The next morning, Song Tianqi, the governor of Shuzhou, went to court to publicly try the case of the fat black woman who abducted and sold decent women to the southern border to serve as military prostitutes. However, Feng Yuheng chose to avoid it and only handed the case over to Song Tianqi for trial.
Perhaps the Eighth Prince had planned to let Feng Yuheng meet her and shock her when he arranged this line, but he didn't expect that Feng Yuheng would use this method of public trial. The Eighth Prince thought that Feng Yuheng would definitely kill her to vent her anger, but unfortunately, he didn't know this woman well enough. Killing her was the dumbest method for Feng Yuheng.
The woman, several big men and the driver confessed to the crime. Under torture, they admitted that it was the Eighth Prince who ordered it, and falsely accused the Ninth Prince of the crime. Song Tianqi announced in court that all the criminals would be taken to the capital and handed over to Jingzhao Yin for further trial, but the identities of the kidnapped women were concealed. At the same time, the process and results of today's court trial were posted on the streets and alleys of the entire Shuzhou, and people were also sent to the prefect of Meitian Prefecture, which Shuzhou belonged to. Of course, it was under the banner of Feng Yuheng, and Meitian Prefecture also spread the word to expose the crimes of the Eighth Prince.
At the same time, letters were written to the families of these women. Song Tianqi's wife, Liu, also confirmed that the concubine's daughter of the governor of Pengzhou was her niece, named Wu Fangfei. Liu also wrote a letter to her concubine's sister and told the young lady that as long as she was willing to testify, Princess Ji'an would make decisions for her future.
The concubine gritted her teeth and nodded in agreement. Although admitting to being kidnapped is a very shameful thing, if she is not careful, she will never get married in this life. But if she has the support of Princess Ji'an, everything will be different. As she is in the official family, she can hear some things about the capital. The people standing behind Princess Ji'an are the Ninth Prince and the Seventh Prince, and the First Prince and the Second Prince are all good friends with her. Even the emperor treats her like his own daughter. With such people backing her up, she will naturally have a good life in the future.
She nodded in agreement and told the other women about her decision. This lady was very particular. Not only did she agree, she also encouraged the other women to testify. Of course, these women did not get any guarantee from Feng Yuheng. Wu Fangfei just said to them: "If we had not met the princess, we would still be in the hands of those thieves, and our end would be to be sent to the southern border to serve as military prostitutes. By then, don't even mention any reputation to the outside world. I'm afraid our families will try their best to distance themselves from us. Even families like mine are likely to send assassins to kill me to avoid bringing shame to the family. It can be said that our lives were saved by the princess. Now we watch those thieves slander His Highness the Ninth Prince. How can we sit back and do nothing?"
She persuaded them with emotion and reason, and nearly half of the girls were persuaded. However, some girls still couldn't change their minds and refused to do so. Wu Fangfei didn't force them, but only took those who were willing to testify to find Liu and let her make arrangements.
Soon, these girls were also sent all the way to the capital, and their families were told to pick them up at the Jingzhao Yin Mansion in the capital. Of course, Feng Yuheng also wrote letters to Jingzhao Yin Xu Jingyuan and Xuan Tianming Xuan Tianhua, informing them of the situation of these girls and asking them to take special care of Wu Fangfei. Especially when Wu Fangfei's family arrived in Beijing, they had to keep it as stable as possible, because they couldn't let their daughter agree and then the family go back on their word.
However, Feng Yuheng also knew that Pengzhou was located east of the capital and was the first state in Lutian Prefecture. As far as she knew, the governor of Lutian Prefecture had a good relationship with Xuan Tianhua, so this matter should not be difficult to handle. If the governor of Pengzhou was sensible, he should understand the problem of his own position.
They stayed in Shuzhou for five days until they received a letter from Xuan Tianming in Kyoto via flying eagle, confirming that everyone had been sent to the Jingzhao Yin Mansion. Only then did they feel at ease to leave Shuzhou and continue on their journey.
In Kyoto, on the day those people were sent, a clinic called "Qiancaotang" opened with great fanfare. The Eighth Prince Xuan Tianmo made a public appearance and met with the people with the Persian doctor, telling them that the capital city was not incapable of survival without Baicaotang. He opened Qiancaotang and invited Persian doctors. All medicine prices were 30% lower than the previous Baicaotang, giving the greatest benefits to the people.
This move helped him regain a lot of reputation for a while. Some people thought that the Eighth Prince was a good person because the medicine was cheap. So, Qiancaotang was opened with great enthusiasm. There was an endless stream of people coming to see the doctor that day. The medicine was snatched up and the Persian doctor was surrounded by people.
Xuan Tianmo was happy watching this. Those medicines sold at less than 30% of Baicaotang were just recycled waste herbs that had become moldy and lost half of their efficacy. Not only did he not lose money, but he also made a lot of money. It was just that someone had just reported that the fat black woman and her group were escorted to the Jingzhao Yin Mansion, which was a little beyond his expectations. Isn't it said that Princess Ji'an Feng Yuheng has a hot temper? Shouldn't she kill the woman and others on the spot to vent her anger when encountering such a thing? He and Feng Yuheng had several exchanges in this year. He felt that the woman was very vicious and would take revenge for any slight grievance. Sometimes she would play some tricks, but they were just some tricks of a girl. He didn't expect that this matter would cause him a big trouble.
Xuan Tianmo secretly held his breath, but it was no big deal. A woman and a few strong men, who would believe that they couldn't bring him down with such a manpower? Even if there were witnesses, it would only be a little troublesome, and no substantial harm would be caused. You can't convict a prince based on the confession of that woman, right? But... the kidnapping plans arranged by other routes might have to be terminated. If this matter came to the capital, it would be fine if there was only one case, but if more happened one after another, he would not be able to suppress it. The ninth and seventh were not vegetarians either, and he didn't want to make a big fuss before the ninth left the capital.
He secretly instructed his men to immediately notify the persons in charge of other kidnapping routes that the plan was terminated and all the kidnapped girls were to be sent back along the same route. No one should be mentioned, including the name of the Ninth Prince, and the matter was to be dropped.
Just as Xuan Tianmo thought, Jingzhao Yin opened the case for trial, and the fat black woman confessed, but their words were not convincing. Even if there were so many girls testifying, they could not pose any substantial threat to the Eighth Prince. The Eighth Prince just needed to insist that there was no such thing and that the fat black woman was instructed by someone, and then he could push the responsibility away.
Xu Jingyuan also understood the reason behind this, so he did not force it. He just wrote a clear notice about the case and sent it to all provinces, prefectures, and counties, saying that such a thing would happen in the near future, to remind everyone. In this name, he let more people know about the crime of the suspected kidnapping of the Eighth Prince. At this time, many daughters of families had been kidnapped, and people set their sights on the Eighth Prince. Officials secretly hated him, and merchants also agreed to do business in the future, as far as possible to avoid the Eighth Prince. They would not do any business related to the Eighth Prince, no matter how profitable it was.
Although the officials who lost their daughters did not clearly state which prince they preferred to inherit the throne, they would definitely have some resistance if it was the Eighth Prince. This resistance may not seem like a big deal at the moment, but it could become a stumbling block for Xuan Tianmo in the future. Just the fact that these people occasionally submitted memorials to embarrass him was enough to make him choke. Emperor Tianwu was also happy to share these memorials accusing the Eighth Prince with his ministers, which caused the Eighth Prince to have many enemies for a period of time.
Xuan Tianmo had brought disaster to his own feet, and he was even more resentful of Feng Yuheng. He kept asking where the war reports from the South Territory were sent, waiting for Emperor Tianwu to send Xuan Tianming there. The battlefield in the south was his territory, and once Xuan Tianming went to the battlefield, he had a hundred ways to make sure he never came back.
Unfortunately, before the battle report from the south reached the capital, something bad happened to Qiancaotang, which he had opened with great fanfare. In order to imitate Feng Yuheng's treatment method and to make Qiancaotang replace Baicaotang in the hearts of the people in the capital more quickly, the Persian doctor took the risk of performing a thoracotomy on a patient. Unfortunately, he didn't even understand the most basic principles of surgery, and with a few cuts, he directly cut the patient to death.
Someone died from the treatment at Qiancaotang, and the family members of the patient started to make trouble. Some people who had recently bought cheap herbs at Qiancaotang found that they had no effect after taking them. Some even found mold spots and smelled mold in the herbs. These people gathered together and analyzed the whole thing, and immediately understood the treachery of the Eighth Prince. So people could not sit still, and the people gathered in groups of three or five at the gate of the Jingzhao Yin's government office. The family members of the patient who died from the treatment carried the body of the deceased to the gate of the government office and beat the drum. At the same time, someone else forcibly took the Persian doctor to the scene, and when the Jingzhao Yin slammed the case and went to court, he directly sued Qiancaotang and the Eighth Prince Xuan Tianmo.
It was rare for a commoner to sue an official, but it was even more unusual for a commoner to sue the emperor. Normally, if you committed an offense against your superior, you would be beaten with thirty sticks when you went to court. Nails would be nailed to the sticks, and you could only proceed if you could bear it. If you died because you couldn't bear it, you were just unlucky.
But recently, too many people in the capital city have come to Qiancao Hall for medical consultation and prescription, and people are not completely ignorant of the law. As for beating the drum to appeal for grievances, they still understand this kind of thing. Therefore, when the drum was just beaten, all the people who came went up and beat it a few times, so that now the hall is crowded, and there are at least two hundred people who have participated in the beating of the drum, and the drums outside are still ringing, and more and more people are coming.
Everyone pointed directly at Qiancao Hall, where the body of the deceased was lying in the lobby. The cries of the family members were deafening, and even the "mighty" voices of the officials could not suppress them.
Jingzhao Yin Xu Jingyuan was sitting in the court, watching the scenes below but he was not angry at all. Even though the people continued to crowd in and continued to loudly curse Qiancaotang and the Eighth Prince, he did not get angry, and even smiled with his eyes narrowed.
Very good, he likes this effect. Eighth Prince, Your Highness Prince Sheng, let’s see how you will handle the situation this time!
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