Prince Rui was extremely panicked when he saw his father's scrutinizing and displeased eyes. He became even more anxious when he saw Prince Qin and other ministers demanding severe punishment for the Wu family.
But you have to make a choice.
"Your Majesty, you entrusted Wu Deshen with an important task and asked him to look after the people of Jiangding City. I didn't expect that he would be so bold as to fabricate disaster information, embezzle disaster relief funds, kill people and even... hunt down Lord Xiao Xiao! Every crime is punishable by death. Your Majesty must stand up for the people of Jiangding and Lord Xiao Xiao!" Prince Rui also knelt down and could only speak with a stiff upper lip.
The Duke of Wei was a little hunched over.
The Wu family members in the court all knelt there, not daring to say a word.
At this point, any more words would just be excuses. We can only see how much affection the emperor still has for them...
"Third brother, what do you think should be done?" Emperor Zhenming looked at him inquiringly.
Prince Rui was extremely nervous. "Wu Deshen... deserves the death penalty! In my opinion, he should be killed... to appease the public anger! However... Wu Deshen has been in Jiangding all these years. Duke Wei probably knows nothing of his actions. Considering Duke Wei's loyalty and hard work over the years, I hope that your Majesty will not punish him..."
The crime that Wu Deshen committed was enough to kill all nine generations of his clan.
But Prince Rui had to plead for the other members of his Wu family.
The Wu family is his maternal family and the minister who supports him the most. His request to kill Wu Deshen will inevitably make many of his supporters feel disappointed and scared. If he is unwilling to speak for the Duke of Wei, who will dare to support him in the future?
"Prince, what do you think?" The emperor looked at his eldest son again.
This son was his favorite, but he was also the one who made him feel uncomfortable and uneasy whenever he thought of him.
He had suffered for many years in Changguo before returning home, so as his father, he had to worry about whether the prince would resent him because of the years of suffering? Or whether he would be resentful because of the queen's early death...
Ying Huaiji still looked unwell, as if trying to hold himself together. He said, "Wu Deshen dared to deceive my father and embezzle so much disaster relief money from the national treasury. He truly deserves death. As for the Duke of Wei... I don't know him well enough to make any rash judgments. Besides, the Duke of Wei is the Queen's father. He is responsible for both state affairs and family background. My father is the head of the family, and I will obey him in everything."
Emperor Zhenming felt a little relieved.
The Duke of Wei and his family...are definitely not innocent.
How could the Duke of Wei not know that his own son was amassing wealth in Jiangding? He himself was probably equally corrupt. However, this was the Empress's mother's family. Unless he wanted to depose the Empress, he couldn't possibly threaten the lives of the Duke of Wei's entire family. Both of his sons were born to the Empress. If the Empress were to move...
The emperor glanced at King Qin and already had a plan in mind.
The emperor immediately convicted him.
Wu Deshen and other officials involved in the case were guilty of heinous crimes and were all beheaded in public to appease the people. Their children were exiled three thousand miles away and were not allowed to hold official positions for generations.
He stripped Wu of his Dukedom of Wei and fined all Wu officials three years' salary as a warning to others.
The Queen was unaware of the supervision of her natal family, and was confined to her house for three months, and the Phoenix Seal was temporarily taken away.
Concubine Rou, the mother of Prince Qin, was promoted to Concubine Rou Guifei, and Concubine Yu Zhaorong, the mother of Prince Yue, was promoted to Concubine Yu Yu Xianfei, to assist Concubine Rou in temporarily managing the harem.
Xiao Jingyun deserves a reward for his meritorious service in handling the case, but he is still injured, so the emperor only gave him a lot of good things first, allowing him to rest and recuperate. After his injury is healed, he will definitely be promoted and make a fortune.
After Xiao Cunyu learned about the emperor's decision, he felt that his elder brother would most likely go to fill Jiang Dingcheng's position.
This time, my eldest brother is working for the prince. If he stays in the capital after being promoted, the emperor will definitely suspect that he will bring the Xiao family to support the prince. Given the emperor's personality, how could he agree to that?
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