Before the incident, Jing Heng and Qin Huai had wanted to take advantage of the conflict between Princess Jiaming and the Zhang family to achieve the purpose of amending the household marriage law.

But Jingheng didn't want to see Princess Jiaming go to a dead end, nor did she want to implicate innocent people, so he secretly sent someone to persuade Princess Jiaming to let her go to the palace to complain to Emperor Yuanhe.

In order to protect the face of the royal family, it was impossible for Princess Jiaming to be abandoned by the Zhang family and become known as an abandoned wife. Emperor Yuanhe would definitely think of a comprehensive way to not only preserve Princess Jiaming's reputation, but also teach the Zhang family a lesson.

In this way, Emperor Yuan He is likely to agree to amend the household marriage law. As long as Emperor Yuan He agrees, it will be useless no matter how much opposition the conservative ministers have. What's more, this matter was initiated by Qin Huai, who was in charge of the Ministry of Punishment, so there was relatively less resistance.

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Originally Princess Jiaming agreed and was willing to put aside her hatred for the Zhang family and leave a way for herself to survive. Who would have thought that she would suddenly poison thirty-two members of the Zhang family and even set herself on fire on Zhang Cifu's sixty-fifth birthday.

In this murder case, almost everyone in the Zhang family died, including Zhang Shiren's true love cousin and their three-year-old child. Only Zhang Shiren's five-year-old concubine escaped because of illness and did not pay birthday wishes to Zhang Cifu.

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After hearing all this, Qin Xiaoxiao was silent for a long time, and then asked with difficulty: "Brother Li, is Princess Jiaming not going to survive?"

Jing Heng nodded slowly and said in a deep voice: "In the eyes of the world, although the Zhang family insulted her, the crime was not worthy of death. Moreover, it was thirty-two lives, many of which were innocent."

Qin Xiaoxiao felt very sad and hugged him tightly: "Brother Li, by amending the household marriage law, we can avoid such tragic things, right?"

Jing Heng kissed her on the forehead: "Well, the revised household marriage law allows women to have the right to divorce their husbands like men. This is a way out."

A way out for women like Princess Jiaming.

"Then let the Holy One and all the civil and military officials agree to amend the household marriage law!" Qin Xiaoxiao looked out the window at the deep night, with burning fire reflected in her eyes: "Let all the women in the world who are bullied by their husbands be freed

, live the life they want.”

Before dawn, the news that the Zhang family was nearly wiped out overnight spread throughout the capital. Many people didn't believe it and thought it was a rumor. They didn't believe it was true until they saw the Zhang Mansion in ruins with their own eyes.

No one could have imagined that this noble princess could do such a vicious thing. For a time, many ministers who were close to Zhang Cifu did not even bother to eat breakfast, put on their official uniforms and went straight to the palace to ask Emperor Yuanhe for help.

Severely punish Princess Jiaming.

The relatives of the Zhang family were no exception. They rushed to the palace gate wearing sackcloth and mourning, crying to Emperor Yuanhe for justice. They were afraid that Emperor Yuanhe would protect Jiaming, the royal princess, and make Zhang Cifu's family die in vain.

At this time, Emperor Yuan He sat in the Qinzheng Hall with a dark face, until a ray of light came in from the gap in the window. He raised his head and told Manager Tong beside him: "The court will be suspended today, and Qin Huai will enter the palace."

Manager Tong bowed: "Yes."

Soon a young eunuch came outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony and conveyed Emperor Yuanhe's oral instructions to the civil and military officials standing at the foot of the steps.

There was a commotion in the crowd, and everyone looked at Qin Huai.

Qin Huai ignored their looks, straightened his clothes and walked towards the Qinzheng Hall.

When passing by the Chief Minister Zhao of the Cabinet, I suddenly heard him say: "Now that Mr. Zhang is gone, Mr. Qin will be in the cabinet soon. I recall that Mr. Zhang repeatedly expressed his merits for you in front of the emperor, which shows that he values ​​you very much, and I must hope so."

Qin Huai had a sad look on his face: "Master Zhang's kindness to me, I will never forget it. I was supposed to tie a grass ring, but I didn't expect..."

Zhao Shoufu sighed and patted his shoulder: "My sympathies to Mr. Qin. Since you have this intention, just punish the murderer severely for Mr. Zhang. This is also your duty."

Qin Huai sneered in his heart, lowered his eyes and said: "This matter is of great importance. It will be decided by the Holy One. The lower officials will listen to the Holy Will."

After saying that, he bowed his hands towards Zhao Shoufu: "I don't dare to bother you, Your Majesty, to wait. If there is nothing else, I will go ahead first."

Zhao Shoufu covered the glimmer in his eyes and waved his hand very kindly: "Go ahead."

Qin Huai bowed and strode away.

Until he could no longer see his back, an official from the same party as Zhao Fu whispered: "Sir, you suspect..."

Zhao Shoufu raised his hand to stop what he was about to say: "You can't talk nonsense without real evidence."

The official looked horrified and subconsciously looked in the direction Qin Huai left, unable to believe that he really had the guts to do so.

"This is a fierce tiger. If you stretch out your claws, you will see blood. Be careful in the future!" Zhao Shoufu looked at him and reminded him lightly, but his heart was not as calm as it appeared.

"Yes, I understand." The official suppressed the fear in his heart and bowed in agreement.

Qin Huai came to the Qinzheng Hall, glanced at the gloomy-looking Emperor Yuanhe, and stepped forward to salute: "I am here to see you, Your Majesty."

Emperor Yuan He did not cry out, but looked at him with a deep look, a bit unfathomable.

Qin Huai just pretended not to know and let him look at him.

After a while, the voice of Emperor Yuan He came from above: "Ping Shen."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Qin Huai stood up and stood quietly in the center of the hall, waiting for Emperor Yuan He to speak again.

Emperor Yuanhe did not keep him waiting for long, and directly stated the purpose of announcing his entry into the palace: "Previously, someone participated in Zhang Cifu's connivance with his cousins ​​to bully men and women, and plunder other people's property. Did you know about it?"

Qin Huai did not hesitate and said respectfully: "I have heard a little bit about it."

"Oh? Tell me." Emperor Yuan He seemed a little surprised, as if he had just discovered that he was still standing, and motioned to Manager Tong: "Show Qin Aiqing his seat."

Qin Huai cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty."

Except for Manager Tong, no one knew what the monarch and his ministers talked about.

Near noon, the ministers waiting outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony saw that Qin Huai had not come out, and they did not see the second person summoned by the Holy Emperor. They could not help but murmur in their hearts, suspecting that the emperor and his ministers were behind their backs and were discussing how to exonerate Princess Jiaming.

How does this work?

Some ministers could not wait any longer and ran to Zhao Fu and said, "Sir, the relatives of the Zhang family are still kneeling outside the palace gate. We must find a way to appease them. If they continue to kneel, it will be detrimental to the reputation of the Holy Emperor and the royal family!"

"Yes, yes, if we don't deal with that poisonous woman in time, it will be difficult to stop the world's Youyou!"

"It is difficult for the Holy One to decide this matter, so it is even more necessary for us to share our worries and come up with a proper solution."

"..."

The ministers expressed their opinions and started arguing outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Although they had different ideas, they all agreed that the Princess of Jiaming should be severely punished to serve as a warning to others and prevent such tragic disasters from happening.

But they knew in their hearts that such serious cases had been happening for years and it was impossible to prevent them. They were so filled with righteous indignation that they wanted to seek justice for the Zhang family, but it was just for profit.

Everyone knew that once Zhang Cifu left, the connections he had maintained in the court would have to be taken over by someone. They did not dare to think about the position of Cifu, but they tried their best to get one of their own to sit in this position so that they would have greater power.

As long as the knife does not prick themselves, they will not work hard to think of countermeasures to fundamentally solve the problem. If such a serious case can benefit them, they would like to do it every day.

"Okay, this matter will be decided by the Holy One. I will just obey your orders." Zhao Fu was impatient to listen to their argument and simply silenced them with what Qin Huai said.

When the ministers heard this, they were all shocked and confused, thinking that with such a good opportunity, he would never give up on gathering Zhang Cifu's power.

No matter what they thought, Zhao Shoufu dropped these words and walked straight towards the palace gate, obviously not intending to wait any longer.

The others looked at each other in confusion, unable to figure out what Zhao Shoufu was thinking.

However, a few ministers saw something and felt that it was not appropriate to get involved in this matter, as it might cause trouble, so they hurriedly left the palace with Zhao Fu.

The Zhang family relatives, who were still crying at the gate of the palace, saw Zhao Shoufu and others, swarmed up and surrounded them, begging Zhao Shoufu and others to take them into the palace to face the saints, to avenge the Zhang Cifu family who died in vain.

But before they could get closer, the guards guarding the palace gate stepped forward with swords and guns in hand and forced them all back.

Seeing this, these people thought that Emperor Yuan He was trying to protect Princess Jiaming, and they cried even more miserably, as if the thirty people who were poisoned to death were their biological fathers and mothers.

In the end, this group of people was taken away by Zhang Cifu's group, but everyone knew that this matter would not end there.

When the Zhang family felt that justice was hopeless, someone suddenly gave them a trick. The next day, these people began to cry in the streets and alleys about how Zhang Cifu devoted himself to the people, how he loved Princess Jiaming as his daughter, and how miserable his family's death was.

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They dare not openly accuse the royal family of being cold and ruthless, shielding Princess Jiaming, a vicious woman, and refusing to punish her severely, but the people who hear these things will make up their minds.

In less than half a month, the people all over the capital were sympathizing with the nearly wiped out Zhang family and scolding Princess Jiaming for being vicious. There were even a group of scholars who were not very clear-headed and went to the palace gate for a sit-in, demanding that Emperor Yuan He hand over Jiaming County.

Lord, let the Zhang family suffer.

As a result, after sitting quietly for less than a moment, a group of guards rushed out aggressively and locked all these scholars in prison until they were punished.

Now the prince and several princes could not sit still, and went to the palace one after another to see Emperor Yuanhe, and persuaded him to let the scholars go, so as not to incur verbal and written criticism from scholars all over the world.

This time, Emperor Yuan He was surprisingly stubborn and refused to let the scholars go. Even when the second prince repeatedly persuaded him, he directly asked the guards to escort the second prince back to the second prince's mansion and let him shut up and think about it for three months.

Emperor Yuanhe's actions made the ministers who were originally waiting and watching panic. They didn't understand why he wanted to protect Princess Jiaming so much, even at the expense of being called a faint king.

Yes, ever since those stupid scholars were imprisoned, there have been rumors among the people that Emperor Yuan He was a foolish emperor. Now that the second prince has been ordered to shut himself up and think about his mistakes, there are even more such comments.

Qin Xiaoxiao had been waiting for the whole matter to settle, but she couldn't guess Emperor Yuan He's intention, so she had to ask Jing Heng who had returned from the Yamen.

"I can't explain it in a sentence or two. You'll know in two days." Jing Heng gave it a try, obviously he was aware of it.

When Qin Xiaoxiao heard this, he was sensible and did not ask further questions. He changed the question: "Can the Holy Lord save Princess Jiaming's life?"

Jing Heng glanced outside the door and whispered: "It's hard to say. It depends on whether the crime Zhang Cifu committed can be punished."

Qin Xiaoxiao's eyes widened, and he suddenly guessed what Emperor Yuan He was going to do, and couldn't help but gasp.

"It's what you think." Jing Heng touched her head and confirmed her guess: "The way to govern a country is the way of checks and balances. Once Zhang Cifu died, this balance was broken. Some people took advantage of the opportunity to fish in troubled waters. Uncle Huang

It’s impossible to let these people do whatever they want.”

Qin Xiaoxiao was dumbfounded, feeling that she was still too young.

She didn't know if Zhang Cifu had committed any crime. Since the Holy One had made up his mind to put a pot on his grave and completely eradicate his power in the court, the crime could not be light, and she didn't know how many people would be implicated.

In this way, the life of Princess Jiaming, who "executed" the Zhang family in advance, is very likely to be saved. It's just that those innocent people are too pitiful, but as far as Princess Jiaming is concerned, these people are not innocent, they are all insults

Someone who passed her.

Qin Xiaoxiao shook her head, no longer worrying about who was innocent, and asked another question she was concerned about: "How is the household marriage law going? Have you mentioned it to the Holy One?"

When Jing Heng heard this, his face turned ugly: "Master Qin won't let me intervene, and I don't know how it will go."
To be continued...