The king of Yizhou died in the chaos and flew into the capital like wings. The emperor was very sad when he received it, and shed tears.
The king of Yizhou died, and all the private troops he raised were dug out, and the next step was to deal with the aftermath.
After getting to the bottom of it, the emperor found that a considerable part of the officials and aristocratic families who followed the King of Yizhou followed when they were fighting for the throne more than ten years ago.
It stands to reason that at least the three clans must be punished for treason. In such a case, as many as 20,000 people need to be questioned.
Wei Zhi and others pleaded for mercy, hoping to only ask the first criminal.
After thinking about it, the emperor agreed, and asked Wei Zhi and others to find out the actions of those involved in the case for more than ten years, and punish them according to the law. check.
This time, because of the involvement in the Yizhou king's case, many people could not stand the investigation.
The Ministry of Criminal Justice was so busy that its feet didn't touch the ground. Mr. Tang and Wei Zhi also had to stay in the Ministry of Criminal Justice to deal with repeat offenders.
But there are also quite a few people who have been wronged.
But regardless of whether they were wronged or not, those who were implicated would have their property confiscated first, and then they would be judged whether they were within the scope of "forgiveness" stipulated by the emperor. If they were, they would be released and everything would have to start over.
But with so many people, it may take half a year, or even longer, to screen them one by one.
Then the official department was busy. This time, the officials involved, especially the officials of Jiannan Road, several assassins were involved.
Although they were not killed together as the accomplices of the King of Yizhou, for example, the governor Zhang who was arrested, and the governor of Zizhou who wrote a letter of guilt, etc., all had to be replaced in the end.
At this moment, the official department can't transfer so many people. The key point is that if people are drawn from this place, there will be a shortage of people in that place.
So the officials were also bald, and finally proposed to the emperor that they want to have a big exam in the bureau after the spring.
The emperor agreed after consideration.
Things began to get orderly, the official errands guarding Changqing Lane also retreated, Bai Shan and Bai Erlang could go to school again, Man Bao also began to quietly try to sit in the pharmacy.
Then, the harem that was managed like an iron bucket by the queen was leaked in. At this time, Yin Li was already on the road with the coffins of the Yizhou king, father and son.
When the queen mother heard that the king of Yizhou died in the rebellion, she vomited blood and passed out. Xiao Yuan was taking half of the imperial doctors from the imperial hospital to rescue him, and finally snatched him back.
The emperor was discussing matters with the ministers in his study at that time. Hearing this, he immediately left state affairs and went to the harem, and waited outside the empress dowager's hall in person.
The queen stood beside him, looking at him apologetically.
The emperor stretched out his arms to embrace her, patted her shoulder lightly, and sighed: "I don't blame you, it's the limit for you to be able to hide it for so many days."
The Queen said: "It's not the Ying family, it's Zhang Concubine's natal family who came to visit her in the palace and quietly contacted people in Yunfeng Palace."
After a pause, she said: "I've imprisoned Yunfeng in the cold palace now, has Your Majesty thought about how to deal with it?"
The emperor asked, "What does Zitong think?"
"Yunfeng is a girl, she can't possibly know about her father, Xinqing is only eight years old, let them comfort the queen mother's heart."
The emperor responded with a low voice, which was also the reason why he didn't lock Xinqing and his father and brother together.
Xiao Yuan was waiting for others to retreat, and reported to the emperor: "Your Majesty, the empress dowager is awake, but she just refuses to take medicine."
The emperor stretched out his hand and said, "Give me the medicine."
The queen was worried, and took a step forward: "Erlang."
The emperor turned back and smiled at her, and said softly: "It's okay, you are not in good health, go back to the palace first."
The queen watched him worryingly as he entered the room carrying the medicine, and after a while, the palace servants in the queen mother's palace also retreated tremblingly.
There were only mother and son left in the huge palace. The emperor put the bowl on the table, stretched out his hand and gently helped his mother up, and said softly, "Mother, take some medicine."
The queen mother had gray hair, turned her head to the side with a sullen face, and ignored him.
Holding the spoon, the emperor saw that she was unwilling to take the medicine, so he withdrew his hand with a sigh, "How can mother be willing to take the medicine?"
The queen mother didn't speak for a long time, she turned her head to look at the emperor, and said in a hoarse voice for a long time: "In my life, there are only six most important people. Your sister left me very early, and the pain of losing a child is as painful as a knife." The pain in my heart, I thought I would never experience it again, but you let me suffer it three times, even your father... "
The emperor clenched the bowl in his hand, his nose turned sour, and he raised his head with red eyes, "Mother, do you also blame me for the death of elder brother and father?"
The queen mother knocked down the medicine bowl in his hand, stretched out her hand and grabbed his sleeve and said angrily, "If you hadn't killed Saburo, how could your father have turned gray overnight, and how could he have left so early?"
The emperor opened his mouth, held back for a while and then said: "Mother, I don't regret killing my third brother. I have no way out. When he cut off my back, my father turned a blind eye when he was sitting in the back. I just turned a blind eye. I can only live if I can kill him, and only the hundreds of thousands of soldiers under me can live."
"What about the fifth child," said the queen mother with heaving chest and red eyes, "he can't beat you, and the tens of thousands of private soldiers he raised are just like playing games in front of you, why can't you let him live? Or seize the title , or demoted to common people, or exiled..."
"Mother," the emperor interrupted her, "this was all an accident. There are no eyesight on the battlefield..."
"It wasn't an accident!" The Queen Mother said firmly: "If you really have the heart, how dare Yin Li kill him?"
She said: "Yin Li left Beijing before Wulang entered Beijing, you already knew about it, didn't you? Then why did you delay uncovering it until now? You locked him in the palace, how did he escape? , tell me, how did he escape?"
The emperor did not speak.
The queen mother was sore and angry, she couldn't help but slapped him on the face, and cried bitterly: "I only have two sons, and there are only two of you brothers, why are you so cruel, is he Your own brother, he is your own brother... "
The emperor knelt down on the ground silently.
The queen mother cried bitterly: "There are Xin'an and Xinping, how old are they, what do they know? Xinping is not married yet, is your heart made of stone?"
The emperor lowered his head and let her beat and scold. The empress stood outside the hall and listened to the movement inside. After a while, she sighed and sent the palace people a little further away before turning around and leaving.
The emperor was afraid that she would faint from crying too much, so he reached out to support his mother while being beaten.
Tired from beating, the Empress Dowager leaned weakly on the pillow, turned her head into the bed, "I don't want to see you, you can go."