Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 725 - 600: Li Xuan’s Dereliction of Duty (Asking for Monthly Tickets)_1

Chapter 725: Chapter 600: Li Xuan’s Dereliction of Duty (Asking for Monthly Tickets)_1

When Li Xuan received the imperial decree from Jingtai Emperor, there was no surprise at all.

After all, the momentum created by Prince Yi, Yu Jianshen was already strong, assisted by Gao Gu and Shang Hong.

Even Chen Xun and Shaobao Yu Jie had once secretly sent people to sound him out, hoping that Li Xuan would take over the Golden Knife Case to stabilize the country.

For a while, there was an atmosphere in the court of ’if Li Xuan doesn’t step up, what will happen to the people?’

Li Xuan just sighed secretly, thinking that this troublesome matter had ultimately fallen into his lap.

Li Xuan had Li Dalu place the imperial decree in the ancestral hall for worship, and then he asked the eunuch Wang Chuanhua, the leader of Duzhi Bureau who had delivered the decree to him: "Apart from the decree, has His Majesty given any other orders?"

Wang Chuanhua immediately clasped his fists: "His Majesty just asked this slave to pass on the message that Marquis Guanjun, you only need to handle the case in accordance with the law. As stated in the decree, you can make decisions on all matters concerning the Golden Knife Case;

All personnel from the Xiuyiwei, the inner Jishi Institute, the three law Divisions, Senglu Division, Daolu Division, etc. can be used at your disposal. You can arrest officials ranked below 3rd-rank involved in the case without seeking permission.

Any civil and military official who obstructs the case is considered treasonous. Marquis Guanjun, rest assured and proceed. This decree has been approved by the Cabinet."

——Under normal circumstances, the cabinet would never agree to grant Li Xuan such power by Jingtai Emperor.

However, at this point, Gao Gu and others were just hoping that Jingtai Emperor would soon agree for Li Xuan to investigate the case, so they didn’t barter much.

Li Xuan’s eyes were already gleaming with excitement and joy, "Please convey my message to His Majesty, I will do my best in handling the Golden Knife Case, and I will not disappoint His Majesty."

Wang Chuanhua found it strange that he used the term ’do my best’, but then he thought that perhaps the Marquis of Guanjin had misspoke.

The Hufa of Neo-Confucianism, the presiding officer of the faith, had made such a slip-up——

Afterward, he went back to the palace with a hint of joy, replying to the Emperor according to Li Xuan’s words.

Wang Chuanhua also had high hopes for Marquis Guanjun, hoping that the Golden Knife Case can be resolved as soon as possible to calm the unease among government and civilians and to have the villains pay the price as soon as possible.

However, less than fifteen days later, Wang Chuanhua was stunned because Li Xuan, who was in charge of the Golden Knife Case, was once again summoned by the Emperor.

Jingtai Emperor was asking Xiuyiwei Dudu Tongzhi Zuo Daoxing with a strange facial expression: "You’re saying that Li Xuan did nothing after he took over the case? He hasn’t interrogated even one suspect and he hasn’t opened any case files?"

"Indeed!" Zuo Daoxing’s face looked strange: "I can confirm that the case file delivered by Qianhu Lu was exactly the same as before without a change, and it’s gathered a layer of dust."

Jingtai Emperor frowned in confusion, "Then what about ’The Eunuch in Charge of Nan Palace,’ Ruan Lang? What is his condition?"

Zuo Daoxing gave a wry smile and replied truthfully: "This man was kept under our guard at Xiuyiwei, and Marquis Guanjin has not met him face to face. But Marquis Guanjin did give orders for us to watch him carefully, to not let him come to any harm or allow anyone to contact him.

Marquis Guanjin even invited a famous doctor from Jiangnan Clinic to look after his health and requested many good medicines from Yuyao Bureau. He is much better now than he was ten days ago."

Just before Li Xuan took over, Ruan Lang had been tortured by the brocade clothed Qianhu Lu Zhong to the point of death.

This palace eunuch was tough. Despite being tortured to the extreme, he still did not spill the beans.

Ruan Lang not only insisted that the ’Dari Golden Knife’ was planted by Lu Zhong, but he also firmly denied that the True Emperor Zhengtong had ordered him to liaise with internal and external officials.

Even when the Xiuyiwei asked experts to perform soul searching on Ruan Lang, there were no results.

They didn’t get any information out of him. Instead, Ruan Lang was tortured to near death.

This was also the reason why Jingtai Emperor agreed to let Li Xuan handle the case.

Simply because there had been no decisive breakthrough in the Golden Knife case so far.

Even though Xiuyiwei Qianhu Lu Zhong, who was in charge of the case, got a confession from several of Ruan Lang’s close attendants ten days ago, it couldn’t get rid of the suspicion of ’forced confession.’

Thus, there’s a certain wave of doubt in the court regarding the case.

Jingtai Emperor frowned, somewhat puzzled for a while: "Minister Li has always been intelligent, and his methods of handling cases are often innovative and unexpected. Maybe he has a different approach, maybe he don’t need to interrogate the suspects."

"Regarding this, I’m not sure." Zuo Daoxing shook his head: "But Your Majesty, I have been paying close attention to this case, and I have been watching Marquis Guanjun all this while.

To my knowledge, during these fifteen days, Li Xuan spends half of his time giving lectures during the day, and the other half with women. His main body spent two days with Xue Yunrou practicing taoist techniques, two days dealing with cases with Luo Yan; two days on a tour of the Yellow River with Ao Shuying, dealing with law-breaking members of the dragon clan in the capacity of Zhiling of Dragon;

He also discussed state affairs with the Princess seven times. Five of these times they were so engrossed in discussing national policies that they forgot about time and Li Xuan had to stay to dine with Her Highness——"

Noticing Jingtai Emperor’s strange expression, Zuo Daoxing quickly changed his tone, "In short, looking at the whereabouts of Marquis Guanjun, he should have no time for the case. As for his Second Mind, it spends most of its time dealing with routine duties at the Central Army’s Duanshiguan Yamen and Liudao Division."

The Jingtai Emperor was even more puzzled, wondering, ’What on earth is my Marquis of Guanjun up to?’

Has he become lazy or arrogant after his numerous remarkable achievements? Does he have anything in his mind now except for women?

The Jingtai Emperor couldn’t help but ponder, "What about the Empress Dowager and the True Emperor? What’s their situation? Has the control loosened?"

"No, that’s not the case." Zuo Daoxing thoughtfully replied. "On the contrary, the Marquis of Guanjun has further tightened the lockdown on the Nan Palace and Ciqing Palace. After taking over this case, his Second Mind has been visiting the Nan Palace and Ciqing Palace almost daily at unpredictable times.

In addition, the Marquis of Guanjun recently recruited a sub-heavenly level spell cultivator named Lu Xue. He intends to apply for the identity of a Baihu of the Xiuyiwei for him, enabling Lu Xue to guard the Ciqing Palace regularly."

"Lu Xue?"

Seeing the strangeness on the Jingtai Emperor’s face, he burst out laughing, saying, "Since he’s a sub-heavenly level expert, the mere Baihu position is far beneath him. You can give him a deputy Qianhu position."

Then the Jingtai Emperor turned his gaze to the chief eunuch of the Duzhi Bureau, Wang Chuanhua, "Tell me exactly what did the Marquis of Guanjun tell you at the time."

Wang Chuanhua was completely at a loss but still respectfully answered, "The Marquis of Guanjun said that he would do everything within his power and would never disappoint Your Majesty."

"Do everything within his power and never let me down?"

As the Jingtai Emperor murmured these words, his eyes brightened.

※※※※

At the same time, within the Forbidden City, Deputy Prime Minister Gao Gu stated decisively in his study in the Wenyuan Pavilion, "Well played, Marquis of Guanjun! He wants to drag this case out, with no intention of investigating at all!"

The Minister of Revenue, Xiao Ci, was also present. With his eyes half-closed, he hit the table in admiration, "Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!"

The Minister of Works, also in the room, was slower to react and asked thoughtfully, "What’s so brilliant about it?"

"The brilliance lies in dragging out this case. It’s greatly beneficial for the imperial faction."

The Minister of Revenue, Xiao Ci, then sighed and lamented, "Nowadays, the Empress Dowager and the True Emperor are trapped deep within the palace, not being able to move, while we, the old ministers of the Zhengtong era, have to swallow our anger and compromise before the case is unresolved. Isn’t this a great situation for the emperor? Also, what good would it do for the emperor if the case is solved? Let Prince Xiang and Wang Wen dominate the court? Then how would the emperor deal with the Empress Dowager and the True Emperor? Would he bear the stigma of matricide and fratricide? If he is reluctant to kill, he can only tighten control, isn’t that the same as now?"

"The key issue is..." Deputy Prime Minister Gao Gu said with a bitter smile, "I actually feel that if this situation continues, it is not unacceptable, at least better than the worst-case scenario of a broken net."

The Minister of Works was stunned when he heard this. He gradually understood, "But he can’t keep doing so, right? If the Golden Knife Case doesn’t have any results, wouldn’t the Inspectorate and the Jishizhong of the Six Ministries speak up for the Empress Dowager and the True Emperor?"

The Minister of Revenue, Xiao Ci, shook his head, "The problem is Prince Xiang. How could he allow the Empress Dowager and the True Emperor to escape from this case? He will never allow the Golden Knife Case to be overturned. But if Prince Xiang intends to take over this case, then we — "

"We will certainly not allow that to happen!"

Gao Gu’s face showed signs of helplessness, "That’s what makes him smart. Until this balance is broken, there’s never going to be a conclusion to this Golden Knife case.

Moreover, I’m regretting half a month ago when I suggested that decree. Now I hope this Marquis of Guanjun can consider the big picture and not abuse his power."

Upon hearing this, the color drained from the Minister of Revenue Xiao Ci’s face.

Before he could say anything, a Neishi from the Duzhi Bureau walked in, "I’ve been ordered by the Regent Princess to inform you all. She hopes that the cabinet could clear all the backlog of memorandums since August within five days."

Gao Gu and Xiao Ci looked at each other. They knew that this was a warning from the Regent Princess.

The Golden Knife Case would temporarily come to an end without compromising their positions. The cabinet ministers could now focus entirely on administering affairs and stabilizing the Court.

At the same moment, in the residence of Liang Heng, Marquis of Wuqing.

Iron-faced man was rubbing his temples, "This is troublesome. I didn’t expect that, as a result of their competition, such an oversight could occur in the cabinet. Now, the threat posed by Marquis of Guanjun to us could be tenfold."

Liang Heng looked at him, puzzled, "Mr. Iron, why do you say that?"

The Iron-faced man sighed, "I’ve read the government newspaper from Tongzheng Division. The decree issued by the Court states that during the investigation, all personnel from organizations such as Xiuyiwei, inner Jishi Institute, three law Divisions, Senglu Division, Daolu Division can be freely summoned by Marquis of Guanjun. Any official of the 3rd-rank and below that is involved in the case can be arrested by the Marquis of Guanjun without asking for permission. Any civil or military official resisting the investigation would be deemed as rebellion."

He then sighed lightly, "This means that, as long as the Golden Knife Case has not concluded, he will hold these powers. He can command all forces from Xiuyiwei and the inner Jishi Institute, and use the Golden Knife Case as a reason to arrest any civilian or military official of the 3rd-rank or below."

This meant that if Li Xuan was willing, he could now arrest and interrogate any person, including Liang Heng, Sun Jizong, or Iron-faced man, without seeking approval from the Emperor or the cabinet.

The extent of his powers was not inferior to that of Wang Zhen in the past.