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

"..."

Inside the courtyard, silence fell instantly.

After a long while, Wen Yanbo chuckled and said, "I originally wanted to show my face, but now look what happened. We've exposed our own backsides and even got slapped by a woman."

Just then, more than a hundred officials from the Censorate, Palace Censorate, and Inspection Censorate, including clerks, scribes, stewards, and village chiefs, returned one after another.

As soon as they entered, they poured out their grievances to Wen Yanbo and Liu Xiangdao.

"Doctor Wen, Vice Minister Liu, I was ordered to go to the residence of General Qin Qiong of the Left Guard to summon his son, Qin Huaidao. The steward of the Qin family said that Qin Huaidao is not currently in Chang'an City, and did not say where he went!"

"This humble servant went to the home of Duke Hou Junji of Lu State and summoned Hou Yuanli, the third son of the Hou family, to the Censorate for questioning. However, before this humble servant could finish explaining the purpose of his visit, he was thrown out of the mansion by the steward of the Hou family!"

"This humble servant went to the residence of Duke Zhang Liang of Changping, but the door was not even opened!"

"This humble servant went to the residence of Duke Wu, Yuchi Jingde, and met with Yuchi Baolin. After explaining my purpose, Yuchi Baolin told me to go find the Duke of Wu. He said he would come if the Duke agreed to let him go to the Censorate. This humble servant thought it over and over, but didn't dare to go..."

"This humble servant went to the residence of Minister of War Li Jing, but did not see Li Dejian. However, he did see Minister Li. Minister Li heard that his son was to be questioned at the Censorate. He said he would send someone to fetch him and asked this humble servant to have some tea first. This humble servant drank a full one hundred and twenty cups, but still no one came! He wouldn't let this humble servant go to the toilet. This humble servant couldn't stand it anymore and had to come back first!"

"..." Wen Yanbo felt a headache coming on. Seeing that the officials were almost indignant and had obviously been tormented by the military officers, he comforted them, "You've all worked hard. Go and rest for a while."

Cheng Jun added from the side, "There's freshly boiled water in the kitchen pot, remember to drink it."

More than a hundred officials looked at Cheng Jun. They already knew he was the imperial censor chosen by His Majesty, but they were surprised that he was such a kind person. They all bowed with their hands clasped in gratitude and said, "Thank you for your concern, Imperial Censor Cheng!"

"..."

Liu Xiangdao was so angry his nose almost twisted out of shape. "That was the water I boiled! How dare you, Cheng Jun, be so generous with other people's money!"

But he held back the words. Although he had indeed boiled the water in the pot, saying it now would inevitably make him seem petty.

But if he didn't say anything, he would get angry, and Liu Xiangdao felt like he was about to go crazy with anger.

After more than a hundred officials had gone to rest, Cheng Jun said to Wen Yanbo with a serious expression, "Doctor Wen, how can we not have the sons of military officers here? I'm waiting for them to help me prove my innocence!"

"Lord Liu, step forward and say something fair!"

He turned to look at Liu Zhongcheng.

Liu Xiangdao knew that Cheng Jun was putting pressure on him, so he glared at him first, and then stood up.

The order to summon the son of a military officer to the Censorate was given by him personally. Now that the officials had returned empty-handed, even if Cheng Jun did not put pressure on him, he had to make his stance clear. He said, "Doctor Wen, I would like to go there myself!"

Wen Yanbo frowned. The situation was already crystal clear; it was impossible to invite the son of a military officer to the Censorate. So he spoke frankly:

"Who are you planning to go to? Li Jing, Hou Junji, or Yuchi Jingde?"

"Do you think that if you go there, you can get them to hand over their son so you can take him back to the Censorate?"

"Leaving aside them, let's talk about Qiao Bei. Qiao Bei's mother is Princess Luling, who is the current emperor's sister. Even the emperor has to give her some face. Do you think you'll be of any use if you go? You think too highly of yourself!"

Liu Xiangdao, his face flushed red after being reprimanded so rudely, said, "Doctor Wen, our Censorate has the power of oversight!"

Wen Yanbo's voice also turned cold, "So what? Did those military officers break the law? Or did their sons break the law? Even if you want to investigate, you need evidence!"

"This is a matter that His Majesty has personally concluded, and all the officials in the court are convinced except for you. I have been tolerating and accommodating you in this matter. What more do you want from me?"

After saying that, he glanced at the others present and said sternly, "Listen up, everyone, this matter is over and done with, don't mention it again!"

"promise!"

Xiao Yi and Ma Zhou quickly stood up and agreed.

Cheng Jun echoed their response, secretly marveling to himself, "As expected, experience matters."

Before the situation became clear, Wen Yanbo outwardly let Liu Xiangdao do as he pleased, while secretly continuing to lend him a helping hand, thus avoiding offending either side.

Now that the situation was clear, he immediately changed his attitude, displaying the authority of the head of the Censorate, which silenced Liu Xiangdao, the second-in-command of the Censorate.

Ma Zhou and Xiao Yi were completely relieved and looked at Cheng Jun with smiles on their faces. With Wen Yanbo's words, his crisis was over.

"I cannot agree with what Dr. Wen has said!"

At this moment, Liu Xiangdao suddenly spoke up.

All eyes immediately turned to him. Xiao Yi and Ma Zhou looked astonished. Was he ever going to stop? Was he acting like a sore loser, like he couldn't accept defeat?

Wen Yanbo frowned, his displeasure evident. "Lord Liu, I am only doing this for your own good. I don't want you to get too involved. There's no point in you getting entangled in this matter any longer! If you want to investigate this matter, you must get those military officers' sons to the Censorate. Can you persuade them to come?"

Liu Xiangdao straightened up, adjusted the xiezhi crown on his head, and said in a firm and powerful tone:

“Those military officers don’t allow their sons to come to the Censorate because they know that even if their sons don’t come, we can’t do anything to them.”

"If they think that they can rest easy and be complacent, then they are sorely mistaken!"

"We, the imperial censors, are entrusted with the imperial mandate and are granted special permission by the emperor to supervise all officials and report matters based on hearsay! How can we retreat and stand still because of their power?"

"They won't come to the Censorate? Fine, I'll go to the palace right now and ask His Majesty to issue an edict summoning the son of the military officer to the palace for a face-to-face confrontation with me!"

Liu Xiangdao sneered, "I'd like to see if they dare to go against the Censorate, and even against His Majesty!"

After saying that, he turned and walked out of the hall.

Xiao Yi's expression changed, and Ma Zhou secretly cursed, not expecting that Liu Zhongcheng had this trick up his sleeve!

He looked at Wen Yanbo, only to see that Wen Yanbo's brows were furrowed and he remained silent.

Even Dr. Wen couldn't stop him... Ma Zhou immediately became worried and looked up at Cheng Jun.

But then Cheng Jun smiled.

"Lord Liu, please wait, I will go to the palace with you!"

Cheng Jun's voice reached everyone's ears.

Wen Yanbo looked at him with a look of astonishment.

Xiao Yi and Ma Zhou were also stunned. They racked their brains but still couldn't figure out why he had followed them into the palace.

Liu Xiangdao paused, turned around to look at him, and asked, "You want to enter the palace? What are you going to do there?"

Cheng Jun smiled, his voice soft yet thunderous.

"Of course, it's to impeach Liu Zhongcheng."

…………

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