Chapter 2010 [Shangxie] Endless troubles
Chang Sun Chi seems to be getting busier and busier these days.
Since he started attending court, the number of memorials submitted has increased day by day. The governor of Jiangnan, who used to be diligent in serving the people and only paid taxes without causing trouble, began to request the court to reduce taxes. Yunzhou, which used to have good weather and people living and working in peace and contentment, began to be plagued by bandits. Even the most prosperous and stable city, Shenjing, has recently seen several murders.
As if the emperor's return to the throne was an ominous sign, many troubles were presented to the emperor one after another, causing panic in the entire court. Many ministers looked at each other during the court session and conveyed tacit guesses.
Chang Sun Chi was sitting on the dragon throne in a scarlet dragon robe. His health had deteriorated due to his busy days, and his face was always as white as ice jade. But when he glanced at everyone, casually supporting his chin with a half-smile on his face, all the ministers would inevitably feel a chill in their hearts, and then retract their gazes in fear and trepidation, not daring to reveal even the slightest disrespect.
This is a game about imperial power.
It is not an easy task for an emperor who has been a puppet for many years to regain his power. After so many years, most people in the court have switched to Changsun Qingzhao. Everyone knows what these endless troublesome memorials are about, but no one will say it out loud. The regent's faction will not say it, and the royalists dare not say it.
It is far from the time for the emperor to fall out with the regent.
They have been lurking for many years, not to act on impulse and be caught in one fell swoop.
But these troubles had to be resolved, even though everyone knew that these things were man-made. If it were Changsun Qingzhao, he could probably quell all the chaos with just an order and a document, but the emperor couldn't do that. He needed to treat everything as a real test and deal with it one by one.
So Changsun Chi moved all the memorials to the Golden Palace, and casually flipped through them in the court while calling out the names of the ministers.
The ministers who had been secretly standing behind the regent all came out with bewildered looks on their faces to receive orders, and were then surprised to be told that all these troubles were assigned to them.
"Lord Xu? Why haven't you accepted the order yet?"
The emperor raised his eyebrows and looked at the ministers who were still in a daze below in confusion.
The middle-aged minister finally came to his senses and kowtowed,
"Your Majesty, it's not that I'm unwilling to accept your order, but I've been in the Ministry of Justice for a long time and I really don't know anything about issues like national taxes! Wouldn't it be useless to ask me to go to Jiangnan to resolve this matter?"
"Yeah?"
The emperor smiled, lowered his head and began to turn the pages of the memorial. The words he spoke seemed to come out of his mouth casually and nonchalantly.
"Why do I remember that Lord Xu personally solved a similar problem for the late emperor fifteen years ago?"
He stopped, looked up at the stiff ministers below the stairs, and said with a smile,
"Fifteen years ago in the summer, Yangzhou was plagued by a serious problem of water banditry. The major taxpayers in the area united and refused to pay taxes to the court, claiming they needed to fight the bandits. Lord Xu volunteered for this unfortunate assignment before the late emperor, then personally traveled to Yangzhou to resolve this major issue for the late emperor, and even took care of the rampant water bandits along the way. Am I remembering this correctly?"
This series of bland voices had already made the minister below the stairs sweat profusely. He touched his forehead to the ground, stammering and trying to say something, but was interrupted by the emperor indifferently.
"What? It's only been three years since you moved from the Ministry of Revenue to the Ministry of Justice, and you've already completely forgotten your roots? Then how on earth did the late emperor manage to promote a worthless person like you to the top of the imperial examination and give you such important positions?"
Chang Sun Chi looked down from above and said indifferently,
"Are you trying to say that my father was blind?"
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