If you think carefully, Prince Dun suffered the heaviest loss, because once the things were in his hands, it was impossible not to spend them. He couldn't give them all out, and he had to pay some back. He couldn't let the people who covered for him spend all their family savings. Moreover, these people couldn't do anything for him in the future. After all, they were being watched closely, and any unusual movement would be exaggerated. If they were directly charged with the crime of forming a clique for personal gain, it would not be as simple as dismissal from office.
So, to some extent, he might not even be as good as the Ninth Prince.
When he thought of this, and the fact that Prince Dun always felt that others looked at him with mockery and contempt, he felt grief and indignation in his heart. At this moment, he could say that he hated Kaiping Guard to death. If it were not for Kaiping Guard, would he have ended up like this
As princes, other brothers would only do more and be more greedy. I don't believe that Kaiping Guard only investigated him, but only exposed him. Did they see that he was weak, so they specifically targeted him? Did they really think he was easy to bully
—So, Kaiping Guards, like the young master, took the blame for Wei Tingyu. However, Kaiping Guards were originally responsible for offending people. Before Wei Tingyu, the Supervisor was not so powerful, and most of the time Kaiping Guards did it themselves. Afterwards, they were hated and cursed, but they did not move. However, this was different from taking the blame. The commander, the co-governor, and the assistant magistrate of Kaiping Guards were all in the court, so they felt a little bit complicated.
Prince Dun's face was as dark as ink, and the low pressure around him made people want to retreat. However, as guards of the imperial army, they could only stand in their positions like wooden stakes, and as officials, before the court was dismissed, they could only move their hands and feet slightly on the spot, and there was no possibility of leaving.
—You know, in order to prevent embarrassing incidents during the court session, some officials not only stopped eating or drinking before the session, but some even reduced their water and food intake the night before. It was really hard work.
In fact, if I could stand in the palace and participate in the discussion of national affairs, all the hard work would be worth it.
But most of them were outside and couldn't hear anything. Only when things had a final result would they be informed. Then they just had to follow the situation in the hall like puppets. No one would ask for their opinions or views.
In the eyes of those who are not aware of the situation, it represents extraordinary honor, and they are trying their best to fight to join this ranks. In fact, it is indeed an honor. Among the tens of millions of people in the Qi Dynasty, only a few can stand here. What's more, being able to stand here means being one step closer to the palace. This is the goal of those outside, and the palace is their goal. So even if they are just a yes-man and may just be a runner-up in every grand court, they are happy to do so.
What's more, they are not without the opportunity to catch the attention of His Majesty. At the end of each grand court session, His Majesty will leave some time to open up channels for people to express their opinions and accept advice. If a minor official can really say something that His Majesty accepts and remembers, then he may be able to embark on the road to a successful career ahead of time.
At the moment, he felt very uncomfortable because of Prince Dun, but he had to force himself to endure it, lowering his brows and eyes. Even if Prince Dun looked at him with a fierce look, he pretended not to notice at all. Normally, the officials outside the palace were relatively relaxed, but at this moment they were much more "solemn".
The matter was handled so quickly and decisively. It must be said that Emperor Xuanren was extremely efficient. Of course, this is enough to show that he has absolute authority over this country and this court. His words are final and his ministers dare not object.
If it was an emperor who did not have absolute power, not to mention being a puppet, but was just relatively weak or more dependent on court officials, this matter would definitely not be easily resolved. At least other princes would definitely be involved. The final result would either be that everyone was lightly punished, or because "the law does not hold everyone responsible", there would be a few verbal reprimands and then the matter would be dropped.
As for Emperor Xuanren, he only dealt with Prince Dun, which shows his attitude. However, this does not mean that others will be let off.
The fact that punishment has already been given for this matter but there has been no discussion on the next matter is enough to explain the problem.
On the Danbi, Emperor Xuanren's sitting posture looked casual, but it made people nervous. His eyes swept over everyone, and everyone seemed to have been tortured to death, even the old ministers were no exception, especially those who had a guilty conscience, their backs were almost wet.
"I trust you all, please don't let me down."
"We will do our best to serve Your Majesty and perform our duties faithfully, and will not let Your Majesty down."
Emperor Xuanren smiled suddenly, "I hope so."
The ministers could not help sweating again. Although they were "forced" to say these words, since they had already said them and His Majesty had remembered them, they naturally could not disobey him. After all, the consequences of disobeying him might be the loss of their lives, and few people could afford that.
"The next thing I want to talk about..." It is impossible for Emperor Xuanren to take out the record book again, but there are some things that they can know. The people around them must be the ones who know the most about a person's life. Emperor Xuanren needs to check and look for some elders in the court if he wants to know their past. However, now, these things are known by "outsiders" and compiled into a book. As long as they are found, they will be the weakness of the handle, or they can be specifically targeted and calculated. When people from other countries want to do something to someone, it is not a small matter. Then, if they are not noticed in time, how many people can escape
How did those people find out this information? They didn't need to install a lot of nails or bribe a lot of people. As long as they were the relatives of officials or servants in the mansion, those who were not tight-lipped, and those who liked to brag, they could easily dig out a lot of things.
This kind of investigation may even be unaware of it.
Wei Tingyu was able to detect this clue and find the hidden record book, which shows his ability and capability.
It was not a big deal originally. As long as there was no problem with my resume, I would not be afraid of being talked about. But now I realize that there are more than just problems, these problems are very serious.
This really made me break out in a cold sweat. If someone had schemed against me, I would be charged with the crime of treason and the whole family would be searched and all nine generations of my clan would be exterminated.
"Your Majesty, have you found out who the other party is?"
It reminded me of last night’s manhunt.
"It's not clear yet, but I believe that Kaiping Wei will give a satisfactory answer soon."
The credit and responsibility fell on Kaiping Guard. As the commander of Kaiping Guard, what could he do? Naturally, he could only bite the bullet and agree to it. He hoped that the prince of Wei could be as powerful as before and satisfy His Majesty and all the officials.
There were only a few adults in Kaiping Guard who knew that Wei Tingyu often did things in their name. In their opinion, Wei Tingyu was a strange person. He was basically an invisible man in public. Even if he was mentioned occasionally, he would probably be described as disabled, violent, gloomy and unpleasant, and so on. But in fact, he was unparalleled in talent, ability, means, dignity and prudence, and his character was comparable to those old foxes. If it were not for his poor health and difficulty walking, he would have a bright future. In fact, this was not the most important thing. In their opinion, he must have something in mind for working for the emperor with such a broken body, but he never took credit for it, and all the credit and benefits were attributed to Kaiping Guard.
This is really hard to understand.
Emperor Xuanren brought up this matter not to cause panic among the court officials, but to make them pay enough attention to it and to thoroughly investigate his own family.
It's over after just one statement. Let's put it aside. It won't be too late to have further discussions once we know which side they are on.
Next are other major events across the country. For example, it is flood season in Sushui, so we must pay more attention to it. If flood disasters occur, we must report them in time and deal with them in time. For example, spring planting, because of regional differences, different crops are planted and the time is also different, so we must also follow up and not make any major mistakes, especially in areas where disasters occurred last year, we must not be negligent.
There are also criminal cases in various places. We should be ruthless in setting up examples and making an example of them; we should also praise the development of various prefectures, states, counties and regions that are worthy of praise.
And so on.
As for the officials' return to the imperial city to report on their work, proper arrangements must be made as soon as possible and must not be neglected.
These matters are almost done, and the next step is for the court officials to report.
The commander of Kaiping Guard was the first to stand up and report the incident of the snake-attracting grass in Tianshui Lake attracting a group of snakes yesterday. Because someone happened to deal with it in time, it did not cause greater panic and no casualties. But the fact is that many people were frightened and started to have a high fever last night, became unconscious, and were bedridden.
If yesterday's events had not been controlled in time, it is unknown what consequences would have occurred.
The harm caused by snake-attracting grass can be imagined. It is understood that this kind of grass does not exist within a thousand miles of the imperial city. The intention of the person who brought this grass into the imperial city is still unknown, but it is definitely not a good thing.
The people who used the snake-attracting grass yesterday were from the Shi family, where the Minister of the Ministry of Rites was. According to the investigation, the snake-attracting grass came from Nanzhong, and its original target was the mansion of Duke Zhang Chengen, the Empress Dowager's mother's family.
Because the Empress Dowager was involved, Emperor Xuanren's brows knitted together, "Go on."
"Yes. This involves an old case between the Shi family and the Zhang Chengen Mansion. The girl who did it was actually the daughter of an accidental pregnancy of a girl from the previous generation of the Shi family. After Miss Shi was born, she was recorded in her uncle's name and became a daughter of the Shi family. In fact, her father is a member of the Zhang family, the current Dali Temple Minister. Miss Shi and the young master Zhang Junliang she is dealing with are siblings. According to Miss Shi's words, it was her biological mother who suffered for more than ten years. She was crazy most of the time, and she either beat or scolded her, which made her hate the Zhang Chengen Mansion. In particular, young master Zhang Junliang was a playboy and flirted with innocent women everywhere, just like, ahem, Lord Zhang back then. She couldn't stand it, so she wanted to teach young master Zhang Junliang a lesson. She happened to know about snake attracting grass, so she asked the elders in the family to send back some snake attracting grass juice from Nanzhong. She wanted to do it without anyone noticing, but she didn't expect that someone else knew about snake attracting grass at the time, and resolved the crisis in time, and also caught Miss Shi on the spot. Miss Shi has been detained and is awaiting punishment."
The person who was most shocked at this moment was probably Lord Zhang, the Chief Justice of the Dali Temple. He looked as if he had been struck by lightning and was completely unable to recover.
"This woman has a vicious mind... But speaking of the Shi family, isn't it the family of the daughter-in-law of the Du Yushi?"
"Exactly."
"It is true that the upper beam is crooked and the lower beams are crooked, and the family tradition is long-standing." With just one sentence, Emperor Xuanren could be said to have sent the Shi family directly to hell. It would be better if all the current officials of the Shi family were dismissed immediately, but with such a stain on them, there would be no hope of promotion, and if they were disliked by the emperor, they would soon be squeezed out by others.
Lord Shi, the Minister of the Ministry of Rites, was standing almost at the end of the team in the palace. He felt dizzy and almost fainted.
Actually, the real culprit should be the Dali Temple Minister. However, in the eyes of the world, a man's fickleness is not a big deal, but the mother of Miss Shi lost her virginity and got pregnant, which is a heinous crime. So it is not a pity for such a vicious daughter to die.
At this time, Lord Zhang, the Minister of the Dali Temple, hurriedly stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I am willing to take the mother and daughter of the Shi family back home and compensate the frightened Gongzi and the daughter. Fortunately, no irreparable damage was caused. I hope Your Majesty can forgive them this time. In the future, I will teach her a lesson and teach her to behave herself."
Emperor Xuanren looked at him for a while, until Lord Zhang's legs became weak. Then Emperor Xuanren said indifferently, "You are still a romantic. Granted. However, as a member of the Queen Mother's family, you should be careful with your words and actions, restrain yourself, and don't lose the Queen Mother's face."
"I will keep this in mind."
Emperor Xuanren changed the subject and asked, "Do you still have the snake attracting grass juice?"
"Your Majesty, yes."
"Then send it to the Imperial Hospital for a thorough study. Who knows, we might be able to find some other uses for it."
"Your Majesty, it has been taken away by Young Master Fan." The commander of Kaiping Guard said a little embarrassedly.
"That bastard." He had already taken it away yesterday, and now he doesn't expect him to return it. "Whatever. Send the next oral order to Nanzhong, asking them to figure out all the effects of the snake attracting grass, write them down one by one and submit them. The snake attracting grass can be made into juice and taken to other places. It is hard to prevent it. But we can do more research on controlling the snake group. There is no need to do anything else."
If you take it too seriously, you will appear guilty and afraid. But for Emperor Xuanren, there is no such thing.
Under the reign of Emperor Xuanren, the government was always strict internally and relaxed externally, so to be honest, there were not many things to do.
When the court was about to be dismissed, the Minister of Rites stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the Queen Mother will celebrate her 70th birthday in three months. Should we start preparing for it?"