Chapter 254: Prince Yong's Mansion is Convicted

Yuan Wei knew that he was going to die.

He didn't want to die, and kowtowed to Han Chong desperately.

"Sir, if I confess everything, will you give me a lighter sentence?"

Han Chong nodded, "Of course."

These words were like a life-saving straw, and Yuan Wei grabbed them immediately.

He explained one by one who these things were done for and what benefits he had gained from them.

The benefits were taken from Prince Yong's Mansion, and you will know that once you check.

So, after Han Chong tried Yuan Wei, he also convicted Princess Yong and Crown Prince Zhao Sirui.

He looked at the unconscious Zhao Sirui and said to the yamen runner, "Go find Doctor Jin. The prince must be awake before his case can be tried."

As soon as he finished speaking, Doctor Jin, who was crowded among the people watching the excitement, raised his hand.

"The common people are here!"

He ignored Zhao Sirui's condition and gave him strong and harmful medicine.

Zhao Sirui woke up quickly.

He was delirious with fever and had a splitting headache, and had no idea what was going on.

The pain in the broken legs and arms is so excruciating that it is worse than death.

"Mom, it hurts, help me."

Doctor Jin used a silver needle to seal Zhao Sirui's painful acupoints, and he came back to life immediately.

"Sir, the case can be tried now."

When he heard the word "trial", Zhao Sirui thought that Kong Zhizhou wanted to vent his anger for him and deal with Qi Yanzhou.

As a result, he discovered that the person sitting at the trial table was not Kong Zhizhou.

"Who is this? Why is he sitting in Lord Kong's seat?"

“Bang!”

Han Chong slammed the gavel hard.

"How dare you! Come, help the prince kneel down!"

Zhao Sirui's leg was broken and he couldn't kneel on his own.

The bailiff pressed down on his shoulders, ignored his injured leg, and forced him to kneel in the court.

The leg suffered secondary injury and was bleeding profusely.

But Zhao Sirui's sense of pain was blocked, so he didn't feel any pain at all, he only felt humiliation.

"Let me go, do you want to die?"

King Yong looked at his son distressedly and advised: "Rui'er, don't struggle, it will aggravate your injuries."

"Father, what happened?"

He is the prince who is about to take over Jizhou City. Is it appropriate for him to kneel before an official?

Han Chong found evidence in three cases that could get Zhao Sirui killed.

"Don't worry, you will know what happened soon!"

He handed the evidence to the bailiff and said, "Show it to the prince. Bring up the witnesses and the evidence!"

After King Yong finished reading the three thin pieces of paper, he felt dizzy in front of his eyes.

Witnesses and evidence were soon brought to the court, proving that Zhao Sirui abused his power for personal gain and disregarded human life.

"Zhao Sirui, the prince of Yong, has committed a capital crime and will be executed at noon today!"

Princess Yong wailed, "No!"

King Yong also stopped him, "Rui'er is a member of the royal family, you have no right to execute him!"

"If the emperor breaks the law, he will be punished just like the common people."

After Han Chong finished speaking, he asked the bailiffs to arrest Zhao Sirui first and give him a farewell meal.

These words frightened Zhao Sirui so much that he fainted.

Han Chong looked at Princess Yong, "Princess, you aided the tyrant and committed many crimes. You are banished to slavery and will never be pardoned."

Upon hearing this, Princess Yong also fainted.

Next is King Yong.

Although King Yong was less of an accomplice to Zhou's evil deeds, he embezzled disaster relief funds.

“Prince Yong is a prince, so I do not have the right to directly deal with him.

Bring pen, ink, paper and inkstone, and have Prince Yong write a letter to the Emperor, truthfully describing what he had done, and wait for his punishment.

I will also send a letter to the Emperor, stating how I plan to deal with Prince Yong.

If the emperor has a better way of dealing with the matter, Lord Kong will do as the emperor wishes. ”

The implication was that if the emperor did not reply, he would deal with King Yong according to his plan.

Kong Zhizhou quickly responded: "I obey your command!"

Soon, the bailiff brought two sets of writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstone.

Han Chong shouted to the people outside the door: "King Yong exploits the people and embezzles disaster relief funds. He should be demoted to a commoner and all his property should be confiscated!"

The people were very satisfied with the result and cheered.

"Your Excellency is wise!"

Han Chong continued, "This is just my opinion. It needs to be reported to the emperor and approved by him before it can be implemented."

The people were extremely disappointed with the emperor, and their high spirits quickly died down.

Qi Yanzhou suggested: "Write a petition of all people and send it to the capital along with the memorial."

Kong Zhizhou thought this was a good idea.

If the emperor wants to win the support of the people now, he will certainly not ignore the memorial submitted by Jizhou as he did before!

"Thank you for your advice, Master Qi. I will send someone to write a petition now."

When King Yong heard this, his hand holding the pen shook violently, and thick ink dripped onto the paper.

Unable to write down his guilt, he threw the pen on the low table in front of him.

After seeing it, Han Chong ignored it and continued writing the letter.

After writing, he marked the envelope with the seal of the Dragon Guard and handed it to Kong Zhizhou.

"Master Kong, please give the memorial and petition together with this letter to the post station, and they can be sent to the capital in an expedited manner over 800 miles."

In other words, if the emperor was willing to reply, Kong Zhizhou would receive it within twenty days.

Kong Zhizhou took the letter respectfully.

"Lord Han, how do we deal with King Yong now?"

"After being paraded through the streets, he will be thrown into prison and wait for the emperor's order before making his final decision."

Upon hearing this, King Yong’s eyes widened in horror.

He fainted from fear when he thought about what he would face next.

No one paid any attention to him.

Kong Zhizhou asked again: "Where are the others in Prince Yong's mansion?"

Han Chong put away the emperor's token and walked out from behind the trial desk.

"Lord Kong is a good official who is dedicated to serving the people. He will definitely be able to arrange a place for them. The rest will be left to Lord Kong."

After saying that, he and Qi Yanzhou left the prefectural government.

When the two returned to the inn, Ye Chutang was teaching Aunt Xu how to make a cake.

"Is the trial going smoothly?"

Qi Yanzhou sat down opposite her and poured himself a cup of herbal tea.

"It went very smoothly. Prince Yong's family is completely finished."

The reason why Ye Chutang didn't go to the prefectural government to watch the fun was because she went to plunder the Yuan family.

"What's the result?"

"Prince Yong's property will be confiscated, and he will be demoted to a commoner, and will be looked down upon; Prince Yong's wife will be demoted to a slave, and will not be pardoned for life; Zhao Sirui will be beheaded at noon."

After listening to this, Ye Chutang gave a thumbs up.

"Yes, this result is very gratifying!"

Qi Yanzhou put down the empty cup and asked, "Atang, Prince Yong's family will be paraded through the streets soon, do you want to watch the fun?"

Ye Chutang glanced at the dazzling sunlight outside the house and shook his head.

"It's too hot. I won't go."

Just as she refused, she came up with a good idea.

"Let the prisoner cart pass by the inn and give them some basins of water for washing their feet."

Han Chong was amused by Ye Chutang's words.

"Mrs. Qi is wise. I will have someone notify Prefect Kong to change the route of the prisoner van and make those who don't like to wash their feet wash them properly!"

Ye Chutang raised his eyebrows playfully.

"Lord Han is more wise."

Zhao Sirui was scheduled to be beheaded at noon.

In order to make the three members of the Zhao family suffer the humiliation they deserved, Governor Kong paraded them through the streets an hour in advance.

Jizhou City is not big, and one can leisurely walk around the main street twice in an hour.

When the three prisoner cars set out from the prefectural government, they were immediately "besieged" by the people who had been waiting for a long time.

It took a full quarter of an hour for the prison van to leave the street where the prefectural government was located.

The people made no secret of their resentment towards Prince Yong's palace.

Rotten vegetable leaves were thrown into basket after basket, rotten eggs were thrown one after another, rotten water was poured into bucket after bucket, and stones were thrown one after another.

Another quarter of an hour passed when the prison van arrived at the inn.

The people immediately stopped throwing things to avoid leaving a mess that would stink up the Qi family and the National Protection Army in the inn.

King Yong and his two companions huddled in a corner of the prison van with pale faces, looking like dead humans.

They were drowned in rotten vegetable leaves and rotten eggshells.

He exuded an unpleasant smell of rotten water.

His face was covered in bruises, and his original appearance was completely unrecognizable.

Ye Chutang looked at the three miserable people, smiled and waved his hand.

“Have a nice journey.”

King Yong looked at Qi Yanzhou, who was leaning against the door with a look of anticipation, and wanted to open his mouth to curse, but he was afraid that the rotten egg liquid on his head would flow into his mouth, so he had to shut up.

He glared at Qi Yanzhou, as if saying: I will not let you go even if I become a ghost!

Qi Yanzhou understood King Yong’s silent anger.

He raised the corners of his lips mockingly and said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty. You three will be reunited in hell soon."

King Yong couldn't hold it in any longer and cursed: "You... Ugh..."

He had barely uttered one word when rotten egg liquid flowed into his mouth, causing him to vomit all over the place.

The prison van quickly left the inn.

“Wow!”

The National Protection Army at the corner poured the prepared foot washing water on the three people.

Some yellow soup was added to the water, which was disgusting.

So they deliberately avoided the inn to avoid disturbing the Qi family.

But the people sitting in the lobby still smelled an indescribable sour odor.

Qi Yanzhou saw Ye Chutang frowning and closed the door.

At this time, the steamed cake made by Aunt Xu came out of the pot.

The sweet smell came, arousing everyone's appetite.

Aunt Xu cut the cake into small pieces and said with a smile, "I don't know if it's done well. Everyone, please try it and give me some advice."

After saying that, she distributed chopsticks to everyone.

Ye Chutang picked up a small piece and tasted it and said, "It's a little too sweet, not fluffy enough, and not cooked enough, but it's the first time Auntie has made it, so it's already pretty good."

Sun Chu ate several pieces in a row and still felt unsatisfied.

"Long time no see, I miss you."

No one cared about his feelings, except Qi Yanzhou.

These two words seemed to be saying that he had once eaten the egg cake made by Ye Chutang himself.

Sun Chu noticed Qi Yanzhou's inquiring gaze and didn't want him to misunderstand, so he quickly explained.

"Don't think too much, Mr. Qi. I just haven't eaten this cake for a long time, so I was inspired."

"This pastry is something I have never heard of or seen before. I thought it was created by Atang. I didn't expect that Master Sun had eaten it before."

"Although the method of making this pastry is peculiar, the ingredients are simple, so it's not surprising that someone can make it."

This was indeed true, and Qi Yanzhou did not pursue it any further.

"It's almost noon. I'm going to prepare the fish I bought this morning so that we can have pickled fish for lunch."

When Qi Hean heard this, he quickly said, "Second brother, I'll go. You've been busy all morning, take a break."

Sun Chu moved his right hand, very excited.

"I'll make lunch!"

He hasn't cooked for a long time. If he doesn't try, he will become rusty.

Ye Chutang felt that since Sun Chu could run such a successful restaurant, he must be able to cook.

She asked curiously, "Are all the dishes in your restaurant made by you yourself?"

Although she is good at cooking, she is not as versatile as Sun Chu.

Sun Chu thought about his poor cooking skills and smiled awkwardly.

“I’m a good eater.”

What he meant was that he only knew how to taste the food, and those dishes were all prepared slowly by the chef he asked.

The corners of Ye Chutang's mouth twitched.

"Then you'd better not harm the fish. Fish in the north are more valuable."

Especially now there is a water shortage, it is difficult to buy fish.

"Okay, I'll make some cold dishes for you."

As a northerner with a bit of male chauvinism, Sun Chu could only serve cold dishes.

Aunt Xu cleaned up the chopsticks and plates for everyone to eat the egg cake.

"He'er and I will make the pickled fish for lunch."

When lunch was ready, it was already past midnight.

Zhao Sirui had been beheaded, and the streets were filled with people talking about it.

"God has mercy on us. This bastard who took people's lives lightly is finally dead!"

"This scumbag died too easily. It was a bargain for him!"

"You can't say that. Life brings uncertainty. Only death can bring peace of mind."

"I heard that Prince Yong's mansion was looted, and the officials didn't find much."

"Although the things are gone, the deeds to the houses, shops and lands are still there. What should be returned should be returned, and the rest can be sold to compensate the victims."

Hearing this, Qi Yanzhou looked at Ye Chutang.

Ye Chutang raised his hand to block Qi Yanzhou's sight.

"Don't look at me. I don't know if the 'ghost thief' went to Prince Yong's mansion to move things."

Qi Yanzhou knew that Ye Chutang didn't want to talk about "Ghost Thief", so he suppressed the doubts in his heart.

Ye Chutang withdrew his hand, moved closer to Qi Yanzhou, and whispered something.

“It was my idea to collect money.”

She will definitely use the things she looted in the future, so it would be better to give her a heads up in advance.

Qi Yanzhou guessed it and asked curiously, "What do you want so much money for?"

"You can't leave it to the dog emperor, right? It's just right for developing the Northwest."

“…”

He underestimated his wife's courage!

***

For the next two days, Jizhou City was like New Year's Day, and the sound of firecrackers could be heard frequently.

The people were celebrating that the biggest scourge in Yongzhou had been eliminated and that they would not have to pay taxes for three years.

In his letter to the emperor, Han Chong not only wrote about demoting King Yong to a commoner.

He also wrote that King Yong had been harming the people for a long time, so he exempted the people from taxes for three years on behalf of the emperor.

Although these two things have not been decided yet.

But the emperor didn't care about the taxes in Jizhou City at all, so he would definitely agree.

Every day, people would send gifts to the inn to express their gratitude.

There is everything from fruits and vegetables to fish, meat, and drinks.

The Qi family sat in the lobby eating chilled grapes.

No one spoke, everyone's face was filled with sorrow, and they had no appetite.

Seeing that the atmosphere was becoming increasingly depressing, Old Madam Qi spoke.

"Tang'er, will Zhou'er be okay?"

Qi Yanzhou had just received an acupuncture injection and was resting in a room on the third floor.

His whole body was burning hot, his blood seemed to be boiling, and his hair was dark red.

When his hair turns fiery red, the fire poison will break out and even gods cannot save him.

Ye Chutang said, "Xize sent a letter the day before yesterday, saying that he would arrive today and nothing would happen to Azhou."

Old Madam Qi looked at the setting sun, feeling very anxious.

"It's almost nightfall, why haven't they arrived yet? Could they be held up by someone or something?"

Although Mr. Qi was also worried about his son, he was more calm.

"Don't worry, Zhou'er has made all the arrangements on the way to the witch doctor, so nothing will go wrong."

Having said that, everyone is worried.

Ye Chutang didn't intend to sit there and wait for death, so he stood up and said, "I'll go to the pharmacy to buy some medicine to prepare for Azhou's detoxification."