The news of Emperor Longqing's punishment of Xia Song spread very quickly, and everyone knew about it in almost the entire morning.
In particular, Emperor Longqing did not spare him any face. He threw Dong Siyuan's secret memorial in his face in front of so many people, and then announced in public that Dong Siyuan was a running dog of the Xiao family. He colluded with his superior, Commander Xiao of Hebei Guard, to withhold military pay and oppress the people. His crimes were unforgivable. He also conspired to cause rebellion and framed the Marquis of Pingxi. His crimes were extremely heinous and he should be put to death.
Dong Siyuan was already dead, but Emperor Longqing was still not satisfied. He sentenced all the members of the Xiao family who had not yet been convicted to severe penalties, and decided that no one in the Xiao family would be allowed to enter officialdom within three generations.
Throughout this dynasty, apart from Taizu who issued this order, no other family has ever been punished in this way.
The Xiao family is the first such case since Taizu.
Everyone in the cabinet had a scale in their hearts. Emperor Longqing first dismissed Xia Song from the post of Prime Minister, and then dealt with Dong Siyuan, accusing Dong Siyuan of stirring up trouble and framing others. They all understood what was going on.
The second assistant, who always obeyed Xia Song's orders, also said nothing.
Prime Minister Xia enjoyed a glorious life for half his life, but in the end he was apparently implicated by his son's occupation of land. In reality, he was accused by the current ruler of being indecisive and retired in depression. It is hard to hide his panic.
The situation in the capital is becoming increasingly confusing.
But not everyone can't understand it.
At least King Zheng could understand it.
As soon as he arrived in Beijing, he went to the palace to pay his respects.
Although Emperor Longqing was furious, he still treated him kindly and kindly, saying to him, "Since you have just recovered from a serious illness, you should go back and rest well. Why are you so busy asking for your well wishes?"
But having said that, he was obviously very pleased with King Zheng's respectfulness and gentleness, and he let him sit down with a friendly face.
King Zheng did not dare to sit down. He clasped his hands and bent his waist, feeling a little nervous: "I am guilty and dare not accept it..."
He looked at Emperor Longqing with sweat dripping down his cheeks, and asked anxiously, "Shouning was ignorant and reckless, committing such a crime... I am terrified..."
Emperor Longqing had always been confident in him, as he was so timid and honest, with nothing in his hands. Seeing him in this state, he felt it was appropriate, so he sneered and waved his hand: "It is true that he was reckless, but as for committing a crime, there is no need to mention it anymore."
He sat down on the back of the chair and motioned for King Zheng to sit down: "I am not old and blind and cannot distinguish right from wrong. Shouning is just a child."
Shen Chen is a playboy who likes to show off, and Shouning is a girl. Both of them are just being used by others.
Dong Siyuan and the Xiao family wanted to use this move to call a black cat a white cat and push Shen Chen and Linjiang Palace out to die, but they didn't think about the relationship between Shen Chen and Linjiang Palace.
Shen Chen had long been estranged from the Linjiang Palace.
Especially with Chu Jingxing, the two of them were almost incompatible to the extreme.
These people wanted to use Shen Chen to get away, and they also wanted to mess things up and involve Prince Linjiang and Prince Zheng's Wei family, just to destabilize his kingdom.
But they ignored it.
Shen Chen and Wei An are just children. Ultimately, their value depends on the people behind them.
Xia Songlin actually acted as a ladder for these people, hoping to fish in troubled waters to save the Xiao family, which he could not tolerate.
He sighed and said, "Xia Song has grown old and confused. He thinks I don't know his plans."
King Zheng was even more confused: "The Prime Minister is also related to this matter?"
Emperor Longqing glanced at him and smiled: "He is a cunning and fickle old fox. His son married the girl from the Xiao family. I even wrote an inscription for her myself."
Yes, when Xia Song's son married the Xiao family, Emperor Longqing personally wrote a plaque with the four words "Match Made in Heaven" and had someone send it to him, which earned enough face for Xia Song.
Because of this incident, Xia Song later put all his efforts into working together with Emperor Longqing to deal with all the old ministers and troubles of the previous dynasty.
Originally, Emperor Longqing trusted him very much.
But the more you trust, the easier it is to blame others.
What's more, Xia Song really extended a hand to help.
King Zheng lowered his head and dared not answer. After a long while, he said impartially: "In fact, if you say that Prime Minister Xia accepted money or said something good for someone, it is possible. But it is really a bit sensational to say that he colluded with King Jin..."
"Don't be so quick to think it's sensational." Prince Zheng spoke fairly, and Emperor Longqing felt that he was honest. He raised his eyebrows and said teasingly, "He has received a lot of benefits from Prince Jin. The matter of Prince Jin's two sons was also closely related to Xia Song. But there is no need to talk about these anymore. The most urgent matter is Prince Jin's rebellion."
The Prince of Jin started his army in Guangchang. In a short period of time, he had conquered many cities and recruited many refugees and bandits. He became a powerful figure in a short period of time.
King Zheng was also worried: "According to this trend, I'm afraid it won't be long before we reach Hongdu and then Xunyang. Once we reach Xunyang, that's..."
It is the territory of King Linjiang.
At first, the King of Jin was stationed in Guangchang and the King of Linjiang in Xunyang because they saw that the two men did not like each other, and the King of Jin was timid and narrow-minded, so the two of them were to restrain each other.
But later, the Prince of Linjiang repeatedly applied to the late emperor for additional guards on the grounds that there were pirates in Jiangxi, and then trained the navy in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and built ships on a large scale. He was much more confident than the unpopular Prince of Jin who was hiding in the small place of Guangchang. He never dared to challenge the Prince of Linjiang.
Now, at the critical moment when Prince Jin was offending Prince Linjiang, Xia Song and Dong Siyuan framed Shen Chen, and Emperor Longqing could not help but think about it.
This was clearly a real frame-up and provocation, hoping to use Shen Chen's incident to sow discord between Prince Linjiang and the court, so that Prince Linjiang would fall out with the court.
At this critical moment, Xia Song made such a mistake, which really crossed the bottom line of Emperor Longqing.
Prince Zheng paused, and when he saw Emperor Longqing looking over, he asked, "My royal brother, do you want Prince Linjiang to send troops to help the court fight the enemy?"
Emperor Longqing hummed, and then said: "It is true that he has become a powerful figure, but if the fifth brother can make a move, the Prince of Jin will not be his opponent. But I am afraid... ... he is unwilling to make a move."
King Zheng frowned and said, "How can he refuse to do so in such a situation? Is he waiting for the people to suffer?!"
Emperor Longqing smiled bitterly and said, "You are right. The Tatars are eyeing us covetously in the north, and the Japanese pirates are constantly causing trouble along the coast. Now that the Prince of Jin is rebelling, we are facing internal and external troubles. But if the Prince of Linjiang has other ideas, if you were him, would you be willing to help me quell the internal troubles?"
King Zheng stammered, "You, you mean, Fifth Brother also has this idea? But this... this can't be allowed?"
"People's hearts are hidden in their stomachs." Emperor Longqing disagreed: "Who knows what he is thinking?"