Chapter 175: Conspiracy?

The Chang Family's extermination case was obviously just one of many darknesses.

For after this, two more major cases that nearly shook the entire nation broke out, both closely related to the aristocratic clans.

The first was the murder case of an imperial commissioner.

The location of this case was Wenjian Prefecture in the south.

The southern region of the Great Zhou Dynasty had always been the old nest of the aristocratic clans, with countless major landlords and officials.

Even as powerful as the Sima Clan, a power minister family of old, had to intermarry with these families and surrender vast interests before finally seizing great power, and nearly succeeded in usurping the throne.

Although the Sima Clan had already been destroyed.

But the residual harm they left behind still remained, meaning the clan forces in the south were even more prosperous than before.

And Wenjian Prefecture was the nest among nests of these forces; often, even the local government dared not easily offend the great families of the area.

And the murder of the imperial commissioner sent by the court happened under such a background.

Ten years ago, Wenjian Prefecture suffered a flood, and the central court ordered relief and issued a considerable amount of relief silver.

And closely following this was.

Zhang Zhengqing, a candidate censor from the imperial capital, was also selected as an imperial commissioner, sent to Wenjian Prefecture to supervise the implementation of the relief silver.

At that time, the Sima Clan, a power minister family, was fiercely contending for great power, and Zhang Zhengqing had repeatedly impeached the Sima Clan, already regarded as a thorn in their eye.

Therefore, he was sent far away to the south, among which it could almost be determined that it was the operation of the Sima Clan.

Zhang Zhengqing, though from a minor aristocratic family, had always been upright and incorruptible, hating evil like an enemy.

After he arrived at the locality, he discovered that Wenjian Prefect Zhao Defyuan and the two great aristocratic clans of the locality, the Li and the Shi, conspired together to embezzle over eighty thousand taels of relief silver.

Zhao Defyuan and his accomplices offered heavy bribes, but were refused.

Thus, they secretly bribed Zhang Zhengqing's attendants.

Three days later, Zhang Zhengqing was robbed and killed by "mountain bandits" during an inspection tour, killed by poisoned arrows, and they forged an ambush kill scene.

Zhao Defyuan reported "sudden death" and hastily put the body in a coffin.

Zhang Zhengqing's younger brother, who came to handle the aftermath, sensed something amiss, searched through the belongings, and found half a page of blood letter hidden in the interlayer of his elder brother's boot, inscribed with the four characters "Ghosts in the Relief".

And he also sensed black blood seeping from inside the coffin, so he spent a large sum to hire a coroner from a neighboring county, who dissected the abdomen and discovered Jiu Poison.

This was originally a solid case of murdering an imperial commissioner!

However.

Just at this critical period, the Sima Family successfully seized great power and deposed the then Zhou King.

Within the following consecutive year, the Sima family purged dissidents, causing turmoil in court and public, and the Ministry of Justice changed officials one or two batches.

That is, taking advantage of this chaotic period when the current power holder had no energy to care too much about the localities.

Wenjian Prefect Zhao Defyuan and his accomplices, namely the Li and Shi two great aristocratic clans, spent a large sum to bribe Sima Shang's paternal uncle, then the Pillar of State General.

Finally, they suppressed this murder case.

In contrast, Zhang Zhengqing's family members, as the victims' side, were silenced or threatened, and ultimately dared not speak out again, otherwise they would surely bring upon the calamity of extermination.

However.

Zhang Zhengqing's youngest son had never forgotten the fact of his father's murder, and had always secretly preserved the blood letter, the coroner's autopsy results, and other evidence from back then.

And before his mother passed away, she had always advised him to seek justice for his father and family.

And this time, the Chang Family's great crime of extermination in Henei Commandery broke out, and was uprooted and exposed in the gazette by Zhou King His Majesty Gu Xuan.

Zhang Zhengqing's youngest son finally saw a glimmer of hope.

He risked his death to secretly come to the imperial capital, and knelt on the ground before the Forbidden Army camp to plead his case.

Obviously.

He might have also received guidance from a high personage, knowing that the current Forbidden Army system was the direct force of Zhou King His Majesty.

Soon, Zhang Zhengqing's youngest son was strictly protected by the South Garden Forbidden Army, and was not silenced by the death warriors sent by Zhao Defyuan and his accomplices.

With Gu Xuan's personal intervention, elite soldiers were dispatched in the Forbidden Army to supervise, and the Ministry of Justice was ordered to thoroughly investigate.

Finally, a sensational major case finally came to light!

Upon investigation, Zhang Zhengqing's attendant's testimony was contradictory and full of loopholes, and the so-called "mountain bandits" were actually death warriors dispatched by then Wenjian Prefect Zhao Defyuan and his accomplices.

And after ten years passed.

Zhao Defyuan had already retired from office, returned to his hometown in Lin Prefecture, and smoothly served as the patriarch of his Zhao clan.

And the Li and Shi two great aristocratic clans that conspired with him, these years, developed even more prosperously, their power of tenants and household retainers surpassing the past.

However.

The evidence of guilt was conclusive, hard to deny!

And not only this.

The other crimes of the Zhao, Li, and Shi three great families were also unearthed one by one.

Besides murdering the imperial commissioner, their acts of killing and violence, violent monopoly, abducting civilian women, and many other misdeeds simply collected all the types of sins of the aristocratic clans!

Gu Xuan was thunderously furious, and dispatched the elite Forbidden Army, divided into three routes, three hundred soldiers each route, accompanying the protection and handling of the case.

Although each route of Forbidden Army soldiers was only three hundred, they were all fully armed, each capable of fighting ten against one.

Under this absolute martial suppression, the so-called household retainers of the Zhao, Li, and Shi three great families were not a single blow, but instead increased their evidence of guilt.

Finally.

These three great families were executed according to law, their homes confiscated and clans exterminated!

Among them, perhaps there were some who did not personally commit evil, but similarly enjoyed the benefits brought by their wicked clansmen, and could not be said to be very wronged.

The second major case was the Qing Merchants' treason case.

This case was actually also a case that Gu Xuan had been watching since he returned from the North Border.

Qingzhou is a major prefecture within the Great Zhou Dynasty, situated near the northwestern borderlands.

The so-called Qing Merchants are the abbreviation for the Qingzhou merchant guild.

Specifically, it refers to the merchant guild group within Qingzhou represented by the eight great clans of He, Wang, Ma, Gu, and others.

Over the decades, the Great Zhou Dynasty suffered defeats on the battlefield against the Jie Tribe of the North Border for various reasons, and thus sought to exhaust the Jie Tribe through a blockade.

However.

A blockade naturally brings immense profit.

Driven by the lure of such immense profit, the eight great clans of the Qing Merchants bribed border army officers and soldiers, using money to pave the way, and smuggled grain, salt, iron, and the like to the Jie Tribe.

They naturally earned a fortune hand over fist!

In this process, some short-sighted border army officers and soldiers also reaped substantial gains.

In their view, making money is not shameful, and the Jie Tribe — a vassal minor tribe of mere tens of thousands — what is there to take seriously?

Over these many years, how many minor tribes has the Great Zhou Dynasty pacified? It has always been the hegemonic existence on this land; there is no need to worry.

Yet on the Great Zhou Dynasty's side, because of these people's treasonous conduct, the blockade strategy ended in failure.

Precisely through their "accommodation," the Jie Tribe obtained extremely precious and scarce materials, enabling them to grow stronger day by day, ultimately becoming a terrifying colossus!

If in another future the Jie Tribe ultimately invaded the Central Plains and usurped the regime, the Qing Merchants would not necessarily fail to become their imperial merchants, enjoying even more unimaginable privileges.

It can be said that in the eyes of these clans, there is only their own clan's interest!

For their own clan's interest, they can sell out their fellow human race, sell out their motherland, solely to exchange for their own clan's glory, wealth, and perpetual prosperity!

Initially.

After Gu Xuan personally went to the North Border and pacified the Jie Tribe, he naturally perceived something amiss.

Only, at that time he had been away from the Imperial Capital for too long, and it was very necessary to return as soon as possible.

Therefore, he did not stay behind to investigate thoroughly.

But Gu Xuan ultimately still left a follow-up move, ordering several capable confidants to secretly investigate this matter.

And the eight great clans of the Qing Merchants are indeed no ordinary folk.

From the moment Gu Xuan took command of the North Border army, they keenly chose to pull back, and heavily bribed certain influential generals in the border army to cover up their past crimes.

It is also because of this.

Under these various reasons, the various evidence of the eight great clans' crimes was ultimately mostly collected by Gu Xuan's confidants.

And during this period, they went through who knows how many treacherous struggles, bloody battles, and even covert assassinations!

Of the six confidants Gu Xuan left behind, two were tragically killed, and one was heavily injured.

But they ultimately still brought the collected evidence back to the Imperial Capital; although they went through nine deaths one life, they ultimately largely completed this heavy mission!

After receiving the news, Gu Xuan, after heavily commending and pensioning these meritorious ministers, also immediately launched a thunderous strike!

To prevent the corrupt officers and soldiers in the North Border army from leaking the wind.

Gu Xuan used the pretext of the royal family worshipping at Taishi Mountain within Qingzhou's borders, dispatching a Royal Festival Procession of over a thousand people, within which were actually hidden five hundred Forbidden Army soldiers in plain clothes.

Moreover, from the Forbidden Army Advisory Group, an advisor versed in law and of Cold Gate disciple origin served as the imperial envoy for this investigation.

Upon the imperial envoy's arrival, bearing Gu Xuan's Gold Token and Secret Decree as authority, he also requisitioned five hundred personal guards from the Northern Border Governor's subordinates, ultimately rounding up the eight great clans of the Qing Merchants in one sweep.

Although these eight great clans all possess formidable power, each maintaining hundreds or thousands of skilled guards as protection.

But before the elite Forbidden Army soldiers and border army personal guards, they ultimately were still a motley crew, unable to withstand even one or two military formation charges.

And the imperial envoy had long since grasped the evidence of these people's profiteering from national calamity, and showed absolutely not a shred of mercy.

Be it the disciples of the eight great clans or their fierce guards, over half were beheaded on the spot.

As for the remaining clan patriarchs, core clan elders, and such, they were shackled with heavy chains, taken as evidence, and escorted back to the capital.

And during this process.

There were actually some implicated border army officers and soldiers who wanted to cover up their crimes, intending to silence the people of the eight great clans en route.

After a bout of combat, both sides suffered losses, but the Forbidden Army trained under Gu Xuan was ultimately far more elite, while the border army officers and soldiers had guilty consciences and their combat power was discounted, so they failed.

In the Imperial Capital, the eight great clans of the Qing Merchants were executed according to law.

Their crime of colluding with the enemy and betraying the country was also proclaimed to all under heaven via the official gazette!

As for the follow-up, the handling of those implicated North Border army officers and soldiers was left to Jiang Bu Shi, the Northern Border Governor, and others to continue disposing of according to military law.

……

The Chang Clan extermination case, the Wenjian Prefecture imperial envoy murder case, the Qing Merchants eight great clans colluding with the enemy and betraying the country case — these three major cases combined, the entire Great Zhou Dynasty was shaken!

Later generations merged these three cases and called them the "Zhou King Shenwu Three Great Cases"!

In fact.

The reason these three cases had such profound influence, besides their own serious and sensational circumstances, also had to do with the official gazette's disclosure of them.

And not only that.

Under the instruction of this Zhou King His Majesty Gu Xuan, the official gazette further elaborated on the cases, mainly to let more commoners know the true face of the aristocratic clans.

"Only individuals who betray the interest group, no groups that betray the interest group."

At the end of the powerful essay, this sentence was also added, to refute certain people who cite certain great philanthropists and great intellectuals within the noble clans as their defense.

Without a doubt.

These several powerful essays published in the official gazette shocked the entire court and public!

Within the entire Great Zhou Dynasty, almost the majority of aristocratic clans were like fierce beasts aroused into a defensive posture.

Amidst their trembling, hostility, and vigilance, they all regarded these few issues of the official gazette as mortal enemies, trying every means and employing various methods to prevent the bottom-level commoners from seeing them, even directly destroying them, especially in some remote prefectures.

But in the marketplaces of the Imperial Capital and several major cities, these few issues of the official gazette ultimately still spread.

And with the circulation of various domestic channels, slowly, even some commoners in remote places learned of these three issues' answers, and vaguely heard related commentaries.

For a time.

Among the commoners throughout the entire nation, a discussion about the aristocratic clans erupted.

As it turned out, those lofty lords actually had such true faces!

They were actually so rampant as to exterminate entire clans, so audacious as to openly plot the assassination of an imperial envoy, and even, for their own private interests, funded alien races who slaughtered their own compatriots!

In fact.

Although the commoners at the bottom had limited cultural level, not many of them were even literate.

But they were not stupid; rather, they had always seen clearly, and there had always been some rebellious uprisings.

And the reason their resistance had never been able to form a larger scale.

First, because on this land, the aristocratic clans' strength was indeed powerful, and their organizational cohesion was clearly higher.

Second, because over these years, the commoners at the bottom had always lacked a clear and correct line, and also could not form a solid organizational group.

And Gu Xuan's various measures after his arrival were precisely for the second reason.

The secret spread of the "Open Passage Society" ideology in the Forbidden Army and martial arts was to establish a brand new and effective program.

The purge and comprehensive rectification of the Forbidden Army system was, besides a guarantee of force, also to form a reliable team.

And with the explosion of the three major cases and the palace gazette's disclosure, the numerous aristocratic clans within the dynasty ultimately became thoroughly vigilant!

……

In the Imperial Capital.

Inside a certain secret chamber, under dim lamplight, several figures were plotting something, yet also seemed to be sighing.

"The current Emperor's scheming is already very obvious……"

"Others are the knife and chopping block, we are the fish and meat!"

"Could it be that we just sit and watch his butcher's knife fall?!"

"My intention is likewise; if one should decide but does not decide, one instead suffers the chaos!"

"Reasonable…… for the sake of descendants, we have no choice but to go all out!"

After a meticulous secret plotting, these people ultimately reached an unprecedentedly bold plan.

This day happened to be the Empress Dowager's fiftieth birthday.

Although the current Zhou King His Majesty had been diligently governing and advocating frugality ever since exterminating the Sima Clan, the Empress Dowager's birthday naturally still had to be celebrated.

And the most important thing was that the Zhou King His Majesty had to personally attend.

Therefore.

This morning, the Zhou King His Majesty ultimately still had to return to the Wang Gong from the Imperial Guards Grand Camp outside the city.

And this, ultimately, still gave those conspirators a rare opportunity!

(Chapter End)