Top Scholar

Chapter 550 The arrangements are clear

Mustard, also known as wasabi, is one of the four major sources of spiciness since ancient times. Its spiciness comes from mustard oil, which is highly volatile and irritating. When Zhang Yanling put a packet of mustard in his mouth, the pungent aroma instantly exploded in his mouth and nasal cavity, burning every inch of his mucous membranes.

He wanted to vomit but couldn't, wanted to swallow but couldn't, and couldn't even utter a sound. He could only convulse and writhe on the ground like a fish out of water, snot, tears, and saliva flowing all over the ground...

Qian Ning finally vented his anger and then sternly ordered, "Seize their property! Dig three feet into the ground! Don't leave a single copper coin of gold, silver, valuables, jewelry, or antiques! Seize and pack up all documents and account books with writing on them, don't miss a single one!"

The Marquis of Jianchang's residence was completely engulfed in wailing and howling. The Zhang family, accustomed to their ruthlessness, were unwilling to surrender easily. Some tried to rush out the door, some tried to climb the wall to escape, and some even put up a desperate resistance!

But today, it wasn't just the Embroidered Uniform Guards who came; a whole battalion of Imperial Guards also joined in the ransacking, giving them more than enough manpower. The soldiers were ruthless and efficient, dragging out the men of the Zhang family one by one like chickens, binding them together with thick hemp ropes. The women and children were all driven to the west courtyard, locked, and strictly guarded, left to their own devices, screaming and crying…

Such a commotion at the Jianchang Marquis's residence had already alerted the Shouning Marquis across the street.

Dressed in a python robe and carrying an iron certificate, he arrived at the gate of the Jianchang Marquis's residence, surrounded by servants, and said in a deep voice, "I am Zhang Heling, the Marquis of Shouning, the current emperor's brother-in-law. Let your leader come out and speak!"

Then the Imperial Guards guarding the gate parted to the left and right, and a grand eunuch wearing a dark blue python robe, a steel fork hat, and holding a golden mace appeared before Zhang Heling.

"Eunuch Zhang!" Zhang Heling's pupils contracted sharply. When he saw that it was Zhang Yong who had come, carrying the weapon representing the emperor, he knew that the emperor was serious.

“Lord Zhang, I advise you not to get involved in this mess, lest you get burned.” Zhang Yong’s tone was calm, his gaze cold, keeping everyone at arm’s length.

Zhang Heling's imposing manner faltered for a moment, and he clasped his hands in a muffled voice, asking, "What's going on? What heavenly law has my younger brother violated? Please enlighten me, Eunuch Zhang!"

Zhang Yong then replied solemnly, "Your Excellency should know that the Western Depot recently raided the Guanghui Temple, which was guilty of heinous crimes. After investigating, they discovered that the evil temple was deeply involved with the Jianchang Marquis's residence. The abbot has confessed that they held 2,500 hectares of fertile land on behalf of the Jianchang Marquis, and had not paid a single penny of tax for many years! They also illegally imprisoned people and committed the atrocities of forced labor and mutilation!"

"Leaving aside the land issue, what does the lamas' imprisonment of the people and their forced labor have to do with my brother?" Zhang Heling tried to argue.

"Because the lamas in the temple confessed that over the past ten years, they have performed forty or fifty evil rituals on your father, using over two hundred sets of offerings such as human bones, skin, and intestines!" Zhang Yong said through gritted teeth.

"What is most intolerable is that last year Zhang Yanling actually set up an altar to perform a ritual to curse the Emperor Star!"

"Huh?!" Zhang Heling took a step back upon hearing this, his face full of shock, as if he knew nothing about the matter.

“Since ancient times, the ruler of a nightmare has been guilty of an unforgivable crime,” Zhang Yong glanced at him, his tone growing colder. “Your Excellency should behave yourself and protect your family’s lineage. Don’t be buried with them!”

Zhang Heling stood frozen in place, ultimately not daring to take another step forward. He stared blankly as the men of the Jianchang Marquis's mansion were bound in a string and escorted out, one by one stuffed into prison carts.

Only when the grotesque Zhang Yanling was dragged into a car alone did he bow and plead, "Eunuch Zhang, please spare my brother's life."

"You chose this path yourselves. Why not take the wide road instead of heading down a dead end? Who can you blame?" Zhang Yong snorted and said contemptuously, "You mere relatives of the emperor dare to defy him? Remember this, this is the Ming Dynasty, not the Han Dynasty!"

He leaned closer to Zhang Heling, bent down, and lowered his voice, warning, "If the Empress Dowager still refuses to eat tomorrow, who knows which family will be next to be raided..."

After saying this, Zhang Yong ignored Zhang Heling's pale face and waved to the Imperial Guards to affix two conspicuous seals to the gate of the Jianchang Marquis's residence!

Staring at the crisscrossing seals, Zhang Heling felt all his strength drain away. His legs gave way, and he collapsed heavily onto the cold steps. The iron certificate he held dear, as if it were his lifeblood, clattered to the ground…

~~
The good news of Zhang Yanling's entire family being arrested spread like wildfire. People from the capital rushed to the scene, crowding the streets where the prisoner's carriage passed.

From the time these two brothers entered Beijing in the early years of the Hongzhi reign, they abused their status as imperial relatives to bully men and women, committing countless atrocities. The people of the capital had suffered under their rule for too long, and wished they could eat their flesh and sleep on their skin!
Now that Zhang Yanling had finally fallen from power, the resentment that had been building up for twenty years exploded instantly. People picked up garbage, excrement, and clods of dirt and threw them at Zhang Yanling and his family in the prison van, cursing filling the air.

"That bastard finally got his comeuppance!"

"Serves you right! You should have gotten yourself into this mess long ago!"

"Eat shit..."

The only regret is not seeing Zhang Heling...

The criminal was quickly taken back to the West Depot prison for interrogation.

Having suffered that devastating kick, Zhang Yanling was like a dog with its spine broken; his former arrogance had vanished. Under interrogation, he answered every question without hesitation, daring not to conceal anything…

One kick nearly killed him; he wouldn't dare take a second kick!
His sons, nephews, nieces, and a host of his wives' relatives, servants, and followers were terrified and rushed to confess, revealing many unheard-of and shocking cases. They even confessed to the 15,000 hectares of land that the Zhang family had forcibly seized outside Shuntian Prefecture!
"Tell me, what kind of muddled calculation is this?" Zhang Yong shook his head at Zhang Yanling, who was slumped across from him, after reviewing the case file. "The family clearly still has so much land. Why did you have to make such a fuss over such a small amount? You're just greedy and insatiable. Now look what happened, you've smashed it all!"

"Waaah... I regret it so much! I regret it to death!" Zhang Yanling cried, snot and tears streaming down his face. "Our family comes from a peasant background, we were terrified of poverty! We were truly terrified of poverty!" "Back then, to support my father's studies for the imperial examinations, we pawned all our meager land, those dozens of acres! We ate nothing but bran and wild vegetables all year round, and we were always envious of others eating donkey meat sandwiches! Later, when we suddenly became wealthy, we became greedy for land and always wanted to own it..." He knelt down on the ground with a thud, pleading:

"I offer all my family's land and my brother's land to the Emperor, begging only that the Emperor spare my life. I promise to behave myself from now on and never cause trouble again!"

“If only we had known this would happen, why did we do it in the first place? It’s too late…” Zhang Yong shook his head and handed the file to Qian Ning, saying, “Send it to Dongguitang!”

~~
The still-wet ink of the confessions was swiftly delivered to the temporary office of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices—the Leopard House, Donggui Hall!

Within a day, tables, chairs, writing brushes, and inkstones were all prepared in Donggui Hall, and all the officials of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices were present, each with a solemn expression.

Standing behind his desk, Su Luli said in a deep voice to his colleagues, "By imperial decree, immediately compile a list of crimes committed by Zhang Yanling and his faction!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" The officials answered in unison and immediately began to sort through the case files and categorize the messy confessions according to the training they had received at the Dragon Tiger Lecture Hall. In less than half a day, they had listed Zhang Yanling's crimes one by one and presented them to Su Lu.

Su Lu looked through the evidence and frowned, saying, "Change this one... The Nightmare Emperor is going to exterminate nine generations of his family, it hasn't come to that yet."

"How should we change it?" Su Man asked.

“Let’s change it to ‘Holy Mother of Nightmares’,” Su Lu said without changing his expression. “The Holy Mother has been on a hunger strike for the past few days because she’s been bewitched by her brother.”

"Why would her brother use a curse on her?" Su Man said speechlessly, "Is it to make her lose weight?"

"To control her, of course," Su Lu said seriously. "Didn't Zhang Yanling admit that he used a mind-controlling technique to make her obey?"

“But he said it was to make the Emperor obey…” Su Man whispered, “Isn’t that tampering with a testimony?”

“Brother, our Court of Imperial Sacrifices is here to help the Emperor solve his problems, not to cause him trouble,” Su Lu said softly. “It is also not a place to solve cases.”

He lowered his voice even further as he spoke, “In matters of the imperial family like this, the emperor doesn’t need the truth, he only needs the most advantageous angle of handling the situation—so changing it to the younger brother bewitching the older sister is the most appropriate way to end things.”

"Then how about altering the case file?" Su Man asked in a low voice.

"What case file are you changing?" Su Lu shook his head, handed the file back to him, and said indifferently, "Send this case back for retrial, and verbally notify Qian Ning to give a new statement as required."

"Okay, fine..." Su Man nodded in agreement, and after doing so, he said with a wry smile, "This is different from the training at the Dragon Tiger Academy. Isn't it supposed to be about 'seeking truth and being pragmatic'?"

"Seek the truth when you need to, and be pragmatic when you need to be pragmatic." Su Lu replied matter-of-factly, "Brother, welcome to the real world!"

~~
From morning till night, Zhu Houzhao constantly led people to eat and drink at Shou Kang Palace, driving Empress Dowager Zhang to the brink of collapse several times.

During this time, Li Dongyang and several cabinet ministers could no longer bear to watch and came together to advise the emperor to stop torturing the empress dowager.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Houzhao's face fell, and he raised an eyebrow, asking in return, "What? Is it wrong for me to coax the Empress Dowager into eating? Do you expect the court officials to accuse me of being unfilial?"

Jiao Fang couldn't help but whisper, "Your Majesty, filial piety should be shown where the Empress Dowager needs it."

"Where?" Zhu Houzhao asked in a cold voice.

"I heard that the Western Depot arrested the Empress Dowager's brother," Jiao Fang said, forcing herself to speak.

"Absurd!" Zhu Houzhao said angrily, "The Empress Dowager started a hunger strike several days before I arrested the Marquis of Jianchang. How dare you make such a far-fetched connection? What are your true intentions?"

"This old minister has made a mistake, this old minister has misspoke." Jiao Fang quickly knelt down to beg for forgiveness.

"I think you're getting senile!" Zhu Houzhao snapped, his voice dripping with scorn.
"Does the very act of 'filial piety' mean we should bend the law for personal gain and let a villain like Zhang Yanling go free? You were all shouting that you wanted to severely punish the two Zhangs and rectify the court! How come you're all pretending to be good people now that I've actually taken action?!"

"The Empress Dowager's meal is a family matter, while Zhang Yanling's crimes are a matter of national law. They are two completely different things and should not be confused!"

A stern and righteous reprimand left the cabinet ministers speechless, and they could only reluctantly take their leave.

(End of this chapter)