Chapter 237: Deep Schemes End in Disaster

A dissolute scion of a noble family like Jia Rong, who could barely hold his own when pressed by words, immediately went limp in the hands and feet the moment the jailers threatened him with severe torture; he was in no state to endure it.

Once brought into the execution room and seeing those blood-stained instruments of torture, he was so terrified he lost control of his bowels. Before the torture even began, he was already weeping and wailing, confessing everything in full.

Yang Yang Hongbin and the other officials of the Three Judicial Offices present could not help but shake their heads. The former Duke of Ningguo had been a famous general of the dynasty, having established illustrious military merits and earning the reverence of his descendants, yet his later generations were such spineless cowards.

As for the case of Zhang Shouan, Jia Zhen, the third-rank Duke of Ningguo and General of Might and Valor, was the true mastermind behind the scenes; Jia Rong had merely been acting under his instructions.

The news quickly spread from the interrogation records of the Court of Judicial Review, first through the offices of the Three Judicial Offices, and then caused an uproar in the imperial court.

That a top-tier noble family, having inherited their title for over seventy years, should have a father and son from the Ningguo line conspiring in evil was shocking to hear!

It is said that when the news reached the inner palace, Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao was furious, remarking: "The father and son of the Ningguo Prefecture are so base; the Ningguo line has no successors left!"

This was originally a cold remark from the Emperor. The gates of the deep palace are layered and heavy, and by all logic, it should not have leaked out, yet for some unknown reason, it did.

Furthermore, many officials in the court learned through various channels of this cold, cryptic remark from the Emperor, which seemed to carry deep meaning.

Among the crimes, such as the low-priced annexation of farmers' fertile land, the private coercion of others' shops, and the abduction of common women for lewd pleasure, there were as many as a dozen cases, involving four human lives.

……

Prince Prince Zhongshun stated that the accusations by the victims were supported by conclusive evidence and complete witness testimony; the evil deeds committed by the Ningguo Prefecture were truly too numerous to record.

However, at that time, because the Retired Emperor was on the throne, the Jia family of Ning and Rong had harbored thoughts of waiting and watching, refusing Prince Prince Zhongshun's overtures. This matter had deeply shamed Prince Prince Zhongshun, and from then on, a grudge was formed with the Jia family.

Moreover, Dong Laier, the steward of the Ningguo Prefecture, relied on the influence of the Jia family of Ning and Rong to act with tyranny and abuse his power outside.

Several memorials impeaching Jia Zhen and his son of Ningguo for acting wickedly and harming the common people despite being nobles favored by imperial grace, and demanding severe punishment, appeared at the court session, causing the scales in the hearts of the court officials to begin to tilt.

Some say that when the Prince of Wu was contending with the Emperor years ago, Prince Prince Zhongshun had personally visited the Ning and Rong prefectures, wishing to draw the two Dukes of Ning and Rong to support the Emperor's rise to power.

Not only did they impeach Jia Zhen and his son for corrupting the minds of the dynasty's officials and harming the people in the Zhang Shouan case, but they also stated that the Imperial Clan Court had recently received many complaints from victims regarding the illegal acts of the Ningguo Prefecture.

The result incited public anger; Dong Laier directed his retainers to beat and kill several people, and in the end, it was suppressed through the Lai family's collusion with the local government.

Under these circumstances, could the Emperor's remark still be merely a lament over the unworthiness of the Ningguo father and son?

Although officials of various offices were all trying to fathom the Emperor's heart, their hearts were already leaning toward the second possibility, yet none were willing to act rashly.

"No successors left" could be a lament over the unworthiness of descendants, or it could be a furious denunciation that the Ningguo line had no heirs to continue the lineage.

However, the censors of the Yongzhou Circuit of the Censorate did not need so many concerns; their duty was to report based on hearsay, and furthermore, the matter of Jia Zhen and his son could hardly be called hearsay—it was clearly a matter of proven fact.

Outsiders had various guesses regarding the root cause of Prince Prince Zhongshun's sudden attack on the Ningguo Prefecture.

Taking advantage of the continuous floods and droughts in the areas around Yongzhou since last year, and the destitution of the farmers, they had wantonly purchased and enclosed farmland at low prices.

Prince Prince Zhongshun, as the Clan Elder of the Imperial Clan Court, suddenly submitted a memorial severely denouncing Jia Zhen and his son of the Ningguo Prefecture.

But now that the evil collusion of the Ningguo father and son had been exposed, and Jia Zhen had already been imprisoned by the Court of Judicial Review, the momentum was already surging fiercely.

This memorial from Prince Prince Zhongshun was like a sharp blade, its momentum fierce, immediately causing a thousand waves to surge in the imperial court…….

Just as many officials were indecisive about how to take a stand on this matter.

There was another reason, which was somewhat difficult to mention in polite society, but it was more talked about and closer to the truth.

It is said that Jia Rong of the Ningguo Prefecture seduced Qi Qi Guan, an actor from Prince Prince Zhongshun's mansion, and even bought a house in Zitan Fort outside the city to cohabit.

And this Qi Qi Guan was Prince Prince Zhongshun's beloved male concubine. Somehow, Prince Prince Zhongshun got the news, brought a large number of guards, and caught them red-handed on the spot.

It is said that Prince Prince Zhongshun, out of love turned to hate, broke Qi Qi Guan's left leg, so he could no longer sing or walk.

Prince Prince Zhongshun therefore hated Jia Rong to the bone and was determined to put him to death to satisfy his grudge…….

Regardless of the reason, everyone could see the stance of Prince Prince Zhongshun and the Ningguo Prefecture—they would not rest until one side was destroyed.

In fact, which noble family had not committed similar ugly deeds to those mentioned in Prince Prince Zhongshun's memorial? The difference lay only in the scale of the matter and whether it had been exposed to the light of day.

And such illegal acts, as long as they did not cause too much of a stir, would not under normal circumstances lead to the death of a hereditary noble; this had almost become an unspoken rule in the imperial court.

Even the civil officials, who always prided themselves on being high-minded, seemed to have accepted this unspoken rule.

But this time, Prince Prince Zhongshun took advantage of the exposure of Jia Zhen and his son to shake out all these old, rotten grievances.

Some matters did not even happen this year, which shows that his desire to deal with the Jia family was not a matter of a day or two; he had long since gathered a pile of charges.

Jia Cong's method of shifting the blame was merely providing Prince Prince Zhongshun with an opportunity to erupt.

But the officials of the various offices in the court thought of something more: everyone knew that Prince Prince Zhongshun was a minister who had followed the Emperor in his rise, and was the Emperor's most trusted half-brother.

Did his fierce and abrupt words and actions represent the Emperor's will?

Prince Prince Zhongshun's actions also caused the scales in the hearts of the court officials to tilt even more severely.

And just after Prince Prince Zhongshun's memorial was submitted, Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao quickly issued an imperial decree: "Order the Court of Judicial Review and the Imperial Clan Court to strictly investigate all matters; if confirmed, punish severely according to the laws of the state!"

If the court officials still did not understand the meaning of this concise imperial decree from Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao, they might as well collectively buy a block of tofu and dash their heads against it.

Years ago, when the Emperor was contending with the Prince of Wu, the Four Kings and Eight Dukes, with the Jia family of Ning and Rong as the backbone, remained neutral and merely watched from the sidelines.

And after the Emperor ascended the throne, the Four Kings and Eight Dukes, having been immersed in the military for generations, were deeply entrenched and had become a force too large to be controlled, deeply restraining the civil and military administration; this matter had been a thorn in the Emperor's side for over a decade.

It was just that the Four Kings and Eight Dukes had risen with the founding of the Great Zhou, were deeply rooted, and had the face of the Retired Emperor, so they were not easy to move, and the Emperor had never had a suitable reason to act.

Now that the Jia family of Ningguo was left with only a pair of dissolute, useless scions, they were like a tiger on the plains, a sun setting in the west; the Emperor no longer had the patience to indulge them—this was to kill the chicken to warn the monkey!

This imperial decree from Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao was like the last straw that broke the camel's back; the military nobility group influenced by the Four Kings and Eight Dukes had lost the initiative, and finally, the wind in the court tilted completely to one side.

For the civil officials, the Emperor was the Supreme Ruler, and his every word and action concerned the state; there were some things that the Sage Ruler found inconvenient to say personally, and as ministers, they naturally had to labor on his behalf.

Since the Emperor's heart was already clear, the court officials simply drifted with the tide, each showing their own abilities.

First were the sharp-tongued censors of the Censorate, who had long been poised for action; the memorials impeaching the Jia family of Ningguo were like snow falling in the sixth lunar month.

They sternly stated that the heir and the blood-lineage son of Ningguo were acting wickedly and were guilty of heinous crimes; as a noble family, they had violated the laws of the state and should be punished equally with the common people, and must never be indulged.

The Ministry of Justice, the Court of Judicial Review, and other government offices were not to be outdone, and related memorials impeaching and demanding punishment followed closely behind, with public sentiment surging fiercely.

And in the following days, victims persecuted by the Ningguo Prefecture, as if by prior agreement, arrived one after another at the Court of Judicial Review to report the various crimes of the Ningguo Prefecture in relying on power to poison and harm the people.

And among the common people in the marketplace, the discourse that the Ningguo Prefecture used power to harm others, was guilty of heinous crimes, and would not satisfy public anger unless killed, grew louder and louder, impossible to curb.

It was as if the situation not long ago, when the marketplace public opinion madly attacked Zhang Shouan, was once again being staged in the Divine Capital.

As for whether there was someone pushing the waves behind all this, no one could say clearly; such things are often a muddled account—you feel it exists, but you can never explain it clearly.

And Prince Prince Zhongshun was indeed a pillar of the Emperor's ministers; at this critical moment, he submitted a second memorial to Emperor Emperor Jia Zhao, delivering the most fatal blow:

The heir and the son of the Ningguo Prefecture, ignoring the laws of the state, were lewd, evil, and fierce, harming the common people; their grave crimes were already manifest, they had disgraced their noble titles and harmed the state; he earnestly requested the stripping of the Ningguo title!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 238 =====