Chapter 372 Exposing the Su Family's Crimes to the Public

Jiang Fenghua's eyes flickered slightly, and she pretended to glare at her again, saying softly, "I can only guarantee that if he dares to recommend himself this time, the Emperor will not be angry. It all depends on whether he has the courage."

Lu Xuefei said happily, "Thank you, Your Highness. Your Highness is so kind."

Jiang Fenghua thought to herself: It was probably because the Emperor suddenly became interested in handling the case. The reason why the Emperor had the time to investigate Yuzhou was probably because Xie Shang had taken over the government, and the Emperor had nothing to do, so he suddenly decided to do something good for the people.

This was exactly what she wanted.

In the following days, the Eighth Prince also joined in.

The Eighth Prince will be leaving the palace to establish his own residence in a few months. If he can share the Emperor's burdens, it will greatly help him to be enfeoffed as a prince in the future, and even the position he holds will be very important.

Lu Xuefei is truly Xie Qi's benefactor.

Soon, the case in Yuzhou was basically solved. Because the silver was allocated by the emperor, the investigation started from the source and was conducted personally by the emperor, so the process was very efficient. No matter how many years had passed, the case could be solved.

Minister Zhao's unauthorized withholding of tribute was merely the trigger; after all, he dared to touch even the tribute, showing such greed.

Finally, the investigation led to Minister Zhao of the Ministry of Revenue, and even officials who had left their posts as prefects of Yuzhou or were promoted to positions in the capital were investigated.

When the Emperor sent the Eighth Prince to Zhao's residence to arrest the man, Zhao almost didn't realize who it was. Only after Zhao took out his waist token and the Emperor's token did he slowly call out, "Eighth Prince."

Xie Qi was also quite talented in law and order, thanks to the guidance and instruction of his master, Lu Xuefei. He learned quickly and immediately impressed Minister Zhao.

The Eighth Prince said in a deep voice, "Take Lord Zhao away."

When Zhao Yuntong in the palace heard the news, she was stunned. She had already married into the Eastern Palace and had not yet won the Crown Prince's favor when her father was investigated. At this time, she did not know that she was the one who caused her father to be investigated.

Zhao Yuntong went directly to Consort Zhao's palace and cried, "Aunt, how could this happen? How could Father be imprisoned by the Emperor?"

Consort Zhao was also very flustered, because she had received a lot of benefits from the Zhao family. She had even planned a lot of private property for her son. What if the emperor investigated and found out about her?

Consort Zhao is currently preoccupied with her own problems, and she has also been confined to her quarters by the Emperor.

"Aunt, please think of a way to save Father!" Zhao Yuntong was also afraid that the Zhao family would fall, because if the Zhao family fell, she would be finished too.

"Why would the Emperor want to investigate the Zhao family? Your father has been in a very stable position as Minister of Revenue for so many years."

Zhao Yuntong shook her head repeatedly, "I don't know either." She hadn't been able to get to the Crown Prince's side, so she had no idea what the real situation was.

At this moment, Consort Zhao had already made up her mind: she would have the Zhao family quickly return the embezzled money to the Emperor, so that at least the Zhao family's lives could be saved.

I just don't know how much he embezzled.

-

Meanwhile, Xie Shang was busy with the Su family's case and almost forgot what he was supposed to do for the Lantern Festival.

On the Lantern Festival, Zhu Zhenzhen went to see Xie Shang, but Xie Shang refused her on the grounds that he was too busy with official duties.

At that time, the Crown Prince was discussing the case with various ministers and Imperial Censor Zhu.

Imperial Censor Zhu found an excuse to berate Zhu Zhenzhen, "What are you doing, going to the night market and the lantern festival? Your Highness has been busy for half a month without a single day of rest. You are the Crown Prince's woman, why don't you learn from the Crown Princess? The Crown Princess is by the Emperor's side every day investigating cases and is highly valued by the Emperor."

Zhu Zhenzhen's eyes were red. "Father."

"You still have the nerve to cry? You can't even protect a child." Imperial Censor Zhu was also angry that she lost her first child and then her belly remained flat. A woman who can't have children isn't a woman. The royal family cares most about the imperial heir.

Zhu Zhenzhen's tears fell in large drops. She also wanted to have a child soon, but for some reason, she just couldn't get pregnant.

In the end, Zhu Zhenzhen left dejectedly.

The Su family case went more smoothly than Xie Shang had expected. In addition to the previous investigations that revealed the Su family's private harem on the frontier, their licentious behavior, and their formation of a clique, even General Cheng Yong's old case of embezzlement and bribery from more than ten years ago was brought up again. Some people accused Su Dehai of framing General Cheng, and other things such as fraudulently claiming military merits were also exposed. Even the old General Su's stains were dug up. One after another, the cases were astonishing.

With both witnesses and physical evidence, the news spread like wildfire throughout Shengjing City, reaching every prefecture, city, county, town, and village in the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Everyone demanded that the Su family be severely punished and condemned. Scholars wrote articles and poems about the Su family to circulate, and even adapted them into operas to sing that the three generations of the Su family were all wicked and evil people.

The songs were also being sung at the border, and the scandals of those who supported the Su family were also exposed, sparking a literary controversy. However, all of these were literary cases condemning the Su family and demanding that the emperor severely punish the Su clan.

The Su family's attempt to use military merits as a get-out-of-jail-free card was also foiled.

-

Another month passed, and Jiang Jinyan escorted the Su family members from the border back to Shengjing City.

From the city gate onwards, the streets were deserted as everyone was escorting back Su's lackeys, people who had committed evil deeds with Su, and a large group of women.

Zhang Yuyan was also among the women. The moment she saw Jiang Jinyan, she almost burst into tears. For the past two years, she had been tortured by Su Xuan at the border. She had tried to escape, but she couldn't. She had even killed the child in her womb. The child was not Su Xuan's, but that of those beasts. She told Jiang Jinyan about her tragic experience.

Jiang Jinyan arranged a carriage to take her back to Shengjing, out of consideration for her being Zhang Yumo's cousin. She already knew that her mother had lost her life in order to marry her into the Su family.

She deeply regretted her past actions; she shouldn't have wanted to become the wife of a great general.

In front of all the people of Shengjing, she screamed and vehemently exposed the evil deeds of the Su family...

Only when the noble ladies of the capital who knew Zhang Yuyan did they realize that she had married into the Su family on the frontier, and they never expected her to be in such a miserable state.

Over here, Zhang Yumo had already received the message from Jiang Jinyan that she was about to give birth. She walked up to Zhang Yuyan with her big belly, her eyes red. Although the two had conflicts since childhood, she did not want Zhang Yuyan to be so miserable after marriage. "Yuyan."

When Zhang Yuyan saw her, she was already sobbing uncontrollably. She wanted to say, "I'm sorry, it's all my fault, and what I've suffered is my retribution." But she couldn't say anything.

"It's all in the past, everything will be alright," Zhang Yumo comforted her, without needing her to say anything more.

Zhang Yuyan shook her head repeatedly before finally speaking, "My mother went to so much trouble to marry me off to the Su family to become a general's wife, but in the end it was all for nothing. It was all because I was greedy, greedy to be the wife of a great general. I was wrong, sob sob..."

Mentioning the Second Madam, as well as her grandparents, Zhang Yumo's eyes reddened: "They were all murdered after you left Shengjing, and the real culprit behind it was Su Xuan. Although Su Xuan was not in the capital, he was the one who orchestrated all of this."

"I'm sorry to my mother."

Zhang Yumo escorted her back to the Zhang residence. However, when the Zhang family learned of her return, fearing she would bring shame to the family, they locked her out of the house.

Her father had already married a new second wife and had long forgotten about her mother.

In fact, neither Zhang Yuyan nor her mother were good people. Their misfortunes were due to their own greed for the power of the Su family, but she still couldn't be cold-hearted.