Sure enough, as the emperor and Taishi Liu expected, no minister took the initiative to surrender. Taishi Liu did not expect any minister to surrender on his own initiative. It took him two days to thoroughly investigate the corruption case of the great minister, Nongcheng Zhang Nan, and not a single minister involved in the case was spared. Of course, the prince and the Duke of Zhen let it go for the time being.
Fortunately, this corruption and bribery case did not involve as many ministers as the earth-shattering corruption case when the late emperor was still alive, but there were still thirty or forty people involved.
When Taishi Liu handed over the results of the trial to the emperor, the emperor was furious and got very angry in the morning. Although the prince and Duke Zhen were not involved in the case on the surface, Zhang Nan was related to them, so of course he would inevitably be scolded.
In front of all the civil and military officials, the emperor unceremoniously scolded the prince and the Duke bloody. Not only that, he also punished the prince and the Duke of Zhen by facing the wall for a month.
As for Zhang Nan and his accomplices, none of them were beheaded, exiled, or demoted.
Unexpectedly, such a big event would happen while Mr. Meng was giving lectures in the capital. Although this incident was not the prince's fault, Zhang Nan was an official of the prince, and the prince's reputation was still affected. Of course, there are contributions from King Dai and Marquis Xuanping.
Originally, because Mr. Meng did not meet His Highness the Crown Prince, scholars all over the world were already talking about His Highness the Crown Prince. Now that it is known that the officials under His Royal Highness the Crown Prince have cheated and concealed corruption and bribery, scholars all over the world have some doubts about His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.
Although His Highness the Crown Prince was not found to be corrupt, his officials were corrupt. Did his officials really not use embezzled money to please His Highness the Crown Prince? Is His Royal Highness really ignorant? Could it be that His Highness the Crown Prince instigated Da Sinong Cheng to be corrupt...
Most scholars do not believe that His Highness the Crown Prince is innocent. Even if His Highness the Crown Prince is not corrupt, they believe that His Highness the Crown Prince is aware of the corruption and bribery of Da Sinong Cheng, and it is impossible for him to be unaware of it at all. If His Highness the Crown Prince really had no idea, then he would be too useless as a Crown Prince.
Besides, if His Highness the Crown Prince is really innocent, the Emperor will not punish him to face the wall and think about his mistakes. His Royal Highness was definitely involved, but because he was the crown prince of Zhou Dynasty, the emperor was concerned about his face, so he said he was not guilty.
Not all scholars are nerds who can only read to death. Most students are not only good at reading, but also have some knowledge of court affairs. This time, they believe that the corruption and bribery of the great minister, Nongcheng Zhang Nan, will never be as simple as the investigation results.
Regardless of whether His Highness the Crown Prince was corrupt or not, he certainly allowed his subordinates to be corrupt. How can such a prince be respected by scholars all over the world? How can such a prince convince and reassure the people of the world?
Since Dai Wang put down the rebellion in Liangzhou, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's reputation among the people has not been as good as Dai Wang's. In the past few years, King Dai has not gone out to quell the chaos, nor has he done anything particularly big, but his reputation is still higher than that of His Royal Highness.
When it comes to His Highness Dai Wang, the common people at least know that Dai Wang often used to quell rebellions outside, helping the court regain cities that were occupied by the rebels, and saving the people who were bullied by the rebels. When it comes to His Royal Highness, the people can't remember what he has done for a while, they only know that he is a filial person.
In recent years, the most famous prince among the people is not His Royal Highness the King, nor His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, but His Royal Highness the Tenth Prince. Because Zhao Yao made Quyuanli, his reputation among the people suddenly improved a lot. In other words, in the past few years, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's reputation among the people has not been as good as Zhao Yao.
His Highness Prince Dai and Marquis Xuanping have been slandering His Highness the Crown Prince in recent years. Although most of the rumors are false and scholars do not believe it, the corruption of ink by the great minister Nongcheng Zhang Nan has made scholars doubtful. Are the previous rumors about the prince's bad fortune true?
Because of this incident, His Highness the Crown Prince's reputation among the people has deteriorated a lot. Of course, there are still many people who believe that His Royal Highness is innocent.
To His Highness Daiwang and Marquis Xuanping, it is not important at all that His Highness the Crown Prince's reputation has deteriorated among the people. The result they wanted was for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Duke Zhen to be severely punished. Of course, they also knew in their hearts that bringing down Zhang Nan would make it impossible for the prince to step down. However, at least he could bite a piece of flesh from His Highness the Crown Prince and Duke Zhen. However, the emperor calmly asked His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Duke Zhen to think about their faults.
What's the use of thinking about it in front of the wall? It won't hurt His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Duke Zhen Guo at all. This is not the result that His Highness Dai Wang and Marquis Xuanping want.
Because of this matter, His Highness the Prince of Dai got so angry that he broke many things in the palace. Marquis Xuanping also felt unhappy, but what's the use?
"Father is actually protecting the crown prince like this." His Highness, Prince Dai, looked unhappy and raised his hand to hit the table table hard. The tea cup on the table fell to the ground. "Without the prince's order and the prince's connivance, Zhang Nan wouldn't dare to take bribes even if he had a thousand courages."
His Highness Dai Wang stood up angrily and said: "A total of fifty thousand guan, fifty thousand guan! Father actually spared the prince so easily!" The more Dai Wang spoke, the angrier he became, and his face turned red with anger. He gritted his teeth and said, "Maybe it's more than 50,000 guan, maybe 100,000 guan. My father actually doesn't hold the prince accountable. Is my father blind?"
"Your Highness, be careful what you say." Marquis Xuanping hurriedly reminded His Highness Dai Wang to pay attention to his words, "Your Highness, you cannot speak of the Emperor like that."
His Highness Prince Dai didn't pay any attention to Marquis Xuanping's warning, and continued to say angrily: "Father is not old yet, are you starting to get old and confused now?"
"Your Highness!" Marquis Xuanping couldn't help but raise his voice and warned His Highness Dai Wang, "Be careful what you say!"
His Royal Highness Dai Wang said nonchalantly: "This is what my palace is afraid of."
"Your Highness, even if it is your palace, you have to be careful that the walls have ears."
His Highness the King of Dai said with a look of disdain: "What I just said, if someone complains to the Emperor Father, I will say the same thing in front of the Emperor Father."
When the Marquis of Xuanping heard what His Highness Dai Wang said, he knew that he had been so angry that he had lost his mind.
"Your Highness, the Emperor is not a confused person."
"If my father is not stupid, then why did he let the prince go?" His Highness Daiwang said, and sneered, "Just because the prince is the crown prince of Da Zhou, and in order to worry about the face of the prince and Da Zhou, my father can only pretend Confused."
Marquis Xuanping sighed lightly and said, "It's not impossible. After all, the prince is personally appointed by the emperor."
The eldest son of the Xuanping Hou Mansion continued his father's words and said: "Your Highness, my father is right. It is impossible for the emperor not to know that the man behind Zhang Nan's corruption is the prince, but he did not punish the prince severely because of the face of Zhou Dynasty."
"For the sake of Zhou's face, let the prince go like this?" King Dai sneered, "If the prince does something more egregious than this in the future, will my father still protect the prince for the sake of Zhou's face?"
"No, with the emperor's temper, he will only forgive the prince once. If the prince is still greedy in the future, the emperor will never forgive him lightly." I hate those who are corrupt. This time Zhang Nan embezzled 50,000 yuan in bribes and implicated many ministers. This has offended the emperor, and the emperor will never allow the prince to offend a second time."
He added: "As long as the prince is greedy again in the future, the emperor will never be polite and will definitely issue an order to depose the prince."
After hearing this, His Highness the Prince's angry and ugly expression softened slightly.
"Is this really going to happen?"
"Yes. Your Highness, you have forgotten that the emperor does not like the prince, and has not been very satisfied with the prince." Xuanping Hou patiently told His Highness Dai Wang, "On the surface, the prince is in peace this time, but he It’s no longer possible in the emperor’s heart.”
The prince of the Xuanping Hou Mansion echoed: "Through this incident, the emperor must be more and more dissatisfied with the prince, so your highness, you don't need to be so angry."
Hearing what Marquis Xuanping and his son said, the anger in the heart of His Highness Prince Dai disappeared instantly.
"So, our hard work was not in vain this time."
"No, on the contrary, we did very well this time." Xuan Pinghou said with a smile, "We won this time."
Upon hearing this, King Dai raised his lips and smiled: "That's good." He asked again, "Uncle, what should we do next, take the opportunity to add fuel to the fire?"
"Your Highness, the Crown Prince's people are going to deal with us next, and we have to be prepared to deal with it." Marquis Xuanping frowned, with worry in his eyes, "We made the Crown Prince and Duke Zhen suffer such a big loss this time, they It’s impossible not to fight back.”
Dai Wang was not too worried: "Our people are not as greedy for money as Zhang Nan."
"Your Highness, not all of our people have clean hands and feet." Marquis Xuanping had been fighting with Duke Zhen for decades, and he still had some understanding of Duke Zhen's temperament and methods. "With Duke Yaizhen's vengeance, they will never let us have an easy time after they suffered such a big setback this time. With his methods, he may make us suffer even worse than they did."
King Dai didn't take it seriously and said: "He has been under house arrest by his father in the Duke's Mansion, facing the wall and thinking about his mistakes. What else can he do?"
"Zhen Guo Gong is full of tricks. Even if he is imprisoned in Zhen Guo Gong's mansion, he still has the means to retaliate against us." Xuanping Hou suffered many losses from Zhen Guo Gong and was very wary of Zhen Guo Gong's revenge. "Next, we must increase our vigilance and we must not take it lightly."
The eldest son of the Xuanping Hou Mansion still looked disdainful when he saw King Dai, and couldn't help but remind him: "Your Highness, have you forgotten how the Duke of Zhen Guo failed to get you to add beads before?"
As soon as this matter was mentioned, Dai Wang's face turned gloomy.
"Uncle, you are right, you must be wary of Duke Zhen."
Xuanpinghou and his son discussed carefully with Dai Wang.
After discussing it, Xuanpinghou and his son left the Prince Dai's Mansion. Before leaving, Marquis Xuanping reminded the king not to forget to reward Wei Yan. It was thanks to Wei Yan that Zhang Nan was defeated this time.
Marquis Xuanping felt that Wei Yan was talented and suggested that the king should reuse him, maybe he could do great things in the future.
King Dai did not forget to reward Wei Yan generously. After hearing the reminder from Marquis Xuanping, he sent Fuzhong to go find Wei Yan personally with the things. King Dai was very generous and rewarded Wei Yan with a hundred gold, some fabrics, and a set of precious Four Treasures of the Study.
That night, Wei Yan quietly went to a secret house in Bei City to meet with the Eighth Prince. He reported to the eighth prince exactly what the king had said to him.
The eighth prince was not surprised at all that the acting king wanted to reuse Wei Yan. Wei Yan has made such a great contribution this time, it would be strange that King Dai and Marquis Xuanping did not reuse him.
The eighth prince asked Wei Yan to help King Dai and make him more valued by King Dai and Marquis Xuanping.
"Your Highness, what are we going to do next? Shall we strike while the iron is hot?" Wei Yan's so-called striking while the iron is hot means continuing to deal with the prince's people.
The Eighth Prince said calmly: "Don't do anything."
Wei Yan and Lin Xueyi both looked puzzled when they heard this. The two asked in unison: "Why?"
"No matter how hard we strike while the iron is hot, we can't do anything to the Crown Prince and the Duke for the time being." The Eighth Prince rubbed the rim of the tea cup and said meaningfully, "The time has not come yet, and my father will not severely punish the Crown Prince and the Duke for the time being."
Wei Yan and Lin Xueyi looked puzzled: "The time has not come yet?"
"We don't want to do anything. Let the prince and the king continue to bite each other." The eighth prince was not surprised at all when the emperor punished the prince and the Duke of Zhen for thinking about their mistakes. The eighth prince would find it strange if the emperor severely punished the prince and the duke this time. "Next, the court will be very lively." With the temperament of the Duke of Zhen, it is impossible not to avenge this time.
Wei Yan and Lin Xueyi saw that the Eighth Prince did not say when the time was, so they did not continue to ask. After chatting with the eighth prince for a while, they left.
As soon as their front legs left, Wang Siqi's rear legs arrived.
Early tomorrow morning, Wang Siqi will personally go to the Western Regions with the purpose of snatching the Yuan family's business.
The Wang family, Xun family and Xie family all received the news that the second son of the Yuan family had died. Of course they would not miss such a good opportunity. There is a saying that if you are sick and kill you, if something happens to the Yuan family, other aristocratic families will naturally take this opportunity to annex the Yuan family's business in the Western Regions.
Previously, a lot of their business in the Western Regions was taken away by the second son of the Yuan family. Now that something happened to him, of course they want to get him back.
"Yuan Han has already rushed to the Western Regions, but it will take half a month at the earliest."
The Eighth Prince's eyes were filled with coldness: "When he arrives, it will be his death."
Wang Siqi came up with a plan and asked, "Your Highness, do you want to frame the Xie family and the Xun family?"
"It's useless, the Yuan family won't believe it." Although the four major aristocratic families in the capital usually have a competitive relationship, they have a rule in private, which is not to kill each other's legitimate son.
As a concubine, Wang Siqi didn't know about this rule.
"I have already made arrangements. The Yuan family will find out that it was someone from King Youxian who did it." The eighth prince's goal was not to let the aristocratic families bite each other, but to break up King Youxian and the Yuan family.
Wang Siqi was not curious to ask the eighth prince how he arranged it. He knew in his heart that there were some things that he could know and some things that he could not know. If His Highness wanted him to know, he would definitely tell him how to arrange it. However, His Highness did not say anything, which means that this matter is not something he can know.
"Your Highness, where is King Chen?"
"When Yuan Han dies, King Chen will be next." Although King Chen and the Eighth Prince are brothers, King Chen has the blood of the Yuan family in his body, so he must die. "Any news on that thing?"
Wang Siqi knew what the eighth prince was asking about, so he shook his head and said, "There is still no news."
The Eighth Prince frowned slightly and asked, "Is there no news at all from Shu?"
"No." Wang Siqi said, "Han Zhong thought that what the Pei family hid was a treasure map, and he didn't know what it was."
"Where did Han Zhong hear about the treasure map? Have you checked it out?" The fact that the Pei family has a treasure map cannot be groundless. Han Zhong must have heard something somewhere.
"This was found out. It is said that Han Zhong rescued an old eunuch when he was fleeing. The old eunuch told him before he died." Wang Siqi reported truthfully, "The old eunuch told Han Zhong that the treasure map of the Pei family is from the south. Wei’s treasure.”
"Old eunuch?"
"This old eunuch was a eunuch who cleaned the imperial garden in the previous dynasty, so he heard some unknown things."
The Eighth Prince asked calmly: "Is there anything else?"
"No more. The most important thing the old eunuch knows is this." Wang Siqi knew what the eighth prince wanted to know most, but unfortunately the old eunuch didn't know.
The Eighth Prince tapped the belly of the tea cup with his fingers, and said with a thoughtful face, "Where is that thing?"
"Your Highness, I'm afraid that thing is gone long ago." Wang Siqi felt that that thing might have disappeared from this world long ago. "That thing is not very important to you, why do you keep trying to find it?"
The Eighth Prince sighed lightly and said: "That thing belongs to the Southern Wei Dynasty after all. Keep looking."
"Don't worry, Your Highness, I will always send people to inquire." After Wang Siqi finished speaking, he thought of what happened in Shu and asked, "Your Highness, the eldest prince's side is about to be overwhelmed. Should we lend a helping hand?"
The Eighth Prince nodded lightly and said, "Help him."
Wang Siqi reported some things to the eighth prince before leaving. He will leave early tomorrow morning, and his family must have something to explain, so he must go back early.
With a click, the Eighth Prince reached out and crushed the tea cup in his hand.
Yu Hai, who was standing aside, saw this and quickly lowered his head to check the eighth prince's hand. Seeing that His Highness's hand was not cut by the tea cup fragments, he breathed a sigh of relief and quickly took out the tea cup fragments from the Eighth Prince's hand.
"Your Highness, be careful and be careful not to cut your hand."
"It's okay, I know it well." The Eighth Prince raised his eyes to look at Yu Hai and ordered, "Tell Lu Hui to be more careful when he strikes, so that King Chen will die more ugly."
"Yes, Your Highness."
The Eighth Prince smiled with unknown meaning: "Now we just wait for Yuan Han to go to the Western Regions."
In the capital, it would be unwise to attack Yuan Han. If Yuan Han is assassinated in the capital, it will definitely cause an uproar and he may be exposed by then, so the best place to kill Yuan Han is in the Western Regions.
Although the Yuan family does business in the Western Regions, they do not have much power in the Western Regions. In addition, there are many people in the Western Regions, and they are all foreigners. The situation is complicated, so it is most suitable to fish in troubled waters and kill Yuan Han.
The fight for the heir is beginning to get intense.
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(End of chapter)
