Chapter 553 is in complete chaos.
Perhaps Emperor Xiaozhao's intention to promote the Prince of Chu to the throne was too obvious, as not only the Crown Prince became irritable, but even the Prince of Qi became worried and unpredictable.
Soon, the two joined forces.
They unanimously decided to first kick the King of Chu off the card table, and then compete for the victory.
Therefore, before each court assembly, the Crown Prince and the King of Qi would harass the King of Chu in various ways. Any slight disturbance in the King of Chu's residence would be shared as a joke by the two, causing the King of Chu to lose face and dignity.
Then, no matter what the King of Chu did or what he proposed, the two of them would stand up to oppose it and try their best to ruin all of the King of Chu's plans.
Of course, officials who chose to side with the King of Chu because of Emperor Xiaozhao's recent attitude towards him were also targeted and suppressed by the two in all aspects.
Even their families suffered. Every time they attended a banquet, they were targeted and humiliated.
Especially the female relatives of the Vice Minister of Rites, ever since Zhou's daughter was chosen as a concubine of the King of Chu, they have never been able to attend a banquet without being humiliated.
From the Zhou family matriarch to the unmarried young ladies of the Zhou family, everyone suffered unprecedented humiliation.
Later on, the women of the Zhou family dared not go out easily.
Qiao Qinghe observed the changes in the capital's political landscape with a detached eye, and also learned a lot of inside information from Min Yuexi.
For example, while the King of Qi and the Crown Prince joined forces to suppress the King of Chu, they also secretly guarded against each other and even quietly suppressed each other's power.
For example, while King Qi and the Crown Prince were launching a massive attack on King Chu, he also had Princess Huaiyang, who was on good terms with King Chu, send a message to King Chu, asking him to join forces against the Crown Prince. This was a classic case of double-dealing.
The conflict among the three princes stirred up a bloody storm in the capital.
But Qiao Qinghe always felt that the real bloodshed was yet to come.
Sure enough, when the Earl of Enping killed the garrison commander of Jiangnan, seized military power, broke through the defenses of several other prefectures, and took control of the entire Jiangnan region, the entire capital was in an uproar.
Some people were overjoyed, thinking that the Earl of Enping truly deserved to be called the God of Slaughter General. The Jiangnan region, a den of dragons and tigers, had seen three waves of imperial envoys die, but the Earl of Enping's arrival wiped it out.
Of course, some people were also uneasy; these were the people who had been involved in the sordid affairs of Jiangnan.
Therefore, these people began to accuse the Earl of Enping of arbitrarily killing court officials without a joint trial by the three judicial departments, disregarding the law and discipline, and deserving of punishment.
Many people petitioned Emperor Xiaozhao to send officials from the Ministry of Justice back to Jiangnan to investigate, urging that innocent officials not be wrongly accused.
Emperor Xiaozhao turned a blind eye to these remarks and dealt with them perfunctorily.
These people disliked the Earl of Enping for his ruthless methods and excessive killings in Jiangnan.
But he still felt it wasn't enough!
Jiangnan had long been a major concern, and he had already given Jiangnan three opportunities by sending imperial envoys three times in a row.
However, they were all stubborn and unyielding.
Since he's looking for death, then he has no choice but to suffer the consequences.
From the moment he sent Yan Jin secretly south, he never intended to give Jiangnan even the slightest chance.
This time, he not only intends to purge Jiangnan, but also to eliminate all court officials who have colluded with the Jiangnan bureaucracy; he will not let any of them go.
Of course, he knew perfectly well who the real masterminds behind these people were!
He will never tolerate any wrongdoing if Yan Jin can find irrefutable evidence!
Seeing the incident unfolding in Jiangnan, Emperor Xiaozhao turned a deaf ear to the accusations from his court officials.
The crown prince gradually began to panic.
He was especially unable to sleep at night after hearing about Yan Jin's actions in Jiangnan.
That's right, the real backer behind the Jiangnan forces is none other than the Crown Prince!
Speaking of this, we have to mention Yan Jin's affairs in Jiangnan.
Yan Jin arrived in Jiangnan in just one month. Like the three imperial envoys before him, he was assassinated almost as soon as he arrived in Jiangnan.
Fortunately, Yan Jin was not a weak civil official; he brought dozens of trusted confidants with him when he went south.
Of course, when heading south, everyone disguised themselves as people of different identities, following closely around Yan Jin to secretly protect him.
All the groups that came to assassinate Yan Jin never returned. Some didn't even catch a glimpse of Yan Jin before being taken care of by his trusted guards who were secretly following him.
The group faced assassination attempts and overcame numerous obstacles along the way. Eventually, they contacted an inside agent who had been planted by Emperor Xiaozhao years earlier. With the help of both inside and outside forces, they killed the garrison commander and several of his trusted generals, thus gaining firm control of the 30,000-strong garrison.
Yan Jin was originally a military commander. With an army, Yan Jin was able to move freely throughout the Jiangnan region as if it were empty land.
After he led his troops to kill all the officials in one prefecture, the two neighboring prefectures closed their gates and refused Yan Jin entry.
One of the prefects even stood on the city wall and said he wanted to submit a memorial impeaching Yan Jin.
Before the man could finish speaking, Yan Jin shot him off the city wall with an arrow, killing him instantly.
What followed was the attack on the city, the breaching of the gates, the killing of the city gate guards, the execution of the prefectural officials, the confiscation of property, and the seizure of evidence...
Yes, Yan Jin will not be one of those imperial envoys from before.
The imperial envoys who came before were originally ordered to find evidence to confirm the crimes.
In other words, those people planned to find evidence first, and then hand it over to the imperial court for punishment.
But rigorousness is the opposite.
He first killed the man and ransacked the house, and then searched for evidence during the ransacking process.
They've been found; these people deserved to die.
If they can't be found, then it's their fate to be implicated.
In just one month, Yan Jin plowed up half of the officialdom in Jiangnan, much like plowing a field.
Wherever they went, there was only bloodshed and slaughter!
Gradually, the remaining half of the territory was terrified by Yan Jin's killings.
Before Yan Jin could even arrive, some people committed suicide. Others prepared to flee quietly.
Unfortunately, Yan Jin had already anticipated this. Every official who tried to escape was killed on the spot, and their heads were hung above the city gate as a warning.
Of course, there were also those who were pragmatic and prepared their evidence of crimes, proactively reporting it to Yan Jin, hoping that Yan Jin would show leniency and not implicate their families.
In short, because of the arrival of the Earl of Enping, the Jiangnan region was completely turned into a purgatory for some people.
However, while the Earl of Enping was wantonly slaughtering officials in Jiangnan, trouble also broke out in the west.
The Earl of Annan, who replaced the General of the State in guarding the western pass, suddenly rebelled for unknown reasons, seized control of seven border cities, and declared himself king.
At the same time, they submitted a letter of surrender to Da Xie, intending to join forces with Da Xie to conquer Dayan.
On the very night that news of the Earl of Annan's rebellion reached the capital, trouble broke out again at the Prince of Shun'an's residence.
The entire Feng royal family, including Prince Shun'an and his wife, was slaughtered overnight.
By the time the city guards realized something was wrong and rushed over, the Shun'an Prince's Mansion was already engulfed in flames.
Even the neighbors around the Shun'an Prince's Mansion suffered.
The Earl of Enping's residence was no exception.
Su Rongrong led Feng Yuerou and her two children to hide with Qiao Qinghe in Nancheng overnight.
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