The Cold King Demands Love and Pleasure

He rose from the hall and bowed to him, saying, "King Taigu! This junior is truly honored to meet you!"

King Taigu put his right hand behind his back, clearly indicating his unwillingness to get close to Min Youan. "What are you saying, Prince An? Isn't it easy to see me?"

Xia Tongsheng stood in the back hall, watching what was happening in front of her, and asked curiously, "Yingling, do you know who that is? Why is the Prince so polite to him?"

Yingling shook her head, "I don't know!"

Wu Che calmly explained from the side, "That is a famous vassal king of Bei Min, with great power in the south. Even the current emperor has to be wary of him!"

When she was studying history, Xia Tongsheng remembered that the feudal lords had not been dissolved during the Tang Dynasty! She was certain of this because she had gotten this question wrong several times and been scolded by the teacher many times. She would never forget it, not even in this life!

"Didn't they say that after the Tang Dynasty, there were no more vassal kings?"

Wu Che said, "No, at that time, the Tang emperor did not completely eliminate the vassal kings!"

Xia Tongsheng's reaction to this was not worry or contemplation, but rather she happily jumped up and down on the ground twice, "History teacher, I knew I was right!"

"Miss, what history teacher!"

"Oh, him? He's just a boring, self-important old man from Mediterranean! He's not important!"

With her excellent thirst for knowledge and willingness to ask questions, Xia Tongsheng quickly filled in the gaps, "Wu Che, tell me quickly, what exactly happened?"

Wu Che said, "Although the Records of the Grand Historian states that the Tang Dynasty's vassal kings were exterminated, I heard that the sister of the then-King Taigu was the Tang Emperor's favorite concubine. She threatened to commit suicide, and in the end, the Tang Emperor did not take back the title of King Taigu."

Xia Tongsheng said speechlessly, "Women! It's always women! They really are a source of trouble. Luckily, I'm not good-looking!"

No wonder the Records of the Grand Historian states that the barbarian designations were completely revoked. Otherwise, would the Records of the Grand Historian have written that the Tang emperor was infatuated with beautiful women and that the reconquest of the barbarians failed? Wouldn't that have ruined the Tang emperor's illustrious reputation?

Hearing Xia Tongsheng's self-deprecating words, Yingling corrected her, "Miss, although we are not celestial beings, we are not ugly either. Please face yourself squarely!"

"I know that I am the most beautiful in your heart, but that's because you like me. If you don't believe me, ask the prince and see if he thinks I'm beautiful!"

Looking at the prince's icy handsome face, Yingling shook her head tremblingly, "I dare not ask, you go ask him yourself!"

"Sigh!" Xia Tongsheng stopped joking and asked Wu Che, "Although the Tang King did not reclaim the title of the Ancient King, why doesn't the current emperor do the same?"

Wu Che looked at her and shook his head. "Your Highness is thinking too simply. Over the years, this King Taigu has worked hard to develop his own power. He has connections in the business world and the court. His power is so great that it cannot be dismantled. As the saying goes, 'a single hair can move the whole body.' If you touch him, the entire foundation of the country will shake! Moreover, over the years, the Southern Ye Kingdom has been constantly provoking the Northern Min Kingdom. How can we have the energy to deal with them? We can only preserve this vassal king, and he will be the last one!"

Xia Tongsheng sighed. She hadn't expected this old man to be so powerful. Thinking about it, she realized that no matter whether it was modern times or ancient times, the elderly were not to be trifled with.

Modern elderly people, lacking power, resort to extortion and are not to be trifled with; ancient elderly people, having built up connections and possessing power, were even more formidable!

Xia Tongsheng was still immersed in the deeds of the Ancient King when she heard Min Youan speak, "Your Highness, what brings you here?"

King Taigu sat down on the armchair next to him. "Nothing much, I just came to check on things, to prevent anyone from wrongly accusing an innocent person!"

Someone? That must be him! Min Youan returned to his seat in the courtroom with disdain and continued the trial!

Min Youan knew that the reason they were so arrogant was simply because they were certain that he couldn't get any evidence. But if there was no evidence, then they could just fabricate it!

Otherwise, how could there be so many wrongful convictions and miscarriages of justice!

To deal with bad people, you have to use the same methods you use against bad people. Trying to reason with them? You'd probably talk until you die and they still wouldn't understand!

Min You'an laid out the unpleasant truth upfront, "Your Highness, we are of the same rank. I respect you as a senior, and I hope you can be fair and impartial, so that these juniors and common people won't laugh at us!"

The Ancient King remained composed. "Rest assured, Prince An, I know exactly what to do!"

"In that case, I shall continue!"

Min You'an slammed his gavel down, a murderous glint flashing in his eyes! "Beat him!"

Xia Tongsheng looked like a lovesick fool, cupping her face in her hands and exclaiming, "Oh my god, the prince is so handsome!"

Wu Che looked smug. "You're only finding out now, Your Highness? I thought everyone knew how handsome our Prince was!"

"My lady didn't say anything to you, what are you so smug about!" Yingling couldn't help but tease him.

Wu Che opened his mouth, then admitted defeat, "Fine, I can't argue with you, I'll shut up!"

Hearing Prefect Song's howls, Prince Taigu questioned Min You'an, "Prince An, you should at least give an explanation for hitting someone, otherwise isn't this just forcing a confession?"

Min Youan sneered, "Since the Ancient King demands an explanation, I will give you one! Cang Jue!"

"Yes!" Cang Jue took out a notebook from his pocket, which contained a record of all the crimes committed by the prefect.

Cang Jue cleared his throat and read, “The prefect has committed ten crimes: First, exchanging sandbags for mud bags; second, embezzling grain; third, reselling disaster relief grain; fourth, impersonating bandits to rob disaster relief funds; fifth, concealing the epidemic and failing to report it; sixth, hiring someone to kill Liu San; seventh, collusion between officials and merchants!”

"Your Highness, this is only your side of the story; there is no evidence!"

He shouted towards the door, "Bring witnesses and evidence!"

Then, the people brought in by the yamen runners knelt on the ground one by one, and the physical evidence was also arranged in order in front of the court.

From left to right, kneeling are the prefect, Lao Huang, the magistrate, and the registrar.

Min Youan said coldly, "Prefect Song probably doesn't know this, but he had already investigated the whereabouts of the disaster relief funds before I arrived. So, it's too late for you to start destroying evidence when I came!"

“When I took Liu San’s jade pendant, I already knew that it was you and the prefect who hired Liu San to sell grain. If it were just about you selling grain, I could have been unaware, but there are so many granaries in the world, and Liu San chose the Feng family’s granary. You knew that Feng Yuhan was on good terms with me, so wasn’t you just walking into a trap? When Liu San was exposed, you and the prefect hired Old Huang to kill Liu San! That’s another crime!”

Seeing that Min You'an had already seen through their crimes, the prefect immediately kowtowed to Min You'an and confessed, "Your Highness, I was just confused for a moment!"

The prefect glared at the vice-prefect, his eyes blazing with an inexplicable yet fierce anger. "You!"

But the Ancient King remained calm!

It seems that he came all the way from Qianji to Baiyue just as he said, to take a look!