The more Jian Ruonan thought about it, the more she felt her idea was excellent.
Zhang San's family, whom she had seen at the alley entrance earlier, had been torn apart by gambling.
Everyone had a duty to stamp out gambling and drugs.
Crack down on gambling and restore clear skies to Great Xia.
Not only would it provide plenty of material for the Gossip Weekly, it would also educate the people and fill the imperial treasury.
It was killing several birds with one stone.
Top Graduate Hou looked troubled. "I'm afraid that won't work."
Jian Ruonan asked, "Why? Is gambling legal in Great Xia?"
Back when she watched television dramas, brothels and gambling dens were practically standard fixtures in every period drama.
Top Graduate Hou said, "Not exactly."
After Emperor Deyuan took the throne, he had issued gambling bans, but they had all fizzled out. Gambling dens were illegal, yet no one dared police them.
The gambling bans existed in name only.
At Great Xia's founding, the Founding Emperor had established three vassal princes: the Prince of Zhennan, the Prince of the Southeast, and the Prince of the Southwest. Their titles were hereditary, and they held real power, bestowing ranks and governing the people within their fiefs. They enjoyed extensive authority and even commanded armies.
Even the emperor feared the vassal princes' might.
Emperor Deyuan wanted to curtail their power, but for various reasons, he had never succeeded.
Gambling dens were said to rake in enormous profits. Behind them stood not only vassal princes, but also powerful aristocratic clans and members of the imperial family, their vested interests tangled into an intricate web.
Every imperial commissioner Emperor Deyuan appointed to suppress gambling had met an unnatural death. After three died in succession, no one wanted the position, leaving the