The filial son of the Red Mansion

No one knows.

Jia Rong didn't know, Xiao Kun didn't know, and Zhou Yang, who was seriously injured and unconscious, didn't know either.

Emperor Longtai's face was darker than coal at this time. It was unprecedented for a king to be assassinated twice in such a short period of time. The last time was at Tiewang Mountain guarded by the Beijing Camp, and this time the assassin was allowed to enter the imperial city directly.

Ridiculous and laughable.

Emperor Longtai returned to the Yangxin Palace and ordered Prince Zhongshun, Prince Xiping and the Ministry of Justice to conduct a strict interrogation. He also ordered Zhao Quan and Qiu Bailin from the Jinyi Palace to investigate the specific circumstances of the assassination.

Captain Qiu has been in the Jinyi Mansion these days, feeling depressed. Now that he sees an opportunity, he wants to do something big.

He was indeed a capable man. In less than half a day, he collected the confessions of Chen De, Huang Wufu, Chen De's eldest son, Chen De's second son, and even locked up Chen De's nephew who was a guard in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He also locked up Chen De's earliest employer, Mr. Zhang of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and his last employer, Mr. Meng.

As for the Zhou family, Qiu Bailin invited several housekeepers from the Zhou mansion to question them, and was very polite.

It takes less than half a day.

The testimonies of Chen De, Huang Wufu, Chen De's eldest son and Chen De's second son were presented to the Yangxin Palace.

Also included was a detailed report on the assassination at Shenwu Gate, as well as memorials from ministers on the performance of the guards, the Jinyiwei, and the Imperial Household Department at the time of the incident.

What Emperor Longtai was most concerned about was not why Chen De assassinated him, nor why Chen De was in the palace, but the performance of the ministers, guards, and guards of Shunzhen and Shenwu gates at that time.

This modern saint was filled with extreme grief and indignation, and spoke a long speech with a dark face.

"There were more than a hundred imperial guards and other people at that time, but only these six people risked their lives to capture the murderer.

Prince Zhongshun, Prince Xiping, Zhou Yang and six others have certainly received great favors, but among the more than a hundred people who stood by and watched, was there not a single one who received any favors?

Prince Zhongshun is my brother, and Prince Xiping is my brother-in-law. They should be closely related to each other, and I am deeply comforted. However, the hundreds of people who stood by and watched, are they not my close relatives, and are they not the ministers who have received the grace of the country for generations? Seeing such things, they are still so indifferent, how can we expect them to devote themselves to state affairs on weekdays? What I am most afraid of is this, not that. All the ministers have consciences, ask yourselves, can you feel no guilt? "

The more Emperor Longtai spoke, the darker his face became, and the colder his heart became.

After the Tiewang Mountain incident, he asked Prince Yi Zhong to reorganize the Linglong Jinwei Mansion. However, he did not expect that such a large group of guards would be so negligent and lazy in such a short period of time, and even stood by and watched when they encountered an assassin.

Emperor Longtai first looked at the report from the Shenwu Gate, and then read the memorial.

Things were even more terrifying than he thought.

In one of the memorials, he actually saw a description of the guards wearing fake swords, and Emperor Longtai felt his forehead throbbing.

It turned out that most of the ministers and guards in front of the emperor had little martial arts skills, because they were born into noble families and were all sons of noble families. Only a small number of them were generals who had truly experienced battles. Therefore, not only were their martial arts skills mediocre, but their military equipment was also extremely poor.

Also, because Shenwu Gate and Shunzhen Gate have always been quiet, and Long Jinwei's sword is very heavy, many young masters simply made a fake sword. This fake sword only has a scabbard and a target. The part in front of the target is empty and has no blade. This way the whole sword is very light and convenient to wear when on duty.

So when something happened today, many guards didn't even dare to draw their swords, for fear of being exposed.

Emperor Longtai watched and couldn't help laughing.

Not to mention him, even if such a thing were to spread among the people, the common people would think it was fabricated by some storyteller who had never been to the capital.

It's too bizarre, more absurd than ridiculous.

These Dragon Guards were all princes and sons of the emperor. Even those with a lower birth were sons of military governors. There were also many nephews and nieces of the royal family. I didn't expect them to deal with it in the same way.

Emperor Longtai suppressed his anger and wrote with a red pen: "We should all treat state affairs as family affairs. We have received the grace of the country for generations, how can we be so indifferent? Where is our conscience?"

After reviewing it, he looked at the confessions of several people.

These confessions simply talked about Chen De's recent experiences, including the death of his wife, the illness of his mother-in-law, and the death of his sister, and he wanted to die.

Emperor Longtai did not say much about this, but only asked Qiu Bailin to continue the interrogation.

Qiu Bailin nodded happily. He had always felt that there was a big question in this case. If Chen De wanted to commit suicide, why did he go to so much trouble to sneak into the palace? Did he just jump into the moat? Or did he cut his neck with a knife, or even hang himself with two ropes?

Even if he was upset, he would still seek revenge. He should have sneaked into the Meng family with a kitchen knife and killed the father and son.

Why assassinate the present?

Qiu Bailin seized on this point and went back to interrogate him again. He also questioned all the people involved about why Chen De knew so much about the palace environment.

At Shenwu Gate, in the guards' dormitory, Jia Rong secretly bowed to Xiao Kun.

Xiao Kun did not speak immediately, but sighed quietly. He walked out of the dormitory and stood quietly at the place where the incident happened on the wide alley. The bloodstains there had been cleaned, and no one could tell what had happened before.

"What happened to Brother Kun?"

"Zhou Yang won't live for many days due to his injuries." Xiao Kun was very emotional. Although he didn't like Zhou Yang in the past, he was still a colleague after all, so he couldn't help feeling a little sad.

When Jia Rong heard this, he had more associations in his mind, but he didn't dare to think too much about it.

What a coincidence!

Concubine Zhou's bedroom was already very busy. The Empress and the Empress Dowager had come to see her, the imperial doctors were trembling with fear, and the palace maids and eunuchs were in a panic.

On the second day, Qiu Bailin found out a lot of things, such as how Mr. Zhang from the Ministry of Internal Affairs had brought Chen De to the palace before. As for how many times the Zhou family had brought Chen De into the palace, there was no mention of that.

Unfortunately, Qiu Bailin never found any evidence to prove that Chen De was instructed by someone else.

Even so, it was enough to shock the government and the public.

Although the Prince of Xiping was not one of the Four Princes and Eight Dukes, he was quite close to the Prince of Beijing, the Prince of Nan'an, the Prince of Dongping, and the Prince of Xining, and he often interacted with the two Jia families. After the assassination at Shenwu Gate, the Prince of Xiping sent a message to Jia Zheng the next day, asking the Jia family to rest assured.

By the third day, something was not right in the court.

It was originally an assassination case, and the dereliction of duty of the Longjinwei Mansion, Jinyi Mansion, and Neiwu Mansion suddenly seemed to be related to Prince Yizhong.

Many people from the three major institutions, namely, the Dragon Guards, the Imperial Guards, and the Internal Affairs Bureau, were suddenly punished:

Prince Yizhong, the Minister of Prime Minister's Affairs, was dismissed from his post and sentenced to kneel in the Imperial Ancestral Temple for one night;

Prince Yiyong, the Minister of the Dragon Guards, was dismissed from his post and sentenced to kneel in the Imperial Ancestral Temple for one night;

Zhao Quan, the commander of the Jinyifu, was fined three months' salary;

The two commanders of the Imperial Household Department's guards and four military officials who were guarding the Shenwu Gate were demoted by two levels or one level to remain in office;

Zhang Jing, the guard of the Jinyifu in charge of the west, was dismissed from his post and sent to Rehe to serve in armor. All guards were dismissed, put in shackles for three months, and flogged every day.

The one guard officer and eight guards from the Imperial Household Department standing on the west side of Shenwu Gate were all dismissed and put in shackles for a month.

All guards at Shenwu Gate, Shunzhen Gate, and Donghua Gate were demoted one level and retained their posts;

……

This result was truly unexpected by no one.

Ruthless, too ruthless.

He is worthy of being Emperor Longtai.

Finally, Emperor Longtai personally issued an oral decree: "Chen De will be executed by slow slicing. His sons Lu'er and Dui'er, who are children, will be hanged as a mercy. Huang Wufu will be caned 100 times and sentenced to three years in prison as decided by the ministers. Chen De's mother-in-law, Zhang Song, will not be held accountable."

As for the six ministers who took the initiative to stop Chen De, the court also had a decision.

Prince Zhongshun and Prince Xiping were granted imperial patched jackets, and Prince Zhongshun's second son Chen Shi was given the title of Crown Prince, and Prince Xiping's second son Yao Zhen was given the title of Duke of Fuguo; Fei Lang, the guard of Shunzhen Gate, was given the title of Cavalry Commandant, granted the title of second-class guard, and allowed to walk in front of the emperor; Zhou Yang, the sergeant of the guard of Shenwu Gate, was given the title of third-class baron, granted the title of first-class guard, and allowed to walk in front of the emperor; Jia Rong, the guard of Shenwu Gate, was given the title of third-rank light chariot commander, granted the title of first-class guard, and transferred to the sergeant of Shunzhen Gate; Xiao Kun, the guard of Shenwu Gate, was given the title of fourth-rank Cavalry Commandant, and allowed to walk in front of Qianqing Gate.

Jia Rong, Xiao Kun, Fei Lang and others accepted the imperial edict and expressed their gratitude.

People are a little confused.

Why? I put in so much effort, but I was only given a useless third-rank title and transferred to Shunzhenmen?

Can I go see the Imperial Garden?

Xiao Kun was only a second-class guard and a fourth-rank noble, and he was on duty at the Qianqing Gate. Zhou Yang was even a third-class man and was allowed to walk in front of the emperor.

It’s so bullying!

The closer one is to the emperor, the easier it is to get promoted and get lucrative jobs. The ultimate goal of the guards is to be the guards of the Qianqing Gate and the imperial guards, and they are also the confidants of the emperor.

Jia Rong was secretly unhappy, but no one cared about him, and no one even visited him. Only Dai Quan, the eunuch in charge of Daming Palace, was interested in Jia Rong. Emperor Longtai and Prince Zhongshun only glanced at Jia Rong and seemed to be unconcerned.

However, in the harem, the Queen Mother particularly admired Jia Rong and even sent Xia Shouzhong to collect a lot of information about Jia Rong.

However, the Crown Prince who lived in the fifth building on the east side of the Imperial Garden was so excited when he heard the name "Jia Rong" that he went to the Fifth Prince and planned, "Let's catch him and go and see what he looks like tomorrow."

The Fifth Master didn't care about Jia Rong at all. Instead, he heard that Zhou Yang, who had protected his father from harm, was about to die, and was planning how to go to the Zhou family to hold a grand funeral for Zhou Yang.

Many people have already known the news that Zhou Yang is seriously injured and has difficulty recovering, and Concubine Zhou in the harem has also heard the news.

However, this is not the only sad thing.

Concubine Zhou lost her sperm in her belly and had a miscarriage due to heavy bleeding. It was truly a mixture of joy and sorrow, all in the blink of an eye.

Chapter 138: Do you want a wife?

No one can judge something that is happening from a God's perspective, because no matter how much information you get, you can never see all the details.

I can’t even see through people’s hearts.

The next day after expressing his gratitude, Jia Rong went to Zhou's house with Xiao Kun.

The two didn't stay in Zhou's house for long. After leaving Zhou's house, their mood became more complicated.

The treasure chest above Zhou Yang's head jumped from level 4 to level 6. Zhou Yang was seriously injured and the situation was not optimistic. It was said that Zhou Yang's father was on his way back to Beijing just to see Zhou Yang for the last time.

"Take care!" Outside the Zhou Mansion, Xiao Kun bowed and said these two words very seriously.

Jia Rong returned the gift.

"Take care, Brother Kun!"

Unlike the two of them, both the Xiao family and the Jia family were immersed in joy. The two returned to their respective homes, and the people in the home were all kind-hearted and happy for their promotion.

The two could only deal with it with a forced smile.

Jia Rong refused to show any strange expression, especially in front of Qin Keqing. He just told Qin Keqing, who was pregnant, to rest and then talked to Feicui in detail before leaving for Xuanzhen Temple.

He wanted to meet Jia Jing, the only Jinshi in the two prefectures, as he needed his help on some matters.

Although there were more than 200 Jinshi candidates every three years, an average of 100 candidates per year, which doesn't seem to be that impressive. However, the Jinshi exam was not about who had the most beautiful essay, but about the emperor giving a problem and asking the candidates to write a solution.

This issue may include the current military system, geography and water conservancy, current politics and laws, foreign policy, local administration, and household grain policy.

Anyone who can answer this question well is definitely not a fool, nor is he a pedantic scholar who only focuses on reading the books of sages.

The imperial examination system was designed to select officials who would ultimately be able to do practical work for the court.

So, does Jia Jing have the ability? How much ability does Jia Jing have left now?

Jia Rong was very curious about this.

There were only Jia Rong and Jia Jing in the quiet room of Xuanzhen Temple, while Shi Hui and his men were guarding outside.

Jia Rong got straight to the point: "In the past few days, an attempt on the emperor's life has been made at the Shenwu Gate. The sergeant at the Shenwu Gate was seriously injured, and the Minister of the Dragon Guard, Prince Yiyong, was dismissed from his post. The Minister of General Affairs, Prince Yizhong, was also implicated and dismissed from his post. Many people were dismissed from the three ministries of the Internal Affairs Department, the Dragon Guard, and the Jinyifu, and several guard commanders and military officials were exiled to Rehe."