Chapter 1188: The Emperor is the Knife and the Nobles are the Meat

The sixth year of Longqing, early November.

Two months later, the death knell rang again.

This time there were three sounds.

"Concubine Zhen is gone!"

Su Mingzhe, who was working at the Hanlin Academy, immediately asked for leave upon hearing the news and rushed home.

When he arrived at Rong Xi Tang, he saw that all the people of the four kings and eight dukes had gathered together.

The Prince of Dongping, the Prince of Nangan, the Prince of Xining, and the Prince of Beijing sat high.

Niu Jizon of Zhenguo Mansion, Liu Fang of Liguo Mansion, Chen Ruiwen of Qiguo Mansion, Ma Shang of Zhiguo Mansion, Hou Xiaokang of Xiuguo Mansion, Shi Guangzhu of Shanguo Mansion, plus Jia She of Rongguo Mansion and Jia Zhen of Ningguo Mansion, who were at the end of the list.

When Su Mingzhe arrived, the scene was exceptionally quiet. His father Jia Zheng had a frown on his face, his left hand tightly gripping the armrest, and his right hand fingers tapping on the table top.

When everyone saw Su Mingzhe come in, their eyes suddenly lit up.

Prince of Beijing, Shui Rong, was the first to laugh, breaking the silence:
"Brother Baoyu is back!"

"Greetings to all the princes, greetings to my uncles, greetings to my father!"

Su Mingzhe bowed respectfully, and after the ceremony, he smiled and said:

"I just heard the news of Concubine Zhen's death in the palace, and I rushed back. I didn't expect that everyone got the news faster than me, who works in the palace!"

Hearing the teasing in Su Mingzhe's words, Shui Rong laughed and explained:
"In the morning, Concubine Zhen was found dead, but the emperor ordered to keep it a secret, so the death knell was not sounded until just now!"

Ma Shang from Zhiguo Mansion is young, of the same generation as Su Mingzhe. He is only eighteen years old now and is not that cunning. Seeing Shui Rong and Su Mingzhe still talking and laughing, he immediately got angry:

"Would you please stop laughing!"

"Do you know how many people have died this month?"

"He...he, what on earth is he going to do?"

Everyone knew who the 'he' Ma Shang was talking about was, but after hearing this, everyone remained silent.

Only Shui Rong was brave enough, and replied with a smile:
"What can he do? Of course, he can eliminate dissidents!"

"Prince Beijing is right."

Prince Dongping smiled contemptuously and said coldly:
"Even Wang Ziteng and Concubine Zhen died suddenly. We, the four princes and eight dukes, and the nobles in the city, have all become their meals, meat on a plate... If one of us is not satisfied, we will be slaughtered and put into the pot! What they said at the beginning was that we would die together with the country... Humph!"

"Be careful what you say, be careful what you say!"

The Prince of Nan'an was mature and prudent. Seeing that everyone was angry and depressed, he had to speak up and comfort them:

"As the saying goes, if the ruler wants his subject to die, the subject must die! If the father wants his son to die, the son must die!"

"That's the emperor, we can't harbor resentment against him!"

After hearing this advice, everyone felt even more depressed.

Back then, everyone rebelled with their lives on the line, but in the end, the emperor and his family became emperors, while the four kings and eight dukes became fish on the chopping board, to be slaughtered at will!

This is so unfair!
Helplessly, Prince Nan'an looked at Su Mingzhe and asked:
"Nephew, have you heard any news while working in the palace?"

Su Mingzhe hesitated for a moment, glanced at Prince Beijing, and then spoke slowly:
"When I was asking about the death of Concubine Zhen, I accidentally heard someone say that the eldest prince had placed the second daughter of the Zhen family under house arrest five days ago. In addition, many people impeached the Zhen family, saying that the Zhen family formed a clique for personal gain, embezzled and cheated, and sold official positions... However, these memorials were kept."

"Slander, this is all slander!"

Everyone's faces changed drastically, and many people even slammed the table and stood up, shouting all kinds of dirty words.

Prince Beijing Shui Rong's face turned ashen.

The Zhen family has three legitimate daughters.

A few years ago, the eldest girl married Shui Rong and became the Princess of Beijing.

The second girl participated in the beauty pageant this year and was betrothed by the emperor to the eldest prince, Prince Cheng, and became Prince Cheng's concubine.

The third girl, Zhen Yurao, has just reached the age of 16 and has not yet married.

When Su Mingzhe visited the Zhen family in May, the old lady of the Zhen family said that she wanted to marry Miss Yu Rao to Su Mingzhe.

Now, Prince Cheng placed the second daughter of the Zhen family under house arrest a few days in advance, which shows that the current emperor had already prepared to take action against the Zhen family.

"Could it be that he really wants to kill them all?"

The four kings and eight dukes all felt a chill running up from the soles of their feet to their foreheads, chilling their entire bodies.

"Wang Ziteng shouldn't have returned to Beijing!"

"If he was still leading the troops in the Nine Frontiers, he wouldn't have died, and we wouldn't have to be so frightened!" "What's the point of saying this now?"

"..."

Watching the four kings and eight gentlemen slowly lose control of their emotions and start quarreling.

Su Mingzhe narrowed his eyes slightly, hiding the excitement in his heart:

"Emperor Longqing, just kill as many as you can. Once you've caused panic among the people and chaos across the country, I can easily usurp the throne without having to use a single soldier!"

Mid-November.

Finally, news came from Jiangnan that hundreds of people from the Zhen family, the most trusted ministers of the former emperor, were escorted to Beijing, and all their property was confiscated.

In the city of Chang'an, all the noble families began to panic.

Su Mingzhe began to intensify his plan to "usurp the throne".

early december.

All the men, women, and children of the Zhen family were escorted to Beijing.

Late December.

Before New Year's Eve.

All seventy-six male members of the Zhen family were beheaded.

More than 500 women and children of the Zhen family were exiled to the border.

Just when all the nobles were in panic, full of worries and struggling to get by.

Emperor Longqing suddenly announced at the opening court meeting of the new year that all the empresses would visit their families’ villas on the Lantern Festival.

This good news slightly dispelled the worries of the nobles.

It seemed that what happened to the Zhen family was an accident.

Turn around.

Su Mingzhe changed his clothes and came to Sister Feng.

As soon as I entered the backyard, I saw Sister Feng playing mahjong with three beauties.

When Wang Xifeng saw the man coming, she smiled sweetly and took out a second cake, then teased:
"Look, I told you that our Second Master will definitely come to visit you whenever he has free time."

When the three beauties saw the man enter the room, they did not dare to act as unruly as Wang Xifeng, and all stood up, knelt and greeted him:

"Yu Rao (Baolin and Yan Ping) pay their respects to the Second Master."

"We are all family members, no need to be polite."

Su Mingzhe smiled and took Qiaojie from Ping'er, then sat next to Sister Feng and asked with a smile:
"Who won today?"

"Of course it's this girl Pauline!"

Wang Xifeng sighed and said:

"As expected of a royal merchant, her brain works quickly. The three of us all lost, but she was the only one who won."

"Sister Feng, I'm just luckier today."

When Xue Baolin heard Fengjie teasing her, she felt very upset.

I don’t know what happened today, but her luck was particularly good. She often started listening before she had even played two cards.

Also, because the four maids, Ping'er, Feng'er, Hongyu and Luzhu, were each standing behind one of them to serve, she couldn't let them go even if she wanted to.

When the man heard that Xue Baolin won, he couldn't help but laugh. He handed Qiaojie to Ruixue, who was doing needlework at the side, then picked up the shy beauty and walked towards the inner room.

Zhen Yurao and Wang Yanping blushed and were about to go back to their rooms, but were stopped by Wang Xifeng.

"We've been a family for a long time, why are you leaving? Ping'er, sit down and let's continue playing cards!"

Ping'er sat in Xue Baolin's seat with a smile on her face and continued playing mahjong with everyone.

Upon seeing this, Zhen Yurao and Wang Yanping looked at each other and could only sigh, suppressing their shyness and continuing to play cards.

Not long after.

From the inner room came the man's praise and Xue Baolin's pleas for mercy.

For some reason, the girls in the outer room gradually felt themselves getting hot as they listened to the noises coming from the inner room.

(End of this chapter)