why are you glaring at me? I'm talking about you! You should be happy with the title of a prince, and live a life of luxury. You have to get involved in those rebellious things, isn't it just like looking for death? You deserve your son's death, Fangyan is laughing at you, how can anyone sympathize with you?"

Those who came in together included Emperor Gaozu's sons-in-law Qiao Shiwang, Su Xu, Zheng Jingxuan, etc., as well as Emperor Taizong's sons-in-law Liu Xuanyi, Wang Dali, Chai Lingwu, Du He, etc. They were all stunned and embarrassed when they heard Xue Wanche's words.

Although what this guy said was true, we have to give some face to the Prince of Dongping's Mansion on this occasion. We can only laugh at Li Daoli's nonsense in private, how can we directly criticize him?

Li Daoli was so angry that he pulled off the gauze wrapped around the wound on his head and was about to rush up to fight Xue Wanche, but was stopped by Wang Dali, Du He and others, who tried to persuade him.

Li Xiaogong was helpless and scolded Xue Wanche, "What nonsense are you talking about? You don't do your work all day long and just mess around. You don't even have a sense of propriety when you talk. It's simply outrageous!"

Others were afraid of this "First Prince of the Imperial Clan", but Xue Wanche was not. He stiffened his neck and retorted, "Prince, you are wrong. How could I be so foolish all day? I am a bad guy, but I know loyalty and shame. My family has a grudge against Emperor Taizong, but I have obeyed his orders since the moment I knelt before him. When the Guanlong Rebellion occurred, the rebel army was so powerful that it turned the world upside down, but I would rather die than stand by Emperor Taizong's side! Emperor Taizong passed away, Your Majesty ascended the throne, and Prince Jin rebelled, but I still supported Your Majesty with a clear banner, without caring about personal gains and losses! On the other hand, you ask everyone here to pat their chests and ask themselves, are they loyal to Emperor Taizong or are they loyal to His Majesty until death?"

Fang Jun's eyes were bright and he was very interested. He knocked down everyone in the room with one stick.

Guanlong and the Prince of Jin had rebelled twice in succession. Both the royal family and the nobles had their own calculations. There were many people who openly supported Emperor Taizong and the current Majesty, but in fact they were secretly colluding with the rebels. Even Li Chengqian knew about this but could not do anything about it. Everyone pretended to be ignorant and let the matter go. However, Xue Wanche spoke out in public without thinking.

Some things are like this. When everyone chooses to remain silent, something that clearly happened can be treated as if it didn’t happen. But as long as one person stands up and makes things clear, we can no longer continue to treat it as if it didn’t happen.

He didn't think Xue Wanche had the intelligence to flip the table, so who was behind him making him seem indignant and speak without thinking?

The most serious thing is that after these remarks, how will Your Majesty treat those royal family members and nobles who once betrayed him in secret?

(End of this chapter)