The court officials didn't know why the emperor was doing this, since he had previously shown great dislike for the Lu family and even had the eldest prince fight with Lu Baichuan's son at the Imperial Academy.
Logically speaking, the emperor should be on the same side as them, so how did things turn out like this?
Many people were sweating profusely. Fortunately, they hadn't followed the others out of the way. Although they envied the Lu family for being favored by the emperor, they felt that this matter wasn't entirely the Lu family's fault. They couldn't let their selfishness harm the Lu family, so they stood still.
Then they watched helplessly as the group of court officials who had stepped forward were arrested.
Having witnessed the previous batch's actions, the remaining people, even if somewhat dissatisfied, dared not utter a word.
Your heart is hard to fathom!
Fortunately, the emperor didn't deliberately keep him in suspense. He glanced at the people below and said to the eunuch beside him, "Read it."
The young eunuch stepped forward, opened a booklet, and began to explain in detail why those people needed to be arrested.
When everyone heard that these people were actually colluding with the Japanese, they all showed expressions of disbelief.
They only thought that those court officials were thinking of the court and the emperor, which is why they made such a suggestion in court, asking the emperor to punish the Lu family. They never expected that they would be colluding with the islanders in private, which is a serious crime!
Of course, not everyone who was arrested had any connection with the Japanese. Some had no connection, but they still joined those people in targeting the Lu family in the court. In any case, they were not innocent, so they were all arrested.
After the eunuch finished reading, the emperor spoke: "Among them, some are people from the island nation who took the initiative to contact us, and some even took the initiative to contact the island nation. They are eating the salary of my Northern Yan Dynasty, but they collude with people from other countries to deal with the loyal officials of my dynasty. Do you really think it is glorious?"
"Why did Madam Lu come to make things difficult for the Japanese? It's because the Japanese sent her family several heads that day. After verification, those people were guards on the border of Beiyan. They were dedicated to Beiyan, but they died tragically and were used by the Japanese to provoke the Lu family. Shouldn't the Japanese have died?"
The reason they endured for so long was to investigate whether these people were indeed spies of the Eastern Court, as the islanders claimed. However, after verification, it turned out that they were not only not spies of the Eastern Court, but also good officials in the border region who served the country and its people. Yet, they were killed by the islanders, who took their heads and sent them to the Lu family, falsely accusing them of being spies of the Eastern Court.
Isn't this kind of thing shameful?
No one spoke. The emperor continued, "The people from the island nation came to visit, but they only came to announce their arrival after they had already reached the outskirts of the capital. Before that, they were doing things that harmed the interests of my Northern Yan. After they arrived, they even tried to marry a courtesan to me, the ruler of a nation, and even wanted the Pangu Jade, the national treasure of Northern Yan, as a dowry. They did such an insult to Northern Yan and to me. Throughout the whole ordeal, only Lady Lu stood up for me!"
"As officials of the imperial court, you not only fail to think about how to safeguard the national interests and how to uphold my dignity as the ruler of the country, but you also collectively smear the Lu family and pin the blame on Madam Lu. You are truly my beloved ministers!"
After these words were spoken, the court officials all knelt down and prostrated themselves on the ground to beg for forgiveness: "Your Majesty, we know we were wrong, please forgive us!"
The emperor sneered, "Those who have been arrested, those who should be executed, shall be executed; those who should be exiled, shall be exiled. No one is allowed to plead for them. Anyone who does plead for them will be punished the same way!"
After saying this, he turned and left, leaving only the ministers kneeling on the ground.
They were all sweating profusely, so frightened that their hands and legs went weak, and they couldn't stand up for a long time.
Only then did they realize that the emperor's earlier display of anger towards the Lu family was an act, intended to arrest those in the court who had secret ties with the islanders.
The situation had escalated so much that even they thought the emperor wanted to eliminate the Lu family, and they almost followed the crowd and spoke ill of the Lu family. Fortunately, they still had a sliver of kindness in their hearts and did not join in the kicking them while they were down. It was that sliver of kindness that saved them.
On that day, the homes of those who were arrested were all ransacked, and a great deal of wealth and grain was confiscated and put into the national treasury. In an instant, the previously somewhat empty national treasury was filled.
To be honest, raiding these people's homes would be enough to support a war.
Even if he were to actually fight the Japanese later, he wouldn't be afraid.
So, while everyone thought the emperor had gone mad with anger, someone was already ecstatic, laughing in front of the empress for almost an hour.
Although the court lost a large number of senior officials, what does it matter? A populous country is never short of talent. At worst, they can just hold a special imperial examination to recruit more talent.
The newly appointed young people have good beliefs, are serious and efficient in their work, and their salaries are not high, making them much more effective than those seasoned veterans.
Anyway, the emperor felt that he was the one who benefited the most from this incident, so he couldn't stop laughing.
The Empress was speechless at his laughter and couldn't help but advise, "If Your Majesty has the time, why not announce this matter to the world and clear the Lu family's name? I've heard that there are still rotten vegetable leaves in front of the Lu family's door. It would be better to send more people to clean it up and not hurt the feelings of loyal ministers!"
Reminded of this, the emperor suddenly remembered that he was actually pleased, as the matter with the Lu family had not yet been resolved.
"Oh dear, I forgot! I'll have someone take care of it right away!"
He got up and ran off without any regard for his image, leaving the Empress shaking her head and laughing helplessly.
However, the Empress is very content with her current life and situation. The Emperor has no airs in front of her, and they get along like an ordinary couple. When they are busy, they are always busy, and when they are free, they will check the children's homework. She has also put a lot of effort into disciplining the children.
They are now husband and wife, but more like family, the kind of couple who can't live without each other.
Once the news was released, a large crowd gathered in front of the Lu family's house, apologizing to the Lu family one by one, saying that they had been misled by bad people and had not intended to target the Lu family.
If it were any other family, they would have readily agreed with a laugh.
However, Jiang Jiuniang is now in charge of the Lu family. People from the palace are cleaning up, and the common people are coming to apologize one by one, but Jiang Jiuniang says she will not forgive them.
She stood at the door of her house, with the entire Lu family behind her, watching the people outside without saying a word.
The people were helpless. They came to apologize, but the host family wouldn't forgive them. What could they do?
As more and more people gathered at the entrance, Jiang Jiuniang felt the time was right and slowly spoke:
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