If I bring out my eighty adopted sons, each with their own unique abilities, how will you respond!

Some meritorious people gnashed their teeth.

That's right! Dog emperor! This is a dog emperor!

But what can be done! The emperor has no shortage of people to serve as officials! Especially now that more than thirty years have passed, the imperial examinations have been held for seven or eight times! In the court, whether they are meritorious or from poor families, or from farmers or craftsmen... there is no shortage of people, and a good balance is maintained. It is basically impossible for one family to dominate.

Forget about the teeth gnashing, and go back to work honestly for the dog emperor.

[Remember! ]

Xu Yanmiao hung the pen back on his waist, covered the ink cartridge, and put it back in the bag. He looked at the bamboo slips filled with words with satisfaction.

In fact, it would be better to use paper, but he was out to attend the celebration banquet, not to go to Beijing to take the exam, so where could he put paper? Until now, bamboo slips have not been completely replaced by paper, because it is convenient to carry and write down at any time, and many historians still use it.

——Anyway, after writing it down, you can just copy it again with paper and pen when you go home.

[If the old emperor asks me later, I will hand it to him. If the boss doesn’t ask, I won’t show off my thoughtfulness! ]

Xu Yanmiao felt that he had considered it very carefully!

Although he was promoted, he still couldn’t lose his vigilance. The officialdom is such a terrible place, eating people without spitting out bones. From the emperor to the officials, it’s not easy to get along. He must be cautious and not be arrogant, otherwise he will be cheated without knowing it!

Xu Lang secretly glanced at the Marquis of Yongchang and decided to take it as a warning.

[You must not be like the Marquis of Yongchang, who was so proud of himself that he caused the displeasure of the old emperor. He was alienated by the old emperor but he didn't know it, and he was still happily watching the old emperor digging a hole.]

Marquis of Yongchang: "..."

Thank you, I already know.

Marquis of Yongchang pulled the corners of his mouth stiffly.

The authorities are confused, while the bystanders are clear. After being reminded of this, he vaguely reacted. Although he had made contributions, it seemed not good to be so arrogant.

But he felt that his contributions were so great, especially this time he found the location of the gold and silver mines, and Your Majesty would not have to worry about lack of money in the future. In this case, can't you act recklessly?

- Every arrogant meritorious official thought so. There were people around them who advised them to be cautious in their words and deeds, but they couldn't help but let their masters not listen.

However...

Marquis Yongchang secretly glanced at the old emperor, and thought of Xu Yanmiao's solemn vow that the emperor no longer liked and alienated him, and he still felt a little guilty.

Otherwise... I should go back to the palace alone, admit my mistakes to the emperor, and promise not to do it again in the future?

Before he could make up his mind, he suddenly heard Xu Yanmiao say: [In fact, the old emperor did not reuse the eighty adopted sons, which also saved their lives from another perspective. ]

[Oh, and Marquis Yongchang's life. ]

[Among those adopted sons, there are indeed some good ones, but most of them rely on their adoptive father being Marquis Yongchang to be overbearing and domineering. ]

[His adopted son who is ranked eleventh in order of rank took advantage of others' land. ]

Feeling the meaningful gaze of the emperor, Marquis Yongchang's hands trembled.

The adopted son's mind exploded.

Should he kneel down and confess his guilt immediately, confess other crimes, or play dumb and wait for his adoptive father's instructions?

[Well, the twenty-third one is even worse, he has even gone a step further, pretending to be a bandit and robbing passing merchants.]

A cold sweat broke out on the forehead of Marquis Yongchang.

Stop talking, stop talking! If you keep talking, it will really be over!

The twenty-third adopted son trembled with fear.

Although he is capable of robbery, he is essentially a bully who only fears evil. Now that he has been exposed, his legs are shaking like chaff. The brothers next to him secretly supported him to prevent him from losing his composure.

[Wow! Fourteen, thirty-two, sixty-seven... How come there are so many people who directly asked Marquis Yongchang for an official position! Marquis Yongchang really got it for them! 】

These adopted sons of officials are far more than the few that Xu Yanmiao randomly named in his mind. Many of the eighty people are already terrified.

——From the screen before, it can be seen that His Majesty is disgusted by this kind of thing that easily leads to factions.

It's over, even the adoptive father can't save them this time.

【There are those who lend money at high interest rates, those who rob men and women, wow! There are even those who don't pay for meals - at this time, if I say that my adoptive father is the Marquis of Yongchang, will the Marquis of Yongchang really not strangle you to death? 】

Every time someone is named, someone's face turns pale for a moment.

Xu Yanmiao didn't notice the movement in front of him at all.

【And...】

After digging up a lot of gossip, he felt that it would never end if he continued to dig it up, so he stopped.

[Now their official positions are not high, and the Yongchang Marquis can smooth out any problems. When they become high-ranking officials, they will become more arrogant. When they can no longer suppress them, and are brought to justice by their political enemies, the Yongchang Marquis will definitely be implicated and will be severely punished if he does not die. ]

[Now it is time for the old emperor to cut off this possibility from the root...]

[In this case, the Yongchang Marquis should really kowtow to the old emperor! ]

"Dong——"

[Fuck! ]

The noise was so loud that Xu Yanmiao came out of the Bagua system and turned his head abruptly.

[Really kowtow? ! ]

The Yongchang Marquis kowtowed without hesitation this time, and did not stop after the first kowtow. "Dong dong dong" came a few more times. The floor where he kowtowed was already wet - all sweat.

Prime Minister Dou was surprised, but not that surprised.

He would have kowtowed too!

He had escaped a disaster that almost got him into a big mess!

The old emperor glanced at the Marquis of Yongchang and seemed a little surprised: "My Lord, what happened?"

The word "My Lord" made the Marquis of Yongchang feel as if he were in a world of ice and snow.

"Your Majesty! I am guilty!"

Marquis Yongchang propped himself up on the ground with his elbows to prevent himself from collapsing, and spoke out words of plea one after another: "I felt that I was meritorious because of a few military exploits, and I did whatever I wanted. I deserve to die! I have failed the emperor's grace! I know my crime is serious, and I sincerely request to give up my title in return for your previous leniency!"

In order to distance himself from Xu Yanmiao's thoughts, he only mentioned the crime of arrogance at this moment, as if seeing the old emperor's kind face, he suddenly realized that his previous actions were inappropriate.

——After all, the emperor in front of him would never tolerate others taking advantage of him.

The eighty adopted sons shuddered.

They all held official positions and had actually been on the battlefield. Xu Yanmo's thoughts did not escape them. Now, they clearly realized that they were no longer protected.

The adopted sons who had never done anything illegal glared at their brothers with hatred.

At the same time, they suppressed their voices and gritted their teeth: "I told you earlier! Don't bring shame to your adoptive father! Look at what you have done!"

The other adopted sons lowered their heads in shame.

Some of them even knelt down and stammered: "Your Majesty, I..."

This seemed to remind the Marquis of Yongchang.

——In fact, there was finally a suitable reason.

"And there are my eighty adopted sons. Some of them have done insane things in my name. I ask the Ministry of Justice to arrest them according to the law. I will never cover up for them!"

Marquis Yongchang glanced at them, sighed, and kowtowed again: "I know it is really shameless to do this, but it is my fault for not raising them well and for not restraining them. Now I am too embarrassed to ask Your Majesty to give me a lighter sentence. I only ask that I can be punished together with them so that the father and son will not be wronged..."

Does Marquis Yongchang know that his adopted sons are arrogant? Of course he knew, but he never cared about it. After all, he was the kind of person who was proud of his achievements

. Or when he heard that the Ministry of Revenue owed military pay, he would impulsively shoot the Minister of Revenue in the head with a musket, or when he had an argument with someone, he would humiliate him in public... He was not the only one like this. Many meritorious officials were also like this. In short, it was rare for those who participated in the founding of the country to be overbearing without relying on their own merits.

Now the Marquis of Yongchang has reaped the fruits of his own actions.

The old emperor looked at him and said, "You have eighty adopted sons. If you count them all, I'm afraid your crime is not enough." Before

the Marquis of Yongchang could say anything, his adopted sons had already knelt down. One said that he deserved to die and that his adoptive father didn't need to be punished; another said that his adoptive father didn't know what he did and asked His Majesty to show some mercy. There were even some who cried and screamed, saying that they were beasts, not only did they not help their adoptive fathers, but also brought trouble to their adoptive fathers...

[Alas.] Xu Yanmiao carefully poked his head out to see the situation in the front row: [If I had known this would happen, why did I do it in the first place? Wouldn't it be better to just be honest and not commit crimes?]

Those adopted sons choked up and bowed their heads.

Many people in the court were moved by the scene, and some officials even wanted to step forward to plead for mercy.

Xu Yanmiao suddenly came to his senses.

[They can still cry here and beg for mercy here after they made mistakes. Who will listen to the cries of those victimized people?]

[Tsk, they deserve it.]

[It's a pity that merits and demerits cannot be offset, otherwise Yongchang Hou actually did things for the people.]

Yongchang Hou's eyes bulged out and he was stunned for a long time.

If you say that he has done good things, that is definitely true. Who hasn't done good things in his life? Even if you see someone is thirsty, giving him a bowl of water is a good thing.

But, doing things for the people?

Marquis Yongchang thought for a long time, but he couldn't remember what good things he, a military general, had done.

——His soldiers are not the kind of soldiers who will not harm the people after entering the city. Such armies are rare. Most armies rely on looting the people after entering the city to maintain morale. However, this situation has rarely been seen since Your Majesty became well-off and made three rules with the army, saying that he would increase the rewards, but they must not harm the people.

[It seems to be something that happened in the eleventh year of Tiantong. I looked it up... and found it! When he returned to his hometown to worship his ancestors, he discovered that the local county magistrate and county chancellor had taken advantage of the local people and occupied dozens of acres of good farmland. He reported this to the old emperor and broke into the government office without waiting for the old emperor's approval. He dragged the county magistrate and county chancellor to the street and whipped them in front of everyone. Then he directly divided up the good farmland. 】

【Wow! Only give it to the poor people! 】

Yongchang Hou really didn't expect this to happen, and his expression became complicated.

After all, it happened twenty years ago, and he didn't do it for the people - otherwise, when his adopted son also seized other people's land, he would have scolded him.

He was mad at Qin Guan at the time, and he was full of anger. When he ran into this incident, he vented it directly.

【Wow! Now the people of Yanshan County still remember this incident. Twenty years have passed, and he is still showing off to people from other counties: We have a marquis in Yanshan. You know the marquis, right? He is a very high-ranking official. I heard that he eats from a golden bowl and uses silver chopsticks every day. But even so, he is nostalgic. When he heard that a county magistrate tried to seize our land, he rushed over with a horsewhip, beat the county magistrate severely, and even gave us the land! 】

【Let me see...】

Xu Yanmiao's thoughts stopped.

People around noticed that the young man's pupils were dilated to the extreme, and the pupils seemed to have become a line.

No one knew what he saw that shocked him like this.

The ministers pondered in their hearts, and curious expressions appeared on their faces.

【Alas, I don't know if Xie Luoshui and the others will discover America.】

Hmm? ? ?

Why did it suddenly jump to this?

The ruler and his ministers of Daxia were stunned.

Xu Yanmiao pursed her lips and stared at the gossip system.

This was just a little gossip in the system from more than 20 years ago: [The county magistrate of Yanshan County exploited the people. The exploitation was so severe that a 15-year-old gentry was moved by compassion and exempted the farmers who rented his land for cultivation from one year's rent. The 84-year-old man was so grateful that he knelt down to the 15-year-old young man.]

[If America could be discovered, those crops could be found. At least the land production would increase, and it would not be easy to starve to death if the exploitation was heavier?]

[It doesn't seem to work. If the land production increases, the exploitation may also increase - it still depends on the administration of officials. But it is better to have it than not.]

- In a peaceful era, the old are forced to kneel down to the young. But if it were a chaotic time, he wouldn't even have the chance to kneel, and would have starved to death in the countryside.

Therefore, these people have remembered Marquis Yongchang for twenty years.

Marquis Yongchang was shocked, and wanted to raise his head to look at Xu Yanmiao, but stopped abruptly.

Before this, he was actually still a little unconvinced and resentful. He knelt and kowtowed just to save his life.

But now...

Marquis Yongchang suddenly stood up, snatched the sword of the Jinyiwei, and drew it out of the sheath with a clang. Under the vigilant gaze of everyone, he took off his shirt, revealing his old and scarred chest.

"Your Majesty!"

He knelt down again, heavily, his knees hitting the floor with a crisp sound, and his cheeks turned pale for a moment.

This arrogant general lowered his head willingly at this moment, holding up the cold sword in both hands: "I am guilty! Please stab me!"

——Why did he join the rebel army?

In the last years of the Great Zhou Dynasty, people were living in poverty. The officers and soldiers became bandits, wandering on the streets and small roads, killing people and robbing goods.

Yongchang Hou, who was still a teenager at that time, disdained this.

He said: "Generals are generals, bandits are bandits. If I become a general, I will never do such robbery!"

*

The sea is vast and boundless, and

200 large ships are sailing forward against the wind and waves.

The ship was tossed on the waves. Xie Luoshui stood on the edge of the deck with a disgusting desire, looking out at the sea and searching for islands.

Now she is basically the only one who has this mood and physique. Even if they can get off the ship if they encounter islands or land on the way, more than a year of life on the ship is enough to make many people mentally exhausted.

This more than a year of life at sea has not been easy for them.

Although the terrifying ocean whirlpool will not suck the ship into the whirlpool, it will push them to other places. If they hit the hard reef, it will be a disaster for the ship and the crew.

Their swords have drunk the blood of other nationalities and indigenous peoples, and bullets have even penetrated the head of a king, just because the opponent wanted to occupy their ship.

Thousands of soldiers once surrounded them and attacked. Although they had more sophisticated and powerful weapons than the opponent, the fatigue of their arms still caused them to lose some comrades.

On some islands, the vines and trees were tangled, so they had to play the role of woodcutters, chopping the road with axes.

Some islands were very large, so they took the time to explore, and their feet would be sweaty even in winter. There were places to take a shower on the island, but after returning to the ship and setting sail, the precious water resources could not be used for these things. The whole cabin was smelly because of the large number of people. There were

also many soldiers who had collapsed and gone crazy on the ship, chopping the wooden men specially provided in the cabin with knives, venting their anger crazily.

Xie Luoshui took a deep breath of the sea moisture, and her eyes suddenly fixed: "There is an island!"

She shouted: "There is an island ahead! Pull to the shore!"

So, the two hundred ships turned around majestically, with a glimmer of hope, and after finding a safe anchor, they docked at the shore.

Xie Luoshui got off the boat energetically. She didn't know if this island was the right one, but she would eventually find it if she searched for it one by one.

With the musket pressed against her chest, she murmured to herself: