It has been several days since the beginning of summer, and the air in Kyoto is extremely hot.
The officials of the Kyoto court felt like they were in a powder keg.
It only takes a random spark to blow his life out of the sky.
When the court went up at the hour of Mao, it was already bright.
Shen Yuyao stood under the eaves of the palace, looking towards the direction of the Golden Palace in Kyoto.
After today, how many heads will fall?
Xia Yu was under the eaves of the hall at this time. He looked at the civil and military officials around him and felt sympathy for them for the first time.
No one dared to make a noise, but just lowered their heads slightly, and occasionally one or two officials would whisper.
Xia Yu was wearing a bright red python robe, embroidered with dragon patterns. Unlike the wide sleeves of other civil and military officials, his cuffs were neatly trimmed.
Before leaving the palace, Shen Yuyao packed it for him.
The sword on Xia Yu's waist was shining in the golden morning light, catching the eyes of the officials from time to time.
When the emperor raised his hand to ask "My dear ministers, please stand up," Xia Yu stepped out of the queue and said, "Father, I have something to report!"
"Last year, Yingtian, Zhenjiang and other five prefectures did not submit a single grain of grain to the national treasury!"
As soon as these words were spoken, there was an uproar in the court!
These places were the bases used by the emperor of the Great Xia Dynasty to pacify the world. During those war-torn years, it was these prefectures that long supported the emperor's army in his campaigns north and south.
The emperor could not possibly forget this favor. After he ascended the throne, he exempted all the summer taxes and autumn grains on the farmland in these areas.
Although all taxes and grain on the people's land were exempted, those prefectures and cities still had hundreds of thousands of acres of government-owned land.
Where did the grain collected from the government-owned fields go?
Someone must be corrupt!
"Your Majesty, the details of the grain collection corruption case involving five prefectures, including Yingtian Prefecture and Zhenjiang Prefecture, are extremely complex."
"But the ultimate clue of this case all lies with one person!"
Xia Yu spoke loudly and forcefully in the court.
"Who is it?" The emperor was furious, and his voice changed slightly with anger.
"Mr. Guo Heng, the Minister of Revenue!"
Xia Yu cupped his hands and spoke bluntly.
After the Black Dragon Guards investigated the case, they concluded that local officials such as Zhang Qin had colluded with the Minister of Revenue Guo Heng to privately divide up all the summer taxes and autumn grains from official fields that should have been turned over to the national treasury.
These five prefectures were supposed to collect 4.5 million dan of autumn grain that year, but the actual amount of grain stored in the warehouses and the money exchanged for grain in the form of banknotes totaled only 200,000 dan.
Through detailed investigation, Heilong discovered that Guo Heng and others had committed crimes such as embezzlement, theft and sale of grain over the past few years, and even diluted the surrendered grain with water and destroyed it, causing the Great Xia Dynasty to lose up to 24 million dan of grain.
This is equivalent to the annual treasury revenue of the Great Xia Dynasty!
The emperor was extremely furious in court and handed over all the evidence found by the Black Dragon Guards to the Dali Temple, ordering Wu Yong of the Ministry of Punishment to preside over the trial of the case.
When the court was dismissed, none of the civil and military officials spoke a word, but the looks they gave Xia Yu were clearly filled with hatred.
Xia Yu knew why they hated him, but he ignored it. After the court session, he hurried back to the palace and asked the people in the palace to close the door and not allow anyone to go out.
During the month when Prince Ning's Mansion closed its doors to visitors, the Guo Heng case was presided over by Wu Yong of the Ministry of Punishment, and as Shen Yuyao had said, many officials were implicated.
Including the twelve provincial governments across the Great Xia Dynasty.
More than 90% of the officials in the six ministries were identified as Guo Heng's accomplices, including the Minister of Rites, the Minister of Punishments, the Vice Minister of War, and other key ministers of the court, all of whom held the second rank.
The emperor was extremely angry and ordered the dismissal or execution of all the people in the six ministries and below from the left and right vice ministers.
Of course, the ministers of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Punishment were also executed, but the minister of the Ministry of War luckily escaped death because of his military achievements.
The heads of the six ministries of the Great Xia Dynasty were all left alone, without even a single official to do their work.
The light of the Guo Heng case implicated people, and the entire Great Xia Dynasty was in panic.
All officials serving in the court would leave a last will before leaving the palace, and the greeting when they returned to court would become, "How many people from your department were arrested by the Jinyiwei today?"
If this is the case for officials in the court, the problems faced by local officials in prefectures and cities are even more serious.
Unfortunately, the presiding judge Wu Yong was also a ruthless man. He would rather kill a thousand people by mistake than let one person go.
In the end, more than 30,000 people were killed in this case, and "most of the wealthy families in the capital were ruined."
From officials to businessmen, the emperor carried out a major purge throughout the Great Xia Dynasty.
This move terrified all officials, and one even said, "Even though county officials lived in remote, remote areas, more than ten thousand miles from the capital, they were all terrified, as if a god were visiting their pavilion, and they dared not go to the temple."
The sky was covered with dark clouds for the whole month of March.
When Xia Yu entered the hall again, a commotion arose among the officials with his arrival.
Xia Yu turned his head and saw Prince Jin wearing a red official uniform, walking slowly towards him. When he reached the front of the hall, he suddenly looked up at Xia Yu with a ghostly smile.
Xia Yu felt his entire back go numb. He looked at King Qin beside him in confusion, but King Qin turned his head away and stopped looking at him.
All officials knew very well that it was Xia Yu's investigation results that caused turmoil in the entire Great Xia Dynasty and wailing in the officialdom.
Who doesn’t hate?
Who wouldn’t be angry?
Xia Yu also felt the countless swords and sabers coming from the darkness around him.
After all, Prince Ning still held some weight in the eyes of the emperor. No matter how furious the officials around him were, they could only grit their teeth at Prince Ning in private.
In the main hall, no one dared to go too far.
Prince Jin kept looking at him, but Xia Yu did not react at all. He just glanced coldly at the officials.
He knew that soon all the officials would attack him.
I wonder how these younger brothers and the crown prince will react.
Xia Yu smiled coldly in his heart.
Most people just try to stay as far away from him as possible.
There was an unusual coldness between Xia Yu's eyebrows and eyes. The look he gave as he quickly swept across the officials was extremely arrogant, with a hint of contempt.
All the officials saw it, but they were angry but dared not say anything.
Apart from the Crown Prince, I think no one else would be in Prince Ning's eyes at this time.
Last night, the Crown Prince secretly sent a secret letter to Xia Yu, telling him to go to court without worry, and that the Crown Prince would definitely protect him.
Xia Yu seemed to have thought of something, and his eyes swept back and forth among the crowd.
He is looking for someone.
But to his disappointment, he couldn't find it.
Xia Yu withdrew his gaze, and a trace of barely perceptible sadness flashed in his eyes.
All the officials were secretly speculating about the subtle atmosphere between Xia Yu and the other vassal kings such as the Prince of Jin and the Prince of Qin.
The fate of the princes will be different from today on.
The King of Qin was sharp-eyed and he saw the Crown Prince walking up the stairs at a glance.
"Brother Prince is here!"
Only then did Xia Yu follow King Qin's gaze and look towards the stairs of the hall.
It turned out to be his biological brother, the Crown Prince, the Regent of the Great Xia Dynasty.
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