Chang'an City covers an extremely wide area and can be divided into two parts: the outer city and the imperial city.

The imperial city is divided into an outer court and an inner court.

As the place where the Emperor of Great Xia and many concubines, princes and princesses lived, in order to ensure the purity of the royal bloodline, the inner court forbade any men to set foot except for the emperor and the prince.

If there is a violator, he will not listen to the defense and will be killed.

Therefore, the eunuchs and palace maids who are responsible for guarding the inner court are all martial arts masters specially trained by the royal family.

The outer court was mainly the place where the emperor and the important ministers of Great Xia handled government affairs, such as the Chengtian Palace, which was specially used for court meetings, the Ganlu Hall where the emperor privately summoned ministers, and the seat of the cabinet, Zhongshu Province, Menxia Province, Sherenyuan, Hongwenguan and other institutions.

In addition, the Temple of Heaven used to worship the heavens, and the Danfeng Hall where the concubines, princesses, and princesses received their relatives are all located here.

At the beginning of the day, the bell rang, and the officials waiting at the palace gate arrived at the Chengtian Hall one after another, standing in an orderly manner according to the previous position.

Row down the steps in front of the dragon chair to the temple gate, and then down the two sides of the steps outside the temple gate until you reach the square.

In fact, there are not many court officials who are qualified to stand in the main hall, except for the supervision of the imperial history and the compilation of the Hanlin Academy, which are known as Qinggui, there is no rank lower than the four ranks.

Those who are a little lower, standing on the steps outside the hall, such as the chief officials of the six departments, have a certain amount of real power, and need to wait for summons and questioning at any time, but because the grade is not enough, they are not qualified to enter the temple.

More officials stood in the square outside the palace, showing the majesty of the Great Xia court.

When the bell strikes fifteenth and the officials are almost all inside, the Imperial Guards check the posture of the officials standing on the steps and in the square.

If they see someone who is not dressed in a proper manner, the guards will whisper a reminder, and those who do not change will be dragged out directly on the charge of disrespect.

This is only for officials outside the palace, and the palace has its own supervision of the imperial history to impeach and picket.

Until three o'clock in the morning, the bell stopped.

Gao Zhong, the chief eunuch, shook the dust and shouted in a sharp voice: "Your Majesty is in court, and all officials are welcome." ”

Under the leadership of Wang Zhuo, the prime minister of Great Xia, all the officials bowed down and shouted: "Welcome to Your Majesty." ”

When the hundred officials bowed their heads, a figure suddenly came.

At the age of fifteen, he ascended the throne and became the emperor, and Emperor Jian'an, who will enter the age of not being confused, sat on the platform, looked down at the civil and military officials standing on both sides of the stage, his face was expressionless, and he replied in an extremely plain but exuding supreme majesty: "Zhongqing is flat. ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty. ”

The hundred officials got up, facing forward, and did not squint.

Gao Zhong, the chief eunuch, spoke up again: "The court discussion begins, and the secretaries do things. ”

Headed by the six rites, as soon as the words fell, Yan Li, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, took a step forward and arched his hand: "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Rites calculates that ten days later is the auspicious day of the zodiac, which is the most suitable day to worship the sky, and the minister earnestly requests that it be set as the day of the annual sacrifice." ”

Emperor Jian'an replied lightly: "Accurate." ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty. ”

Yan Li replied with his hand, and his face suddenly became extremely serious: "Wen Feng, the servant of the Ministry of Rites, was ordered to send an envoy to the grassland, and he tried his best to promote the return of the Hu people, but he died innocently. ”

There are two waiters in the Ministry of Rites, Wenfeng on the left and Gu Jun on the right.

Gu Jun is talented, and he was promoted to the Grandmaster of the Divine Mind Realm in the year of his establishment, and took this opportunity to become the right attendant of the Sanpin Rite Department, which can be called young and promising.

Wen Feng's official career is the opposite of Gu Jun, he served as a lecturer in the Yanwu Academy when he was young, and later filled the vacancy and entered the Ministry of Rites, grinding for more than 30 years, and climbing to the position of Zuo Shilang step by step, which is extremely difficult.

In other words, he has been with Yan Li for nearly 30 years, and the two are called bosses and subordinates, and they actually have an excellent relationship in private.

A good subordinate and friend for many years died violently for no reason, and five or six days after the news of his death was transmitted back to Chang'an, there was no news at all, and Yan Li finally couldn't help but expose the matter in public.

Emperor Jian'an looked at Yan Li expressionlessly, and asked calmly, "How is Gong Wei Si checking?"

Shen Da, the commander-in-chief of the Gong Wei Division, bowed down and saluted: "Back to Your Majesty, this case is going well, the Gong Wei Division has arrested the suspect who poisoned Wen Shilang's murderer, and is currently under strict interrogation and evidence collection, and will be solved soon." ”

Emperor Jian'an asked lightly: "How long is the day?"

Shen Da replied: "It depends on whether there is another hidden situation in this case, if there is no hidden secret, the case can be solved within three days at the latest, if there is a hidden secret, dig deeper, the minister does not dare to guarantee." ”

Emperor Jian'an squinted his eyes slightly, and said unclearly: "Secret?"

Shen Da glanced sideways at someone beside him, and said bluntly: "Don't hide it from Your Majesty, the suspect is Li Yuan, the son of Li Ai, the secretary of the Criminal Department, and the minister suspects that the suspect was instructed by someone, or colluded with some Hu nobles who were hostile to Great Xia, with the intention of sabotaging the Hu people's plan to annex them." ”

"It was not only Wen Shilang who died in this case, but also the son of the grassland king who returned south with Wen Shilang. In addition, when the mission returned south, it was ambushed by unknown forces many times, and the guards suffered heavy casualties, which can be described as many suspicious points. ”

As soon as these words came out, the whole court was in an uproar, and his eyes focused on a middle-aged man in the front row of the main hall.

Li Ai, the secretary of the Criminal Department, walked a few steps to the right, stood in the center of the main hall, and bowed deeply: "Your Majesty, this case involves Weichen, in order to avoid suspicion, the minister implores His Majesty to order the suspension of Weichen's position, and then deal with it when the case is closed." ”

"If it is found out that this matter is really related to the Li family and the minister's child, the minister asks His Majesty to punish it severely to deter Xiaoxiao. ”

Emperor Jian'an ignored him, and turned his gaze to Wang Zhuo, the head of the hundred officials standing at the forefront: "What does the prime minister think?"

Wang Zhuozhong replied angrily: "The minister thinks that this matter involves high-ranking officials of the imperial court, and it is not appropriate to make a conclusion based on the words of the Gong Wei Division's family, but should be tried by the three divisions, so as not to wrongfully accuse Zhongliang." ”

For Wang Zhuo's idea, no one in the court was surprised.

In the eyes of the prime minister of the dynasty, Gong Weisi is not a formal court institution, at most he is a domestic slave of His Majesty.

He had repeatedly openly opposed Gong Weisi's participation in court politics, but Emperor Jian'an insisted on going his own way and repeatedly refused to listen to persuasion, so he became more and more disgusted with this uncontrolled institution.

Now that it involves a big case, how can the words of a house slave be credulous?

Emperor Jian'an withdrew his gaze from Wang Zhuo and swept the hall: "I want to hear what Zhu Qing thinks about this case, no matter what you think, you can speak freely." ”

Yang Xuan, the waiter of the Criminal Department, was the first to walk out of the queue: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that this case has nothing to do with Lord Li's son, and it is purely the Gongwei Division framing the minister." The minister suggested that the criminal department should be responsible for this case and ensure that the investigation is clear. ”

An imperial historian echoed and said: "The minister seconded what the prime minister and Lord Yang said, the Li family is loyal, how can they murder the imperial court officials?"

Then some officials came out, either pleading for Li Ai and the Li family, or criticizing Gong Weisi for framing Zhongliang.

Li Ai looked at the colleagues who interceded for him one by one, and his heart was not half happy, but extremely cold.

These people wish the Li family was going to die.

Wen Feng died in the Li Mansion in Taiyuan, no matter how he justified, the Li family could not get out of it, and the best result was that the Li family's subordinates colluded with the Hu people, and the Li family was kept in the dark.

Although they are also guilty of negligence and other corresponding crimes, they can minimize the damage.

But these people jumped out and falsely said that the Li family was not guilty, as if they were speaking for themselves and the Li family, but in fact, they said that the Li family has many henchmen, and even if they commit crimes, they can be exonerated in other ways.

What kind of person is Your Majesty today? How can you not see anything unusual when you succeeded to the throne in the year of the weak crown and have been in power for more than 20 years?

For a qualified king, when encountering this situation, he will only choose one way to deal with it, whether it is true or not, and suppress it first.

Wronging loyalty is too small compared to maintaining control of the Great Xia Empire.

Thinking of this, Li Ai bowed deeply again: "Although the minister has confidence in the people of the Li family, he can't expect the people of the Li family to be like saints who do not make mistakes, the minister only wants to thoroughly investigate this case, whether it is related to the Li family or not, even if the minister is implicated, the minister has nothing to say." ”

Emperor Jian'an said indifferently: "Yes, order the Gong Wei Division to close the case within five days, if it can't be done, all of them will be fined for three months." ”