The prince walked into the hall in high spirits and bowed to Xia Zhengqi to greet him.
"Is the prince recovered?"
"Hasn't the prince been recuperating in the mansion?"
A few gossipy ministers discussed this in low voices.
Xia Zhengqi stood up, looked around at the ministers, and said in a loud voice: "For the past two months, the Crown Prince has been following my secret order to go to Jiangxia Province to investigate the disaster and provide relief."
"Prince, please tell everyone about your investigation results."
The Crown Prince stepped forward and spoke loudly, "I, your son, and my men followed the grain transport team all the way. We discovered that they had not yet reached the disaster area, so we sold the rice allocated by the court to the grain merchants. We then purchased cheap moldy old rice and rice bran to profit from the difference."
"These are the rice transaction account books that I have collected." The prince held up a tray with a stack of account books on it.
Eunuch Debao walked over in small steps and presented the account book to Xia Zhengqi.
"I and my men disguised ourselves as disaster victims and mingled with the common people. We discovered that the local government had not distributed a single cent of disaster relief funds."
"Most of the 500,000 taels of disaster relief silver were embezzled by them, and the remaining small part was also exploited by local officials!" The prince's voice was filled with anger, and he pointed at Grand Tutor Jiang.
Master Jiang and the other two were horrified.
[The Emperor is mighty! The Emperor is domineering!]
Xia Miaoyuan looked at Xia Zhengqi with admiration.
Xia Zhengqi: Haha, my dear daughter praised me.
My daughter, just wait and see, daddy will give them a good beating!
Grand Tutor Jiang tried hard to suppress his emotions and pretended to be calm, saying, "I was not aware of these matters! I am wronged!"
"My dear Jiang, don't worry. I will not wrongly accuse a loyal minister, but I will not let a treacherous minister go either." Xia Zhengqi looked at Grand Tutor Jiang meaningfully.
"Come here, take Grand Tutor Jiang, Lord Xiao Jiang, and Lord Sun to the Dali Temple." Xia Zhengqi said.
Suddenly, a minister stumbled a few steps and knelt before Xia Zhengqi, crying, "Your Majesty, my father and brother are loyal ministers of Daxia and would never do such a thing. Even if this really happened in the disaster area, it must have been done by our subordinates!"
"Your Majesty, please have mercy!"
Jiang Zhishan was the second son of Grand Tutor Jiang and served as the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.
Xia Miaoyuan glanced at Jiang Zhishan and said sarcastically, "Humph, the second son of the Jiang family, you still have the nerve to beg for mercy!"
[You're still saying that even if it happened, it must have been done by a subordinate! It wasn't your father, it wasn't your brother, it must have been done by Sun Chaogui alone!]
Minister of War Liu Hong glanced at Jiang Zhishan and knelt down to plead, "Your Majesty, Grand Tutor Jiang has worked diligently for Daxia for decades. He must have been wrongly accused! What the Crown Prince has investigated is definitely a frame-up. I beg Your Majesty to show mercy."
[Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, what a joke! The Crown Prince found out that someone framed Grand Tutor Jiang!]
[In the book, when Grand Tutor Jiang framed the Crown Prince, why didn't you suspect it was a frame-up? You even knelt down and forced the Emperor to say that the Crown Prince's crimes were the same as those of ordinary people!]
Xia Miaoyuan rolled her eyes in disgust.
"Plop, plop!" There were two more sounds of kneeling.
Minister of Revenue Chen Youdao and Imperial Censor Zhang Pengju knelt down and pleaded, "Your Majesty, please have mercy on us."
Then another seven censors knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, please show mercy."
[Woqu, these staunch supporters! ]
[But it's normal when you think about it. These people have inextricable ties with Grand Tutor Jiang and the Jiang family. Many of them even have their children married. If Grand Tutor Jiang falls, they will most likely be implicated!]
The scene at this moment really surprised Xia Zhengqi.
He had listened to his daughter's voice before, and he knew that many ministers in the court were Jiang Taishi's cronies, but he did not expect that under such circumstances, these cronies would still be willing to plead for him firmly.
Xia Zhengqi was stunned and his face turned dark.
Xia Miaoyuan looked at Xia Zhengqi's expression, waved his two chubby little hands eagerly, and called out in his heart.
[Emperor Daddy, you can't be a coward today! ]
[If you give in today, all your previous plans will be wasted!]
[The current situation isn't necessarily a bad thing. If used properly, it can actually achieve twice the result with half the effort!]
When Xia Zhengqi heard his daughter's thoughts, his eyes lit up.
[Those who kneel down to beg for mercy are all seriously in cahoots with Grand Tutor Jiang, so we can take this opportunity to identify them.]
【Hurry up and catch them all! 】
Catch them all? Catch them all!
Hearing these words, Xia Zhengqi felt his mind suddenly light up.
His daughter's voice reminded him.
Xia Zhengqi casually handed his daughter to Eunuch Debao and said, "You...you guys...are you forcing me?"
He changed his confident look and immediately put on a cowardly look.
That cowardly look, that timid tone, and that shrunken back made all the officials instantly regain a familiar feeling.
That’s right, this is the Mingxi Emperor Xia Zhengqi who ruled the country with benevolence.
Emperor Mingxi suddenly became ruthless and murderous recently. They all thought that the emperor had changed his personality, but it seems that he was just pretending.
For more than a decade, whenever the old ministers in the court united to put pressure on Xia Zhengqi, he would always be submissive.
Over the years, the ministers have long understood his temper. Whenever Xia Zhengqi shows this expression, it means that he is not far from surrendering.
When Master Jiang, Jiang Zhiyuan and others saw this scene, they cheered in their hearts.
A hint of pride flashed across Grand Tutor Jiang's eyes: Humph, my lovely nephew, I knew you were a paper tiger, and your mighty power was all fake.
Grand Tutor Jiang turned his head slightly and gave a wink to his followers.
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