Daming: The system rejected my request for salted fish

Chapter 1424

Now that Guo Huan has been captured, there's no need for him to stay here any longer; he can go home and take care of his wife.

However, just as Wei Wu was thinking about going home soon, Zhu Biao looked at him apologetically and said:

"Xiao Wu, I'm afraid you'll have to wait a bit. Although we've caught Guo Huan, there are other participants who haven't been interrogated yet."

“If we release you without even a trial, even if Guo Huan and the others are eventually convicted, the officials will still resent the court for its injustice.”

"Guo Huan and others released you before they were tried and convicted. They may not say it outright, but they will inevitably be dissatisfied in secret."

At this point, Zhu Biao reached out and patted Wei Wu on the shoulder, continuing to gently comfort him:

"But don't worry, none of them will escape. I will have the Embroidered Uniform Guard arrest them immediately and interrogate them overnight to obtain all their confessions."

"We will bring this up in the main hall during the court meeting tomorrow morning. Everyone knows that Father is decisive and will sentence him on the spot."

"By then, you will naturally be free from this case, so you should be able to leave no later than tomorrow after the court session. Just bear with it for one more day!"

After hearing Zhu Biao's words, Wei Wu sighed helplessly, but he also understood that Zhu Biao was right.

The imperial court is not like a county yamen; as long as solid evidence is found, the wronged person can be released immediately.

In the imperial court, everything must follow rules and procedures. Although the emperor has the greatest power, he still has to pay attention to the thoughts of his ministers.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang was ruthless and killed many officials, it's important to know that those officials were mostly guilty of crimes.

Therefore, no matter how cruel Zhu Yuanzhang was to these people, he was in the right. Coupled with the prestige of the founding emperor, the officials could not say anything.

However, not everything can be decided unilaterally. If one makes decisions without regard for the attitudes of officials, those officials will also be dissatisfied.

If the emperor can decide everything, what use are we officials? We might as well resign and return to our hometowns.

The vast Ming Dynasty could not rely solely on the emperor; it also needed the assistance of officials to govern it. Without rules, there can be no order, and the same applies to the emperor.

Since it was only a day's wait anyway, and it wasn't like he couldn't afford to wait, Wei Wu stopped demanding to be released from prison.

"Alright! It's only one day, I'll bear with it a little longer, so that it won't be difficult for Old Master Zhu to explain to the officials."

"I knew you'd understand, Xiao Wu. Don't worry, your brother won't let you stay in the imperial prison for too long!"

Seeing that Wei Wu no longer demanded immediate release from prison, Zhu Biao breathed a sigh of relief. His biggest worry was that Wei Wu would insist on leaving regardless of the consequences.

Fortunately, Wei Wu was still the same as before, understanding his and Zhu Yuanzhang's difficulties and generally not making things too difficult for them.

Zhu Biao then reassured Wei Wu a few more times before leaving the prison under the pretext of returning to the palace to discuss the matter of sentencing with Zhu Yuanzhang.

Looking at the empty prison, Wei Wu could only sigh helplessly.

"You can't find anyone in the entire Ming Dynasty who understands righteousness better than me, except for my aunt!"

He muttered something to himself, then returned to the recliner and lay down, immersing himself in the game once more.

Meanwhile, outside the imperial prison, on Zhu Biao's orders, the Embroidered Uniform Guard mobilized in full force to carry out a massive arrest operation in the capital.

Because the Embroidered Uniform Guard had a bad reputation, both officials and ordinary people naturally had a sense of fear and disgust towards them.

So at the beginning of the operation, both officials and ordinary people were a little scared, after all, such a big commotion had suddenly occurred.

No one could guess who they were going to arrest, but as time went by, the people were relieved, while the officials were filled with anxiety.

Because during the operation, the Embroidered Uniform Guard arrested only officials, ranging from high-ranking officials of the second rank to low-ranking officials of the seventh rank.

Even low-ranking officials were arrested, which made the people even more curious about what had happened.

It must be said that the Embroidered Uniform Guard truly lived up to its reputation as an organization hated by everyone; their methods of arresting people could only be described as brutal.

Upon arriving at the suspect's residence, they kicked open the gate without saying a word, and then a group of people rushed into the house and started beating everyone they saw.

Everyone who enters their line of sight has to lie down, and they won't leave until they catch the person they're after.

However, although this method was crude, it was very efficient. In a short time, all the people that Guo Huan had implicated were arrested.

After these people were taken to the imperial prison, some of them continued to protest their innocence and threatened to appeal to the court so that His Majesty would punish the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

But as one official after another was brought in, fewer and fewer people cried out for justice, and they began to realize that something was amiss.

In the end, everyone was arrested, and most of the officials fell silent, while a small number looked on with panic.

In addition, there were a very few other people who not only had panic in their eyes, but also had pale faces and were trembling uncontrollably.

The reason why these three types of people reacted so differently is simple: they knew different things.

Those officials who remained silent were all contacted through a single line in the money exchange case; they were unaware of the identities of the other participants.

So even though I was a little nervous after being arrested, I tried to stay calm and kept in mind that I wasn't arrested because of the money lending case.

The small group of people who looked panicked were those who had been in contact with other participants in the money lending case and knew more about it.

Their panic stemmed from recognizing people they had been in contact with among those arrested, naturally leading them to speculate whether they had been exposed.

Simply put, the more you know, the more afraid you become, and those three trembling officials were trembling because they knew too much.

Because most of those arrested were known participants, but these participants were unaware of them.

Now that so many people have been arrested, the outcome is obvious: the money laundering scheme has been exposed. How could they not be afraid?

As time went by, the atmosphere in the imperial prison became increasingly heavy, eventually even depressing.

Just then, one of the three pale-faced, trembling officials collapsed to the ground with a thud.

With an expression of utter despair, as if his father had just died, he said:

"It's over, it's all over, we're all going to die, not one of us can escape, we're all going to die!!"

Seeing his appearance, one of the officials immediately stepped forward and asked urgently:

"Your Excellency, what do you mean by that? Why do you say that we all must die?"