Xia Miaoyuan held her little hands together and thought carefully.
【The plot shouldn’t be so broken, right? 】
[I think it's most likely Old Man Jiang's nonsense.]
Xia Zhengqi's face was as dark as water. "Jiang Rong, you said that Emperor Taizu once awarded the Jiang family a golden medal of immunity from death. So, where is the medal?"
"The golden medal of immunity from death is hidden under the plaque in the Jiang family's ancestral hall." Grand Tutor Jiang said lightly.
"Let Cheng Feng go to the Jiang family to find the gold medal, go immediately." Xia Zhengqi turned and instructed Debao.
A quarter of an hour later, Cheng Feng walked into the hall in a hurry, holding a tray in both hands.
Inside the tray was a five-inch-long gold plate.
Xia Zhengqi picked up the gold medal and looked at it carefully. The front of the medal was engraved with four big words: "Golden Medal of Immunity from Death".
Below the four big characters, there are eight characters engraved: "Forgive you for three deaths, and your descendants for one death."
Xia Miaoyuan widened his eyes and looked hard.
[I remember reading that the unique feature of this death-free gold medal was that the small characters engraved on the back of the medal were carved from Emperor Taizu's own handwriting.]
【So this gold medal is very difficult to forge.】
Xia Zhengqi listened to his daughter's thoughts and turned the gold medal over to look at it.
There were indeed dozens of small characters engraved on the back of the gold medal, which roughly described the process of the founding of Daxia and Taizu's gratitude to the founding heroes.
Those small characters really seem to resemble the handwriting of Emperor Taizu.
Xia Zhengqi opened his mouth, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Master Yan, can you tell whether this gold medal is real or fake?"
Yan Wenjing said calmly, "I remember that the inscription on the back of the gold medal was written by Emperor Taizu. Just take out Taizu's calligraphy for comparison."
Xia Zhengqi called Yan Wenjing and several old ministers to his side, and asked someone to bring a calligraphy piece by Emperor Taizu.
After careful comparison, several veteran officials confirmed that the small characters on the gold medal were the handwriting of Emperor Taizu.
[Yeah, the handwriting matches, which means this gold medal is genuine.]
Xia Miaoyuan watched intently as several veteran officials identified the handwriting, his brain working rapidly.
[In other words, the gold medal that should have been in the hands of the remnants of the Liang Kingdom is now in the hands of Old Man Jiang.]
[Could it be that the Jiang family has long been colluding with the Liang crown prince? They exchanged money for this gold medal with the Liang crown prince?]
[No, no, if the Jiang family had this gold medal, given their flamboyant nature, they would have publicized it to the entire nation long ago, and would not have waited until now.]
Xia Miaoyuan suddenly remembered that Jiang Zhiyuan had inexplicably become a living dead in prison, and that Master Jiang suddenly changed his confession, contrary to his usual behavior, and put all the blame on Jiang Zhiyuan.
[I understand. The Crown Prince of Liang must have taken advantage of the extremely dangerous situation when Grand Tutor Jiang was imprisoned to reach a cooperation with him.]
【Or rather, a deal. 】
[Prince Liang's guidance helped him escape punishment and save his life, and from then on, Grand Tutor Jiang would obey Prince Liang's orders.]
When Xia Zhengqi heard his daughter's heartfelt words, he felt cold sweat break out instantly.
Oh my God, have the remaining forces of Liang State become so powerful?
Not only can he plant people in the palace to steal the golden medal of immunity from death, but he can also cause trouble in the heavily guarded prison of the Ministry of Justice!
[Daddy, Old Man Jiang, just keep him. He'll be very useful in the future!]
When Xia Miaoyuan thought of this, she babbled anxiously at Xia Zhengqi. To outsiders, the three-month-old little princess seemed to have something to say to the emperor.
Xia Zhengqi's eyes lit up.
Yes, my daughter reminded me.
Today, the Jiang family's vitality has been severely damaged, and the Jiang family can no longer pose a threat to the Great Xia Empire.
The biggest threat at present is the remnant forces of Liang State.
By keeping Master Jiang, we can trace back to him and find out the power of the Liang State.
After figuring this out, Xia Zhengqi's frown relaxed.
He said calmly, "The golden medal of immunity from death was indeed made by Emperor Taizu. Jiang Rong, I will spare your life for the sake of Emperor Taizu."
On that day, Xia Zhengqi issued two imperial edicts.
One of the imperial edicts was a verdict on the guilty minister.
The commander of the imperial guards Wei Jianzhong, the Minister of War Liu Hong, the Vice Minister of War Jiang Zhiyuan, the Vice Minister of Personnel Sun Chaogui, the Vice Minister of Revenue Jiang Zhishan, and several ministers of Jiangxia Province who were involved in embezzling disaster relief funds and harming the victims of the epidemic were all sentenced to death and executed immediately because human lives were involved.
Because Jiang Zhiyuan was still unconscious, he was judged to be beheaded after he regained consciousness.
The Minister of Revenue Chen Youdao and the eight censors who colluded with the Jiang family were all sentenced to confiscation of property and exile.
As for Jiang Rong, Emperor Taizu granted Jiang Rong's father a golden medal of immunity from death. According to the provisions on the medal, Jiang Rong's descendants could be exempted from death, so Jiang Rong was spared the death penalty.
However, all the embezzled money of the Jiang family was confiscated into the national treasury, and Jiang Rong's powerful official positions, including Minister of Personnel and Grand Secretary of the Hanlin Academy, were all removed.
The title of Duke of Yan inherited by the Jiang family was also abolished, leaving only the position of Grand Tutor.
As soon as the imperial edict was issued, the whole court was in an uproar.
Because Xia Zhengqi had always been magnanimous and rarely killed people, this time he actually beheaded more than a dozen ministers at once, which was really horrifying.
In addition, the Jiang family is a prominent and stable family in Daxia. Jiang Hui, the daughter of the Jiang family, is also the adoptive mother of the current emperor. It is really shocking that the Jiang family is treated like this.
The position of Grand Tutor that Xia Zhengqi left to Jiang Rong was just a useless decoration.
In Daxia, there were Grand Tutor, Grand Preceptor, and Grand Protector, collectively known as the Three Masters. It sounds grand, but in fact it was just an honorary title bestowed upon them to show the emperor's care for his important officials. They had no real power at all.
As for the other imperial edict, it was a reward for meritorious officials.
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