The passers-by are vicious

Just causing a concubine to hit her head against a pillar and almost die was not enough to depose Concubine Cao or even implicate the Cao family. The most she could do was demote her.

Concubine Cao's father was the Minister of Personnel, Cao Li, who had the power to recommend, promote and transfer officials.

He used his power to secretly buy and sell official positions many times. Logically, Yuwen Xi could have directly publicized his crimes and dismissed him from his official position.

But Mr. Cao of the Cao family was originally a descendant of Yuwen Xi, and now he teaches in the academy run by the Cao family.

Cao Li formed a contractual relationship with the students in the academy to buy and sell official positions, which was equivalent to grasshoppers on the same rope.

If Yuwen Xi dealt with Cao Li without sufficient evidence, it might affect the influence of the students of Cao's Academy on the court. After all, there were many talented people among them.

What's more, he had already verified that Cao Taibo was not involved in this matter.

And now Yuwen Xi has decided to take action against the Cao family. He has almost collected all the evidence and now all he needs is an east wind.

"It's bad, Your Majesty. Concubine Li suddenly started bleeding a lot from her body. It seems like she had a miscarriage." The eunuch ran in in a panic to report.

The eunuch's shrill voice frightened Concubine Cao so much that her legs went limp and she fell to the ground.

She looked up at Yuwen Xi in disbelief. Did she hear it right? Li Ranyan had a miscarriage? How could she have a miscarriage when she wasn't pregnant? Could it be...

"How could it be?" Jiang Wanwan frowned and pretended to be incredulous.

Seeing this, Concubine Cao's pupils suddenly widened, and the painful look in Yuwen Xi's eyes flashed through her mind.

This child can’t really be the emperor’s!

It is possible that the Emperor has not always favored Concubine Chenxian alone. How could that bitch Li Ranyan get pregnant?

"Xianfei, please come with me to take a look." Yuwen Xi immediately stood up and took Jiang Wanwan to the bedroom nearby.

Concubine Cao hurriedly got up and followed closely behind, choking.

If it was really a miscarriage, she would be charged with murdering the royal heir, a heinous crime punishable by the execution of nine generations of the clan.

Along the way, Yuwen Xi remained silent, his face changing from gloomy to bright.

He knew very well that this was not part of his plan at all, but it was surprising that this woman, Li Ranyan, could come up with such a method.

If he hadn't known that he had never favored her, he would have been deceived by Li Ranyan, which would have made him hate her even more.

"Imperial Physician, please check on Concubine Li!" After entering the inner room, Yuwen Xi hurriedly ordered.

The bed sheet under Li Ranyan was stained red with blood, and the palace maid serving beside her fell to her knees in fear.

Concubine Cao was also frightened by this scene. She fell to the ground with weak legs. If it weren't for Concubine Lu's support, she would not have been able to get up.

Li Ranyan was lying on the bed, looking pale, and seemed to be still in a coma.

The imperial physician was checking Li Ranyan's pulse. He frowned as he diagnosed her and said, "I was only paying attention to the wound on your forehead, and the fetus was still young, so I failed to notice it. It was my fault."

After saying this, the doctor shook his head pretentiously and said, "She has already had a miscarriage. There is no hope for her."

After hearing this, Concubine Cao pinched Lu's hand in panic. When she noticed Yuwen Xi's sharp eyes when he turned around, her knees went weak and she fell to the ground.

At this moment, she didn't care about the pain at all. "Your Majesty, I didn't know that Li was pregnant, otherwise I wouldn't have pushed her."

Yuwen Xi was tired of continuing the show, and he shouted, "Concubine Cao's crime of murdering the heir to the throne is unforgivable, but for the sake of Cao Taibo, she will be temporarily imprisoned and her fate will be decided later."

"Your Majesty, please calm down. I will investigate this matter thoroughly and will never let Concubine Li suffer any injustice." Jiang Wanwan comforted Yuwen Xi.

"You still have government affairs to deal with, so you should go back and deal with things first. I am here with you."

Yuwen Xi looked at Jiang Wanwan's well-behaved appearance, and a trace of regret emerged in his heart. He really shouldn't have pulled Jiang Wanwan out of her sleep just to act out this scene.

"The matter is already clear and there is no need to investigate further. You can go back and have a rest. I still have official business to attend to, so I won't be visiting your palace these days." After saying this, Yuwen Xi waved his sleeves and left.

Concubine Cao had been dragged away by the guards and taken back to the palace for confinement. Jiang Wanwan glanced at the relieved imperial physician and reminded him, "Imperial physician, you must treat Concubine Li well in the coming days until she recovers."

The imperial physician naturally understood Jiang Wanwan's intention. This was to make him act out the whole thing, so as not to reveal the truth and ruin Yuwen Xi's plan. He quickly cupped his hands and said, "Yes."

.........

After returning to the palace, Jiang Wanwan felt like she had just watched a show. She never expected that the emperor had deliberately designed this just to deal with the Cao family.

It seems that Cao Taibo's prestige among the students is so high that it is necessary to use an open strategy to deal with him.

That's right, it was an open conspiracy. I believe that once this matter gets out, there will always be a few smart people in the Cao family who will figure it out.

After all, the emperor has never favored Li Ranyan, and she was suddenly pushed down by Concubine Cao, and she just happened to have a miscarriage. Isn't this clearly telling the Cao family that I am going to take action against you.

Jiang Wanwan's guess was correct. Sure enough, the next day, news came that the Minister of Personnel Cao Li had been dismissed from his post by the emperor for buying and selling official positions with students of Cao's Academy, and his family's property was confiscated and he was demoted to a commoner.

A notice was also posted: Concubine Cao plotted to murder the royal heir, and according to the law she should be executed along with her entire clan, but considering that Concubine Cao was once the emperor's teacher, she was only demoted to a commoner.

He even ordered people to take over Cao's Academy and change it to Bailu Academy. From today on, anyone who passed the examination for a scholar could enter the academy to study. In order to prevent people from going to the academy but not studying hard, an entrance examination was set up.

As long as you pass the entrance exam, tuition fees will be waived and accommodation will be provided.

As soon as this notice was issued, the whole of Dali was filled with admiration for Yuwen Xi's magnanimity, bravery and wisdom, and they even cursed Cao Li for buying and selling officials, thus ruining the path for ordinary students to enter officialdom.

The people's respect for the emperor increased even more.

Many students went to take the entrance examination of Bailu Academy.

Because of the Cao Li incident, the Cao family was also raided. The students of the original Cao Academy wished they could find a hole to crawl into, but now they are relieved to hear that the academy was taken over and renamed.

As a result, the students of the former Cao Academy practiced even harder, wanting to pass the imperial examinations with all their heart.

Once the Cao family fell from power, they could only rely on the money that Old Lady Cao earned from teaching in the academy to support the Cao family members. Naturally, their lives became miserable. Finally, they could not bear it anymore and severed ties with the Cao family members who were involved in buying and selling officials.

Even his son Cao Li was locked up. From then on, Grandma Cao devoted herself to teaching in order to make up for the guilt caused by the mistakes made by her son.

After Jiang Wanwan learned the news, she couldn't help but admire Yuwen Xi's thundering methods.

Not only did it weaken the power of the Cao family and undermine their prestige, but demoting them to commoners was a more effective punishment for them than killing all nine clans.