The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 1151 - 1130 Evidence

Chapter 1151: Chapter 1130 Evidence

Seeing Manbao dash towards the grand hall, the Fifth Prince felt as if a bolt of lightning had struck him on a clear day. It took him a while to regain his composure, then he bolted to chase after her.

Ji Hao also chased after them.

Upon seeing this, Changyu turned to the stunned Mingda and said, "You take your time, I’ll go see what’s happening."

Then she took off running to follow them.

The Sixth Prince became excited, and when he was about to join the chase, Mingda stopped him. She turned to look at Yin Huo and Bai Erlang, who were standing by.

Yin Huo’s face was expressionless, and Bai Erlang’s eyes were tearful, yet neither pursued Manbao.

Mingda did not know what Manbao intended to do but understood that whatever it was could not be good; otherwise, she would not have sent Yin Huo and Bai Erlang out of the palace in advance.

Mingda held back the Sixth Prince, asking him to wait a bit longer. It wasn’t until the palanquin arrived that she said to Yin Huo and Bai Erlang, "You may go now, they will take you to the palace gate."

Yin Huo nodded and pulled Bai Erlang onto the palanquin.

Nearby, Li Yunfeng dusted off her clothes and glanced at them disdainfully, "Leaving the palace to summon help at a time like this? Hah, do you think you can manage?"

Bai Erlang shot her a hateful glare but bit his lip and said nothing.

The eunuchs carrying the palanquin hustled towards the palace entrance.

Li Yunfeng did not want to look too disheveled when she went to the grand hall; after all, she merely struck a commoner. She didn’t see it as a significant matter since she dared to disturb the Imperial Ancestral Mother’s birthday feast, she suspected she might be dragged away before even reaching the grand hall.

Thus, she wasn’t the least bit worried, as she turned and took Qiu Ye’s hand to go get cleaned up and change her clothes first.

Manbao ran towards the grand hall, taking the front route instead of the back this time.

The Fifth Prince thought he could quickly catch up to Manbao, but to his surprise, he could not; she was too fast.

But he reckoned that probably she would be stopped before the front hall, wouldn’t she?

Given her untidy appearance, running through the palace.

However, to his amazement, she made it to the grand hall without hindrance, and closely behind her, the Fifth Prince, Ji Hao, and Princess Changyu, without time to ponder, also rushed in.

Manbao walked step by step to kneel beside Bai Shan, reviewing the evidence she had stored in her space during that time. Then she took a deep breath, lifted her head and looked up at the Emperor and the Empress Dowager above.

Now that it had come to this, she thought she might as well speak out straightforwardly. If they decide to lock them up while they slowly gather evidence, who knows what might happen?

Only if the evidence they provided was substantial enough would their chances of survival be greater.

Manbao reached into her bosom and pulled out a ledger, saying, "Your Majesty, this is a ledger that County Magistrate Bai brought out from Yizhou City twelve years ago. It is evidence of the Prince of Yizhou’s embezzlement from the funds for the repair of the Qianwei Weir."

The Empress Dowager lifted her eyelids to glance at her and asked, "Aren’t you a doctor? How come you have these things with you?"

Tears welled up in Manbao’s eyes, but she defiantly held up the ledger and said, "I am a doctor, but I also bear a grudge of filial bereavement against the Prince of Yizhou."

Manbao was actually hoping she would ask. Without waiting for the Emperor to stop her, she rattled off, "Twelve years ago, County Magistrate Bai found out that the Prince of Yizhou was plotting a rebellion and fled with the evidence. He happened upon my parents on the way and entrusted them with it. However, my parents too did not escape the Prince of Yizhou’s assassination, yet they managed to hide the evidence, which we found only recently."

The Emperor signaled Gu Zhong to take the ledger.

The Empress Dowager said, "The matter of Yizhou’s flood disaster has already been concluded. It was the greed and corruption of the former military governor and governor of Yizhou, and the Prince of Yizhou was merely deceived. You troublemakers base your accusations against the Prince of Yizhou on mere rumors..."

Manbao then reached into her bosom and took out another booklet, saying, "This is the account book for the Prince of Yizhou’s private iron mine. It only records the production of the iron mine over the course of two years, twelve years ago, yet the output was enough to supply the weapons and equipment for a whole troop. And now, twelve years have passed."

Not only the Emperor, but even the ministers couldn’t help but have their pupils contract.

The Prince of Yizhou finally bypassed the desk and came out, lifting his robe and kneeling on the ground, saying, "Your Majesty, I have been wronged!"

Manbao glanced at him, reached into her bosom, and took out another account book, "Your Majesty, this is an account book from twelve years ago detailing grain purchases from various places by the Prince of Yizhou. From this book, we can estimate the size of the private army he was breeding back then."

The Emperor stared at her chest, really wanting to know how she could stuff these thick account books into her bosom without making it apparent.

No, weren’t they here to celebrate his birthday at the palace?

Could it be that they had hit it off with him and also wanted to lodge a complaint today?

As the Emperor was deep in thought, the Prince of Yizhou turned his head and sneered at them, "Things from twelve years ago, you sure know how to pick the right time to frame me. The people from twelve years ago are long gone; you can slander me however you like."

Manbao then glanced at him, reached into her sleeve, and pulled out a letter, saying, "Your Majesty, this young girl here has a letter of accusation written to County Magistrate Bai by one of the Prince of Yizhou’s staff. It was because of this letter that County Magistrate Bai found out that the Prince of Yizhou was breeding a private army."

Manbao curled her lips and said, "And the staff member who turned from darkness to light did not just leave behind this letter of accusation; there are also letters of correspondence between the Prince of Yizhou and some rich merchants, high officials, and nobles. County Magistrate Bai and my parents are dead, but those people are not."

The Emperor flipped through the account book in his hands, looked up at Zhou Man for a good while, and gestured to Gu Zhong to get it.

Gu Zhong once again came down to take the item and stepped forward to hand it to the Emperor.

Manbao reached into her sleeve and took out a bundle of letters, "These letters are the evidence that County Magistrate Bai had collected twelve years ago. I have brought them all to the palace this time."

The Emperor: ...

The ministers were also stunned, turning their eyes toward the Prince of Yizhou, who had lost all color in his face.

Manbao seemed to have a gleam in her eyes as she stared at the Emperor, lifting the letters in her hand a little higher.

The Emperor looked helplessly at Gu Zhong.

Gu Zhong went down to take them.

The Emperor opened a letter to read it. The contents were exactly the same, but the handwriting was slightly immature and the imitation wasn’t very good; even the paper wasn’t aged. Clearly, they just wanted to copy one, not to add evidence.

He thought so, the original evidence was with him, how could they have another copy?

The Emperor sighed, and in different people’s ears, that sigh took on different meanings.

Wei Zhi and Lord Tang looked at each other, of course knowing that the evidence Zhou Man had presented must be fake, not able to withstand close scrutiny in the great hall. Both immediately stepped forward and knelt down, "We implore Your Majesty to thoroughly investigate this matter."

The other ministers also came to their senses, stepping forward and kneeling, "We implore Your Majesty to thoroughly investigate this matter."

Still standing in the great hall, the Fifth Prince, Ji Hao, and Princess Changyu watched everything in stunned silence. Weren’t they just in a fight?

Why doesn’t anyone ask about the fight between Zhou Man and Li Yunfeng?

The Empress Dowager gripped the armrest of her chair tightly, propping her head with her hand and wailing, "Ah, my head..."

The senior palace maid attending to the Empress Dowager immediately cried out in alarm, "Empress Dowager—"