No one expected the truth to be like this. The imperial court has always been against bribery, and even if some people are dishonest, they have to do it secretly.
However, Xue Zhao and his group openly solicited and bribed people, and they did so so blatantly. They would eat and drink at the best restaurants, and then leave after wiping their mouths.
There's no such thing as a free lunch.
Even so, some people were still unwilling to give up and continued, "Even so, Madam Jiang of the Lu family shouldn't have used such methods. What will the people think? Who knows what they'll say about the court and the emperor behind their backs!"
"Lord Zhang, you are mistaken!"
Mr. Kang remained silent for a long time before finally stepping forward.
He glanced at Lord Zhang and continued, "Madam Lu is helping the Emperor get rid of corrupt officials. What's wrong with that? Besides, so what if the people know? Let them talk. After all, the Emperor loves his people like his own children. Even if they talk, it will only be good talk, not spreading bad rumors. Does Lord Zhang think the Emperor doesn't have a good image in the eyes of the people?"
He effortlessly flattered the emperor and even managed to turn the tables on Lord Zhang; it was truly brilliant.
The man was so angry that his face turned green, but he still suppressed his anger and pledged his loyalty to the emperor: "Your Majesty, this humble subject has absolutely no such intention!"
"Alright, I fully support Madam Lu's approach to this matter. These people should be taught a lesson. All those involved should be given fifty lashes and demoted to commoners, with no chance of ever holding office again. Furthermore, since their families are not strict in their governance, all officials in their families who hold positions in the court should be demoted two ranks and have their salaries reduced by one year. I hope all my ministers will take this as a warning."
This punishment is too harsh. Demotion by two ranks. Heaven knows how difficult it is to rise by two ranks, and how many years of struggle it would take.
Moreover, this is a demotion of two ranks within the existing government office, with his former subordinates taking over his position, while they themselves have gone from leaders to low-ranking officials. They must have offended some people in the government office over the years, and their future will be more difficult than they imagined.
The group had initially thought that since the emperor was already wary of the Lu family, they could take this opportunity to speak ill of Jiang Jiuniang, and the emperor would surely side with them. However, they did not expect the emperor to be so firmly biased towards the Lu family. What was the point of the previous test at the banquet? Was it all for nothing?
Only after the matter was settled did Lu Baichuan slowly step forward and say, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for upholding justice for my wife. There has been progress in the Cao family's matter. Your Majesty, please take a look."
This was his gift of thanks to the emperor.
Since returning, none of them had paid attention to the Cao family's affairs. The emperor's men had been dealing with it for so long without making any progress. Lu Baichuan had actually been holding onto some evidence, which he was supposed to give to the emperor after returning to court. However, the emperor had tested his wife like that at the banquet, so he kept the evidence. Now it came in handy.
The emperor hadn't expected Lu Baichuan to give him such a surprise. It seemed that although he had been pretending to be angry, he had actually been secretly helping him investigate.
Thinking about what I had done before, I couldn't help but feel a pang of regret.
The emperor was pleased, but some people in the court panicked. They were the ones who had dealings with the Cao family. They thought that if Lu Baichuan didn't interfere, many things wouldn't be discovered. But Lu Baichuan pulled this stunt. He was really ruthless!
They all felt weak and powerless just standing there, their legs trembling, and they just hoped that they hadn't been caught.
The eunuch handed the item that Lu Baichuan had taken out to the emperor. When the emperor opened it, the smile on his face instantly froze.
After a long while, he raised his head and looked down at the assembled civil and military officials below, his face gloomy, making everyone feel that they were about to be dragged out and beheaded at any moment.
"Great, very good!"
The emperor sneered, realizing he had been too lenient with these people; otherwise, he wouldn't have nurtured so many parasites.
Since he took the throne, he has been cracking down on officials who engage in improper conduct in order to prevent officials from protecting each other. However, such things still exist in the court, and many people are implicated.
He read out a string of names, and a group of people came out. He didn't bother to say anything more and just threw them all into prison.
Coincidentally, some of these people were elders in Xue Zhao's family.
Xue Zhao's father was among them.
So, the morning court session, which was originally meant to condemn Jiang Jiuniang's extreme behavior, unexpectedly turned into a purge of the court. There was a chorus of groans from below, but no one dared to plead for her.
Fortunately, he was only imprisoned and not convicted.
This evidence was submitted by Lu Baichuan alone and has not been verified. It needs to be verified according to the content before a conviction can be made.
Even so, it was enough to keep the court officials in a low position for quite some time.
Meanwhile, outside the palace, Jiang Jiuniang was unaware of what had happened in the court. She had a chair brought out and sat down at the entrance of the restaurant, waiting for the parade to return.
Since she had nothing better to do, she had those who came to redeem people hand over their money in advance for verification. If the amount was correct, the people could be packed up and taken away as soon as they returned, without having to worry about queuing.
Xue Zhao's mother was so exhausted from shouting that her son was being forcibly paraded through the streets despite his injuries. The Lu family was determined to make trouble for the Xue family. She had already decided that after taking her son home that night, she would have her husband contact the family's connections to bring down the Lu family and avenge her son!
The capital city is very large, and the so-called parade is to walk through all the main streets. It would be considered good if you could finish the parade in one day.
So the crowd waiting at the door to watch the commotion went to the nearest restaurant to eat. Even after such an incident, the restaurant was extremely busy, and many customers had to queue up to get a table.
Around noon, news finally reached the palace. A servant from the Xue family came running up, panting, and said in a panic, "Madam, something terrible has happened!"
Madam Xue was already furious, and upon seeing this, she immediately scolded, "You dog servant, you can't expect anything good to come out of a dog's mouth! Speak up!"
The servant took a few deep breaths before saying, "Master is in trouble! He was found to have dealings with the Cao family during the morning court session and has been thrown into prison!"
"W-what!"
Madam Xue screamed, rolled her eyes, and fainted.
The Xue family was in complete chaos. Before the other families could even see what was happening, their own people arrived to tell them that something similar had happened at their homes.
The entrance to the restaurant was bustling with activity. Jiang Jiuniang spoke to Madam Yu with lingering fear, "Luckily we made them pay the money beforehand, otherwise they probably wouldn't be able to take care of us right now."
Madam Yu nodded solemnly: "Third sister-in-law, you were right to have foresight!"
Jiang Jiuniang had originally planned to wait outside for the parade to return before giving them a show of force, but now that this had happened, these people couldn't cause any trouble anymore. Feeling bored, she got up and walked inside, saying, "Sister-in-law, let's go count the money!"
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