The Second Master of the Red Chamber

Chapter 835 Shock
Princess Zhaoyang was indeed waiting outside the Southern Study.

When she saw Jia Lian come out, she just smiled and then walked out of the Daming Palace.

Hearing Jia Lian's footsteps approaching, she slowed her pace. After walking about several dozen steps, she asked, "What did Father say to you in person?"

"It's nothing, I just need to find out who is slandering Your Highness behind the scenes."

"Oh, Lord Rong really can't guess who it is?"

Princess Zhaoyang stopped and turned back to look at Jia Lian with bright, sparkling eyes.

Jia Lian smiled and said, "I can guess the general idea."

So what do you decide to do?

Jia Lian thought for a moment and said, "His Majesty's original words were that he did not want such rumors to circulate in the city again within a day."

Princess Zhaoyang didn't understand the implication at first, but after a while she asked in return, "You mean, Father Emperor just wanted to dispel the rumors and didn't mean for you to investigate my third brother?"

"Not necessarily. Perhaps His Majesty also wants to take this opportunity to see my attitude towards Prince Yun."

Princess Zhaoyang understood.

That's true. Emperor Ningkang already knows that she supports his younger brother.

Since Jia Lian was getting so close to the siblings, she naturally wanted to see Jia Lian's attitude clearly.

Moreover, the way of the emperor is not to fully reveal his thoughts to his subjects.

Therefore, it is not surprising that Emperor Ningkang issued such a broad decree to Jia Lian.

"Have you figured out what to do?"

Jia Lian smiled slightly, then a cold glint appeared in his eyes: "Of course, we should kill first."

"kill?"

"These petty villains have slandered my Qingran so severely. If I were incompetent, so be it. But now that I have received the Emperor's decree, how can I let them off the hook?"

Princess Zhaoyang retorted angrily, "How dare you say that? I've suffered so much these past few days, and you haven't even come to comfort me."

"I thought Qingran would come to me first..."

Princess Zhaoyang rolled her eyes: "You're a man!"

Jia Lian smiled and reached out to smooth Princess Zhaoyang's hair behind her ear, causing her to playfully step back.
"Are you out of your mind? What if Father's men see this...?"

"I'm not afraid."

Jia Lian acted as if he were a desperate fugitive.

Upon seeing this, Princess Zhaoyang immediately forgot her little grievances and was overjoyed.

After thinking for a moment, she said in a low voice, "Then hurry up and take care of it. Once you're done, come to my residence..."

After saying that, as if afraid that Jia Lian would misunderstand, he added, "I have something important to discuss with you."

Jia Lian smiled and replied, "I know. I also have something important that I need Qingran's help with."

……

The sound of horses' hooves and the trampling of a large number of soldiers once again echoed throughout the streets and alleys of the capital.

Using the Shuntian Prefecture, Chang'an County government offices, and the Five Cities Military Command as their bases, they swept through the capital like a dragon emerging from its cave, targeting all the crowded places such as restaurants, teahouses, and theaters.

The total number of teams is no less than one hundred.

"The officials are on duty to investigate the case. Everyone must stay where you are and not move."

In a bustling teahouse, dozens of fully armed soldiers stormed in and roughly herded everyone into the middle of the hall.

A school officer led a group of people out, ignoring the teahouse owner who came forward to curry favor, and stood on a stool in front of the crowd to ask: "I have received a report that someone here is suspected of maliciously insulting and slandering Her Highness the current Princess."

"I have been ordered by the Emperor to investigate this matter. Everyone must cooperate; otherwise, they will be severely punished without exception."

After Princess Zhaoyang returned to the capital, she performed several tasks for Emperor Ningkang, after which Emperor Ningkang restored her to the position of Grand Princess.

Of course, it was just a change of names on the official register at the Imperial Clan Court. To outsiders, most people were unaware that Princess Zhaoyang had been demoted.

"Now, I hereby declare that everyone here must identify at least one person who has spread or circulated inappropriate remarks about Her Highness the Princess."

Okay, let's start with you. Those who have been identified, stand on the right; those who have been identified, stand on the left.

The officers ignored everyone's pleas and mechanically carried out their procedures.

Anyone who was argumentative or uncooperative was immediately met with sticks and fists from his subordinates.

Under such iron-fisted measures, everyone quickly completed their identifications as required.

Those who were identified and moved to the left were all deathly pale, especially those who were repeatedly identified.

Finally, the officer looked at the group of people who had stood on the right side the whole time and had not been identified, and said, "Alright, you can go now."

These people, as if granted a pardon, quickly fled the teahouse.

This made those on the left even more terrified, and many of them knelt down and begged for mercy.

The officer ignored him and sat leisurely on the table.

After a while, one of his men ran over and whispered a few words in his ear.

He nodded, and then had the man most often identified, the storyteller who frequently performed in this teahouse, dragged out.

The storyteller was so frightened that his face turned as pale as paper, and he kept begging for mercy.

The officer drew his steel knife and asked with a smile, "Innocent? Don't you know that maliciously fabricating and slandering the Princess is a capital offense of disrespect?"

"I know, but I heard it from elsewhere. Many people in the city are talking about it, and I think, I think..."

The officer interrupted, "You think? What do you think? Do you think you're innocent just because many people spread the word? Well, this is fine too. I guess you won't be alone on your journey to the underworld. Remember to keep your mouth shut in your next life."

After saying this, to the storyteller's horrified gaze, he raised his long sword and slashed down.

The storyteller shouted, "I say, there's someone..."

It was too late. Bright red blood gushed out, flowing down the storyteller's neck and into his chest.

He only had time to let out a scream before collapsing to the ground, twitching a few times before going still.

This horrifying scene terrified everyone still in the teahouse, causing countless people to soil themselves in fear, filling the entire teahouse with a foul stench. The officer frowned, then coldly ordered, "Take everyone else out into the street. Three or fewer offenses, twenty strokes of the cane; three to ten offenses, fifty strokes; more than ten offenses, one hundred strokes."

With his order given, the rest of the people were led out into the street like pigs and dogs.

They didn't use any torture benches; they just held him down and beat him mercilessly.

At the same time, similar situations were happening in different places, so much so that cries of agony echoed throughout the entire capital city.

Those who were lucky enough to escape unscathed and were not identified, seeing the horrific scenes everywhere, most of them chose to rush home and lock their gates.

Only a few brave souls dared to stay on the street and observe the situation.

But whether it's the former or the latter, they probably wouldn't dare to spread such gossip about royalty again for the rest of their lives.

In fact, as early as when rumors about Princess Zhaoyang were spreading widely, the government intervened and prohibited discussion.

This is the behavior of those knowledgeable and respectful lower-level officials. They are afraid that if things escalate, they will be implicated.

But since they hadn't received orders from above, their actions could only suppress rumors on a small scale.

Unexpectedly, those rumors spread like wildfire, becoming a huge uproar in just two or three days.

The onlookers initially held a sense of awe, but seeing that everyone was spreading the news and the government hadn't taken any effective measures, they naturally let it go as well.

Who would have thought that the government would not only ignore the situation but also take such swift and decisive action?

Soldiers were killing people in the street! This was too horrifying even for the people of the capital who had just experienced the chaos of war.

Jia Lian rode his horse through the long street, looking at the busy soldiers everywhere, his face expressionless.

The saying goes, "A righteous person should not manage wealth, and a compassionate person should not command an army."

He didn't actually want to act in such a domineering way.

However, firstly, Emperor Ningkang only gave him one day to resolve this matter, and secondly, these people were insulting Princess Zhaoyang.

He didn't care before, partly because he wanted to make the Third Prince lose the Emperor's favor, and partly because he had no legitimate reason to act.

His anger was no less.

Princess Zhaoyang's treatment of him should have warmed even the most hard-hearted person, let alone him.
Therefore, having received the imperial decree, Jia Lian certainly wouldn't hesitate to use swift and decisive means to avenge Princess Zhaoyang.

Judging from Emperor Ningkang's tone, he probably doesn't mind if his methods are a bit rough.

Prefect Jia Yucun of Shuntian Prefecture scurried up to Jia Lian's horse, first paying his respects, and then approaching to report:

"Your humble servant reports to Lord Rong that, according to the interrogation of my subordinates, most of those who actively spread rumors were acting under orders from others."

They said that someone had given them money and taught them how to slander the eldest princess…

Jia Lian frowned: "Have you caught the one who instigated this?"

"Well, not yet..."

"If we can't catch them, then so be it."

Jia Lian didn't care. Even if he caught the mastermind, Jia Lian would most likely just kill him.

If Emperor Ningkang were someone who valued evidence, he wouldn't have prevented the Tian brothers from confirming the Third Prince's guilt in murdering the Crown Prince last time.

This time, he was simply trying to stop the rumors from spreading.

If they were to actually present a bunch of "ironclad evidence" against the Third Prince, Emperor Ningkang might think they were kicking a dog when it was down and joining forces to deal with the Third Prince.

Therefore, Jia Lian's current goal is to convince Emperor Ningkang that the Third Prince was responsible without provoking Emperor Ningkang's rebellious attitude.

A horse-drawn carriage slowly drove past the soldiers.

Although the carriage was ordinary, Jia Lian recognized Princess Zhaoyang from the attendants on either side.

So they rode over.

Princess Zhaoyang lifted the carriage curtain and looked at Jia Lian, who was riding on horseback. She asked with some reproach, "Aren't you afraid that the censors will impeach you in court tomorrow for acting like this?"

Jia Lian shrugged.

He wasn't part of the civil service circle to begin with, so why would he be afraid of their ways?

Moreover, he wasn't indiscriminately killing innocent people.

More than one hundred teams of officers and soldiers, each responsible for a certain area, and only two people had the authority to recommend for execution. They also needed to explain the situation to their respective superiors and obtain permission before they could carry it out.

It can be said that the rules set by Jia Lian were very effective in eliminating those who spread the rumors at the top, and in preventing lower-level officers and soldiers from indiscriminately killing innocent people or settling personal scores.

The fact that the rumors spread so quickly suggests that those spreading them from higher levels have most likely received bribes.

Even if they didn't, they were opportunistic and wanted to profit from it, so their deaths were not unjust.

Princess Zhaoyang saw this and said nothing more. Instead, she took out a list from her sleeve and said, "This is a list of people in the capital who are involved in this matter, as you instructed."

Seeing that Jia Lian was reading, she chuckled softly, "Of course, I won't hide it from you, Erlang. There are a few that I added on purpose. I just don't know if you dare to kill them."

Jia Lian was taken aback upon hearing this, then smiled and put the list into his sleeve.

The imperial city was different from the outer city; it was mainly inhabited by members of the imperial family, nobles, their servants, and soldiers.

Princess Zhaoyang is now active in the central government, so it's perfectly normal for her to want to get rid of some minor figures, or to make an example of them.

He certainly wouldn't mind taking the fall for her.

Moreover, while he felt somewhat reluctant to take action against ignorant commoners, he felt no psychological pressure whatsoever when it came to taking action against the powerful servants and nobles in the capital.

Of those people, killing at least eight out of ten would be entirely justified.

As for why they took action inside the imperial city...

Although he was deterred by Emperor Ningkang's attitude and the current situation, he gave up the idea of ​​following the clues and suing the Third Prince in front of Emperor Ningkang.

But that doesn't mean he'll choose to let things slide.

The Third Prince's increasingly outrageous behavior, bordering on madness, cannot be ignored; otherwise, he will only escalate his actions further.

When it's time to strike, there's no room for hesitation.

Just then, Jia Lian was worried that Emperor Ningkang wouldn't guess that the Third Prince was behind it, so he had to help remind him.

(End of this chapter)