It was late at night, and Xue Ji had just turned off the lights and was about to rest, when he was shouted as soon as his head was next to the pillow, saying that His Majesty had summoned him to the imperial study for questioning.

When he arrived at the imperial study in the night, Qin Xu was resting on the dragon chair with his forehead propped up.

He whispered, "Your Majesty?"

Qin Xu opened his eyes, and his gaze fell on Xue Ji.

"The prime minister is here? Take a look at this note."

Xue Ji didn't know why, so he stepped forward as he said, picked up the music on the table, opened it and took a cursory look.

At this glance, he almost turned his back on his breath, only to feel that the sky above his head had collapsed, as if he was in the middle of an abyss.

Seeing that he didn't speak for a long time, Qin Xu spoke first: "How do you explain?"

Xue Ji opened his mouth, but he couldn't defend it, knowing that this was Chen Shao's final move, but he didn't expect it...... As soon as he started, he came out of the bottom of the kettle to draw salary, so that he could not avoid it.

Long before he joined the office, his brother warned him that his life experience was his death hole, and once it was exposed, he would definitely die without a place to be buried.

"The minister has no way to defend himself."

Qin Xu was choked, and he didn't know how to answer his words for a while, he hated iron in his heart, and whenever he had a word of justification or a sentence of plea, it was regarded as giving himself a step down, but he came to such a sentence "There is no way to justify".

"This note was handed over by the Imperial Historical Observatory, if they take it to the court and say it, not to mention that the ministers will not let you go, and those royal clansmen who have been idle for half their lives will not let you go, and at that time, I will not be able to protect you."

Xue Ji's heart was so confused that he couldn't think of a way to save himself. He smiled self-deprecatingly and asked, "The minister has never done anything harmful to the society, so why is it that he is so guilty that everyone wants to punish him?"

Qin Xu's eyes turned black by this sentence, and he endured it again and again, and took a few breaths before gritting his teeth and saying, "Get out."

Now His Majesty is in a coma again, this time it can be said that there is a wave of unsettled waves, and in the morning of the second day when he was unconscious, Lord Liu of Yushitai impeached Prime Minister Xue Ji for dozens of crimes, and I don't know how true and how false.

Just when the Manchu Dynasty thought that this was the end, he set off a stormy wave again.

"Prime Minister Xue Ji is the remnant of the criminal Jiang family."

All of a sudden, there was an uproar.

While speaking, Liu Yushi had already put the evidence sorted out by Chen Shao on the bright side, with this genealogy and Jiang's handwritten letter back then, Xue Ji's life experience can be said to be confirmed.

His Majesty was still in a coma, and no one dared to dispose of Xue Ji on his own, Xu Yan and Prince Qin He hesitated for a long time before making a decision.

Qin He stood at the top, frowned and said in a deep voice, "This matter will be decided after my father is sober."

Unexpectedly, the ministers didn't intend to buy it at all, and when they heard this, they immediately blew up, and the noise was endless, and there was a great posture of not taking Xue Ji into prison today.

Chen Shao said in a strange manner: "How to deal with it, naturally there is a law decision, and dozens of adults from the Criminal Department and Dali Temple can be tried together, what doubts do Lord Xu and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince have?"

Xu Yan said, "Without His Majesty's edict, how can you take people easily?"

Chen Shao said: "The evidence is conclusive, and both the Criminal Department and Dali Temple have the right to directly take people."

Xu Yan retorted, "But what you want to arrest today is the prime minister of the dynasty!"

Chen Shao sneered when he heard this, and mocked: "The prince is still guilty of the same crime as Buyi when he violates the law, let alone the prime minister?"

Xu Yan was silent, depressed but helpless. After a little calculation in his heart, he looked up at Feng Mingjian, the secretary of Dali Temple in the crowd. "Lord Feng, what do you say?"

Feng Mingzhen had already frowned slightly since he heard this, and now that his name was mentioned, he naturally opened his mouth and said bluntly: "What Lord Chen said is good, according to the laws of the Great Zhou, the evidence in this matter is conclusive, and the prime minister should be sent to the prison of the Criminal Department. As for the more than 10 counts of impeachment previously by Liu Yushi, they can be tried by Dali Temple in coordination with the Criminal Department."

I wanted him to save the scene, but who knew that this person was smashed even more solidly.

Xu Yan was extremely helpless, and looked up at Tai again

Son, just wait for him to decide.

Prince Qin He hesitated for a long time, and finally relieved himself from the bottom of his heart: "Let's do what Master Feng said first."

Xue Ji had just gotten up, sitting in the courtyard drinking tea and reading, and the small life was being nourished, when suddenly the door in front of him was slammed open, and a column of small officials dressed in the official uniform of the Criminal Department rushed in, and finally Chen Shao, I saw him smiling on his face, slowly walked into the courtyard, and arrived in front of Xue Ji.

Xue Ji had already expected this situation in front of him, so yesterday morning he asked Wang Qu to drive all the ladies in the backyard back to Jiangling. At the moment, he is the only one in the huge Xue Mansion.

Chen Shao swept the grass and trees in the courtyard before he looked at Xue Ji in front of him, and said with a smile: "Lord Xue, I have offended."

When Qin Xu heard that Xue Ji was in prison, he couldn't say what mood he was in, he was anxious, but he was depressed. I was finally able to get out of bed, and I just wanted someone to prepare a sedan chair to go to the prison of the Criminal Department, but I hesitated when the words came to my lips.

The most I can do to go to the Criminal Department is to visit, but to no avail.

"Go to Dali Temple!"

At noon, a carriage stopped in front of the Dali Temple, this carriage is not an ordinary dignitary, this is the arrival of the Son of Heaven.

Feng Ming heard the report, and hurriedly got up and went out to greet him: "Long live Your Majesty, you have just recovered, why did you come here?"

Qin Xu waved his hand and said, "Go in and say."

The two entered the main hall, and the subordinates retreated with interest, and did not forget to close the door when they left.

Qin Xu lightly knocked on the low table beside him, and said coldly, "Feng Mingzhen, you are a smart person, now that Xue Chen and the two parties are competing for power, why do you want to interfere?"

Feng Mingjian couldn't sit still, got up and bowed to him, and defended: "Although this matter started from the party dispute, the impeachment of Liu Yushi is not a fiction."

Qin Xu sneered, obviously unimpressed. "Then according to you, how will he be sentenced for this crime?"

"The remnants of the Jiang clan alone are already an inevitable capital crime. Not only him, but also the Jiangling Xue clan will not escape responsibility." Feng Mingjian said calmly.

Qin Xu's face changed, his brows were tightly locked, he leaned forward with the table on the side, stared at Feng Mingjian's gaze tightly, and asked in a deep voice, "Back then, the Jiang clan was full of beheadings, so decisive, is it really in line with etiquette?"

Feng Mingzhen's heart tightened, and it was rare that he didn't dare to speak. I struggled and hesitated for a long time before I calmly replied: "The minister doesn't dare to say anything, the old accounts are difficult to check, but it is an indisputable fact that the remnants of the Jiangling Xue clan smuggled the minister."

Qin Xu shouted loudly, "Are there any old accounts that can't be checked? I order you to investigate thoroughly!"

Feng Mingzhen was helpless, bowed again, and persuaded: "Your Majesty, even if you ignore the remnants of the Jiang family, Xue Ji's many acts of pretending to be public and private are enough to be a capital crime."

These words made Qin Xu stunned, he was not ignorant of the things that Xue Ji did with his power for personal gain, but these ...... How did it become a capital offense? Soon, he reacted.

"It's just 'sufficient' to be a capital offense, but it doesn't have to be a capital offense, is it?"

"Your Majesty, why bother." Feng Mingzhen sighed and lowered his head.

Qin Xu clenched his fists and slammed the table on the side, quite like a child with a temper, and said angrily, "I order you to stop this matter!"

It's strange to say, it was clear that he was the one who looked at the prime minister everywhere a few years ago, but now when it came time to execute the prime minister, he refused again.

Feng Mingzhen couldn't see through what he was thinking, but the family motto had always been "do your best to be public and not care about your own interests", and he couldn't agree to this matter no matter what, even if it was His Majesty's intention.

"Forgiveness cannot obey orders."

In the end, Qin Xu didn't know how he was sent back to the Zichen Palace, only that since that day, his body had begun to deteriorate again, and he was unconscious from time to time.

Empress Xu stayed by his side all day long, crying so much that her eyes were swollen.

And every time Qin Xu woke up, he couldn't avoid Prime Minister Xue Ji, he repeatedly pressed to ask, but the people waiting next to him didn't dare to say it.

Now Xue Ji's case has been firmly held in Chen Shao's hands, and in just half a month, no one knows where he dug up so many more than 40 counts, large and small, and directly sentenced him to half with a wave of his hand.

Xu Yan was naturally reluctant to approve it, and the crown prince Qin He was also very dissatisfied, but he couldn't resist it

Now half of the court is Chen Shao's henchmen, and one person shouting is enough to lift the roof of Zichen Palace.

If Qin Xu listened to these trivial matters, he was afraid that he would wake up soon and be in a coma.

The crown prince Qin He and Xu Yan were in a stalemate with a group of courtiers, and until the beginning of July, Xu He still refused to reply, but Qin He couldn't resist the pressure and let go.

The saint is in a coma, the prime minister is in prison, and the prince is naturally the most powerful person.

Even the crown prince has already relented, so it doesn't matter if Xu Yantong disagrees.

At the beginning of August, a piece of guilt was pasted on the gate of Chang'an City, which counted the ten major crimes of Prime Minister Xue Ji, and countless other minor crimes, especially emphasizing his life experience of "the remnants of the guilty ministers", and finally wrote the verdict in cinnabar, the word "waist beheading", which made people shudder.

autumn

The lights in the prison were dim, and the corners were damp all year round, and Xue Ji had been in this prison for several months, only to feel that the bones all over his body were criing out for pain from the inside out.

But he couldn't shout, and he didn't know what to shout.

The moonlight poured in through the iron window on the top of the wall and landed on the ground beside Xue Ji, he looked down, and could vaguely see ants crawling back and forth between the brick cracks.

At this moment, Xue Jiyu caught a glimpse of a dark shadow outside the cell.

Listening to the sound of his footsteps as he slowly approached was very familiar, and with the ambergris on his body, how could he not guess the person? The person who came was Qin Xu today.

Xue Ji heard him cough twice, so he turned around on the floor, knelt down and saluted him, and said, "Knock to your majesty, long live your majesty."

"Kiyoyuki."

Qin Xu was already sick and couldn't get out of bed, and today he came to an obscure place like the prison of the Criminal Department with his stump and sick bones, and he couldn't say anything else except calling his name.

The tip of Xue Ji's nose was sour, and for some reason, the corners of his eyes were a little moist, and he choked up: "Your Majesty is seriously ill, why do you want to come to such a place."