Before the New Year's Eve, the major case of Wu'an Mansion was sentenced. Wu'an Gong forced Jinshi to death and participated in counterfeiting. The evidence was conclusive and he was executed.
Duke Wu'an would be put to death, but the fate of the other people in the mansion was uncertain. If the sentence was too severe, they could be exiled, but if the sentence was too light, they could be demoted. The ancestors of the Zhao family had served the emperor well, and the old Duke had blocked a knife for the emperor on the battlefield. Based on this knife alone, it was reasonable to give generous compensation to his descendants. Moreover, although Duke Wu'an had committed many evil deeds, he did not commit crimes such as treason or high treason that would destroy the family and clan.
Therefore, after several discussions among his ministers, the emperor remained undecided.
Finally, the Crown Prince came forward to plead for Madam Ruan and Prince Zhao—Madam Ruan was the Crown Princess's aunt after all. It was said that the Crown Princess's illness became more and more serious because of the Duke Wu'an's mansion. If the whole mansion was exiled, there was no guarantee that nothing would happen. Madam Ruan was also sensible and handed over the ill-gotten gains accumulated by the Duke Wu'an over the years, several houses in the capital, and several farms in the capital to the court.
The emperor finally decided to show leniency to Mrs. Ruan and her son for the sake of his son and daughter-in-law, and demoted the Zhao family from the second-rank Duke of a Founding County to the fourth-rank Earl of a Founding County. The Zhao family went from being a duke to an earl, and their wealth was almost gone, showing that they had fallen on hard times, but at least they managed to save their lives and titles.
However, another theory gradually spread among the court and the public, saying that the reason why the prince risked the world's disapproval and pleaded with the saint for Duke Wu'an was because he secretly had connections with Duke Wu'an, and part of the large amount of money Zhao Jun had amassed by forging copper coins in Jiangnan went into the prince's pocket. Some people also remembered that Zhao Jun was recommended by the prince to take over the Shenyi Army, which showed that there was a basis for the rumor.
This statement spread quietly among the court officials, like an undercurrent flowing quietly.
The Crown Prince had naturally heard about it, and was on pins and needles in the East Palace - he knew that it was time to cut off ties with the Wu'an Mansion, but Madam Ruan had the evidence of their private dealings. If he really pushed her into a corner and exposed the evidence to the point of a fight to the death, he would also drag her into the water. He could only take the risk and ask his father for mercy.
By this time, he had come to his senses belatedly. From Zhao Qinghui's disappearance, to his discovery that it was the King of Qi who did it and used this to curry favor with Duke Wu'an, to the dispute over military power in the Shenyi Army, to Zhao Qinghui's return to Beijing and the scandal between father and son that spread throughout the capital, to the case of counterfeiting of copper coins uncovered by the Yangzhou salt merchants, to the seventy-year-old woman beating the drum to report the incident and digging up an old case from twenty years ago, all of this was linked together. It was a trap set by Huan Xuan from the very beginning. He thought he had a sure win, but in fact, he had fallen into someone else's trap since he got in touch with Duke Wu'an's mansion.
Looking back, it all started when Ruan Yuewei told him the reason why Zhao Qinghui disappeared.
The Crown Prince was originally trying to please Ruan Yuewei, but after this incident, he was too lazy to even put on a show and, in the name of letting the Crown Princess rest and recuperate, he in disguised form confined her to her home.
Ruan Yuewei thought that the prince was annoyed by her aunt and cousin's quarrel, so she personally carried the soup to the study in the outer courtyard, despite the eunuchs' attempts to stop her. Before she got close, she heard a woman's teasing voice coming from behind the door curtain.
She angrily lifted the curtain and entered the room, only to see a young lady sitting in the prince's arms, who was teaching her how to paint step by step.
When the lady saw her, she wanted to stand up and salute, but the prince hugged her tighter and said, "Don't pay attention to her. Let's just paint our own picture."
Instead, he raised his head and squinted at Ruan Yuewei, saying with a half-smile: "If you are not feeling well, just stay in the palace and recuperate. Who are you acting like this for?"
Ruan Yuewei looked at the husband she had carefully chosen in disbelief, and felt as if the sky was falling.
The prince seemed to be afraid that she was not sad enough, so he added: "If you want to cry, go outside and don't be an eyesore here."
Ruan Yue staggered out. As soon as she left the study, she heard the lady's tender voice from behind the curtain: "After all, she is your Highness's first wife. If your Highness disgraces her like this, she will be angry with me and come back to harass me. What should I do?"
The prince smiled and said, "What are you afraid of? If she dares to harass you, I will divorce her."
Ruan Yuewei was so angry that her hands and feet were cold and she was shaking all over. She went back to the palace and stayed in bed - originally her illness was three-tenths real and seven-tenths fake, but this time it was completely real.
However, the prince was too lazy to even blink, and asked the doctor from the Medicine Bureau to take her pulse, saying it was an epidemic, and actually locked up her bedroom. By this time, everyone in the East Palace knew that the Crown Princess had completely lost the Crown Prince's love.
…
In the blink of an eye, it is the end of the year.
The emperor did not keep Wu'an Gong's head for the New Year, but executed him before the end of the year.
On the day of the execution, Chang'an was crowded with people watching, and the people applauded. Since then, the Zhao Mansion has been quiet. It is unknown what happened to Prince Zhao during the years he was missing, but the news of his disability spread like wildfire. Even though he hid in the deep house every day, he still felt like a thorn in his side.
Mrs. Ruan's family had such a scandal that they became a laughing stock among the rich and powerful. She could no longer stay in Chang'an, so she disposed of the remaining property and land in the house and took her son to Luoyang. Zhao Jun's two younger brothers were originally officials in the court, and both were implicated by their elder brother. One participated in the counterfeiting case and was executed together with his elder brother. The other was an official in Shuzhong at the time of the case, and was demoted to Lingnan because of his elder brother's involvement.
The military power of the Shenyi Army went around in circles and returned to Huan Xuan's hands. Some people secretly sighed that he was lucky, while others suspected that he was behind the incident at Wu'an Mansion.
But he was indifferent to all the ups and downs. Whether the house was deserted or crowded, it seemed that it had nothing to do with him.
None of this is even as important as a horse.
Sui Sui's black horse was raised in Youzhou for a year, and during that time Huan Xuan sent letters almost every month to inquire about his condition.
The Bai family had been sending letters back for a long time, detailing the situation of the dark horse. However, three months later, the letters they sent suddenly fell into oblivion.
He sensed something was wrong and immediately sent a few guards to Youzhou to fetch horses. After waiting for more than two months, he finally received a reply, but it turned out that the house had changed hands half a year ago. The Bai family was nowhere to be found, and even the thriving cosmetics shop in the market had changed hands. He asked all the neighbors and merchants around the shop, but no one knew where they had gone. Even the previous reply letters were written in advance and sent by the new residents.
It was not until the guards came to the door that the new owner of the cosmetics shop came out with a heavy box. When she opened it, it turned out to be a box of gold, jade and gems. She said it was the horse gold left by Lady Lu.
The Bai family did quite a lot of business and was well-known in the market for their honesty and trustworthiness. Who would have thought that they would secretly take someone else's horse away - the horse gold left behind was enough to buy two more Arabian horses. It was obvious that the lady surnamed Lu loved this horse like a treasure and was willing to keep it with her at all costs. She was probably afraid that the original owner would come looking for it, so she didn't reveal a word about where the horse was moved to.
If it was just an ordinary horse, the King of Qi would not only not suffer any loss, but would also make a lot of money. However, that was the horse left by Lu Suisui, and no amount of gold or silver could exchange it for it.
After going to Youzhou, she didn't find her and even lost her horse. Huan Xuan felt as if a ball of wet cotton was blocking his chest and he couldn't breathe smoothly.
He didn't dare to admit it, but there was always a glimmer of hope deep down. His Sui Sui might still be alive. Maybe one day she would suddenly appear in front of him, smile and say, "I'm back."
How sad would she be if she found out that he had lost her beloved little black face
He couldn't help but regret that he had lied about being a merchant. If the Bai family knew his identity, they would not dare to take his horse away quietly.
Huan Xuan put down the letter, frowned, and said to the guard: "Keep investigating. No matter where this family goes, they will always leave traces."
Thinking of that family, Huan Xuan had a cloud of doubt in his mind, but it was fleeting. As long as he recalled the situation on that day for a moment, the overwhelming despair would come over him again, almost suffocating him.
…
Sui Sui had planned to have Little Black Face sent back to the capital when she left Youzhou, but this horse was clingy and loved to act coquettishly. She also remembered how the horse looked with withered hair and bony bones when it first arrived in Youzhou, and she was reluctant to send it back, so she left the horse with a box of jewels as horse money and took it on the road.
The little black-faced horse was originally a war horse. He followed her from Youzhou to Chengde and was very busy.
After Xue Zhi seized the military power in Hebei, he imposed heavy taxes and levied heavy taxes on the people, and bribed the officials in the court, which was even more outrageous than when Xiao Tongan was in power. Chengde was his base camp, so he was a little cautious. Weizhou was originally Xiao Tongan's territory, and he had a sense of oppression. He plundered without restraint, causing the soldiers to leave and the people to be resentful.
Sui Sui led the Youzhou army to Wei Bo, and his advance was unstoppable. The guards of the forts along the way fled or surrendered, and those who occasionally resisted were defeated in one blow. Sui Sui did not hold the past against him, and was very tolerant to the surrendered soldiers, only asking Xue Zhi about the mastermind. The surrendered generals no longer had any worries, and they all surrendered.
But Chengde has always been the territory of the Xue family, with high walls and deep moats, making it impregnable. Although Xue Zhi retreated to the city, he still had a 5,000-man army of fake soldiers under his command, which made him quite difficult to deal with.
Sui Sui was in no hurry to attack Zhenzhou City. He took down all the fortresses of Chengde Army and then besieged Xue Army in Luocheng of Zhenzhou. He sent spies into the city to incite the generals of Xue Army to rebel, offering them huge rewards and threatening them with punishment. Within two months, Xue Zhi's deputy general began to waver, and he launched a mutiny at night, tied up the main general, opened the city gate and surrendered.
At this point, the military power of the three towns in Heshuo was returned to General Xiao, and the civil strife that had lasted for several years finally ended.
Although this expedition did not take much effort, and most of the cities and forts were taken without bloodshed, the army's passage through the borders and the erection of forts had a significant impact on the prefectures and counties along the way. In addition, the three towns were in a state of chaos during the years when Xiao Tongan and Xue Zhi were in power. Although the people were not living in misery, they were still in need of reconstruction.
After Sui Sui conquered Chengde, he first incorporated the surrendered Xue troops into his army, opened the treasury and granary in Xue Mansion in Zhenzhou, saved the people affected by the war, and ordered the prefectures and counties along the way to pay taxes for one year so that the people could recuperate.
Then Xue Zhi was put on a prison cart and toured around the three towns. The people along the way hated this tyrannical and oppressive general, and countless people threw stones and clods of earth at him wherever he passed. If it had not been for the prison cart, he would probably not have lived to see the day of his execution.
Sui Sui set the execution date as October 18th. He personally took the knife and chopped off his head in front of the soldiers of the three armies.
The knife was fierce and accurate, and blood splattered like a silk thread. Without changing his expression, he shook off the blood on the blade, sheathed the knife, and glanced indifferently at the surrendered generals who were silent and terrified.
Although she didn't say anything, everyone understood what she meant: this is the fate of those who go against me.
The generals were surprised and felt a chill down their spines. The female killer returned to her rightful position and seemed even more cruel and brutal than before.