The third year of Zhengyuan.
It was autumn harvest time once again, and the heads accumulated over the previous year would fall to the ground this year.
As far as Cao Mao himself was concerned, he wanted Wang Rong executed, to show everyone in the realm what came of corruption and bending the law.
Yet Wei Shu, the newly appointed minister of justice, submitted a memorial opposing Cao Mao's proposal.
No one had expected this.
After all, like Zhang Hua, Wei Shu was one of the trusted aides who had followed the emperor from the earliest days. He had subsequently been sent out to the provinces on numerous occasions to oversee official administration, but he still stood on the emperor's side. The emperor had only just promoted him to minister of justice. What was going on?
Cao Mao could not understand it either, but he was not angry.
Wei Shu was not the sort to win himself a reputation by opposing him.
Thus, Cao Mao made a special trip to the Ministry of Justice to hear Wei Shu's thoughts.
Originally, the Imperial Secretariat had been a single entity, with its various ministers all working there. Starting this year, however, Cao Mao had separated them. This was not because he distrusted them, but simply because, with the complete decline of the Three Excellencies and Nine Ministers, the number of subordinate clerks in each ministry had gradually increased. Cao Mao had therefore expanded the Imperial Secretariat, providing each ministry with separate premises surrounding the old Secretariat.
When Cao Mao arrived at the Ministry of Justice, Wei Shu was leading his subordinate clerks in dealing with the accumulated cases involving beheading.
Learning that the emperor had arrived, Wei Shu hurried out to welcome him.
Cao Mao beckoned for Wei Shu to follow him,