Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 450 Unable to change despite repeated admonishment
The imperial court also attached great importance to the impeachment case against Zhang Dai. As soon as Zhang Dai and others were led to the Censorate, the officials in charge of interrogating the case arrived.

Pei Guangting, the Vice Minister of the Chancellery, acting as the Grand Censor, along with Pei Renjing, the Minister of Justice, and Han Xiu, the Vice Minister of Justice, arrived at the Censorate and immediately began the interrogation. In addition, Gao Lishi was also dispatched by imperial decree; his main responsibility was to interrogate those in the Eastern Palace related to this matter.

Such a trial is already the highest standard. The joint trial by the three judicial departments when Zhang Shuo was interrogated in the past was no more than this. Now, Gao Lishi, a trusted eunuch, has also been added. This shows that the emperor is extremely concerned about this case and urgently needs to get a result.

The interrogation process was rather uneventful. Although Xue Tao continued to argue and accuse Zhang Dai of going back on his word, it was generally true that he had neglected his duties and failed to provide any benefit.

This is not only true for Zhang Dai, but also for a group of officials from the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. Even another Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, Wei Tao, gave testimony that was unfavorable to Xue Tao. After all, he had cleaned up Xue Tao's messes many times. It's really speechless about this colleague.

However, these situations are not considered particularly serious offenses, as there are other officials in the court with similar circumstances, or even more serious ones than Xue Tao.

Apart from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Finance, which were in charge of finance and general affairs, the other nine ministries gradually became marginalized, and their officials often held positions that were merely nominal. Given Xue Tao's status, he was more than qualified to serve as a junior minister of one of the nine ministries, so using this to question his diligence was a deliberate attempt to make things difficult for him.

Therefore, the most serious charge in Zhang Dai's impeachment was "disturbing the erotic scene." How exactly he disturbed the erotic scene, and to what extent, these questions must be clarified!

To clarify these issues, it would be necessary to interrogate the officials and servants of the Eastern Palace. As the one who impeached, Zhang Dai only impeached those who knew the facts, not the entirety of the interactions between the Crown Prince and his father-in-law.

Therefore, after Zhang Dai finished recounting what he had seen and known, the interrogation of him was complete. He no longer needed to remain in the courtroom and could move freely elsewhere.

However, Zhang Dai did not go anywhere else. After leaving the hall, he remained in the Censorate office to await the final verdict.

"Zhang Shiyu is truly courageous and brave. He has accomplished such a great thing so soon after taking office. He is truly a role model for us all!"

When Zhang Dai left the hall, several censors rushed forward to greet him, praising him profusely.

These people weren't gloating; impeaching ministers was the duty of the censors, and everyone took pride in impeaching high-ranking officials, though not everyone had the courage to do so.

Upon assuming office, Zhang Dai immediately turned his attention to the Crown Prince's father-in-law. Regardless of whether the impeachment was justified, this action alone was enough to earn the admiration of the other censors.

Yang Wang, also a censor, spoke up: "Recently, there have been some whispers among the people, saying that Zhang Shiyu's qualifications are still too shallow and he is not suitable to serve as a censor. But now, Zhang Shiyu has been in the censorate for a short time and has impeached a third-rank official. His deeds are commendable! Since he came to the censorate, I have reviewed the records and found that in recent years, Zhang Shiyu is the only censor who has impeached a third-rank official!"

Of course!
The power of censors has been greatly restricted. Without the approval and authorization of the prime minister, they cannot impeach high-ranking officials. When Cui Yinfu took charge of the Censorate in the fourteenth year of the Kaiyuan era, he firmly controlled the power of impeachment among the censors. Censors from the three courts had to follow his lead, and anyone who dared to act on their own was dismissed.

Zhang Dai's ability to impeach Xue Tao in court this time was not only due to his courage, but also inseparable from the support of Pei Guangting. Now that Pei Guangting is acting as the Censor-in-Chief to conduct the joint trial by the three judicial departments, it is clear that the Emperor has also discerned Pei Guangting's intentions. Whether he can officially assume the position of Censor-in-Chief will depend on his performance during the trial.

As the group was chatting, Pei Kuan, who also served as the Censor-in-Chief, came in from the outer room and waved his hand, ordering everyone: "Quickly return to your respective cases and do not gather outside the hall to disturb the affairs inside!"

Upon hearing this, everyone left. Just as Zhang Dai was about to leave, he noticed Pei Kuan staring at him with a frown. He quickly stopped, bowed, and asked, "Does the station master have something to tell me?"

Pei Kuan opened his mouth, but hesitated to speak. After a moment of silence, he simply waved to Zhang Dai and then turned and walked towards the Hall of State Affairs.

Seeing Pei Kuan's expression, Zhang Dai knew that the man harbored some resentment towards him. As the Inspector General, Pei Kuan had not reported such a serious matter as impeaching Xue Tao to his superior beforehand, but instead directly consulted the Prime Minister, which undoubtedly greatly displeased Pei Kuan.

However, Zhang Dai cannot be blamed for this. The system of "imperial censors' approval"—that is, obtaining the consent of the Grand Censor and the Vice Censor-in-Chief before impeachment—was not yet a formally established rule.

Previously, the censors had to do this because the former Grand Censor Cui Yinfu forced it upon them based on his personal prestige. Now that times have changed, other officials in the Censorate who want to obtain the same privileges must naturally strive for it themselves.

Most importantly, Zhang Dai knew that if he reported this matter to the emperor, Pei Kuan and Xiao Song, who was behind him, might not support him. They had no reason or motivation to allow a mere censor to offend such a prominent imperial relative as Xue Tao.

Therefore, if a person has principles and a strong sense of self, they will inevitably affect their interpersonal relationships if they want to do things. People who were initially friendly may drift apart or even become strangers, while those with conflicts may gradually work things out, cooperate, and even eventually find common ground. However, someone like Ma Lizheng, who is unwilling or afraid to engage in conflict, can only suppress their feelings and constantly yield and compromise. In the end, this doesn't earn them genuine friendship and respect; instead, their insufficient and inadequate compromise may lead to resentment.

The interrogation of the Crown Prince's officials and servants lasted for a long time, and it was not over until almost dark in the evening.

Besides the large number of people requiring interrogation, the main person in charge of interrogating those in the Eastern Palace was Gao Lishi, while Pei Guangting and others could not directly participate. Clearly, the Emperor did not want officials from the outer court to know too much about the affairs of the Eastern Palace, hence this arrangement.

Zhang Dai did not want to spend the night in the gloomy Censorate, so he went to the Court of Imperial Sacrifices to rest for the night.

The night was relatively peaceful, but the next day, one shocking piece of news after another began to emerge.

The next day was not the day of the morning court session, but given what had happened at the previous day's court meeting, the officials naturally wanted to know how things would unfold and what the final outcome would be. As a result, the officials living in the various wards of the city returned to the capital early, and even some officials who were on leave rushed back to watch the drama unfold.

The first result announced was that most of the content of Zhang Dai's impeachment against Xue Tao was true. Xue Tao was a mere figurehead who received a salary but did not perform any merits. As a member of the imperial family, he was unable to offer wise advice to the Crown Prince. He was indeed mediocre and unfit for the position of Minister of Rites and Music. However, considering his status as a member of the imperial family and the fact that he had offered his daughter to the imperial clan, he was dismissed from his post and given silk to return home.

As for Zhang Dai, he was rewarded for his meritorious service in impeaching incompetent officials who had served the country, as well as for his clear vision, integrity, and uprightness. Therefore, he was appointed as a full-fledged censor, while retaining his other official titles and ranks.

In the early morning, Zhang Dai had just finished breakfast at the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and was preparing to go to the Ministry of Personnel to receive the imperial edict when a group of people arrived at the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. The leader of the group was Xue Tao, who had been subjected to interrogation and torture all day.

He looked exhausted and his face was full of worry and fear. Only when he saw Zhang Dai did his face turn angry, his teeth clenched tightly, and even the muscles on his cheeks bulged out.

Following behind Xue Tao were his sons and nephews, including Xue Chongyi, the son-in-law of the Prince Xue, and Xue Xiu, the Imperial Son-in-Law. They all looked at Zhang Dai with hostility, their hearts filled with hatred for him.

Seeing the Xue family's attitude, Zhang Dai couldn't help but sigh inwardly. He felt that the internal strife and chaos within the Li Tang imperial family was entirely their own doing. They really loved this kind of fratricide and interference in politics by men and women!

The Xue family had married princesses generation after generation, but none of them had a good ending. In the end, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang still insisted on marriage between the Xue family and the prince. If you were really afraid that the Xue family was getting too close to the crown prince and building up their power, you could have just crushed the Xue family. Instead, you gave them this half-hearted warning.

Although the Xue family harbored deep hatred for Zhang Dai, they were still in pain from the recent reprimand and dared not do anything rash. They simply took away some of Xue Tao's belongings stored at the Taichang Temple office.

"Zhang Xielu is brave and mighty, eliminating a great scourge for the Imperial Academy!"

As the group left the Taichang Temple office, a cheer erupted, and everyone looked at Zhang Dai with reverence.

They may not be aware of the personnel entanglements involved, but they only saw that Zhang Dai had recently threatened to drive Xue Tao away, and the next day, Xue Tao left the Taichang Temple in disgrace. The impact of this was truly astonishing!

Zhang Dai accepted the cheers and praises with a smile. Although he was still somewhat displeased that Xue Tao had escaped unscathed, he understood that unless it was a serious crime like treason, it would be very difficult to get rid of him directly.

At least after Xue Tao was dismissed from his post this time, it will be extremely difficult for him to create any more political trouble for himself, unless the Crown Prince really ascends to the throne next year and thinks of avenging his father-in-law, but that possibility is very slim.

"I will never forget Zhang Xielu's great kindness and virtue! If it weren't for Zhang Xielu's righteous intervention, the infamy of Xue Shaoqing's judgment would have haunted me for the rest of my life, and I would have died with regret!"

Ma Lizheng approached Zhang Dai with great excitement, knelt down with a thud, and kowtowed in gratitude. With Xue Tao being dismissed from his post, another official, Wei Tao, also revised the verdict in his merit book, even adding a touch of praise. He was naturally extremely grateful for Zhang Dai's help.

"Right and wrong are in people's hearts, but they are sometimes obscured by some dust. I just sweep away the accumulated dirt in people's hearts and let the inherent goodness and justice be revealed again."

Zhang Dai bent down to help Ma Lizheng up, exchanged a few words with him, then took his leave and headed towards the Daming Palace.

(End of this chapter)