1318 Plead Guilty 2
The Eldest Prince and Ye Qingtang secretly exchanged glances and waited to see how Ling Yan would redeem himself.
Ye Qingtang was aware that of the two charges, the one of indulging one’s subordinates had been planned more rigorously. The disaster relief matter was just the icing on the cake.
She just did not know…
How Ling Yan would deal with it.
Ye Qingtang’s gaze involuntarily fell on Ling Yan.
Ling Yan maintained his composure although everyone was looking at him. He only raised his eyes slightly to look at the Eternal Emperor.
Just as everyone was staring at Ling Yan to see how he would refute the charges, he suddenly spoke.
“Lord Hu has asked to impeach me on the grounds of two charges. I plead guilty to them both.”
Ling Yan’s words shocked everyone present.
“What’s going on? Ling Yan… is pleading guilty just like that?” The Eldest Princess whispered to the Eldest Prince behind her, her eyes wide in disbelief.
Ling Yan did not say a word to refute Lord Hu’s two charges but simply admitted that he was guilty?
No one present had expected this, much less the Eldest Princess.
Ye Qingtang was also shocked by Ling Yan’s words.
He is just pleading guilty?
You should at least resist a little…
A look of shock flashed across the Eternal Emperor’s eyes as he looked at Ling Yan, who had pleaded guilty.
“Ling Yan, are you really pleading guilty?” The Eternal Emperor asked somewhat uncertainly.
“Yes, I am pleading guilty.” Ling Yan repeated himself as if afraid that the others had not heard him.
Now, the Eternal Emperor really turned ashen.
He had been planning to rebuke Ling Yan. If he refuted the charges, the Emperor would naturally get someone to investigate everything carefully. He certainly would not believe Lord Hu’s accusations so easily.
However…
The person being charged did not have any intention of resisting.
The Eternal Emperor had just formulated a series of follow-up actions, but now, they were rendered useless.
Even Lord Hu, who had come forward to accuse Ling Yan, was shocked.
Had the almost demonically clever Third Prince been subst.i.tuted for someone else?
As everyone was exclaiming in surprise, Ling Yan suddenly took a few dossiers from his sleeve and handed them to the Eternal Emperor. Then, he flicked his robes and kneeled on one knee.
“Royal Father, every word that Lord Hu said is the truth. However, Lord Hu’s investigations were too superficial. These dossiers clearly record all the funds that were misappropriated in the disaster relief work that I was involved in over the past few years.”
“…”
Ling Yan’s words shocked everyone present.
Did anyone trip themselves up like that?!
The Eternal Emperor scowled and flipped through the dossiers. The dossiers clearly recorded every sum that had gone missing, and it was significantly greater than that in Lord Hu’s accounts.
But as he read further, the Eternal Emperor’s expression grew even more shocked.
The Eldest Prince, who was standing nearby, also snapped out of his trance. Although he did not know what was wrong with Ling Yan today, he certainly would not miss this golden opportunity!
He would take advantage of Ling Yan’s weakness to score a vital hit!
The Eldest Prince advanced.
“Royal Father, the Crown Prince is young, and perhaps he made a mistake. Please, Royal Father, forgive him!”
The Second Princess immediately understood and said, “Forgive him? My Eldest Royal Brother is so compa.s.sionate. The Crown Prince has appropriated the funds meant to save the lives of our citizens at the border. Do you know that every cent he embezzled represents the life of a citizen, stricken by the disaster? Who knows how many citizens have been killed by his greed? How can such a greedy person be our dynasty’s Crown Prince! How can we face our citizens?!”