Zhenguan: I, Dou Fengjie, will not be the first cuckold.

Dou Fengjie boiled sheep offal outside the Zhuque Gate for three more days before finally being summoned to the Taiji Hall on the fifth day of the third month.

There was no other way; besides the fact that the Left and Right Guards couldn't stand the smell, there were also commoners pointing fingers and gossiping, which damaged the court's reputation.

Zhang Anan, holding a whisk, spoke in a slightly shrill voice: "Duke Dou Fengjie of the State of Zan, why do you repeatedly beat the gate-closing drum and guard the lung stone without retreating?"

They're all just asking questions they already know the answer to. They're taking the life of someone's deceased father and not allowing them to cry out in pain?

Dou Fengjie stepped forward: "Your subject Dou Fengjie impeaches Dou Jing, the Minister of Agriculture, and Dou Dan, the Right General of the Guard, for embezzling public funds."

The court was in an uproar; no one had expected Dou Fengjie to take such a cunning approach.

Dou Jing was furious: "You rude brat! When have we ever coveted your family's money or power?"

Dou Dan just smiled, looking old and senile.

"Father was not a perfect man. He was harsh, ungrateful, strict, and unapproachable, but he devoted his entire life to fighting for the Tang Dynasty and guarding the region."

"What I don't understand is, how could the Dou family of Xianyang allow outsiders to smear such a member of their own clan? Could it be that they intend to wait until the Duke of Zan's lineage is wiped out so they can divide and devour it?"

Dou Fengjie was aggressive and pushy.

Dou Jing could only fall silent.

In the matter of Dou Gui, the Dou family of Xianyang did a bad job. The man was dead, and they still neglected his lineage. No wonder Dou Fengjie became disloyal.

But Dou Jing and his brother could only remain silent.

Wei Shishi implicated Dou Gui in the Yuan Daoxin case, which may have been motivated by revenge, but why did the emperor listen to only one side of the story?

Who was Dou Gui? Did Li Shimin, who kept calling him his "uncle," not know him?

"The matter of Dou Gui has already been settled in Huazhou. Duke Zan should not make trouble unreasonably."

Zhao Hong'an, the Assistant Director of the Ministry of Revenue, spoke.

"Conclusion? What a joke! Wei Yunqi, the father of Wei Shishi, the governor of Huazhou, died at the hands of my father. Can his words be taken as evidence?"

"Articles of the Ministry of Justice: If the prison official and the person being interrogated are related or have a feud, the prison official shall be allowed to change the case."

"What, now that my father has been splashed with dirty water, you're just ignoring it?"

Dou Fengjie refuted him methodically.

Looking down at Zhao Hong'an, who was slightly shorter than him, Dou Fengjie's tone was full of mockery: "I remember when the Director of the Revenue Department was in Yizhou, my father beat him more than a hundred times a year. Shouldn't that be considered a grudge?"

Zhao Hong'an was not a threat, but his younger brother Zhao Hongzhi was a bit of a nuisance, as he was a man of great reputation.

Zhao Hong'an was speechless.

Guo Xingfang, the Vice Minister of the Imperial Secretariat, hesitated to speak.

He was the same; when Wei Yunqi was killed, he was so frightened that he fled from Yizhou to Chang'an to file a complaint, which saved his life.

Guo Xingfang also wanted to trip up Dou Fengjie, but who knew that this bastard would be so fierce?

Never mind, let's play it safe for now.

Dou Fengjie looked around at the assembled officials, and only when no one spoke up did he turn to Li Shimin: "Since none of the court officials have any objections, then I must ask, Your Majesty, why did you revoke my father's posthumous title?"

"Doesn't Your Majesty fear that by doing this, the officials who have devoted themselves wholeheartedly to the Tang Dynasty will feel disheartened?"

Yang Shidao, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, glared angrily: "How dare you! How dare you question His Majesty's decision!"

Dou Fengjie was not afraid at all, and his eyes were full of contempt when he looked at Yang Shidao.

"The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel is in charge of the selection of officials, yet he selects a group of people who are of poor character and cannot judge talent; this is incompetence."

The Minister of Personnel was responsible for selecting officials of the fifth to seventh rank; this position was called the Minister of Personnel Selection.

The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel was responsible for selecting officials of the eighth and ninth ranks, and was known as the Central Selection Minister or the Eastern Selection Minister.

During the reign of Emperor Suzong of Tang, a ruler with obsessive-compulsive tendencies, the central civil service system was changed to the western civil service system, finally achieving symmetry.

The officials recommended and selected by Yang Shidao were mostly from prominent families, and the proportion of incompetent officials was extremely high, making him a laughing stock.

"The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel has failed in his duty to educate his son, and some of his actions are astonishing; this is a lack of virtue."

"The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, harboring personal grudges, deliberately obstructed my promotion; this is shameless."

"How dare such an incompetent, immoral, and shameless person stand in the imperial court, among all the officials, and brazenly serve as a minor official?"

Dou Fengjie pointed his halberd and cursed loudly.

They were already at odds, so it wouldn't matter if they became mortal enemies.

Yang Shidao's eyes widened in anger, his face turned purple, his breathing became increasingly heavy, and he suddenly spat out a mouthful of dark red blood before his body fell straight down.

Lies couldn't hurt Yang Shidao; only the truth could break his defenses.

Dou Fengjie never expected that he could rival Zhuge Liang in some respects; he felt extremely honored.

The Imperial Physician of the Imperial Pharmacy, a low-ranking eighth-grade physician, calmly took Yang Shidao's pulse: "He's just too angry to die. He'll be fine after a few days of herbal medicine."

In fact, the physician also wanted to say that Yang Shidao was already awake, but was just pretending to be unconscious.

Tang Jian, the Minister of Civil Affairs, and Liu Shan, the Vice Minister of State Ceremonies, glanced sideways, never expecting Dou Fengjie to have such a sharp tongue!

Changsun Huan, the Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonies, twitched the corner of his mouth. This was the reason why he didn't associate with Dou Fengjie back then.

Li Shimin sighed: "I have never believed Wei Shishi's memorial, and the revocation of his posthumous title is also nonsense. Duke Zan, please go back and perform your duties in peace."

He originally intended to use the matter of bestowing an official title to put pressure on Dou Fengjie, but he did not expect that this fellow would have such audacity that he would cause a scene in the court and even curse Yang Shidao to the point of vomiting blood.

Li Shimin was in the wrong, so it wasn't appropriate to blame Dou Fengjie.

After all, this guy was very stubborn. He refused to move into the Duke of Zan's mansion, which had been renovated by the imperial court, and he wouldn't even put up a gate in front of the mansion.

Even if Li Shimin was muddle-headed, he couldn't possibly reclaim the official titles bestowed upon Dou Gui; not giving him a posthumous title was already a great disservice.

The chubby Minister of Personnel, Changsun Wuji, gave Dou Fengjie a half-smile.

This young man has guts; a mere eighth-rank official dares to scold a minor official. Isn't he afraid of being retaliated against later?

Dou Fengjie laughed wildly: "Your Majesty, is the law of 'punishing false accusations' still in effect?"

Aye Dougui killed Wei Yunqi, but it was because Wei Yunqi was from the line of Xi Yin Wang!

Is it appropriate for you, Li Shimin, to become emperor and secure your throne, to help Wei Yunqi's son smear Dou Gui?

Dou Fengjie burst out of the palace laughing wildly. Zhang Xingcheng, the Imperial Censor in the palace, wanted to step forward and impeach him for his improper conduct in front of the palace, but was glared back by the Grand Censor Xiao Yu.

Being an imperial censor is a skill; you can't just play anything. You think it's like playing the wrinkles around your eyes?

Play a few harmless tunes, play more for the weak and easily bullied, and don't play for the powerful and influential!

As for someone like Dou Fengjie, who has a title, ability, personality, and martial prowess, it's best not to offend him, otherwise you might die one day without even knowing where the sneaky arrow came from.

People are arrogant, and they have the right to be arrogant. Minor matters like appearance are not worth mentioning when Li Shimin has selfish motives and has been caught red-handed.

"Your Majesty, I, Tang Jian, believe that Wei Shishi is no longer suitable to serve as the Chief Administrator of Huazhou, and should be transferred to Tongzhou." Tang Jian raised his ivory tablet.

Tongzhou was also a secondary prefecture and a populous prefecture. Its capital, Fengyi County, was only 255 li away from Chang'an City. To this day, it still has seven counties, more than 50,000 households, and more than 200,000 people.

Compared to Huazhou, Tongzhou was just less convenient, which could be considered a perfunctory explanation to Dou Fengjie.

"Your subject, Changsun Wuji, seconds this proposal," Changsun Wuji said slowly.

If Dou Fengjie doesn't vent his resentment, who knows what other trouble he might cause?

"Granted," Li Shimin replied.

This shrewd plan backfired!