The Virtuous Concubine

The prince took the lead, took the confession from Wei Zhu and handed it to Kangxi personally.

Wei Zhu's clothes were not dirty, and there was not even any smell of blood on his body, but his shining eyes showed that he, a eunuch who was good at torture, must have been very satisfied.

Sure enough, Kangxi's face changed when he saw the confession. The more he read, the uglier his face became. He usually deducted food and stole the princess's jewelry, but once the princess had any needs, he would scold her for having no self-respect and no shame.

These servants coaxed the princess and prepared to go back to sow discord among the princesses, attacking Concubine De and Wen Xian together in order to ruin their reputations.

The confession also mentioned that if the princess and her husband who were married wanted to meet and spend a night together, if the maids did not agree, they could not sleep together, and sometimes they would even be ridiculed.

Moreover, once the princesses died, their property would theoretically be taken back by the royal family, but in reality, it was all embezzled by the maids. Therefore, serving the princesses was a great job, and when everyone rushed to bribe the stewards in order to be assigned to the princesses, Kangxi's accumulated anger reached its peak.

He felt a sharp pain in his chest and threw the confession away. The papers fluttered down.

So, was this the reason why princesses who were married off to foreign countries died young or had estranged relationships with their princes-in-law?

Kangxi was furious, and naturally everyone in the Qianqing Palace, except the crown prince, knelt down.

The Crown Prince was still standing, and the Fourth Prince knelt beside him. He sighed silently in his heart, pulled the hem of the Crown Prince's clothes, and motioned him to kneel with him.

The prince finally reacted and knelt down quickly. In fact, he felt that he did not need to kneel down to Kangxi, but when he saw that Concubine De had also knelt down, he could not bear to stand while she knelt down, so he followed the Fourth Prince's action and knelt down together.

Kangxi's eyes widened with anger, his chest rising and falling violently. He never expected that these servants in the palace would be so bold and so harsh to the princesses.

Forty lashes of the cane and exile are both light punishments!

He turned to look at Wen Xian and Ma Lu, and said in a heavy tone: "I didn't know that the princesses had suffered so much injustice in the palace."

Ma Lu knelt down quickly and said, "Your Majesty, please calm down. I just learned about these things today." Wen Xian also said with red eyes, "Father, the aunts are so pitiful."

Kangxi also calmed down and asked the prince: "Who gave them the courage?"

The prince was immediately glad that he knelt down - it must be the Ministry of Internal Affairs! And the leader of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was his own milkman Ling Pu.

The Crown Prince was silent, but the Fourth Prince hesitated for a moment, and after carefully considering his words, he was the first to speak out: "Father, I think this matter is related to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. As for who is responsible, I need to investigate further to be sure. It was also with the full support of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince that I was able to ask these questions with the help of Eunuch Wei Zhu. But time is tight..."

Kangxi felt better then. He nodded and asked everyone to stand up. "Good! Well done. You all did a great job. Wen Xian cares about the sisters, and the Crown Prince and the Fourth Prince can see the big picture from the small details. Very good. This matter will be handed over to you two. Investigate it thoroughly and deal with it severely!"

Then he gave the Fourth Prince a formal appointment as the Minister of the Internal Affairs Department. The Crown Prince is the heir to the throne, and he naturally has authority, so whatever he does is legitimate.

But the Fourth Prince did not have that. The job he previously led in the Ministry of Internal Affairs was not enough for him to handle such a case, and he also needed an identity to act conveniently.

The Fourth Prince was naturally very happy, but he still did not give up fighting for Wen Xian: "This matter involves many servants in the harem, and my son sometimes needs to avoid suspicion..."

Kangxi nodded and was about to hand the matter over to Concubine De when he saw Concubine De looking at her son with a bitter face, as if to say "Why are you suddenly trying to trick me?"

He sighed and thought, forget it, Concubine De was not cut out for this job. She had been in charge of palace affairs for so many years and he had figured out her ways.

She relies on bribery, and can only reward those with good intentions, but she is not very able to restrain those who are sweet on the outside but evil on the inside, and she is certainly not the kind of person who can carry out reforms in a swift and resolute manner.

While he was struggling over the candidate, the Fourth Prince spoke up again: "In my opinion, Wen Xian is very suitable."

Kangxi was stunned for a moment, then laughed again: "Yinzhen, are you seeking revenge for personal gain?"

The Fourth Prince knelt down immediately and said, "Father, please understand. I have never abused my power for personal gain or to seek revenge. I am a prince. Who dares to treat me harshly? I participated in this matter because Wen Xian loves her sisters. I think she has the ability and responsibility to take on the responsibility of rectifying the atmosphere in the palace."

Kangxi hesitated for a moment, looked at Wen Xian, and said, "Wen Xian, your fourth brother recommended you, do you have the confidence to do this well?"

Wen Xian was nervous and excited. She took a step forward, knelt down, and said, "Father, I am willing to do my best!"

Kangxi nodded, as if to say he had agreed to this matter: "Okay, I will issue an order right now. You can go to the imperial concubine tomorrow and ask her for anything you need. Ask her to cooperate with you."

Wen Xian was naturally overjoyed and determined to make a big move, as she was the first princess to be in charge of palace affairs!

Kangxi turned around and issued a series of imperial decrees. After dealing with these matters, he let everyone leave.

After the people left, he called Wei Zhu again and listened to him tell in detail about the interrogation that day.

Hearing that what Wei Zhu said was consistent with what the Crown Prince, the Fourth Prince and others said, he nodded: "You, go and check it too. What you find, present it to me separately."

Just as Wei Zhu was about to leave, Kangxi added, "You don't have to avoid the prince's people. Ling Pu and others are the main culprits. You must not be lenient."

"By the way... you just said, how did the Fourth Prince punish these people?"

Wei Zhu lowered her head and said, "Those servants who are not protected by the princess will be driven out of the palace after forty military sticks. Those servants who are protected by the princess, the Fourth Prince believes that they have deceived their master to such an extent, and their crimes are even more heinous, so he will grant them official titles and promotions."

It was already dusk, and the lights had not yet been turned on. The light was flickering, and Wei Zhu could not see the emperor's expression clearly, and did not dare to look again. Seeing that Kangxi did not ask any more questions, he retreated.

Kangxi lowered his head and looked at the imperial edict on the table.

This was the first imperial edict he wrote. It clearly stated, "Anyone who offends Princess Wenxian will be punished with forty strokes of the cane. The rest of the bystanders will be exiled to Ningguta and become slaves to the armored men."

The Fourth Prince's thoughts... are exactly the same as mine? Kangxi didn't know why, but he felt that the Fourth Prince didn't exile these people simply because he had to consider his reputation as a benevolent monarch and didn't want to use such torture that was against the harmony of nature, not because he didn't want to.

He stared at the imperial edict for a long time, his mind filled with the prince's stubborn expression, Yinzhen pulling the prince's skirt and making him kneel down, and Concubine De's clueless look.

Finally, he called Liang Jiugong: "Go, burn this."