Chapter 1974: The Commissioner of the Palace City Is in Danger

"You may go back now!" Inside Chuigong Hall, Emperor Liu's voice remained cold and distant, his expression indifferent as he looked down at Wang Ji'en kneeling before him.

Wang Ji'en had come, naturally, to confess his guilt before Emperor Liu, first defining himself as one who had misjudged people and failed in discipline, hoping that Emperor Liu would punish him severely.

However, Emperor Liu's plain expression and cold attitude made Wang Ji'en extremely uneasy—he would rather have the Emperor scold him harshly than experience this kind of "inscrutable imperial will."

Kowtowing solemnly, Wang Ji'en continued his efforts: "Your servant is guilty; I beg Your Majesty to punish me, as a warning to others!"

"Whether you are guilty or not is not for you to decide. The state has its own laws, and the court has its own system!" Emperor Liu's tone was dry and flat.

Wang Ji'en's expression grew more solemn. After a moment of hesitation, he bowed and said: "Reporting to Your Majesty, the criminal official Zhang Jinjie has been taken into custody by your servant. I beg Your Majesty's instruction on how to deal with him."

Hearing this, a trace of seriousness finally entered Emperor Liu's gaze as he glanced at Wang Ji'en. After pondering a moment, he said slowly: "So you've arrested him already! It seems your Palace City Office's self-investigation has confirmed that Zhang Jinjie's crimes are indeed true?"

Hearing Emperor Liu say this, Wang Ji'en's face changed color instantly. Looking up to meet the old Emperor's meaningful gaze, he suddenly realized with a start—he had been too hasty again!

Without even understanding the Emperor's intentions, he had rushed to arrest Zhang Jinjie—this was practically confessing without being asked! However, since things had come to this point, he could only continue along this path. Wang Ji'en said in a sincere tone:

"It is all because your servant failed to govern strictly, was muddle-headed in managing subordinates, allowing him to become so arrogant and unruly, allowing such a person who violates the law and harms the people to appear in the Palace City Office. Your servant regrets this deeply and begs Your Majesty to execute him according to law, to clarify right and wrong for the public."

"I hear that Zhang Jinjie is your most beloved adopted son. Are you planning to sacrifice him for justice?" Emperor Liu reminded him with an unreadable tone.

Wang Ji'en replied almost without hesitation, in a deep voice: "The laws of the state are strict and far outweigh personal feelings. Besides, he deserves what he gets. Your servant failed in his duty to teach him and is already overwhelmed with shame and regret, wishing I could personally deal with him to repay heaven's justice and the state's laws!"

Hearing this, the playful smile at the corners of Emperor Liu's mouth grew more pronounced, but his eyes remained indifferent, without a ripple, giving one a feeling of coldness.

"To have such awareness, you have not disappointed the decades of trust I have placed in you!" Finally, Emperor Liu's tone and demeanor returned to something "normal." He said: "The news has probably already spread. These are your Palace City Office's people. If your office investigates and judges itself, no matter the result, it will be hard to convince the public. Since the man is already in custody, hand him over to the Ministry of Justice for trial!"

"Yes!" Wang Ji'en said in a deep voice without much hesitation.

"Go now! I am tired." Emperor Liu cast one more slightly meaningful glance at Wang Ji'en and said.

"Your servant takes his leave!" This was the second time the Emperor had dismissed him, and Wang Ji'en dared not linger any further.

Leaving Chuigong Hall, Wang Ji'en's steps remained steady. Though his expression was grave, he still appeared composed. Beneath that calm surface, however, his heart was burning with anxiety—worry rose from within, piercing straight to his skull, until his mind was in a daze.

Emperor Liu's reaction was truly hard for him to feel at ease about. For a long time, Wang Ji'en had been both loyal and fearful toward Emperor Liu, but now only fear remained; as for loyalty, he could no longer spare much thought for it.

He had fallen out of favor—Wang Ji'en now clearly recognized this fact. Like a dog that might be abandoned at any moment, pitiful and helpless—such a feeling was extremely hard to bear for a man like Wang Ji'en.

Besides being at a loss, there was endless dread. He wanted to save himself but did not know where to begin. He could only carry a sliver of hope that this storm would pass quickly, that it would end with Zhang Jinjie—but ultimately, that depended on the old Emperor's attitude.

And the result of today's audience with the old Emperor gave Wang Ji'en little reason for confidence. Wang Ji'en was not afraid of attacks from those outside officials, rivals, or enemies—he was only afraid that Emperor Liu had lost trust in him. For a servant, a hound, that was the most desperate situation of all.

Wang Ji'en was also reflecting on how things had come to this pass. He could think and think but found no answer—yet in the end, it all pointed to one thing: it was not that he, Wang Ji'en, had a problem, but that His Majesty had changed.

During this period—or stretching the timeline further, over the past few years—Wang Ji'en had felt as if someone had put a curse on him. Everything went wrong, every step was a mistake, as if everyone was working against him. Gone were the decades of smooth sailing and invincibility he had once enjoyed.

How could there be such a stark contrast? Tracing it to its root, perhaps there was only one answer: all the problems and changes had been brought by the old Emperor.

Thinking of this, Wang Ji'en could not help but shudder. Even his sturdy, powerful legs went weak. Had there not been palace attendants and guards around, he would have slapped himself twice.

How could he harbor such thoughts! Blaming His Majesty? Utterly outrageous!

"****!" Wang Ji'en cursed quietly under his breath and hurried back to the Palace City Office.

The great eunuch secretly swore an oath: if he could weather this crisis smoothly, he would certainly make those troublemakers and petty men who opposed him pay. At this moment, besides worry for his future, Wang Ji'en's heart was filled with a heavy desire for revenge.

Zhang Jinjie was soon taken away. It was Minister of Justice Zhang Xun who personally led men to the Palace City Office to retrieve him, and he conducted the interrogation himself—a sign of how seriously this was being taken. Zhang Xun came from an eminent background; he was the adopted son of the late Duke of Yu, Wei Renpu. With such deep backing, and being shrewd and capable himself, he had risen to a higher office than Wei Xianxin, who had inherited the dukedom.

And as the Zhang Jinjie case entered the normal judicial process according to court procedure, the already unsettled court quickly stirred again. The bureaucrats' attention swiftly shifted from He-Long. Compared to the accumulated problems of He-Long, two thousand li away, the storm in the capital was far more eye-catching—especially when it involved the Palace City Office.

Anyone could see that this situation was different from before. The Palace City Office had been running rampant in the Great Han for over thirty years, and with its accumulated authority, even the highest chancellors dared not take it lightly.

From Qianyou to Kaibao, the Great Han had seen so many major cases and great affairs, so many political upheavals, and in many of them, the hounds of the Palace City Office had been active. People had only ever seen the Palace City Office investigating and arresting others—when had anyone ever seen Palace City Office personnel being taken down, and a core figure like Detective Supervisor Zhang Jinjie at that?

Compared to Xue Che's drum-beating appeal, Zhang Jinjie being taken to the Ministry of Justice for open trial was a far clearer and more definite signal. The rumors and omens all faintly pointed to one thing: His Majesty no longer intended to protect the Palace City Office.

Otherwise, even if Zhang Jinjie's crimes were confirmed, letting the Palace City Office handle it themselves, issuing a notice and explaining things, would have sufficed. There was no need to involve the Ministry of Justice at all.

The Palace City Office and the Wude Office had always been in conflict with the court's judicial system, and there was no doubt that in certain major matters, the two offices' discretionary authority far exceeded that of the Three Judicial Offices.

Now, the situation seemed to be undergoing changes that the "honorable gentlemen" found most welcome. The great "mountain" of the Palace City Office seemed to be growing unstable—it could now be pried loose with effort.

Unsurprisingly, on the very second day after Zhang Jinjie's trial at the Ministry of Justice, dozens of impeachment memorials were submitted to the Hall of State Affairs. Though they came from ordinary court officials and censors, they spoke with one voice, united in outrage, full of momentum.

Though the spearhead still pointed at Zhang Jinjie, anyone with a modicum of political vision understood that the real target was Commissioner of the Palace City Wang Ji'en and the Palace City Office itself. In those spontaneously submitted impeachment memorials, if one replaced Zhang Jinjie's name with Wang Ji'en's or the Palace City Office's, there would be not a hint of incongruity.

For three consecutive days, the number of people submitting impeachment memorials to the Hall of State Affairs grew steadily, nearly doubling, and their weight increased as well. It could be said that half the court had joined this "campaign against Zhang."

Compared to the newly exposed crimes, the framing of the Xue family and the seizure of their property through extermination could even be called trivial. Under the pens of the court officials, a mere Detective Supervisor of the Palace City Office had suddenly become the Great Han's most greedy, most cruel treacherous minister and harsh official.

The court was shaken, everyone looked askance. The Palace City Office was not idle either—under Wang Ji'en's orders, nearly all of its detective clerks and soldiers were dispatched, spying everywhere, swaggering through the streets, even resorting to threats and lawless acts.

On the surface, they were even more rampant than before, and they directly launched targeted retaliation. A flood of evidence of crimes and violations by a large number of officials—the filth and ugliness behind those sanctimonious facades—was exposed to the bone. Basically, whoever impeached Zhang Jinjie got exposed in turn.

How many people's criminal evidence, how much serious illegal behavior, had the Palace City Office accumulated over decades? Perhaps even Wang Ji'en himself did not know without opening the secret archives. With such resources, how could Wang Ji'en and the Palace City Office not be feared?

Wang Ji'en had thoroughly locked horns with the outer court, releasing wave after wave of evidence. The court's situation was like oil poured on fire—boiling over. No one had imagined that a single Zhang Jinjie could provoke a direct confrontation between the Palace City Office and the outer court bureaucrats.

It had to be said that Wang Ji'en's madness and ruthlessness truly frightened quite a few people, especially the followers. Even those behind the scenes who had instigated this could not help but feel some retreat in their hearts—if Wang Ji'en were to self-destruct, the power and impact would be too great for ordinary people to bear.

As the struggle continued, the court's situation fell into a stalemate—but that stalemate was brief. What proceeded smoothly was the trial of Zhang Jinjie, which was perhaps the smoothest of all the major cases the Ministry of Justice had ever handled.

As for the mountain of crimes reported against him, Zhang Jinjie confessed to all of them without reservation, showing not the slightest intention of defending himself. His attitude was entirely: all the guilt, I, Zhang, will bear alone.

Such an outcome was clearly unacceptable to many. And at such a time, the inclinations and attitudes of the upper echelons of power gradually began to show. To achieve their goal, key impetus was needed—something ordinary court officials and censors could not provide. If one wanted to make a move, one's hands could not stay hidden.

Take Minister of Justice Zhang Xun, for example. No matter how readily Zhang Jinjie confessed, he dragged out the trial process, proceeding step by step, interrogating and confirming every single charge, putting on a show of respect for the majesty of the penal code. But what he was dragging out was not the case—it was the development of the situation.

Only when Emperor Liu sent someone to inquire did Zhang Xun, unable to withstand the pressure, finally pronounce judgment and submit the case to the Court of Judicial Review for verification, moving to the next step of the process.

By this point, the Zhang Jinjie case was already a surface issue. How he was sentenced was of no consequence—death sentence or exile, aside from Xue Che, probably no one cared. What the court truly cared about was how this affair would end, and whether it would stop at Zhang Jinjie.

Finally, someone stepped forward to break the fragile balance that Wang Ji'en's ferocity had created. Lü Mengzheng of Luoyang Prefecture submitted an impeachment memorial, directly addressing Emperor Liu and pointing straight at Commissioner of the Palace City Wang Ji'en.

This was a statement that startled the entire court and public. The Governor of Luoyang, who was usually quiet and unassuming, turned out to be the first "worthy man" to step forward and confront Wang Ji'en head-on. For a time, Lü Mengzheng's "righteous spirit" radiated through court and country, with praise for him everywhere.

It was at this point that the storm formally entered a new phase. The true severity of the matter finally revealed itself, and things that had not been visible before gradually surfaced from beneath the water.

First, the formal attack on Commissioner of the Palace City Wang Ji'en had begun; second, the one leading the charge was Lü Mengzheng.

With Emperor Liu residing permanently in the Purple Micro City, the Western Capital was unquestionably the number one prefecture in the realm. As Governor of Luoyang, no matter how low-key Lü Mengzheng usually was in his official conduct, his position in the Great Han court was always special—he always had a place on the power rankings. This was what the capital's special status conferred upon him.

Therefore, such a powerful bureaucrat stepping forward had an enormous demonstrative effect. Within a single day, following Lü Mengzheng's lead, another wave of memorials flew like snowflakes toward Chuigong Hall and Guangzheng Hall—and this time, it was no longer the small-scale skirmishing of before, nor were those stepping forward merely small fry.

Among the ministers of various departments were Minister of Justice Zhang Xun, Minister of Revenue Song Zhun, Salt and Iron Commissioner Fan Min, Right Chief Censor Du Zai, and Vice Minister of Rites Wen Zhongshu, among others.

A host of ministers, whether wielding power or lending their names, seemed to be declaring to the world that the Great Han court and realm were not a place where a single eunuch could stir up trouble, and that his tyranny was something someone dared to challenge. At the same time, they seemed to be conveying their will to Emperor Liu in Chuigong Hall: the eunuch villain Wang Ji'en had incurred the wrath of heaven and man alike, and when public anger is so great, Your Majesty must make a decision.

This situation was clearly not what Wang Ji'en wanted to see—indeed, it was something he dreaded. It left him feeling utterly helpless and made him sense true danger. Even though he had anticipated that he might be dragged into it, looking back now, he had not merely gotten his feet wet—half his body was already submerged in the water.

Wang Ji'en was never one to sit idly and wait for death. Even in his panic and anxiety, his counterattack was still remarkably fierce, showing not the slightest hint of compromise.

First, he reported Minister of Justice Zhang Xun to Emperor Liu, for he happened to hold leverage over him—the man had once overstepped his authority and broken regulations to help a relative smuggle massive timber from Qin and Long through the checkpoints, even though the court had explicitly banned the felling and trade of such timber in the northwest.

As for the others, Wang Ji'en did not let them off either, finding faults and seizing leverage one by one. But among all these ministers, the one Wang Ji'en resented most was clearly Lu Mengzheng, the Governor of Luoyang. Yet unfortunately, he held no dirt on Lu Mengzheng. Looking back, he only now realized that this Governor Lu had hidden himself far too deeply—having served as Governor of Luoyang for years without leaving a single handle for anyone to grab.

What infuriated Wang Ji'en even more was that there had never been any conflict between him and Lu Mengzheng. Of course, this was Wang Ji'en's own belief—the Palace City Office had run rampant for over thirty years, and he himself could not even remember how many people and factions he had offended.

Only now did Wang Ji'en truly understand how terrifying it was when thirty years of accumulated grievances erupted all at once—so much so that it even overshadowed his confidence in Emperor Liu.

When faced with unbearable pressure, Wang Ji'en ultimately begged for help from Emperor Liu, wailing and beating his chest, recalling the past and professing his loyalty while also pouring out his grievances. He flatly denied all the accusations from those bureaucrats, crying injustice repeatedly, banging his head until it bled and shouting until his voice went hoarse, hoping only that Emperor Liu would see justice done for him.

But Emperor Liu merely offered a few words of comfort—neither giving a direct response nor offering any clear hope. All questions returned to the starting point: what was Emperor Liu's attitude?

It must be said that Wang Ji'en, being exceptionally sensitive to such matters, had already grown somewhat disheartened after his plea for help yielded nothing.

And so, step by step, he made mistakes, playing two utterly foul moves in succession. The first was to instruct some officials he had previously bribed in the court to provide evidence and file impeachments, intending to further stir up the situation and confuse the public.

The second was to secretly visit and meet with high-ranking ministers, half-begging and half-threatening them to speak on his behalf or change their statements. The evidence and leverage he had collected became his weapons for manipulating the court, all in an effort to change the situation where the court ministers were unanimously targeting him, Wang Ji'en.

It could be said that at the critical moment, Wang Ji'en had shown all his cards, and it was quite effective—beneath the clamorous cries to "overthrow Wang," voices of "support Wang" gradually began to rise. It was like opening a Pandora's box; for the first time in decades, Wang Ji'en savored the pleasure of manipulating those impeccably dressed, outwardly respectable ministers without any restraint. The satisfaction he felt was beyond words.

However, this also completely sealed his fate with Emperor Liu. Whether he acted out of desperation or for some other reason, his methods were taboo—and they violated Emperor Liu's greatest taboos at that. In Emperor Liu's eyes, these offenses were far more serious and far less forgivable than the crimes Lu Mengzheng and others had impeached him for.

Unfortunately, Wang Ji'en failed to realize any of this.

"Wang Ji'en is in danger!" At the Guangyang Marquis Estate, Zhao Kuangyi, who had been silently watching the developments in the court, let out a long sigh.