A few days later the Imperial Noble Consort was demoted to a concubine, she would have received a worse punishment as was requested by the officials but the Emperor after considering their long relationship as a married couple and the fact that she had bore him his first son decided to give her a milder punishment. Minister Gao was removed from his post. The first prince on the other hands was removed from his government position and confinned in his manor with his salary withheld for two years. The three master's of Jiangxi casino were very satisfied with the outcome but none more so than the Third master Fifth master Zhang who had singlehandedly championed the plan from the beginning to the end.
They weren't the only one overjoyed by this news the entire noble families were buzzed with excitement. The Gao family had always be overbearing and harsh. The Emperor's decree mellowed them down as they soon began to scurry to recieve favors. Noble families with standing marriage contracts with the Gao family began to break them off as the Gao family was now like hot potato. Imperial concubine Gao didn't get it any easier as her stay in the palace became unbearable. Everyone bullied her even the servants. The other consorts and concubine began to attack her fiercely as she had totally lost the Emperor's favor. He only backing was now her Son the First Prince. But even his position wasn't firm, he was already an eyesore in the Emperor's eyes. The Entire structure of the government was resurveled and the Emperor began to crack hard on corruption. A lot of noble family began to curry favor with the crown Prince and the other Princes. A few weeks later an Imperial decree was sent by the Emperor promoting Lu Xiaolian to the position of the Crown princess. The news was well received but not unexpected. Noble families began to sent over various gifts to congratulate her. A week later the News of her pregnancy was announced.
Meanwhile in the west the battle with the Wo bandits was still ranging in with northern Wei suffering a lot of loses thanks to the frequent surprised attack by the bandits. There was already a shortage of medicine and food. The number of injured were about to trump that of the healthy soldiers. A lot of reports had been sent to the Emperor but for weeks now there hadn't received any response from court. The commander General Ye was almost at his wits end. He had just gotten back from the infirmmery and thing weren't looking good at all. The Bandits attack was too organized and specific almost like they knew all of their strategies. Earlier on he had suspected hat there was a spy among them but after some investigating he had found no evidence and had been forced to let go of his suspicion. However though He hadn't found any evidence to surport his claim one thing was clear and that was that something wasn't right around here.He had went into his tent to write another report. He walked in to find a strange man dressed in black standing by his table head down looking through his map. "Who are you and what are you doing here" Commander Ye said unsheltering his sword. When the stranger turned around. "Captain Lu"
.....
Back at the capital, As the carriage came to a stop just at the gate Lu Xiaolian was helped down from the carriage by her personal maid Yao Yao and guided into the Manor. She gone over to the palace to pay her respects to the Empress dowager and Empress. They had called her over to discuss the marriage of the fifth Princess Zhongshan Biyu. They had finally come to a conclusion on her partner the imperial decree would be sent out soon. The Empress dowager felt that since there had been a lot of bad news of late the people deserves to receive a little good news to lift their spirit up. What better way to do that than with a wedding.
"Your highness the crown Prince asked that you come over to his rooms when you have returned back from the palace" the chief steward said as she walked forward. "Okay" Lu Xiaolian said and walked over to his Study. With the Emperor cracking hard on corruption in the court a lot of aligation has been brought forward one of which was an a report submitted by minister Zhang which accused the Emperor's youngest brother Prince Yang of first rank of embezzlement of funds and maltreatment of labourers under the ministry of works which left everyone shocked. Due to his direct relationship with the Emperor the Ministry of Justice were left in cross roads especially since Minster Zhang was an uncorruptable official who was always fair in his dealings. The Emperor had no other choice but to lunch an investigation through the Ministry of Justice on Prince Yang but not before tasking the Crown Prince Zhongshan Huang to investigate the case in secret. Zhongshan Huang had been out of town for a week under the pretense of ill health but had gotten back the day before. His investigation was kept secret from everyone but Lu Xiaolian due to his close relationship with Fifth Young Master Zhang Shirong. Especially since they had finally connected the Zhang family to the infamous Jiangxi casino. They had already begun a secret investigation on the Zhang family but their spies hadn't discovered any concrete evidence yet. Considering the Emperor's strange request for an investigation on the Minister Zhang's involvement in this case Lu Xiaolian suspects that there was more than could be seen of the Emperor's sopposed close relationship with Minister Zhang. She suspects that the Emperor had long suspected him of treason but of so why then would he nurture a relationship between the Fifth Young Master Zhang Shirong and Zhongshan Huang. That in itself was highly suspicious, just what was the Emperor up to ?