That night, everyone stayed in the Hall of Mental Cultivation for the entire night.
News of the grand court session was delivered to the homes of officials by eunuchs deep into the night.
Previous court sessions were held at Chengtian Gate, commonly known as the imperial court session.
However, Li Shimin directly rejected it upon learning of it, believing that standing outside would diminish his authority. As an elder to Zhu Yuanzhang, he had the right to utilize the largest palace within the Forbidden City.
Thus, the location of the court session was moved to the Hall of Supreme Harmony, which is the Hall of Supreme Harmony in later generations.
As the civil and military officials ascended to the court, before even entering the hall, they sensed that the atmosphere was somewhat amiss.
Outside the hall, four tanks were parked at the entrance, two on each side.
Upon entering the hall, they found that the Dragon Throne was not occupied by Zhu Youjian, but by a stranger they had never seen before.
Li Shimin sat imposquiringly on the Dragon Throne, while Zhu Youjian moved a brocade stool and sat by his leg like a son.
A Grand Tutor chair was placed below the imperial steps, and Fang Er sat there with his legs crossed, a Type 54 pistol resting on his knee, tapping his calf from time to time.
This scene left the civil and military officials utterly bewildered.
What the hell was going on?
When the last official crossed the threshold, the palace gate suddenly closed.
The sound of hurried footsteps echoed, and Luo Yangxing, leading a team of the Imperial Guard, rushed out from the rear hall, surrounding the officials.
An imperial censor, seeing this, immediately shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Bold! Who are you rascals to dare usurp the throne!"
"Guards, quickly come to protect His Majesty!"
Neither Fang Er nor Li Shimin spoke. Zhu Youjian said, "Enough, Minister Liu. I am still the Emperor!"
"Since everyone is here, I shall introduce you all."
Having said that, he stood up and pointed at Li Shimin on the Dragon Throne, "This person is not the rascal you imagine, but Emperor Taizong!"
"Yes, you heard correctly, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty!"
This was the grand court session, with all officials of rank seven and above in the capital present, numbering seven to eight hundred people.
Fortunately, the Hall of Supreme Harmony was large enough, with a building area of over two thousand square meters, otherwise, it truly could not accommodate them.
Upon hearing Zhu Youjian's words, everyone's eyes widened.
"This, how is this possible!"
"Exactly, Emperor Taizong died over a thousand years ago, how could he appear here?"
"Your Majesty, why is your face so injured!"
"Your Majesty, could it be that you are being threatened by them?"
"Your Majesty, fear not, with us here, we will protect you with our lives, even if it costs us!"
The officials clearly did not believe Li Shimin's identity, as the appearance of someone from a thousand years ago was too absurd.
But did it matter whether they believed it or not?
It did not matter!
Several Imperial Guards dragged out the three Grand Secretaries, Chen Yan, Zhang Sizhi, and Xue Guoguan, and threw them before the officials.
Fan Fucui was also helped out, given a chair, and sat with Fang Er.
"This, this, this!"
"What happened to these Grand Secretaries?"
"Why have they been beaten to such an extent!"
"Hey? It seems Eunuch Cao and Eunuch Wang have also been beaten, what exactly happened!"
"Your Majesty, was it these people? As long as you give the word, your subordinate will fight them to the death!"
The officials looked at the battered appearance of Zhu Youjian and the others. They had been a bit too rough yesterday, and their faces were now swollen beyond recognition.
Zhu Youjian glanced at the official who spoke, recalling Fang Er's words from yesterday, and mocked him.
"Quick, apprehend them for me!"
"If you can apprehend them, I will promote you to Grand Scholar of the Eastern Pavilion!"
The official who had been righteous and indignant just moments ago suddenly had his neck turn red. He opened and closed his mouth several times but could not utter a single word.
Fang Er found this amusing and asked Fan Fucui, "Minister Fan, who is this person?"
Fan Fucui slightly cupped his hands before replying, "Imperial Censor, Cao Rong."
Fang Er raised an eyebrow, it seemed he had read about Cao Rong in a book before.
This fellow mostly engaged in empty talk during the Chongzhen era, but after surrendering to the Qing, he became exceptionally diligent, offering advice to the Tartars, proposing regulations for officialdom, land cultivation, salt administration, and currency, but all his proposals were based on old Ming dynasty precedents, with no new achievements.
He had considerable achievements in literature, but as an official, he truly hadn't made much of a name for himself.
To put it bluntly, he was a typical bookworm, incapable of anything except studying, academic pursuits, and amassing wealth, a person who achieved nothing and consumed everything.
Oh, and one more thing, Cao Rong was from the Zhejiang faction.
After recalling the records about this fellow, Fang Er gave him a mocking smile.
"Hahahaha~~ Who did I think it was, it's Imperial Censor Cao!"
"I wonder if Imperial Censor Cao has achieved anything in his three years as an official?"
Cao Rong's face turned even redder at this. It had hit his weak spot, and he stammered, unable to speak.
Fang Er watched him with amusement, rubbing his head with the butt of his gun. A fly had landed there just now, and he continued,
"Tsk, tsk, so it's just a dolt who only knows how to talk."
"However, I've heard that you are quite wealthy, I just don't know how you accumulated it with your meager salary? Could Imperial Censor Cao enlighten me?"
Cao Rong could no longer remain silent and quickly said, "You're talking nonsense! I have always been incorruptible and dedicated to my duties, how could I have ever taken half a tael of silver!"
After speaking, he looked at Zhu Youjian, "Your Majesty, this person is slandering his subordinate like this, please Your Majesty deliver justice for your subordinate!"
But before Zhu Youjian could speak, Li Shimin said faintly.
"Oh, slandering, is it? Well then, Great Camel, send your men to investigate his household. This is a simple matter, you don't need me to teach you, do you?"
Luo Yangxing almost spat out a mouthful of blood upon hearing this. What a Great Camel!
But considering that His Majesty had been called "Zhu Youjian" by him, calling himself Great Camel didn't seem too bad.
So, he cast a questioning glance at Zhu Youjian.
As a result, Zhu Youjian immediately glared back at him.
"What are you looking at me for? Do as Emperor Taizong tells you to do!"
Li Shimin and his group were untouchable, but it was acceptable to quarrel with his subordinates and vent his frustrations.
Cao Rong panicked, immediately knelt on the ground, kowtowed three times, and shouted hoarsely.
"Your Majesty! How can you believe his baseless words? If you do, how will these officials in the court conduct themselves?"
His voice was so loud as if he was afraid the officials in the hall would not hear clearly.
As expected, as soon as he spoke, more than half of the officials changed their expressions and protested to Zhu Youjian.
"Your Majesty, how can you believe hearsay!"
"This person's identity is unknown, what right does he have to interfere in state affairs?"
"Exactly, exactly, what right does he have to sit with Grand Secretary Fan?"
Bang!
Li Tai saw this and directly pulled the trigger. The crisp gunshot echoed throughout the hall, sending a shiver down everyone's spine, and they instinctively shut their mouths.
"Presumptuous!"
"Oh dear~~ Qingque, don't bring out your gun. If there's a reason, let's reason it out."
Fang Er feigned a scolding at Li Tai and then looked at the officials.
"If I recall correctly, the duty of an imperial censor is to capture fleeting shadows and report them. Is that correct, Grand Secretary Fan?"
Fan Fucui nodded cooperatively from the side, "What Duke Anguo says is true. This is a rule established by the founding emperor."
Fang Er chuckled, "That's good then."
Having said that, he stood up from his chair and walked among the officials, saying,
"Since imperial censors can supervise all officials and impeach ministers based on rumors, why can't others impeach imperial censors based on rumors?"
"Luo Yangxing, what are you still standing there for?"
Luo Yangxing suddenly felt that Fang Er and the others were not so annoying. In the past, Zhu Youjian had suffered a lot from these imperial censors, and now that someone could deal with them, he felt inexplicably relieved.
"Yes!"
As the other officials were about to speak, Li Tai grinned and fired three more shots at the roof of the hall.
Bang bang bang!
Silence reigned in the hall.