Zhang San, please behave yourself!
Chapter 432 - 407: All Arranged by Li Moxian!

Chapter 432: Chapter 407: All Arranged by Li Moxian!

As Emperor Kaihuang walked in, everyone stood up and bowed to pay their respects.

While Zhang San was paying his respects, he turned to the divine beast Xiezhi beside him and said, "Come on, give a hand salute, bow a little."

Emperor Kaihuang glanced at Zhang San and said coldly, "Enough! It once chased after me to bite!"

Zhang San chuckled and replied, "It must be because it likes you, Your Majesty, just playing with you. Look at Minister Shen, my Xiezhi barely even glances at him."

As the topic was brought to Shen Wei, Emperor Kaihuang turned his head to look at Shen Wei and then coldly sneered.

"I heard if I didn’t come, your Ministry of Punishment wouldn’t be able to proceed with trials, right?" he asked.

Upon hearing these words, Shen Wei was so frightened that he immediately knelt on the ground.

"It is my incompetence."

Emperor Kaihuang glanced at the kneeling Shen Wei and then at Zhang San, who was trying to figure out how to make the Xiezhi bow, and sighed helplessly.

He really liked the nature of this youngster Zhang San, obviously someone with great ability.

But he had to admit, that ability was built upon causing trouble.

Having been in the Capital for only a short while, he won’t mention how much trouble he has caused Legalism and the Ministry of Punishment, even the Crown Prince has been dealt with by him several times.

However, this time the Crown Prince did indeed smarten up, knowing to let Yang Hongming take the lead while he learned not to expose himself to danger.

"Zhang San! Now, in this Great Sui, it seems that only I can judge you, right?"

Zhang San, with a jesting expression, replied to Emperor Kaihuang, "What are you talking about, Senior Brother? You are also a disciple of Pharaoh, and I am a disciple of Pharaoh, too. Whether it’s in name or secret transmission, behind closed doors, we’re all family. If Senior Brother has anything to ask, just ask! I’ll tell you everything!"

Emperor Kaihuang was about to ask, then it dawned on him, Zhang San had damn well included him in the scheme too.

"So to judge you, I have to recuse myself, huh?" he said.

Zhang San, still with a playful smile, said, "We are fellow disciples, Senior Brother. Why be so serious about judging or not judging? Just ask, Brother, whatever you ask, I will answer."

Emperor Kaihuang realized Zhang San was determined to use the judicial avoidance system to dodge everything.

After all, if you don’t judge Zhang San, you can’t convict him.

If you can’t convict, then it’s the same as innocence!

The wishful thinking here was louder than the bell tolls from the Drum Tower.

"Since I can’t judge, no matter, I am the Emperor, and I still have the power to convict directly, right?" he said.

Zhang San’s smile suddenly froze, and he looked at Emperor Kaihuang in a panic.

"That... works! You are Emperor Kaihuang, whatever you wish, your servant will accept it!"

Seeing Zhang San’s reaction, Emperor Kaihuang was taken aback and asked, "Aren’t you afraid I’ll sentence you to death?"

"Emperor Kaihuang, you are really joking. I heard that whoever becomes the Emperor, famous leaders like Yao, Shun, and Yu, like Wen and Jing, they are all so good! Would they convict without listening to someone’s defense?"

Emperor Kaihuang, upon hearing Zhang San’s words, noted that while it was all flattery, somehow Zhang San’s method made it feel comfortable nonetheless.

"Alright, I’ll give you the chance for one sentence. Remember, just one sentence."

Zhang San immediately bowed and said, "Chief Li Moxian of the Town Martial Office, he can prove my innocence!"

Emperor Kaihuang saw that Li Moxian was indeed not present, so he immediately sent out an order for someone to find Li Moxian.

Finally, after an hour, someone at Qu Pond Fang, a famous fishing spot, found the Chief of the Town Martial Office.

And so, Li Moxian came along with his fishing rod.

"Li Moxian, did you know someone in your Town Martial Office joined the Heavenly Punishment Sect?"

Li Moxian turned his head to look at Zhang San and asked in a low voice, "Did you confess?"

Zhang San looked at Li Moxian, baffled.

Hadn’t Big Sister said that Chief Li was overprotective?

What was going on now?

"I said to wait for you to come."

"Oh."

Li Moxian nodded, then turned to Emperor Kaihuang and said with a bow, "It’s not convenient to discuss this in front of everyone. Emperor Kaihuang, shall we go somewhere private to talk?"

Emperor Kaihuang watched Li Moxian bow, the fishing line from his rod nearly swinging around, and looked around at the other people with a frown and a grimace.

"Minister Shen, arrange a room," he ordered.

Shen Wei nodded, then asked quietly, "Should I also follow along?"

Emperor Kaihuang gave Li Moxian a look, and Li Moxian said with a smile, "Minister Shen, if you dare to listen, just come! What’s there to fear! After all, if news leaks out later, it definitely won’t be me or Emperor Kaihuang who spread it."

"I’ll find a room for the two of you," Shen Wei replied.

Soon, Shen Wei led Emperor Kaihuang and Li Moxian to a room at the back of the Ministry of Punishment. He closed the door and was just about to set up a sound-proofing formation outside when he heard Li Moxian call out, "Minister Shen, trouble you to bring in all the accusations and physical evidence against Zhang San, thank you."

Shen Wei had to obediently play the errand boy.

Soon, everything was laid out in the room. Li Moxian wasn’t in a hurry to speak and let Emperor Kaihuang look first.

Emperor Kaihuang glanced at the testimonies and then the physical evidence, sneered, and said, "This evidence isn’t ironclad. But taken together, it could actually corroborate that Zhang San is a member of the Heavenly Punishment Sect. The only question is whether or not he is the Saint Heir of the sect."

He finished speaking and looked at Li Moxian, only to find Li Moxian wiping his fishing hook with the tabletop cloth.

"Li Moxian! Zhang San asked you to come and defend him, what are you doing?"

Only then did Li Moxian realize.

"Oh. Defend? There’s not much to defend. Zhang San is from the Heavenly Punishment Sect," he said.

After speaking, Li Moxian continued cleaning his fish hook.

At this moment, Emperor Kaihuang felt like his brain was about to burn up.

"What the hell? He’s from the Heavenly Punishment Sect?"

"Yes!"

"You knew?"

"Knew it, yes!"

"Then you still dared to keep him around... Wait, he’s Pharaoh’s closed-door disciple, how could he possibly be from the Heavenly Punishment Sect? What the hell is going on here?"

Li Moxian breathed on the fishhook and continued polishing it.

"I arranged for him to get in. Well... It wasn’t exactly me who arranged it. He was already a disciple of Pharaoh by then. Principal Officer Ximen and Principal Officer Sun thought Zhang San was capable, so they gave him the task of joining the Heavenly Punishment Sect."

Upon hearing this, Emperor Kaihuang looked at the tokens and calculations from the Heavenly Punishment Sect among the physical evidence and started to understand what was going on.

"So, Zhang San is connected to the Floating Corpse Case, and you knew about this too?"

"I didn’t know that."

As soon as Li Moxian spoke up, he caught Emperor Kaihuang off guard again.

"However, the names of the Demon Sect Followers we captured from the Heavenly Punishment Sect were provided by Zhang San. So we had been watching them for a long time, it’s just that on the day we captured them, the Crown Prince’s men were also there."

After thinking it over, Emperor Kaihuang asked, "Some of the people arrested by the Town Martial Office said Zhang San is the Saint Heir of the Heavenly Punishment Sect, especially that Ximen Chuixu who was caught by Zhang San later on. They all said the same. What do you make of this?"

Having finished polishing the fishhook, Li Moxian put it away in his Storage Ring and smiled.

"Your Majesty, think about it! If you were a member of the Heavenly Punishment Sect and you were caught by the Town Martial Office, wouldn’t you want the people who caught you dead?"

Emperor Kaihuang pressed on, "So you think that Zhang San being framed as the Saint Heir of the Heavenly Punishment Sect is a false accusation?"

Li Moxian shook his head and said, "Whether it’s a false accusation, I’m not sure. But I have an address here, Your Majesty can send someone to take a look."

Emperor Kaihuang immediately went out and called someone to thoroughly investigate the place.

After sending Cao Demeng, Emperor Kaihuang came to the realization, I’m the Emperor, you’re the Minister, how come you’re handing me notes and telling me to get people to do things?

So after he came back, he sat down and glared at Li Moxian furiously.

"Your Majesty, anger harms the body, please take care of your dragon physique."

"You know you made me angry?"

"Didn’t know! What did I do to make Your Majesty angry?"

Hearing this, Emperor Kaihuang became even angrier.

This person has high cultivation and strong abilities, could it be because his brain doesn’t work like normal people’s?

An hour later, Cao Demeng returned with men and materials, reporting to Emperor Kaihuang.

"Reporting to Emperor Kaihuang, we found a large number of records inside a warehouse in the West Market, all of which contain..."

"Go ahead. That’s the address Li Moxian gave."

"Inside were intelligence materials about Court Officials and noble families from the Capital, especially the crimes committed by them and their family members, all recorded in detail."

Emperor Kaihuang waved his hand, signaling Cao Demeng to leave, and then glanced at Li Moxian before asking, "What are these materials?"

"This is intelligence that Zhang San gathered while contacting them under the guise of being a Demon Cult Follower from the Heavenly Punishment Sect. He couldn’t transfer all of it out, so he made every effort to make a copy. He hid it. I was originally planning to find an opportunity to tell Your Majesty and commend Zhang San for his service."

"But after all, Zhang San is now the only Military Chief of the Town Martial Office who is not at the Spiritual Platform Realm, and I worry that any further rewards might make him arrogant."

"However, Your Majesty, if you were Zhang San, and suppose you were the Saint Heir of the Heavenly Punishment Sect, would you make a copy of so many important intelligence materials collected by the Heavenly Punishment Sect over so many years in the Capital, and hand them over to the Town Martial Office?"

Emperor Kaihuang thought about it, and indeed.

If Zhang San really was the Saint Heir of the Heavenly Punishment Sect, he surely wouldn’t do such a thing just to gain trust!

At this time, Emperor Kaihuang looked again at the testimonies of Ximen Chuixu and the other Demon Cult Followers from the Heavenly Punishment Sect and snorted angrily, "Slander! All slander! These damned Demon Cult Followers of the Heavenly Punishment Sect nearly made me lose a loyal subject!"

Seeing that Emperor Kaihuang believed him, Li Moxian let out a sigh of relief.

It wasn’t in vain that White Shadow had told him everything about Zhang San and then offered to keep a copy of all the materials she duplicated using her Shadow Trick.

It had come in handy.

"Emperor Kaihuang, actually from the beginning, you were too focused on these so-called testimonies and physical evidence. Just think, if Zhang San really was the Saint Heir of the Heavenly Punishment Sect, would Pharaoh take him as a disciple? You probably know more about Pharaoh’s disciples than I."

Emperor Kaihuang knew that among Pharaoh’s four disciples, one was involved in smuggling and escaping; even now, someone was being suppressed in the deepest part of the Ministry of Punishment’s death cell.

With Pharaoh’s insight, how could he possibly take the Saint Heir of the Heavenly Punishment Sect as his own disciple, his closed-door disciple at that!

Has Pharaoh gone mad?

Thinking this, Emperor Kaihuang smiled and nodded, then asked Li Moxian, "What do you plan to do about this matter now?"

Just then, there were knocks at the door.

Emperor Kaihuang said coldly, "Come in."

The person outside kept knocking.

"Come in!" Emperor Kaihuang raised his voice, but the person outside kept knocking.

Li Moxian quietly reminded him, "Your Majesty, Shen Wei must have set a soundproof barrier. They can’t hear outside; you’d better just go open the door."

Emperor Kaihuang had just gotten halfway up, casting a glance at Li Moxian.

"Are you the Emperor or am I the Emperor? Do I have to open the door myself?"

Li Moxian nodded, took out a fishing rod, and with a flick, opened the door.

Cao Demeng came in, his left cheek bearing a palm print, and reported, "Reporting to Emperor Kaihuang, the Chamber Head of Changle is seeking an audience..."