You wouldn't believe it until you investigate; what you find is astonishing. It turns out that the bondservant families, who were supposed to be royal servants, had so many audacious acts in private.
Deceiving superiors and subordinates, colluding in secret, embezzling royal funds, framing imperial concubines, neglecting duties and causing the deaths of princes and princesses, etc...
Compared to this, the fact that Consort Wuya used witchcraft to harm Consort Wei seems insignificant.
Qianqing Palace
After lunch, Emperor Kangxi digested his food, sat down at the table, and said calmly, "Speak, what have you found out? Bring it up."
Liang Jiugong was quite alarmed that he had discovered these things. He stepped forward to present what he had found out, bowed, stepped back, and stood aside.
Kangxi calmly looked down and read through the pages one by one, his anger growing and his expression becoming increasingly somber.
Skipping over the evidence of Uya's harm to Consort An and Consort Wei, Kangxi focused his attention on the bondservant group.
After putting down the evidence, Kangxi slammed his hand on the table, revealing his anger.
He smirked slightly and snorted coldly, "Hmph! These bondservant servants of the Imperial Household Department are truly my good servants, so loyal!"
This statement was made with a hint of gritted teeth and full of sarcasm.
These bondservants, though living peacefully as individual households, have grown up and become related by marriage over the years, forming a force to be reckoned with and requiring vigilance.
The grandfather of this Lady Wuya used to work in the Imperial Kitchen, and now most of the people in the Imperial Kitchen are his old friends. That's why Lady Wuya was able to easily know Consort An's plan and thus turn the tables on her.
Later, in framing Consort An and the guard named Qingxi, Uya clan mobilized a lot of Uya family influence and joined forces with several other bondservants of the Imperial Household Department to succeed.
If they can easily murder the imperial concubines now, won't they be able to easily murder me in the future?
Thinking of this, Kangxi decided to kill him.
When the emperor is enraged, corpses will lie scattered for miles!
A plan to reorganize the Imperial Household Department is about to begin.
However, this matter could not be acted upon rashly. Kangxi asked Liang Jiugong for details about everything and pondered what to do.
After thinking for a long time, he coldly ordered, "Liang Jiugong, prepare the carriage for Kunning Palace."
Upon arriving at Kunning Palace, Empress Niohuru had just finished lunch and was preparing to rest.
She was quite surprised to see Emperor Kangxi here.
The Emperor has never come at this time before. What is the reason for this?
Suppressing her doubts, Niohuru stepped forward and bowed.
As usual, Kangxi gently helped the Empress up, dismissed the palace maids and eunuchs serving in the hall, and pulled Niohuru to sit down.
He pulled a small notebook from his sleeve and handed it to Niohuru.
Looking at the Emperor's actions with some confusion, Niohuru took the small book and read it carefully.
The more he looked at her, the more alarmed he became. He put down the notebook and prepared to kneel down and beg for forgiveness.
"Your Majesty, please punish me. I failed to manage the inner palace properly and was completely unaware of these things."
Before the Empress could kneel, Kangxi reached out and helped her up, reassuring her, "It's alright, this has nothing to do with you. It's all because these bondservant servants were too audacious, disrespectful of their rank, and showed no regard for the imperial family. They even hid it well. You have so many things to manage in the harem every day, it's understandable that you didn't notice."
Preventing the Empress from speaking, Kangxi continued, "I have come today to discuss with you how to reorganize the Imperial Household Department and the servants of those bondservant families."
The Empress naturally agreed to this matter. She was quite intelligent; she hadn't known before, but now that she did, she had many ideas in mind.
Listening carefully, Kangxi found the Empress's ideas to be quite good, and he was satisfied, his eyes showing some approval.
The method suggested by the Empress was both deterrent and not too harsh, sweeping away all the bondservant groups in one fell swoop; she struck a good balance.
Without much consideration, Kangxi decided on this method.
He first had the Empress pretend to investigate, spreading rumors so that the Imperial Household Department staff would be alerted and their true colors would be revealed.
Liang Jiugong's secret investigations will yield more evidence, which Kangxi can then use to determine the appropriate punishments for each person, severely punishing those guilty to deter the other bondservant officials.
The Empress was efficient, and before long, she summoned all the stewards of the Imperial Household Department and said that she had found something amiss.
They knew what they had been doing in private all these years, so hearing the Empress say that naturally made them feel a little guilty.
Having reached such a position, they were not to be trifled with. They immediately became confident that the Empress knew nothing and began to cry out their innocence.
The Empress gave a cold look and ordered Wu Mama to show them the evidence she had in her hand.
Upon seeing this, the stewards realized that the Empress truly knew and even had evidence in her possession.
On this day, the news that the Empress was going to reorganize the Imperial Household Department spread throughout the entire palace, causing panic among some bondservant families, especially the Wuya family, the maternal family of Consort Wuya.
Based on Yu Yin's message from some time ago, they sensed something unusual.
Before the fire spread to them, they quickly took action to destroy evidence and bury proof that they had committed the crime.
The others did the same.
Liang Jiugong and his men took in all of this.
The Empress ordered a reorganization of the Imperial Household Department, but it was all bark and no bite; the matter was quickly dropped.
Just when the Imperial Household Department and the bondservant families were complacent and thought everything was fine, they learned that the Emperor had issued an edict.
As the head steward of the Imperial Household Department and other stewards of all ranks were arrested and imprisoned, a great deal of money and treasures, including imperial gifts, were found in their homes.
This reorganization resulted in the loss of many people in the Imperial Household Department, and many bondservant families had their property confiscated and were exiled. The matter finally came to an end after more than a month.
Emperor Kangxi appointed a new chief steward, placing his trusted confidants in the position, and also revised the rules, imposing harsher punishments on anyone who neglected their duties or acted recklessly.
After a series of reforms, the atmosphere in the palace was completely transformed, and many concubines noticed that the eunuchs and maids in their palaces were much more efficient.
The efficiency of the Imperial Household Department has also improved, and the previous practice of favoring the powerful and currying favor with the weak has all disappeared.
As a result, the lives of those lower-ranking concubines improved considerably.
Kangxi also learned about this incident. It turned out that Wuya Xinyue had been scheming to become his concubine since childhood, and he hated her very much, in addition to the crimes she had committed before.
Emperor Kangxi ordered that Wu Yaxin be demoted to a commoner and banished to the Cold Palace.
The sixth princess, Buyechuk, born to commoner Wuya, was registered under the name of Imperial Noble Consort Tong.
With everything settled, no matter how clever Wu Yaxinyue was, she had no chance to turn things around.
As darkness fell, the moon hung high in the sky.
This is the most remote corner of the palace, where almost no one passes by on ordinary days, and only a few old women guard it.
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