Chapter 244: Central

Imperial Capital, Lanling City.

This is the center of the entire Great Lan Dynasty, and it can even be said to be the center of the whole world!

Although in the battle eighteen years ago, the Great Lan Dynasty was even beaten all the way to the Imperial Capital.

But that battle was one country of the Great Lan Dynasty fighting seven countries!

And in the end, the Great Lan Dynasty still won!

So the prestige of the Central Empire still remains; saying Lanling City is the center of the whole world is not an exaggeration.

As the Imperial Capital of the Great Lan Dynasty, the resident population of Lanling City used to be as high as over one million.

After the Mingxin Reform, many old urban areas were demolished and rebuilt, with new apartment buildings constructed, capable of accommodating more population.

Now, the population of Lanling City has exceeded two million!

From outside to inside, they are the Outer City Area, the Inner City Area, and the Imperial City.

The Imperial City is naturally the center of this "center of the world," Lanling City.

The Great Lan Dynasty changed from an imperial system to a dual monarchy system many years ago.

The so-called dual monarchy system, simply put, is the Emperor and the Cabinet Ministers governing the country together.

The Emperor possesses the power to appoint Cabinet Ministers and also the power to veto Cabinet resolutions.

It appears to still be high above, the Son of Heaven.

But a large part of the power has indeed been divided by the Cabinet.

In the vast majority of cases, the Emperor does not need to manage specific affairs; the Central Cabinet can directly decide the affairs of the world in one word!

Therefore, the Cabinet Court in the Imperial City and that Golden Throne Hall are considered the two "hearts" of the Imperial City.

Almost all major events in the world are decided in these two places.

The 46th year of Hongguang, May 27th.

Lanling City, Imperial City, Cabinet Court.

It is called a courtyard, but in reality, it is a large area of palaces.

The Internal Affairs Cabinet, Judicial Cabinet, Supervision Cabinet, Inspection Cabinet, Zhengfa Cabinet, and Zhige Cabinet—a total of six cabinets together form the Central Cabinet of the Great Lan Dynasty.

People who can become Cabinet Ministers, even if they are just ordinary cabinet members, are respectfully called "Cabinet Elders" by other officials.

In fact, the average age of cabinet officials has always been over fifty, so calling them "Cabinet Elders" can be considered well-deserved.

In the very center of the Cabinet Court is a Purple Void Hall; inside the hall are placed tables and chairs, and high files and books are piled up on the long tables.

People are constantly entering and exiting the hall; eunuchs either hold files and walk quickly from outside the hall, carefully placing things in front of a certain Cabinet Elder's table, or send out files that have already been decided.

These files entering and exiting are like flowing blood, transported from all parts of the giant body named "Great Lan Dynasty" into here, and then transported out.

The vast Central Empire survives and undergoes changes under this circulating "blood."

The busyness of the Purple Void Hall starts in the morning and will continue until the evening.

Every day, the six cabinets first conduct a "preliminary review" of the matters that need to be decided, then send them to the Purple Void Hall for "final review," and finally stamp them with the seal of the Central Cabinet and send them to all parts of the country.

In this Purple Void Hall, besides the Cabinet Elders of the six cabinets, there are also some officials who do not belong to any of the six cabinets.

They have a more noble title, called "Purple Void Hall Grand Secretaries."

These people all belong to the current Chief Grand Secretary and participate in the "final review" of all matters of the six cabinets together with the Chief Grand Secretary.

In the midst of busyness, a Purple Void Hall Grand Secretary whose official uniform was embroidered with a purple star pattern suddenly stood up, took a file, and walked toward the long table in the center of the hall.

Seeing this scene, all the officials busy in the hall stopped talking and looked over one after another.

"Teacher, this file needs you to make a decision."

This Purple Void Hall Grand Secretary walked to the long table, bowed and saluted, presented the file in his hand with both hands, and said softly.

Behind the long table, the man called "Teacher" by this Purple Void Hall Grand Secretary sat upright; on his dark blue official uniform, besides the sun on the front and the moon on the back, a total of eighteen purple stars were embroidered.

This represents that he is an 18th-level official, the pinnacle of cabinet officials, and also the pinnacle of the Great Lan Dynasty's civil service!

This man had white hair at his temples, wore a goatee, and was born with double pupils, making people fear him.

His name is Ye Zean, and he is the current Chief Grand Secretary of the Great Lan Dynasty.

One person below, ten thousand people above!

Ye Zean took the file handed over by the other party and lowered his head to read it quickly.

After reading it, his expression did not change, and he called out two names without hesitation:

"Fang Xingmao, Duan Qi."

The two cabinet members called by name stood up quickly and saluted Ye Zean one after another:

"The subordinate is here."

These two people, one is a cabinet member of the Supervision Cabinet, and one is a cabinet member of the Zhige Cabinet.

Ye Zean: "You two are responsible for the affairs of Feng Province; what is your view on the Zhang Zongyang case in Datong Fucheng?"

The files in his hand were the memorials submitted by Datong Fucheng Garrison Commander Governor Bian Jingru and Feng Province Inspector Lu Wenyao respectively.

The two spoke their own words, and both accused the other party of having crimes in a severe tone!

Fang Xingmao and Duan Qi knew very well that this Chief Grand Secretary's character has always been vigorous and resolute, dealing with matters decisively, and pursuing efficiency.

He hates slippery, ambiguous attitudes the most.

So the two prepared their drafts in advance.

Supervision Cabinet member Fang Xingmao spoke first:

"Reporting to the Chief Grand Secretary, the subordinate has carefully looked at all the files of the Zhang Zongyang case submitted from Datong Fucheng; there are indeed some doubts, and there is a key witness who identified that Xu Jing, a professor in the Zhige Department of the former Wu'an University, colluded with Western spies, intending to harm Wu University students; he also single-handedly planned the framing of the great martial arts sect Mount Tiefeng Sect, intending to use supernatural abilities to devour the supernatural ability of Mount Tiefeng Sect Master Gu Xianfeng, thereby breaking through to the Grandmaster realm.

According to what the subordinate knows, this Xu Jing is likely the principal that Feng Province Inspector Lu Wenyao has selected for the future new university. This matter concerns the establishment of the new university and involves many things, so the subordinate cannot reach a conclusion for a time."

Grandmaster again, new university again.

The matters mentioned by Fang Xingmao made many cabinet members in the hall change color slightly.

Ye Zean listened and did not speak, only looking at the other cabinet member, Duan Qi.

Duan Qi immediately opened his mouth:

"Reporting to the Chief Grand Secretary, the subordinate has also carefully looked at the files of the Zhang Zongyang case; the human evidence and material evidence are complete, all evidence is conclusive, and I believe that any qualified judicial official can close this case after reading the files! As for the so-called key witness identification mentioned by Cabinet Member Fang just now, the subordinate feels it is very absurd!

Relying only on a confession, without any solid evidence, can one slander a Martial Arts Master for colluding with Western spies?

On the contrary, the transaction between the Mount Tiefeng Sect, a great martial arts sect in Datong Fucheng, and Western spies is conclusive; how can it be called a framing by Xu Jing?"

Ye Zean listened to Duan Qi's speech expressionlessly and said:

"State your conclusion directly."

"Yes."

Duan Qi said in a clear, resonant voice, "This official believes that all the accusations made by Governor Bian Jingru, the Garrison Commander of Datong Prefecture, regarding the Zhang Zongyang case are baseless. There is no concrete evidence; they are merely malicious words intended to attack one's character!"

Datong Fucheng Garrison Commander Governor Bian Jingru falsely accused his superior—this is the first crime.

Having criminals rob the execution ground within his own jurisdiction, letting the criminals be robbed away, and losing the face of the Imperial Court—this is the second crime.

Failing to protect his colleague on the day of the execution ground robbery, leading to the death of a seated official—this is the third crime.

With so many crimes punished together, he should be dismissed from his position as Garrison Commander!"

As soon as these words came out, many people in the hall changed their faces.

Ye Zean remained expressionless, turning to look at Fang Xingmao:

"Do you have anything else to say?"

Fang Xingmao said calmly:

"Reporting to the Chief Grand Secretary, Xu Jing and the other two professors of Wu University, along with over a dozen special-grade lecturers, submitted their resignation notices to Wu University on the day of the execution ground robbery, which shows it was premeditated.

There were two people who robbed the execution ground that day; one was named Hao Yi, and he had an old feud with Xu Jing many years ago; this person has always been Xu Jing's knot.

When Xu Jing fought Hao Yi that day, he used the Cloud-Treading supernatural ability of Mount Tiefeng Sect Master Gu Xianfeng, which shows he possesses the ability to devour others' supernatural abilities.

First devour supernatural abilities, then untie the knot, break through to Grandmaster in one fell swoop, then resign from Wu University to go to the provincial capital of Feng Province, and finally apply to become the principal of the new university with the status of Grandmaster—this is the plan of Xu Jing and Feng Province Inspector Lu Wenyao!"

"Hmph, so Cabinet Member Fang is still just attacking the heart!"

Duan Qi snorted coldly.

Fang Xingmao did not even look at him and said loudly:

"Whether it is attacking the heart or not, the lords present are not fools and can naturally distinguish it. Or rather, can you, Lord Duan, guarantee that Feng Province will not let Xu Jing use the status of Grandmaster to apply for the new university to settle in the provincial capital of Feng Province in the future?"

"You..."

Duan Qi glared and was about to retort, but was interrupted by Ye Zean:

"Enough."

Thus, the hall became quiet again.

"The Zhang Zongyang case in Datong Fucheng has conclusive evidence; until there is new solid evidence, it will be handled according to the conclusion that it has been closed."

Ye Zean began to announce his resolution:

"The execution ground was robbed, a colleague was killed; Datong Fucheng Garrison Commander Governor Bian Jingru should bear the primary responsibility, be fined three years of salary, and be limited to catching the criminals and recovering the robbed criminals within three months, otherwise he will be heavily punished!"

Hearing this resolution, everyone in the hall turned their thoughts.

Duan Qi had previously said that Governor Bian Jingru had three major crimes, but Ye Zean ultimately only mentioned

Moreover, the punishment for Governor Bian Jingru left plenty of room for maneuver, giving the other party a chance to redeem themselves.

This showed that Fang Xingmao's "malicious" remarks had indeed taken effect.

In fact, just as Fang Xingmao had said, everyone present was no fool.

Over these years, the Lu family had been working on the new university project, and now, "everything was ready, only the east wind was lacking."

Under such circumstances, if anyone claimed that Xu Jing's series of actions had no ulterior motives, no one would believe it!

However, regarding the establishment of the new university in the provincial capital of Feng Province, Ye Zean did not seem to be opposed to it.

At least for now, as long as Lu Wenzheng could bring in a Grandmaster, the possibility of the new university "falling into the hands of the Lu family" was the greatest.

"Reporting to the Chief Grand Secretary."

Just at this moment, another Grand Secretary of the Purple Void Hall stood up and bowed to Ye Zean:

"On the evening of May 25th, all eleven officials of the special investigation team dispatched by the Feng Province provincial capital were murdered."

He recounted the incident where the special train from the Feng Province provincial capital was intercepted and killed.

After listening, Ye Zean's gaze turned cold:

"Have the killers been found?"

"Based on the traces left at the scene and the testimonies of the survivors, it can be preliminarily determined that the killer is a person who calls himself the Blood-Faced Ghost."

"The Blood-Faced Ghost?"

"Just now, Cabinet Member Fang mentioned the case of the execution ground in Datong Prefecture being raided; there were two killers in total. One was named Hao Yi, and the other was this Blood-Faced Ghost."

"Since that is the case, tell Governor Bian Jingru that if he cannot apprehend the Blood-Faced Ghost within three months, he need not continue as Garrison Commander!"

Ye Zean said coldly.

After speaking, he looked at everyone present:

"Does anyone have any objections?"

The officials in the great hall stood up one after another and said in unison:

"We shall follow the Chief Grand Secretary's instructions!"

On this day, the name "Blood-Faced Ghost" entered the sight of the empire's top brass for the first time.

Third update, a total of ten thousand words updated~

Requesting monthly tickets.

(End of chapter)