Chapter 393 Transaction

Chapter 393 Transaction

The eldest son of the Marquis still has two unemployed men at home, and with the rest of the second and third sons, the old Marquis is truly powerless to make arrangements.

Now that Jiang Tong had come to him of his own accord, the old Marquis didn't stand on ceremony with him.

He had no objection to the Marquis's mansion turning a blind eye, but he wanted to further increase the conditions offered by Jiang Tong.

Jiang Tong was not surprised by this. After all, that was the other party's own grandson. Even if he was an unpopular grandson, the old Marquis would definitely ask for an exorbitant price to save face for his family and intimidate other families in the capital.

Otherwise, everyone will treat the Marquis's mansion as an easy target. Wouldn't the young masters and gentlemen of the Marquis's mansion be able to be killed by anyone, and then a scapegoat will be pushed out and the matter settled by paying compensation?

If that's the case, the masters of the Marquis's mansion will probably not dare to go out casually anymore.

He readily agreed to the three conditions proposed by the old Marquis. To be precise, one of them was proposed by himself, which was to arrange a lucrative post for the deceased man's younger brother. The remaining two were proposed by the old Marquis.

The old Marquis demanded that he transfer the two best shops in the Earl's mansion to the Second Master, and also asked him to facilitate the marriage between his eldest grandson and An'an.

Because it concerned his son's life, Jiang Tong dared not make any promises recklessly. He feared that if he made a promise but could not keep it, the old Marquis would go back on his word in a fit of anger and try to kill his second son.

So, although he felt very ashamed, he still honestly told the old Marquis that he couldn't even get into the Princess's residence, so naturally he couldn't possibly influence An'an's marriage.

Of course, the old Marquis knew that Jiang Yuan and Xie Wanniang did not acknowledge the Jiang family as their relatives, but he also believed that as long as Jiang Tong really wanted to accomplish this, he would definitely find an opportunity.

After all, Jiang Tong was someone who chose the most opportune moment to serve under the Yuan clan in order to maximize his own interests.

While such scheming individuals are unlikely to be liked or trusted, their ability to seize every opportunity to achieve their goals is unmatched and unparalleled by others.

Besides, he didn't actually expect Jiang Tong to accomplish this; what he wanted was for Jiang Tong to take the initiative in making it happen.

As long as Jiang Tong truly keeps his promise and works hard to achieve his goal, their Marquis's Mansion will be able to seize the right opportunity to strike when Jiang Tong causes all sorts of trouble.

He looked at Jiang Tong and replied meaningfully, "There are more ways to achieve your goals than just being straightforward. I suppose you don't need me to tell you what to do, Lord?"

Jiang Tong wasn't stupid; as soon as the other party said that, he immediately understood what they were up to.

To put it bluntly, he wanted to scheme against Xie Wanniang's family, but he didn't want them to know that he was the culprit behind their scheme, so he chose Jiang Tong as the scapegoat.

This is someone who only wants to gain benefits, without wanting to be involved in even the slightest suspicion.

Cursing the old fox in his heart, Jiang Tong then performed a series of dramatic actions, portraying his inner turmoil, hesitation, heartache, and reluctance—a situation where both sides were equally dear to him.

Only when the time was almost right did Jiang Tong "reluctantly" agree.

After leaving the Marquis's residence and boarding the carriage to return to his own home, Jiang Tong finally managed to conceal the helplessness, sorrow, and exhaustion on his face.

Jiang Tong certainly wouldn't dare offend Xie Wanniang, that crazy woman who could decisively tear off all pretenses no matter who she was dealing with, and who would even secretly make firearms at home to give the enemy a huge, unexpected "surprise."

But it doesn't matter. That old fox can force him to take action, and he can also secretly guide and entice others.

Since Jiang Yuan's son wouldn't acknowledge him anyway, what's wrong with him asking his family to make some sacrifices for him and the Earl's Mansion?

As the saying goes, if you are unkind, don't blame me for being unjust. A promising but unreliable son is worse than dog shit and a son who only causes trouble, and he hates him even more.

And then there's his daughter-in-law, who clearly hoarded firearms in her residence, yet managed to use the pretext of improving firearms to get the emperor to overlook her and Jiang Yuan's past crimes when she was impeached, thus achieving a balance of merits and demerits. He wanted to see if she could still live a life of ease and envy every day when her daughter was schemed against and married to a mediocre or even dissolute man she looked down upon.

Xie Wanniang had no idea that Jiang Tong was so resentful of her ability to escape unscathed after taking out firearms to fight the enemy.

She did take a risk in doing this, but she had indeed planned out an escape route for her family in advance.

The struggle for the throne is both bloody and cruel. Given the temperaments of the new emperor's brothers, Xie Wanniang dared not gamble that they wouldn't turn against her family.

In fact, it was thanks to her not taking chances and making as many material preparations as possible in advance that she was able to successfully quell the conflict without any casualties among the assassins who broke into her house that night.

Just as Jiang Tong knew, her son and daughter, as well as her husband Jiang Yuan, were people she absolutely could not lose. In order to protect them, she felt that no amount of preparation was too much.

Under the guise of researching and improving firearms, Xie Wanniang secretly manufactured a batch and kept them in her home. Then, once things calmed down, she would hand them over to the new emperor as soon as possible, explaining her family's concerns and selfish motives. This was Xie Wanniang's entire plan.

Her plan was able to proceed smoothly for two reasons: first, she did indeed produce a batch of firearms of better quality; and second, the emperor believed that Jiang Yuan and Xie Wanniang were hiding these things because they were genuinely worried about their family members suffering irreparable harm.

If it were any emperor who was a little more narrow-minded or suspicious, Xie Wanniang wouldn't have dared to do such a thing.

Because she understood the emperor, she took a gamble and won. Or rather, it wasn't really a gamble; it was just that, based on her thorough understanding of the emperor and the retired emperor, she did something slightly out of line.

On the contrary, those who thought they had caught her and Jiang Yuan red-handed were suppressed by the emperor as soon as they jumped up. Not only did they fail to impeach Xie Wanniang and her family, but they were also executed on charges of harboring evil intentions and plotting rebellion. Instead, the emperor pointed his finger at them and scolded them, saying that they were despicable and could not bear to see the Great Wei prosper and that he and his father were alive and well.

The emperor boasted that his criticism was well-founded, and Xie Wanniang developed better firearms. Wouldn't the Great Wei country benefit from that?

She quickly dealt with the assassins using better firearms, relieving Jiang Yuan of his worries and allowing him to enter the palace to rescue the emperor. Isn't that a meritorious act?

If she didn't have some trump cards up her sleeve, would she dare let Jiang Yuan take away most of the guards from the manor?

If Jiang Yuan hadn't taken most of the guards from his residence, would he have been able to successfully fight off the ambush on the road, reach the military camp, and mobilize troops to rescue the emperor?

Because of the people who impeached Jiang Yuan and Xie Wanniang, the emperor reasonably suspected that they were spies from the enemy state or remnants of the rebel party; otherwise, they wouldn't have been jumping around like mad dogs, spouting such nonsense.

Those courtiers who simply wanted one less person to share the cake, or those who were merely pawns, were all dumbfounded by the emperor's scolding.

The problem is that you can't say the emperor's criticism was wrong, because he has perfectly achieved logical consistency in the process of criticizing you.

No one dared to contradict the emperor, but many people harbored immense envy, jealousy, and hatred towards Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan, including Jiang Tong.

Xie Wanniang, unaware that Jiang Tong, that scumbag, would dare to trade her daughter, did not show much interest in the matter, even though she had heard that Jiang Yuan's actual younger brother had been arrested for accidentally killing someone.

Like Jiang Yuan, she also believed that they were a family with absolutely no relation to her own family.

She casually instructed Cunyu to keep a close eye on the situation before Xie Wanniang went back to her own business.

Jiang Yuan, on the other hand, was quite surprised that Jiang Tong didn't shamelessly come to him for help.

But despite the surprise, he was also genuinely relieved.

After two or three months of turmoil, the final result came out: Jiang Tong's second son was lucky enough to save his life, but was sentenced to exile in the southwest and could not return to the capital for five years.

According to the guards who had been following the case, Jiang Tong originally intended to find a scapegoat and have a servant take the blame. However, although the deceased's mother agreed not to pursue the murderer relentlessly because of the benefits Jiang Tong had given her, she vented her anger on her son's wives and concubines.

She insisted on dragging all the perfectly healthy people down to be buried alive with her.

Her husband was also mentally ill. He knew that the retired emperor had abolished the practice of funerary sacrifice as soon as he ascended the throne, and the current emperor had repeatedly issued orders prohibiting it. Yet, he still agreed to select a few people to be buried alive with his eldest son.

Of course, to cover his tracks, he did not agree to have living people buried alive with him. Instead, he planned to send away the women chosen by his concubines with white silk or poisoned wine, and then announce to the outside world that they had chosen to die for his eldest son.

The two of them did not inform the rest of the Marquis's household about this matter. The two fools thought they had the power of life and death over their son's wives and concubines, so they casually chose a time when most people in the mansion had already retired for the night, and sent his favorite concubine with two old women to force-feed the poor women medicine.

However, her son's concubines and maids, who were usually very obedient to that woman, suddenly became extremely rebellious.

The woman was unaware that her husband's seemingly invisible legal wife was also behind this. The woman, who usually let her manipulate her at will, suddenly attempted to rebel, and she immediately flew into a rage.

Overwhelmed by the pain of losing her child and the anger of being provoked, she immediately decided to force herself on the poor woman who dared to refuse.

The other party was prepared and immediately started making a scene. With her were several other unfortunate women who had also gotten wind of the situation and knew that they were about to be sent away with a cup of poisoned wine by their deceased husband's concubine.

They cried, shouted, ran, and jumped, and their children cried loudly along with them, making a great commotion.

When the old lord and his eldest son received the report from their servants, they had no choice but to get dressed and run to the second son's side to see what they were up to and why they were acting like they were about to kill someone in the middle of the night.

When they arrived, they realized that this wasn't "like killing someone" at all, but rather direct murder.

The old Marquis and his wife were nearly driven to their deaths by the second master and his favored concubine. Both the previous and current emperors of the Great Wei Dynasty vehemently opposed the practice of human sacrifice, yet these two were brazenly forcing their good-for-nothing son's wives and concubines to be buried alive with him in their own home. Were they afraid the emperor wouldn't seize the opportunity to make an example of them and send them to warn others?

The old Marquis's gaze swept across the courtyard of the second son's concubine. He saw cups of poisoned wine neatly arranged on trays, fierce-looking old women and servants busy arresting people, the second master's favored concubine spouting wild words, the second master's wife trying to persuade him but being rudely pushed away, and the second master who, after seeing his own father and elder brother, finally belatedly realized that he shouldn't have indulged his concubine's folly... It was practically a large-scale murder scene with witnesses and physical evidence.

His vision blurred and blurred, and the old Marquis was so angry at his unworthy descendants that he almost fainted.

He regretted it once again, regretting that after listening to the nonsense of his wife and second son, he had carelessly agreed to let that bastard son take his pregnant cousin into the family.

Look at this woman. It's bad enough that her child is such a mess, but now she herself is so arrogant that she's forgotten what she even is.

Of course, what angered the old Marquis the most was his second son. A grown man, he had no opinions of his own. He listened to whatever his concubine said. If his concubine wanted to kill or set fires, he would help by handing her a knife and kerosene without blinking an eye. What else could he be but a complete idiot?

He just couldn't understand how someone as shrewd as himself could have given birth to such a fool.

While angry and puzzled, the old Marquis had to hold his nose and lead a few people from his eldest son's family to help clean up the mess.

The members of the eldest son's family were used to the occasional antics of the second son's family, so although they were somewhat dissatisfied with them disturbing their family members' sleep in the middle of the night, they did not show their true emotions on their faces.

The whole family worked tirelessly to help with the aftermath, but the news still spread quickly.

Because of its egregious nature, the matter quickly attracted the emperor's attention. As soon as he intervened, everyone in the Jingzhao Prefecture immediately became tense, and naturally no one dared to turn a blind eye and let Jiang Tong find a scapegoat.

Seeing that there was no hope of his son being exonerated, Jiang Tong considered reneging on his promise to the Marquis's mansion and not fulfilling the three conditions he had agreed to. However, he was also afraid that the old Marquis would be angry with him and would want to kill his son.

Suppressing his anger and swallowing this bitter loss, Jiang Tong and the weeping Han Shi saw their son off together, and then began to think about how to get revenge.