That morning, while Ye Jingchen was idly listening to classical Chinese texts in the Wenhua Hall and getting drowsy, the emperor issued an imperial edict to the Jingzhao Prefecture.
This imperial edict could be considered a death warrant for the prefect's son.
The emperor ordered the Jingzhao Prefecture government to hold court within half an hour to adjudicate the case, try the crimes committed by the prefect's son, and punish him according to the law.
In this case, in addition to the Prefect of Jingzhao Prefecture as the presiding judge, the emperor also ordered the Minister of Personnel to serve as a juror.
This case shouldn't have dragged on for so long.
However, after this incident, the emperor was first engaged in a power struggle with the Jiang family, and then tried to use the joint trial of the three judicial departments to smear the Zhenguo Duke's Mansion with the accusation of colluding with the enemy and betraying the country. He had no time to care about such a trivial matter.
Unfortunately, the joint trial by the three judicial authorities did not grant him his wish, and in Yizhou, the scandal of powerful families forcibly seizing farmland and forcing people into slavery was exposed.
The emperor was in a bad mood when Lin Xun happened to come to see him.
The emperor didn't consider whether Ye Jingchen's sudden mention of the prefect's son's case was too coincidental; he just felt that he had finally found a scapegoat.
He originally intended to make an example of the Prefect of Jingzhao to deter others, but the case files that Lin Xun brought back truly enraged him.
So he sent Sun Yan to investigate the Prefect and the Minister of Personnel, that old bastard. It would have been better if they hadn't investigated, because what they found made the emperor even angrier.
Under the very nose of a prefect of the capital, the amount of silver embezzled and accepted in bribes in just one year amounted to as much as 300,000 taels!
How dare he?
Are all the people in the Inspection Department dead? How could they not find this out?
Someone embezzled three hundred taels in three years, and they cracked down hard and relentlessly. The Prefect of the Capital embezzled three hundred thousand taels in one year, but no one found out!
Did they truly not know, or had they long ago colluded with the Prefect of Jingzhao?
However, the mere Prefect of the Capital Region was far from qualified to have the Censorate collude with him. It's more likely that the one truly colluding with the Censorate was the Prefect's powerful backer—that old fox, the Minister of Personnel!
The emperor grew angrier the more he thought about it, but what angered him even more was that the Imperial Guards couldn't find any fault with the Minister of Personnel for the time being.
"Continue the investigation! I refuse to believe I can't find evidence of that old fox's crimes!"
Before finding evidence of the Minister of Personnel's crimes, the emperor did not want to let the old man off easily.
So he directly issued an imperial edict to the Jingzhao Prefecture.
In the emperor's eyes, the Prefect of Jingzhao was no different from a dead man. The emperor's personal sentencing of his son was a form of revenge against him.
Similarly, witnessing his grandson being sentenced was also the emperor's revenge against the Minister of Personnel.
After the imperial edict was read aloud, the Imperial Guards escorting it split into several groups to spread the news widely, making it known to everyone in the capital.
The Imperial Guards then located all the plaintiffs who had submitted petitions to the Jingzhao Prefecture government, as well as the victims who dared not file lawsuits due to fear of the power of the Prefect and the Minister of Personnel, and brought them all to the prefectural government.
As a result, half an hour later, the area outside the government office was surrounded by layers of people, and inside the government office, there were so many victims that there was almost no room to stand.
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the son of the prefect, who was not even wearing prison clothes but still dressed in fine silks and satins, looking radiant and even a bit plumper than before, was dragged by the imperial guards from the prefect's residence all the way to the prefectural government office.
All the petitions and case files were laid out on the table, and the Imperial Guards and the Imperial Household Department were also watching intently in the hall. The Minister of Personnel sat upright in the hall with a livid face.
Below the hall, the prefect's son was still somewhat dazed from the brutal act of being dragged from his home to the government office like a dead dog.
Of course, it's also possible that the guards 'accidentally' bumped his head while dragging him, stunning him.
The prefect gave his father-in-law a smile that looked more like a grimace, and tremblingly struck the gavel.
He read out all the crimes his son had committed, one by one, with witnesses and physical evidence to prove it, leaving no room for denial.
The Prefect's wife, disheveled and crying, rushed into the government office and knelt before her father, pleading for him to save her grandson's life. However, the Minister of Personnel remained silent with a gloomy face.
Once an emperor gets ruthless, he won't care whether the person is a veteran of three reigns or the head of the six ministries.
The onlookers in the capital city, however, found this scene extremely gratifying. After the prefect announced the execution, a thunderous cheer erupted outside the government office, with everyone shouting, "His Majesty is wise!"
And this extreme punishment will be carried out at noon today.
The emperor's edict arrived right on time, ordering the execution to be overseen by the Prefect of the Capital, with the Minister of Personnel observing the execution.
The Prefect of Jingzhao collapsed to the ground, while the Minister of Personnel turned pale and clenched his fists into his sleeves.
When Consort De received the news in Yichun Palace, it was almost noon.
The eldest sister only has this one child, who is her only support for the rest of her life. If he or she is gone, how will the eldest sister live the rest of her life?
Consort De rushed to Chengqian Palace, wanting to plead for her nephew.
The emperor knew her purpose and summoned her, but when he heard her pleading with him to spare her nephew's life, he threw a stack of files at her head.
"You should take a look at the good deeds your nephew has done before deciding whether to plead for him or not," the emperor said with a sneer.
He deliberately had someone pass on the news from outside the palace to Consort De, just to see if she would come to plead for him. Unexpectedly, she actually came!
Time was of the essence, so Consort De quickly scanned the files, her face growing paler with each reading, until finally she collapsed to the ground in despair.
She knew that her elder sister was always ruthless and her nephew was also useless, but she never expected that her elder sister would act so recklessly and that her nephew would be so lawless, giving the emperor so much leverage!
The case file contained not only the crimes of the nephew, but also those of the eldest sister, each and every one of them shocking.
Consort De couldn't understand how that mother and son dared to do that.
Her father was merely the Minister of Personnel, and she was just a concubine. What right did they have to do such outrageous things?
Recalling how she had been unable to resist her elder sister's pleas and had repeatedly pleaded with the Emperor for her nephew, Consort De wished she could faint on the spot.
Unfortunately, she couldn't. She had to extricate herself from this matter, otherwise she and Jingming would both be finished!
"Your Majesty, I did not know before that my elder sister and nephew had committed such a heinous crime. If I had known, I certainly would not have pleaded for them!" Consort De said hastily.
"Are you really unaware of this?" the emperor asked, squinting.
"I swear to Heaven, I truly knew nothing!" Consort De swore without the slightest hesitation.
“You’d better really know nothing about this!” the emperor said.
"Go back to your Yichun Palace and reflect on your mistakes behind closed doors. Don't come out for a month!" After saying this, the emperor flicked his sleeves and turned away.
"Your Majesty, I thank you!" Consort De said, her eyes red and her expression one of deep gratitude, as she left, turning back to look at herself every few steps.
However, after leaving Chengqian Palace, she clenched her hands tightly.
After reviewing the files, she realized that not only her nephew, but also her eldest sister was doomed.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
