Chapter 66 Chapter 66 The Game Has Been Set Up

It is said that Wu Tianyue was being scolded by Prince Zhongshun. The two were arguing endlessly about whether to pursue a civil or military career. Then someone reported back that the emperor was summoning Wu Tianyue to the palace.

Prince Zhongshun just learned about his son's little tricks during the disaster relief, and guessed that the emperor must know about it, but just wanted to test whether he knew about it, so he ordered people to block the news. Today, he must have passed the test, so he let people reveal the news.

The fact that his son was summoned to the palace so late today might be related to this matter. Prince Zhongshun's heart was pounding, but he did not show it on his face. He quickly accepted the order and entered the palace with Wu Tianyue.

As soon as they arrived at the Yangxin Palace, Cai Rang came out to greet them: "The Emperor has only summoned the Crown Prince."

Then he whispered to Prince Zhongshun, "Don't worry, it's just a small matter, it has nothing to do with the Crown Prince."

After saying this, he hurriedly led Wu Tianyue into the Yangxin Palace.

As soon as Wu Tianyue entered the hall, he saw the emperor sitting at the top. The emperor emeritus was not there. Only Wu Wuyu and the prince were kneeling in front of the hall. It seemed that the emperor was indeed in power.

Seeing him come in, Wu Wuyu raised his head and gave him a provocative look.

Wu Tianyue ignored him, still pondering what to say next. He knelt down and saluted obediently, "Your Majesty."

The emperor remained silent, continuing to read the memorial. After half a cup of tea, he raised his head and asked, "Do you know why I called you here?"

"I know." Wu Tianyue lowered his head. "My nephew secretly encouraged His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to intervene in the affairs of the disaster victims and even trained the farmhands as soldiers."

You are quite sensible, the emperor thought to himself. Unfortunately, this matter was for the victims anyway. No matter how much the prince's actions touched his sensitive spot, if he cared about it, he would be unkind. He could only swallow his anger for the time being. In the final analysis, it was the rebellious son who was not thoughtful enough. Thinking of this, the emperor glared at Wu Wuyu.

Wu Wuyu was gloating over his misfortune, but when he felt the emperor's glare, he shrank his shoulders guiltily. Seeing Wu Tianyue looking straight ahead and kneeling straight, even more like a prince than himself, he became angry again. Why did he, a mere prince, look down on him? He sneered, "Prince, I'm afraid you are a noble who forgets things easily. Besides these, is there anything else?"

Wu Tianyue frowned and thought about it. Apart from these two things that touched the emperor's bottom line, he had not done anything else out of the ordinary.

Seeing him frown, Wu Wuyu assumed he was guilty and told him the truth in a few words: "I heard you have a good relationship with Xue Pan, the head of the imperial merchant Xue family? And you even asked him to supply your farm a while ago?"

The Xue family had long been on the decline. With Xue Pan's cowardly nature, he would have been too quick to run away if he had encountered Wu Wuyu, and there was no way he could have provoked him. But why did he insist on holding on to Xue Pan? Wu Tianyue pondered this, but did not answer.

Wu Wuyu was afraid he would quibble, so he didn't give him a chance to interrupt. He continued, "That Xue Pan was a bully back in Jinling. For a concubine, he allowed a powerful servant to beat his fiancé Feng Yuan to death. He treated human life as worthless. Afterwards, he bribed officials and faked his own death to escape. You're familiar with him, so don't pretend you didn't know."

Wu Tianyue really didn't know. If he knew, how could he possibly cooperate with Xue Pan? He couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't found out at the time, and how could he bribe Tongzhou officials with money? There must be someone in power helping him behind the scenes.

The emperor carefully observed the expressions of the two men, and seeing that Wu Tianyue seemed to be really unaware, he gave Cai Rang a look.

Cai Rang understood and quickly handed the thing in his hand to Wu Tianyue.

Wu Tianyue took it and looked through it. Inside was the contract for the sale of Xue Pan's concubine Xiangling, the testimony of Xue's servants, and the testimony of Feng Yuan's family members who were beaten to death by Xue Pan.

In addition to these, there are loan contracts and pawn tickets that the Jia family used to lend money at high interest rates, and even the autopsy results of debtors who were forced to death. Each and every one of them is simply shocking.

Wu Tianyue suppressed his shock and continued reading. He found a letter written by Jia Lian to Yun Guang, the governor of Chang'an, when he accepted bribes to interfere in other people's engagement, forcing a pair of lovers to die.

This is a more recent murder case. Just a few months ago, Jia Lian had an affair with the wife of a servant in the mansion, and was caught by Feng Ji on her birthday. The two of them quarreled in front of Jia Mu, and finally they were persuaded to reconcile. However, the woman hanged herself the next day. Although there was no evidence to prove that she was forced by the Jia family, there was a petition on it that was suppressed by the woman's family members who had filed a complaint with the authorities.

It is impossible for a century-old noble family to be pure and spotless. Wu Tianyue also knew that there were no good people in the Jia family, but he did not expect them to be so disgusting.

Looking at these things, Wu Tianyue was furious, but he forced himself to calm down. Since the Jia family had done these things, it couldn't be just these few things, unless... other things involved the entire Jia family or Jia She, Jia Zheng and other people in power in the Jia family.

The Jia family and Wang Ziteng are related by marriage. Now Wang Ziteng is the only one in the army who is both loyal and capable of arranging troops. No one in the court can replace him for the time being. Even for the sake of his face, the emperor will not touch the Jia family.

Xue Pan is Wang Ziteng's nephew, so Wang Ziteng must have been behind the murder. Thinking of this, Wu Tianyue subconsciously wanted to look up, but quickly restrained himself. Today's incident must have been planned by the emperor and Wang Ziteng.

Seeing Wu Tianyue looking through the evidence with a look of shock and anger on his face, Wu Wuyu said with a malicious smile, "You've lived in the Rongguo Mansion for so long, you must know everything about the Rongguo Mansion. Then, aren't you condoning the nobles to lend money at high interest rates and exploit the people?"

"That Jia Lian from the Jia family's eldest branch was able to come with you to Yangzhou, and you stayed at Lin Ruhai's residence for so long, so you two must have a good relationship." Seeing that he didn't respond, Wu Wuyu didn't care and clapped her hands, saying, "Perhaps most of the money he earned is with you. No wonder he was able to keep that group of soldiers so fat and strong."

Although the Crown Prince was indecisive and greedy for fame, he was intelligent and had known the situation earlier than Wu Tianyue. He had figured out that this was probably a setup by the Emperor to justify his earlier disaster relief efforts. He felt disappointed, guilty, and afraid. When Wu Wuyu mentioned the soldiers, he was afraid that the Emperor would become even more wary of Wu Tianyue and would do something to him. He angrily said, "Wu Wuyu, be careful with your words."

Wu Wuyu had spent a long time investigating before finally finding evidence against the two men. How could he possibly keep quiet? He turned to the Crown Prince and sneered, "I was wrong. Wu Tianyue is a prince of a royal palace. Isn't it better to use the money he earns for pleasure? Why is he using it for military training? He's been following you around since he was a child, probably for you, the crown prince. I didn't expect you to be so obsessed with military power now."

This remark hit the emperor's sore spot, and he stopped watching and shouted, "What are you arguing about?"

Wu Wuyu quickly lowered his head, unconvinced, "I am telling the truth. If you don't believe me, Father, I have more bills."

"Shut up," the emperor scolded him. He then turned to Wu Tianyue, "I'll have someone re-investigate what happened today, but Wu Yu has presented us with all the evidence, witnesses, and evidence. Do you have anything else to say?"

"My nephew has nothing to say." The judge was the one who set up the situation, and making excuses was useless, so Wu Tianyue did not refute him. He only said, "My nephew really did not know that Xue Pan and Jia Lian had done such a thing, but it was also my negligence, and I am willing to accept the punishment."

He was knowledgeable and understanding, so the emperor softened his expression. "This isn't your fault, but the troops you trained can't be kept. I'm afraid others might be suspicious."

After hearing what Prince Zhongshun said today, Wu Tianyue was still a little unconvinced, thinking he could still do it. However, the emperor had gone to great lengths to set up a scheme just to force him to give up. Wu Tianyue had thought it through and was ready, so when he heard this, he didn't react much and just lowered his head and said, "Yes."

The emperor got the answer he wanted, and his expression became even more amiable. He smiled and said, "You have a history with the Xue and Jia families, so it's inconvenient for you to intervene in this matter. So, let Wu Yu handle it."

Given Wu Wuyu's hatred for Wu Tianyue, if he were allowed to go, the Jia and Xue families would most likely be implicated. It was common knowledge throughout the city that Daiyu was the daughter of Princess Zhongshun's childhood friend. Wu Wuyu was erratic and might do something unpredictable. Fearing that he might frighten Daiyu, Wu Tianyue hurriedly said, "It is precisely because I have a history with these two families that if I go, the royal family will be righteous and will not be corrupted or abused."

The emperor just wanted to give a warning to the prince and Wu Tianyue, and at the same time gather the elite soldiers that even Wang Ziteng thought were good. He also promised Wang Ziteng not to harm the lives of Xue Pan and Jia Lian, so he didn't care who went.

If Wu Tianyue was allowed to go, the people in the two mansions would be able to live in peace, and Wang Ziteng could save some face, so he nodded and agreed: "I'll leave this matter to you. Wu Yu will take care of the funeral."

Wu Wuyu didn't want to stay in that desolate place for more than a month. He was about to refuse, but when he saw the emperor's gloomy face, he had to agree.

Wu Tianyue was in no mood to care about him, so he took the order and took a team of Dragon Guards to Rongguo Mansion to issue an edict.

Because Xiaoci County, where the body was being sent, was more than ten days' journey from Beijing, and it had to stay there for several more days before being placed in the underground palace, it would take almost a month.

As per the rules, the heads of the Ning and Rong mansions had to go, but this meant that there would be no one to look after the mansions, so after the evening sacrifice, everyone in the two mansions gathered with Lady Jia to discuss the matter.

Just as they were planning to announce the birth of Jia Zhen's wife Youshi from Ningguo Mansion, so that she could be temporarily relieved to manage the affairs of both mansions and to ask Aunt Xue to go into the garden to look after the sisters, they saw a maid hurriedly come in to announce, "Prince Zhongshun has arrived."

Everyone was startled by her fear, but after hearing this, they relaxed and ignored what the old woman was going to say. They scolded, "The prince is an honored guest. Why don't you invite him in quickly? Why are you acting like this?"

Before she could finish her words, she heard a commotion outside, and Grandmother Jia hurriedly asked Zijuan to go out and check.

Just as he reached the door, a maid ran in tremblingly: "The prince... the prince said that he came here today by imperial decree and did not want to disturb the female relatives. He asked Master She and Master Lian to go out to receive the decree."

The old woman who had just entered also hurriedly said, "The prince has brought a group of soldiers and has already guarded all the gates."

Everyone was terrified when they heard this. Jia She and Jia Lian knelt down before Grandmother Jia and said, "Mother/Grandmother, save me."

Grandmother Jia was also extremely panicked, but she still said calmly: "Since they didn't break in, there is still room for maneuver. You go and receive the imperial edict first, and don't offend them."

The two had no choice but to get up and go out, but they felt even more that Grandmother Jia was partial to them.

Wu Tianyue led the troops and waited outside the second gate. Not long after, he saw Jia She and Jia Lian coming out trembling and supporting each other. When they saw the Dragon Guard behind them, they were so scared that their faces turned pale and they knelt on the ground.

"The Emperor has issued a decree: 'There is a criminal named Jia Lian, a man who holds a high position in the imperial court and is a member of the Imperial Family. Instead of devoting himself to the service, he has abused his power and committed acts of arrogance. The evidence is irrefutable. You shall hear his crimes: first, he exploited the people for profit and oppressed them; second, he colluded with officials and interfered with marriages; third, he was shameless and murdered. These offenses are so egregious that they are condemned by both Heaven and Earth. He shall be stripped of all his titles and positions, arrested, and handed over to the Ministry of Justice and the Metropolitan Censorate for rigorous investigation. His family servants implicated in this crime shall also be apprehended. No favoritism shall be shown.'"

When Wu Tianyue saw the two men come out, he didn't say much and directly took out the imperial edict and read it out.

After reading it, no matter how Jia Lian cried and begged for mercy, he waved his hand and had him arrested. Then he turned around and left Rongguo Mansion, mounted his horse and went to Xue's house.