Impeach
Gu Hanying was still thinking about the three excerpts from the opera at the palace banquet. As the opera began and ended, the first person he thought of was his daughter.
His daughter absolutely could not become a concubine, no matter what, even if she was a member of the royal family.
The fifth prince was not originally in his considerations, so what if he was offered the position of principal wife?
Which royal prince can be monogamous? What if he takes a new wife and neglects his daughter?
Too many women in the backyard can cause trouble; anyone with a brain knows that.
He was afraid that his two children would suffer, which is why he did not remarry.
Otherwise, how would he face his wife after he passes away?
He owed his wife too much; she was trapped in the inner quarters and in Shengjing for his sake, trapped for her entire life!
Emperor Shengyuan's betrothal of Princess Yuning to Dongfang Hongyao gave him some ideas: he needed to find someone from a respectable family who wouldn't cause trouble, and she had to swear not to take concubines.
The Gu family is a piece of fat meat, so everyone wants a bite. Recently, news has spread in the palace that the emperor wants to establish some kind of land bureau, which is aimed at vassal kings, members of the imperial family, and nobles like him who were granted titles later.
This matter was clearly orchestrated by Xu Qiu.
From a purely self-interested perspective, this person is clearly an enemy of the Gu family.
However, everything in this world can be measured by profit.
He saw a turning point for the Great Sheng Dynasty in Xu Qiu, and he also saw the figure of Emperor Sheng Yuan behind him. Emperor Sheng Yuan, who had cultivated for ten years, was not dead.
"So, Ayu, what do you think? Is it still that brat Xu Qiu?" Gu Hanying asked as a father of a daughter.
"Although he is not a kind person, only someone like him can protect his wife and children."
He reluctantly admitted the fact, "But husband and wife are one, sharing both glory and misfortune. If one day he is truly caught red-handed and condemned to eternal shame, will you regret it, Ayu?"
Gu Yu didn't understand why her father suddenly regarded her and Xu Qiu as a deeply affectionate couple.
If all those stories she made up about heroes rescuing beauties were true, would she really be devoted to Xu Qiu?
Gu Yu didn't know what others would do, but she knew she wouldn't.
She wondered, "If that day really comes, wouldn't it be better for me to divorce him sooner? I need to preserve the dignity of the Duke of England's mansion; how can I continue to be involved with him?"
"Besides, I believe in him, that day will never come." At least before she and he divorced, he wouldn't end up in such a state.
Gu Hanying laughed, bursting into laughter that filled the entire hall.
What are the societal expectations for women? The Three Obediences and Four Virtues, choosing one man for life, remaining chaste and faithful? So what? So what? His daughter doesn't have to do those things. Gu Hanying's daughter can do whatever she wants because he will be her support.
“Okay, Ayu is right to think that way. You love him now, and he won’t betray you, so you want to marry him.”
"If one day he betrays you or endangers your life, you have the right to make plans for yourself."
Gu Jin remained silent for a while before saying, "I found out that Xu Qiu also kept a mistress outside, who lived in the third alley to the left of Xuanwu Gate, the second courtyard on the left, named Xu San Niang."
Gu Hanying's face darkened upon hearing this. "No way, Xu Qiu is no good. He dares to keep a mistress before he's even married. I absolutely will not agree to it."
His expression changed so quickly that Gu Yu didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Gu Yu thought for a moment, then touched her face and smiled bitterly. It seemed like she had dug a huge hole for herself, but she couldn't tell her father and brothers that she had arranged it all.
If she said that, what would they think of her?
She wasn't originally Gu Yu, so she felt guilty and didn't want to say it if she could.
"Perhaps there's some hidden reason. I don't think he's that kind of person," Gu Yu added.
"Even if there are hidden reasons, it won't work. Tomorrow I will have those unmarried deputy generals stand in front of you. You can choose which one you like, and I will decide for you."
Gu Hanying said firmly, "Speaking of military matters, I suddenly remembered someone."
“Ayu, I remember you were the one who sent Tang Nan to the army.”
"Anan?" Gu Yu thought of her, her voice tinged with sadness. "How is she? Why didn't she come back this time?"
She dared not ask, for the name she had given her, the name that had led her to the crossroads of fate, for she feared hearing the news that she was already dead.
"That lad is pretty good, just a bit young. But his fearless spirit on the battlefield is unmatched in the army. It's just that he's a bit too clean and fussy, not like a real man at all..."
Gu Yu smiled, a smile with tears in her eyes.
"He's a centurion now, pretty impressive, right? But he was injured this time, so he didn't come back with us. Before he left, he came to see Ajin and asked him to give you his regards."
Gu Jin seemed to have just remembered this and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Ayu, I've been too busy taking over the three major camps in the capital region lately, and I forgot about it."
"He did ask me to pass on a message to you, to say thank you, that he's doing well and is happy."
"Okay, that's great."
Gu Yu looked at the sunlight outside the hall; its brilliance was so dazzling that it brought tears to her eyes.
Let's put Xu Qiu's matter aside for now; she's somewhat reluctant to give up the hard-won warmth she's experiencing.
It's been so hard for her to get to this point all by herself, so let her pause for a little while.
"Father personally delivered the Fifth Prince's marriage certificate back. His mother has obtained the Phoenix Seal, so it's inevitable that she'll have some ulterior motives. Ayu, you should ignore him."
Gu Hanying tucked the betrothal letter into his pocket and walked out.
Gu Jin rarely had free time today, so he took the opportunity to spend some time with his sister, who seemed even busier than him. "The clinic near Zuoanmen that you mentioned last time, is it the Southern Clinic?"
"Hmm. My brother actually knew?" She was slightly surprised.
“I recognized the name you mentioned last time. Then I remembered that a few years ago, a soldier was injured and I led people into the city to find a clinic nearby. Yongdingmen is very close to Zuoanmen, so it should be the Southern Clinic.”
"There was a doctor surnamed Nan in the clinic, and a young apprentice who was very skilled at bandaging and applying medicine."
"The wounded soldier was named Erniu. He went back and told me that the young apprentice was much gentler than the doctors in the army, and asked me to recruit him into the army as a military doctor."
"Isn't it funny?"
Gu Jin pursed his lips, trying to smile but revealing an expression even more unsightly than crying.
"Later... Erniu died on the battlefield. He saved my life."
“He said that I had saved him before, so he was repaying a debt of gratitude and that I shouldn’t feel guilty, as it was the right thing to do.”
Gu Yu remained silent. Long ago, she had caught a fleeting glimpse of him, but could only watch from afar.
Now, fate has played a cruel trick on her, and she stands before him.
He revealed such a vulnerable expression and said to her, "Too many people have saved me, too many people have died for me, so my life is very precious, I can't die easily... Ah Yu, I want to live well for them."
She stood before Gu Jin, who sat upright, lowered her eyes, and gently stroked the top of his head, very softly, "Don't be afraid, brother..."
"The fighting has stopped, and no one will die on the battlefield anymore. So brother, don't be afraid."
I originally thought that after rejecting the Fifth Prince's marriage proposal, it would be the Fifth Prince who would cause trouble, but I didn't expect that it was Bianjing that would cause trouble without making a sound.
"What do those fake Sixth Department officials mean? Are they impeaching me?"
Gu Hanying entered the palace at dawn, and upon returning to his residence, he took the memorial impeaching him and smashed it on the ground.
I smashed it once, but I was still not satisfied, so I picked it up and threw it again and again.
Hearing the commotion, Gu Yu sighed and went to her father's courtyard, just as a bright yellow notebook landed right in front of her.
She waved away the spring moon and autumn chrysanthemums, picked up the exercise book, and began to read it carefully.
Gu Hanying had made great military achievements, and Emperor Shengyuan rewarded him with a lot of land. This time, after a great victory over the Northern Di, Emperor Shengyuan rewarded him with tens of thousands of hectares of wasteland in the north, along with thousands of hectares of fertile land.
As Bianjing was Gu Hanying's ancestral home, Emperor Shengyuan rewarded him with land when he made his first contribution.
Over the years, all these have accumulated to a total of two thousand hectares of fertile land, or two hundred thousand mu, as well as countless wastelands.
One mu of fertile land can produce about two shi of rice a year. According to market prices, these fertile lands can provide the British government with an income of four to five hundred thousand taels a year.
This doesn't even include the businesses of other estates and shops.
Upon reflection, Gu Yu realized just how wealthy the Duke of England's mansion truly was.
Thinking back to when she used to spend several thousand taels of silver, she felt guilty. Sure enough, she was used to being poor, and even if she entered a golden palace, she would not learn to spend money like water.
When Emperor Shengyuan decided to establish a Land Administration Bureau, the news spread throughout Shengjing City and even Bianjing City followed suit, so some people went to check the land records with fish-scale registers.
The Land Administration Office was responsible for the land owned by princes, members of the royal family, and nobles.
Land granted by the emperor was exempt from taxation, but land purchased by the owner was subject to taxation.
But the law is the law, and how it is applied depends on who applies it.
These meritorious officials and nobles who were rewarded by the emperor were not to be trifled with. They didn't want to pay taxes on the land they bought themselves, so how could the local officials dare to say anything?
Therefore, the Land Administration Office was specifically responsible for collecting land taxes from the princes and royal families.
This matter not only affected the interests of these large landowners, but also the interests of ordinary people.
Because the land owned by royalty and nobility was exempt from taxation, the shrewd common people thought, "Why don't I register my land under their names, pay some kickbacks, and then I won't have to pay taxes? In the end, I still make a profit."
Therefore, the people's land nominally became the land of the princes and royal families, and they no longer had to pay taxes.
But now the Land Bureau has arrived, and they need to use the fish-scale register to verify how much land each prince and member of the royal family owns, and which lands are actually subject to taxation but have evaded the tax.
The Crown Prince, who was far away in Bianjing, had one particular characteristic: he was obedient. When his father wanted to establish a land administration office, he wanted to agree, so he sent people to investigate the land of the nobles in Bianjing.
The consul realized that these people were not to be trifled with, and since the Duke of England was not in Bianjing, he decided to investigate him first.
It was discovered that the Duke of England actually owned nearly a thousand hectares more fertile land than he had owned for over a decade or two. He must have evaded a great deal of land tax. The matter was immediately reported.
So a petition for impeachment was written in Bianjing and sent to Shengjing without delay.
Gu Yu closed the book of questions. Wealth and power are both tempting.
The Crown Prince is trying to take this opportunity to put pressure on the Duke of Ying's mansion; it's just the right time, place, and people.
Perhaps in his eyes, the Duke of England's mansion was just another member of the Fifth Prince's faction.
However, her father and brothers were fighting on the battlefield every year, her grandmother had passed away, and she was a sickly woman who didn't care about anything, so no one took care of the affairs of the land in Bianjing.
Those below them will inevitably have other ideas. As for the extra kickbacks they receive, will they hand them over or report them? Certainly not.
"They say I'm bullying the people, seizing land, and exploiting the common folk. Did I steal all this extra land? Ha! That fake Six Ministries are useless; they're good at spreading rumors and slandering people."
Gu Hanying paced back and forth angrily. He wasn't well-educated and couldn't argue with those people, so he could only keep his anger to himself.
Gu Yu said, "Father, some things don't happen for no reason. I think there might be something to it. Instead of staying here and getting upset, why don't we go to Bianjing and investigate the people below? Those in charge might already have their own ideas."
"It's good that this matter came out early now. You're in the capital, so you can investigate and explain things to the Emperor. If you weren't in Shengjing, this matter would only be more troublesome."
"Ayu, you've grown up."
Gu Hanying looked at Gu Yu with a complicated expression. He knew she was right, but his daughter didn't have to be so sensible.
She chuckled and said, "People have to grow up eventually. You can't protect me forever."
“Ayu, you’re right.”
He took a deep breath and began to tell her about the Crown Prince.
"This must be the Crown Prince's doing. Otherwise, why me? Look at me, I just made a name for myself in Shengjing City, and soon I was impeached by someone with ulterior motives. The higher you stand, the harder you fall. Ayu, someone wants to take this opportunity to smear our Gu family."
Gu Yu was in a daze. The scene was so familiar, the style was so familiar. The higher you stand, the harder you fall.
"But don't be afraid, Ayu. Our Gu family has been loyal and virtuous for generations, and we have made great contributions. This is just a small matter."
"What angers me is that the Crown Prince wrote a letter asking me to marry you. I think this is a little obstacle he's trying to trip me up. If I don't agree, there might be more trouble later."
“I’m worried about you, Ayu. I can’t rest easy until you get married.”
Gu Yu took his calloused, rough hand and shook her head, saying, "Father, I'm not afraid. We have to take things one step at a time. You should go to Bianjing first and find out about the land."
"The Crown Prince simply doesn't want me to marry the Fifth Prince. If I marry someone else, he probably won't make things difficult for the Gu family."
She had considered marrying the Crown Prince, going to Bianjing, and then killing him with her own hands on their wedding night.
But what if we kill him? She would die too, so this method is not feasible. Even if we kill the crown prince, she will still have enemies alive.
Does Gu Yu care about the undercurrents and fierce competition between the Crown Prince and the Fifth Prince? Of course not.
However, the Crown Prince is her enemy, so he will definitely die. In the end, the Fifth Prince will win, so she cannot offend the Fifth Prince.
Gongsun Li was the Crown Prince's tutor. He never said anything about the Crown Prince before his death, but Gu Yu knew why the exam questions three years ago had changed from real to fake.
The answer is that Gongsun Li retired peacefully and returned to his hometown in glory.
The crown prince wanted to protect his teacher's reputation, so the exam questions would not be leaked, and even if they were, they would be fake.
Therefore, it was the Tang family who died unjustly, the entire Tang family of five, not his teacher, Gongsun Li.
Fake, fake? Ha, she'll make this crown prince a fake too.
Did Gongsun Li deserve a good reputation? No.
She completely ignored his dying confessions; it was disgusting. Such a hypocrite was utterly repulsive.
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