Chapter 434: Your Majesty, I Have One More Memorial to Present

Word by word piercing the heart, sentence by sentence cutting like a blade.

Xu Qing read aloud the irrefutable evidence that the External Affairs Office and the Imperial Guard had urgently compiled overnight—the corpses of the death-men, the city gate that had been blasted open, and the Marquis's waist tokens retrieved from the death-men's bodies. Every piece, every item, was ironclad proof.

On the dragon throne, the emperor remained silent.

He did not speak immediately. Instead, his deep, piercing gaze slowly swept across the ranks of military officers standing on the right side of the great hall.

Standing there were generals who had once followed the Yongchang Marquis through life-and-death battles, or who had countless ties to the Ministry of War and the Marquis Manor. On ordinary days, these men, relying on their military merits, often acted arrogantly and unyieldingly in court.

But at this moment, these battle-hardened generals each fixed their eyes on their noses, their noses on their hearts, staring stubbornly at the golden bricks beneath their feet, as if cracks in those bricks might sprout flowers.

No one dared to step forward. No one dared to speak a single word for the Yongchang Marquis.

Watching those generals trembling in silence, a hint of cruel satisfaction flickered in the emperor's heart.

He had waited for this day for far too long. This group of proud, unruly soldiers, who had always subtly looked to Chen Yuan as their leader, had finally lowered their noble heads before this blade he had named "Xu Qing."

The emperor slowly stopped tapping his fingers on the armrest of the dragon throne. He straightened his posture, his voice low and commanding:"Yongchang Marquis Chen Yuan, having received the emperor's boundless grace, yet harbored the ambition of a wolf. Committing treason by colluding with the enemy, secretly training death-men, nearly causing the overturning of our Great Xing's state and altars—his crimes are beyond pardon."

The emperor paused, his gaze sweeping across the assembled officials, and proclaimed his judgment word by word:

"I hereby decree: strip Chen Yuan of all noble titles and official positions. The Yongchang Marquis Manor shall be executed by mass beheading! In three days, at the Meridian Gate of the Execution Grounds, the sentence shall be carried out before the public! His mansion, properties, farmlands, and shops shall all be confiscated and turned over to the state treasury. They shall be allocated in full to the Ministry of Revenue's special fund, to be used for compensating the families of fallen soldiers on the Northern Frontier. No mistakes shall be tolerated!"

As these words fell, an extremely faint disturbance rippled through the great hall.

It was the subtle sound of officials exhaling long breaths under immense suppression.

from the pressure of having to choose sides and live in constant fear. Others wiped cold sweat from their brows, frantically thanking their lucky stars that

Xu Qing standing bolt upright in the hall, a flicker of

had it severed Chen Yuan's foundations, but it had also sheared away the boldness and

this earth-shattering storm would end with

took another

has one more memorial

a single ripple. From deep within his wide sleeves, he pulled

first, but as Xu Qing slowly unfurled it, the dense rows of tiny, meticulously

It was a list.

of making half the court tremble—a list for

Marquis's embezzlement and treason. It took several years, and I dared not slack day or night. I have now ascertained that Chen Yuan's ability to cover the sky with one hand was not his own doing. His underlings are spread everywhere like a dense network, colluding internally and externally, forming a massive web of corruption. Your servant has organized the implicated personnel

swept over the officials whose faces had instantly turned deathly pale.

without official rank, he plotted and strategized for Chen Yuan, manipulated the embezzlement

illegal sales of military equipment, passing off

Northern Frontier Cavalry Camp. Dependent on the Yongchang Marquis, he accepted bribes for years, falsely reported soldier numbers, and embezzled military grain. Proposed sentence: stripped of rank, banished for life, exiled

of the Military Equipment Department in the Ministry of War. He secretly opened wide the door for the

of the Fiscal Allocation

came with solid

the list was read out continuously, the atmosphere in the great hall became incredibly strange and

whose names were

it before his legs seemed to lose all bones. He collapsed limply onto the golden bricks, a suspicious wet

ground with a loud thud. He banged his head frantically, weeping and wailing miserably: "Your Majesty, spare me! Lord Xu, spare me! This humble official was forced! I was

and burst into furious curses: "Xu Qing! You ungrateful, treacherous, petty villain! You frame loyal

Xu Qing

bellowing at the court—drag them out," the

dragging dead dogs, they gagged the collapsed, the kneeling, the cursing officials and roughly hauled them out of the hall. On the long

emperor watched all this with

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