#116 - I want to impeach Xu Ming, the civil and military minister! (4000 words, 2

Chapter 116: This minister impeaches Xu Ming, the Literary and Military Secretary! (4000 words, two chapters combined)

At night, a man in black came to the back door of an official's residence in Wudu.

The man in black knocked on the back door, but there was no response.

The man in black knocked twice more, but still no response.

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The man in black knocked for the fourth time.

"What's the matter?"

This time, an old man's voice came from the back door.

"I encountered a dog just now," the man in black said.

"What does encountering a dog have to do with us?" the old man at the door responded.

"This dog will bite many people," the man in black continued.

"Crack."

After confirming the code, the door slowly opened.

The man in black handed the letter in his arms to the old man: "A letter from Baihe County. The situation is urgent, please deal with it as soon as possible, sir."

The old man glanced at the man in black, then at the letter: "Understood."

The old man took the letter, and the man in black instantly disappeared into the night.

Closing the door, the old man sent the letter to the study.

In the study, an official was dealing with his affairs.

"Sir, a letter has arrived from Baihe County," the butler said, bowing.

"Baihe County?" The official raised his head, looked at his butler, and thought for a while, "Oh, I remember, isn't that where the Xu brothers are stationed?"

"Yes, sir." The butler handed over the letter.

The official took the letter and opened it. As he read, the official's brow furrowed slightly, then he smiled: "These Xu Ming and Xu Pangda are quite something. They really are fearless newborns."

The official folded the letter, put it back in the envelope, and sealed it: "Send this letter to Wang Can. Let Wang Can bring up the matter when he attends court tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" The butler was stunned for a moment, "But sir, if the matter is brought up tomorrow, wouldn't Wang Can..."

The official waved his hand: "I know what you're going to say. Wang Can has never been very loyal. If it weren't for Wang Can owing that lord a favor, he wouldn't have become one of us. Let's take advantage of the present and use up Wang Can's value."

"Yes, sir."

At the same time, in the Butterfly Flying Palace of the Wudu Imperial Palace, Eunuch Wei knocked on the door.

Emperor Wu, who was on the bed, opened his eyes somewhat displeased.

But soon, Emperor Wu's eyes returned to calmness, and he restrained his emotions.

Emperor Wu knew that Wei Xun must have come to him so late because of an urgent matter.

"Come in," Emperor Wu said.

"Yes." Wei Xun hurriedly entered the room, knelt down and bowed, "Your Majesty, Tingfeng Pavilion has sent some news from Baihe County."

"Hmm?" Emperor Wu frowned, "Bring it over and let me see."

Tingfeng Pavilion's informants generally don't go to places like Baihe County. After all, Wu State is so big that it's impossible to have Tingfeng Pavilion's informants everywhere. There aren't enough people.

However, because Xu Pangda and Xu Ming both went there, Tingfeng Pavilion sent a few people.

Mainly not for Xu Ming, this time it was mainly for Xu Pangda. After all, Xu Pangda is someone that both Old Mr. Zhang and Prime Minister Fang value.

Emperor Wu certainly wanted to see what his true colors were.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Wei Xun quickly got up and handed over the secret report.

After reading the secret report, Emperor Wu read it again, and the Hall of Mental Cultivation fell into a long silence.

"These two little guys are really hot-blooded..." Emperor Wu shook his head and sighed, "Impulsive, ah..."

Wei Xun's eyes moved, and then he said: "But Your Majesty, Scholar Xu and Second Place Xu are both young people. It's a good thing that young people are hot-blooded. They are truly serving the country and the people."

"But how can such officials survive in the officialdom for a long time?"

Emperor Wu put down the memorial and rubbed his eyes.

"Suppress this matter for now and wait until Xu Pangda has collected evidence of the four powerful clans in Baihe County acting recklessly. I just hope they can be faster, otherwise, if this matter is known to others, those old guys in the court will impeach them until they doubt their lives!

But even if they collect evidence, what can they do? Those people will still bite them."

"Forget it, forget it..." As he spoke, Emperor Wu smiled to himself, with a sense of detachment, "Coincidentally, let's see how resilient these two guys are and how they will end this. If there's really no way, then we'll punish them a bit to teach them a lesson."

The next day, at the early court.

Emperor Wu had already put aside what happened last night.

After all, the matter had just happened, and it wouldn't be so quick to spread to Wudu. At least it would take seven or eight days.

And this early court went very smoothly, no different from usual.

If there was any difference, it was that after Xiao Mochi became Prime Minister, the officials of the Reform faction completely took the upper hand, and Emperor Wu was already supporting the reform from behind.

So the voices of the Conservative faction were getting smaller and smaller. These days, the members of the Conservative faction were either demoted, transferred, or even directly "forced" to retire and return to their hometowns. It could be said that everyone was in danger.

The Conservative faction was basically just trying to protect itself. Now, the entire court was dominated by the Reform faction.

But it must be said that, so far, the reform methods of the Reform faction have been very useful, and the entire Wu State is developing in a good direction.

"Do you have anything else to report, gentlemen? If not, then let's adjourn the court," Emperor Wu said slowly.

"Your Majesty, this minister has something to report."

Just as Emperor Wu was about to go through the motions and adjourn the court, Wang Can, the Supervising Censor of the Censorate, stepped forward.

For a time, all the officials looked in the direction of Wang Can, the Supervising Censor of the Censorate, and then withdrew their gazes.

Although this Wang Can was only a fifth-rank official of the Censorate, this Wang Can was the fiercest dog in the entire Censorate. Basically, Wang Can had impeached everyone in the court, and even Emperor Wu could not escape.

So everyone didn't take his impeachment to heart at all.

It's just that some officials were a little unhappy.

They wanted to quickly adjourn the court and go home to catch up on some sleep, but this guy delayed a lot of time again.

"What do you have to report, Wang Qing?" Emperor Wu said with a smile.

Emperor Wu did not have a good impression of this Wang Can.

Who would like someone who submitted five memorials just because he dozed off in court?

Am I dozing off every day?

It's just that I was too tired from reviewing memorials too late that day.

But he is, after all, a speaking official, and the Wu Dynasty is very tolerant of speaking officials, and even cannot kill a speaking official because of "speech", so Emperor Wu can only endure it, just as a dog is barking.

"Your Majesty, this minister impeaches Xu Ming, the Literary and Military Secretary!"

Wang Can said directly.

And as soon as Wang Can's voice fell, some people who were dozing off suddenly woke up.

Who was this Wang Can impeaching?

The Literary and Military Secretary? Xu Ming?

That's not right.

What did Xu Ming do?

Didn't he just take a idle job and then leave the court to see the world?

He didn't do anything, did he?

Even if something happened to Xu Ming, it would be a matter outside the court, and he would not be qualified to impeach him, right?

So, for no reason, why is Wang Can impeaching Xu Ming?

For a time, many people perked up, and the mood of watching the excitement suddenly rose, and even many people had a lot of goodwill towards this Wang Can all of a sudden.

Impeach Xu Ming?

Okay! Impeach him quickly! Impeach him hard!

When something happens to Xu Ming, he won't be able to become the驸马爷, and our son will have a chance.

Listening to Wang Can's impeachment of Xu Ming, Emperor Wu's heart also skipped a beat, and he had a bad feeling in his heart.

"Wang Qing impeaches Xu Ming? But why?" Emperor Wu asked.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, this minister learned last night that Xu Ming went on a killing spree in Baihe County. Without any evidence, he directly slaughtered more than half of the Zhang family, Li family, Sun family, and Xiao family in Baihe County, causing rivers of blood.

How can the Literary and Military Secretary treat the laws of our Wu State in such a way?"

Emperor Wu frowned, his voice stern and majestic: "Wang Qing? You need to be responsible for your words. Do you have any evidence, Wang Qing?"

Wang Can bowed deeply: "Let Your Majesty send someone to Baihe County to investigate, and you will know immediately. This minister is willing to guarantee with his own life. If this minister falsely accuses the Literary and Military Secretary, this minister will crash his head on the pillar of the hall and die!"

Emperor Wu: "..."

With Emperor Wu's silence, the court was full of discussion.

Since Wang Can's tone was so certain, then it was basically true.

Xiao Mochi, who was standing at the front, and Yu Ping'an, who was standing on the lower right, were calm.

Emperor Wu's fingers tapped lightly on the dragon chair.

Strange.

How did this Wang Can know about Xu Ming's affairs?

I only received the news last night, and it was sent back in the fastest possible time.

But this Wang Can received the secret report at the same time?

This at least shows that there are some sinister people in the court who are also sending people to monitor Xu Pangda and Xu Ming. It should be said that the other party's target is Xu Ming.

So as soon as there is any disturbance, they immediately capture it.

After all, Xu Ming doesn't want to be my daughter's 驸马, but that doesn't mean others don't want to be.

"Baihe County is tens of thousands of miles away from Wudu. I don't know how Wang Qing learned of this news?" Emperor Wu asked.

“Reporting to Your Majesty.” Wang Can's tone was very confident, seemingly not afraid at all of Emperor Wu investigating. “Last night, this official was reading in the study when I received a letter from a friend in Baihe County. In the letter, this friend mentioned this matter. This official felt the matter was extremely serious, hence this memorial today!”

Emperor Wu naturally knew that Wang Can was just fabricating an excuse, but Emperor Wu couldn't delve too deeply.

Since the other party could make up such an excuse, it meant they had prepared for this.

Emperor Wu was curious who was behind Wang Can, abandoning such a pawn now.

Wang Can's impeachment of Xu Ming was definitely someone's doing.

Although Wang Can's impeachment of Xu Ming seemed like a small matter, Emperor Wu would definitely not reuse Wang Can in the future.

Perhaps before long, Wang Can would be transferred out of Wudu, and it wouldn't be impossible to find an excuse to dismiss him and send him home.

However, even if Emperor Wu couldn't guess who was directing Wang Can, he could vaguely guess that it should be one of the vassal kings of Wu.

“Then, Wang Qing, please explain the matter in detail.” Emperor Wu said, already thinking about countermeasures in his mind.

“Yes.” Wang Can cupped his fist in salute, “Four days ago, in Baihe County, Civil Military Minister Xu Ming went to a brothel…”

Wang Can recounted how Xu Ming went to the brothel, killed the eldest son of the Sun family, emerged with his head, and within a day, almost wiped out the four major families of Baihe County.

In the court, everyone looked at each other. Even if no one stood up to directly accuse Xu Ming, Emperor Wu could hear many people saying things like, “How could the Number One Scholar be so bloodthirsty?”, “Does the Number One Scholar have any law in his heart?”, “Why would the Number One Scholar do this?” and so on.

Emperor Wu gave Wei Xun, who was beside him, a look.

Wei Xun shouted in his duck-like voice: “Silence!”

Only then did the discussions of the officials in the court gradually subside.

“Your Majesty, this matter must be thoroughly investigated. How can the laws of our Wu be trampled upon like this?”

“Your Majesty, although we don't know how the four families of Baihe County offended the Number One Scholar, the Number One Scholar's bloodthirsty nature is truly not good.”

“Your Majesty, I wonder what mistakes the other members of the four major families of Baihe County have made? The Number One Scholar is indiscriminately killing the innocent.”

“Your Majesty, our Wu Kingdom has finally reached a balance with the various sects, and the Number One Scholar has killed the direct disciples and personal disciples of others for no reason! This is not only a slap in the face to those four sects, but it will also make other sects, large and small, feel uncomfortable.”

At this time, many people stood up and subtly accused Xu Ming.

Emperor Wu sneered inwardly.

These fellows were saying they were doing it for the sake of the Wu Kingdom, but in reality, they were doing it for their own sake.

At this time, Wei Xun stood up again and knelt down beside Emperor Wu, looking terrified: “Reporting to Your Majesty, this servant deserves to die.”

“Hmm?” Emperor Wu looked at Wei Xun, “For no reason, why do you deserve to die?”

Not only did Emperor Wu ask, but other ministers also had doubts in their hearts, thinking, “Why does this dog eunuch deserve to die? What trick are you trying to play?”

“Your Majesty, this servant actually received a secret report about Baihe County last night, but last night, this servant saw that Your Majesty had finally rested, and this servant couldn't bear to disturb Your Majesty, thinking of telling Your Majesty first thing this morning.

As a result, early in the morning, this servant actually forgot…

This servant deserves to die!”

Saying that, Wei Xun kowtowed three times heavily in front of Emperor Wu.

“You dog slave! How could you forget such an important matter?” Emperor Wu's tone sounded very angry, “Speak quickly! What exactly happened in Baihe County? Why did Xu Ming kill so many people? After you finish speaking, We will consider how to deal with you!”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Wei Xun said tremblingly.

“When Xu Bangyan took office in Baihe County, on that day, outside the Baihe County government office, the people beat the drums to appeal for grievances, and Magistrate Xu and Civil Military Minister Xu walked out of the county government office…”