Chapter 297: The Missing Prince
As we talked with Lord and Lady Bao for hours about the situation in Guanghua, I asked them to tell us more about the empress.
She had been in that position for six years, right after the previous empress died from a sudden illness.
Her arrival was a surprise to everyone in the country, including the closest confidants of the emperor, who didn’t even know who the woman was at the time.
During the first few years of her term, she took down certain noble families and rich commoners by stripping them of all their possessions and land.
Her reasoning was that the royal family could use those assets more effectively for the good of the people, but in reality, the empress held a grudge against those families and wanted to destroy them.
All of that farming land that had been seized was now barren, without a single soul working on it.
Once she removed the people she considered her enemies from their government positions, she enacted the commoners’ enslavement law.
The government officials knew that it was the empress’ idea, but the law was signed and approved by the emperor himself, stating that he saw no problem with it.
Many nobles were worried, including Lord Bao, but they couldn’t speak up against it or they would suffer the same fate as the ones the empress destroyed.
Lord Bao knew that the situation would get darker, and he was right, as just a few days after the enslavement law was signed, the first prince, Renjun, was sent to the palace’s dungeon.
"You see, the first prince opposed the union of his father with Empress Yulian and even denounced the enslavement law in public, calling it heartless and urging his father to wake up..." Lord Bao elaborated.