Two months later, the Yushitai began to submit memorials, pointing the finger at the then left prime minister Xia Mingyuan. Several Yushitai successively submitted memorials to accuse Xia Mingyuan of corruption, corruption, forming cliques for personal gain, and occupying land. One memorial even called Xia Mingyuan a traitor who had stolen the imperial power.

It is said that when Xia Mingyuan heard the accusation in the court, he flew into a rage, and then knelt down and begged the emperor to redress his grievances. The emperor rejected all the memorials, saying that the left prime minister had served the country loyally for many years, and dragged out Yu Shi, who had submitted the memorial, and punished him with caning.

However, the voices condemning the Xia family's monopoly and harming the country and impeaching the left prime minister Xia Mingyuan were flooding like a flood. Even if they were suppressed, they would soon cause a bigger wave. Finally, Queen Mother Xia could no longer sit still. She angrily went to Zhao Yan and angrily asked as soon as she entered the room: "Who did it! Who is behind it!"

Zhao Yan glanced at the petals that were scattered all over the ground by her colorful sleeves, lowered his hands and said respectfully: "Don't be angry, mother. I didn't let any of those who tried to stir up trouble go. I dealt with them all severely."

The Queen Mother was still furious and said, "How dare a few of these officials so brazenly impeach the current Left Prime Minister? They are clearly well prepared. There must be someone behind them. If you don't find out who is behind this, and this continues, how can you stop the gossips?"

Seeing the embarrassment in Zhao Yan's eyes, the Queen Mother's face turned cold and said, "Why? Do you still want to protect that person? Well, you have grown up and want to help outsiders to deal with your mother and uncle!"

Zhao Yan showed a panic expression and said, "I dare not. I did find out something about the man behind me, but..."

The embarrassment on his face became even more serious. He secretly glanced at the Queen Mother's increasingly cold face, and sighed, "But that person has a special identity. I can't touch him for the time being."

"Oh?" The Queen Mother raised her eyebrows and said, "I would like to hear who is so powerful that even you, the Emperor, dare not touch him."

"That man is the Right Prime Minister of the court, Princess Ankang's husband, Zhou Jihan. Speaking of which, I have to call him uncle."

The Queen Mother was slightly stunned, then she pondered and said, "So it was him. This matter is indeed not easy to handle."

Zhou Jihan has been the right prime minister for decades. Although he has no real power, he is knowledgeable, fair and honest. He is a pillar of the Qingliu faction and has a good reputation among the people. The more critical person is Princess Ankang. As the elder sister of the previous emperor, Princess Ankang has always been as capable as a man. When Poyang was hit by a severe drought, she went to the city to inspect the disaster and forced the local gentry to allocate food to save hundreds of disaster victims. She was worshipped as a bodhisattva by the local people. Today, many people still have longevity archways of Princess Ankang in their homes. Although it is not difficult to touch these two people, it is very likely that they will be accused of murder and cursed by the people. But...

The Queen Mother frowned and said, "Zhou Jihan has been peaceful for so many years, why did he suddenly attack Xia? What happened?"

Zhao Yan sighed again and said, "It's all the fault of my uncle's second son, my second cousin. Since he became the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, he has become more and more arrogant, allowing his family to occupy many people's fields in the suburbs of Beijing. One day, Zhou Jihan, who happened to be passing by, saw several people asking for their fields and being beaten. It is said that Zhou Jihan got angry on the spot and immediately sent people to ask for the return of the fields. Unexpectedly, my second cousin not only ignored him, but also threatened Zhou Jihan. For the sake of his father's face, he should take care of himself and not cause trouble. As a result, this usually pure-hearted person was completely annoyed, and he began to instruct the Qingliu faction to continuously submit petitions, preferring to give up the black veil and to eliminate the cancer of the Xia family. "At this point, he paused for a moment, raised his head to look at the expression of the empress dowager, and then continued: "After all, this matter is also the fault of my second cousin. Now, how to deal with Zhou Jihan, the child is also very troubled!"

The Queen Mother's eyes were blazing with anger when she heard this. She slammed the table hard, almost embedding the sharp armor into the sandalwood table. Zhao Yan quickly handed her a cup of tea to calm her down. Queen Mother Xia thought for a long time while holding the teacup, and then she smiled coldly and said, "Since he was unkind first, you can't blame me for being unjust. Zhou Jihan has no power and no influence, and all he has is a good reputation. So, I will find a way to make him lose his reputation and let the world think that he is a hypocritical villain with no moral integrity. In the future, are you still afraid that you can't deal with him?"

Zhao Yan's eyes moved, and he asked hurriedly, "What do you think we should do, mother?"

Queen Mother Xia's beautiful eyes turned, and she slowly stroked the gem-embedded armor on her fingers, saying, "Zhou Jihan and Princess Ankang have been pretending to be nice to each other all their lives, but they would never have thought that I have something so important in my hand, something that is enough to destroy all the reputations they have built."

"Oh? What is it?" Zhao Yan asked hurriedly.

Queen Mother Xia curled her lips coldly and said, "Don't worry, I want to put on a good show and show Zhou Jihan what it means to drive... and... kill... them all!"

A few days later, an old case in the Ministry of Justice involving a woman who had been killed was brought to court again. This matter did not attract much attention at first. At that time, the focus of all discussions in the capital was whether the Xia family would be overthrown by the continuous reports and whether the emperor would continue to protect the Xia family. However, as the old case was investigated more and more, it was actually linked to Zhou Yiyang, the young master of the right prime minister.

It is said that someone was beating drums to make a grievance, saying that the niece Cuilan was originally a singer in Hanyan Tower, and was spotted by a rich young man five years ago. He then pestered her in every way and even tried to rob her. Cuilan could not bear the humiliation and jumped down from Hanyan Tower to end her life. The young man was Zhou Yiyang, the youngest son of the Right Prime Minister Zhou Jihan, who was known for his integrity.

Cuilan's family threw paper money on the long street every day to protest their injustice. Zhou Yiyang was immediately detained by the Ministry of Justice, and several court officials reported to the late emperor, asking him to sentence him to murder. But strangely, less than a month later, the matter was left unresolved. Cuilan's fall was hastily closed as an accidental fall. All those who knew about it kept silent about it. Zhou Yiyang was immediately released and has not been charged with any crime to date.

Under the manipulation of those with ulterior motives, people in the streets and alleys began to talk about this bizarre case, and the reputations of Princess Ankang and Zhou Jihan began to be questioned. At this time, a judge of the Imperial Medical Court stepped forward and reported to the current emperor that when the late emperor was seriously ill five years ago, he followed the then envoy to the bedroom every day to observe the late emperor's condition. Who would have thought that one day, he caught Princess Ankang running to the dragon bed with the right prime minister. She first begged, and then pressed step by step, using the late emperor's illness at the time to induce him to issue an imperial decree: order the Ministry of Justice to release Zhou Yiyang immediately, refute all memorials urging his conviction, convict the woman of accidental death, and seal the case file permanently.

Then, Empress Dowager Xia finally came forward and said that she was also serving the late emperor in front of the dragon bed at that time, and witnessed the incident with her own eyes just like the judge, and she also held the imperial edict that the late emperor was forced to write. When this news spread, the people were immediately shocked. The once honest and famous official and virtuous princess immediately became a treacherous villain who was partial to her and bent the law, deceiving the emperor. Even Princess Ankang's widely praised Poyang City disaster relief incident began to be questioned as a false reputation for personal gain.

Amid the boiling public resentment, Xia's followers finally began to fight back. They continued to attack Zhou Jihan in the palace, calling him a sinister thief who deceived the world and stole his reputation. Under heavy pressure, the emperor had no choice but to order a serious trial of the case. Zhou Yiyang was soon convicted and sentenced to be beheaded outside the Meridian Gate.

Now, the emperor did not convict Zhou Jihan because Princess Ankang was his aunt and because of his many contributions to Da Mu. He only demoted Zhou Jihan to a commoner and ordered him and his wife to move out of the capital immediately and never return. Since then, the impeachment of the Xia family, which lasted for several months, finally ended with the right prime minister Zhou Jihan and his wife being ruined and their beloved son dying tragically.

Queen Mother Xia won, and won cleanly, madly and thoroughly. She thought that after getting rid of the annoying Zhou Jihan, no one would dare to disrespect the Xia family anymore. But she didn't know that she had already stepped into a carefully designed quagmire, and once she fell into it, there would be no way out.

One day in October, a strong wind suddenly blew up in the imperial city, making the Yu Garden a mess. The palace maids and eunuchs on the palace road hurriedly covered their faces, and were still blinded by the wind and sand. With the sound of the whistling wind and the rustling of leaves outside the palace gate, Empress Dowager Xia was leaning on the beauty couch, letting a young eunuch massage her back, and squinting her eyes comfortably.

At this time, her most trusted maid ran in hurriedly, knelt down and said, "Good luck to the Queen Mother. Today, the emperor has ordered you to go to the Qianming Palace as soon as possible, saying that there is something important to discuss."

The Queen Mother frowned impatiently, as if blaming her for ruining the quietness at the moment. There was a strong wind in the palace today, and she was extremely reluctant to go out at this moment. But since the emperor had issued an edict, she had to get up and change her clothes reluctantly, and then sat on the phoenix sedan chair and was carried all the way to the Qianming Palace.

The floor dragon had been burning in the Qianming Hall, and the faint scent of ambergris filled the room with warmth. The empress dowager lazily walked in, dragging her long skirt trailing the ground. She was about to complain why the emperor had called her over in such weather, but suddenly she saw Princess Ankang, who was sitting next to the dragon table. She was wearing a plain white dress, her face was haggard and thin, but her eyes were like swords, piercing her fiercely.

The Queen Mother sneered in her heart, raised her head and walked slowly to the chair to sit down, glanced over there, and said, "Why, isn't Princess Ankang going to leave the capital with your husband? I guess you must have a lot of things to do in the palace now, how come you still have time to come to the palace to reminisce about the past?"

She saw the many white hairs growing on Princess Ankang's head, and deliberately sighed, saying, "Life and death are determined by fate. Princess, don't be too sad, or you will get yourself in trouble. It's not worth it."

Princess Ankang was stabbed in the wound, and her hands could not stop shaking. She glared at the Queen Mother, and suddenly smiled coldly, saying, "I came here today not to reminisce, but because I just discovered a shocking scandal that happened many years ago, and I must report it to the Emperor immediately."

"Oh?" The Queen Mother's pupils turned, and she didn't understand what Princess Ankang was trying to say. At this moment, her eyes followed Princess Ankang to another person kneeling in the hall. When she saw more clearly, she found that the person was the judge who had testified with her that Princess Ankang forced the late emperor to write the imperial edict when the late emperor was seriously ill...