Chapter 91 Defeated◇
The situation came to a standstill due to Zhu Xi's unreasonable behavior and Hu Xiang's rudeness...
Everyone knows that, by now, this fight is no longer a struggle between two young men, but a wrestling match between Emperor Cheng Qian and the Hu Xiang Group, which represents the powerful!
The powerful and wealthy controlled too many assets of Dayan, and their power was growing, which made Emperor Cheng Qian increasingly wary!
But these assets and rights were actually originally awarded to them by Emperor Cheng Qian himself in the early days of the founding of the country in order to reward the brothers who followed him to build the empire!
Dayan has only been established for about twenty years. If he wants them to give up some of these assets at this time, firstly, he is not right, and secondly, he is afraid of pushing them into a corner!
After all, they have enjoyed these rights and assets for so many years, and have long lost the original intention of serving the people when they established Dayan. They don’t care at all. Over the years, they have used the power in their hands to expand these assets originally given to them many times!
They just think that it is already theirs, and it is impossible for them to take it out!
…
In fact, before the prince passed away, Emperor Chengqian and his son had already fought against the Hu Xiang group once, but later because of the prince's sudden death, Emperor Chengqian had to retreat temporarily!
As a result, Prime Minister Hu became even more powerful in the court and the country. Not only civil officials, but even many military generals defected to him!
In the past two years, Emperor Cheng Qian had been enduring. After the prince passed away, he felt like he had lost an arm. In addition, the situation in Liaodong, Yunnan and Guizhou had been unstable at that time, so he really couldn't spare the time to clean up the internal affairs. He could only pretend to be friendly with Hu Xiang and others, giving them the illusion that he was afraid of them!
But now, he felt that the time was almost right!
He had long wanted to find an opportunity to dig out their assets together!
If they behaved well after digging it up, he, a wealthy and idle man who had lived for several lifetimes, could still reward them! But if they didn't behave well, don't blame him for being rude!
………
Seeing the stalemate between the two sides,
Su Ming, the neutral peacemaker among the ministers, had no choice but to step forward and send away the women Zhu Xi had brought in to make a fuss. He then advised in a gentle voice:
"In my opinion, both sides of this conflict are at fault. How about we each take a step back?"
Hu Xiang had no objection to this.
After all, they had acted aggressive enough in front of Emperor Cheng Qian. If they continued to act tough and ended up falling out with Emperor Cheng Qian, it would not do them any good. It would be better for both sides to take a step back and then they would not lose and the other side would not win either!
But Zhu Xi was unwilling to take this step back, and neither was Emperor Cheng Qian! He felt that he had already taken enough steps back in the past two years!
Just as the two sides were at a stalemate, a young man of about seventeen or eighteen suddenly walked out from behind the crowd and knelt beside Zhou Yu and the others...
Then a clear young voice came over.
"Your Majesty, I have something to say."
Emperor Chengqian saw him kneeling with his head down and couldn't see his face clearly, so he asked in confusion,
"Who are you?"
"I am Zhou Po, the captain of the military rations dispatch team under Commander Lei of the Tiger Guard Battalion. I am also the eldest grandson of Zhou Ruian. Zhou Luo, who was arguing with Hu Yi this time, is my younger brother."
Zhou Po answered while crawling on the ground.
Because he was kneeling next to Zhou Luo, Zhou Luo softly called him "Brother".
Zhou Po gave his brother a reassuring look, and when Zhou Luo saw this, he finally felt relieved because he was worried that he would bring trouble to the family again.
Zhou Luo was relieved, but Zhou Po's anger was already raging. His grandfather was forced to death by Hu Xiang and his men, and now Hu Xiang's son almost beat his brother to death. How could he not be furious?!
But he also warned himself that the more this happened, the more he had to stay calm, so he didn't show it on his face, and his expression became more respectful.
When Emperor Cheng Qian saw this, he felt that this kid was much more aware of current affairs than his grandfather!
…
"Zhou Po?! I seem to remember you. During the defense of Fuzhou City, it was you and that kid Zhou Jin who led the troops, pretending to be Tartars, and attacked the Tartar camp, right?"
Emperor Chengqian asked, if he remembered correctly, this Zhou Po seemed to have been chosen as his eldest grandson's study companion, but then his eldest grandson passed away, and the matter was left unresolved...
Zhou Po replied respectfully: "Your Majesty, it is I, your humble servant!"
"Hahaha," Emperor Cheng Qian laughed. Although he didn't know what Zhou Pu would say next, he was sure that he would be on the side of his grandson.
So he smiled and asked:
"What do you want to say? Why didn't you say anything when everyone was arguing?"
"Your Majesty," Zhou Po bowed respectfully before half-standing up and replied:
"When the two sides were arguing, I was not present. The time when I and Zhou Jin arrived was not much different from the time when Your Majesty arrived. It was the people from the villa who sent a message saying that Luo Ge'er was dying, so Jin Ge'er and I hurriedly asked for leave to come here!
Therefore, we two didn't know the whole story, so we didn't dare to speak just now."
"Then what are you suddenly saying now?" Minister Wang, who was standing beside Minister Hu, couldn't help but question. "You're just a mere captain. Since you didn't participate in this fight, you should have stayed away. Who gave you the guts to speak up without being summoned?!"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Po glanced at him with extreme contempt and ignored him.
Wang Xiang... suddenly became furious and said:
"I'm asking you a question!?"
"Prince Wang, I am answering His Majesty's questions. As a subject, who gave you the courage to be so disrespectful to His Majesty? Whether I am guilty or not, and whether I should be punished, is for His Majesty to decide. But who gave you the right to make decisions for His Majesty right in front of His Majesty?!"
Zhou Po kowtowed to Emperor Cheng Qian again before asking indifferently.
Wang Xiang...
Everyone...
Being disrespectful to Emperor Chengqian and making decisions for him! This is a serious sin! ?
Wang Xiang was panicked by Zhou Po's accusation and quickly knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Emperor Cheng Qian.
"Your Majesty, I absolutely do not have such intentions!"
"Haha... Mr. Wang, get up quickly..." Emperor Cheng Qian said with a smile, "Don't I know you? You have always been the most loyal to me! But it was an unintentional mistake, how could I blame you?!"
After saying this, he signaled Eunuch Lu to help the man, and with the air of a king and his subjects, he pretended to scold Zhou Po:
"Zhou Po, if you have anything to say, please speak up! How can a mere captain like you question Lord Wang's loyalty to me?!"
"Yes! I admit my guilt and will apologize to Prime Minister Wang in a moment." Zhou Po immediately responded.
He kowtowed again and said:
"Your Majesty, I do not know the ins and outs of this conflict, nor do I know who is right or wrong, so I dare not question you.
But as far as I know, Hu Yi has no achievements, and because he is just a concubine's son, he has no title to inherit.
Therefore, although Hu Yi is the son of the Hu family, in terms of status, he is just a commoner!
And because my younger brother donated all his wealth in the defense of Fuzhou, and defended the city of Fuzhou together with General Mu, the fifth imperial grandson and others, when Your Majesty rewarded those who had made contributions in the defense of Fuzhou, my younger brother was also awarded the title of "Doctor of Military Merit" by Your Majesty himself!
Although this "Doctor of Martial Arts" was only a seventh-rank honorary position, he was also an official appointed by the imperial court!
"According to the laws of Great Yan, if a commoner assaults an official appointed by the imperial court, he shall be sentenced to three years in prison. If the injury is minor, he shall be exiled two thousand miles. If the injury is severe or has a broken bone, he shall be hanged!"
Zhou Po gritted his teeth and recited the Great Yan Law towards Hu Xiang. Finally, with Hu Xiang's face livid, he kowtowed to Emperor Cheng Qian again and said loudly:
"Your Majesty, although I am not talented, I was the first to take the lead in donating all my wealth to the soldiers defending Fuzhou City!
Later, most of the soldiers defending the city were killed or wounded, and Fuzhou City was on the verge of being lost. I, your humble servant, brought all my men with me and helped the fifth grandson of the emperor to defend the east gate of Fuzhou City for nearly a month!
All of this is recorded in the military documents of Fuzhou City, and I also have the appointment documents issued by the court at home. These two items can prove that my brother is an official appointed by Your Majesty personally!
Everyone has seen how my brother was beaten like this by Hu Yi. Although he didn't die, he has countless injuries all over his body, including a broken leg!
Therefore, I ask Your Majesty to sentence Hu Yi to death by hanging!"
wipe! ! ! !
wipe! ! ! !
wipe! ! ! !
The entire hall fell silent after Zhou Po finished speaking...
Everyone instantly felt that it didn’t matter whether the girl from the Zhou family was Lord Zhou’s granddaughter or not!
This grandson of Lord Zhou is the one who truly inherited Lord Zhou’s bloodline, received Lord Zhou’s true teachings, and carried them forward!!!
These words, without a single curse word in them, were spoken in a calm and gentle tone, yet they struck home, strangling Hu Xiang's throat!
…
Even Hu Xiang could not refute the point raised by Zhou Po, because he was more familiar with the laws of Dayan than Zhou Po, and he was even involved in the formulation of this law!
Under Emperor Chengqian's amused gaze, Prime Minister Hu knew that this time he had lost! If he didn't hand over something, Emperor Chengqian would not let his son go!
But if he compromised with Emperor Chengqian for the sake of his son's life, the court officials who followed him would definitely be dissatisfied with him. But if he didn't compromise, his son would die!
Hu Xiang was in extreme anxiety for a while...
"Hu Lang! Please save our son! We only have this one child, and he looks so much like you. How could you bear to let him die?!"
When Tian saw that even Prime Minister Hu could not find a reason to help her son exonerate himself, she was frightened and burst into tears while hugging her son!
"Dad! It was Zhou Luo who scolded me first, so I hit him! How could I have known he was an official? Dad, please save me! I don't want to die!"
Seeing that Zhu Xi had called the guards outside the door in, Hu Yi was so scared that he hid in Tian's arms and dared not come out, and also burst into tears.
"Haha, Hu Yi, if Zhou Luo wasn't an official, you'd be fine if you hit him?! With such inhumane and bullying remarks, I think a death sentence is not unfair at all!
But don't worry, for your father's sake, I will have the guards act quickly. It will be over in a moment and you won't feel uncomfortable for long!"
Seeing Hu Yi's cowardly look, Zhu Xi threatened him even louder! Sure enough, the guy cried even louder after hearing that!
Hu Xiang...
I had no choice but to bend my knees and kneel on the ground.
"Your Majesty! I failed in my parenting and am willing to donate half my wealth. Please, Your Majesty, spare my son's life!"
The author has something to say:
[Please collect Cai Cai's new novel "Fei Shi Yan Ran" in advance. The heroine is reborn. Please go to the author's column to help collect it!] Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution between 2022-07-22 08:56:03 and 2022-07-22 15:25:14~
Thanks to the little angel who irrigated the nutrient solution: He Ren 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support. I will continue to work hard!
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