Chapter 689, Breaking off the Engagement
The military rations were burned, and the emperor was furious. All the officials involved in transporting the rations were arrested and sent to jail.
Not only that, the owner of the capital's number one restaurant, the Eight Immortals Residence, the Duke of Anguo's Mansion, was surrounded by the Imperial Guards on the same day, and all the personnel, regardless of gender, were thrown into the Ministry of Justice's prison.
All the civil and military officials looked at this with surprise and astonishment.
Considering the time when the Anguo Mansion was surrounded, many people were frightened and broke out in cold sweats, especially those officials who were close to the Anguo Mansion.
Those who can serve as officials in Beijing are not stupid. The emperor raided the Anguo Mansion without saying a word. Even a fool could guess that this might be related to the Eighth Prince.
The imperial palace.
The emperor looked gloomily over the secret letters that the imperial guards had copied back from the Duke of Anguo's mansion.
Now that the war in the northern border is still at a stalemate, he did not want to start cleaning out the Eight Kings' followers in the capital at this time, so as not to cause turmoil in the court.
After all, many of these people hold high positions.
But he didn't expect that these ignorant people would dare to take risks at this time and leak the route of transporting military rations to Lao Ba, resulting in the burning of military rations of the Northern Frontier Army.
How can the soldiers still fight if they have no food?
The emperor read all the letters and did not find any other list of the Eight Kings' followers, which made him very dissatisfied.
Although he had asked Jinling Guards to monitor the Eight Immortals Residence a long time ago, there were too many officials coming in and out. In order not to alert the enemy, only a few of the Eight Kings' followers could be identified.
Now that he has to clean up, he will do it thoroughly this time, and he won't let any of Lao Ba's men go!
"Duke Anguo is a cunning old man. It's impossible that he doesn't have any tricks up his sleeve. Investigate the Duke's Mansion and all of his family's businesses, both overt and covert. I don't believe that nothing can be found."
Wei Qi took the order and left. As soon as he walked out of the hall, he met Yang Chenghua and Wu Jingyi who came to discuss matters with the emperor. The three of them clasped their fists to each other and quickly parted without saying a word.
Before entering the hall, Yang Chenghua and Wu Jingyi looked at each other. The emperor actually sent Wei Qidu out, which showed that he was really angry this time.
Not only the emperor, but they too, felt their hearts bleed when they thought of the burned food.
Although there have been no particularly serious disasters in the past two years, there is still a general water shortage in the north, and many places in the south still suffer from floods when the rainy season comes. The grain collected was all grown by the people with great effort. For this reason, countless people have to tighten their belts to make a living.
Now it’s burned!
How can one not be angry and heartbroken?!
The two entered the hall and saw the emperor with a gloomy face, his back bent a little more.
"Your Majesty, the soldiers at the border cannot be short of food. Now that the military rations have been burned, we must quickly find a way to replenish them." Wu Jingyi gritted his teeth and stated the purpose of his visit, then stood there with his head down, not daring to utter a word.
The emperor remained silent for a long while before he asked, "Do you have any good ideas?"
Wu Jingyi did not answer, but looked at Yang Chenghua.
Yang Chenghua was helpless and hesitated for a moment before saying with some difficulty, "I'm afraid we'll have to collect grain again. It would be best to encourage wealthy families to donate grain."
The emperor had no other good ideas: "Let's do it this way."
Compared with the previous reluctance in donating medicinal materials, the officials were much more active in donating grain this time.
There is no way, no one dares to offend the emperor at this time.
Especially after the Ministry of Justice announced that Duke Anguo was the leader of the Eight Kings' gang in Beijing and that Baxianju was the stronghold of the Eight Kings' gang in Beijing, many officials could not sleep all night.
In just a few days, the residences of many second- and third-rank officials were surrounded, and the men were arrested and imprisoned.
Yongjia Marquis Mansion.
Mrs. Dong was packing Dong Yuanyao's dowry. After she returned to Beijing from Zhongzhou, her family arranged a marriage for her daughter. The marriage was with Luo Hongyuan, the youngest son of Duke Weiguo.
Mrs. Dong was actually not very satisfied with this marriage. Luo Hongyuan, as the youngest son, was spoiled since childhood and had a bad temper. Her daughter was also stubborn. If there were any bumps after the marriage, neither of them would give in. How would they go on with their lives?
Why.
Madam Dong was still worried about Dong Yuanyao's marriage. At this time, the housekeeper beside Madam Dong came over and said, "Second Madam, Madam Luo from the Duke of Weiguo's Mansion is here. She is now in Madam Dong's room and said she has something to discuss."
Madam Dong frowned. Because of the burning of military rations and the raid on the Anguo Mansion, all the nobles had tacitly closed their doors to visitors. Why would Madam Luo come here at this time?
"Go tell Yuan Yao to change her clothes and go to the old lady's courtyard to meet the guests."
Madam Dong and the maid gave an order and went to Old Madam Dong.
On the other side, Dong Yuanyao heard the news that the wife of Duke Weiguo was coming, and just said "hmm" lightly, still concentrating on embroidering the purse.
"Miss, please come back and continue embroidering. It's not good to keep Madam Luo waiting for too long." The maid reminded anxiously.
Dong Yuanyao ignored her and stopped only after finishing the last stitch. Then she slowly stood up and said, "Let's go."
The head maid stopped him and said, "Miss, you should change into some clothes suitable for meeting guests."
Dong Yuanyao lowered her head and looked at her clothes: "I think this is good. It's not good to keep people waiting. I should change clothes before going over. They should leave soon."
Having said that, he took the lead and stepped out of the room.
The maids had no choice but to follow quickly.
As soon as Dong Yuanyao arrived at the gate of Old Lady Dong's courtyard, he saw the wife of Duke Weiguo walking out quickly with a group of maids and old women.
Seeing Dong Yuanyao, Lady Weiguo was stunned for a moment, then left quickly without saying a word.
Dong Yuanyao frowned and walked into the yard, then saw his mother standing at the door with red eyes, looking very angry.
Soon, Dong Yuanyao knew what had happened.
Her engagement was broken off by the Duke of Weiguo's Mansion!
Dong Yuanyao was stunned. Looking at her mother and grandmother who were extremely angry, she did not feel any shame or anger in her heart. On the contrary, she felt a little secretly happy.
Finally I don’t have to get married!
That evening, everyone in the Dong family knew that the Duke of Weiguo had cancelled the engagement. In addition to sympathizing with Dong Yuanyao, everyone was filled with confusion.
Why did the Duke of Weiguo cancel the engagement?
Dong Yuanxuan glanced at his father with a serious expression.
The Prince of Weiguo Mansion is the commander of the Beijing Guards and is well-informed. Could it be that they received some information? Is this why they are so hastily disassociating themselves from their family?
Dong Jiancheng also thought of this. Thinking of the families implicated in the Anguo Duke case, he quickly looked at the old marquis and the prince, "Father, big brother, our family doesn't have much contact with the Anguo Duke's Mansion, right?"
The old marquis shook his head affirmatively: "Of course not, I don't even go to Baxianju often."
Dong Jiancheng breathed a sigh of relief, but before he could completely let go, he quickly raised his breath again when he saw his half-brother avoiding his gaze.
"Brother, you didn't."
Before he could finish his words, Dong Jianye interrupted him hurriedly: "Of course I don't have any either."
Seeing him like this, Dong Jiancheng and Dong Yuanxuan felt more and more uneasy.
The next day, the father and son's bad premonition came true.
The Yongjia Marquis Mansion was surrounded by soldiers!
All the male members of the Dong family were arrested, and the female members were ordered not to leave the Dong Mansion.
This time, the Dong Mansion was in chaos.
(End of this chapter)
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