allonlinenovel Chapter 378: Ancient Dimension, Cannon Fodder Jin 6, Whose Marriage Was Snatched Away by His Cousin
Chapter 378: Ancient Dimension, Cannon Fodder Jin 6, Whose Marriage Was Snatched Away by His Cousin
When the previous king was fighting for the throne, King Zhao was still young and had not been involved in the deep swamp of political intrigue. In addition, his mother's family was weak and not prominent in the government, so he escaped death in that bloody power reshuffle.
However, the late emperor at that time, in order to avoid giving people a reason to criticize him for slaughtering all his brothers, instead of punishing him, he conferred the title of King Zhao on him and allowed him to stay in the capital and continue to enjoy prosperity.
They were even allowed to attend court and participate in state affairs after they came of age.
During the struggle for the throne in the area of the late emperor, the surviving younger brothers were all crowned kings and kept in the capital because they were either too young, their mother's family was in decline, or they supported the late king.
King Zhao was in the middle of it all, but he was kind and respectful to his king, so he didn't stand out at all.
As for Xiao Jingyuan, after he took charge of the court, he was given an even more obedient and cowardly impression, and would immediately kneel down and beg for mercy if he showed any bias.
Who would have thought that only dogs that don't bark bite? King Zhao actually did a lot of trouble without making any noise.
The incident happened more than twenty years after Xiao Jingyuan came to power.
At that time, as an emperor, Xiao Jingyuan not only had an empty harem, but also had no offspring in the world. In order to ensure the continuation of the royal bloodline and to prevent the ministers from bleeding on the dragon pillar, Xiao Jingyuan finally issued an edict.
All the young and innocent children among the royal family were summoned to gather in the imperial city.
King Zhao's grandson was also among the children summoned into the palace.
The child was handsome, but his temperament did not match the image of a good-natured man like King Zhao. He was too naughty and became the most unruly and outspoken among the children.
Especially in his words, he has revealed his desire for imperial power, as if he is just waiting for the right opportunity to seize it for himself.
Xiao Jingyuan originally planned to have the inner court send back these children who did not pass the review, and only keep a few children to educate them carefully.
On the contrary, the flamboyant child started to talk nonsense during the tug of war, and used a secret and intriguing matter as a capital to show off and made it public.
It wouldn't have mattered if this matter could have been suppressed, but it was heard directly by the people in the Grand Princess's Mansion, who reported it directly to the Emperor.
This is a case about the imperial merchant family, which was replaced more than ten years ago.
Only then did Xiao Jingyuan hear a secret. It turned out that Shi Shushu, the Crown Prince's Consort of Prince Zhao's Mansion, who was said to have married into Prince Zhao's Mansion with all her wealth, was not the original daughter of the Shi family.
There was even a case of substitutionary marriage. The only daughter of the Shi family had been murdered before her marriage. The Crown Princess of Prince Zhao's Mansion was actually from another family.
Either relying on the Zhaowang Mansion, or perhaps he himself was very scheming, he managed to steal such wealth and step into the gate of the Zhaowang Mansion, and the Zhaowang Mansion was well aware of this.
If it was just this one incident, and someone complained, the scheming Crown Princess would naturally be severely punished. However, the current situation was not as simple as it seemed, and there was another problem.
The so-called imperial merchants’ main responsibility is naturally to provide various supplies to the palace. They are more like the royal family’s “material stewards”. How can they allow others to covet such an important place?
But even Ling Jiuxiao knew that after the Shi family became related by marriage to Prince Zhao's Mansion, they withdrew from the ranks of imperial merchants, and at most they were just trying to seize other people's property.
In fact, all of this can be put on the head of the Crown Prince's wife, and there will be no loss to Prince Zhao's Mansion.
However, Xiao Jingyuan didn't think so. Since an honest man revealed his dishonest nature, he naturally had to investigate thoroughly. This could be considered a lesson for him.
Therefore, after investigation, it was found that what Prince Zhao's Mansion did was not limited to this. The Shi family withdrew from the list of imperial merchants, and all those industries that were rich enough to rival a country were sold for cash.
It has only been thirteen years since the Crown Prince's wife married into Prince Zhao's Mansion, and only one tenth of the Shi family's assets remain. This is extremely problematic.
Not to mention, after repeated investigations by the people sent by Xiao Jingyuan, they discovered that the Jian family, which is still ranked as an imperial merchant, originally had many descendants, but now all of their descendants have died, leaving only one daughter.
Moreover, the eldest son of the prince was only twelve years old, and the girl from the Jian family was already 16 years old, but he still forced a marriage contract with her.
Obviously, he was greedy for the wealth of another imperial merchant.
Such a huge amount of wealth could not be found in the account books of Prince Zhao's Mansion. Xiao Jingyuan knew the secret of Prince Zhao's Mansion after just a little thought.
How could the Zhao Palace be so despicable as to resort to murder for money and to eat up the merchants' wealth?
Family like the Shi family and the Jian family, who don't have any strong backing or powerful clans, only have good business talent. They just need to reap the fruits of their labor at the most appropriate stage?
The elderly Prince Zhao of Zhao's mansion had not thought of this either. He originally thought that if the matter was exposed, he would only need to poison the greedy princess and make her mute and send her to take the blame.
But who would have thought that His Majesty would follow the clues and discover his deepest secret...
Originally, he was greedy, but after he actually got so much wealth, he became even more greedy, for example, recruiting soldiers and launching a coup.
Unfortunately, King Zhao only saved his money and dared not call up soldiers, but he bred countless war horses...
Xiao Jingyuan was furious in the court. He used the tragedy of Huang Shangshi's family as ironclad evidence and issued an edict.
The people in Prince Zhao's palace attempted to seize the property of merchants and secretly raised war horses and forged weapons. This was regarded as a serious crime of treason, and they were stripped of all honors, all their property was confiscated, and they were demoted to commoners. This also affected several generations and was strictly forbidden from entering the official career.
In light of the lesson of this oversight, Xiao Jingyuan learned his lesson and felt deeply the urgency of checks and balances of power. He took drastic measures and carefully planned to establish the "Suzhengsi".
This department is like a sword hanging high above the imperial court. No matter whether it is the royal relatives with noble status or the civil and military officials with great power and authority, no one can escape its exposure.
It aims to thoroughly investigate all abuses of power and correct every sign of corruption and abuse of power, which has led to many subsequent unjust cases being overturned.
Now, knowing the time, Xiao Jingyuan could recall accurately that this was the time when the greed of Prince Zhao's Mansion first began to arise.
The only daughter of the family at that time should still be alive.