Soon, Shen Jing followed the palace messenger into the palace.
Upon reaching the entrance of Emperor Zhou's bedchamber, a eunuch led Shen Jing in, whispering, “Steward Yu ordered this servant to inform Marquis Shen that he only needs to cooperate with His Majesty.”
Shen Jing understood and thanked him in a low voice.
Entering Emperor Zhou's bedchamber, Shen Jing found that there were quite a few people present.
Yao Jian, Fu Yan, Ye Qing…
Almost everyone he was at odds with was there.
This couldn't help but make him secretly sigh in his heart, thinking how important he must be.
To deal with a mere young man like himself, they had mobilized such a large force.
Seeing Shen Jing, everyone immediately glared at him.
Some even looked as if they wanted to devour him alive.
Anyone who didn't know would think he was the Great Zhou's greatest traitor!
Shen Jing subconsciously looked at Yao Jian, only to see Yao Jian with his eyes lowered, seemingly indifferent to everything.
It was Ye Qing, not far from Yao Jian, who sneered as he looked at Shen Jing.
The evidence that Shen Jing accepted enormous bribes was conclusive!
This time, no one could save Shen Jing!
Even if the Emperor wanted to protect Shen Jing, he would have to ask if the ministers in court would agree!
Shen Jing glanced indifferently at Ye Qing, secretly cursing him as a foolish bird.
Not to mention that he was prepared; even if he hadn't made any preparations, he wouldn't let him succeed!
“Your humble servant Shen Jing greets His Majesty!”
Shen Jing stepped forward and bowed.
“Rise!”
Emperor Zhou slightly raised his hand and asked indifferently, “Do you know why We summoned you to the palace?”
“Your humble servant does not know.”
Shen Jing pretended to be confused and shook his head.
“You don't know, do you?”
Emperor Zhou snorted coldly, “Since you don't know, then let the esteemed ministers tell you!”
With that, Emperor Zhou looked at Ye Qing and the other ministers: “Aren't you going to impeach Shen Jing? Then, in front of him, list his crimes one by one!”
As Emperor Zhou's words fell, the bedchamber immediately became silent.
Everyone understood that Emperor Zhou wanted them to confront Shen Jing face-to-face.
After a moment of silence, an official stepped forward and declared loudly, “Your humble servant, Censor Lu Yuliang, impeaches Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial Shen Jing! During his tenure as acting head of the Court of State Ceremonial, Shen Jing wantonly beat subordinate officials and forced Court of State Ceremonial Assistant Wang Xichuo to feed horses for the Yong Country Delegation, treating court officials as his servants! Shen Jing's actions have violated the laws of the court! Your humble servant humbly requests His Majesty to punish Shen Jing for his crimes!”
Emperor Zhou looked up at Shen Jing: “Is what Minister Lu reported true?”
Shen Jing nodded: “It is true, but…”
“It's good that it's true!”
Emperor Zhou interrupted Shen Jing, “Now is not the time for you to explain! After all the esteemed ministers have finished speaking, We will give you a chance to explain!”
“Yes!”
Shen Jing accepted the order and said no more.
Immediately after, another minister stepped forward: “Your humble servant, Li Quan, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, impeaches Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial Shen Jing! During his reception of the Yong Country Delegation, Shen Jing repeatedly ordered his attendant Du Heng to bring courtesans to the Four Directions Inn for his unrestrained debauchery, displaying immoral conduct with extremely negative consequences! Your humble servant humbly requests His Majesty to punish Shen Jing for contempt of court and dereliction of duty!”
“Shen Jing, is this true?”
“Yes!”
“Your humble servant, Minister of Justice Fu Yan, impeaches Shen Jing! Your humble servant has received reports that Shen Jing, during his reception of the Yong Country Delegation, met secretly with the Third Prince of Yong Country multiple times and accepted valuable gifts! Your humble servant suspects that Shen Jing leaked confidential matters of our dynasty to the Yong Country Delegation, selling out his country for personal gain! I humbly request His Majesty to thoroughly investigate!”
Shen Jing's lips curled slightly.
It's here!
The previous accusations were just appetizers; this is the real main course!
Selling out the country for personal gain?
This is an attempt to put him to death!
“Shen Jing, is this matter true?”
Emperor Zhou questioned Shen Jing again.
“Slander, this is slander!”
Shen Jing was agitated and vehemently denied it.
“Slander?”
A cold glint flashed in Ye Qing's eyes, and he sternly said, “How dare you, Shen Jing, deceive the Emperor in front of him?”
Shen Jing turned to look at Ye Qing: “May I ask Your Highness, when did Shen Jing deceive the Emperor?”
Ye Qing said nothing, only looking at Emperor Zhou.
Emperor Zhou gave Yu Rang a look.
Yu Rang understood and immediately brought out a tray.
On the tray were the valuables that the Ministry of Justice had confiscated from his room at the Four Directions Inn.
“These items were all found in your room at the Four Directions Inn!”
Emperor Zhou looked up at Shen Jing: “You wouldn't want to say that these items were planted in your room by the Ministry of Justice, would you?”
“This…”
Shen Jing slightly opened his mouth and, steeling himself, admitted: “These are indeed your humble servant's possessions.”
Listening to Shen Jing's words, Emperor Zhou immediately frowned secretly.
This fool, he had already sent someone to relay a message to him, and he wouldn't even cooperate with this?
If they cooperated well, they could completely cover up this matter, and there would be no need to expose the matter of the elixir.
Once this matter was settled, it would be more convenient for him when he made his move later.
But Shen Jing's direct admission of this matter now had disrupted his plans!
“You dare to admit it; you're still a good man!”
Ye Qing snorted coldly: “May I ask Chancellor Yao, according to our dynasty's laws, what is the punishment for accepting enormous bribes?”
“According to our dynasty's laws, if a court official accepts bribes exceeding one thousand taels, he shall be executed!”
Yao Jian spoke in a deep voice, then advised Emperor Zhou: “Your humble servant is not concerned with how many bribes Shen Jing accepted! Your humble servant is most concerned with why the Third Prince of Yong Country would bribe Shen Jing!”
The crime of merely accepting enormous bribes might not be enough to put Shen Jing to death!
He wanted to ensure Shen Jing had no chance of survival!
“Chancellor Yao, you cannot speak such nonsense!”
Shen Jing immediately stopped Yao Jian.
“This Chancellor is not speaking nonsense!”
Yao Jian snorted coldly: “For no reason, why would the Third Prince of Yong Country give you so much wealth?”
“In this Chancellor's opinion, your full support for war that day was at Gao Yin's instigation!”
“Your incitement of His Majesty to fully prepare for war and your distortion of His Majesty's will to detain the Yong Country Delegation were all pretexts to give the Yong Country Delegation an excuse to cause trouble!”
“This way, our dynasty would be in the wrong, thereby allowing them to gain more initiative in negotiations!”
“And the outcome of the negotiations precisely confirmed this point!”
As Yao Jian's words fell, everyone immediately became agitated.
“Forty thousand catties of white sugar may not seem like much, but its actual value is at least five to six million taels of silver!”
“Our dynasty suffered heavy losses this time, all because you, this treacherous official, accepted bribes and interfered!”
“I humbly request His Majesty to strip Shen Jing of his title and office and throw him into the Heavenly Prison!”
“Your humble servant seconds the motion…”
For a time, everyone turned their spearhead towards Shen Jing.
Ye Qing secretly looked at Yao Jian, admiring him in his heart.
They, of course, knew that Shen Jing's detention of the Yong Country Delegation must have been at Emperor Zhou's instruction.
But Yao Jian had twisted this into Shen Jing distorting His Majesty's will!
Even if the court couldn't find direct evidence of Shen Jing colluding with the Yong Country Delegation, this matter alone would be enough to cost Shen Jing his life!
After all, the court had just given away several million taels of silver; someone had to take responsibility!
If the Emperor did not want to leave behind a bad reputation, he had to find someone to take responsibility!
Either it was Pei Ji and those responsible for the negotiations, or it was Shen Jing!
And important ministers like Pei Ji were of great use to the court, so they certainly couldn't be made to take responsibility!
Thus, it could only be Shen Jing who would take responsibility!
This was a dead end!
Shen Jing could not break it no matter what!
Just as everyone was requesting Emperor Zhou to punish Shen Jing, Shen Jing suddenly roared, “How dare you, Yao Jian, you actually dare to slander His Majesty!”
“…”
Everyone's voices abruptly stopped, and they looked at Shen Jing with stunned expressions.
“What a treacherous official, at this moment, you still want to bite back at this Chancellor?”
Yao Jian snorted coldly: “You tell me, where did this Chancellor slander His Majesty?”
As long as Shen Jing dared to say that Emperor Zhou instructed him to detain the Yong Country Delegation, he would surely die!
Shen Jing looked at Yao Jian with sharp eyes and coldly questioned: “These valuables are clearly His Majesty's! According to you, did His Majesty accept bribes from Gao Yin and collude with the enemy to sell out the country?”