Quick Wear: Reversing Life

Chapter 532: The eldest daughter-in-law of a wealthy family (54)

Marquis Dingbei suddenly appeared in the capital, and some were happy while others were worried.

This news made the people in Dingbei Marquis’ Mansion very happy.

In particular, the old lady's worry was healed in an instant, and she wished she could ask Zhao Su to return to the Marquis' Mansion immediately so that she could take a good look at him to see if he was seriously injured.

However, Marquis Dingbei rode his horse straight to the imperial city with great fanfare, while another team of people had secretly hidden outside the Prince's Mansion and secretly monitored Prince Changping's every move.

At the same time, the secret letter from Prince Consort Wei Ning also arrived at the Princess's Mansion.

That night, the imperial guards quickly surrounded the Prince's Mansion and Lady Jiaci's Mansion, and no one was allowed to enter or leave.

On the second morning, at the court, Marquis Dingbei accused Prince Changping of raising assassins to assassinate court officials in front of all the civil and military officials. The eldest princess also presented a basket of evidence of Prince Changping's crimes.

Since the time of the late emperor, the Prince of Changping has been relying on the emperor's grace to form a clique in the court and privately accept bribes amounting to tens of thousands of taels of silver.

In addition, he also sold official positions and embezzled court funds.

The Prince of Changping had been an official for decades and had a vast network of relationships in the court.

There were people related to him in the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of War.

Princess Jiaci's husband was the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and Finance, and many of her cousins ​​from her mother's family also served as officials in the court.

The years when the previous emperor was in power were also the period when Prince Changping amassed a fortune.

Even after the new emperor ascended the throne and retired from officialdom, the power of Prince Changping in the court did not diminish.

People's ambitions grow little by little.

The Prince of Changping is rich and powerful, but his desires will never be satisfied.

When someone interferes with his interests, Prince Changping will kill him without hesitation.

Even if that person is the equally powerful and meritorious official of the court, Marquis Dingbei.

Langzhou was one of the fiefdoms of Prince Changping. Although it was not his actual fiefdom and did not participate in local administration, he enjoyed the taxes brought to him by the Langzhou area.

Because Langzhou is adjacent to Dongting Lake, the imperial court allocates funds to Langzhou every year for water conservancy projects.

Langzhou often encountered floods that broke through the dikes, and most of the money spent on repairing the dikes every year must have fallen into his pocket.

Marquis Dingbei accidentally discovered the trick when he was ordered to suppress the bandits. Prince Changping then ordered his men to disguise themselves as bandits and kill Marquis Dingbei to silence him.

If it weren't for Marquis Dingbei's superb martial arts, he would have died in Langzhou.

In addition to the above evidence, the Prince of Changping also did many other miscellaneous things of bullying the weak.

The haunting of Changle Restaurant in East Market was also caused by his subordinates, because Wanfulou was his property.

Marquis Dingbei and the eldest princess took the lead in impeaching Prince Changping, and other officials who had been oppressed by Prince Changping also came forward to testify.

With all the witnesses and evidence in the court, the emperor immediately ordered a search of the Prince's Mansion and Prince Changping's villa outside the capital. Sure enough, a lot of evidence was found in the study in the mansion.

Even more shocking was the fact that the Prince of Changping had hidden at least 800 stones of pepper in his warehouse at his villa outside Beijing! He also had countless gold, silver, and treasures, as well as priceless antiques and paintings!

The 800 stones of pepper alone could ensure that he would have no worries about food and clothing for several generations.

The house was also magnificent. No wonder Prince Changping went to the outskirts of Beijing when he had nothing to do after retiring.

The private treasury of Prince Changping is comparable to the national treasury.

The emperor was furious and ordered a thorough investigation into the case in order to uncover more corrupt officials in the court.

After the rabbit is dead, the dog is abandoned. The once glorious Prince of Changping was kicked when he was down after he lost power by many people who had flattered him. Some people even said that the Prince of Changping abused his power to bully others in order to clear themselves.

The Changping case involved many people. If we dig deeper, few of them will be innocent. If we deal with all of them, the court will have no talents left.

The art of court is all about balance.

At the suggestion of the eldest princess, the sage made an example of a few of the masterminds and only dealt with a few of them, while the rest were demoted and had their salaries fined.

In the end, the sage ordered that his title of prince be stripped away and he beheaded in public soon after.

All the women in his family were demoted to slavery and exiled to Lingnan.

High buildings rise, high buildings are built.

The era of a powerful official who once dominated the government came to an end.

...

On the day when Prince Changping was beheaded, the eldest princess invited Fu Huaiying into her house to play chess.

"How did you know that the damage to the Langzhou Dam was related to the Prince of Changping?"

Fu Huaiying spoke frankly: "Marquis Dingbei is recuperating in my courtyard. He asked me to help him pass a message to Fu Hongchuan."

As the Minister of War, Fu Hongchuan already had certain power. In addition, the two families were related by marriage, so Zhao Su felt more at ease to tell Fu Hongchuan about this matter.

Zhao Su was not prepared for Fu Huaiying, so Fu Huaiying passed the information Zhao Su had found to Zhao Hui.

"How do you know that I will thoroughly investigate this matter?"

Fu Huaiying smiled and said, "The princess hates evil and has a noble character. She will definitely not sit idly by."

Zhao Hui sneered: "You speak too highly of me."

"That means the princess has had suspicions for a long time." Fu Huaiying said.

Zhao Hui said: "When water is too clear, there will be no fish. Who in the officialdom can guarantee that he is not absolutely innocent?"

“People are greedy.”

"Among the evidence found in Changping Prefecture, half of the officials in the court were involved, and none of the six ministries were innocent."

"Even your father, Fu Hongchuan, the Minister of War, once accepted bribes from him."

Zhao Hui placed the chess piece on the board and said slowly, "A prince personally appointed by the late emperor, no matter how he amassed wealth during the late emperor's time, as long as his greed was not exposed, the sage would not pursue it too seriously."

"But not only does he not know how to restrain himself, even after retiring he dared to extend his hands to places he shouldn't have, even embezzling funds for water conservancy projects. He exploited the people's wealth without any bottom line. That's sheer stupidity."

“As the ancients said: If a virtuous man has much wealth, his ambition will be weakened; if a foolish man has much wealth, his faults will be increased.”

"There are many 'official hamsters' in the court, but we only need to kill the fattest one."

Zhao Hui was close to Princess Jiaci and rewarded her with so many good things just to make them let down their guard.

At this time, Lan Xiang came over and said, "Your Highness, Liu Xian somehow escaped from prison and is crying out for you to save her at the door."

Princess Jiaci's real name was Liu Xian.

Zhao Hui didn't even raise his eyelids: "What do jailers do for a living?"

"Go tell her that I chose the route of exile for her. When she passes through Langzhou, let her see the displaced hungry people and the people who are hungry and cold.

Everything she wore, ate, and used in the past was made from the flesh and blood scraped from their bodies. After all, she had enjoyed happiness for so many years, it was time for her to experience the suffering of this world."

"It's Your Highness."

After Lanxiang left, Fu Huaiying said, "The eldest princess rarely leaves the capital, but from your tone just now, it seems that you have seen the scenery outside the capital."

Zhao Hui said, "I heard someone tell me this before."

"Outside the capital, there are many people who don't have enough to eat."

"Although I am the eldest princess, I also understand that the people are the foundation of the country."