"Yes, I wanted to say that just now," Fang Zuotang nodded. He took a sip of tea and frowned, "But if that's what the Lord wants, then it's not right. The Lord wants us to take good care of the officials and their families who were convicted of a major case in the past 20 years. At the same time, he wants us to protect the deposed crown prince with our lives. This is too unbelievable."
The 20-year major case mentioned by Fang Zuotang was a major case that occurred on New Year's Eve of the 20th year of Jiasheng. That year, Zhao Changrong, then the Minister of Personnel, exposed in court that ten senior officials had conspired to welcome the King of Pingxi to Beijing to force the emperor to revolt. His Majesty was furious and sent Zhao Changrong to investigate the case. Within ten days, 38 officials of all ranks were involved. His Majesty was so angry that he was bedridden. At this time, the crown prince Zhong Mingwei, who had just entered the East Palace, took over the court on behalf of His Majesty. Naturally, the case also fell on Zhong Mingwei's head. Three months later, 18 officials involved in the case were executed, and another 20 officials were demoted to pariahs. The whole family was exiled to Ningguta for hard labor. Because it happened at the beginning of the 20th year of Jiasheng, it was called the 20-year major case in history.
"Yes. The deposed prince single-handedly handled a major case in the past 20 years. I don't know how many people hate him, especially those criminals who are still serving hard labor in Ningguta. I'm afraid they can't wait to kill the deposed prince with their own hands. But the lord asked us to take care of those criminals on the one hand, and at the same time asked us to protect the deposed prince to the death. I'm afraid there is a deep meaning in this." Kong Wenmin said in a deep voice.
"Speaking of which, the deposed prince was not willing to intervene in such a trumped-up case. Zhao Changrong opened his mouth and pulled down 38 officials. Could it be that His Majesty could not see the fishyness in it? But who made His Majesty afraid of the Prince of Pingxi? It was also Zhao Changrong who was smart and knew how to make a fuss about the Prince of Pingxi," Fang Zuotang took a sip of tea and continued, "But the Queen Mother was here, so His Majesty naturally could not handle such a case personally, and he was also afraid of tarnishing his reputation of being friendly and respectful to his brothers, so he suddenly fell ill, and the deposed prince had no choice but to take on this hot potato. In fact, the deposed prince was not willing to do so. It was just following the order. According to His Majesty's will, those 38 officials were either executed or exiled," Fang Zuotang curled his lips sarcastically when he said this. "Such a big case was caused by the King of Pingxi, but later the King of Pingxi was not convicted for it, but hundreds of lives were implicated. It can be seen that His Majesty knew the strangeness of it from the beginning, but he allowed Zhao Changrong to jump up and down like this, and executed all those who had relations with the King of Pingxi in the court through the hands of the deposed prince. Even if the King of Pingxi really had a heart of a tiger and a wolf, he had already cut off all his foundations in the court, which really solved a worry that His Majesty had had for many years."
"Yes, the Pingxi King is young and strong, and has a high prestige in the army. How can His Majesty not be afraid of him?" Kong Wenmin also said in a deep voice. While taking a sip of tea, he said slowly, "But I think that Zhao Changrong did not provoke this case for no reason. It must involve the powerful Pingxi King and the Queen Mother. No matter how prosperous the Zhao family is, they would never dare to easily provoke the Pingxi King and the Queen Mother. But Zhao Changrong did provoke them, and later he got away with it. After the major case in the past 20 years, the Xu family gradually faded out of the court and moved to southern Xinjiang, but the Zhao family has risen since then. So I always think that the reason why Zhao Changrong dared to risk the world's disapproval must be because of His Majesty's order."
"I think so too," Fang Zuotang nodded, his fingers gently stroking the teacup, and sighed, "Back then, I thought the deposed prince was ruthless, but now I think about it, how could he, a prince who had just entered the East Palace, dare to make decisions on his own in such a big case? The emperor was sick and bedridden at the time, and he said to the public that he wanted to rest, but could he really rest in peace?"
"The deposed prince was just following orders. He killed a big threat for His Majesty and also bore the bad reputation for His Majesty," Kong Wenjie continued. He didn't know what he remembered. Kong Wenjie suddenly sighed and said, "Your Majesty is really too cruel. He was so cruel to his own brother before, and now he has no mercy on his own flesh and blood. When I heard that the deposed prince was rude in front of the emperor at the New Year's Eve dinner, I thought His Majesty would just scold him or order him to reflect on himself behind closed doors. Who knew that it would end like this? It was really unexpected."
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