After lunch, Huayang went to the study and wrote a second letter of complaint to his father.
Following her orders, Wu Runze went to the prefectural government office and borrowed five prisoner cars from Chen Bochong.
The Prince of Xiang was stupid but confident, but his wife was afraid that Huayang would really file a complaint with the emperor, so she sent two servants to secretly monitor what was going on in Ning Garden.
When the servants saw Eunuch Wu from Ning Garden pulling five prison carts back, they guessed that something was wrong. One of them continued to watch while the other hurried back to the palace to report the news.
When Princess Xiang heard this, her face turned pale and she fell into her chair.
The prince, whose face was swollen, was also very frightened: "Mother, are you going to escort those guards to the capital?"
If this is true, Princess Huayang is not just making an ordinary complaint, she is telling the world that her father has offended her and that she is determined to fight to the death with her father!
The matter was of great concern, so Princess Xiang took her son to see her husband who was recuperating in bed.
When the King of Xiang learned about this, he was so anxious that he didn't even care about his injuries. He urged the princess: "Quick, change my clothes for me, I want to go to Ningyuan!"
This is too much! He has already been whipped, and his son has also been punched by Chen Jingzong, why is that damn girl Huayang still not giving up!
Prince Xiang was complaining in his heart, but he had to stop Huayang. If the matter got out of hand, he would be the only one who would suffer!
The family of three rushed to Ning Garden in a hurry. When they finally arrived, they saw that the alley where Ning Garden was located was crowded with people who came to watch the excitement, and the carriage could not drive in at all. Helplessly, the prince and the guards took the fat Prince of Xiang off the carriage, and then two guards led the way and moved slowly.
But they were still a step too late. Wu Run got on the carriage with a letter written by the princess, and set off from the other end of the alley with five prison carts and twenty guards.
"Wait, Eunuch Wu, please stay!"
The King of Xiang, who only had time to see the shadow of a prison van, shouted loudly!
The people wished that the King of Xiang would be in trouble, and deliberately blocked the road by taking advantage of the princess's prestige. The King of Xiang was so angry that he turned around and slapped the prince: "Why are you still standing there? Leave this to me, and you quickly take people to the city gate to stop them. No matter what method you use, you have to stop them even if you have to lie on the road!"
The prince had no choice but to chase after him.
Prince Xiang and Princess Xiang arrived at the gate of Ning Garden, but no matter they knocked on the door themselves or asked the guards of Ning Garden to go in and pass the message, no one inside or outside paid any attention to them.
Half an hour later, the henchman beside the prince came back in a panic, kneeling in front of the couple and saying, "My Lord, Princess, this is bad! The prince couldn't stop Eunuch Wu, so he lay down at the gate and wouldn't let them pass. As a result, Eunuch Wu sent someone to tie the prince up to the prisoner cart and took him out of the city together!"
When Princess Xiang heard this, her eyes rolled back and she fell on Prince Xiang.
The Prince of Xiang was covered in whip wounds and he instinctively jumped away, letting the Princess of Xiang fall to the ground.
The two of them were originally the most distinguished figures in Lingzhou City, but now they both lost face outside Ning Garden.
The King of Xiang exploited the people, and the people had to swallow their anger under his power. However, endurance did not mean that the hatred was over. Now that they found someone who could deal with the King of Xiang, the people naturally became active.
Therefore, there was no need for Chen Bochong to arrange personnel to go to the victims' homes to inform them. As the news that "the princess arrested the guards of the Prince of Xiang's Mansion and went to Beijing to file a complaint" spread quickly inside and outside the city, people came to the outside of Ningyuan to kneel and complain about their grievances.
Prince Xiang tried to intercept these people at the city gate and the alleys around Ning Garden, but Zhou Ji also sent guards to take action. If Prince Xiang dared to stop him, he would continue to arrest them!
In his previous life, Chen Tingjian collected 13 charges against the King of Xiang. This time, in just ten days, Huayang listed 17 charges against the King of Xiang based on the people who came to complain. This did not include many cases that could be combined into the same charge. For example, there were more than 70 people who came to accuse the King of Xiang of forcibly taking women and wives! This was something that they did not want to endure any longer, and there was no telling how many victims chose to continue to endure it!
After the charges were listed, Huayang asked the post station to send the shipment to the capital at an expedited rate of 600 miles, which would arrive in about four days.
March 29th, Beijing.
At dawn, Emperor Jingshun was lying on his bed, smiling and telling Empress Qi about his dream last night: "I dreamed that Huayang was pregnant and wrote a letter to tell us the good news."
Empress Qi thought for a moment and said, "Then I would rather your dream was the opposite. Now that she is really pregnant, she will definitely give birth in Lingzhou. I am worried about the distance between us."
Emperor Jingshun certainly knew the dangers of childbirth for women, and nodded repeatedly upon hearing this: "You are right, let's wait until they come back before getting pregnant."
He even considered writing a letter to his son-in-law to remind him to be moderate.
These were all small thoughts. Emperor Jingshun got up, changed his clothes, had a simple breakfast, and went to court.
The ministers were discussing matters when a eunuch suddenly knelt outside the hall.
Anyone who dares to disturb us at this time must have encountered some serious trouble.
Emperor Jingshun ordered someone to call him in.
The eunuch bent over and entered, then knelt in the center of the hall and reported: "Your Majesty, Princess Huayang sent her chief eunuch Wu Run back to the palace. Wu Run is outside right now and said that she has a letter from the princess to present to Your Majesty. In addition, the Prince of Xiang has also come to the capital and is waiting outside the hall with Wu Run."
When they heard about the Prince of Xiang, some discussions arose among the civil and military officials.
The princes were not allowed to leave their fiefdoms without the emperor's order. This was an old system that had been in place for more than 200 years, and in fact, it also included the princes' wives, concubines, and children. It was easy to say for the sons and grandchildren, but if the daughters and granddaughters wanted to marry outside the fiefdom, they would have to present the candidate for son-in-law to the emperor first, and the marriage could only be allowed if the emperor approved it.
Why did the prince of Xiang come to the capital for no reason? If there was no reasonable reason, he could be punished just for leaving his fiefdom.
Emperor Jingshun: "Bring them all up."
The eunuch hurried out to pass on the message.
Not long after, two figures appeared at the entrance of the hall. One of them was slender and handsome, but dressed like a eunuch, while the other was half a head shorter and four or five rounder. He must be the prince of Xiang. Appearance and facial features are natural, so why is the prince of Xiang still timid and evasive, as if he has made some big mistake
How could the Prince of Xiang not be afraid!
He had lived for more than 20 years and had never left Lingzhou. Suddenly, he was captured by Wu Run and brought to the capital. He was about to bear the wrath of Emperor Jingshun single-handedly on behalf of his father!
Before he could see the appearance of Emperor Jingshun on the throne, Prince Xiang could no longer bear the pressure and knelt down: "Your Majesty, I am guilty!"
Emperor Jingshun naturally had no uncle-nephew affection for a distant cousin, so he asked curiously, "What crime have you committed?"
The Prince of Xiang was so nervous when he first met the Emperor that he could not remember the speech he had prepared outside the palace. He could only stammer, "Your humble servant, your humble servant should not have come to the capital without an imperial edict."
While taking the letter from his daughter that the chief eunuch Ma Gonggong had just taken from Wu Run, Emperor Jingshun asked casually, "Since you know the crime, why do you still knowingly commit it?"
The Prince of Xiang looked at Wu Run guiltily.
Wu Run said respectfully, "Your Majesty, on the fifteenth of this month, the princess went to Lingzhou City to enjoy the flowers in plain clothes. She was stopped by the Prince of Xiang and his guards. The princess was furious and arrested the twenty-six guards who offended her at the time. She ordered me to escort them to the capital to be dealt with by the emperor. Upon hearing the news, the Prince of Xiang tried to stop me and others from leaving Lingzhou City, and even lay on the ground to block the way. I had no choice but to invite the Prince to the carriage and enter the capital."
The ministers' discussions became louder.
Emperor Jingshun looked very bad. When he heard that Wu Run had come to Beijing to deliver a letter, he thought his dream last night had come true. He didn't expect that his daughter had no good news, but instead suffered a great injustice!
He opened the envelope, and then he found that what Wu Run had just said was too euphemistic. It turned out that the King of Xiang had sent guards to surround his daughter and her servant, and openly flirted with them in front of a group of tourists and common people. If his daughter had not brought enough guards, the King of Xiang would not have done anything!
With a "bang", Emperor Jingshun slammed the letter on the imperial desk, left the table in anger, and questioned the Prince of Xiang who was kneeling below: "Princess, you accuse the Prince of Xiang of making a taunting remark. Is this true?"
The Prince of Xiang touched his forehead to the ground, trembling, and said, "Your Majesty, father, father didn't mean it. The princess was traveling incognito at the time, and father didn't recognize her."
Emperor Jingshun: "Does he think he can flirt with ordinary women? Does he still have the law in his eyes?"
The Prince of Xiang was sweating all over, and could only bite the bullet and bear the brunt for his father: "Your Majesty, my father has already known his fault, and has been whipped by the princess. The prince consort came to the palace to question him, and I, your humble servant, also took a punch from the prince consort on behalf of my father..."
Emperor Jingshun sneered: "Are you trying to indirectly accuse the princess and her husband of abusing private punishment on you and your son?"
Prince Xiang: "I dare not!"
Emperor Jingshun: "I think you are very brave! As the uncle of the king, you flirted with your niece, and you feel wronged when he was beaten, right? I tell you, I was far away, otherwise I would have beaten him dozens of times! The prince consort only hit you with one punch, which is light!"
The emperor was angry, and all the civil and military officials knelt down.
At this moment, the eunuch who had just knelt outside the palace came over again, holding a letter high above his head with both hands: "Your Majesty, there is an urgent letter from Lingzhou that has traveled six hundred miles!"
Emperor Jingshun said angrily: "Bring it here!"
The eunuch came running in, and as usual, it was Eunuch Ma who went down the steps to take it, then turned back and handed it to Emperor Jingshun.
As soon as Emperor Jingshun saw the words on the envelope, he knew that it was written by his daughter again. But his daughter had suffered such a great injustice and did not even travel 600 miles to rush. What had happened
He opened the envelope and found a thick stack of letter paper inside.
The charges against the King of Xiang were listed from the second one until the twelfth one, when the daughter complained again: "Father, I just found out today that the King of Xiang built more than 20 private gardens to keep the women and girls he abducted. Father, I'm lucky that you sent guards to Lingzhou to protect me. Otherwise, I might have died like those poor women who would rather die than obey, and I would never see you again!"
Emperor Jingshun himself was a lustful man. How could he not know what would happen to his daughter if she really fell into the hands of Prince Xiang
"You read it out! Read it out loud, word for word, for the Prince of Xiang to hear. Is there any one sentence that is unjust to them?"
Taking out the last piece of letter paper, Emperor Jingshun stuffed the rest into Eunuch Ma's arms.
Eunuch Ma simply edited the letter and then read it to all the civil and military officials in the court.
How vicious is the King of Xiang
In addition to common crimes such as occupying people's land, abducting women, and oppressing the people, he also believed in sorcery. Once when he performed a ritual, he needed a living human head. He actually ordered the guards of the palace to go to the street and behead a beggar, but the person the guards took away was actually a poor man who was drunk and sleeping on the street. His family found out about this after they searched for him and cried and made a fuss. In the end, they were threatened by the Xiang Palace and had to endure it.
With so many charges, if any one of them is true and dealt with according to the law, it would be enough to cost the King of Xiang his life.
For the sake of fairness and to convince other princes, Emperor Jingshun ordered the Embroidered Uniform Guard to interrogate the Prince of Xiang and the guards of the Prince of Xiang's mansion, while he asked the cabinet to recommend two ministers and appointed them as imperial envoys to go to Lingzhou for a thorough investigation.
When Empress Qi learned about this, she cried in front of Emperor Jingshun: "April 18th is Huayang's birthday. I was thinking about what gift to give her, but she was almost bullied. Now, even if I plucked the moon from the sky, she would not be in the mood to appreciate it."
Emperor Jingshun hugged her and blamed himself, "I am too lenient with Prince Xiang. I should have punished him a few years ago!"
The 11-year-old prince also got the news. He ran to the imperial prison in anger and lashed the prince of Xiang with a whip several times: "You are so blind that you even dare to bully your sister!"
Prince of Xiang: …
He really did nothing!
(End of this chapter)