As Shen Jing's words fell, the crowd immediately erupted in an uproar.
These valuables, they belong to His Majesty?
How could he say something so shameless?
Shen Jing clearly wants to hand these valuables over to His Majesty to escape his crimes!
Emperor Zhou paused slightly, then smiled as he looked at Shen Jing: "You mean, these items were originally gifts that the Yong Country Delegation intended to give to Us, and only because We were too lazy to grant them an audience, they asked you to take these gifts and pass them on to Us?"
This lad is quite clever.
Although no dog would believe such words, it's at least a plausible reason.
"Yes!"
Shen Jing nodded in admission.
"Nonsense! Such words can only fool a three-year-old child!"
Yao Jian angrily rebuked, then slowly knelt to the ground: "This subject knows that His Majesty, out of consideration for his teacher-student relationship with Grand Tutor Su, is unwilling to punish Shen Jing!"
"When my son Yao Xu made a grave mistake years ago, Grand Tutor Su spoke directly in court, stating that the laws of the land could not be violated, even going so far as to admonish with his life!"
"Now that Grand Tutor Su's son-in-law has committed a grave error, if His Majesty blindly shields him, wouldn't that tarnish Grand Tutor Su's reputation?"
"Today, this humble subject shall also emulate Grand Tutor Su, admonishing with his life, and respectfully requests His Majesty to grant Shen Jing death, in order to uphold the court's laws and give an explanation to the people of the world…"
Yao Jian respectfully kowtowed.
Back then, Su Zai had used a righteous and proper reason to force His Majesty to order his own son to be dealt with according to the law!
Now, he would use the same method to ensure his son-in-law met a terrible end!
"This son is also willing to admonish with his life, requesting that Imperial Father not chill the hearts of all civil and military officials due to personal feelings!"
Ye Qing also knelt down.
"This subject is also willing to admonish with his life!"
"Respectfully requesting His Majesty to punish Shen Jing for the crime of treason!"
"This subject is also willing to admonish with his life…"
As Yao Jian and Ye Qing took the lead in kneeling, everyone else followed suit.
Looking at the bowed head of Ye Qing, Emperor Zhou's heart was suddenly filled with rage.
This rebellious son!
He made him kneel in the Imperial Ancestral Temple for a day, reading for a day, and it all went into a dog's belly!
To win over Yao Jian, he even went so far as to pressure him with these ministers!
Just as Emperor Zhou was seething with anger, Shen Jing suddenly said with a chuckle: "Chancellor Yao, please don't misunderstand, His Majesty is not trying to shield me! These are indeed gifts presented to His Majesty by Yong Country, and I have proof here!"
Proof?
Yao Jian looked up, staring at Shen Jing in surprise.
Under Yao Jian's gaze, Shen Jing took out the written receipt Gao Yin had given him, "Please present it to His Majesty, Chief Steward Yu!"
Yu Rang hurriedly stepped forward, took the receipt from Shen Jing's hand, and handed it to Emperor Zhou.
Looking at the contents of the receipt, Emperor Zhou's face twitched violently, and he secretly cursed Shen Jing for being a scoundrel.
Thirty thousand taels of gold!
He's truly something!
He's going to ruin those people in the Ministry of Justice!
Emperor Zhou took a deep breath, then angrily handed the receipt to Yu Rang, "Let them all open their eyes and see clearly! Lest you say We are shielding Shen Jing!"
"Yes!"
Yu Rang took the receipt and brought it before the crowd.
Seeing the contents of the receipt, everyone's expressions immediately changed.
"Fake, this must be fake!"
Fu Yan said in exasperation.
"It has Gao Yin's great seal on it!"
Shen Jing sneered: "If Minister Fu thinks this is fake, he can ask His Majesty to produce the treaty signed with Yong Country and compare the great seal on it!"
"That makes sense!"
Emperor Zhou nodded, immediately ordering someone to bring the treaty.
Soon, the treaty was delivered to Emperor Zhou's hand.
Emperor Zhou impatiently waved his hand, "We're too lazy to compare, you all do it yourselves!"
Everyone was flustered and quickly compared the great seals.
Identical!
It's real!
It's truly Gao Yin's great seal!
In an instant, everyone's faces turned ashen, and their hearts were filled with panic.
They had calculated everything, but they hadn't expected Shen Jing to have such a trick up his sleeve!
Damn it!
How were they going to deal with this now?
Shen Jing knew the time was right and coldly questioned: "Minister Fu, I'm very curious, of the gifts Gao Yin gave to His Majesty, there were thirty thousand taels of gold alone, so why is there only this much here with His Majesty? Where did the rest of the gold go?"
What?
Thirty thousand taels of gold?
Fu Yan's face changed, and he quickly looked at the receipt again.
He had only been focused on the great seal before and hadn't carefully read the contents of the receipt.
When his gaze fell upon the words "thirty thousand taels of gold," cold sweat instantly covered his forehead.
Fu Yan forced himself to remain calm and questioned Shen Jing in return: "The people from the Ministry of Justice only found this much wealth in your room, this official would like to ask you, where did the rest of the gold go?"
"That's strange."
Shen Jing frowned, "Everyone at the Four Directions Inn can testify that during my reception of the Yong Country Delegation, this official never left the Four Directions Inn for half a step! Even when I escorted the Yong Country Delegation out of the city today, I didn't carry anything out!"
"It was clearly thirty thousand taels of gold, but by the time it reached His Majesty, it was only about two thousand taels!"
"You thought that because I didn't have a written receipt, you could casually embezzle the gifts presented to His Majesty by Yong Country?"
"Even if you embezzled, you embezzled too ruthlessly, didn't you?"
Shen Jing finally launched his counterattack.
Listening to Shen Jing's words, Fu Yan couldn't help but get angry: "Nonsense! You clearly hid the gold yourself!"
"Do you even believe that yourself?"
Shen Jing smiled, "My room at the Four Directions Inn was thoroughly searched by you, where would I hide it? If I were to hide it, would I still need Gao Yin to write a receipt?"
"You…"
Faced with Shen Jing's rebuttal, Fu Yan was immediately speechless.
A trap!
He understood!
This was a trap Shen Jing had set for them long ago!
The news of him accepting a huge bribe was most likely also spread by him!
Shen Jing had laid a colossal trap for them!
Now, it wasn't a question of whether or not to punish Shen Jing, but a question of where the rest of the gold went!
Even if that gold didn't exist, there had to be an explanation!
Otherwise, it would be like mud falling into one's crotch!
"You'd better think carefully about the whereabouts of the rest of the gold!"
Shen Jing smiled, then looked at Yao Jian: "Chancellor Yao, you haven't answered my question yet! Did His Majesty accept bribes and collude with the enemy in treason?"
Listening to Shen Jing's question, Yao Jian couldn't help but curse inwardly.
This little beast's question was too tricky.
No matter whether he answered yes or no, it would be trouble.
"Hmm, We also want to know!"
Seeing that Yao Jian remained silent, Emperor Zhou also spoke up.
Yao Jian could no longer remain silent and bit the bullet, answering: "No!"
"Since it's not, then you were slandering His Majesty earlier?" Shen Jing sneered.
Yao Jian glared at Shen Jing with hatred, then lowered his head in fear, "This humble subject was unaware of the situation beforehand, please forgive me, Your Majesty."
"Forgive you?"
Emperor Zhou's face suddenly fell, "Each of you just now admonished with your lives, forcing Us to harm loyal officials, and now you ask Us for forgiveness?"
Listening to Emperor Zhou's words, those kneeling on the ground became even more anxious.
They miscalculated!
They completely miscalculated!
They never expected Shen Jing to have such a trick up his sleeve!
Just then, a eunuch hurried over, "Reporting to His Majesty, Dali Temple Minister Zhang Ci requests an audience!"
"Grant it!"
Emperor Zhou's voice was cold, as if he was trying to suppress the anger in his heart…
