Chapter 224 The Crown Prince and the Crown Princess are doing well
"One hundred thousand taels?" Xu Wan looked at the old lady.
This number is too high. If you are not tempted by this price, it means that this is not something that can be solved with money. I am afraid that Tongya is just a tool they use to exchange power.
That night, although it was bustling outside, the mansion was very quiet.
After He Zheng got into trouble, Mrs. He came to visit. She said that Minister He also knew about it, but was busy investigating himself and had no time to take care of He Zheng. She told him to behave himself and not get involved in this matter.
When He Zheng heard that his legs were not going to be broken, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. What a good father!
The next morning, the prince called Jincheng away again.
The old lady finally felt something was wrong. She asked Xu Wan, "At this juncture, Jin Cheng is not an important witness. Why does His Highness always ask him to come over?"
Xu Wan thought, it shouldn’t be that simple.
There was a lot of mystery between the prince and Jincheng, and the child was tight-lipped, so she couldn't get anything out of him.
After a day and night of interrogation, the government finally located the more than 100 girls who had received the guests. Since there were many officials involved in the case, calling them all in to identify them would cause a great commotion, so the prince ordered people to draw their portraits.
When the little devil came in, he heard the officer say, "Another adult has been identified, and he was identified by seven girls. All of them are being interrogated separately."
The list of portraits in front of the prince grew longer and longer, from the dozen or so people Tong Ya had originally mentioned to dozens of people.
There were thousands of officials in the court, big and small, plus those with titles, so the number was huge. But the people who came out of the dance hall were almost all of high status, and the interests involved were obvious.
Zong Jincheng said blankly: "There are so many bad officials..."
The prince barely slept that night, and even a few coughs felt like they took a lot of effort. He chuckled and said, "Are you scared?"
Zong Jincheng shook his head: "No, I am just angry. I think they are paid by the emperor, but not only do they not work for the people, but they also take the lead in doing evil. They are really hateful."
The prince nodded and said, "They used the girls from the underworld as a tool to gain power. They have lost their humanity and disregarded the king's laws. They are truly despicable."
There was no one else in the room, so the little devil walked up to him and asked, "Then, Your Highness, how will these people be dealt with? I went back yesterday and looked up the law, which says that anyone who bullies someone under the age of ten will be executed regardless of whether it is voluntary or not; anyone between the ages of ten and twelve will be caned 200 times, either dead or disabled. Those people are all officials, so should they all lose their black veil hats?"
The prince replied, "Yes, they should all be removed. Those who hold official positions should be dismissed, and those who hold titles should be stripped."
Zong Jincheng's first reaction was to be very happy: "Bad guys, knock them all down!"
The prince chuckled and reached out to touch his head. The words in his throat were stuck and he hesitated.
But Zong Jincheng soon realized that something was wrong. He quickly raised his head and asked, "Should we deal with them all at once? Your Highness, you told me before that dealing with so many people at once would backfire, just like what happened to Yan Xiang."
The prince said: "The masterminds and those who committed serious crimes must be killed. As for the others, I have not yet made up my mind. The situation in the court is complicated, and the foundation of the imperial power is unstable. It is indeed risky to act rashly."
"Ah...should we continue investigating?" Zong Jincheng really wanted these corrupt officials to receive the punishment they deserved, but he didn't want to see anything happen to the prince even more.
"Investigate." The prince said, "We must first know who the evil people are."
It took three days to find out the final list.
There were 55 people involved in the case, 17 of whom were from noble families, and the rest were officials in the court. In addition to all of them being stripped of their titles and positions, 12 of them were beheaded and 25 of them were caned with 200 sticks.
The prince reported the progress of the case to the emperor, who ordered him to execute the mastermind Zhai Li, and all the others were not allowed to move for the time being.
The emperor was the supreme authority. He considered that once such a shocking scandal broke out, the people would lose trust in the court and would be prone to rebellion, so even Zhai Li was dealt with in secret and not made public.
So, that night.
The prince came to see Zhai Li with poisoned wine, and Jin Cheng followed him.
The little devil held the poisoned wine plate and put it heavily on the ground: "Drink it yourself, don't force us to do it."
The bad guy was the one who set up the conspiracy, which harmed so many people.
Zhai Li had been in the cell for three days, his hair was disheveled, but his eyes were still so confident and determined. He raised his head and looked at the little kid in front of him, sneering: "Your Highness, are you not going to hide it at all? You parade an illegitimate child around the city every day, why don't you have the courage to bring him into the East Palace? Are you afraid of your powerful princess whose family is so powerful?"
The little devil subconsciously said, "Everyone looks bad to you. The Crown Prince and the Crown Princess are fine. You don't need to worry about them. Drink quickly, or I'll start forcing you to drink."
Although Zhai Li was chained all over his body, he was an adult after all, so it was not easy for the little devil to get him drunk.
He leaned against the wall slowly and sneered, "You want to execute me secretly... Is that the emperor's intention? Your Highness, you didn't execute someone like me publicly. Are you angry?"
The prince said coldly: "For a person like you, no matter how you die, I will feel happy."
“Hahahaha…Okay, okay, good prince. You and your son want to kill me, but you underestimate my ability to protect myself.” Zhai Li laughed crazily. “I might as well tell you, as long as I die here tonight, the imperial power you want to maintain will be completely destroyed.”
The prince narrowed his eyes and asked dangerously, "What did you do?"
"What did you do?" Zhai Li sneered, "Of course I helped His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to expose all of our evil deeds to the public. All the people, all the names of officials you can find, all the transaction records involved in the underworld, all made public--"
When scandals involving many officials are exposed, the people will inevitably become restless. This is the situation that the emperor least wants to see, and it is not the result that the prince wants.
The prince said in a deep voice: "Have you already made preparations for this?"
Zhai Li smiled proudly: "Of course, I am an official of the Great Chu. I know that according to the speed at which you are doing things, today will be the day to punish me. So I arranged a retreat a long time ago. As long as I am locked up here for more than three days, all the scandals in the underworld will be exposed. Now, half of the people in the capital should know about it, right? As long as I die tonight, it will be confirmed that these scandals are true. Can you still sit firmly on the throne of the Chu family?"
The prince clenched his fists.
Zhai Li was still smiling smugly: "Either you let me go and declare to the outside world that all the scandals are lies, so that everyone will be better off. Or we can die together, and I will take your entire royal family with me, and it will not be a shame to die. I just don't know if you, the Crown Prince who loves the people like your own children, dare to join the game and kill all of us?"