It is conceivable that if Gu Yuan is found guilty, the eldest prince's reputation will inevitably be tarnished from then on. Both the common people and the court officials will doubt whether Gu Yuan is acting in accordance with the eldest prince's orders.
The eldest prince is the emperor's only son, and everyone knows that the emperor will make him the crown prince sooner or later.
Once the eldest prince has this stain, those noble families can use it as a reason to oppose the emperor's appointment of a crown prince.
His heart is simply evil.
The more those imperial censors thought about it, the more indignant they became. Their sharp glances shot towards Gu Jian like countless arrows, unable to hide their contempt and disdain.
The Dingyuan Marquis Mansion is obviously a noble family, but it is biased towards those aristocratic families. It has no stance and no principles.
Whenever they thought that it was the aristocratic families who secretly instigated Censor Lian to hit his head against the wall, their resentment towards the aristocratic families doubled, and they were extremely disdainful of Gu Jian's behavior.
Seeing that the situation was becoming one-sided, Prime Minister Xiao became even more reluctant to step forward. He raised his hand irritably to brush off the dust on his robe and made a decision in his mind.
Anyway, the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion is of no use, so why should he get into trouble?
Gu Jian waited and waited, but no rescue came from the aristocratic family. It was as if a bucket of ice water was poured over his head, and his whole body was chilled to the bone.
He had persuaded his mother to impeach Gu Yuan for the sake of King Kang, but now that something had happened to their Gu family, these noble families were eager to sever ties with the Gu family as if they were throwing away a burden! It was truly chilling!
Gu Jian's whole body was in turmoil. He turned to look at the emperor in panic, his neck so stiff that the bones were creaking.
The emperor by the window remained silent. In the backlight, his facial features seemed a little blurry and his eyes were deep and dark.
The emperor slowly picked up a white piece from the chess box, seeming to be thinking and hesitating.
The less the emperor spoke, the more frightened Gu Jian became, and his whole body began to feel numb.
No one from the Gu family spoke, and no one from the aristocratic family spoke either. They just listened to the imperial messengers talking non-stop, and they wished they could strip off Gu Jian's red robe embroidered with a qilin patch right now.
Those sounds could no longer reach Gu Jian's ears. His ears were buzzing. He just stared at the emperor blankly, and his eyes began to feel dry and sore.
It was unknown how long it had been before the emperor, who had taken a few sips of tea, slowly said, "Gu Jian made a false accusation and deceived the emperor. The evidence is irrefutable. Considering that Gu Yao and Gu Xuan had made outstanding military contributions to Dajing..."
Hearing this, Gu Jian's almost desperate eyes brightened slightly, and his pupils widened, thinking that there was still room for turnaround.
Boom boom! Gu Jian's heartbeat suddenly accelerated, and his heart almost jumped out of his chest. The next moment, the emperor looked at him from a high position, and said without anger: "I will be lenient and only dismiss Gu Jian from his post and strip him of his title."
These words were like a thunderclap exploding in Gu Jian's ears.
Gu Jian’s eyes went dark and he almost fainted from exhaustion. It was as if he had swallowed gall. A bitter taste spread from his mouth to his heart.
The title was his. He had worked diligently for eight years before the mansion started to improve. How could his title be taken away? !
It should n't be like this!
This thought echoed repeatedly in Gu Jian's mind.
His eyes turned red and he regretted it so much that his intestines turned green: They shouldn't have submitted this letter of apology today.
And my mother...
They had clearly agreed to let her kneel at the palace gate for a while before leaving, so why did she tell Gu Yuan all those nonsense about being a concubine! Otherwise, how could things have developed to this irreversible point! Thinking of this, Gu Jian looked at Madam Gu with a hint of resentment in his eyes, and his eyes gradually became gloomy and violent.
"Your Majesty is fair!" Censor Han spoke first.
The other imperial censors also echoed the sentiment, praising the emperor for being fair and sympathetic to old times, and calling him a truly benevolent ruler.
In the minds of these imperial censors, Gu Jian's nonsense in front of the emperor was a crime of deceiving the emperor and being impolite in front of the emperor, so he should be convicted and exiled as a severe punishment.
But the emperor only dismissed Gu Jian from his post and stripped him of his title because of the great contributions that Gu's ancestors had made to the court. This was also the emperor's leniency towards his subordinates.
The emperor glanced at everyone, raised the corners of his lips slightly, placed another white piece on the chessboard, and took away four black pieces. He felt that his moves were really brilliant.
He raised his eyebrows and winked at Chu Yi who was sitting opposite him.
Chu Yi smiled slightly, and the warm sunlight cast a layer of light gold foil on his fair face and apricot-yellow robe, making him look radiant.
He calmly made another move and said with a smile: "Father, Gu Yuan has done a great job in protecting you..."
The emperor wanted to say that it would be better to give the title to Gu Yuan, but he was interrupted by Chu Yi after he said a few words: "This title is a gift from Emperor Taizu to the Gu family. The current Gu family cannot afford the title."
Having said that, Chu Yi's gaze lightly swept over Gu Jian, who was sweating profusely, and of course he was saying that Gu Jian was not worthy of the title.
His eyes finally fell on Gu Yuan's tall figure, and he was filled with smiles. "But if the younger generation of talents can follow the example of our ancestors and make outstanding contributions to the country and the people, the title of Marquis Dingyuan can still be returned to the Gu family."
The dukes and nobles of the Dajing Dynasty were rare. They were all meritorious officials who followed Emperor Taizu in founding the country. Emperor Taizu once said, "No one can be granted a title without military merit to the country." Therefore, after the founding of the country, if a military general made meritorious contributions, he could only be granted the title of earl at most.
During the fifty years since the founding of the Dajing Dynasty, three marquises and two earls have been stripped of their titles, and the number of meritorious officials is only a small number.
"What do you think, father?" Chu Yi asked the emperor with a smile.
The emperor knew his son's intention, laughed heartily, clapped his hands and said: "Good, that's very good!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty, and thank you, His Royal Highness the First Prince." Gu Yuan said solemnly, clasping his fists. His eyes were shining like the warm sun outside the window, because his heart was filled with emotion because of what Chu Yi had just said.
He still remembered one day when he was about four years old, his father asked him with a smile: "Brother Yuan, when you grow up, do you want your father's Longyuan Sword?"
At that time, he nodded vigorously and said, "Yes!"
My father then asked, "What if the sword is taken away or even destroyed before I pass it on to you? What will you do?"
To him, who was still young at that time, his father's sword was the best sword in the world. He was very sad and burst into tears.
Dad told him the story of the Longyuan Sword. The Longyuan Sword was a famous sword that Dad seized when he went to the northwest to suppress bandits when he came of age. It was forged by Qing Hezi, a famous swordsmith from the previous dynasty. It could cut hair with a blow and slice iron like mud.
"Brother Yuan, there are more than one sword in the world, the Longyuan Sword. Are you willing to find a better sword to honor your father?" Finally, his father asked him jokingly.
At that time, he wiped away his tears with his sleeves and said with full energy: "Yes!"
If he wants to, he can.
Even if the Longyuan Sword is gone, even if the title of Marquis is gone, it doesn't matter.
He still has these two hands and feet, he can also rely on himself to earn back this honor! "..." The patriarch's face was originally ashen, but at this moment, a little hope was faintly ignited in his gray eyes.
Since the eldest prince thinks highly of Gu Yuan, he will definitely make use of him. This also means that their Gu family still has hope of regaining its former glory and honor.
The imperial envoys present were somewhat surprised, and there was a bit more admiration and respect in their eyes when they looked at Chu Yi.
They originally thought that the eldest prince was willing to support Gu Yuan and would take advantage of Gu Jian's mistake to propose giving the title to Gu Yuan. For example, the Yongxin Earl's Mansion once gave the title to the second house, the second younger brother of the former Yongxin Earl, because the former Yongxin Earl made a serious mistake. The Emperor Taizu made the decision and gave the title to the second house.
This practice is also common in consideration of the achievements of the ancestors of noble families.
However, when it comes to the affairs of Marquis Dingyuan's Mansion, Gu Yuan's bad luck lies in the fact that he has a father like Gu Ce.
Although Gu Yuan had made a great contribution in saving the emperor, his small contribution was not enough to make up for Gu Ce's crime of surrendering to the enemy. It is only natural that the son should inherit the sin of his father.
Now Gu Yuan has no merits and is not worthy of the position. Even if the emperor and the eldest prince want to give him the title, it is not legitimate. The imperial censors will never sit idly by and must impeach him on the spot! What they didn't expect was that the eldest prince was so clear about rewards and punishments that he didn't force the title of Dingyuan Marquis to Gu Yuan just because he was his man, so as to support his connections.
He did not take it away as the previous emperor did, but took into account the kindness of the Gu family's ancestors and left a trace of hope for the Gu family.
The eldest prince really has the demeanor of a wise ruler! The imperial censors sang praises to the emperor and the eldest prince, and even Mu Sheng chimed in. The atmosphere was warm and harmonious, with the emperor and his subjects getting along well.
Prime Minister Xiao, Feng She and others all had gloomy faces, while Madam Gu and mother and son Gu Jian looked as if they had lost half of their souls.
Especially for Madam Gu, the continuous blows were like adding insult to injury, bringing her spirit to the brink of collapse.
Her heart continued to ache, her limbs were cold, she couldn't breathe, her whole body was shaking violently, and there were only two thoughts in her mind: she became the second wife, and she had lost her title of marquis.
Everything she had been pursuing for most of her life was gone in an instant, all gone!
Then what was she doing in this life?! Her elder sister was dead, Gu Xuan was dead, and she was the only one alive. She was the winner, right? But why did she end up with nothing after planning for half her life?! God was unfair!
God is so unfair! Mrs. Gu's face suddenly turned pale, she raised her hand to touch her aching left chest and bent over, her eyes went dark.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
