Now not only the capital, but also the entire Zhou Dynasty is shrouded in a dark cloud.
There were successive turbulences above the court, and a large number of officials had troubles one after another. The changes at the top would naturally affect officials in various places below.
The change of immediate superiors and the suppression of their factions caused the officials below to have problems one after another. They were either transferred or dismissed. For a while, the entire Zhou Dynasty was in an unstable state.
At this time, the four borders were also dragged into the quagmire of war. The area was so wide that it was almost surrounded. It was jointly attacked by many countries, and everyone fell into uneasiness.
There was no way to hide the border war, and soon everyone knew about it.
Faced with a large-scale joint attack by many countries, as well as internal and external troubles, the Great Zhou Dynasty was already in a precarious state.
The battle at the border has already begun, and in the capital, the trial of the guilty officials is still continuing.
Almost every day, officials were pulled out for interrogation. Two days after Xia Zhihe was sent away, his in-law, Mr. Sun, was also pulled to the Meridian Gate.
As for Sun Jiaolan, she was detained in the Xia Mansion on the day of the incident. Although she was not taken away on the spot, she knew that something serious must have happened.
But she didn't wait too long. Early the next morning, she was dragged away by the official who came to her door.
Her crime was exposed anonymously, and all the evidence was available, so there was almost no need to waste time collecting it.
The person who submitted these evidences was Luo Tong.
Luo Tong did not let Sun Jiaolan be escorted to the Gudan Kingdom because what happened back then had nothing to do with Sun Jiaolan, but it was true that Sun Jiaolan had done so many bad things.
So Luo Tong directly handed over all the evidence to the Yamen and asked Sun Jiaolan to accept the punishment according to the laws of the Zhou Dynasty.
The evidence was conclusive, no matter how much Sun Jiaolan cried and pretended to be wronged, it was useless. The day after Mr. Sun was questioned and beheaded, Sun Jiaolan was also taken to the Meridian Gate.
According to the rules, the crime must be stated before questioning. When the evil deeds Sun Jiaolan had done were made public, she was almost beaten to death by the angry people around her with broken vegetable leaves and stones.
Such a vicious woman, her crimes are simply heinous!
When they thought that this woman was the latest wife of Xia Zhihe, the former Minister of Rites, many people secretly sighed, she was a perfect match!
Sun Jiaolan's death did not cause much waves. In the final analysis, compared to the overall situation, she was just an insignificant person.
But another piece of news that came next shocked everyone to the point of being unable to sit still!
The emperor announced his intention to depose the prince!
The only thing is that the prince is incompetent and made continuous mistakes, which greatly disappointed the emperor. An investigation will be conducted next. If there is a prince more suitable for this position, the current prince will be directly replaced!
As soon as the news came out, everyone from the princes and nobles to the common people were shocked!
Previously, the emperor refused to depose the crown prince no matter how much the people petitioned, but now he actually took the initiative to bring up the matter!
Although the prince was not directly abolished, the meaning was almost the same.
In fact, what outsiders didn't know was that the emperor really planned to depose the prince!
This time he was really angry with the prince!
Not only did something happen to the person under his hand again, but he actually dared to reach out to himself! Taking advantage of his illness, he secretly controlled the news he could receive!
This is really stepping on the emperor's reverse scale!
He's not dead yet! The prince hasn't even ascended the throne yet! Now you dare to stretch your hands to yourself! ?
Just when the emperor was furious and was about to issue an order to depose the prince, the prince, queen and Duke Feng all came to the door.
The queen and Feng Guogong repeatedly tried to persuade him to say good things, and the prince cried and admitted his mistake, and finally the emperor changed his mind.
From the original intention of directly abolishing the crown prince, it became a temporary retention of the crown prince's position, waiting for a capable person to replace him.
Although the result seems to be the same, it is completely different for the people of the Prince's faction, because they still have a chance to make amends before the Prince is truly deposed!
But this news is different for the other princes!
For a time, the fight between the princes became more and more intense, and it became more obvious. The most fierce fight among them was naturally the King of Jin and the King of Qin.
King Jin had made several mistakes in the past, including the spring hunting incident, which almost caused serious trouble to the emperor. Therefore, in comparison, King Qin was more suitable in the emperor's heart.
The people of King Jin's faction naturally knew this, so they exposed King Qin's scandals one after another, fearing that the emperor would impulsively give the crown prince's position to King Qin.
But what no one expected was that in the middle of the twelfth lunar month, only half a month after the news of the border war reached the capital, a situation broke out on the border.
And the first news came back that something had happened was from the southern border!
General Zhao, who was praised by the emperor and said he could succeed General Xi, was indeed as aggressive as General Xi said.
General Zhao won a small battle and felt good about himself. He thought of the secret message from above and asked him to perform well so that the emperor could win a higher official position for him.
A higher official position!
He is already the second-in-command of the Southern Army, the deputy general under the commander-in-chief. Then...
Isn’t he the head coach of the Southern Army? ! General Dingnan? !
General Zhao was so overwhelmed with happiness and surprise that he only thought about meritorious service! Promotion! Take the position of General Dingnan! Then trample all the generals around him under his feet!
With this mentality, when he saw the retreating enemy troops, he chased them without even thinking!
In the end, it was just a ploy by the enemy to lure them deeper, but General Zhao ran headlong into it, causing heavy losses to the Southern Army!
And the army led by General Zhao suffered nearly half casualties!
If it hadn't been for another deputy general, General Ji, who was specially left behind by General Xi, to lead his army to the rescue, I'm afraid the entire army led by General Zhao would have been lost here!
General Ji also had to abandon a town to rescue General Zhao. Fortunately, he evacuated the people in the city in time and did not cause too much damage.
In fact, from General Ji's point of view, he wished that General Zhao would be captured by the Polish army as soon as possible, so as to avoid the Southern Army causing chaos.
But the soldiers led by General Zhao were innocent, and each of those many soldiers was a member of the Southern Army. No matter who was missing, it was a loss to the Southern Army.
It was precisely to consider the overall situation that General Ji had to lead his troops to rush for reinforcements. Fortunately, at the critical moment, the troops led by General Zhao were finally rescued.
As soon as he was out of danger, General Zhao wanted to take a preemptive strike and put the blame on General Ji.
As a result, General Ji didn't bother to talk nonsense to him. He just gave the order and General Zhao was tied up by a group of angry men! Brought directly back to the camp!
