Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 68, Death of the Duke

As soon as Duke Shanguo arrived in the capital, he was forcibly invited into the palace before he had time to go home.

At the same time, Emperor Longqing ordered the house to be searched.

"Do it!"

The moment they received the order, the imperial guards rushed directly into the Duke Shanguo's mansion.

A man who looked like a butler stepped forward and questioned.

"Who are you to dare..."

Before he could finish his words, the imperial guards stabbed him in the throat with a single blow.

"Your Majesty has ordered that Duke Shan Guo is guilty of colluding with foreigners and selling out his country. Immediately search Duke Shan Guo's mansion and arrest all his relatives, family members and related persons. Do not let them escape. Anyone who dares to resist arrest will be executed on the spot!"

Soon, the imperial guards rushed into every courtyard.

Among them were the women from the family of Duke Shanguo, who were forcibly dragged out in dishevel. When they tried to resist, they were mercilessly killed in an instant.

For a moment, there were wailing and crying everywhere.

A soldier reported:

"General, we found more than a dozen sets of armor in the warehouse!"

The commander-in-chief walked over and took a look, and was immediately overjoyed.

"Okay, this is all evidence that Duke Shan is planning a rebellion! Have you found the dragon robe?"

“This has not been discovered yet.”

The commander-in-chief frowned, took out a package from his arms and threw it in.

"what is this?"

The soldier stepped forward and opened the package.

"Report to the Commander-in-Chief, a set of dragon robes has been found!"

The governor smiled.

"This is irrefutable evidence. There is no doubt that Duke Shan is planning to rebel!"

At this time, there was a noise outside.

The governor went outside to check.

It turned out that the son of the Duke of Shanguo had an argument with the soldiers. Several soldiers stepped forward and knocked the son of the Duke of Shanguo to the ground in a few seconds. Even after falling to the ground, the son of the Duke of Shanguo's arms were still struggling to crawl in one direction.

The commander-in-chief felt a little doubtful when he saw this.

"What is he going to do? That direction is..."

Following the direction pointed by the son of Duke Shanguo, the commander-in-chief of the imperial guards went there and found the ancestral hall of the Duke Shanguo's family.

When you enter the ancestral hall, besides the densely packed tablets, the most eye-catching thing is a gold plaque enshrined in the hall.

Death-free gold medal!

The commander-in-chief of the imperial guards' face changed. Only then did he understand why the son of the Duke of Shanguo insisted on coming here.

If the other party really gets this thing, it might be quite troublesome.

Recalling what the emperor had said, the commander of the imperial guards narrowed his eyes slightly...

The Shanguo Mansion is being searched in an orderly manner.

suddenly,

The ancestral hall behind caught fire.

The imperial guards immediately went to the governor to report.

"General, the ancestral hall of the Shanguo family has caught fire!"

The commander of the imperial guards was shocked and said quickly:

"Why is there a fire? Go report to the Five Cities Army to put out the fire!"

The soldier was stunned.

Report to the Five Cities Military Command?

How can we make it in time?
There are so many of them, can't they just put out the fire now?

"General, are you sure you want me to go to the Five Cities Military Command right now?"

The governor said solemnly:

"Of course, go quickly, it will be too late if you're late!" The soldier did not dare to question.

"Yes!"

……

Inside the Qianqing Palace, Emperor Longqing looked coldly at Duke Shanguo who was kneeling below.

"Duke Shan, have I ever treated you badly? I have entrusted you with the command of the three armies. I have never lacked food, fodder, and weapons. You have been blessed by the country for generations, and you have shared the joys and sorrows with the country. Why did you betray me and collude with the Huaiyin bandits? What benefits did the Huaiyin bandits promise to make you do this?"

Duke Shan was very puzzled when he heard this, and he kowtowed and asked:
"Your Majesty, why do you say that? I am loyal to Your Majesty and have always supported Daxi. I have never had any intention of betraying you, and I have definitely never colluded with the Huaiyin bandits!
Emperor Longqing sneered:

"How dare you speak so flatteringly? If you had no intention of betraying, why didn't you march according to the Ministry of War's plan, but instead imprisoned the military supervisor, secretly communicated with the bandits, and hesitated to move forward? Why did you kill innocent people in order to gain military merit, and levy heavy taxes to accumulate wealth? Even worse, you drove up the price of salt, causing the people to suffer unspeakably?"

Upon hearing this, Duke Shan hurriedly explained:
"Your Majesty, you don't know! The Huaiyin bandits are powerful and stronger than our army. If we rashly advance according to the Ministry of War's plan, not only will we fail to win, but our army will be defeated and put in danger."

"This old minister's eye was injured during the battle with the Huaiyin bandits. Therefore, taking the initiative to attack and pacify the Huaiyin bandits is a bad idea. The only way is to rely on the strong city to defend, set up defense lines to consume their people's strength, and besiege and trap them, so as to force them to destroy themselves."

"As for the killing of innocent people to claim credit and the raising of salt prices, it is completely nonsense. These are all done by unscrupulous salt merchants, not by old officials. I implore Your Majesty to investigate in detail to find out the truth!"

Duke Shanguo explained anxiously, but as Emperor Longqing listened to Duke Shanguo's heartfelt words, the coldness on his face did not diminish at all, instead he sneered even more.

"You said you built a defense line. What defense line did you build?"

Upon hearing this, Duke Shan showed a rare hint of pride on his face and said:
"Your Majesty, I have deployed defense lines in many cities including Gaoyou, Hailing, Yangzhou, Chuzhou, Fengyang, Xiapi, and Haizhou, and have also joined forces with the naval commander Zhang Yuan from Fan Lianghu to build defenses. The entire defense line is impregnable, and the Huaiyin bandits will not be able to break through no matter how hard they attack."

When Emperor Longqing heard this, he laughed.

"This line of defense has been entrusted to Chun Yujian to guard?"

At this time, Duke Shan still didn't know about Chun Yujian, so he said affirmatively:
"Yes, although Chun Yujian's ability is mediocre, he has been with the army for many years and is very experienced. As long as he defends the city, I think he will not make any mistakes."

Emperor Longqing was so angry that he laughed, and clapped his hands and said:

"Okay, okay, okay! Okay!"

"Come here, throw the Duke of Shan into the Sky Prison, and order the Ministry of Internal Affairs to torture him severely. We must get evidence that he is colluding with the Huaiyin bandits!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the guards came in, carried Duke Shanguo and left.

Duke Shanguo cried out that he was innocent and that he had a golden medal of immunity from death granted by the retired emperor. However, Emperor Longqing ignored him.

In addition, Chen Zhengdu was also thrown into the Tianlao Prison.

After several rounds of torture, Duke Shanguo insisted that he had not colluded with the bandits or committed treason, and his willpower was frighteningly strong.

When Dai Quan saw this, he ordered people to interrogate Chen Zhengdu.

At first, Chen Zhengdu refused to admit that he was collaborating with the bandits.

Dai Quan then found a wooden barrel, put filth, maggots and the like inside it, then cut a few wounds on Chen Zhengdu's lower body and placed him in the barrel.

Feeling the maggots drilling into his body, Chen Zhengdu only held on for half a minute before he chose to confess with tears streaming down his face.

Chen Zhengdu testified that Duke Shanguo was in collusion with bandits, but he cleared himself of the charge, saying that he had been sidelined by Duke Shanguo as soon as he arrived in Huaizhou, and that everything he did afterwards was the work of Duke Shanguo alone.

Duke Shanguo did not deny the act of sidelining Chen Zhengdu. This was something the two had discussed from the beginning.

However, Duke Shan still refused to admit that he had colluded with bandits and committed treason.

He was truly devoted to Daxi. He admitted to other charges, but he definitely did not collude with bandits or commit treason.

Dai Quan continued to torture Shanguogong for two days and three nights, but still failed to pry Shanguogong open his mouth.

During this period, Duke Shanguo kept shouting that he had a golden medal of immunity from death and a red-lettered iron certificate, but Dai Quan didn't care at all.

A death-free gold medal?

Haha, the people that their Ministry of Internal Affairs has dealt with the most since ancient times are those who have golden medals of immunity from death.

Those who don’t have the golden medal of immunity from death don’t need their Ministry of Internal Affairs!

What's more, there was news that the thing had been accidentally burned in a fire during the house search.

Even God doesn't want him to live.

Finally, Duke Shanguo couldn't bear it anymore on the third night and died without catching his breath.

The imperial physician rushed to treat the patient, but was unable to do anything.

Emperor Longqing didn't care about Duke Shanguo's death at all. He just felt that it was too easy for Duke Shanguo.

On the morning of the second day after Duke Shanguo's death, Emperor Longqing announced the execution of Duke Shanguo's nine clans on charges of treason and conspiracy.

The evidence included the confession signed by Duke Shan after his death and more than a dozen sets of armor and dragon robes found in his home.

(End of this chapter)