Chapter 920: Chapter 920

Capítulo 920: Chapter 47: Final Judgment

The autumn in Lanling City shows no signs of desolation.

At seven in the morning, with the morning mist yet to disperse, the majestic vermilion city gates opened one after another under the cool breeze. The armor of the city guards glimmered with a cold iron-blue light as the horses’ hooves clattered on the bluestone road, causing the ginkgo leaves beside the road to flutter down.

Outside the East City Gate, the smoke from the morning market rose, the fragrance of steamed buns filled with date paste mingled with the shouting of peddlers, carried by the west wind over the high city walls.

A figure clad in gold with a sword at his waist walked out from the East City Gate, causing a commotion.

“Look, that person looks just like Marquis Jing’an!”

“Hey, they really do look alike!”

“Could it be the Marquis Jing’an has returned from the Northern Territory?”

“Why would Marquis Jing’an use the city gate?”

Under everyone’s gaze, Li Fei walked into Lanling City.

On September 28th, Marquis Jing’an returns to the capital!

The journey from the Northern Territory to Lanling City would normally take about a week by carriage.

This time, Li Fei returned alone, so he chose to fly. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs NoveIꜰire.net

Piloting the flying boat confiscated from You Ming of the New Heaven Association, Li Fei flew back from the Northern Territory to Lanling City in just two days.

Yet, even before he reached his Marquis Mansion, invitation after invitation had already been delivered to his residence.

All were invitations to banquets, and the lowest rank of the senders was Marquis, with the lowest official position being a Level 16 cabinet official!

Now, Li Fei was only lacking in connections and followers, but in other aspects, he could be considered a standard ‘powerful minister’.

And as long as he was willing, many powerful figures within the court would be eager to establish friendships with him.

Among the officials below, many would be willing to come under his banner!

Before leaving for the Northern Territory, the Third Prince had approached Li Fei, telling him that he ‘had authority but no power’, and to seek vengeance on Xu Jing and the Lu Family, at least ten years of accumulation would be needed.

But with just a single trip to the Northern Territory, Li Fei had gained both authority and power!

No ten years needed, Li Fei now already had the permission to reopen the old case!

Upon returning to his Marquis Mansion, Li Fei asked his steward to politely decline most of the invitations.

He first proactively wrote a memorial applying to have an audience with the Emperor, then went out to the headquarters of the Monitoring Pavilion.

“Greetings, Marquis Jing’an.”

Within the Monitoring Pavilion headquarters, all the officials who encountered Li Fei along the way greeted him with formal salutes.

Li Fei walked into his exclusive office pavilion.

“Marquis, here is the information you requested.”

A subordinate handed a stack of documents to Li Fei.

“Alright, you may leave.”

Li Fei received the documents.

These documents were about Qi Zhou and the New Heaven Association.

On August 1st, Feng Cheng arrived with an Imperial Decree to read out commendations to everyone.

The Imperial Decree mentioned all the key figures and important achievements but made no mention of Qi Zhou.

This was clearly abnormal.

If Qi Zhou was to be dealt with as a traitor, then the fact that Li Fei and Qiu Zian together executed a rebel Great Grandmaster was a noteworthy accomplishment.

However, the Imperial Decree did not mention Qi Zhou’s rebellion, nor the achievements of Li Fei and Qiu Zian, nor did it address how Qi Zhou was dealt with.

This left Li Fei quite curious, puzzled as to what the Emperor was thinking.

Additionally, he was also curious about Qi Ming’s final decision, which led him to decide to investigate.

As the Blue Patrol Envoy and a Level 16 cabinet official of the Monitoring Pavilion, he had high-level permissions. To investigate many matters, all he needed was a single word.

The documents before him now were the ‘results’ of the Monitoring Pavilion over the past two months:

Upon learning that Qi Zhou was affiliated with the New Heaven Association, the Monitoring Pavilion immediately conducted an in-depth investigation along this line.

Over two months, at Tianqu University, a deputy principal, seven professors, and over twenty lecturers were imprisoned!

Additionally, in Cang Province where Tianqu University is located, two cabinet officials, fourteen sitting officials, and forty-six imperial officials were imprisoned!

At the Central Government, in the Zhi Ge Pavilion, Monitoring Pavilion, Inspector Pavilion, and Internal Affairs Pavilion, there were officials imprisoned.

This storm was no smaller than the ‘Three Major Cases’ of the past, perhaps even surpassing it!

However, despite the intense internal changes and the involvement of so many noble figures, the entire process appeared ‘calm and uneventful’.

No announcements on the court gazette, and no journalism agency reported any related news.

Among the populace, even many local governments were completely unaware of these events!

Such a bizarre situation was indeed rare, and Li Fei vaguely understood the court’s intent—

A ‘cold treatment’ of Qi Zhou’s crimes, to prevent the matter from expanding.

Then, Li Fei began to review Qi Zhou’s personal files.

Qi Zhou was a solitary person, unmarried, with no offspring, and no parents or family.

Not even a single relative!

Given his circumstances, he was already dead, and whether his crimes were made public held little impact, at most only concerning his ‘posthumous reputation’.

“Qi Family… colluding with the enemy and treason… the entire clan executed…”

Li Fei saw the archives from several decades ago, he saw Qi Zhou’s past.

“Because of this, he harbored a grudge against the court? But hasn’t the current Emperor already overturned the case for the Qi Family?”

With each reign comes new ministers, the mistakes of the previous Emperor and court shouldn’t be counted against the current Emperor, should they?

Li Fei did not quite understand why Qi Zhou chose rebellion.

He perused the documents for a while, then heard footsteps approaching.

He Jian, wearing official robes and looking solemn, came over.

Li Fei put down the documents in his hand and said with a smile:

“Elder He, we meet again.”

He Jian’s stern face also showed a hint of a smile:

Li Fei invited He Jian to sit down, then personally poured a cup of tea: