My father is Chongzhen? Then I have no choice but to rebel.

Chapter 79: Even honest people can play some tricks!
When they saw Li Banghua's appearance, everyone gasped.

Because Li Banghua looked quite miserable and haggard at this time. His right arm was first wrapped with a layer of gauze, and then fixed with a splint outside the gauze.

There was also a layer of gauze wrapped around his forehead, and blood was faintly seeping out of the gauze.

Even his right foot was fixed with a splint.

This picture is truly astonishing.

Those who had doubts about this matter before no longer have any doubts now.

After all, Li Banghua is the Minister of War. There is really no need for him to play tricks like pretending to be sick or injured, and it is too easy to be exposed.

In fact, Li Banghua was not pretending.

There was indeed a cut of several centimeters on his arm, and his foot was indeed sprained.

As for the injury on his head, it was entirely his own fault.

When he understood Zhu Cilang's plan, he felt that the injuries on his body were not serious enough, so he picked up a brick and hit himself with it.

This scene shocked the surrounding Jinyiwei and imperial doctors.

But no matter what, the visual effect of Li Banghua's appearance is absolutely maximized.

If Zhu Cilang hadn't done this, he would probably have believed it!
At this moment, Li Banghua seemed like an old man who had just experienced an assassination.

At the same time, after noticing that everyone's eyes were either shocked or sympathetic on him, Li Banghua knew that this trip was right!

That brick was not hit in vain!

Although he is an upright person and will not play any tricks, if he is really pushed to the limit, he may resort to some tricks.

Thinking back, Li Banghua pretended to be struggling and bowed to Zhu Cilang, saying:

"Your Highness, please forgive me for not being able to perform the ceremony."

Zhu Cilang suppressed his inner smile and said:
"Master Li, there's no need to be polite. Just lie down!"

The imperial physician reported last night that Li Banghua's most serious injury is a sprained foot, and he needs to rest for a week to recover slowly.

As for the wounds on his arms and forehead, they were just some broken skin and a few drops of blood.

The reason why he had to be wrapped like this was because Li Banghua himself requested it!

When Zhou Yanru saw Li Banghua like this, he didn't know what to say for a moment.

But in order to prevent things from getting worse, he still asked:
"Sir Li, when the assassin attacked you last night, did you see the assassin's face?"

Li Banghua shook his head, but then added:
"But I can confirm that the assassins were definitely not sent by those officials from the Ministry of War!"

When Zhou Yanru heard this, he was speechless for a moment.

He originally wanted to guide Li Banghua to say that this matter had nothing to do with the Ministry of War, but he didn't expect that Li Banghua said it himself without his guidance.

However, at this moment, Zhu Cilang said with a stern face:
"Master Li, the matter has not been thoroughly investigated yet, so don't jump to conclusions so quickly."

"You just dealt with those military officials at the gate of the Imperial Palace yesterday, and then you were assassinated that same night. It's hard not to think there's a connection between the two."

"So this matter must be thoroughly investigated."

Everyone knows that the so-called thorough investigation is actually torture to extract confessions.

Under the torture of the Western Factory, basically no one could withstand it, so the final result would most likely be that several people were forced to confess to the assassination of Li Banghua.

Then the emperor used this as an excuse to kill another group of people.

Thinking of this, everyone felt creepy.

Zhou Yanru hurriedly bowed and said:

"Your Highness, if you wish to thoroughly investigate this matter, I request that you transfer it to the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate for trial."

Zhou Yanru has been frightened by the Jinyiwei and the East and West Factories. If these guys intervene, it will definitely be considered "rebellion" and a lot of officials will die.

Therefore, if a thorough investigation is really needed, it would be better to hand it over to the Ministry of Justice and the Inspectorate. At least the outcome will not be too bad.

Zhu Cilang sneered in his heart, he knew that Zhou Yanru was afraid!

In fact, not only Zhou Yanru was afraid, but all other civil and military officials in the court were afraid. After all, two "rebellion" incidents had occurred in less than ten days.

One time it was nobles and the other time it was civil officials, and the total number of deaths was almost two thousand.

Everyone knows what is true and what is false, so they must prevent "rebellion" from happening again.

Otherwise, if the emperor gets used to killing people with such excuses, they will never be able to sleep well.

At this moment, Li Banghua spoke again:

"Your Highness, after all, this matter was caused by me, so could you please leave it to me to handle?"

Zhu Cilang pretended to think for a moment, then looked at the others.

"What do you think, my Lords?"

When Zhou Yanru and others heard this, they looked at Li Banghua with some suspicion, because they were not sure what Li Banghua meant.

Did he want to kill those officials from the Ministry of War, or did he want to protect them?

After much hesitation, Zhou Yanru finally bowed and said, "Your Highness, I think this is feasible!"

In Zhou Yanru's opinion, although Li Banghua had conflicts with the officials of the Ministry of War, it should not be necessary to kill them.

Because once this happens, Li Banghua's reputation will be completely ruined.

Of course, even if Li Banghua doesn't care about his reputation, he still has to do something next, right?
If all the middle-level officials in the Ministry of War died, who would work for him?
If Li Banghua really wanted to kill them, he wouldn't have to do anything, and the emperor would naturally pin the crime of assassination on them.

In this way, Li Banghua can completely distance himself from the matter.

So Zhou Yanru was certain that Li Banghua did this in order to protect those officials from the Ministry of War.

At the same time, several other cabinet ministers and ministers also reacted and hurriedly bowed and said:
"Your Highness, I think this is feasible!"

"I also agree!"

"His Royal Highness the Prince is wise!"

Seeing that everyone agreed, Zhu Cilang then spoke:

"In that case, let's leave this matter to Lord Li to handle!"

After this happened, the ministers had nothing more to say and the morning court was adjourned.

Everyone left, and Li Banghua also lay on the sedan chair and let two Jinyiwei carry him out of the palace.

But after taking a few steps, he was stopped by Zhou Yanru.

"Brother Meng An, wait!"

Li Banghua waved his hand and the two Jinyiwei stopped immediately.

Zhou Yanru stepped forward and advised with a rather serious look:

"Brother Meng An, I admit that all the civil and military officials in the court are opposed to your appointment as the Minister of War."

"But you should be aware that those military officials are unlikely to assassinate you, so please don't kill them all."

Even though he had guessed that Li Banghua was trying to protect those officials, Zhou Yanru was still worried, so he made it clear directly.

Several other officials nearby heard the conversation and stopped immediately.

Although they didn't speak, their inner thoughts were similar to Zhou Yanru's.

After all, first the Minister of War killed the Ministry of War officials at the gate of the imperial palace, then the Ministry of War officials assassinated the Minister of War, and then the Minister of War killed these Ministry of War officials.

If such a thing were to get out, not only would the imperial court lose face, but even these civil servants would lose face.

Li Banghua did not respond directly to Zhou Yanru's words. He just nodded at Zhou Yanru and said:

"Please rest assured, Lord Zhou, I know what to do!"

After saying this, Li Banghua signaled the two Jinyiwei to continue moving forward.

Then, the sedan chair was lifted up again.

Zhou Yanru looked at Li Banghua's departing back, feeling mixed emotions.

I have to say, he really doesn't understand the current situation.
After leaving the palace, Li Banghua did not go directly home or to the Ministry of War, but asked the Embroidered Uniform Guard to take him to the prison of the Western Factory.

Although the prison of the Western Factory is not as big as the imperial prison of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, it is well-equipped with all kinds of facilities.

At this moment, the captured military officials were being held in cells, and not far from them were various torture instruments.

After a night of torture, these officials from the Ministry of War had already suffered a mental breakdown. They kept wailing and complaining in the factory prison, trying to attract the attention of the outside world.

At the same time, their hearts were filled with fear and confusion.

They had no idea what was going on. It was clearly Li Banghua who had injured one of them at the palace gate with the imperial sword.

How come at night it suddenly became the story of Li Banghua being assassinated?

Naturally, they became the suspects of the Western Factory and were all arrested and imprisoned in the factory. This made perfect sense, as they did have this motive after all.

But then again, they really didn't do this!

They were just dissatisfied with Li Banghua, a member of the imperial party, being appointed as the Minister of War, and they did not try to assassinate him at all!

You must know that assassinating an imperial official is a crime committed by accomplices!
How could these people have the courage to do this?

Besides, he just offended the Minister of War during the day, and then hired someone to assassinate him at night. What kind of idiot would do such a thing?
They all knew that they were wronged, but none of the Jinyiwei of the Western Factory were willing to listen to their explanation.

After the Jinyiwei took them to the cell, they left without even giving them water to drink.

At this moment, these people were really tired, thirsty and hungry. Coupled with the inner torment and fear of the future, they really began to regret their previous actions.

As a civil servant, they were of course afraid that Li Banghua would transfer the military power of the Ministry of War to the emperor.

But to be honest, these things don't seem to have much to do with them.

Although they are civil servants, they do not belong to the core civil service class, and these matters are not something they can control at all.

If they had known that yesterday's actions would lead to such consequences, they would never have done it!
But it seems too late to say this now.
It would be fine if the Western Depot caught the real assassin of Li Banghua, but if they didn't, they might become scapegoats.
Then it won’t just be them who die, but all nine clans will die together!
When they thought of this, everyone felt despair again!
Suddenly at this moment, the door of the factory prison was suddenly opened.

Immediately afterwards, two Jinyiwei came in carrying a sedan chair. Lying on the sedan chair was none other than their newly appointed boss:
Minister of War Li Banghua!
(End of this chapter)