Chapter 239

The Wisdom of an Empress (1)

Han Pin’s words caused Zhou Gu’s expression to become stiff as a corpse. Even now, he had yet to recover from the realization that the emperor wanted his head.

His questionable defense had collapsed under the attacks of everyone around him. After the confessions from Mu Guangcai and Han Pin, those who were against the emperor before, were now betraying and selling Zhou Gu’s past affairs one after another.

Seeing how now was the best opportunity to do so, everyone was taking advantage of the chance to confess to their own crimes. Under the supposed name of “lawful responsibility”, they revealed the truth. It was not only to get out of the danger from hiding the truth, but also to indirectly assist the emperor. Having helped him, the sovereign will definitely be more lenient in their punishments.

With these thoughts in mind, they each spoke a line, which eventually revealed everything there was about Zhou Gu.

It was the first time in Zhou Gu’s whole life that he had been exposed to have committed so many malicious deeds! Now, he could no longer bend over or kneel for mercy.

Tonight, he had already annihilated the Zhong family. He didn’t think that he would quickly follow in the other’s footsteps, and be eliminated as well. Was all that he’d worked for been in vain?

At last, when everyone had said their part, Wen Ze no longer had the heart to close his eyes. As Mo Linyuan regarded everyone who knelt down below, he finally let out a long sigh.

“All your statements have truly opened my eyes to the truth!” Mo Linyuan wore a half-hearted smile as he said, “I would have never thought this could happen under my rule. Yet, you’ve all already committed all these crimes… Cunning.. Clearly you all are very cunning individuals.”

After hearing this, they all bowed their heads in guilt. Even the ministers sitting on either side were uncomfortable. Having governed for many years, those who genuinely governed with a clear conscience were few and far between. And they normally only worked on the easier state of affairs. It was only by allying with the emperor that they were able to escape danger.

Mo Linyuan rubbed the space between his eyebrows for a while before exclaiming, “Zhou Gu, you have violated Article 31 of the law! 27 of which are unforgivable crimes that are punishable by death. I sentence all the men in the Zhou family to be decapitated! See how your wives are innocent, the women in the Zhou family will become members of the Buddhist temples to atone for the Zhou family’s evil deeds there!”

At that point, Zhou Gu no longer had any rebuttal to give. All of the Zhou family members had their eyes shut in despair. They hadn’t anticipated for this doomsday to come so quickly.

As for the others, with exception to Mu Guangcai, they were sentenced to death. Others who commited lighter crimes were exiled. The remaining simply had their government position demoted in rank.

Now that Zhou Gu’s affairs were exposed and his reputation was dragged into the dirt, his face became dejected. Before, he had an aspiring dream of annexing the Zhong family’s wealth, but now…

He abruptly glared at Wen Ze!

“Wen Ze! You ignorant old geezer, you have deceived us so cruelly!”

The guards were pulling Zhou Gu as he continued to struggle and snarl.

“You thought you could eradicate all of us like this and have your family be the last one standing? You’re mistaken!”

He pointed at Mo Linyuan who stood high above, “That person is not a cub you can control. Someday, you will also face the same fate as me!”

Even till the last moment as he was towed out of sight, Zhou Gu continued to bellow again and again, “You will face the same fate as me!”

Wen Ze’s complexion was pale as he glanced at Mo Linyuan. Although Mo Linyuan did not return Wen Ze’s gaze, his expression was tense.

A while later, besides those who were imprisoned, Mo Linyuan waved his hand to signal for the remaining guests to take a seat.

At that moment, the horizon barely held a faint light, but Mo Linyuan still ordered the chef to prepare dishes for the banquet.

They had already gone through so many repeated bombardments. Having almost not slept for the entire night, he didn’t want them to also not eat anything either.

Yet, none of them felt sleepy or hungry. They only felt that this banquet was honestly going on for a ridiculously long time.