The Five Cities Military Department surrounded the Gu Mansion, and the huge noise naturally disturbed many families in the capital.
There was no movement at all from the Duke of Ru's Mansion next door.
The beardless white-faced eunuch in charge of announcing the decree looked around with a scornful smile on his face.
Read the imperial edict directly:
"By the Providence of Heaven, the Emperor declares: The old general's office, under the protection of the nation, has formed a clique for personal gain and enriched itself during the flood relief efforts in Jiangnan. This has resulted in the destruction of river embankments and the death and injury of countless Jiangnan civilians.
He who disregards the grace of Heaven deserves death. However, I consider the merits of the old general in following the late Emperor, and the merits of the Northwest General Gu Beiheng in suppressing the rebellion.
Therefore, the death penalty can be avoided, but the living punishment cannot be escaped. The Protector General's Mansion immediately raided his house and imprisoned him.
All the people in the prefecture are demoted to commoners and exiled to Yun County, Jinyang Prefecture. From now on, their descendants will not be allowed to take the imperial examinations or serve in the military. This is decreed."
After reading the imperial edict.
The white-faced eunuch raised his orchid finger and sneered in a shrill voice:
"Madam, please take care on your journey of exile. I congratulate you." The white-faced eunuch snorted coldly, a sinister look on his face. "The old general in the mansion always seems to be saying that I and others will lead the emperor astray. Why would he do such a treasonous thing?"
"People always have to leave themselves a way out. Old lady, don't you agree with this?"
The old lady's breath was stuck in her throat. She couldn't move up or down.
She could only let the white-faced eunuch with a flushed face disgrace.
From then on, the old general's mansion became a laughing stock in the capital.
The deputy commander of the Five Cities Military Command came over and waved his hand, ordering:
"Confiscate all the gold, silver, and jewelry on them and throw them into jail." The deputy commander waved his hand, pointing at the servants and said, "All the servants in the general's mansion will be sent to the government office to be auctioned off."
The once glorious old general's mansion will no longer exist. All the jewelry, assets, and valuable clothes of the people will be confiscated.
Starting with the old lady, several officers began searching the female members of the family with baskets.
Almost everyone has a private collection of gold ingots, gold hairpins, gold bracelets, precious jade pendants, silver bills, and the like.
They were found out by the sharp eyes of the officials and confiscated one by one.
No matter how much you cry, it's no use.
Fang Xiaoya and Gu Beihan’s two concubines were holding their son Gu Jingfeng and their daughter, who later became the lucky charm Gu Jingru.
Seeing the official approaching, Fang Xiaoya quickly bowed and took out her gold bracelet and hairpin. "Sir, my three children are still young. Can you please make an exception? My father is Fang Jingtang, the Minister of Revenue."
The officer raised his eyes and glared at him, then chuckled, "We are acting on orders, please don't make things difficult for us."
He still reached out and touched the child, and took away a lot of silver ingots.
However, he left two bracelets behind and kept them quietly.
Su Qi took the initiative to loosen Dabao's clothes. Gu Beihe, who was following behind, stepped forward to untie Erbao's cloth bag and held him in his arms.
Su Qi nodded in thanks to Gu Beihe, then turned to look at the square-faced official. "Sir, I have two young children with me, and these two cloaks aren't made of expensive materials. Could you please leave them to me?"
The search officer paused, then took a gold hairpin that Su Qi offered him. He glanced at the person next to him and asked in a low voice:
"Are you the wife of General Gu from the Northwest?"
Su Qi smiled bitterly: "That was before. Now I am guilty."
The officer sighed imperceptibly, frowned, and shouted angrily:
"You're such an annoying bitch. I'll leave the cloak to you."
Then she whispered, "I'm sorry." She silently handed the gold hairpin in her hand to Su Qi.
"Hide yourself, or you'll suffer along the way."
Su Qi naturally would not refuse his kindness, but she did not expect that Gu Beiheng had quite some prestige.
Because Gu Beihe was holding Erbao, she wasn't bothered. The concubine sisters following behind her were as scared as quails, following Su Qi closely.
Su Qi asked in a doubtful voice:
"Beihe. Why are you guys following me?"
Gu Beihe buried her head in Erbao's neck. The little guy was sleeping soundly. What did she dream about? She smiled bitterly and said:
"Second sister-in-law. Don't mind us. We just think you're the calmest. Following you makes us feel less panicked."
Su Qi's mind flashed through the endings of Gu Beihe and others. They all died miserably on the road to exile.
"Beihe, help me carry Erbao on my back."
Gu Beihe asked in a low voice:
"Second sister-in-law, it's the same when I'm holding Erbao. I'm strong. My second brother taught me self-defense at home."
Su Qi didn't know why, but she always felt a sense of kindness towards Gu Beihe. She tied Erbao's cloth bag around Beihe's body and glanced at the group of men standing in the general's mansion again.
The old general and Gu Beiheng and others were not seen.
Su Qi thought: If a few people from Beiheng were beheaded, she would take her children with her to Jinyang Prefecture to build her own power and become the overlord of the no-man's land.
Who cares about the emperor of Dashun Kingdom who likes to confiscate property?
The quarrel started again behind me.
General Gu and his wife had three sons, but all the sons born to his concubines were daughters, and none of them were raised.
The eldest, Gu Wushen, was Gu Beiheng's father, who worked in the Ministry of Revenue. He married Zhang Yunyu, the legitimate daughter of the Minister of Personnel, and had two children, Gu Beihan and Gu Beihe.
The remaining ones are Gu Beiheng, Gu Beiyao, Gu Beiting and Gu Beijing, the illegitimate children born to concubines.
Gu Wujiang, the second wife of the Gu family, was married to Xu Hongyan, the granddaughter of Duke Zhou. She gave birth to a son, Gu Beizheng, and the rest of his children were illegitimate sons and daughters born to concubines: Gu Beiyang, Gu Beilan, and Gu Beimei.
Gu Wuhai, the third son of the Gu family, did not live in the General Protector's Mansion. When he was young, he entered the princess's mansion and became the son-in-law of Princess Zhaoyang. He escaped the house search this time.
In short.
The family used to be very large. There were hundreds of people under the vast sky.
The one causing the commotion was none other than Ma Qiumei, the daughter-in-law of Gu Beizheng, the second son of the Gu family. Her father was the Minister of Justice. She had been pampered and looked down upon the common people since childhood, so how could she endure such humiliation?
"What are you guys doing? Take your dog paws off me." Ma Qiumei protected the hairpins on her head and shouted in a trembling voice, "I'm the daughter of the Dali Temple Minister. How dare you take my things?"
The deputy commander of the Five Cities Military Command stood not far away and watched coldly, shouting coldly:
"Don't the people in the Gu Mansion know their situation? Even the Supreme Court Minister is powerless now. All families related to the Gu Mansion have been reprimanded by the Emperor and ordered to reflect on their mistakes for a month." He shouted loudly, "Collect them."
The officers who were searching Ma Qiumei pulled off the hairpins on her head and even the earrings made of Dongzhu on her ears.
He kicked her as he left.
Ma Qiumei was kicked to the ground and couldn't get up for a long time, crying.
Su Qi saw that being kicked like that was a bit too much. However, she was happy to watch the fun. Just for this, she knew that there would be a lot of fun in the future.
She would not be like her original self, who was set up by others and cared about her reputation, and ended up losing her entire family's lives.
Even someone as arrogant as Ma Qiumei was embarrassed, and the others gave up their thoughts and cooperated with the officers to hand over their gold and silver jewelry.
The search was over.
Su Qi and others were taken to the Dali Temple's prison cell, awaiting the emperor's final verdict.
Men and women are separated into two areas.
The servants were naturally taken to the government office to wait for sale.
The cell was dark and damp, with some messy straw against the corner of the wall and two urine buckets in another corner.
Eating, drinking, defecating, urinating and sleeping are all solved here.
Su Qi held Dabao in her arms, holding Gu Beihe close with one hand. "Come with me." While others were still covering their noses to dislike the musty smell of urine, Su Qi had already chosen a place farthest away from the urine bucket.
Lay down the straw.
He first spread his cloak on the ground, then placed Dabao and Erbao on the cloak, and then covered them with another cloak.
"Beihe, please sit down first."
Su Qi thought about it and decided to go over and help the old lady. "Old lady, you and mother should go over there. It's drier on the straw." She had to save face, so if it didn't affect her own interests, she shouldn't go too far.
Madam Gu glanced around, nodded and sighed.
After following Su Qi, he sat down on the straw. Zhang Yunyu also followed and sat down.
The others then reacted and started scrambling for space and straw.
There was another round of chaos.
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