Qin Mingchu, including all the concubines, princes, princesses, and those on the palace wall all collapsed. Even those who were still conscious could not stand up. The drug was very powerful.
However, the King of Chu has more men than just these. There are more in the palace, so we cannot waste time. We must protect the hostages before they react.
"Your Majesty, they have been drugged."
"Come here, quickly build a ladder to occupy the palace wall and open the palace gate!"
"yes!"
There is no need for Bai Zhiyue to intervene from now on.
General Cui's men acted quickly. After climbing up the palace wall, they immediately threw Qin Mingchu down.
Now that the King of Chu had fallen into the hands of the emperor, why should they resist? It didn't take long for the rebellion to be ended.
"Your Majesty, all of the Prince of Chu's family have been apprehended."
"Your Majesty, the Duke's son refused to surrender and has committed suicide. His wife also followed him. The others have been imprisoned."
"Your Majesty, the family of Prince Chu has been taken to prison."
"Okay, everyone has worked hard."
"It is our duty to be loyal to the Emperor."
"Well, I will definitely reward you according to your merits."
Qin Minghao looked at the ministers again,
"You all should go back. There will be no court tomorrow morning."
"Yes, I will take my leave."
It was almost midnight. This day had indeed been tiring and frightening, and the ministers also needed to adjust.
Bai Zhiqing had already carried the sleeping Doudou back home. She had to prepare food for the group of birds. Congcong said that they would come in batches early tomorrow morning.
That night, I took some of the leftover steamed buns from the morning and crushed them into crumbs. I also crushed some dried fruits and some shredded meat, and put them all on the stone table in the yard for them to take.
When the King of Chu woke up, he was reunited with his family in the prison. His head and body were covered in bird droppings, and there was a constant smell in his mouth and nostrils. As soon as he woke up, he hugged the toilet and vomited. In the end, all he vomited was yellow water. The feeling was so unbearable that he wished he could never wake up.
General Weiwu and his family were also thrown into prison. The prison was overcrowded at that time, with dozens of people crowded in one cell. Some were cursing, some were crying, and some were sitting in a daze.
Why bother? For an uncertain merit of following the dragon, you would end up harming your entire family, or even your entire clan. Such a merit is not so easy to come by.
Any imperial physician who was bribed in the palace would be brought back and punished even if he retired and returned to his hometown.
Over the next ten days, the Ministry of Justice, the Dali Temple, and clan members jointly interrogated the King of Chu and those involved in the rebellion.
The emperor did not kill all of the King of Chu's family. He left him two illegitimate sons, demoted them to commoners, and raised them in the royal family, keeping them under his watch to prevent them from doing anything again.
All the people in the Zhenguo Mansion were executed without a single survivor.
General Weiwu, his father, brother and all his family members were beheaded because he not only participated in the rebellion but also harmed the princess and killed several people.
As for the other main generals who participated in the rebellion, their entire families would be executed if the crime was serious, and only the person involved would be executed or demoted to a civilian if the crime was minor. If they could avoid being killed, they would be killed. If all three clans were executed for treason, the capital would really be a river of blood.
The emperor doesn't want to kill too many people.
It was a good thing for the Gao family. Because of the tattoo on his face and the constant fear, he did not rebel, so his entire family did not have to be executed.
But he had always been a man of the King of Chu, and during his tenure as the prefect of Yingtian Prefecture, he was corrupt and greedy. He often judged cases not based on evidence, but on who had power and money, resulting in many unjust, false and wrong cases and harming many people.
In the end, only Gao Tingyuan was beheaded, and his family, including his two sons and one daughter who had just been adopted, were driven out of the capital. They were not allowed to take the imperial examinations for the next three generations. It was a pity that not much was found in his two mansions. It was said that they were stolen by his enemies, and the culprit was never found out.
The most beneficial thing for Qin Minghao this time was that he took back most of the military power.
The King of Chu has several generals with a total of 100,000 troops under his command. Add to that the 200,000 troops under the Duke of Zhenguo and the 100,000 troops he originally had, and there are still less than 300,000 troops under his command. There is no need to worry now.
The concubines in the palace did not dare to go out to see people for a long time since they were baptized with bird droppings that day. They had to use a lot of incense every day, fumigating themselves with the fragrance and even marinating their flesh with the fragrance. Only then did they feel satisfied.
They were also worried that the emperor really couldn't have children. What was the point of them staying in the palace then? They all went to their family members to inquire about the emperor's pulse diagnosis by the imperial physician.
Not only the concubines were anxious, but especially the relatives of the emperor's wife who had ambitions to support a prince of their own blood to compete for the next emperor were also anxious. They tried every means to find out the emperor's health condition.
The emperor was furious with the waves of inquiries and asked the imperial physician to speak in front of all the ministers.
The emperor's condition is actually quite good. The noble concubine did not ask the imperial physician for help. Although he was treated by the imperial physician on a daily basis, he was also receiving treatment from the imperial physician. Of course, his condition cannot be compared with that of a normal person. It is still a little worse, but it is better than what the King of Chu said.
This news is good news for everyone. The harem is stable and the front court is no longer in a hurry. As long as the emperor treats everyone equally, everyone has a chance.
Pingnan Hou went to see the Queen
"Your Majesty should think of a way to give birth to a prince as soon as possible. You are the Empress of the Central Palace, and giving birth to a legitimate son will naturally have an advantage. With my support outside the palace, everything will come naturally.
The Emperor has suffered from the oppression of his legitimate son by his concubines, and he will not allow his legitimate son to be oppressed. This is very beneficial to us. The most important thing is that you get pregnant with a prince soon."
"That depends on his willingness. He's become increasingly unwilling to give in these past few years. I do want to have a baby, but I have to be able to do it!"
Even if the emperor came to Fengqi Palace now, he would just say a few words and then go to sleep, without touching her at all.
"The Emperor is such an ungrateful person. If we hadn't gathered a group of people to support the Prince of the Central Palace, he wouldn't have been able to sit in that position. Now he doesn't even care about his dignity."
"Isn't it because my father has been expanding his power and forming cliques that the Emperor is disgusted by."
"Now you think we're forming cliques. How could he have gotten to the top without collusion?"
"Then what do you say we should do? Can we force him to have sex?"
"I'll handle this matter. It's a big taboo for the Empress to be childless. I'll force her to have one!"
The queen had a feeling that this was not a good thing, but there was no other way. She didn't necessarily have to fight for the throne, but in this harem, what else could she pray for except the extravagant hope of having a prince by her side.
"That day, my father threatened to kill Bai and her son. I'm afraid he must have offended Bai to death. She's not an ordinary woman with no one to rely on. You've seen how much the emperor values her."
"So what if the emperor values her abilities? It's just that she gave him a sharp weapon and helped him deliver messages a few times. We all gained our positions by helping to conquer the world and rule it. Our contributions are no greater than hers.
Besides, that was the former King of Chu's request. I was just being loyal to the Emperor and making the right choice. I didn't want him to lose his loyalty."
"Father, please be more careful. Last time, Concubine Cui's family clearly suffered a loss, but they still went to apologize. Why do you think that was?"
"Why else? For the Emperor's sake!"
"Concubine Cui was severely reprimanded."
"There's a reason with the Chu King Gao family here, you don't have to take it seriously. Now they're either dead or demoted, so this factor no longer exists."
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