This made Li Shimin anxious, and he wanted to trade one for one with me.

"Minister Du, why are you accusing Minister Sun?"

Li Shimin, with a stern face, gave him a deep look, hoping that Du Ruhui would realize that he had mistaken the person.

He should be Cheng Jun!

As my right-hand man, how could you not even understand my thoughts...?

Du Ruhui, holding his official tablet, bowed his head and said in a deep voice:

“Your Majesty should not have skipped court for a day. Cheng Juncan’s intention was to urge Your Majesty to be diligent in governing. He had good intentions.”

“Sun Jiqing said that Cheng Jun’s accusation was a fabrication. The duty of the censor is to report on hearsay, supervise officials, and advise the emperor. Anyone can be accused of fabricating a crime, but the censor cannot.”

Du Ruhui raised his head, solemnly looked at Li Shimin whose face was twitching, and said seriously:

“Sun Jiqing framed the censor with this crime in an attempt to silence him. To silence the censor is to block the channels of communication. Therefore, I hereby impeach Sun Jiqing!”

Li Shimin angrily asked, "Whose side are you on?"

Is this still his right-hand man?

How did she end up in Cheng Jun's arms?!

Du Ruhui was taken aback, and asked with a puzzled expression, "Your Majesty, what do you mean by that?"

"Pretending, still pretending..." Li Shimin clenched his fists. Du Ruhui's ignorance was obviously an act; in reality, he knew everything, but he was deliberately favoring Cheng Jun.

However, Du Ruhui's pretense could not be exposed because his words were reasonable and well-founded.

To refute Du Ruhui, one must first address the one who tied the knot, just as the one who tied it must untie it. Li Shimin looked at Sun Fujia, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, and said sternly:

"Minister Sun, Du Ruhui has submitted a memorial impeaching you. What are you standing there for? Impeach him!"

Sun Fujia remained silent for a few seconds, then bowed and, amidst Li Shimin's astonished expression, slowly said:

"Your Majesty, what Lord Du said is very true, and I cannot refute it."

Sun Fujia was not stupid. Du Ruhui was the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, just like Fang Xuanling was the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. Both were prime ministers of the Tang Dynasty.

At this moment, he stood up to support Cheng Jun, and his support was of extraordinary importance.

There's no need to offend Du Ruhui just to save face.

Once Sun Fujia returned to the ranks of civil officials, the other courtiers who had stood up to second his opinion also silently retreated.

The Taiji Hall fell silent.

Li Shimin's facial muscles twitched.

He had expected all the civil and military officials to stand up and impeach Cheng Jun, but unexpectedly, one of them stepped forward to support Cheng Jun.

The person who jumped out was none other than Du Ruhui.

When the officials saw that it was him who came out to support Cheng Jun, they all shrank back.

What kind of soup did Cheng Jun give Du Ruhui...? Li Shimin was puzzled.

He knew Du Ruhui's character very well; he was known in the court for his strict adherence to his duties and for not taking sides.

I never expected him to come out and help Cheng Jun today.

Although they didn't understand why Du Ruhui did this, the deed was done, and the officials certainly wouldn't want to impeach Cheng Jun anymore.

Being woken up early by Cheng Jun, and with the show yet to come, Li Shimin grew increasingly annoyed, his voice tinged with anger as he said:

"Since all of you ministers have no objection to today's morning court session, let's proceed with the court discussion."

"After the morning court session, everyone should rest in the corridor before the afternoon court session. Similarly, after the afternoon court session, everyone should continue to rest in the corridor and wait for the evening court session."

So we're all going to have to stay under the eaves today?

The crowd frowned. They could tell that Li Shimin was dissatisfied with Cheng Jun, but he couldn't do anything about it, so he could only vent his dissatisfaction on them and make them dissatisfied with Cheng Jun.

To put it bluntly, it's stirring up trouble.

However, with Du Ruhui protecting Cheng Jun, they couldn't say anything and could only accept the imperial decree.

"The ministers obey the order."

Everyone looked at Wen Yanbo.

According to custom, the imperial court discussions would begin with a memorial from the Grand Censor, followed by memorials from other censors and officials, and finally from other civil and military officials.

Wen Yanbo remained silent. He had received an imperial decree last night that he was not required to attend court today, so he had not prepared a memorial.

Seeing that he remained silent, everyone turned their attention to the Imperial Censor Liu Xiangdao.

Liu Xiangdao remained silent as well.

Immediately, everyone looked at Cheng Jun, the Imperial Censor in the palace.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Cheng Jun stepped forward, slowly took out a memorial he had drafted late into the night from his sleeve, and said in a deep voice:

"Your Majesty, I have a plan to tell you!"

Li Shimin's eyes narrowed, and after only glancing at the memorial in Cheng Jun's hand, he fixed his gaze on Cheng Jun's face and asked:

"Didn't you already present a memorial to me this morning? Why present another one?"

Cheng Jun pondered for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, if we ate breakfast this morning, does that mean we can't eat in the afternoon?"

Li Shimin rebuked, "Can ginseng be compared to eating? Or do you consider ginseng to be the same as eating?"

Cheng Jun's expression turned serious, and he said:

"I am an imperial censor. Imperial censors report on matters they hear and supervise all officials. Both reporting and supervision must be reported. If I do not report anything, it is no different from receiving a salary without working."

"Your Majesty will never allow me to continue serving as a censor, a parasite who draws a salary without working. If I don't serve as a censor, I won't receive a salary, and if I don't receive a salary, I naturally won't have enough to eat... Therefore, I do indeed rely on impeaching others to make a living."

Li Shimin, furious, laughed and said, "You think you're so great? You think you're right? You really know how to talk your way out of things!"

Gathering ginseng and eating are clearly not the same thing, but Cheng Jun managed to make a reasonable connection between them after going through a roundabout process!

"You're right. If an censor doesn't submit a single memorial, he's not a qualified censor. But he can't submit memorials all in one day either, understand?"

Li Shimin said with a stern face.

Cheng Jun replied solemnly, "I can handle it."

Li Shimin angrily said, "I can't take it!"

"I have brought this memorial with me. If I do not present it, Your Majesty will inevitably be accused of obstructing the flow of speech."

Cheng Jun held up the memorial in his hand with a troubled expression.

"It's my fault now, this mouth of his is really good at talking..." Li Shimin cursed inwardly, then looked at the memorial in Cheng Jun's hand, feeling more and more awkward the more he looked at it.

Yesterday, the court was closed for a day, but this morning, the officials were summoned to court for a meeting.

All the officials rushed to court, none of them bringing a memorial, except for Cheng Jun, who clearly had prepared it in advance.

Li Shimin narrowed his eyes. Considering that Cheng Jun had entered the palace early in the morning and disturbed his sleep, and that he shouldn't have skipped court, could this kid have gone through all this trouble just to submit this memorial?

"Who offended him...?" Li Shimin asked, somewhat curious.

"Send it up."

Zhang Anan immediately went to Cheng Jun's side, took the memorial, and placed it on the imperial desk.

Li Shimin picked up the memorial, glanced at it, his pupils contracted, and he suddenly looked up at Cheng Jun, staring intently, and asked:

"Are you really going to play this piece?"

"It's true."

Cheng Jun nodded emphatically and said.

Li Shimin remained silent, looking down at the contents of the memorial, his expression growing increasingly grave with each reading.

What exactly was written on the memorial...? The purple-robed ministers in the hall all cast curious glances at the memorial in Li Shimin's hand.

After a long while, Li Shimin raised his head, looked at the civil and military officials, handed the memorial to Zhang Anan, and slowly said:

"My dear ministers, you have come at the right time today. Cheng Jun's memorial does indeed need to be discussed."

Fang Xuanling asked, "Your Majesty, please enlighten us: what do we need to discuss?"

Li Shimin said in a deep voice:

"Cheng Jun submitted a memorial requesting that the Emperor issue an edict to revise the 'Clan Records'."

Clang...

The sound of the scepter falling to the ground suddenly rose and fell in waves.