Chapter 605: Chapter 605. Putting Righteousness Before
Family (3)
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
“Take him down.”
The leader of the royal guards waved his hand at his subordinates and ordered sternly. Several royal guards rushed over and dragged Su Hansen, his three sons, and a few evil slaves to kneel on the ground.
“Are you blind? I am the Eldest Uncle of the Empress, the elder brother of the country’s father. How dare you be rude to me?”
Su Hansen cursed in exasperation. He thought that he could scare these royal guards into peeing their pants by using the names of the Empress and the Duke.
“The imperial edict has arrived.”
The commandant of the Royal Guards jumped off his horse and raised the imperial edict high up. This time, Su Hansen no longer dared to be arrogant and shouted three times. The surrounding commoners also knelt and shouted.
“By the Emperor’s decree, Su Hansen failed to live up to the Emperor’s grace and caused a great disaster by pa.s.sing false evidence. His crime is unforgivable. He will be sentenced to death, and his family property will be confiscated. His children and servants would be exiled to Jingshi Dao and never hired. I, at this moment, reference him!”
“What? Impossible, I’m the Empress’ big uncle; how could they chop off my head? This imperial edict must be fake.”
After hearing the imperial edict, Su Hansen shouted and struggled to take a look at it.
“Cut him down.”
How could the commandant let him touch the imperial edict? With a sullen face, he waved his hand at the subordinates and beheaded them on the street without any delay.
Xiao Zeyu had personally witnessed Su Hansen’s deplorable actions. The man was nothing short of a calamity, and it was only due to the Empress’s adherence to justice that he hadn’t caused even more damage. Given even the slightest leeway, Su Hansen would have dared to defy the heavens themselves.
Recognizing the urgent need to address such a malignant influence, Xiao Zeyu was resolute in his decision. There could be no room for leniency or negotiation in this matter.
“The emperor’s edict is clear,” he proclaimed.
“Anyone involved in selling counterfeit medicine shall be executed without exception. All ill-gotten wealth will be seized, and their families exiled, never to be employed within the empire again.”
This firm decree underscored the Emperor’s unwavering commitment to justice and the eradication of corruption.
The commandant read out the Emperor’s decree again. In troubled times, heavy laws were used. Medicine was a life-saving thing. How could it be adulterated? Only by making these profit-seeking people afraid would they not dare to sell fake medicine again.
The commoners were so excited that their eyes turned red. The Emperor had even ordered the beheading of the Empress’s uncle. He was indeed a wise ruler. The rumors were indeed true.
The supplier, who was beaten half to death and had his tongue almost cut off, knelt and kowtowed. He shouted three times, and everyone followed suit. They all shouted from the bottom of their hearts. The scene was very shocking.
Su Hansen was so scared that his face turned ashen. His legs were weak, and he couldn’t move. He was dragged to the market by the imperial guards and beheaded.
All the family property was confiscated. The ordinary people liked the Emperor for putting righteousness before family, but the Su family felt that Su Hanxuan was too ruthless and did not care about family. However, they also took this as a warning and did not dare to use their status as relatives of the Emperor to commit crimes. They all became sincere.
Su Hanxuan resigned from the court. Luan Qingshan, Zhang Jinglin, and Zhong Yong knelt to plead for mercy. Xiao Zeyu was in a difficult position. His father-in-law was not at fault at all. It was all because of his brother.
Pondering that the situation of his father-in-law would require all the civil and military officials to plead for him, Xiao Zeyu didn’t say anything, and Su Hanxuan resolutely resigned.
The officials couldn’t figure out the Emperor’s thoughts. Did he want to sack his father-in-law or just put on an act for everyone to see?
Seeing that Zhong Yong and the others were pleading for Su Hanxuan, everyone knelt and pleaded for mercy. Everyone was a minister. Su Hanxuan was usually friendly and did not use his status as the Emperor’s father-in-law to order them around. Everyone agreed with this point.
Besides, Su Hanxuan had the Empress behind him, the only female lead in the harem. Who dared to offend her?
“Your Majesty, the country father was unaware of this matter. Please forgive him.”
“Emperor, please show mercy.”
Xiao Zeyu saw that all the ministers were pleading for Su Hanxuan and wanted to agree. Before he could say anything, his grandfather came.
“I’m here to look after the old fellow.”
Xiao Zeyu hurriedly ordered the eunuch to bring a chair for his grandfather. After Qin Feng sat down, he looked at the ministers kneeling. Finally, his gaze fell on the ashamed Su Hanxuan, and nodded at him.
“Emperor, the country’s father is at fault in this matter.”
Hearing Qin Feng say that Su Hanxuan was in the wrong, the ministers were a little stunned. Were they still going to beg for mercy?
Why don’t we just forget about it? Anyway, he had already expressed his intentions just now. There was no need to plead for mercy, right?
“Grandpa, what do you mean?”
Even Xiao Zeyu didn’t understand what his grandfather meant. Wasn’t he usually very close to Su Hanxuan? He had lived with him for so long and played chess every day. Why was he hitting him when he was down?
Su Hanxuan also looked at the old man in confusion, but the old man was right. He had made a mistake in his oversight. He removed the flower feather on his head and prepared to resign and go home.
In his daughter’s words, he wanted to spend time with his wife, take her on sightseeing trips, recite poems, and train Little Chen to become a talent. He wanted to be at ease.
When everyone thought Qin Feng wanted the Emperor to punish Su Hanxuan, they heard him change the topic.
“But he was wrong because he was Su Hansen’s younger brother.”
Eh? Was this old man here to help Su Hanxuan?
Xiao Zeyu was just about to say that brothers couldn’t choose, so he couldn’t blame the country lord.
“He’s Su Hansen’s younger brother, so he should be investigated even more strictly.”
Everyone’s hearts were on tenterhooks. Was the old master going to punish the country’s father again?
Xiao Zeyu looked at his grandfather gloomily. Old man, it would have been great if you had come a little later. Let me finish talking about pardoning the country’s father. I couldn’t say anything with you saying this, even if I wanted to be lenient.
“Therefore, this old minister believes that the country’s father should be fined a year’s salary as a warning to others.”
Qin Feng stroked his beard and looked at the ministers’ reactions before slowly speaking.
“Alright, grandfather is right. Country Father is in the wrong and will be fined a year’s salary. I hope Country Father will take this as a warning.”
Xiao Zeyu was afraid that his grandfather would say something else, so he didn’t wait for Su Hanxuan to speak before he issued an imperial edict. He would only be fined a year’s salary, which was nothing to Su Hanxuan. His family had a lot of money, so he didn’t lack this salary.
After the court session, the civil and military officials surrounded Su Hanxuan and congratulated him. Now, everyone knew that the Emperor was still on the side of the country’s father. He was just pretending to punish him.
“Thank you for pleading for Hanxuan.”
Su Hanxuan knew how to behave. He quickly expressed his grat.i.tude to everyone. When he learned that his eldest brother had been beheaded and that his nephews and family had all been exiled, Su Hanxuan still helped them out so that they would not suffer too much on the way to exile. He bought them a property at Jingshi Dao, which was his utmost kindness.
After dealing with the fake medicine, Xiao Zeyu gathered his troops. Because the Nanman people were too difficult to deal with, he sent Zhang Jinglin and Zhong Yong to exterminate them.
Zhong Yong was the vanguard, and Zhang Jinglin was the commander. Zhong Yong was pleased. He loved to fight. It was tedious to stay in the capital all the time. His arms and legs were rusty.
However, the troops could not set off if the medicine packets were not ready. Xiao Zeyu ordered people to use the three-inspection method to make the medicine packets, eliminating fake medicine. No one dared to take responsibility for this; every inspection was very detailed.
The medicine packets and rations were ready. The main group would set off the following day.
Su Qing summoned Zhong Yong into the palace and prepared medicine packets for him and Zhang Jinglin. She also prepared medicine for their internal and external injuries.
In addition, she gave them a new weapon..