Female Supremacy and Rise to Power: Lin Shu's Imperial Examination Adventures

Chapter 121 Promotion to Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice

"I...I..." Upon hearing Li Yun'er's words, Bai Yu's heart tightened, thinking she had noticed something. His eyes flickered, then he looked at Li Yun'er with teary eyes:

"My mistress knows about your murder and blames me for failing to dissuade her, fearing it would bring her trouble. Therefore, she punished me by making me kneel all night..."

“This has nothing to do with you. I’m going to find her…” Li Yun’er frowned and took a step toward the third floor.

Seeing this, Bai Yu quickly reached out to stop him: "Don't go. You've already been punished. Why go and upset your master? Besides, Yunniang is my wife and the mother of my child. I'm willing to do anything for Yunniang!"

Li Yun'er's doubts were somewhat dispelled by Bai Yu's words. She quickly helped him into the house and settled him on the bed. Then she went to find some ointment to apply to his knees.

Bai Yu's eyes flickered slightly as he let Li Yun'er lift up his trouser leg.

As expected, her knee was bruised and purple. Li Yun'er had no more doubts at this point, and was filled with tenderness. She gently blew on the wound while applying the medicine.

Bai Yu watched the other party's cautious movements, his eyes full of calculation. His skin was delicate, and His Highness was lazy, so he usually did the work himself. That's why he had indeed knelt for half the night last night.

After the two had been affectionate for a while, Li Yun'er said reluctantly, "Ayu, I have to set off tomorrow to escort a batch of 'goods' to Long County. The round trip will take at least half a month, so I'll have to trouble you and the child for now."

After saying that, Li Yun'er gently touched the baby in Bai Yu's belly.

"Yunniang, it's all my fault. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't be at the mercy of others..." Bai Yu's tears fell without warning.

Li Yun'er couldn't bear to see him cry, so she quickly pulled him into her arms and comforted him, "Ayu, don't talk nonsense. I did all of this voluntarily. I also want to fight for a better future for our child."

Bai Yu, nestled in his arms, curled into a mocking smile...

……

Jinluan Palace.

"I have been thinking about this a lot recently. The memorials from the state are the cornerstone of the government and the bridge for communication between the emperor and his ministers."

Feng Han's voice was steady and powerful, echoing throughout the hall. Every word clearly reached the ears of the assembled officials. He paused, then continued:

"However, the current system of memorials to the emperor is full of red tape, which is not only time-consuming and laborious, but also detrimental to the swift decision-making of government affairs. Therefore, I have decided to reform the system of memorials to improve efficiency and reduce redundancy."

After saying this, Feng Han looked at the imperial aunt beside her and gestured for her to read out the details of the reform.

The imperial aunt hurriedly stepped forward, promulgated the draft submitted by Lin Shu yesterday, and distributed the memorial template for review.

Normally, reforms, a matter of great national importance, would have drawn opposition from some old-fashioned conservatives, but this time, it seemed to benefit the court officials, and not a single one objected.

"Your Majesty is wise!" Grand Tutor Ji was the first to stand up in defense, since she usually asked her grandson to write memorials for her unless there was something important. With the new system in place, her grandson wouldn't have to rack his brains every day to come up with something to write.

With Grand Tutor Ji taking the lead, the court officials all knelt down to flatter him, saying, "Your Majesty is wise!"

Seeing that no one objected, Feng Han raised an eyebrow, thinking to herself that they were quite sensible. Then it was time to reward those who had contributed.

Feng Han's gaze fell on Lin Shu, she nodded slightly, and said:

"Hanlin Academician Lin Shu is a man of profound learning and unwavering loyalty. This reform of the memorial was proposed by you."

"I think the position of Hanlin Academician is somewhat wasted. Since the former Vice Minister of Justice has been transferred to another post, you will fill that vacancy!"

These words shocked all the officials in the hall. The Vice Minister of Justice, a fourth-rank official, held a position equivalent to the Deputy Commissioner of Justice and wielded real power; this woman had only been in court for a month…

Lin Shu, dressed in official robes and holding a jade tablet, said calmly, "Your Majesty, I thank you for your great favor."

"Your Majesty! I have a objection! Minister Lin is new to the court and still needs to be tempered. I am afraid he is not up to the heavy responsibility of Vice Minister of Justice."

The speaker was Qi Xin, the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat. She and the First Princess were now in the same boat, so she naturally had to make plans for the First Princess.

Unfortunately, he lacked real power and had long planned to place his cronies in the Six Ministries, but he had not had a good opportunity. Some time ago, the position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice became vacant, and he had already made arrangements. How could he allow Lin Shu to enjoy the benefits without doing so!

Feng Han naturally knew what he was thinking. Her eyes were cold as she scanned the people in the hall, finally settling on Minister Qi:

"Oh? Then who does Lord Qi favor?"

"This..." Qi Xin hesitated for a long time, not daring to speak lightly. If she spoke rashly, she feared that the Empress would regard her as forming a clique for personal gain.

"Since you can't answer, then go back to your place and stand still!" Feng Han stood up, looked around below, and said in a deep voice, "Does anyone else have any objections to this matter?"

Everyone in the hall could see that His Majesty was deliberately promoting Lin Shu. Who would dare to raise any objections? Didn't they see that Lord Qi, the one who stuck his neck out, had already been punished?

Lin Shu's transfer to the Ministry of Justice is now a done deal!

Everyone thought that the morning court session was over, but to their surprise, no sooner had this matter been concluded than the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review stepped forward, holding a memorial to report:

"Your Majesty, I have something to report!"

The imperial attendant hurriedly took the memorial and presented it to Feng Han. After reading it, Feng Han's face grew increasingly gloomy. Finally, she slammed her hand on the table, threw the memorial at Prime Minister Xu in the front row, and roared:

"Xu Chen, how dare you!"

Xu Chen picked up the memorial from the ground with a puzzled look, but after reading its contents, his face turned deathly pale, and he immediately knelt down:

"Your Majesty's forgiveness!"

"Selling official positions and titles, and even murdering people to cover it up! This is outrageous! How can I forgive you?" Feng Han's voice was full of authority and anger.

The memorial clearly stated: The newly appointed deputy salt commissioner died mysteriously five days ago. After a thorough investigation, the Dali Temple discovered that many minor officials who should have taken office a month ago had not yet arrived at their posts, totaling thirty-six people.

What's shocking is that these bodies were all recovered from the lower reaches of the Huai River a few days earlier!

Further investigation revealed that the deputy salt commissioner was actually just a merchant who, in order to profit from salt, spent a staggering 300,000 taels of silver to buy the position. The official document for the sale bore the private seal of the current prime minister.

Xu Chen wanted to explain that he had not killed anyone, but he was worried that it was his foolish niece who had done it, so he could only keep kowtowing and begging for mercy, and dared not cry out that he was innocent.

Standing beside Feng Zhao, Feng Qing was also filled with astonishment. Her aunt had actually killed someone to cover it up? But she was more anxious than anything else!

Feng Han has always been tolerant of the sale of official positions, since these positions are all insignificant and have no real power.

However, what they didn't expect was that this indulged their greed:

"You dare to sell thirty-six official positions! My dear minister, you are truly audacious! I wonder if your Prime Minister's mansion is now richer than a country? If you dare to sell official positions today, won't you sell my empire tomorrow!"

"Your subject would rather die than do that!" Xu Chen was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat.

"What do you have to be afraid of?"

Just as Feng Han was about to punish him, someone suddenly stepped forward to confuse the matter and muddy the waters:

"Your Majesty, the Prime Minister has always been law-abiding, honest, and incorruptible. He must have been acting under someone's orders this time!"

"Yes, Your Majesty! I heard that the river embankment repair project, which was overseen by the Third Princess before the New Year, suffered a breach but was not reported, resulting in the flooding of many villages. It took a lot of money to repair it!"

"What? There's such a thing? Your Majesty, those submerged villages were all your subjects! I implore Your Majesty to severely punish the Third Princess, for her dereliction of duty led to the tragic deaths of innocent people..."

"..."

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