Chapter 54: Confession
Su Wen was glad that he still had cards left to play.
In order to prevent a scenario where the guards would find out that Wen Jinming refused to confess, Su Wen had sent all the guards out ahead of time.
And Wen Jinming’s screams in the hall undoubtedly made these people nervous.
However, these people were still unaware that Wen Jinming was already dead.
Naturally, the fake confession would not be shown to these people. Those ambiguous words were also spoken to break their wills.
Su Wen looked at the sky before solemnly speaking, “All of you better hurry up. I still have to enter the palace in a while to meet the Emperor to listen to his teachings. I will pass the confessions to my father along the way. For those who have not finished by then, I’m sorry, but time and tide waits for no man!”
Yan Luoying smiled and said, “Everyone, I’m the one who told Young Master Su to speak up for you. As you know, the Prime Minister is a high and mighty figure. Normally, we won’t even have the chance to even walk in front of his residence. Now, it’s all thanks to Young Master Su being the deputy commander of the Patrol Office that we can avoid being implicated.”
The two of them complemented each other, causing the audience to be stunned.
To put it bluntly, no one knew what Wen Jinming had confessed.
But it was precisely because of this that they were even more uncertain.
Seeing Su Wen and Yan Luoying enter the conference room, Zhao Jin shouted from the door, “You all better hurry up. My Young Master’s time is expensive, he won’t waste it on you.”
His attitude was still overbearing, but the more he acted like this, the more it looked believable to the guards.
After returning to the room, Yan Luoying heaved a sigh of relief. She looked at Su Wen and asked, “Will they believe me?”
Su Wen smiled and said, “They will, because they have no other choice. The moment Wen Jinming ‘confessed’, everyone was implicated. How much trust can these people have for Wen Jinming? Furthermore, the guards were there when the leaders of the gangs exposed Wen Jinming. Hence, they should know that Wen Jinming will definitely not be able to escape punishment. Under such circumstances, the possibility of Wen Jinming telling the truth is not small!”
When he spoke up to this point, Su Wen sighed with emotion. “Luckily, I left myself with some cards to play. I didn’t expect this old brat to actually commit suicide. He really is a bit ruthless. This type of person is too much of a pity to be placed in a Patrol Office. I reckon it would be more suitable to send him to the Northern Border army.”
His words rang true. Wen Jinming was the kind of person who was unyielding in dealing with problems, including trying to push Yan Luoying away to protect his own interests.
Yan Luoying smiled and looked at Su Wen with admiration in her eyes. She said, “The majority of people in the army are all crass and outspoken people, unlike Young Master Su which sets traps in your words. I have to be careful when I’m around you. Who knows when I’ll get twisted up in your schemes as well?”
Yan Luoying was smart, but after coming to the capital, she realized that she was not good at scheming.
Compared to battle formations and strategies, there were even more worldly and unscrupulous methods.
But it had to be said that Yan Luoying admired this kind of man more than those brash types like Wu Lie.
The two started chatting in the meantime while waiting for the confessions.
Outside the room, Sun Wei and the others were gathered together.
“What should we do? Lord Sun, should we write the confessions or not?”
“That’s right. Now that Brother Wen has already exposed us, if we don’t write the confessions, It will mean that we’re refusing to assist them in their investigations.”
“Lord Sun, what do you think we should do?”
Everyone turned their gazes to Sun Wei.
Sun Wei pondered for a moment and said in a low voice, “In my opinion, we still have to write it. If Wen Jinming has really hung us out to dry, it won’t be a good thing for us to bear the consequences.
After all, Young Master Su said just now that he will let Minister Su help us get out of our crimes. To put it bluntly, we didn’t come out with the methods to obtain benefits on our own, they’re all the rules of the higher-ups.
In addition, it’s not like we are the ones raking in the profit of all four patrol districts in the capital. Would His Majesty kill us all for such a small crime? With Minister Su speaking for us and the inability of the law to punish everyone, it’s a good opportunity for us to wash our hands off this matter.
I can also tell that with Lady Yan around, we can forget about getting benefits in the future as well. Let’s take this opportunity to clean up our butts first. We can plan our moves in the future.”
At this point he lowered his voice, “But we have to be unified in our confessions, and push the blame upwards. I don’t have to teach you this, right?”
“If the higher-ups find out, will they…” Someone started to worry.
Sun Wei sneered, “The higher-ups? No matter how big they are, are they as big as Minister Su? Compared to the almighty Prime Minister, they are just farts.
Didn’t you see Young Master Su’s attitude today? He wants to use our patrolling guards as an example to increase his political achievements. These people can’t even protect themselves, how can they take revenge on us?”
Compared to Wen Jinming, although Sun Wei did not have much ability, he was better at protecting himself.
Whether it was the loss of benefits or the aftermath, although he seemed to agree with Wen Jinming on the surface, he actually rarely participated.
At this moment, he was even more unwilling to forcefully endure and burden of being labelled a criminal.
Soon, Sun Wei and the others finished writing their confessions. After signing and stamping their names, they delivered them all to Zhao Jin.
“Master Zhao, we have all written it down. Can you help us pass it in?” Sun Wei was very humble.
Zhao Jin laughed, “Alright, you’re quite an efficient man. Wait here.”
With that said, Zhao Jin brought in the stack of confessions.
Su Wen looked through them one by one. These patrolling guards were also the people who often came into contact with the case files.
The confessions they wrote were seamless, and they explained everything clearly.
Of course, there were also some who tried to shirk responsibility. To Su Wen, this was not important.
Su Changqing had said that Emperor Zhou wanted to attack the government officials of the Great Zhou.
After receiving their confession, Su Wen knew that this would be enough for the Emperor to kick up a fuss.
Su Wen knocked on the table and pondered for a moment before saying, “I will take these confessions with me. I will hand them over to His Majesty later, and he will decide on the outcome.”
He was not lying on this matter, the Zhou Emperor had indeed kept to his word and summoned him to the palace to receive his teachings.
Yan Luoying said, “What about those people involved?”
Su Wen said, “They have been embezzling for many years. Whether they live or die is up to His Majesty to decide.”
Su Wen personally did not have any compassion for these people.
As for keeping his promise, Su Wen was even more unconcerned. He was already infamous to begin with, so it was not a big deal if he kept his word or not.
…
In the Royal Palace, Emperor Zhou scanned the documents Su Wen handed to him. After reading them one by one, he nodded and said, “Not bad.”
After he finished speaking, he put the document aside as if it was a trivial matter. He didn’t even ask about Wen Jinming’s death. He then smiled and said, “You little brat, you’re arrogant and despotic, competing against others through wealth. That Xue Meng was punished and sent to the northern border. As for you, it’s all thanks to this Emperor’s protection.
As for the next few days, you should enter the palace on time and put on an act. When you enter the royal court and become an official in the future, you have to be more steady and not be too ostentatious.”
Su Wen cupped his hands and said with a smile, “I thank Your Majesty for the kindness shown. In addition, this subject still has something to report.”
“Oh? Do you have official matters to report?”
“It’s nothing serious. It’s just that I’ve seen quite a few beggars in the capital on my way back and forth these past few days. They’re young, and they run around the streets, often blocking this subject’s path, which is grating on my nerves.
I would like to suggest to Your Majesty to specially build a place to imprison these young beggars and force them to learn some craftsmanship. When the time comes, they can become craftsmen and stay put in one location! This way, my journey back and forth will be much quieter.”
Emperor Zhou froze for a moment as he pondered, before grinning, “Kid, this is no trivial matter. Is the capital’s wide road not enough for your carriage? However, the idea you mentioned isn’t bad. Coincidentally, your father has given me quite a bit of money. This method can also help to alleviate the shortage of craftsmen everywhere.”
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