klisemfg Chapter 56 Old Emperor, your private treasury is gone!
Chapter 56 Old Emperor, your private treasury is gone!
All the civil and military officials (except for the General of the Cavalry and the Minister of Justice): Goodness, you roughneck, you're surprisingly quick.
The old emperor silently took a sip of tea and ate a melon seed to calm his nerves.
Wow, what's this called? This is love!
The ministers inside the hall simultaneously covered their ears, but when they found that covering their ears was useless, they could only beg Shen Zhiyi to finish singing quickly.
I haven't seen someone sing this badly in a long time.
Ah, that was so much fun singing!
The courtiers: You may be happy, but they are suffering.
Sigh, I'm such a good person, I know I'm a bad singer, so I never sing in front of others. Sigh, I'm so pathetic, I can only sing in my room, only in my heart.
Everyone:...
The old emperor felt that one cup of tea was not enough to calm his nerves, so he had another cup.
After clearing his throat, the old emperor raised his hand and said in a deep voice, "General, you want to sue the Duke of Yong? Tell me about it."
The General of the Cavalry looked to the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review for help.
What, what is he going to say?
Where should I begin?
The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review closed his eyes; it had to be him.
"Your Majesty, let me speak."
“In the nineteenth year of Emperor Taizong’s reign, I took on a case of a family massacre. The ancestors of the Duke of Yong were from Dengzhou in Shannan Circuit. The only survivor of this massacre was a fellow villager of the Duke of Yong.”
Duke Yong scoffed, "What does that have to do with me? It can't be that all the cases that happen in Dengzhou are committed by my Gao family."
It's not completely full, but at least seven or eight tenths full.
The major cases in Dengzhou that ultimately went unsolved were all related to the Duke of Yong. Local officials dared not offend the Duke of Yong, yet they cared for the people, so they secretly preserved the details of each case, hoping that a good official who dared to offend the Duke of Yong would one day come forward to seek justice for the deceased.
It seems like they're trying to have their cake and eat it too, but people are complex.
The Duke of Yong's eyes were blazing with anger. If it weren't for the old emperor being there to keep things under control, he would have torn Shen Zhiyi apart on the spot.
However, Shen Zhiyi, who had always grown up in a peaceful society, was completely unaware of the murderous intent.
[For example, the massacre of the entire family mentioned by the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review was likely committed by a security escort agency. They had accepted a shipment from the Duke of Yong to transport a valuable item from Dajing back to Dengzhou.]
[These valuable items... the old emperor would be furious if he knew; they were all rare treasures secretly taken from his national treasury.]
The old emperor clenched his right fist, the bones cracking, clearly furious.
What's the difference between stealing his money and taking his life?
The old emperor glared fiercely at the Minister of Revenue.
The Minister of Revenue immediately knelt down.
He was puzzled. How did the Duke of Yong manage to steal from the national treasury without anyone noticing?
He takes care of everything every day, how could he possibly miscount such a small amount of stuff!
[Huh? I misread it, it's the old emperor's private treasury.]
Shen Zhiyi gave an awkward laugh.
[See, I knew it! How could Consort Gao possibly have access to the national treasury? It turns out it was the old emperor's private treasury.]
The Minister of Revenue breathed a huge sigh of relief, looking completely dehydrated. He didn't care about his image anymore and plopped down on the ground.
He wiped the sweat from his body.
Shen Zhiyi, you almost scared this old man to death!
The old emperor felt like he couldn't breathe.
The Empress's health was failing, so the old Emperor entrusted the harem to the former Consort. However, the Consort was indulging in intimate moments with her female tutor, so the information she gave the old Emperor was mostly fabricated. Poor old Emperor.
This gave Consort Gao an opportunity to take advantage of the situation.
Wait, I get it now.
Shen Zhiyi clenched her fist tightly.
[I finally understand why Consort Zhang has been so visibly upset lately. No wonder she's been like a powder keg, ready to explode at any moment. She used to not care when the old emperor called her rude, but that one time she kicked him out of the house—it turns out it was because she discovered the old emperor's private treasury was full of counterfeit goods! Hahahaha.]
The old emperor, feeling guilty, hunched his back slightly.
Shen Zhiyi gloated.
[Serves him right. Who told the old emperor to be so captivated by the beauty of the Imperial Concubine Yang, and instead of giving power to Consort Zhang, he gave it to the indifferent Imperial Concubine Yang to please her.]
The Duke of Yong and Consort Gao secretly transferred the old emperor's private treasury to the Gao family in Dengzhou.
The escort agency kept the shipments they transported secret, but one time they accidentally saw what was being transported. The agency's head镖师 (chief escort) happened to recognize the imperial insignia and immediately knew it was stolen goods from the royal family.
The escort agency, fearing for their lives, planned to retire after this delivery, but unexpectedly, the Duke of Yongguo was also planning to quit after this delivery.
As a result, the entire escort agency was massacred, with even newborn babies spared, and the blame was ultimately placed on bandits in the mountains.
But the Duke of Yong never expected that the head镖师's apprentice, who was preparing to go home that very night, witnessed the entire incident.
The Duke of Yong's face was extremely grim.
Unexpectedly, some escaped the net.
The report that the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review had to give to the old emperor was almost identical to what Shen Zhiyi had said.
At this moment, the Dragon Scale Guard, whose horses had died from exhaustion, presented the evidence sent by the Crown Prince to the old emperor.
What is that? Should we sneak a peek?
See? See? Anyway, nobody knows I saw it.
Shen Zhiyi couldn't resist taking a peek.
After reading this.
[Oh, so it's a letter from the Duke of Yong to Prince Li.]
After reading it, the old emperor raised his voice.
"Dong Yongguo!"
The Duke of Yong's head fell heavily to the ground.
Chen, an official from the Ministry of Rites, commented: "His kowtow was not as forceful as his."
"I believe I have treated you well, but you first stole from my private treasury, then repeatedly disregarded human life, abused your power, and even colluded with Dali. Your crimes are enough to warrant the extermination of your entire family."
[Old Emperor, do you have to be so ruthless? You're also subject to the nine generations of kinship.]
The old emperor: It's no big deal. He just took away Consort Gao's title.
The Duke of Yong gritted his teeth and said, "Your Majesty, I have done a lot of work to get you into this position."
The General of the Cavalry wouldn't tolerate him.
"You're the only one who contributed? I didn't contribute? They didn't contribute? You're the only one who fought alongside the Emperor to conquer the world? How come we didn't kill people? How come we didn't collude with foreign powers? Stop trying to make yourself look good."
"Your Majesty, I believe that these nine generations of their family should be exterminated!"
Wow, what a powerful and protective general who's fiercely devoted to his wife!
The General of the Cavalry proudly raised his head.
See? Shen Zhiyi is praising him.
For the first time, the old emperor found the General of the Cavalry's words quite pleasing to the ear.
With the General of the Cavalry's words as the opening, all the civil and military officials knelt down, begging the old emperor to issue an edict to investigate and punish him severely.
The old emperor was also eager to retrieve his private treasury and took the matter very seriously.
The once-prosperous Gao family was thus raided and imprisoned. Once the procedures were completed, they would be beheaded. The old emperor was too lazy to even wait for the autumn execution.
Even among those beheaded were Princess Yonghe and Prince Rui.