Chapter 1143: Plan Failed, the Emperor's Thoughts

He slept until three o'clock in the morning.

It was a rare opportunity to rest, and Su Mingzhe naturally wanted to sleep well since he didn't have to pay his respects to Jia Zheng, Mrs. Wang, and Lady Jia.

When Su Mingzhe opened his eyes, he saw Qingwen and Xiren leaning against him on his left and right, chatting in low voices.

"Baoyu is awake?!"

When Xiren saw that her second master had woken up, she happily asked him about his health. When she learned that Su Mingzhe was a little hungry, she went out to get him some food.

Su Mingzhe wanted to call her, but Qingwen stopped him with a look.

After Xiren left, Qingwen finally spoke:

"My dear Lord Bao, things are not going well!"

Su Mingzhe asked in surprise:
"What's wrong?"

Qingwen looked a little embarrassed and explained:

"This Daqing is in the midst of prosperity. There are actually two golden dragons of luck in the imperial palace. I can't even get close to the imperial city!"

When Su Mingzhe heard this, he said with disdain:
"You are a Golden Immortal, how can you be afraid of just two golden dragons of luck? Are you kidding me?"

Seeing that the man didn't believe her, Qingwen immediately became anxious and aggrieved:

"My dear Master Bao, have you forgotten who I am?"

Su Mingzhe asked with some doubt:
"Aren't you the goddess of heaven? Do you have another identity?"

"Yes, I am the Lady of the Nine Heavens, so I practice the way of the gods!"

After Qingwen's explanation, Su Mingzhe suddenly understood.

There are five types of immortals: heaven, earth, man, god, and ghost.

A deity like the Queen Mother of the West must have a divine position and her soul must be contaminated by the power of incense.

The soul that has cultivated the power of incense is most afraid of the golden dragon of luck condensed from the fire of the mortal world.

According to legend, when Nuwa learned that Emperor Shang Tang was disrespectful to her, she wanted to punish him, but she found that Shang Tang's fortune was prosperous.

In desperation, Nuwa could only summon the three demons from Xuanyuan Tomb and let them ruin the fortune of the Shang Tang Dynasty, which led to the emperor burning himself to death.

Even a saint of humanity like Nuwa did not dare to face the emperor who was protected by good fortune. The Lady of the West was just a golden immortal, so naturally she did not dare to enter the palace and bring bad luck upon herself.

After Su Mingzhe understood, he could only sigh:
"If I had known this, I would have gone by myself!"

Seeing that she had messed up, Qingwen could only smile awkwardly.

"Forget it. I'll have to think of a way to rescue my eldest sister (Yuanchun) later!"

In the "extermination of traitors" plan implemented by Su Mingzhe yesterday, rescuing Yuanchun from the palace was the most important part.

Now, if Yuanchun is not rescued, it means that half of the plan has failed.

Seeing this, Qingwen asked in a low voice:
"Don't you have a backup plan?"

Yesterday, after hearing that the man had fainted, Qingwen rushed over and found that the man was pretending to faint.

The two had some communication.

Qingwen knew about Su Mingzhe's plan to kill the traitor, and she thought it was very interesting, so she let Su Mingzhe continue lying down while she would finish the plan.

All the plans went extremely smoothly under Qingwen's careful arrangements.

After Zhou Rui's wife was arrested, she exposed the brothers Lai Da and Lai Er (Jia's grandmother's confidants), Lin Zhixiao (Wang Xifeng's confidant), Wu Xindeng (Mrs. Wang) and other housekeepers and managers.

Jia Zheng, who had always been indifferent to worldly affairs, only then realized that the Rongguo Mansion had long been rotten.

As the general managers of Rongguo Mansion and Ningguo Mansion, the brothers Lai Da and Lai Er resold the supplies in the mansion and made a fortune. They also used the name of Rongguo Mansion to take on lawsuits, bully the market, embezzle and accept bribes, etc.

As Wang Xifeng's confidants, Lin Zhixiao and his wife lent money at high interest, took on lawsuits, falsified accounts, and stole treasury silver.

Wu Xindeng and his wife went even further. As the managers of the Rongguo Mansion's treasury, they directly colluded with those in charge and used the Rongguo Mansion's money to lend it out.

When Jia Zheng heard that his wife was running his home in such a mess, he almost died of anger.

What a coincidence.

The prefect of Chang'an received a report from the Rongguo Mansion and arrested Leng Zixing. After questioning, he uncovered some major cases and then sent people to the Rongguo Mansion to bring Zhou Rui's family to trial.

As a result, all the dilapidated affairs of the Rongguo family were exposed.

According to Su Mingzhe's plan, the secret affairs of the masters in Rongguo Mansion would be exposed by several housekeepers. When the case shocked Chang'an City, the emperor would be furious and take away all the honors and bring the Jia Mansion down to earth.

At this critical moment, Su Mingzhe stepped forward, turned the tide and became the savior of the Jia family.

Unfortunately, plans did not change quickly.

Qingwen was unable to enter the palace, which disrupted the plan.

"Now we can only wait and see what the emperor and his son think!"

At this moment, in the East Palace of the Imperial City.

Emperor Longqing is being trained by the Emperor Retired:

"Your Majesty, as a ruler, you should promote benevolence. The servants of Rongguo Mansion are taking advantage of the power of others and doing all kinds of evil things. You should just arrest them. How can you hold the master of the house responsible for the wrongdoings of the servants?"

"If you punish the Jia family today because of the servants of Rongguo Mansion, have you ever thought about what other nobles will think?"

"Have you ever thought about it?"

Emperor Longqing responded to the admonition repeatedly.

Seeing his son's submissive look, the emperor didn't know what to say, so he could only sigh and say:

"I heard that Jia Zheng's second son, Jia Ying, recently developed a pill called Pei Yuan Dan, which can make up for congenital deficiencies. Princesses Yongning and Yongan have been ill since they were young, right? Go and ask Jia Zheng to hand over the pill formula, and also give some of the Pei Yuan Dan. Let's stop the punishment on the Jia family here."

Emperor Longqing had expected this and was not surprised by the arrangement made by the retired emperor.

Just as he was about to say goodbye and leave, he suddenly seemed to remember something, so he turned around and asked again:
"What should we do with the evil servants in the Jia Mansion?"

The emperor looked up at the emperor seriously, was silent for a moment, and then spoke:

"These evil servants did not fulfill their duties, but instead rebelled against their master. They should be punished according to the law of the country!"

"Then I'll do it right away!"

After receiving the instructions, Emperor Longqing left the Eastern Palace and met Jiang Li, the prefect of Chang'an, who had been waiting for a long time.

"Let's go back to Linjing Palace first."

The Linjing Hall is located in the Daming Palace, and the Daming Palace is located northwest of the East Palace.

Surrounded by many palace servants, he returned to the Linjing Palace.

Emperor Longqing called his trusted eunuch Xia Shouzhong and told him the retired emperor's intention.

"Daban, go to Rongguo Mansion first and take care of the Peiyuan Pill. After you're done, remember to go to the East Palace to report to the Emperor."

Xia Shouzhong quickly agreed to go out of the palace to do his job.

Jiang Li was about to leave, but he was stopped by Emperor Longqing:

"The Emperor said that the servants of the Rong and Ning mansions 'did not fulfill their duties, but instead rebelled against their masters and need to be dealt with according to the law.' Do you know what to do?"

Jiang Li was stunned for a moment, then said:

"Your Majesty, according to the Daqing Law, if slaves collude and rebel against their masters, their property will be confiscated, the ringleader will be beheaded, and the rest will be executed along their entire family. Those under the age of majority will be exiled to the border as slaves!"

Emperor Longqing listened and nodded with satisfaction:
"Then let's do it according to the law!"

Jiang Li received the order and slowly left the hall.

When they walked to a deserted place, Jiang Li's forehead suddenly broke out in cold sweat.

According to the Daqing Code, slaves who rebelled against their masters were actually divided into different levels.

Cases like the one involving the Rongguo family could only be considered medium-level, meaning they were a little more serious than the average case, but not serious enough to warrant the execution of the entire family.

However, when Emperor Longqing relayed the retired emperor's advice on how to deal with the matter, he changed "evil servants" to "slaves" and "just deal with them according to the laws of the country" to "need to be dealt with according to the laws of the country"!
The evil servant has to take responsibility for his own actions, and since he has signed an indenture, his free family members should not be implicated.

And when the servants do things, it is collusion, it is a gang crime, and it is bound to implicate innocent people.

The word "that's enough" said by the emperor also means not to escalate the matter.

But Emperor Longqing did not relay these two words.

In this way, the emperor's intentions were largely distorted by Emperor Longqing.

Jiang Li returned to the Chang'an government office and quickly wrote a fire warrant, asking the detectives to go to the Rong and Ning mansions to arrest people.

(End of this chapter)