Marrying a concubine and swallowing her dowry? The mistress turns around and marries a high-ranking

Chapter 367

The emperor slammed his fist on the table: "Issue an imperial decree to confiscate the Changguo Marquis's residence! Execute the entire family!"

Treason and collusion with the enemy are serious crimes punishable by death.

Mo Zhonggui accepted the order: "Yes, Your Majesty."

The emperor then remembered: "Summon Shen Wei and Shen Jingyang to the palace. The Shen family previously accused a general in Bei Yi of treason and colluding with the enemy, supplying weapons to Xi Qi, which led to the defeat at Fei Chi Valley. Now we can finally give them an explanation."

Shen Wei and Shen Jingyang had been waiting outside the palace for a long time and soon entered.

The Emperor said, "Minister Shen, the Marquis of Changguo's confession is here. He has admitted that in the Battle of Feichi Valley three years ago, it was the Chu family who had Chu Tianming provide weapons to the Western Qi."

Shen Wei stepped forward, took the confession, and read it through. He didn't show any surprise, but just breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

"To be honest, Your Majesty, I have long suspected that the Chu family was behind this, because only the Chu family has the ability and motive. However, I did not have any concrete evidence linking the Chu family to this before, so I did not dare to raise this suspicion with Your Majesty. Now that the real culprit has finally been brought to justice, the 30,000 Bei Yi soldiers who died in battle can finally rest in peace."

The emperor had previously suspected the Chu family, so it's not surprising that he's listening to Shen Wei now.

"Alright, this time, from the confiscated property of the Marquis of Changguo, allocate 300,000 taels to provide another round of compensation to the families of those 30,000 soldiers. Minister Shen, you are in charge of this matter."

Shen Wei gratefully accepted the order: "Thank you, Your Majesty! Your Majesty's grace is boundless!"

......

The Marquis of Changguo's residence.

The once prosperous family, which had flourished for a century, collapsed overnight, and the mansion that had stood for decades was also subjected to a catastrophic storm.

All of the more than one hundred people in the Changguo Marquis's mansion were arrested, and their cries were deafening and incessant.

The treasury of the Marquis of Changguo's mansion was opened, and everything inside was moved out. Hundreds of large and small boxes were piled up like mountains, some of which had been stored in the treasury for decades and were almost rotten.

Every building and every room was thoroughly searched, even the servants' quarters were searched.

Countless pieces of furniture, silks and satins, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, and rare treasures are piled up haphazardly in the courtyards, telling the story of the once rich and glorious era of this century-old family, almost dazzling the eyes.

The Eastern Depot was in charge of this search and seizure. More than a hundred of its servants spent more than two days taking inventory of everything.

As per the emperor's decree, Mo Chonggui gave 300,000 taels of silver to Shen Wei as supplementary compensation for the 30,000 Shen family soldiers who had sacrificed their lives.

Shen Wei noticed that the 300,000 taels of silver notes had some smaller denominations, making them seem like they had been pieced together. He asked Mo Chonggui:

"Chief Supervisor Mo, the cash seized from the Chu family doesn't seem to be very plentiful."

Mo Chonggui said, "The Chu family's assets are still quite substantial, but they don't have much cash on hand, no more than 500,000 taels at most. I'm also a bit puzzled, how much money did Western Qi actually give Chu Jinxun, how come there's only so little left?"

The Eastern Depot interrogated Chu Jinxun, who insisted that he had only received a little over two million taels of silver from the Western Qi. The Chu family was a large clan with many expenses, and in addition, they had spent one million taels of silver to treat Chu Tianming's illness, leaving them with little cash left.

The Western Qi envoy is dead, and there is no way to verify his testimony, so Chu Jinxun's words cannot be confirmed.

After sending silver to Shen Wei, Mo Chonggui had someone take a large, fully-filled box to the Yongning Marquis's residence that night to find Shen Lingjun.