Moments later, a young man, entirely clad in mourning attire, holding a spirit tablet and surrounded by a dozen imperial guards, strode into the Daqing Hall.
Merely looking at his peculiar appearance, the assembled officials in the hall began to whisper amongst themselves.
After all, no one had ever seen someone dressed in mourning, holding a spirit tablet, beating the Dengwen Drum to appear before the emperor in the Golden Hall.
"Since you beat the Dengwen Drum, speak up properly. What is your name, where do you live? What injustice have you suffered?"
Upon entering, the man immediately knelt on the ground and began to wail without saying a word. Even Zhao Ji, a decadent ruler, found it difficult to be too harsh given the circumstances.
After all, without a monumental injustice, who would go to such lengths as to hold their ancestor's spirit tablet and weep in the Golden Hall!
"Replying to Your Majesty, this student is Xu Changhao, a native of Zhenzhou. My late father, Xu Yanzhao, was originally the Tongpan of Zhenzhou!"
"Xu Yanzhao?"
Hearing this name, even Zhao Ji felt quite unfamiliar. After all, the Song Dynasty had too many officials, and Tongpans were innumerable.
If it were a high-ranking official, or one who attended court in the capital, he might still remember the name.
For a Tongpan in an outer prefecture, let alone the emperor, even Cai Jing, a seasoned Chancellor, might not remember him.
"What injustice do you suffer? Why do you bring the spirit tablet to the hall?"
As for names, whether he had heard them or not made little difference. Zhao Ji was now more concerned about why this person was causing such a stir.
"Replying to Your Majesty, this student is here today to seek justice for my father, accusing the current Grand Chancellor Yu Shen. This is my petition, please Your Majesty peruse it!"
As soon as he said this, the atmosphere in the Daqing Hall became strange once more.
Yu Shen was on the verge of retirement, so he had even skipped court that day, reporting illness directly.
Yet, at this moment, someone had directly accused him. This was truly a case of 'sitting at home and inviting disaster.'
"Present it!"
As soon as Zhao Ji spoke, before the eunuch beside him could move, Wang Fu directly stepped forward.
Even Cai You felt something was amiss when the Chancellor preempted the eunuch's duty.
Although this was not a major issue, Wang Fu's action made the officials in the hall feel that he had lost some of the Chancellor's dignity.
However, Zhao Ji did not think so. Not only did he not think Wang Fu had lost any dignity as Chancellor, but he also felt that this fellow was perhaps not as bad as he had imagined.
After all, among all the officials in the hall, they only remembered Cai Jing's immense power and influence, completely forgetting that before Cai Jing rose to power, he had engaged in such activities quite frequently.
From the founding of the Song Dynasty until Emperor Huizong's reign, before Cai Jing came to power.
Which Chancellor had not acted with a sense of self-importance and guarded their reputation?
Whether the emperor was pleased or not was not even within their consideration.
There were even instances in the Song Dynasty's prior history where Chancellors, when angered, would point at the emperor's nose and curse him, spitting in his face.
After all, if a Chancellor was too weak, they would be impeached by the Censorate.
It's not that there weren't those with weak spines, but they wouldn't last long in their positions before being removed.
The original system of mutual dependence and confrontation between imperial power and the power of the Chancellors was the complete governance of the empire by the emperor and the scholar-officials.
However, after Cai Jing took office, the power of the Chancellors had become a tool for Cai Jing to curry favor with the emperor.
It could be said that Cai Jing had broken the backs of the Song Dynasty's Chancellors...
Consequently, seeing Wang Fu deign to lower his status at this moment, Zhao Ji actually felt a greater sense of closeness.
He even cast a meaningful smile at Wang Fu the moment he took the petition.
However, this smile did not last long. After a mere glance at the contents of the petition, Zhao Ji's expression immediately turned grim.
"Xu Changhao, you say Chancellor Yu colluded with accomplices in the Zhang Huaizu case and used it to eliminate rivals. Do you have any evidence? Do you know the crime of falsely accusing a sitting Chancellor!"
Upon hearing the emperor suddenly mention Zhang Huaizu, Bai Shizhong truly felt like crying without tears. It was truly a case of 'what you fear most will happen.'
If Cai You, standing beside him, hadn't supported him, Bai Shizhong would likely have collapsed to the ground.
Even Cai You hadn't expected Wang Fu to be so decisive.
Was this person accusing Yu Shen?
Yu Shen was now a tiger without teeth, and he was about to retire.
Even for the sake of the Chancellor's dignity, the emperor would not deeply investigate this matter.
But once that young man produced this letter, the situation would become entirely different.
Yu Shen was already a dead pig that feared no boiling water. At most, his post-retirement benefits would be reduced by one or two ranks.
In a few years, during major festivals like the Tianning Festival, he would recover those years.
The problem was, once that letter was produced, the emperor's opinion of Bai Shizhong would be greatly diminished.
If it were a junior Chancellor, the court's opinion might somewhat influence the emperor's decision, but the position of the Prime Chancellor depended entirely on the emperor's will.
At this critical juncture, if the emperor harbored even a slight displeasure, his position as Chancellor would likely be lost.
"Don't panic, things haven't reached an irrecoverable point!"
Seeing Bai Shizhong's ashen face, Cai You immediately lowered his voice and said.
"Since he has exposed this matter in full view of everyone, this matter cannot be resolved easily!"
Bai Shizhong spoke while wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. Wang Fu's move was too ruthless.
If he had handed this over to the Censorate or the Ministry of Justice, with the influence of Cai You and his faction, there might have been a way to resolve it.
But by handing it directly to the emperor, the nature of the matter changed entirely. Whether for the sake of the Chancellor's face or for political balance, the emperor might directly suppress it and pretend the matter never happened.
However, this fellow had now brought out such a hot-headed young man to beat the Dengwen Drum in full view of everyone!
The sound of the Dengwen Drum meant that this matter was now irretrievable. For Bai Shizhong to get through this unscathed, he would truly have to shed a layer of skin.