"Your subordinate deserves to die."
"Hurry up and send men to intercept them! No matter the cost, even if it means killing them, we must get this secret letter back!" Xu Ding roared at the leader of the secret guards.
"Yes, I will go there myself right away." The head of the secret guards nodded and then quickly left.
Xu Ding stood there, stunned. The secret letter was so important that he originally intended to keep it himself, but then he remembered that the Emperor's men had been watching him closely recently.
He worried that if he left the secret letter in his residence, the emperor's men might sneak in and catch him red-handed. That's why he had someone take the secret letter out and put it in a house in the suburbs, which was also his own place and extremely safe.
He kept the letter because he wanted to use it to threaten Zhou Wenli at a crucial moment, but he didn't expect that the emperor would also know about its existence.
Moreover, now that someone has stolen the letter, Xu Ding couldn't even imagine what kind of catastrophic disaster would befall the Xu family if the Emperor actually obtained it.
"Someone come here." Xu Ding paced back and forth in the study for a long time with his hands behind his back before finally summoning the steward of the manor.
"Master, what's wrong?" The butler bowed and stood respectfully in front of Xu Ding.
"Send someone to the palace to tell the Empress to pay close attention to the activities in the Imperial Study these days, as well as the Emperor's mood. Also, send a message to the Crown Prince, saying that the Emperor seems to have found some information about the military training, and ask the Crown Prince to find a solution."
"Yes, sir."
Even though the Crown Prince now knows that the actual number of soldiers he maintains does not match the number reported to him, this matter is still closely related to the Crown Prince. After all, the Crown Prince has always known about the existence of these soldiers and has invested a lot of money and provisions in them.
Even if the emperor finds out about this and wants to punish me, I will drag the crown prince into it.
The Emperor has a very special feeling for the Crown Prince. He doesn't believe that the Emperor would really do anything to the Crown Prince because of these military matters. If the Crown Prince wants to break away from him, he should see if he has the ability.
A dark glint flashed in Xu Ding's eyes as he slowly sat down in the chair, staring into the void.
The Empress has just received some news and is very happy.
"You mean, the Emperor intends to make Ren Nuanyun a concubine of the Crown Prince?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. When the Emperor spoke with Eunuch Laifu yesterday, that was the gist of his words. The Emperor said that Princess Mingxiu's status was ultimately too low, and that she would be more suitable as a concubine." The Empress's maidservant also spoke with a beaming smile.
“That’s great, that’s great. As long as His Majesty is willing to agree, then I can find a way. However, His Majesty did agree to make Ren Nuanyun the Crown Princess before. His Majesty’s word is law and cannot be changed casually. Now we need to think of a suitable way to force His Majesty to change his mind.”
The Queen spoke thoughtfully, and not only that, she could now bring up the things she had been considering before.
She had already selected several candidates for the Crown Princess, but after much deliberation, the most suitable candidate was Xu Yingying, the daughter of Grand Tutor Xu.
It's a pity that Xu Yanyan had to go to Zhou for a political marriage because of the eldest prince of Zhou. Otherwise, she and the crown prince were about the same age, and the empress knew that the crown prince liked Xu Yanyan very much.
However, a sudden marriage alliance disrupted everyone's plans and arrangements.
If that incident hadn't happened, and the Xu family had supported the Crown Prince together, even if the Emperor didn't particularly like him, no one would have dared to challenge his position.
It's such a pity that Ren Nuanyun's status is not worthy of the position of Crown Princess. However, now there is a chance to change everything.
The Empress was worried that the Emperor's mind might change at any time, so she had to come up with a solution as soon as possible.
However, what the Empress didn't know was that the Emperor had done this on purpose. He deliberately said this to get the Empress to take action, as long as the position of Crown Princess became vacant.
The Empress will surely choose a suitable person to take this position. Then, the Crown Prince will have new support, making it easier for her to take action against the Xu family.
Everyone originally thought that the Emperor would delay making Yang Wei's matter public for a long time, at least until after the New Year.
However, to everyone's surprise, the very next day after Li Yuan presented the evidence, the Emperor directly ordered someone to read out the result of Yang Wei's case.
All the evidence presented by Li Yuan was true; Yang Wei was indeed wronged, and the evidence used to falsely accuse Yang Wei of treason was fabricated.
Before everyone could catch their breath, Laifu dropped another bombshell: Xu Ding, the Minister of Personnel, had colluded with the enemy and betrayed the country, secretly recruiting soldiers and horses. Moreover, the matter of Yang Wei was also a case of Xu Ding deliberately framing him back then.
These words caused an uproar throughout the court.
How dare Xu Ding do such a treasonous thing?
However, as the Emperor presented the evidence, Xu Ding's face turned pale and his body trembled slightly. Hadn't he already moved those troops? Why was the Emperor still able to discover it?
Furthermore, that secret letter—even though our own people did everything in their power to retrieve it, why did it end up in the Emperor's hands?
What Xu Ding didn't know was that He Liufeng had deliberately switched the real secret letter with the fake one. The letter Xu Ding's men took back was indeed the one Zhang Xueliu had stolen from the Prince's Mansion, but it was fake.
Xu Ding's men looked at the Emperor and Xu Ding with disbelief, but before they could plead for Xu Ding, they heard the Emperor say something.
Anyone who dares to plead for Xu Ding will be punished with the same crime as Xu Ding.
They quietly pulled back the feet they had just taken. If it were something else, or some other crime, they could still think of a way to deal with it.
However, privately raising troops and colluding with the enemy to betray the country are crimes punishable by the extermination of nine generations of one's family. How could they dare to speak up at this time?
So, on New Year's Eve, the Xu family was sentenced to be executed along with their entire clan due to numerous unforgivable crimes. The men, women, and children of the Xu family were to be beheaded three days later.
Xu Ding was stunned in the court and had no time to react or understand what was going on before the palace guards stripped him of his official robes and hat and took him to prison.
When the Xu family's property was raided and the soldiers stormed into the Xu residence, the Xu family members were completely unaware of what was happening. Just as they were about to reprimand the soldiers for their audacity, they heard the imperial decree being announced.
Their adults have been imprisoned for various crimes.
The Xu family was completely unprepared and the entire household was captured. Only Xu Ding's youngest son, Xu Xingzhou, had escaped for the time being because he was out wandering around and had not yet returned. However, after the government officials checked the list, they immediately sent people to arrest Xu Xingzhou.
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