Not to mention how happy the Duke's mansion was, the pain of losing 100,000 taels of silver was soothed.
It's said that there are no secrets that stay hidden forever, and there are no secrets in Xindu at all...
The heir of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion was arrested. The Duke went to the palace to offer silver to help the country. The heir was released the next day and even received an imperial decree to marry the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Jiangning's mansion—the Empress's cousin.
In other words, the heir of the Duke of Zhenguo will be the Emperor's brother-in-law!
This world is so amazing...
No, I should say that silver is amazing.
Ten thousand taels of silver can bring the dead back to life and grant one's wishes?!
Some people were even tempted, thinking about whether they could donate ten or twenty thousand yuan to fulfill their own wishes, but those who thought this way were extremely foolish.
A truly intelligent person wouldn't be happy at all; instead, they would furrow their brow.
In the garden of a certain residence, a few friends are drinking tea together.
Someone looked around and saw that there was no one eavesdropping, so they whispered, "The national treasury is empty, and the Emperor can't bear it any longer. He's using the matter of the Duke of Zhenguo to warn everyone, urging everyone to take the initiative to share the burden of the country."
“Yes, I can see that too. But we’ve only just settled in since we moved here from Kyoto, and we’re exhausted. We really don’t have the strength to do anything about it.” A man next to him twirled a jade thumb ring on his hand, frowning as if he were in a great predicament.
Unfortunately, no one believed him, since the jade thumb ring he was playing with was a top-grade piece of blood jade, a small piece that might cost two or three thousand taels of silver.
But no one spoke up to expose them, because they didn't want to spend any more money.
Someone said, "To be honest, the emperor is too impatient. Once the autumn harvest is over and the grain taxes are collected, everything will be resolved."
"Yes," someone else chimed in, "and the Northern Expeditionary Army, every expedition costs a fortune in silver and provisions, it's such a waste. The barbarians can't even reach Jiangnan, why bother going north to fight them!"
"Hmph, if he doesn't go to Jiangbei, how can Marquis Xinting establish his illustrious reputation!"
"Exactly, the Jinsha River is a natural barrier. Even if the barbarians are fierce, how could they possibly grow wings and fly over here?"
"In the end, it's Marquis Xinting who's been instigating the Emperor, constantly talking about recovering lost territories. You have to understand that Tianwu is currently severely weakened. It wouldn't be a bad thing to let it recuperate for ten or twenty years, restore its national strength, and then slowly plan to expel the barbarians."
When everyone started talking about it, they all seemed to agree.
As for donating money to share the country's burdens, they had long since deliberately forgotten about it.
Let's see how things go later. Perhaps the Emperor's punishment of the Duke of Zhenguo was just a temporary measure...
Leaving aside the whispers, speculations, and attempts to avoid the situation among the various families in the capital, the Marquis of Jiangning's mansion also received the imperial decree for marriage. Unlike the joy of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, the entire Wu family was in an uproar.
The Marquis of Jiangning, who was over seventy years old, and his wife, along with the gray-haired heir and his wife, and the second son and his wife, all sat in the hall, their expressions grim.
The Second Madam, in particular, was already wiping away tears with her handkerchief, sobbing softly, "Everyone in the family knows Lian'er's feelings. We thought that with Her Majesty the Empress around, she would surely get what she wanted. Who would have thought that she would be suddenly betrothed to that纨绔子弟 (a spoiled, dissolute young master)!"
"Isn't the Empress in the palace? How come there's no news at all? She didn't even try to stop the Emperor?"
Hearing this, it's clear she's even blaming the Empress.
The Empress's mother, who is also the Crown Prince's wife, was displeased.
She had originally intended to persuade her sister-in-law to help her think of a solution, but now she changed her mind and replied indifferently, "Sister-in-law, that's not right. You said it yourself, the Empress is the Empress, not the Emperor! If the Emperor wants to bestow a marriage, how can the Empress stop him? By remonstrating to the death?"
"Not only will Her Majesty the Empress not be able to survive in the palace, but our entire Marquis's mansion will also perish! Does your sister-in-law want to drag everyone down because of Bilian?"
"I didn't!" the Second Madam exclaimed anxiously. "You can't just stand by and watch! We've been saying that Her Majesty the Empress should talk to the Emperor more and finalize the marriage between Lian'er and the Marquis of Xinting, but there's still no news."
"Now look what's happened! Lian'er has been betrothed to someone else, and she just fainted. Who knows what will happen to her when she wakes up!"
As she spoke, the second wife cried even harder, “My poor daughter! I was almost thirty when I conceived her. She is naturally beautiful, intelligent and dignified. Why is she so unlucky?!”
The old Marquis and his wife were getting headaches from her crying, so the Marquis's wife stopped her, saying, "Stop crying. What's done is done. Let's think of a way to resolve this."
The second wife wiped away her tears and choked out, "Mother, that's an imperial edict! We can only ask the Empress to plead with the Emperor!"
"Her Majesty the Empress is Lian'er's older sister, and she certainly wouldn't want Lian'er to marry a纨绔 (a spoiled, dissolute young man). If Lian'er could marry the Marquis of Xinting, who holds military power, he would be a good helper to Her Majesty the Empress..."
"Shut up!" This time it was the old Marquis who spoke angrily. He subconsciously looked outside the door, and seeing that there were no outsiders, he glared at his brainless daughter-in-law with a dark face. "What nonsense are you spouting? If this gets out, the whole family will be in deep trouble!"
Some things are better planned than spoken aloud.
What are the Empress's maternal family planning to do to seize military power?
Rebellion?
The second wife realized she had misspoke and shrank back, saying, "I was just too worried about Lian'er..."
The second master couldn't ignore his wife, and he felt even more sorry for his daughter, so he pleaded with his father, "Father, don't worry about it so much. Please ask your sister-in-law to go to the palace as soon as possible."
The old Marquis nodded, not commenting on his granddaughter's feelings, but stating that their Marquis's family could not, under any circumstances, form a marriage alliance with the Duke of Zhenguo's family.
The Duke of Zhenguo had no real power and only knew how to live a life of humiliation, and to make matters worse, his son was also useless.
Take this incident, for example. The Emperor found a pretext to take advantage of him and cut off a large chunk of his flesh. Now everyone regards the Duke of Zhenguo as a fat pig!
The Wu family is the maternal clan of the Empress; how could they possibly be related to a pig?!
The old Marquis sighed, "Let's go to the palace and have the Empress plead with the Emperor to rescind the decree. Even if Lian'er can't marry the Marquis of Xinting, she absolutely cannot marry into the Duke of Zhenguo's family!"
The Crown Prince's wife couldn't disobey her father-in-law's orders, but she was unsure of herself, so she could only say, "I'll talk to Her Majesty properly, but I'm afraid there's no room for negotiation on this matter. After all, I've never heard of an imperial edict being revoked..."
Everyone here knows this principle, but no one is willing to give up. We still have to try!
The Crown Prince's wife had no choice but to rise and take her leave.
To enter the palace, one must send someone to present a token, change clothes, and prepare items as an excuse to enter...
Fortunately, the Third Princess was about to celebrate her birthday, and her family specially made a set of jewelry for her.
She was about to walk out when, just as she was about to step inside and outside the door, an old woman came running over, shouting, "Something terrible has happened!"
Served at midnight~~~
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