Chapter 98: All the official hats were taken off
The emperor was furious.
"Your Majesty, please calm down. Your Majesty, please forgive me..." The ministers were so terrified that they dared not even breathe.
"Calm down? Forgive me? What else can you say besides these four words? Is it just a bunch of useless people like you that the people pay taxes to support..." The emperor became more and more angry as he cursed, and the angrier he became, the more he cursed.
The chief eunuch took the opportunity to take the younger eunuchs and distribute the copied memorials one by one.
After reading it, the officials' faces turned pale as paper.
The emperor sat down on the dragon throne only after he was tired of scolding.
The chief steward quickly brought the emperor a cup of tea to moisten his throat.
After the emperor finished his tea, he looked at the people below quietly without saying a word.
All the ministers felt uneasy under his watch, especially those in the Ministry of Personnel.
The political achievements and promotions of all officials in the court are in their hands.
Such a big thing happened in Jinyang Prefecture, but they did not report it. To put it mildly, it was dereliction of duty.
To put it in a serious way, it is a crime of deceiving the emperor, and the family will be confiscated and the property will be destroyed!
Those who got involved knew they were doomed and racked their brains to think of how to save their families.
Those who did not get involved were also afraid of being implicated. Losing their job was a small matter, but losing their life was a big one.
"Come here, all officials above the sixth rank in the Ministry of Personnel will have their official hats removed and thrown into the Heavenly Prison. The Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice will jointly investigate, with Prince An supervising."
"Jinyang Prefect Lan Hong, immediately escort him back to the capital for investigation and trial!"
"In the past five years, all officials of the Censorate who have been involved in Jinyang Prefecture, regardless of rank, will be arrested and investigated."
The emperor issued three orders in succession.
Many officials were dragged away with their bodies limp.
Those who stayed in the court were in turmoil.
The Ministry of Personnel is a big piece of fat meat.
The more spots that open up, the more chances they have.
The emperor took in all the people's reactions.
He sneered and took out another memorial.
The above is the statistics of the number of people affected by the disaster in Jinyang Prefecture.
He said in a deep voice: "The most urgent task is to provide disaster relief to Jinyang Prefecture.
Is there any dear minister willing to take on this task?"
Meng Chifei was outside the palace, but he was complaining in his heart:
When you are angry, you call people trash.
When you need someone, you call him your beloved.
His expression changes faster than turning the pages of a book.
However, not a single civil or military official in the court said a word.
No one wants to take on this hot potato.
In the past, when there was still money in the national treasury, they could profit from it and make a contribution, so they rushed to provide disaster relief.
In recent years, natural disasters have occurred one after another across the country.
There were constant harassments on the border. There were no major battles, but there were constant small battles.
The imperial court had to provide disaster relief and increase military spending.
Silver was being emptied out of the national treasury.
The national treasury is now cleaner than a beggar’s pocket.
To provide relief to hundreds of thousands of people in Jinyang Prefecture and ensure that they do not starve to death, the amount of silver needed is not something that can be covered by a few thousand taels.
At least hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.
The national treasury can’t provide the money now.
What will they use to provide disaster relief?
You can't pay for it out of your own pocket.
Apart from the dukes and earls who emptied their family coffers, which other officials could come up with so much silver at once?
I don’t dare take it even if I have it!
Isn't this eye-catching?
certainly.
The greater the crisis.
The greater the opportunity.
But it may not be too worthwhile to empty your own pocket to take this opportunity.
Besides, the Lan family is powerful.
There are more than just the Lan family’s relatives in the court.
Over the years, they have been secretly forming cliques and cultivating cronies.
If I take over this business now, I will offend the Lan family.
Even if I get promoted, how long can I stay in that position?
Everyone is calculating the gains and losses in their hearts.
The emperor simply began to call out names: "Lord Zhao...Lord Qian...Lord Sun..."
Every one he pointed at knelt down.
One knelt and the other remained silent.
Although this result was expected.
The emperor's heart still sank.
I felt very disappointed.
At this moment, a clear female voice suddenly rang out from the palace gate: "Your Majesty, I am willing to go and provide disaster relief."
With a whoosh.
Dozens of people in the hall turned to look.
The emperor also frowned.
I saw a tall green figure standing up.
Meng Chifei strode into the hall with the gait of a dragon and a tiger. He lifted his robe and knelt in the center of the hall: "I am willing to share your worries, Your Majesty."
Only then did everyone see clearly.
The person in front of me wearing green official uniform was actually a woman.
A buzz of discussion suddenly arose in the quiet hall.
Some even pointed at her and said, "How can you, a woman, go to court and enter the palace?"
"Whose daughter is this? How could she be so lawless that she dares to wear the official uniform of an elder."
"Your Majesty, the woman who disturbed the court should be apprehended."
"Your Majesty, it is against the rules for a woman to interfere in government affairs. Please punish her severely."
Meng Chifei sneered: "What are you afraid of?"
"Who's afraid? You're just a woman, relying on your sturdy figure, wielding a sword and a gun, and killing a few bandits on the battlefield. You think you're right and want to come to the court to make decisions."
"In the final analysis, you're just afraid. You're afraid of my ability to fight in battle and my literary talent to provide disaster relief and govern the region. And you, besides using your gender to attack a woman right here in this hall, are good for nothing! Could it be that you'd rather see hundreds of thousands of people in Jinyang Prefecture starve to death or thirst than let me stand up for myself?"
"You...you...are sharp-tongued, talking nonsense, and you don't know what you are talking about!" The minister was so embarrassed by her retort that his face turned red.
"Could it be that I have wronged you? Then you should take over the disaster relief work and prove your ability!"
The person who had just been speaking confidently suddenly stopped talking.
I was afraid that the task of disaster relief would fall on me.
The emperor felt very happy when he saw his minister being humiliated.
Meng Chifei sneered disdainfully.
He turned around and asked the emperor: "Your Majesty, I am willing to go to Jinyang Prefecture to provide disaster relief."
Meng Xiyan also stood beside his sister: "Your Majesty, I am willing to assist my sister."
The emperor looked at the brother and sister and felt deeply moved.
He is still from the old Meng family and is of the same mind as me!
He immediately saw them off.
He also appointed several smart and capable court officials to assist them.
Decide on the candidate.
Then the matter of disaster relief money came up.
The Minister of Revenue spread his hands and said helplessly, "There's no money in the treasury. We can't take out even a penny more."
He hasn't even collected the officials' salaries for next month, so where would he get the money to provide disaster relief?
The emperor immediately turned his gaze to other officials.
The officials were like quails, all of them hiding their heads, for fear of attracting the emperor's attention.
"I took out 20,000 taels from my private treasury. My dear ministers, please also express your gratitude." The emperor set an example.
The muscles on the faces of the other officials twitched constantly.
Here we go again.
Every time there was disaster relief, the emperor would take the lead in collecting donations.
How dare the ministers not donate?
In the past, they had to donate hundreds or even thousands of taels of silver, thinking that since it was a rare opportunity to donate, a larger amount would leave a good impression in front of the emperor.
Unexpectedly, disasters continued to happen afterwards, and the emperor did the same thing every time.
The court officials were numb.
Even the Left Prime Minister only donated two hundred taels.
Only one fourth-rank official donated 10,000 taels directly.
In the end, the donations from all the civil and military officials in the court combined could not even reach 40,000 taels of silver.
This little amount of money is just a drop in the bucket for disaster relief.
In the court, the emperor and the Meng brothers and sisters were still worried about Zhenyin.
In the harem.
Concubine Lan's spies had already reported what happened in the court to Concubine Lan.
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