Chapter 16: The censors jointly impeached, are you crazy?

What the censors of the Censorate have always done is to report things as soon as they hear something. They don't even need evidence, they can impeach based on hearsay.

In order to demonstrate his willingness to encourage people to express their opinions freely, the Emperor has never given the Censorate the power to arrest censors.

Therefore, these people tend to be more fearless, and basically there is nothing they dare not get involved in.

Of course, in most cases, or basically, the censors did not dare to provoke the royal family.

The targets of their impeachment are usually the favorites and important officials, so that they can gain reputation for themselves.

Some of them may just be performing their duties without any personal emotions involved, but this is actually difficult to distinguish.

Under Lin Ruofu's arrangement, for several days in a row, memorials from the censors floated into the palace like snow.

There was only one thing he talked about from beginning to end, and that was the demand for a thorough investigation into the phenomenon of selling official positions and titles in the court!
Anyone with a discerning eye could tell who this was targeted at. After all, the news that His Majesty the Emperor and the Fourth Prince had teamed up to sell official positions had now spread to many circles in Kyoto.

However, all these memorials were kept in reserve and not sent out, and His Majesty the Emperor did not seem to make any statement.

The censors of the Censorate did not stop and continued to write the same memorials tirelessly every day.

Soon the time for the court meeting arrived. Before dawn in the morning, more than a dozen imperial censors were kneeling in front of the palace gate on both sides of the imperial road in the square, waiting to be summoned by His Majesty the Emperor.

"Censor Lai, are we just going to kneel down forever?"

Suddenly someone poked Lai Mingcheng who was sitting in the front row and asked in a very low voice.

Lai Mingcheng's hands were trembling inside his sleeves, but his voice was firm, "Openly selling official positions is too absurd. We absolutely cannot sit idly by and do nothing."

The censor nodded silently, then asked another more serious question, "Are we really going to impeach that person today?"

Lai Mingcheng's hands were shaking even more. He forced himself to stay calm. "Shouldn't he be impeached?"

"..."

After he finished speaking, the several imperial censors around him fell silent and no one started discussing the matter anymore.

At this moment, a biting cold wind blew, and the entire sky was instantly covered by dark clouds.

Soon after, a few snowflakes began to fall, and it only took a few breaths of time for the snow to gradually turn into heavy snow.

The large expanse of bluestone in the imperial palace was soon covered in silver, and the sky and earth actually became a little brighter.

Gradually, the sound of snow being trampled began to appear.

Officials began to enter the palace one by one to prepare for the court meeting.

When they passed by this group of censors, everyone avoided them and talked about them.

After a while, all the sounds disappeared.

The group of censors were about to collapse, and Eunuch Hou came out to announce the decree, "Your Majesty's oral order: All the censors have been kneeling for so long and have worked hard."

"But since you like to kneel, then keep kneeling until you are satisfied."

"Censor Lai, I heard you were going to write a letter of impeachment, so come in and speak in front of all the officials in the court."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace." Lai Mingcheng struggled to get up and limped towards the hall.

When he reached the palace gate, he straightened his court robes and said in a loud voice: "Everything I said is in the memorial. I ask Your Majesty to quickly order a thorough investigation to clean up the court and eliminate the people's resentment!"

Emperor Qing seemed to suppress his anger and looked straight at Lai Mingcheng, "Does this case have to be investigated?"

Lai Mingcheng's body trembled for a moment, but he forced himself to calm down, "Your Majesty, selling official positions and titles is harmful to the court and not beneficial to the people. If it is not thoroughly investigated, it may harm the country!"

Emperor Qing didn't seem to believe it. "Selling official positions and titles, do you have any evidence?" Lai Mingcheng was stunned and answered honestly, "I don't have any evidence, but the news has already spread all over Kyoto!"

Emperor Qing asked a fatal question, "Since the news has spread all over Kyoto, why haven't I heard about it?"

He looked at Chen Pingping and asked, "What the hell is the Supervisory Council doing? They didn't even receive any news about something like this happening in Kyoto."

Chen Pingping immediately pleaded guilty, "I am guilty. I did not believe the groundless rumors mentioned by Censor Lai, so I did not report them."

Emperor Qing nodded slightly, "Since there is no actual evidence, and Dean Chen also said it was just a rumor, I think it can't be wrong."

"Censor Lai, this is all a misunderstanding. There's no need for you to keep harping on it, right?"

Before Lai Mingcheng could even open his mouth, an imperial censor immediately stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I think what Imperial Censor Lai said makes sense. Since there are rumors, why don't you investigate?"

"Only by thoroughly investigating it can we know whether this rumor is true or not!"

Not just one person, but several officials stood up one after another, "Your Majesty, official titles are the foundation of the court, how can they be measured by money?"

"No matter who did this, I think it cannot be tolerated and must be severely punished to set things right!"

"I second the proposal!"

"I second the proposal!"

"I second the proposal!"

Seeing that court officials from different departments were asking for orders, Emperor Qing had no choice but to express his opinion, "Since there are such rumors, someone must have handled things unfairly, which led to complaints from his subordinates."

"I order all six ministries to conduct self-examination and make sure to put an end to this bad practice."

"Censor Lai, are you satisfied?"

Lai Mingcheng was very persistent. He knelt on the ground and said loudly: "I hope Your Majesty will think twice. For the safety of Daqing Dynasty, thoroughly investigate all the people involved!"

"Related people?" Emperor Qing stared at Lai Mingcheng, his eyes filled with anger. "Can you tell me who these related people are?"

Lai Mingcheng glanced at Li Chengde and stammered, "Yes, it's the Fourth Prince, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wei!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole court was in an uproar.

Even though when they came in, they had already seen this group of imperial censors kneeling at the palace gate.

And I also guessed that it might be related to the Fourth Prince.

But it was not until this moment that they could truly be sure that this group of people in the Censorate really wanted to impeach the Fourth Prince!
Putting aside other things, the Fourth Prince's identity as a prince alone is not someone that the censors can easily impeach!

Not to mention, the Fourth Prince proposed such a cruel strategy when dealing with the Western Hu.

If he were to try to target his own people, the court officials felt that few could guess what the Fourth Prince would do!
But now, in the eyes of most court officials, the actions of the censors and their followers are just seeking death in various ways!

After today, the Censorate will most likely be completely erased from the history of Qing Kingdom!
Many people firmly believe this.

After all, the Fourth Prince is a prince after all, and even if it is indeed absurd to sell official positions in public, he will not be punished.

Moreover, Lai Mingcheng has no real evidence in his hands, so the Fourth Prince can easily get away with it.

At this time, Emperor Qing also cast his eyes on Li Chengde, and his tone was quite playful.

"Li Chengde, how do you explain Censor Lai's accusation?"

(End of this chapter)