Chapter 1454 Nemesis (Reward for the book friend "Her Majesty Queen Xiaoxue")
"In addition to the already carved rooster gem, they also polished other small accessories, leaving behind a large piece that didn't glow. The head craftsman hid some of the stones and found a way to transport the shelled piece back home. Besides him, other craftsmen also secretly hid some of the cut luminous stone beads."
The status of craftsmen was very low, especially in Gaochang State, where they were controlled by the nobles.
They farm in the village in their spare time and are directly recruited when needed. It costs a lot of money for them to leave their craftsman status.
So they hid the things and didn't dare to sell them for a while, so they hid them quietly.
Lord Tang said, "The rooster gem was presented to the Gaochang royal family by a powerful noble. It remained there until the fourteenth year of the Dazhen reign, when the King of Gaochang allied with the Turks. Your Majesty sent Hou Ji, Xue Wan, and others to attack Gaochang. Gaochang was destroyed, and the gem was hidden by Hou Ji."
Wasn’t the fourteenth year of Dazhen just two years ago?
Bai Shan asked, "So Hou Ji didn't know there was something wrong with this stone?"
Lord Tang raised his lip slightly and said meaningfully, "The great prince of Gaochang, who once owned this gem, knew there was something wrong with it. In the fourteenth year of Dazhen, not only were two children with problems born to his concubine, but his eldest son also suffered from nosebleeds and died of weakness. He invited many doctors to come, and finally someone from the Buddhist temple told him that the problem was with the stone."
"Before Gaochang was destroyed, he had already sent people to find the village of those craftsmen. However, before they could do anything, Gaochang was destroyed and the eldest prince of Gaochang was captured. I checked the other day and he was dead, along with all his close friends who had served him. However, one person was missed among those who visited the village that year. He said that the eldest prince had wanted to offer the jewels to Your Majesty in order to seize our royal family, but Hou Ji was greedy and hid most of the property confiscated from the Gaochang royal family."
Lord Tang looked up at the two men and said, "Unfortunately, one of the officials around the Great Prince of Gaochang did not want to be a slave, so he told the secret of the gem to Hou Ji in the hope of receiving preferential treatment."
Bai Shan asked, "Where are those people?"
"They're all dead," Lord Tang said. "They didn't even make it back to the capital. They died of illness on the way."
Those were captives, not members of the Gaochang royal family. If they died, they died. Hou Ji had just made a great contribution. The emperor and court officials would not cause trouble for Hou Ji for a few officials from the enemy country.
Bai Shan thought of something, "I heard that the Crown Prince and Hou Ji are not on good terms."
Lord Tang nodded. "After conquering Gaochang, Hou Ji embezzled and hid most of the property. He also buried and killed prisoners. Your Highness was very upset and led the impeachment against him."
He said, "He has been with Your Majesty through thick and thin. In the third year of Dazhen, he was granted the title of Duke of Yu. However, in the sixth year of Dazhen, he allowed his servants to seize land in Shangzhou. Unfortunately, the Crown Prince was ordered to tour the nine provinces that year and happened to be in Shangzhou."
The prince had a bad temper to begin with, and when the servant of the marquis family spoke rudely, he simply chopped the person to death.
Of course, he not only killed the other person's slaves, but also killed Hou Ji's younger brother.
It was Hou Ji's brother who ordered the servants to enclose the land. Of course, it could also be Hou Ji. Unfortunately, the prince killed him too quickly and didn't have time to ask for a confession.
However, Lord Tang felt that even if the truth was revealed, given Hou Ji's merits, he would probably only receive a mild reprimand in the end. Such incidents were not uncommon in the court.
Your Majesty has always been very kind to meritorious officials.
The matter became a big deal when the prince chopped off Hou Ji's younger brother. At that time, the prince had just gotten married and was at the peak of his career.
At that time, no one knew that he was infertile, and the relationship between the brothers was good. No one competed with him for the child, so he had not lost his mind. Although he killed the man in anger, he immediately went to the palace to apologize as soon as he returned to the capital. He apologized to Hou Ji in front of the emperor and the ministers, and said with an apologetic look that he saw someone leading slaves to drive out innocent people and occupy land, and he was angry and lost his temper.
Kong Jijiu and Zhang Xueshi were of course unhappy to see the prince and Hou Ji, whom they had taught, apologize. They felt that the prince had done the right thing and had known when to advance and retreat. Although there were some illegalities in the procedures, these flaws could be ignored.
Officials from humble backgrounds, led by Wei Zhi, were even more disgusted with the nobles' seizure of land, so they turned a blind eye to the prince's illegal methods and directly attacked Hou Ji.
Even the emperor had to retreat in front of Wei Zhi's mouth, let alone Hou Ji.
He was already very angry because his own brother had died, and when he was attacked by Wei Zhi and others, he lost his mind and fought with Wei Zhi in front of the emperor.
At that time, a very famous group fight occurred in the court, which is still mentioned from time to time by some old ministers today.
For example, Lord Tang’s father, Old Lord Tang, was so brave that he kicked Hou Ji when he rushed forward and saved Lord Wei who was standing next to him.
Of course, he was hit on the left cheek in the end, and his face was bruised and swollen for a long time. Even Lord Tang remembered it clearly.
"Your Majesty was angry that Hou Ji had caused a disturbance in the court and failed to control his family, so he demoted him to the rank of Zuo Yu Hou," Lord Tang recounted the past grudges, took a sip of tea to moisten his throat, and then said, "After that, Hou Ji was sent to garrison Liangzhou. In the 14th year of the Dazhen reign, he was the first to achieve merit in the conquest of Gaochang. He should have been promoted to Duke, but... "
Lord Tang coughed lightly and said, "The Crown Prince couldn't stand him killing prisoners, and someone reported him for hiding valuables, so His Royal Highness the Crown Prince petitioned for a thorough investigation. Your Majesty didn't want to investigate at the time..."
After all, he had just made a great contribution. He had just brought the prisoners back, and now he wanted to investigate him. No matter whether people knew about it or not, people would definitely think that he could not tolerate his meritorious officials.
The emperor did not want to disappoint his meritorious officials, and half of the nobles in the court expressed their opposition, which made him feel like the lips and teeth would be in danger if they were separated. The emperor did not want to investigate anymore.
Lord Tang said, "But the Crown Prince went to the palace overnight and said something to His Majesty. The next day, His Majesty ordered an investigation. However, it was a cursory search and nothing was found. Hou Ji was not promoted, but was rewarded with many gifts and praised several times."
But for Hou Ji, not being promoted would be a punishment.
Now that the world is gradually at peace and wars are becoming less and less frequent, it is becoming increasingly difficult for military generals to achieve great things. If he misses this opportunity, he may never be promoted to Duke in his entire life.
Lord Tang said, "After that, Hou Ji often spoke out against the Crown Prince, so their feud was no secret. From what we've learned, it seems one of Hou Ji's students gave the item to a Hu merchant, who then gave it to a secretary in the Eastern Palace, who then presented it to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."
"Hu Shang and the East Palace secretary took it, and they were all unaware of the situation," he said. "I think Hou Ji didn't have much influence in the palace, so when the Crown Prince gave you the gem and sealed the study, he didn't know the gem had been given away. It wasn't until Lord Yin spread the news that he sent people to rob it."
Bai Shan was a little puzzled, "Master Tang, why are you telling us this?"
Prince: I am your nemesis
See you tomorrow
(End of this chapter)
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