Xianxia version of Water Margin

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The morning sun shone through the window lattice and sprinkled on Jiang Hongfei's face, bringing a subtle tenderness, but also reflecting the unspeakable regret in his heart.

Jiang Hongfei originally expected that he could meet a wonderful woman like Gulberjin Guowahatun.

However, the reality was like a calm lake, without any ripples.

Queen Mother Ren, Queen Wang and Xixia Queen Cao Xianfei, the three daughters of the Xixia royal family, were as docile as sheep in spring, and agreed to any request of Jiang Hongfei without reservation.

Jiang Hongfei was originally cautiously on guard, fearing that these seemingly weak women would suddenly burst out with amazing power and pull out a sharp dagger from some unknown corner.

But it turned out that Jiang Hongfei's worries were completely unnecessary. Only harmony and tranquility accompanied him throughout the night.

Jiang Hongfei successfully completed his "mission", spent an unforgettable night with these three women, and then fell asleep in their gentle arms.

When he woke up, Jiang Hongfei couldn't help wondering: Aren't those legendary Xixia women known for their strong character, sturdiness, and revenge? Is this just the characteristic of women from the lower class, and these pampered royal daughters are actually no different from women from other countries?

In this doubt, Jiang Hongfei also found a little comfort - Queen Mother Ren, the noble queen mother of Xixia, was still a virgin, and he was the first man she really liked.

This sense of accomplishment made Jiang Hongfei like Queen Mother Ren even more.

It was also because of this that the regret of not meeting a wonderful woman like Gulberjin Guowahatun faded.

And Queen Wang won Jiang Hongfei's favor with her knowledge, intelligence and ability.

Although she was a Dangxiang woman, she had a deep understanding and love of Han culture. The elegance and politeness revealed in her behavior and conversation made Jiang Hongfei feel very cordial.

Jiang Hongfei also knew a good story about Queen Wang.

Once, Xixia Emperor Li Renxiao was furious because his horse stumbled while hunting, and wanted to kill the road builders to vent his anger.

At the critical moment, the food official Ahua stepped forward and advised, "How can you convince the people if you kill people for a horse?"

After returning to the palace, Li Renxiao told Queen Wang about this matter, and Queen Wang rewarded Ahua heavily to encourage ministers to speak out and dare to remonstrate.

Historically, it was with the help of a virtuous wife like Queen Wang that Xixia reached an unprecedented heyday during Li Renxiao's reign, and he was therefore hailed as a "wise monarch".

Although the Queen Mother of Xixia, Concubine Cao Xianfei, was already thirty-three years old, she still had charm, and her mature beauty had a unique charm.

The key is that she was Li Renxiao's biological mother, one of the two queen mothers of Xixia.

As for the other daughters of the Xixia royal family, they also had their own merits.

This made Jiang Hongfei feel regretful but also full of surprises.

With the careful service of Queen Mother Ren, Queen Wang, Concubine Cao and other women, Jiang Hongfei washed and changed his clothes, and then enjoyed a hearty breakfast with them.

The atmosphere at the table was harmonious and warm, just like a family.

After the meal, Queen Mother Ren seemed to be hesitant to speak, and finally she plucked up the courage to make a request to Jiang Hongfei: "I dare to ask the emperor if I can pardon my father and my family members?"

Jiang Hongfei was not surprised by Queen Mother Ren's request.

He knew that the reason why these Xixia royal daughters served him so docilely was not only because of his status, but also because they had their own concerns and expectations in their hearts. They hoped to win a glimmer of life and hope for their family through their own efforts.

However, Jiang Hongfei had his own considerations for Queen Mother Ren's request.

He knew clearly that Ren Dejing was ambitious, and did not know loyalty and gratitude, and would plot against his will once he had the opportunity.

Therefore, he did not intend to let Ren Dejing's family go easily.

But in order not to hurt the feelings of Empress Dowager Ren, he did not directly refuse, but adopted a delaying tactic, saying that he would consider the matter and give an answer as soon as possible.

The Liu Yu family was in the same situation as Ren Dejing.

The iron cavalry of the Yuan Empire encountered the stubborn resistance of the Liu Yu family on the expedition to Xixia.

However, this persistence did not last too long. When the dawn of victory seemed out of reach and the demise of Xixia was a foregone conclusion, the Liu Yu family chose to surrender the city and even served as a guide to lead the Yuan army to the heart of Xingqing Prefecture.

Historically, Liu Yu's name was notorious in the late Northern Song Dynasty. He served as the judicial officer of Hebei West Road, but at the critical moment when the Jin soldiers went south, he chose to abandon his post and flee, leaving his passion and responsibility behind.

Although he was recommended by Zhang Que, Zhao Gou let go of the past and let him take over the post of Jinan prefect again, but Liu Yu's greed and cowardice were once again revealed.

Facing the iron hoof of the Jin people, he not only did not fight back, but also wanted to retreat. He tried to flee to the south of the Yangtze River to protect himself, but was rejected by his ministers, which planted the seeds of resentment.

When the Jin army besieged the city, he killed the brave general Guan Sheng for his own selfish desires, surrendered, and became a pawn in the hands of the Jin people.

After that, Liu Yu went even further. By bribing Wanyan Chang, he was falsely named "Emperor of the Great Qi" by the Jin people and became a loyal running dog of the Jin Kingdom in the Central Plains. He sent his son Liu Lin, nephew Liu Ni, and Song Dynasty rebels Li Cheng, Kong Yanzhou and others to collude with the Jin army, invade the Southern Song Dynasty, and capture Xiangyang and other places, bringing unprecedented crisis to the survival of the Southern Song Dynasty.

Among the enemies faced by famous anti-Jin generals such as Yue Fei, a large part of them were the pseudo-Qi regime established by Liu Yu.

If Liu Yu and others had not helped the tyrant, the Southern Song Dynasty might have been able to recover the lost territory and revive the country.

However, Liu Yu's crimes were far more than that. He implemented brutal rule at home, ruthlessly oppressed and exploited the people of the Central Plains, and plundered the people's fat for the Jin people to satisfy his own selfish desires.

Such behavior is undoubtedly a great betrayal of the nation and the country.

Therefore, Liu Yu's family is regarded as an undisputed traitor and a national sinner.

If Jiang Hongfei had followed his original intention, he would have wanted to cut Liu Yu and his family into pieces to relieve his hatred.

But as an emperor, he knew the importance of clear rewards and punishments, and could not act only on personal likes and dislikes.

Similar problems were not uncommon during Jiang Hongfei's reign.

For example, Kong Yanzhou, a general who defected from the Song Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty when the Yuan army attacked the Southern Song Dynasty, once gave Jiang Hongfei a headache.

At that time, Kong Yanzhou not only led a large army to join the Yuan army, but also helped it capture many important passes and made great military achievements.

However, Jiang Hongfei knew that this man only had interests in his eyes, and had no national justice.

In history, he surrendered directly to the Jin Kingdom for power and was named "Prince of Guangping". Later, he acted recklessly because of greed and lust, and even took his own daughter as a concubine. His behavior was outrageous.

Faced with such a general who had both merits and stains, Jiang Hongfei fell into deep thinking.

He realized that directly dealing with Kong Yanzhou might cause unnecessary disputes and misunderstandings, and might even make him bear the stigma of "unclear rewards and punishments".

So he adopted Wu Yong's suggestion and adopted a more obscure and clever method. Not only did he not punish Kong Yanzhou, but he vigorously promoted him and made him responsible for managing the military supplies of several major military regions in Shaanxi. At the same time, he secretly ordered Shi Xiu to send spies from the Imperial City Division to closely monitor Kong Yanzhou's every move.

As expected, Kong Yanzhou's greedy nature was soon exposed. He used his position to sell off military supplies and enrich himself.

After Jiang Hongfei learned about this, he asked Shi Xiu to take immediate action to arrest Kong Yanzhou and his family and publicly announce his crimes.

In the end, Kong Yanzhou was sentenced to death - burning a sky lantern as a warning to others.

This move not only made Kong Yanzhou get the punishment he deserved, but also won the support and support of the Yuan soldiers, and also demonstrated Jiang Hongfei's wisdom and decisiveness as an emperor.

In dealing with the problems of Ren Dejing and Liu Yu's two families, Jiang Hongfei was also prepared to use this method.

However, based on the little merits of these two families in the past, if they followed the rules, at most Ren Dejing and Liu Yu could only barely serve as deputy positions such as Tongpan and Tongzhi. It was almost impossible for their family members to reach the position of county magistrate.

In such a position, it would be difficult to commit a crime that was enough to confiscate the family and exterminate the clan.

So, he deliberately removed the Ren and Liu families from the amnesty list, leaving them anxious and running around.

Historically, Ren Dejing and Liu Yu were both corrupt people who relied on power and money transactions to get to the top, and their nature was hard to change.

Jiang Hongfei firmly believed that they would never easily give up the opportunity to make a comeback.

In addition, there were undercurrents within the Yuan Empire. Many ministers were greedy and dared to accept bribes from Xixia envoys to obstruct Jiang Hongfei from recovering lost territory and ignore the national justice.

Such termites must be eliminated.

Therefore, Jiang Hongfei not only did not grant amnesty to the Ren and Liu families, but summoned them to Beijing and deliberately ignored them.

During this period, Ren Dejing and Liu Yu were very busy, trying to regain the emperor's favor.

Liu Yu even bribed officials from the Ministry of Rites to send women from his family into the palace, attempting to influence the government through the power of the harem.

Seeing this, Jiang Hongfei took advantage of the situation and first let Ren Dejing serve as the prefect of Quanzhou. Later, because Liu Yu offered his two daughters and four clan girls to him, he promoted Liu Yu to the prefect of Zhengzhou.

However, this was just a trap set by Jiang Hongfei.

In less than half a year, the Jinyiwei collected hard evidence of corruption in Ren Dejing's family, and the amount was staggering.

In order to consolidate his position, Ren Dejing bribed the dignitaries in the court in an attempt to cover up his crimes.

On the other hand, although Liu Yu did not get a rich place, he was not idle. He took advantage of his position to embezzle public funds in projects such as road and railway construction, and even sold official positions to earn ill-gotten gains.

But Liu Yu's ambitions went far beyond this. He secretly colluded with tomb robbers to dig ancient tombs in order to obtain huge wealth.

Gongyi Songling, the imperial tomb that carries the glorious history of the Zhao Song Dynasty, ultimately failed to escape Liu Yu's clutches.

He robbed the tomb in the name of repair and looted all the treasures in the mausoleum.

When the news came out, the people were in an uproar. The people of the Yuan Dynasty were deeply angry about this. They cherished the hard-won peaceful life and did not want to see these termites destroy the foundation of the country.

After the royal family and clan members of the Zhao Song Dynasty learned about this, they were even more sad and angry. They jointly wrote a letter to ask Jiang Hongfei to severely punish Liu Yu.

However, Liu Yu and his family members were still quibbling, trying to exonerate themselves.

They claimed that the Zhao Song Dynasty had perished and the treasures in the Song Mausoleum should not be left, otherwise it would only bring disaster.

Liu Yu only took away the treasures and did not destroy the mausoleum. Instead, he funded the repair and protected the Song Mausoleum to some extent.

However, no matter how Liu Yu quibbled, he could not cover up the heinous crimes he committed.

The Yuan Empire had strict laws against theft.

In fact, not only the Yuan Empire, but also the laws against theft had been implemented since the pre-Qin period.

Whether it is the harsh laws in "Lüshi Chunqiu" or the rule of "grave robbers must be punished" in "Huainanzi", they all demonstrate the zero-tolerance attitude of successive dynasties towards tomb robbery.

The Tang Dynasty's "Tang Law Commentary" made detailed and severe punishment provisions for tomb robbery.

Jiang Hongfei did not personally intervene in the investigation, but handed the collected evidence to the iron-faced and impartial Pei Xuan for handling.

After Pei Xuan took over the case, he quickly launched an investigation and severely punished Liu Yu and his accomplices in accordance with the law.

This case caused a strong response among the people, and the people praised Jiang Hongfei's wise decision.

Although Liu Yu's two daughters and four clan girls also tried to plead for the family, their words seemed pale and powerless in the face of iron evidence.

Jiang Hongfei said to them: "Your family has committed a serious crime that implicates nine clans. You should be careful and low-key recently, otherwise you may be implicated by your family."

When they heard what Jiang Hongfei said, they dared not to plead for Liu Yu's family anymore, and could only retreat obediently.

In the end, Liu Yu's family could not escape the punishment of the law and was confiscated and exterminated.

The treasures in the Song Mausoleum were also recovered and handed over to Jiang Hongfei's private vault, becoming Jiang Hongfei's collection.

On the other hand, Ren Dejing's family also committed a huge crime of corruption. Not only that, Ren Dejing also bribed court officials.

His crime is not small.

But after all, blood is thicker than water.

It is reasonable for Queen Mother Ren to ask Jiang Hongfei for mercy.

Jiang Hongfei knew that Queen Mother Ren was very worried about her family's sudden wealth and often wrote letters to warn Ren Dejing and her clansmen, but Ren Dejing and her clansmen did not listen.

For a woman like Queen Mother Ren who is so righteous, Jiang Hongfei must not send her away with a few words.

Jiang Hongfei patiently analyzed the pros and cons to Queen Mother Ren, pointing out that Ren Dejing was extremely greedy and had embezzled tens of millions of yuan in just half a year. If he continued, the foundation of the Yuan Empire would be in jeopardy. He also pointed out that Ren Dejing was not only extremely evil, but also intended to erode the foundation of the empire, and he should be executed.

What made Jiang Hongfei happy was that Queen Mother Ren was also a person who could distinguish right from wrong.

She knew that the crimes committed by her family were unforgivable, but she also hoped that Jiang Hongfei would show some leniency and not exterminate the Ren family.

In the end, at the request of Queen Mother Ren, Jiang Hongfei decided to only execute the main culprit, Ren Dejing and his three key clan members, and issued an order that the Ren family would never be employed again as a punishment.

The matter came to an end.

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