At first, the people in the Prince of Nan’an’s manor didn’t pay much attention.

Impeachment and accusations—were they rare in any given year?

Hadn’t they continued to enjoy their wealth and glory just fine? It was just somewhat annoying.

However, this time the situation was somewhat different from before. The accusation was of killing innocent people and claiming their kills as military merit. This made the Princess Consort of Nan’an frown. She couldn’t believe it—why could this troublesome commoner run from the south all the way to the capital? Why didn’t the prince know about it?

Traveling thousands of miles—how could such a major oversight occur?!

“Find out clearly whether there’s evidence. You handle it and suppress this matter.” She dispatched a trusted aide to Shuntian Prefecture to make arrangements. Regardless of whether there was evidence or not, there could only be one outcome.

Audacious troublemaker, daring to make false accusations! He should immediately receive fifty heavy strikes of the board.

Commoners suing officials wasn’t so easy to do.

The strikes of the board were also quite particular. If done forcefully, his life would end right there, and naturally they would have no problems.

There had been such situations before.

Even if there was some tremendous injustice, what good did coming to accuse do?

Right away there would be a beating with the board, giving you no chance to speak. Even if you died with eyes wide open, there was nothing to be done.

But this had a prerequisite—that the accused had made arrangements at the yamen in advance.

Because of this charge, the Princess Consort of Nan’an thought and thought, and still felt somewhat anxious.

She waited in the manor for good news from her trusted aide.

Her trusted aide also didn’t dare be careless about this matter. After receiving the order, he placed several pouches in his sleeve, and only then went to find someone.

Their manor and the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture were not strangers. Occasionally they would also ask the other party to help smooth over some situations and resolve some trivial matters. This time he was somewhat puzzled.

What was going on?

Had the silver they gave before not been enough to satisfy him? Whatever it was, suppress it first and then talk—surely they wouldn’t shortchange him? Urgently having someone send word, unclear and muddled—did he want more? If so, that was too greedy.

But he didn’t know that the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture was also secretly crying out in distress.

He had indeed received some silver and some valuable gifts from the Prince of Nan’an’s manor, but the help he provided had basically all been small matters.

For instance, servants from their manor injuring someone, or forcibly occupying farmland, forcibly seizing young women—matters like that. But this time was different.

The charge was too serious.

At first, after hearing what was said, he wanted to first detain the person who came to make accusations.

But it just so happened that when the other party came to make accusations, there were two censors in the vicinity. As soon as the other party made accusations, they attracted their attention, and they observed the entire process.

That group of censors—many had tempers like stones in a latrine pit, hard and foul-smelling, giving people endless headaches.

To cover things up quietly was simply impossible, unless he didn’t want the black gauze cap on his head anymore.

The man making accusations had also come prepared—the accusation document was prepared in advance. He followed the procedure for commoners suing officials and gave the other party a beating with the board, but only left him seriously injured.

This beating with the board was also a technical skill. One could make it look light on the surface but actually heavy, or make it look heavy on the surface but actually light.

But he had clearly given hints, yet this person still survived.

This resulted in him having no choice but to accept his accusation document. Then he had a headache—on one side he had people go to the Prince of Nan’an’s manor to tip them off, on the other side he examined the accusation document. Moreover, the other party had also prepared some evidence.

Bloody evidence that couldn’t be ignored.

He could only have people first detain the man making accusations in prison.

He had injuries on his body. If not treated in the prison cell, infection would easily occur, followed by death. However, what the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture didn’t know was that as soon as he reached the prison cell, someone delivered medicinal powder to him.

The man making accusations didn’t know who sent it either, but after determining that it was indeed wound medicine, he applied it to himself.

He couldn’t die yet. He still had many things to do. Without seeking justice for the people in his village, he would die with eyes wide open.

People from the Prince of Nan’an’s manor came. The Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture discussed with them how to suppress this matter. Naturally, this involved bargaining over benefits.

Before they could discuss a result, the next day censors publicly impeached them.

Charges of allowing servants to commit violence, forcibly abducting young women as concubines, coercive buying and selling—moreover, the Heir of Prince Nan’an had three lives on his hands.

One was a young woman of outstanding appearance.

One was a commoner accidentally injured by the heir while hunting.

One was a commoner’s wife killed by mistake.

These impeachments made families on good terms with the Prince of Nan’an’s manor frown repeatedly, wondering who they had recently offended to be shown such lack of courtesy. At the same time, they wondered how to remind the Prince of Nan’an’s manor to cover their tracks. These matters had no evidence—censors impeached based on rumors, but without evidence there was no problem.

His Majesty should have the Prince of Nan’an submit a memorial in self-defense.

What surprised them somewhat was that His Majesty sat on the dragon throne, high above, and indifferently ordered: “Let the Prince of Nan’an return to the capital for self-defense.”

Return to the capital for self-defense?

It seemed the Prince of Nan’an needed to be careful. If it came to it, just push out those servants to take the blame—it wouldn’t damage the foundation.

While the Prince of Nan’an was on his way back, the Princess Consort of Nan’an and her people were very active during this period. Even the Grand Consort was running about everywhere. They even spent lavish gifts and asked others to host a banquet for Lin Ruhai, wanting to apologize for their granddaughter’s rudeness before.

At this time, she felt somewhat regretful. These censors were truly too detestable.

After Grandmother Jia learned of this matter, she smashed another batch of porcelain. That old fox knew their two families had problems—when asking for help, he didn’t even come to them. What a waste that they were still old relatives!

However, Grandmother Jia was also utterly confused, not knowing why she would do this. Had the Prince of Nan’an’s manor offended the Lin family?

When did this happen? She didn’t know at all.

Grandmother Jia had Second Madam Wang go back and ask Wang Ziteng. As it turned out, Wang Ziteng didn’t know either. He only knew that the young county princess of the Prince of Nan’an’s household and the Lin family’s precious son had an encounter.

Could it be that during this encounter they had a dispute, and the young county princess said something thoughtless?

This was quite possible. Those who understood the young county princess’s temperament, understood.

Wang Ziteng’s view of this impeachment was still relatively optimistic. Those charges—even if there was evidence, those who committed the errors were servants. The prince was merely deceived. At most it was a matter of being fined salary. Did they rely on salary to live?

Only the matter with the heir was somewhat thorny. But presumably the princess consort was already arranging for servants to take the blame.

If that didn’t work, aside from his legitimate son, the prince still had numerous illegitimate sons.

Thus, before the Prince of Nan’an returned to the capital, things entered a kind of stagnant state. Censors and certain people with grievances silently collected data, while the Prince of Nan’an’s manor silently eliminated loose ends.

These were also within Lin Ruhai’s expectations. The real devastating move hadn’t been released yet. After all, the Prince of Nan’an was stationed at the border. If his crimes were determined ahead of time and he was driven to desperation, the possibility of his rebelling wasn’t nonexistent.

Naturally, they had to wait until he left his stronghold before delivering the devastating blow.

Lin Ruhai also wasn’t worried about mutiny in the military camp after the Prince of Nan’an was arrested. To say His Majesty had no concerns about princes of different surnames with military power was impossible.

If the Prince of Nan’an weren’t in the south with limited forces, Lin Ruhai suspected he would have been dealt with long ago. Even if not, could there really be no one placed there by His Majesty?

Once something happened, there was no need to worry about having no one come forward to take charge of the overall situation.

Moreover, soldiers might worry about their commander and mutiny, but only for a good commander who kept soldiers in his heart and thought for them. Did the Prince of Nan’an count?

He didn’t.

From the matters that had been investigated, when something happened to him, it would be good if they didn’t applaud and cheer.

Furthermore, the military forces in the Prince of Nan’an’s hands weren’t that many. The main threat they faced was still from the north, which was why the court formed alliances with Mongolia, continuously intermarrying.

Then there was the northwest. The south would be more chaotic with ethnic minorities, but couldn’t become greatly chaotic. They couldn’t unite. If they truly angered the court and a great army pressed down, they couldn’t resist.

When the Prince of Nan’an arrived in the capital and was just planning to visit some people, the memorials impeaching him could almost drown his entire person.

Moreover, unlike the previous minor skirmishes, this time they all produced evidence, including the person in prison who had received the beating. The evidence he had presented before wasn’t complete and couldn’t determine guilt, but now he had brought out all the evidence.

His Majesty logically had people arrest the Prince of Nan’an, then had the Ministry of Justice conduct a trial.

The Grand Consort and others, who thought everything was fine, were struck by a bolt from the blue. What was happening? How did he end up in prison?

Only now did they completely panic. Moreover, afterward these memorials impeaching him were compiled by Lin Ruhai, listing one by one the Prince of Nan’an’s twelve major crimes.

Besides killing innocent people and claiming their kills as military merit, there was also unauthorized execution of officials, buying and selling official positions, treating human life as worthless, allowing servants to commit violence, arrogant extravagance and debauchery, privately selling iron implements to small southern countries…

All had ironclad evidence, impossible to refute.

From his arrest to the determination of guilt, the time wasn’t too long. His Majesty, mindful of his ancestors’ merits, finally sentenced him to removal from office and stripping of title, granting him poisoned wine, leaving him some dignity.

As for the various masters in the Prince of Nan’an’s manor, those with charges naturally had to be held accountable. Only those who had done nothing could preserve themselves alone.

The servants were the same, but they had an additional option of reporting with merit. Then those masters were reported on completely.

For instance, the Grand Consort was reported by one of the old prince’s concubines, who accused her of having caused a death. The old prince had once taken a liking to a respectable young woman and brought her into the manor. When she became pregnant, the Grand Consort secretly administered poison and killed her—two lives lost.

This concubine was part of her dowry. She had originally been utterly loyal to the Grand Consort and hadn’t thought about becoming a concubine, but the other party needed someone to help her, so pushed her onto the bed. Then she became jealous of her and gave her medicine, ruining her body.

Previously there had been no way—she could only suppress her hatred. Now seeing an opportunity, naturally she wouldn’t let it pass.

Besides this respectable woman, the Grand Consort had quite a few lives of people whose indenture contracts she held on her hands.

As for the Princess Consort of Nan’an, she hadn’t made moves against concubines, bedwarmers, and such, but she had received bribes and helped people do quite a few evil deeds.

Both the heir she bore and the young county princess had lives on their hands, not to mention the Prince of Nan’an’s illegitimate sons in the south.

In the end, of the entire large household, only young children still innocent and unaware of affairs could remain. The rest faced either capital punishment or exile.

A princely manor just disappeared like this.

The circle of the Four Princes and Eight Dukes all fell silent for a time.

Those with similar situations didn’t dare make a sound publicly, but secretly were already covering their tracks. They didn’t have major charges, but as for minor ones, no one dared say their backsides were completely clean.

Moreover, this time there was clearly someone pulling strings behind the scenes.

To be able to release so many things all at once—to say there was no one guiding it, they could remove their heads and kick them like balls.

Although the Prince of Nan’an did indeed have such crimes, why hadn’t they been revealed before?

He must have covered his tracks.

Those victims either disappeared or were suppressed into not daring to speak out.

When the people from the Prince of Nan’an’s manor were sent away to exile, no one went to see them off. It looked very desolate.

What did previous friendships matter? Never mind them—even the young mistresses who had married out from the princely manor didn’t dare go. Some had even been sent by their husbands’ families to temples. Protecting oneself wisely was most important.

Lin Ruhai also felt fortunate. This time wasn’t difficult—it was just going with the flow.

The Prince of Nan’an had great ambitions but little talent, was harsh toward his subordinates, and moreover, the south had much miasma—many people who went there couldn’t adapt to the climate… Many factors led to him becoming the only prince of a different surname who could still control military power, allowing him to be a local tyrant for so long. Without himself, Lin Ruhai estimated that following the Prince of Nan’an’s trajectory, once the matter came to light, he would also be unable to keep his title.

Lin Ruhai didn’t know—he had hit upon the truth.

In just a few years, the Prince of Nan’an fought with a small country and was defeated in battle, even captured, enraging the court. Afterward, he also faced removal of his title.

Seeing the Prince of Nan’an’s fate, the old lady happily ate an extra half bowl of congee. Grasping her grandson’s hand, her face full of smiles: “This is good now. The criminal got what he deserved. His Majesty is wise and has given everyone a clear and just world!”

“You’re now also an official. This is also a warning from the past. We must properly handle affairs for His Majesty, not covet others’ things, and not bully others relying on power. Nothing in this world can be covered up forever.”

Chen Yu naturally agreed. The matter with the Prince of Nan’an took a long time. He had already taken the spring examination in the forty-sixth year of Kangxi’s reign and achieved high honors as Third-Place Scholar of the first class. For a time, the Lin family became a beautiful topic of conversation.

Their family now had two presented scholars in one household—father and son both Third-Place Scholars—making the old lady extremely happy. The only regret was that her grandson’s wife was good in every way, but still no good news had come.

Lin Ruhai also instructed: “You must learn more and observe more. If there’s anything you don’t understand, come back and ask me.” His son was now a compiler at the Hanlin Academy. He was still young—spending more time there to settle and accumulate strength had no harm. Afterward, his son would be posted externally.

When he had established himself outside, it would also be time for himself to retire.

Father and son serving as officials at court together—they still needed to avoid that.

The Lin family was happy about this. Grandmother Jia, however, thought of something from the Grand Consort’s previous actions. Could it be that her good son-in-law was that person pulling strings behind the scenes?

Most likely so—he was originally a censor.

This time, the censors’ impeachment had merit. He must have also gained face before His Majesty.

He bore grudges so deeply. If he also treated the Jia family this way… Grandmother Jia’s face became grave. She had no choice but to have Wang Xifeng prepare a lavish gift. After looking at it and being unsatisfied, she specially opened her private treasury, picked out several fine items from inside, and then had her send them.

She, an elder, actually had no choice but to humble herself before a younger generation.

Grandmother Jia dismissed the servants, tears streaming down her aged face.

Wang Xifeng, entrusted with this important task: “?”

What had happened? It wasn’t a holiday or festival—why were they suddenly sending such lavish gifts to the Lin family?