The Queen Mother's expression relaxed and she nodded to the little Emperor.
The young emperor thought for a moment, then looked at Lord Xue and asked, "Prime Minister Xue, you are the minister of state appointed by the late emperor himself. I would like to ask for your opinion on this matter."
At a time like this, given Lord Xue's temperament, it would be better for him to hide as far away as possible, but since the little emperor had already spoken, he couldn't pretend that he heard nothing.
Under everyone's gaze, Lord Xue walked to the front of the hall, bowed deeply to the Queen Mother and the little emperor, and then said, "Your Majesty, I think what the Queen Mother and Lord Feng said is the best way to deal with this matter."
The young emperor seemed very surprised by such an answer. He sat on the dragon throne, looking at his ministers in the room, and suddenly he felt a sense of loneliness.
These people keep calling him the emperor, but who of them really thinks of himself as the emperor?
The Queen Mother did not seem to notice the little emperor's abnormality and only asked, "Emperor, do you have anything else to say?"
"I--"
When he spoke again, the little emperor felt that his voice was unusually bitter. After a bitter smile, he compromised and said, "Since the Empress Dowager and the ministers all think so, then naturally I have no objection."
As he spoke, he trembled as he grasped the jade seal in his hand and stamped the red seal on the imperial edict.
After doing all this, the little emperor slumped down on the dragon throne and didn't say another word. But with the empress dowager here, it didn't matter whether he spoke or not.
After the court was dismissed, Lu Wan looked at the little emperor worriedly and wanted to follow him to see what was going on. However, he saw the little emperor shaking his head at him. Knowing that he wanted to be alone, Lu Wan did not disturb him.
After leaving the Golden Palace, Lu Wan saw Shen Yan waiting for him, and hurriedly trotted after him.
She opened her mouth and was about to speak when she saw Shen Yan smiled and said, "Let's talk about it when we get back home."
The two walked side by side. After thinking for a while, Lu Wan asked, "Are you okay?"
Just now in the court, Chen Yan argued for those candidates, and it seemed that he sincerely felt that the court's move was wrong, and not because of some arrangement of his own.
Shen Yan shook his head in a bad mood. When the two of them got on the carriage back to the mansion and walked to a busy street, Shen Yan suddenly lifted the curtain and pointed in a direction to Lu Wan, "Do you see that spire?"
Following the direction of Shen Yan's finger, Lu Wan indeed saw a towering spire, but it was a little black, as if it had been burned.
She nodded, "I see, what is that?"
"Xuanwen Tower."
Chen Yan spoke calmly, his expression seemed to be nostalgic for its old appearance, "It was cast by my father to collect the classics of the world. There is also a statue of Wenquxing in front of the tower. Every time the imperial examination was held, the scholars who came to the capital to take the exam would go there to burn incense."
Looking at the dark tower, it was hard for Lu Wan to imagine what it looked like in its heyday, but she seemed to understand what Shen Yan was thinking in an instant.
The Xiao family seized the throne of the previous dynasty, but governed the originally prosperous country into this state. As a prince of the previous dynasty, Chen Yan was already in a contradiction. He wanted to overthrow the Southern Xia Dynasty, but also to protect the peace of the Southern Xia Dynasty.
Chen Yan spoke for those candidates simply because he didn't want to see the imperial examination system left by his father become so corrupt.
When he turned around again, Lu Wan saw a deep light in Shen Yan's eyes, and he said, "One day, I will make it prosperous again."
He is indeed a man with great ambitions.
Lu Wan couldn't help but put a smile on his face, and then he gently replied, "There will be such a day."
Shen Yan and Lu Wan looked at each other, a smile flashed in their eyes, and he asked, "Do you believe me?"
It was not because of the historical events that he had known for a long time, but because of himself. Because he believed in Shen Yan, he felt that he could definitely do what he wanted to do.
For a moment, Lu Wan seemed to see the fragility and hesitation in this man's heart. Somehow, she blurted out, "I believe you."
It's not because of your great achievements in history books, nor because of the prosperity of Dongxia in the early days, but because of your calmness, and only because of you.
The two people clearly didn't say anything extra, but the moment they looked at each other, they seemed to understand each other's thoughts.
Hearing Lu Wan's words, Shen Yan was immediately encouraged. His eyes flashed across the layers of mountains in the distance, and then fell on the palace behind him. He first told Lu Wan, and then seemed to be telling himself, "There will be such a day, there will be."
And if everything goes according to my plan, I believe I won’t have to wait long.
Lowering the curtain again, Shen Yan laid out his plan.
"When I was in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, I personally visited several of the candidates who had caused trouble and promised to help them investigate the matter. That's how I was able to get a list of all the candidates who had caused trouble."
"In order to prevent the Queen Mother from getting suspicious, I presented all the names on the list. Today, I said in front of everyone that I would conduct a thorough investigation. Firstly, I want to fulfill my promise to those candidates. Secondly, this is also the first step of my plan."
Chen Yan's voice was indifferent. He glanced at Lu Wan, not caring at all about how his actions would shock Lu Wan. "Now the treasury of Nanxia is empty, and most of the money that those officials donated to their family members' children has been used to fill the treasury. That's why the Queen Mother turned a blind eye to this matter and even seemed to be happy to see it happen. I said that this matter should be strictly investigated, but the Queen Mother naturally did not allow it. If the matter of donating officials gets out, it will cause the reputation of the court to plummet, and it will also arouse public resentment."
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