Emperor Yuanfeng still had anger on his face, but although he was suspicious and irritable, he was very clear-headed about important matters. When he saw them coming in together, he asked in a calm tone, "I originally said that you didn't need to accompany me today, why are you all here again?"
Emperor Yuanfeng was diligent in his work. After he seized the throne from the deposed emperor, he had been trying hard to put up a good show to suppress the deposed emperor. Therefore, it had become a convention in the cabinet over the years that at least one person would stay in the West Garden on duty every night.
This is also the reason why the court is stable.
Apart from other things, there is nothing to criticize about Emperor Yuanfeng as an emperor. He was diligent in his work and was not a tyrant or obsessed with women. Although he was suspected of having wrongly killed the crown prince, that was due to the infighting among his sons. He cannot be said to be a bad father.
This time, Emperor Yuanfeng and the cabinet dealt with the snow disaster in Jiujiang and the Japanese pirates' invasion of the border. He has ordered the cabinet not to keep anyone on duty today and not to hold meetings this afternoon. If there are any matters, let the cabinet make their own decisions, and leave those that cannot be decided for tomorrow.
Now these people from the cabinet have come together again.
Gao Ping and several others went to see Yang Bo, all with serious expressions.
Emperor Yuanfeng was a man of impatient temper. When he saw them like this, he knew something was wrong and his expression darkened.
Yang Bo then held up a memorial with both hands and said softly, "Your Majesty, after much deliberation, we, an old minister, have decided that there is one matter that we must report to Your Majesty."
Seeing that Yang Bo had such an embarrassed look, Emperor Yuanfeng looked at him suspiciously and raised his eyebrows at Eunuch Chen. Eunuch Chen hurried over, carefully took the memorial from Yang Bo's hand and handed it to him with both hands, and couldn't help but let out a shudder in his heart.
Ever since the emperor's eldest grandson's fatal background was exposed, life has become increasingly difficult. Even a eunuch like him, who has been with Emperor Yuanfeng for half his life, can hardly figure out his master's temper.
Seeing that these important officials are so serious about this matter, I am afraid that this matter is not small.
Emperor Yuanfeng took the memorial in his hand, unfolded it and his expression changed.
Eunuch Chen had been with him for so many years, how could he not know his temper? He hadn't even seen the content yet, but he was already angry. I was afraid that the matter must be serious, and I couldn't help but worry.
The veins on the back of Emperor Yuanfeng's hand bulged out, but in a short while he had finished reading the memorial at a glance, and then threw it heavily to the ground.
Smoke wafted out of the four-legged incense burner with a purple and gold unicorn statue in front of the long table in the imperial study, and everyone hurriedly lowered their heads.
Emperor Yuanfeng angrily shouted, "Assholes! Do they still have me as their emperor in their eyes?!"
Following this angry rebuke, everyone from Yang Bo to Gao Ping knelt down and prayed to the emperor to calm down.
How could Emperor Yuanfeng's anger disappear so quickly? He was so angry that he swept the inkstone on the table to the ground, and the cinnabar inside spilled all over the ground, like shocking blood.
"I have been lenient enough to them over the years, but they are becoming more and more ignorant of their own status!" Emperor Yuanfeng laughed in anger and pointed at Yang Bo: "Order to summon Hu Jianbang back to the capital for trial!"
Gao Ping lowered his head even more, and only breathed a sigh of relief when Yang Bo agreed. By the time he came out of the imperial study, he felt that all the bones in his body were aching from being too tense.
But he couldn't care about these things for the time being. He quickly took a few steps to catch up with Sun Yongning who was following Yang Bo, and coughed, "Brother Sun."
Both Sun Yongning and he were promoted into the cabinet by Yang Bo. The two had always had a mutually supportive relationship. Upon seeing Gao Ping like this, Sun Yongning shook his head and signaled him not to say more.
Gao Ping understood, and waited until the court was over before riding a sedan chair and heading straight to the Sun family, to Sun Yongning's study. He then took off his cloak and asked anxiously, "Brother Sun, it's been a long time since Hu Jianbang ignored His Majesty, but the old Prime Minister turned a blind eye to it before and didn't make things difficult for him. Why did the matter become so serious this time?"
Hu Jianbang is the son of the late Queen Hu's brother-in-law, and is equivalent to Queen Hu's half-son. He has always been a straightforward person. Because he spoke up for the late Crown Prince and spoke out in the court, he was demoted to Gansu to raise horses. Now, no matter how old Xiao Heng is, he has been raising horses for as many years.
Such a person had a bad temper, so Emperor Yuanfeng had actually wanted to let him go many times over the years, but there were always all kinds of people jumping out to say bad things about him.
Emperor Yuanfeng was not a man with a good temper. Since Hu Jianbang had always been tactless, he asked fewer questions.
But now that he recognized Xiao Heng, Emperor Yuanfeng couldn't help but think of him again and wanted to call him back.
But Hu Jianbang was really disappointing. The imperial edict from Emperor Yuanfeng asking the cabinet to recall him had not yet reached Gansu, but this fool Hu Jianbang had caused trouble - Zheng Siyu, the right vice minister of the Ministry of War and governor of Gansu, submitted a memorial saying that someone had stopped his procession and filed a complaint. He impeached Hu Jianbang for bullying men and women and for finding a crime to destroy a merchant's family in order to seize a merchant's horse farm.
Zheng Siyu has been investigating this case for some time, and he has only submitted the memorial now because he discovered that in addition to this problem, there were also hundreds of military horses in Hu Jianbang's horse farm that did not match the number.
Military horses have always been more precious than ordinary horses. The sudden loss of hundreds of them is definitely not a small number, and the matter immediately became a big deal.
Zheng Siyu did not dare to make a decision and sent the memorial to the capital.
But no matter how Gao Ping thought about it, he felt that something was wrong.
Although Hu Jianbang was a rough and straightforward person without any scheming, he was known for his straightforwardness. He thought it was unlikely that such a person would frame others and make such a big fuss just to seize the horse farm.
Especially now that there are incidents of military horses being stolen, it is even more wrong.
He pulled Sun Yongning and looked at him with raised eyebrows: "Brother Sun, tell me the truth, what is so strange about this matter? You have always seen things clearly."
"I really don't understand this." Sun Yongning smiled bitterly. "Although Zheng Siyu is a minister under me, you know I can't control him. The appointment of the governor of Gansu was also made by the Ministry of Personnel. He wrote a letter to impeach Hu Jianbang without informing me in advance. How do I know who he is targeting? If there is one thing I can tell you, it is that this matter is related to the emperor's eldest grandson. Someone can't stand it!"
Gao Ping sighed, confused; "Prince Fenyang is dead... Could it be that because of this incident, the royal family was angered and they took action? After all, because Queen Hu and the late crown prince were so favored, the others had to look at their faces a lot."