Chapter 31 Family Kidnapping
Xia Zhengqi recalled his childhood and felt a sharp pain in his chest. Suddenly, the childish voice of the fifth prince reached his ears, interrupting his thoughts.
Xia Zhengqi looked down at the slightly embarrassed expression of the fifth prince, and reached out to stroke his head: "Shun'er, don't interfere in the affairs of adults."
[You damn old woman, you actually used the child as a gun! Fortunately, my father is rational enough. ]
Xia Miaoyuan pursed her lips and looked at the empress dowager.
"Zhengqi, how can you talk to a child like this? Master Jiang is Shun'er's grandfather, Jiang Zhiyuan and Jiang Zhishan are his uncles." The empress dowager's eyes were red.
"How does your son feel when he sees you put his grandfather and uncles in prison!"
Xia Miaoyuan watched the performance of the empress dowager and couldn't help complaining.
[Old woman, you are trying to kidnap someone with family ties again! Can you try something different? ]
Xia Miaoyuan turned to look at Xia Zhengqi, who had a calm expression, and babbled anxiously.
[Daddy, you must not give in! ]
[Don't listen to the Queen Mother's twisted logic, don't listen, quickly confront her, confront her hard! ]
"Mother, do you still remember the ancestral precept that the harem cannot interfere in government affairs?!" Xia Zhengqi looked at the Queen Mother with a
sharp gaze, and his tone was full of the majesty of an emperor. The Queen Mother met Xia Zhengqi's stern eyes and froze.
She really couldn't understand why the Emperor Mingxi, who she had raised, had become so unfamiliar at this moment!
"The harem is not allowed to interfere in government affairs. This is the ancestral teaching. I think the great grandfather once set a rule that in the future generations of the Great Xia, anyone who interferes in government affairs in the harem can be immediately deposed as a commoner and sent to the cold palace!"
Xia Zhengqi took a step forward and stared at the empress dowager fiercely.
[Yeah! Yeah! The emperor daddy is mighty, the emperor daddy is domineering! ]
Xia Miaoyuan danced and cheered.
"You...you...are you threatening me? Threatening your stepmother?!" The empress dowager's hands trembled slightly, and her voice was stagnant.
"Are you going to depose me?" There was a hint of fear in the empress dowager's sharp voice.
"Not yet." Xia Zhengqi curled the corners of his mouth.
"Your son only wants to remind your mother. In case you forget the rules of your ancestors and lose your dignity in a hurry."
"You will become the laughing stock of the whole Great Xia and have a bad reputation in the history books!"
Xia Zhengqi looked at the empress dowager meaningfully and reached out to support her arm.
The empress dowager felt her legs go weak and her head was dizzy. She supported herself on the bookshelf beside her with one hand and swung her other arm hard to shake off Xia Zhengqi's hand.
"Let's go!" The empress dowager said in a deep voice, and her eyes were full of disbelief and undisguised fear when she glanced at Xia Zhengqi.
As soon as the Empress Dowager left, the Crown Prince came out from the inner room and complained, "Grandma is finally gone. Every time I see her crying, I have a headache."
Xia Zhengqi smiled bitterly, then adjusted his mood and said, "Chengwan, I sentenced 14 ministers to prison at this morning's court session. What do you think?"
"Father, do you want to take this opportunity to test and catch all the officials who colluded with Grand Tutor Jiang?" The Crown Prince's tone was tentative.
Xia Zhengqi nodded, with a smile on his face, "That's about it."
"For many years, Grand Tutor Jiang has been forming cliques for personal gain. His people are everywhere in the court and in the local areas."
"Most of the current Great Xia court is controlled by the Jiang Party. If it is allowed to continue to develop, I'm afraid the entire Great Xia will have to change its surname to Jiang!" Xia Zhengqi's face was solemn.
[Dad, it turns out you know how serious the Jiang Party is! 】
Xia Miaoyuan listened attentively to the conversation between his father and elder brother while complaining.
【Ah! It seems that since the fate of my mother and I changed, the butterfly effect has appeared. The IQ and courage of this family have all improved. 】
【At this moment, if father can catch all of Master Jiang's followers, Master Jiang will not usurp the throne in the future. 】
What? Master Jiang will usurp the throne? !
The prince was the first time to hear his sister's prophecy about usurping the throne, so he was very surprised.
"Father is right!" The prince said with a bow.
"These days, I have secretly investigated and found that the Minister of War, the Minister of Revenue, the Commander of the Imperial Guards, the Supreme Court, and the eight historians who pleaded for him today are all Jiang Taishi's men." After Xia Zhengqi finished speaking, he quickly glanced at his daughter.
[Wow! Daddy is so awesome! He actually found so many staunch Jiang party members. ]
[I was worried that he didn't understand the current situation before. ]
Xia Miaoyuan looked at Xia Zhengqi with admiration.
Xia Zhengqi showed a smug smile in his eyes, thinking, hahaha, my precious daughter, it was your voice that helped Daddy!
"I only knew that Jiang Taishi was powerful, but I didn't expect that he was so powerful!" The prince said with amazement.
Xia Zhengqi showed a solemn look: "Today in the court, imprisoning them is just the beginning of the crackdown on Jiang's party."
"The road ahead may be full of thorns."
The prince bit his lip and said, "I understand what your father said."
"Today, although your father used the disaster relief to set up a trap to arrest those Jiang family members. But the reason for imprisonment and punishment is not sufficient after all."
"Although you shouted that they were plotting to murder the emperor, all the civil and military officials in the court were watching. Grabbing their robes and pulling their sleeves is actually at most a violation of etiquette in front of the palace and a collision with the emperor." "
According to the laws of Daxia, they can be locked up, fined, and beaten, and that's it."
"You can't just chop off their heads at once because of this."
"If you really do that, not only will you fail to win the support of the people, you will also be branded as a tyrant."
Xia Zhengqi listened attentively to the prince's analysis and nodded approvingly: "Okay, go on. So what should we do?"
"For now, if we want to seize the opportunity to catch them all in one fell swoop, we need to find evidence of their crimes as soon as possible."
"Only with evidence can we convict them openly."
[Prince Guoguo is really good, his analysis is very logical!]
Xia Miaoyuan clapped her hands happily.
[Hahaha, it's not easy to find evidence. Just search their homes and you'll find all the evidence.]
Xia Zhengqi listened to his daughter's thoughts and smiled: My daughter is really a smart girl.
"Chengwan, your analysis is very good." Xia Zhengqi patted the prince's shoulder.
"Right now, there are two major events before us."
"One is the disaster relief corruption case. I have issued an order to send imperial messengers to Jiangxia Province to arrest people. All the local officials who colluded with Grand Tutor Jiang should be escorted to the capital for trial."
"When the time comes, this disaster relief corruption case will be severely punished, so as to intimidate local officials across the country."
"The second major event is to deal with these 11 accomplices."
"So, Chengwan, you go to the Jiang family and Sun Chaogui's family first to search for evidence."
"It is very likely that evidence of forming a clique for personal gain will be found."
[Emperor Daddy, in addition to these, the commander of the imperial guards must also be investigated! ]
Xia Miaoyuan suddenly thought of the commander of the imperial guards Wei Jianzhong, and he shuddered.
The book says that there are 100,000 imperial guards stationed in the suburbs of Beijing to defend the capital.
[All the 100,000 imperial guards in the suburbs of Beijing are led by Wei Jianzhong. He has a special relationship with Grand Tutor Jiang.]
[If you leave Wei Jianzhong behind, he might mobilize 100,000 imperial guards to save Grand Tutor Jiang and surround the imperial city. The consequences will be disastrous.]