131: Emperor Qing wants to change the whetstone! Yuan Menger files a complaint with the emperor

Chapter 131: Emperor Qing Desires to Change Whetstones! Yuan Meng Accuses for the Second Time! (13)

The Second Young Master of the Cui Family, along with over a dozen shopkeepers of the smuggling establishments, all provided complete confessions under the control of the local Net, and had already signed and fingerprinted them.

The Net members did not expose their identities and took all the signed confessions as evidence.

They had already confessed, revealing the secrets of two major figures. Being silenced by murder would be light; it was not impossible for their entire families to be retaliated against and wiped out.

Therefore, if they couldn't bring down Li Chengze and Li Yunrui, they would face certain death.

Besides the Cui Second Young Master, the Net had already promised to protect the families of the other shopkeepers, so these individuals proceeded with the plan to report them.

As for the Cui Second Young Master, he understood in his heart that the Cui Family was doomed.

He had to actively cooperate with the investigation; perhaps there was still a chance to live.

For these people, surrendering, reporting, and exposing others could still mitigate their criminal responsibility.

In the capital, the news of the Imperial Treasury's smuggling caused a massive uproar, stirring up heated discussions throughout the entire capital.

All the Yi Shi Inn restaurants in the capital simultaneously closed their doors on this day.

Yi Shi Inn was an asset of the Cui Family, and it was precisely the Cui Family that was responsible for the specific implementation of smuggling with Northern Qi.

Enraged citizens rushed into the streets, throwing stones at the storefronts of Yi Shi Inn.

"I never would have thought that the Cui Family would be the Great Qing's biggest parasite!"

"While our soldiers on the front lines are fighting to the death with Northern Qi, these important figures are smuggling behind their backs!"

"The Cui Family truly deserves to die! And The Eldest Princess, Second Young Master, colluding with an enemy nation, enriching themselves at the expense of the public, they are utterly devoid of conscience!"

The busiest teahouses in the capital were now even more chaotic, with everyone discussing the Imperial Treasury's smuggling affair.

"Several government offices have received reports and accusations, all of them against the Second Young Master and The Eldest Princess!"

"Millions of taels of silver every year, enough to destroy Northern Qi how many times over!"

"Yuan Meng, who accused with Si Lili five years ago, has accused again!"

"The Second Young Master, for the sake of political rivalry with Fan Xian, actually incited others to open Brothels, forcing good women into prostitution! And almost caused deaths!"

...Eastern Palace.

The Crown Prince heard this news and couldn't help but beam with joy.

"The Second Young Master is finished!"

"The Cui Second Young Master directly went to Lao Lai to surrender; that person is a tough nut to crack and will definitely get to the bottom of this!"

"The Supervisory Council, the Censorate, the Ministry of Justice, and the Court of Judicial Review all simultaneously received reports and accusations; this matter cannot be suppressed!"

The reason the Crown Prince was so confident was that both the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Judicial Review had his people in important positions.

Considering this, the Censorate, the Ministry of Justice, and the Court of Judicial Review would all investigate thoroughly.

"Second Young Master, oh Second Young Master, you are completely done for this time!"

"Father Emperor probably won't lay a hand on Aunt, but Li Chengze likely won't be able to recover!"

Supervisory Council.

Chen Pingping fell into contemplation after listening to Shadow's words.

"Shadow, how many Shadow Guards does Li Chang'an's Shadow Guard now have?"

Shadow replied, "Dragon Guard Manor has already been built, and Prince Yong will be moving there soon."

"Currently, Prince Yong's Residence has one hundred Shadow Guards, and there are also around two hundred Shadow Guards in Dragon Guard Manor."

Chen Pingping said, "Three hundred experts above the seventh rank, with around one hundred at the eighth rank, I presume."

"And the secret agents His Majesty allowed him to set up in the Jianghu, adding them up, there should be over a thousand people, right?"

Shadow said, "That should be about right. Prince Yong recruits Jianghu experts every time he goes out."

Chen Pingping tapped on his wheelchair and said, "This incident targeting the Second Young Master is Li Chang'an's doing."

"The Crown Prince currently doesn't have such a powerful force. The Eldest Princess does, but she wouldn't accuse herself."

"Prince Yong, he's becoming more and more assertive!"

Shadow said in a deep voice, "So many people accusing a Prince, causing a scandal in the imperial family to spread widely, I'm afraid it has touched His Majesty's raw nerve."

Chen Pingping smiled and said, "Haven't you noticed? Prince Yong's various actions are clearly testing His Majesty's bottom line."

"If I'm not mistaken, he wants to completely bring down Li Chengze and then step onto the stage of succession."

"This Prince Yong, he believes himself to be much stronger than his two nephews, and has developed an interest in His Majesty's throne!"

Shadow continued, "But Prince Yong is not a Prince after all, and he is also to marry a Northern Qi princess as a concubine. His chances of coveting the throne are probably not high!"

Chen Pingping sneered and said, "But he has strength, and his strength in all aspects is slowly manifesting."

"Now that this matter has blown up, either Prince Yong or the Second Young Master must completely fall."

"If you were His Majesty, who would you let fall?"

Shadow answered almost without hesitation, "Of course, the Second Young Master. The cost of letting Prince Yong fall is too great."

Compared to Li Chang'an's prestige and status, the Second Young Master, apart from being Emperor Qing's biological son, currently has no outstanding qualities.

Chen Pingping looked back at Shadow, "Yes, even an outsider like you can understand, how could His Majesty not understand?"

"In His Majesty's eyes, the Crown Prince must never fall. The other competitor, whether it's the Second Young Master or Prince Yong, is merely a whetstone."

"The stronger Prince Yong becomes, and the greater his influence, doesn't it just balance out the Crown Prince and The Eldest Princess?"

Shadow still asked with some doubt, "But, if Prince Yong is allowed to grow too powerful, what if things develop beyond His Majesty's control?"

Chen Pingping smiled calmly and said, "That won't happen. His Majesty is confident that the affairs of the Qing Kingdom cannot escape his control!"

Imperial Study.

In this world, only in front of Hong Sixiang could Emperor Qing confide some of his thoughts.

"Si Xiang, I never thought of replacing the Crown Prince from beginning to end. Li Chengze was merely a whetstone to sharpen the Crown Prince."

"Back then, he was obsessed with poetry and literature, and it was I who gradually supported him, allowing him to contend with the Crown Prince for so many years."

"This storm targeting Li Chengze is Li Chang'an demonstrating his power and ability to me."

"He is telling me that he is already much stronger than Li Chengze, and he is no longer content with being an idle Prince!"

Hong Sixiang bowed and said, "Prince Yong's three hundred Shadow Guards, including the secret agents in the Jianghu, and the prestige of a Celestial Vein Holder, were all given to him by Your Majesty step by step."

"Whether it is Li Chang'an or Li Chengze, with just a word from Your Majesty, they can go from a Prince above all others to a prisoner at the mercy of others."

Emperor Qing examined the composite bow design submitted by Fan Xian and said casually, "That's not entirely true. Li Chang'an's literary talent was not given by me; that was a gift from heaven."

"He knows his irreplaceable position in the literary world, so even though he is just my younger brother, he dares to step forward and contend for the position of Crown Prince!"

Emperor Qing's tacit approval of the Shadow Guard's growth already had the intention of checking the Supervisory Council. He and his old partner Chen Pingping had long harbored their own ulterior motives.

Moreover, Li Chang'an's influence and power in various aspects happened to form a new balance with the combination of The Eldest Princess and the Crown Prince.

Currently, Li Chengze had almost no power to fight back against Li Chang'an.

The value of the whetstone was almost gone; it was time to change to a new whetstone.

A Prince whose hope of inheriting the throne was slim, but whose strength was unusually powerful, was simply the best whetstone.

If the strength was too great, and the hope of succession was equally great, then the Crown Prince would be afraid and lose confidence.

If the strength was not great and the hope of succession was slim, the Crown Prince would not feel a sense of crisis.

Choosing a whetstone is also an art.

Hong Sixiang whispered, "Your Majesty, this old servant always feels that Prince Yong has a mysterious confidence."

"That kind of confidence comes from an inner fearlessness. Does he have some reliance that we don't know about?"

Hearing Hong Sixiang say this, Emperor Qing suddenly laughed, "You worry too much. Can his reliance compare to mine?"

The implication was that since he was a Great Grandmaster, he could confidently change whetstones and play, without worrying about messing up the situation.

No matter how much reliance Li Chang'an had, could he possibly have a Great Grandmaster by his side!

"However, it's always better to be careful. You should still regularly patrol Dragon Guard Manor and Prince Yong's Residence."

"I will have him move out of the capital city quickly, to live in Dragon Guard Manor outside the city. That can also be considered a small punishment for him!"

Hong Sixiang accepted the order, "This old servant obeys the imperial decree."

A few days later, Li Chang'an completed his relocation, with all his family and Shadow Guards moving to Dragon Guard Manor outside the city.

Many people were interpreting this matter, saying that Li Chang'an had been too flamboyant recently, and Emperor Qing was giving him a small punishment.

After all, for a Prince, not living in the capital city meant being out of touch with information.

However, for the Great Grandmaster Li Chang'an, with the Net and Shadow Guard, this distance was nothing at all.

Living outside the city, away from the eyes of various factions, actually gave Li Chang'an a lot more freedom of action.

Moving out of the capital city might be a punishment for other Princes, but for Li Chang'an, it was a huge blessing!

Li Chang'an's Muscle had already reached Major Achievement, with only the seventh cycle, Black Grade F Tu, left to Cultivate.

Having completed the first six levels of Floating Pagoda, he had already reached the strength of other human Great Grandmasters.

Now, Li Chang'an's injuries had largely healed, and he was also Cultivating Black Grade F Tu.

Ordinary Martial Artists can only store True Qi in their Meridians. Cultivating White Level Futu allows Qi to be stored in acupuncture points. Continuing to Cultivate the Elementary stage of Black Grade F Tu allows True Qi to be stored throughout the entire body.

Because he did not have all his Meridians destroyed like Emperor Qing, after Li Chang'an reached the state of storing True Qi throughout his body, his internal True Qi was even more abundant than Emperor Qing's.

Therefore, as long as Li Chang'an completes the Elementary stage of Black Grade F Tu, he will be able to completely overpower Emperor Qing and the blindfolded Wu Zhu in combat power!

In other words, by only completing the Elementary stage of Black Grade F Tu, he would be invincible in the current world!

If he wanted to compete with the laser eyes of Wu Zhu with his blindfold removed, he would need the intermediate or Perfection stage of Black Grade F Tu.

The operation against Li Chengze had been ongoing for several days. Li Chang'an listened to Jing Ni report on the situation, with Wang Qinian, Xing Yusen, and Teng Zijing waiting on standby.

"Your Highness, the Supervisory Council, the Ministry of Justice, the Court of Judicial Review, and the Censorate have all accepted the cases and have all submitted memorials to Emperor Qing explaining the situation."

"However, Emperor Qing has not issued any clear imperial decrees regarding their memorials."

Li Chang'an was not surprised by Emperor Qing's attitude, "No decree means no opposition to continuing the investigation. What is the progress now?"

Jing Ni continued, "The progress is very smooth. The account books in the hands of the various shopkeepers are all very detailed."

"The various government offices also cross-referenced the Brocade-Clad Guards' intelligence with the Supervisory Council, basically turning them into irrefutable evidence."

The Brocade-Clad Guards' intelligence on smuggling, held by the Shadow Guard, had all been copied and provided to the Supervisory Council.

"Moreover, the chief officials of the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Judicial Review are both under the Crown Prince, so the case is proceeding very smoothly."

"As for the Cui Family's Second Young Master, he has already been given key protection by the Censorate. Lao Lai has already obtained irrefutable evidence of the Cui Family's smuggling."

It now seemed that the development of events was proceeding according to plan. "Old Wang, has the Second Young Master made any moves against these accusers?"

Wang Qinian said, "According to Fan Wujiu's intelligence, there shouldn't have been any yet."

"Because there are the Crown Prince's people in the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Judicial Review, it's almost impossible to silence them."

"Moreover, the Supervisory Council has already planted a large number of secret agents near the various government offices, just waiting for Li Chengze to send people to silence them."

Li Chang'an chuckled, "Fan Xian is at odds with Li Chengze and will definitely not give him a chance to recover."

Jing Ni then spoke of Fan Xian's news, "Because Emperor Qing tacitly allowed the various government offices to investigate Li Chengze, Fan Xian also initiated an investigation into the corrupt officials under Li Chengze."

There were many corrupt officials under Li Chengze. In the original plot, Chen Pingping worried about too many entanglements, so he and Fan Xian set up a scheme, using Lao Lai's integrity to push the task of investigating these corrupt officials to the Censorate.

But now that Li Chengze was down and everyone was kicking him, Chen Pingping and Fan Xian naturally wanted to mercilessly attack the fallen dog.

Li Chang'an asked again, "By the way, I secretly ordered Fan Wujiu to investigate the remaining personnel and goods from Shijia Town. Has he found the hidden location?"

Wang Qinian replied, "It has been found. Does Your Highness want to arrange for people to go and collect evidence?"

Li Chang'an shook his head, "No, when a wall falls, everyone pushes it. We just need to start it."

"You secretly leak the clues to both the Supervisory Council and the Crown Prince, and let them fight over it themselves."

"How is Yuan Meng doing? This time, the joint trial of the Three Judicial Offices shouldn't be hastily concluded, right?"

Wang Qinian replied, "This time, with the backdrop of the smuggling case, Lao Lai attaches great importance to Yuan Meng's report."

"With over a dozen girls who were forced, their testimonies and physical evidence are complete, and Fan Sizhe and Li Chengping have also been called in for questioning."

Li Chang'an couldn't help but sigh, "Lao Lai truly isn't afraid of death. I actually don't want such a person to die."

In the original plot, Lao Lai impeached Fan Xian, impeached Li Chengze, then impeached the Supervisory Council, and finally even impeached Emperor Qing over the Embrace the Moon Brothel incident.

Ultimately, Emperor Qing directly had Lao Lai beaten to death with a rod.

Of course, the main reason was that Lao Lai had a bit of personal connection with Fan Xian, whom Emperor Qing had designated as his solitary minister.

But this time, Lao Lai personally investigated Li Chengze. If he were to still impeach the Supervisory Council and His Majesty, he would likely still meet a tragic end.

Li Chang'an could already imagine that Lao Lai would definitely say that Emperor Qing's connivance in the Second Young Master's struggle for succession led to the Imperial Treasury's smuggling.

He might even add, "In the major case of Imperial Treasury smuggling, Your Majesty is the primary culprit!"

Although everything Lao Lai said was true, he was also walking on the edge of Emperor Qing's patience.

"Teng Zijing, among the officials Lao Lai has recommended over the years, have any been involved in smuggling or corruption?"

Teng Zijing replied, "Yes, there are two who happen to be under the Second Young Master, and they should have already been investigated."

Li Chang'an said to Jing Ni, "Take this token and go find Lin Ruofu. Prepare a memorial to impeach Lao Lai, writing it as severely as possible."

"If Lao Lai still insists on being stubborn, impeach him at the critical moment!"

Li Chang'an's downfall of Li Chengze was to save him from the tragic fate of being a whetstone.

Li Chang'an's impeachment of Lao Lai was to save him from the tragic fate of being beaten to death.

"Everyone, although I constantly scheme against others, it's all for their own good. I truly have it tough."

Jing Ni, Wang Qinian, and others said in unison, convinced, "Your Highness is benevolent!"