Houfu Key Class

"One hundred thousand taels?" Xu Wan looked at the old lady.

This number is too high. If she is not even tempted by this price, it means that this is not something that can be solved by money. I am afraid that Tongya is just a tool for them to exchange power.

That night, the outside was in full swing, but the Marquis's Mansion was very quiet.

After He Zheng's accident, Madam He came to visit. She said that Minister He also knew about it, but was busy with self-examination and had no time to take care of He Zheng. She told him to be honest recently and not to get involved in this matter.

He Zheng was relieved when he heard that he was not going to break his legs. Good father!

The next morning, the prince called Jincheng away again.

The old lady finally felt something was wrong. She asked Xu Wan: "At this juncture, Jincheng is not an important witness. Why does His Highness always call him over?"

Xu Wan thought, it shouldn't be that simple.

There was a mystery between the prince and Jincheng, and the child was tight-lipped, so she couldn't ask anything.

After a day and night of interrogation, the government finally located more than a hundred girls who had received guests. Since there were many officials involved in the case, calling them all in for identification would cause a big commotion, so the prince ordered people to draw their portraits.

When the little devil came in, he heard the official say: "Another adult was identified, identified by seven girls, and all were interrogated separately."

The list of portraits in front of the prince became longer and longer, from the dozen people that Tong Ya originally said to dozens of people.

There were thousands of officials in the court, big and small, plus those with titles, the number was huge. But the people who were pulled out of the dance house were almost all of high status, and the interests involved were obvious.

Zong Jincheng said blankly: "There are so many bad officials..."

The prince barely slept that night, and it felt like he had to work hard to cough a few times. He chuckled and said: "Are you scared?"

Zong Jincheng shook his head: "No, I'm just angry. I think they are paid by the king, but not only do not do anything for the people, but also take the lead in doing evil. It's really hateful."

The prince hummed and said: "They use the girls in the underworld as a tool to exchange power. They have lost their humanity and regard the king's law as nothing. It's really hateful."

There was no one else in the room, and the little devil walked to his side He asked, "Then, Your Highness, how will these people be dealt with? I went back yesterday and looked up the law. It says that anyone who bullies someone under ten years old will be beheaded regardless of whether they are willing or not. Anyone between ten and twelve years old will be caned with 200 sticks, either dead or disabled. Those people are officials, shouldn't they all lose their official hats?"

The prince replied, "Yes, they all should. Those who hold official positions will be dismissed, and those who have titles will be stripped."

Zong Jincheng's first reaction was to be very happy: "Bad guys, knock them all down!"

The prince chuckled and reached out to touch his head. The words in his throat were stuck, and he was hesitant to speak.

But Zong Jincheng soon realized that something was wrong. He raised his head and asked, "Do we need to deal with them all at once? Your Highness, you told me before that dealing with so many people at once would backfire, just like what happened to Prime Minister Yan."

The prince said, "The masterminds and the people with serious crimes must be killed. As for the others, I haven't thought about it yet. The situation in the court is complicated, and the foundation of the imperial power is unstable. It is indeed risky to act rashly."

"Ah... Then continue to investigate?" Zong Jincheng wanted these bad officials to receive the punishment they deserved, but he didn't want to see the prince get into trouble.

"Investigate." The prince said, "We have to know who the evil people are first."

It took three days to find out the final list.

There were 55 people involved in the case, including 17 people from the family of nobility, and the rest were officials in the court. In addition to all the stripping of titles and official positions, the crimes committed by these 55 people should be executed, and 25 people should be caned with 200 sticks.

The prince reported the progress of the case to the emperor, who ordered him to execute the mastermind Zhai Li, and all others were not allowed to move for the time being.

The emperor was the supreme ruler, and he considered that once such a shocking scandal broke out, the people would lose trust in the court and would easily revolt, so even Zhai Li was ordered to be dealt with secretly and not publicly.

So, that night.

The prince brought poisoned wine to see Zhai Li, and Jin Cheng followed.

The little devil held the plate of poisoned wine and put it heavily on the ground: "Drink it yourself, don't force us to do it."

The bad guy, it was his scheme that harmed so many people.

Zhai Li had been in the cell for three days, his hair was messy, but his eyes were still so confident. He looked up at the little kid in front of him and sneered, "Your Highness, are you not going to hide it at all? You are flaunting your illegitimate child in the streets every day, why don't you have the courage to bring him into the East Palace? Are you afraid of your powerful princess from your mother's family?"

The little devil subconsciously said, "Bad guys think everyone is bad. The prince and the princess are fine, you don't need to worry about them. Drink quickly, or I'll start to force you to drink."

Although Zhai Li was chained all over his body, he was an adult after all, and it was not so easy for the little devil to force him to drink.

He leaned against the wall slowly and sneered, "You want to execute me secretly... Is that what the emperor wants? Your Highness, are you angry that someone like me was not publicly executed?"

The prince said coldly, "No matter how a person like you dies, I feel happy."

"Hahahaha... Good, good, good prince, you and your son want to kill me, but you underestimate my ability to protect myself." Zhai Li laughed crazily, "I might as well tell you that as long as I die here tonight, the imperial power you want to maintain will be completely destroyed."

The prince narrowed his eyes and asked dangerously, "What did you do?"

"What did you do?" Zhai Li sneered, "Of course I helped His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to make all of our evil deeds public. Everyone, all the names of officials you can find, all the transaction records involved in the underground market, all of them are made public--"

The imperial power of the Great Chu is not stable. If the scandals of many officials are exposed at the same time, the people will think that all the officials are corrupt officials, and their dissatisfaction and resentment towards the court will increase overnight. All places will inevitably be restless, and then someone may take the opportunity to revolt... And all of this is the situation that the emperor is most reluctant to see, and it is not the result that the crown prince wants.

The prince said in a deep voice: "Have you made this preparation long ago?"

Zhai Li smiled proudly: "Of course, I am an official of the Great Chu. I know that according to your speed of doing things, today will be the day to deal with me. So I arranged a retreat a long time ago. As long as I am imprisoned here for more than three days, all the scandals in the underworld will be exposed. Now, half of the people in the capital should know it, right? As long as I die tonight, it will be confirmed that these scandals are true. Can your Chu family still sit firmly on the throne?"

The prince clenched his fists.

Zhai Li was still smiling proudly: "Either let me go and declare to the outside world that all the scandals are lies, so that everyone will be better off. Or die together, I will take your entire royal family with me, and it will not be a loss. I just don't know if you, the prince who loves the people like your own children, dare to join the game and kill all of us?"