Daughter of aristocratic family

Chapter 460 Countermeasures
After Deng Baoying left, Deng Hongying's life became much better. Half a month later, Zheng Jin found a suitable house and moved out. He thanked Yun Hao solemnly and specifically stated, "I will hold the home-warming party after my wife settles down in Beijing."

Yun Hao also said politely: "If you need any help, just let me know."

"Thank you. I'll definitely come and bother you if I need anything." Zheng Jin said gratefully. It was also thanks to Yun Hao that he was able to gain a foothold in the capital.

After seeing Zheng Jin off, Zhao Wangshu asked the maid to clean up the guest house, put the decorations in order, and send them to the warehouse.

At the end of the month, during the morning court session, the Dali Temple Minister came out to report, "Your Majesty, after our in-depth investigation, Wu Nan's crimes are beyond doubt. There is sufficient evidence and witness testimony for each of the crimes of bribery, embezzlement, and abuse of power."

After a pause, the Dali Temple Minister continued, "Marquis Yongchang also participated."

Although Wu Nan is also the younger brother of Concubine Jing, the emperor values ​​Marquis Yongchang more and trusts him more.

Hearing that Yongchang Marquis was also involved, the emperor's face suddenly became gloomy, and he said in a deep voice: "Present the evidence."

Prince Zuo was secretly resentful when he saw Marquis Yongchang's face change. They all knew that the Dali Temple Minister was investigating Wu Nan, but he hadn't cleaned up the mess yet. Now, Marquis Yongchang was also implicated.

Then what was the point of him and his mother bowing down before Concubine Jing and Marquis Yongchang and enduring humiliation to marry Wu Lin'er, who had a bad reputation?
Although he was dissatisfied with Marquis Yongchang in his heart, he did not dare to show it at this time and could only wait and see.

The Dali Temple Minister respectfully handed a thick stack of files to the eunuch beside the emperor, who then handed them to the emperor.

The emperor opened the file and read it carefully page by page. His brows furrowed tighter and tighter, and the anger on his face grew more and more intense.

Each piece of evidence recorded in detail the crimes of Wu Nan and Yongchang Hou. Whether it was the gold, silver and jewelry accepted as bribes or the consequences of abuse of power, all were shocking.

After reading all the files, the emperor glared at Yongchang Hou and said, "Wu Lin, you have betrayed my trust in you."

In fact, when the censor impeached Wu Nan, Marquis Yongchang was already doing the aftermath, but the goose has left traces, and with the Dali Temple keeping an eye on Wu Nan, there was actually very little he could do.

"I know my crime." Marquis Yongchang knew he had no way to defend himself, so he knelt down and said.

"Wu Lin, the Marquis of Yongchang, abused his power for his own selfish reasons, accepted bribes, disregarded the laws of the court, and disregarded the lives of the people. Considering your father's great military exploits for the Daliang, I will spare you the death penalty, confiscate your property, and demote you to a commoner.

"Wu Nan is guilty of heinous crimes. Effective immediately, he will be stripped of his official position, his property will be confiscated, and he will be exiled to the frontier. Dali Temple Minister, you are responsible for supervising the execution." The emperor's voice was cold and firm.

There was silence in the hall, and everyone was shocked by the emperor's decision.

They did not expect that the emperor would handle the matter so decisively, nor did they expect that Marquis Yongchang would be punished so severely.

One of the ministers was the first to come to his senses and shouted, "Your Majesty is wise and impartial. The world is fortunate!"

Other ministers also quickly echoed and agreed with the emperor's decision.

The emperor glanced at everyone and a hint of satisfaction flashed in his eyes.

The Dali Temple Minister immediately received the order, stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, I will enforce the law impartially and live up to your expectations."

"Okay, I believe you." The emperor nodded. "I hope you can learn from today's events. The laws of the court cannot be violated. The lives of the people are more important than Mount Tai. If anyone commits the same offense again, they will be severely punished!" All the ministers responded in unison: "Your Highness, we will obey your instructions!"

Wu Lin was dragged away by the guards. The emperor dealt with a few important state affairs and then retired from court.

Yongchang Marquis became a commoner, and Prince Zuo once again lost the support of his wife's family. He was extremely angry. He maintained his gentlemanly demeanor outside, but when he returned to the palace, he flew into a rage, "They are targeting me, this is simply too much! I must let them know the price of offending me!"

He pounded the table in anger. The maids and guards in the palace all lowered their heads in fear, not daring to breathe.

Mr. Zeng, the chief counselor of Prince Zuo, stepped forward to comfort him: "Your Majesty, calm down, calm down. Being angry at this time will only make things worse."

"Then tell me, what should I do now?" Prince Zuo asked with gritted teeth.

"Your Highness, they attacked Marquis Yongchang, so we can also attack their people and give them a taste of their own medicine." Mr. Zeng analyzed calmly.

Prince Zuo's eyes flashed with ruthlessness, "You are right, we should let them have a taste of this. However, we cannot act blindly, we must have a thorough plan."

Mr. Zeng smiled slightly. He knew that Prince Zuo had regained his sanity. "Your Highness, I have drawn up a preliminary plan for you."

Prince Zuo nodded and motioned for Mr. Zeng to continue.

"Among the four regents, Ling Ze seems to be the leader, but Yun Hao is actually the key figure. He is the youngest, but he is the most trusted by His Majesty. If Yun Hao can be overthrown, the prince's great cause can be accomplished."

"Yun Hao is a tough opponent. You should remember that I deliberately sent him to investigate Marquis Jingbian, but he got rid of Yang Zheng and became friends with Marquis Jingbian. Zheng Jin, the deputy general beside Marquis Jingbian, lived in the Yun family after entering Beijing. Mr. Zeng, Yun Hao is not easy to deal with." Prince Zuo would rather win over Yun Hao than get rid of him.

The reason why he thought he could win over Yun Hao was that he was misled by Wu Lin'er.

"Your Highness is absolutely right. I have not thought it through enough." A gleam of light flashed in Mr. Zeng's eyes.

As a subordinate, you cannot be too smart or too stupid, you have to strike the right balance.

He deliberately wanted to get rid of Yun Hao in order to demonstrate the "wisdom" of Prince Zuo.

"Ling Ze has a high reputation in the court and has served as the chief examiner twice. He has many students and is also difficult to deal with. Yao Bin is the son-in-law of the emperor. With Princess Pingyang around, my father will tolerate him and will not punish him. Minister Li is upright and reckless. There are not many ministers in the court who are on good terms with him. If he had not made great contributions, he would not have become the Minister of War."

Prince Zuo analyzed them one by one and said, "Let's talk about Minister Li. His foundation is the shallowest. If we can make him commit a serious crime and bring him down, we can take the opportunity to arrange for our people to take over."

"Your Highness is wise." Mr. Zeng nodded slightly, expressing his agreement with Prince Zuo's plan.

"Minister Li is a relatively honest official, but he has a son who loves to go in and out of brothels. His behavior is unruly and he often stirs up trouble. This is our breakthrough point." Prince Zuo raised the corner of his mouth slightly, as if he had seen the dawn of victory.

“What the prince means is…” Mr. Zeng already understood Prince Zuo’s intention, but he still pretended to be stupid.

"We can devise a plan to get Minister Li's legitimate son into even greater trouble. Then, Minister Li will inevitably be implicated. Once his reputation is ruined, we will have our chance." Prince Zuo said complacently.

"Your Highness, this is a brilliant plan." Mr. Zeng exclaimed.