Frost for a Thousand Years

Chapter 126 Song Shi'an, Jin Sheng'an

After returning to Sheng'an, Wei Wusheng stayed in the palace for an extended period.

Even though he had made such a great contribution.

Since Song Jing was not released from prison, the officials also chose to remain inactive.

We'll talk about it when Song Shi'an returns.

Every day in the palace, Wei Wusheng read books and saw no one.

"Wei Wusheng, what are you doing?"

Princess Changqing was puzzled to see him lounging on a reclining chair in the palace, holding a book in his hands. But upon closer inspection, she saw the three characters "Springtime in the Garden" and a hint of suspicion appeared on her face: "This isn't some erotic book, is it?"

"This is no ordinary erotic book."

Wei Wusheng didn't even look at her, and casually said, "This book portrays the characters with great detail, and the psychological changes of the characters are quite natural and reasonable. Strip away the erotic veneer, and it's a pretty good novel about everyday life."

"Aren't those just erotic books?" Princess Changqing couldn't help but complain. "You spent half a year with that top scholar, and this is all you learned?"

"busy?"

Wei Wusheng put down the book and looked at her while still lying down.

"Didn't you meet Ji Yuan?" Princess Changqing asked curiously. "What does he look like?"

"Why do you ask this?"

"I'm interested. I've never seen any other emperors before."

"He is a false emperor."

After correcting him, he sat up and said to Princess Changqing, "His eyes have double pupils."

"Oh? Is that so?" Princess Changqing suddenly became nervous. "Then is he like the legend says, able to eat people's internal organs?"

A common tactic used by rival states in ancient times to spread negative public opinion – hard-hitting.

To portray Ji Yuan's cruelty, the Yu state claimed that every time he won a battle and captured an enemy general, he would cut open the general's body and eat his internal organs.

In order to demonstrate Wei Ye's terror, the Qi state claimed that he was the reincarnation of Yama, who would turn into a vengeful ghost with long red hair every night and would not recognize his own family.

In reality, most people don't believe it, but the policy of keeping the people ignorant will definitely fool a portion of the population.

Moreover, Wei Ye's criticism wasn't just baseless.

If you're not the reincarnation of Yama, why did you kill your own son?
Can a human do this?
That killing of his own son has put the Great Yu Dynasty at a disadvantage in the war of public opinion for so many years, leaving them with no choice but to resort to blatant accusations that Ji Yuan ate people.

“He only ate people after winning a battle. I defeated him, so how could I have had the chance to see him eat people?” Wei Wusheng retorted.

"That's true." Princess Changqing nodded. "And then?"

“He is different from ordinary people; he has six fingers on his left hand.”

"Hmm! It's understandable that an emperor is different from ordinary people."

"Also, I vaguely saw that he had a pair of short, deer-like antlers under his hair."

"Huh? It even has horns, that's too..."

As she spoke, Princess Changqing's expression gradually darkened: "Are you lying to me?"

"You're really something that you only realized it now after listening for so long."

"Did you learn this from that Song Jieyuan?" Princess Changqing bit her lip and frowned, quite displeased.

"Go play somewhere else if you have nothing to do~" Wei Wusheng waved his hand.

Princess Changqing stood beside him and complained on his behalf, "You clearly won this battle, but it feels like the King of Wu won?"

"Avoid discussing state affairs."

Wei Wusheng continued reading "Springtime in the Garden".

"Don't you have any feelings at all?" Princess Changqing pressed. "Shouldn't you be granted the title of king and be betrothed to a noblewoman?"

"If I have it, I'll accept it; if I don't, I don't."

Wei Wusheng remained completely unmoved, as if the victory had nothing to do with him.

Although Princess Changqing's mother was still alive, she was merely a concubine, and her status in the palace was actually much lower.

People like her are mostly used for marriage alliances.

For the Northern Yan Kingdom, and for the Southern Yue Kingdom.

The royal families in those places don't care about status, but they do require that the person be a princess.

Therefore, she joined forces with Wei Wusheng.

It's not that I want more protection, but I feel it's sad that Xiao Wei has made such a great contribution but hasn't received the reward he deserves.

It seems that a person's fate is determined at birth.

"I heard that even if Song Shi'an returns, he will still have to face trial at the Dali Temple," Princess Changqing asked in a low voice. "Will he survive?"

Upon hearing this, Wei Wusheng's expression gradually turned serious: "No one will dare to kill him."

"Even Father Emperor doesn't dare?" Changqing muttered.

Wei Wusheng replied coldly, "Hmm."

.........

Dali Temple.

A group of officials were discussing the trial of Song Shi'an.

Right Supervisor Jiming spoke up: "There are too many cases involved. Although none of them have been confirmed yet, there are impeachments, including those from Shuofeng and those from the court. His Majesty's intention is for our Dali Temple to handle the cases, so should we put shackles on them?"

The key issue now is whether or not to treat them as criminals first.

Or is it just to get information?

This scale is very important.

Sun Heng said, "The Dali Temple judges cases based on evidence and according to imperial decree. Since there is an impeachment, and His Majesty has entrusted us with the trial, we must treat him as a guilty official. The officials in the court are also fulfilling their duties. Even if there is no such thing and Song Shi'an is innocent, we cannot punish those officials who offered advice, can we? We can't just silence them, can we?"

"No, nobody said that." Wang Chen, leaning back in his chair, gestured with his hand and reminded him with a smile, "They were just talking about whether or not to bring a shackle."

At this moment, the fourth-rank official, Dali Zheng (the chief secretary of the Dali Temple), spoke up: "The case of the Langya 'mutiny' has not been resolved and also involves the Sixth Prince. We must proceed according to procedure."

“That’s a shackle,” Jiming said.

Wang Chen, however, was caught in a dilemma.

The officials might not be aware of the situation and think there was room for maneuver, but the bigwigs of the Court of Judicial Review who handled criminal cases knew exactly what was going on—if Song Jing was alright, then Song Shi'an would be fine too.

But whether or not something happens is not up to them to decide.

There are also important figures involved. The key is whether or not you want to offend anyone.

“We are His Majesty’s swords, and we must be responsible to His Majesty for everything,” Sun Heng reminded Wang Chen.

“That’s natural.” Wang Chen nodded. “It was arranged in advance, and before entering the city, the jailers waited for us, put on handcuffs, put us on the cart, and escorted us to the Dali Temple.”

“One more thing,” Sun Heng added, “we need to choose the time to enter the city.”

"What do you mean?" Wang Chen asked.

“Those in the court understand, we understand, but the common people don’t. They just think that whoever wins the battle is a loyal minister. And Song Shi’an is best at manipulating public opinion.” Sun Heng said very seriously, “We have to choose to let him enter the city in the middle of the night, cover his face, put him on a cart, and separate him from the others to minimize the impact.”

If the trial is conducted behind closed doors, that's fine.

But if ordinary people get involved, then it's impossible to fool them.

This method is truly ingenious.

But Wang Chen couldn't object.

After all, he was the emperor's sword, and he couldn't use the power bestowed upon him by the emperor to curry favor with the new elites.

“The official in charge of imprisoning them needs to be at least two ranks higher than the other party. Song Shi’an is a seventh-rank official, so it has to be someone of the fifth rank.” Wang Chen looked at the group, “Gentlemen, who will go?”

"..."

Currently, there are only a handful of officials of the fifth rank in the entire Dali Temple.

Sun Hengji was a fourth-rank official.

A fourth-rank official in Dali.

Wang Chen is a second-rank official.

Does a seventh-rank county magistrate really need to be personally appointed by Wang Chen, the acting Minister of the Court of Judicial Review?

The remaining three people looked at each other in bewilderment.

Meanwhile, the remaining two realized what was happening and looked at Sun Heng in unison—you're the one who suggested it, so it's definitely you who should go.

Wang Chen also looked at him.

Sun Heng, feeling a tightness in his chrysanthemum under the gaze of the three people, said somewhat flusteredly, "Can't we find someone of the fifth rank?"

"Two officials of the fifth rank have left the capital to handle a case," Dali Zheng said.

"Then let's temporarily recommend someone from the fifth rank," Sun Heng came up with a solution.

The three men continued to keep an eye on Sun Heng.

To be promoted to a fifth-rank official requires going through the Ministry of Personnel, and even if it's not difficult, Wang Chen is currently acting as the Minister of Justice, and he strives for a smooth transition, so he won't do such a thing.

Their irresponsible attitude immediately infuriated Sun Heng: "Wait, when did we become so disciplined in handling affairs?"

.........

On March 1, Song Shi'an arrived in Sheng'an.

Before their arrival, officials from the Dali Temple informed them that they should arrive in Sheng'an the following night.

But Song Shi'an ignored them and, in broad daylight, led a group of people to the outskirts of Sheng'an City.

During the day, Sheng'an's main gate is open.

Vendors also walked by.

When the prison officials of the Dali Temple saw that Song Shi'an's horses were only a hundred paces away from the city, they quickly led more than a dozen prison guards to block the cavalry.

At the same time, the soldiers below the city were instructed to cooperate in prohibiting access to the city gates and keeping the people away.

"Song Shi'an, you have been impeached for being the mastermind behind the Langya mutiny. You are hereby imprisoned." The prison official said to him righteously.

Xin Yue, who was standing to the side, immediately wanted to breathe on it.

But Song Shi'an pressed her hand down to calm her down, and she maintained her fierce glare at him.

"Are you 'Heart Moon'?" the prison officer asked.

“Yes,” Xin Yue said coldly.

“You are also suspected of participating in the Langya Mutiny and attacking General Luo. You are to be removed from your horse,” he said.

Before Xinyue could speak, Song Shi'an said, "She is the Sixth Prince's person."

Upon hearing this, the other person paused for a moment before saying, "Then she doesn't need it."

Although this woman was involved, since the higher-ups didn't order her arrest, we'll let it go.

Slowly, Song Shi'an dismounted.

Hands outstretched.

The heavy shackles restrained him.

"Didn't we tell you to arrive in Sheng'an at night?" the prison officer asked. "You can't enter the city yet. You have to wait until after the curfew, then be covered up and transported by prison cart to the Dali Temple."

After saying this, Song Shi'an stared at him.

His heart tightened under her gaze, and he immediately became uneasy.

Xin Yue, who had just dismounted, asked coldly, "What's your name?"

Asking for his name made him tremble with fear, and he said, "I was just following the instructions..."

"You have fulfilled your duties."

Song Shi'an interrupted gently.

The prison guard actually detected a hint of well-intentioned advice in those words…

It was like, saving him?
"We are criminals who were coerced by Zhang Wen into falsely accusing Song Tangzun!"

At this moment, the heads of the powerful families hurriedly gathered around, stretching out their hands and requesting to be put in jail. The jailer was at a loss.

Song Shi'an walked past him and headed towards the city.

Xin Yue followed beside him, holding his restrained right hand with her left.

Accompanying you through everything.

The dozen or so prison guards, like green recruits, retreated far away and could only follow around, nominally 'escorting' the prisoners.

And so, the moment I stepped into the city.

All the people of Sheng'an poured out.

A butcher stood on the table, roaring, "We don't arrest those who lost battles, we don't arrest those who lost cities, but we arrest those who drove Ji Yuan away! What kind of logic is this?!"

(End of this chapter)