On the day after Dingfu was looted, the main gate of the imperial palace in the capital was surrounded by people from various families, leaving no one able to get in or out.
In addition to some heads of households, more people came here were the elders and children of the clan. They laid down their bedding on the spot and declared that if the Queen Mother and the King could not stop the crackdown and reform, they would live here forever and would never leave.
If there were only a few hundred people, the guards in the capital could handle it easily, but the number of people who came here exceeded ten thousand.
More than half of them are the elderly, the weak, women and children. They are either not afraid of death or do not know what death is.
Faced with these people, all officials and soldiers were helpless, and even to participate in emergency court meetings they could only enter quietly through the side door.
In the Golden Palace, the Queen Mother and the King sat on the dragon throne behind the curtains, and all the officials were present. Fang Yun still looked sick as he sat on the Wu Hou carriage, at the head of all the officials.
Everyone was silent for a long time, and then the Queen Mother slowly spoke: "It is not a good idea for a country's palace to be besieged by the people for a long time. My dear ministers, you must come up with an explanation."
Fang Yun said: "Those who dare to besiege the palace may be spies from the demon world, spies from the Qing Kingdom, or bullies. They are definitely not ordinary people."
"It doesn't matter who they are. The key is how to solve the problem," said the Queen Mother.
At this time, the Minister of Rites Sheng Boyuan said: "This matter is caused by Fang Xusheng's reform. I would like to trouble Fang Xusheng to come forward and solve it."
Fang Yun was surprised and said, "The country has laws that clearly stipulate how to deal with it. Does this matter need to be handled by the Prime Minister of a country personally?"
Sheng Boyuan changed the subject and said, "Since Lord Zuo Xiang is unwilling to deal with it, then the matter should be handled by Jingzhao Yin."
Fang Yun said: "They come from all over the place, even Jingzhao Yin can't handle it. I think it would be better if the relevant departments set up a temporary department to handle the affairs of the families in various places. I think we need a strong law enforcement agency, the Ministry of Justice. We also need to strictly abide by the law, and the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Court are also indispensable. Since it happened in the capital, Jingzhao Yin will naturally get involved. This matter will be handled by the temporary department, and it will not be difficult to solve it strictly in accordance with the law."
Sheng Boyuan smiled and said, "Fang Xusheng is wrong. Those people surrounded the palace. If we really follow the law, we should put them all in jail. But who dares to do that? If something goes wrong, who will take the responsibility?"
Fang Yun asked, "Oh? According to what Minister Sheng said, without evidence, anyone can come to the gate of the palace to disrupt the state order and interfere with the court's laws. The court and the Criminal Court jointly cracked down on this, which is a major event that benefits the country and the people. Almost all ordinary people support it. Why do a few people come out to obstruct it? Minister Sheng is the head of a department, and he is not someone who wants to smooth things over!"
Sheng Boyuan said angrily, "You caused this trouble, but you come to blame me?"
"Reform is the cabinet's business, and crackdowns are carried out by the Criminal Palace. How can it be called my fault? From what Minister Sheng said, is he preparing to write a letter to entrust all power of Jing State to me? I am very pleased." Fang Yun retorted bluntly.
Sheng Boyuan snorted coldly, "Don't drag the entire cabinet into this. At least as a cabinet councilor, I don't agree with your reforms and crackdowns."
"Oh? Minister Sheng means to oppose the decree that the cabinet has already decided?" Fang Yun asked back.
Sheng Boyuan was so angry that his face turned red. Cabinet members can oppose specific events, but they must never oppose the cabinet, otherwise the nature of the matter will be very serious.
"Don't try to trick me. Although I oppose reform, I will carry out the policy decided by the cabinet."
"Since it is going to be carried out, you are complaining in the court. When did it become so easy to become the Minister of Rites?"
"you… "
Fang Yun smiled carefreely and said, "Minister Sheng, don't be angry. I am just imitating you in arguing, but you have seen the result. It is useless. However, I find that Minister Sheng and some officials do not care about the lives of the people at all!"
At the end of his speech, Fang Yun's face darkened and he glanced coldly at the officials.
Everyone immediately realized what Fang Yun was going to say.
Fang Yun continued, "I was so busy yesterday that I thought we would discuss the chaos in Dingfu at the court meeting today, but some people ignored hundreds of lives and were busy framing others. This makes me feel disappointed!"
Then Wu Hanjiang, the Left Vice Minister of the Supervisory Council, stepped forward and said, "I have something to report."
After the reorganization of various departments in Jing State, the official names of the Supervisory Yuan were also unified. The Chief Censor was changed to Shangshu, the Left and Right Censors-in-Chief were changed to Left and Right Vice Ministers, and the heads of various departments were changed to Si Zheng, but they could still be called Censors.
Fang Yun looked at Wu Hanjiang with a half-smile. He was a die-hard royalist and a loyal lackey of the late emperor. If he had not been too inexperienced and suppressed by various forces, he would have long ago taken control of the Supervisory Council and turned the entire Supervisory Council into a sharp sword for the royal family.
"What does Censor Wu want to report?" The Empress Dowager's voice came from behind the curtain.
"I have complained that Fang Yun's reforms were excessive and only focused on his own interests, which brought disaster to all officials and eventually led to chaos in Ding Prefecture. Hundreds of people died and tens of thousands of houses were destroyed in Ding Prefecture, all because of Fang Yun's disruption of the government. I think that Fang Yun, the Left Prime Minister, as the head of all officials, should be blamed for the chaos in Ding Prefecture! Therefore, I think Fang Yun is no longer suitable to be the Left Prime Minister and should be removed from his position and handed over to the Supreme Court for trial to uphold the law!"
"I second the motion!" Another censor came out.
"I second the motion!" An official from the Ministry of Personnel stepped forward.
Then, one official after another came out, holding memorials to impeach Fang Yun.
The atmosphere in the Golden Throne Hall was extremely solemn.
After a long time, the Queen Mother said: "Someone must bear the blame for the rebellion in Dingfu, but the reform was a collective decision made by the cabinet, so it seems that Fang Yun should not be blamed alone."
Sheng Boyuan stepped forward and said, "The cabinet made a collective mistake in its decision, so the cabinet must admit its mistake. But in addition to admitting the mistake, Fang Yun, as the head of the cabinet, should also take more responsibility."
"My dear Yang, what do you think?" The Queen Mother looked at Prime Minister Yang Xuwen.
Assistant Prime Minister Yang Xuwen coughed lightly and said, "The reform was collectively agreed upon by the cabinet. If there are any omissions, Fang Xusheng should not be blamed alone; however, since there are some inappropriate aspects, naturally someone needs to take responsibility."
"What does the Right Prime Minister think?" the Queen Mother asked Cao De'an.
Cao De'an said loudly: "If there is to be punishment, then all the ministers, councilors and scholars in the cabinet should be punished. According to the rules of the past dynasties, the king should also issue an edict of self-blame. However, Your Majesty is still young, so we should discuss it."
Those who had previously filed a petition to impeach Fang Yun glared at Cao De'an, and Sheng Boyuan was also furious.
Cao De'an not only defended Fang Yun, he even hinted that if Fang Yun had to bear the responsibility, the Queen Mother could not stay out of it. If the king did not issue an edict of repentance, then the Queen Mother had to do it.
The Queen Mother was silent for a long time, then looked at Fang Yun and said, "My dear Fang, do you have anything to say?"
"Yes, and there are many of them," Fang Yun said, looking at the officials who impeached him. "It seems that my previous chilling was very effective, and it was not deep enough. The rebellion in Ding Prefecture was caused by the sudden resignation of officials in Ding Prefecture. There are so many of you, but not one of you stood up to judge them fairly and impartially. Instead, you all forced me to leave. Censor Wu, let me ask you, if this matter is not my fault, then is it a major dereliction of duty for you as the Left Vice Minister of the Supervisory Council!"
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The Supervisory Yuan in the book has actually been changed to a ministry, but it has the same name as the current national agency, so in order to avoid it, the name of the Supervisory Yuan is still used.