The court was very busy during this period. Revising the salt tax was a big deal, involving all aspects. According to the previous procedures, the composition of the personnel going to Yangzhou for inspection alone could take a month or two.
Taxation is the responsibility of the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of Revenue is definitely the leader this time. There should be a large number of people from their Ministry of Revenue deployed here.
You need to understand how salt is made, what processes are involved, how much it costs, and the relevant technologies, so this requires someone from the Ministry of Industry to step in.
To formulate a new salt tax, do you need to add some new officials? You can't just leave the Ministry of Personnel alone to do this kind of thing.
Should the new salt tax be written into the Da Qi Law? If so, someone from the Ministry of Justice would need to be present, or at least someone from the Dali Temple.
Even the Ministry of Rites had something to say about this. The salt tax is an ancestral law. Now that you want to change it, shouldn't you tell your ancestors about it?
Our Ministry of Rites is responsible for communicating with our ancestors. Is it appropriate for our people not to be present?
After all this going around, it seemed that only the Ministry of War did not participate, but when they thought that a large part of the salt tax would be used for the army in the future, they didn't say anything.
In short, just watching these ministers fighting in the court during this period of time has made Li Zhuo a little anxious.
He suddenly missed Lu Chen a little, and couldn't help but wonder what the scene would be like if Lu Chen were here.
"If the Imperial Master were here, there wouldn't be so much debate. He'd always come up with a solution that satisfies everyone. Even when these people are still arguing, he'd already gotten things done."
Seeing this, Li Zhuo felt more and more annoyed with the ministers below him.
When I think about the monthly salaries these ministers receive and then think about Lu Chen’s meager income, the contrast between the two sides is too obvious.
Seeing that today's court meeting was the same as before, with no conclusion to be reached, Li Zhuo waved his hand somewhat disinterestedly and said, "Since we can't come to a conclusion, let's go back and discuss it later. Let's adjourn the court."
Just as Li Zhuo stood up and prepared to leave, an imperial censor suddenly stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, I have a report!"
The emperor is about to leave the court, what's the meaning of your sudden shout? Is this some big deal?
The eyes of a group of ministers immediately focused on the person who was speaking, wanting to know which unlucky person had offended this group of censors this time.
Li Zhuoxin said, "I'm about to leave, what do you mean?"
He said impatiently: "If you have something to say, please be brief."
"Your Majesty, the Jinyiwei are arrogant and domineering. Using the excuse of clearing out the remnants of the Huaiyin Marquis, they've been wreaking havoc throughout the southern region. Some time ago, they even openly murdered people at the ferry and broke into the local government office, threatening officials. Their crimes are simply too numerous to list!"
"I implore Your Majesty to issue an order to escort the relevant personnel back to the capital and hand them over to the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple for handling!"
After the censor finished speaking, several other officials came out to say that the Jinyiwei were simply insane and many of the crimes they committed were against human nature.
In short, the point is that if the emperor does not deal with the Jinyiwei as soon as possible, the Great Qi Dynasty will sooner or later collapse. People in various places are already boiling with resentment because of the Jinyiwei, and someone may rise up in rebellion in the next second.
This is the cleverness of the old man of the Qiao family. He did not attack Lu Chen directly, but instead attacked Lu Chen's men.
Countless facts have proved that if you want to defeat a behemoth, it is useless to attack the main body right away. You must first cut off its tentacles.
And there is another advantage to cutting off the minions, which is that in the process, some of them are likely to rebel.
Lu Chen is now under the imperial order to control the epidemic in the southern region. At this time, as long as Lu Chen is not guilty of treason, the emperor and the officials in the court will definitely not touch him.
Therefore, it is unwise to confront Lu Chen directly at this time. What we need to do now is to first list the charges against his subordinates and weaken the power in his hands as much as possible.
Although everyone impeached the Jinyiwei this time, everyone knows that Lu Chen is the highest commander of the Jinyiwei. Even if you did not give direct orders, you should still be charged with lax discipline.
This is how big figures are often defeated. First, they keep fabricating charges against them and tear off the golden glow on them bit by bit. When all the dirty water on them has been poured out, they kill them with one blow.
The right of the Embroidered Uniform Guard to track down the Marquis of Huaiyin was granted by the imperial court, and most people in the court were aware of the details.
Lu Chen had made great contributions to the country, but Da Qi failed to offer any decent reward. In addition, the Marquis of Huaiyin colluded with people from the underworld and almost killed Lu Chen. After the incident, the court was unable to take action against the real person behind the scenes for a while, so it could only let the Jinyiwei attack the Marquis of Huaiyin's mansion to vent Lu Chen's anger.
Since this matter was decided in the beginning, it was tacitly approved by the court. But now it seems a little inappropriate. After all, it has been such a long time, and the Jinyiwei cannot be allowed to use this power endlessly.
Now that someone has taken the lead, other people with ulterior motives have naturally spoken out, feeling that the Jinyiwei now holds too much power and that it is not appropriate to continue like this. They ask the emperor to revoke his order.
In fact, Li Zhuo also felt that the Jinyiwei had too much power. Some time ago, he was thinking about how to restrict the Jinyiwei, but then Lu Chen went directly to the south. If he didn't have some power in his hands, things would probably be difficult to handle.
Besides, at such a critical moment, he, as the emperor, suddenly cut off Lu Chen's power. What would Lu Chen think? What would the local officials in Yangzhou think?
However, seeing the ministers' angry expressions, Li Zhuo paused for a moment and said, "What do you think, my dear ministers? Lord Wei, you are the Imperial Censor. How do you think this matter should be handled?"
After hearing this, the eyes of those who had just impeached Lu Chen all lit up.
If Li Zhuo was asking people like Liang Licang, they would indeed be a little worried.
But if the person being questioned is Wei Yong, then the matter is basically settled, because Lord Wei is well-known for his hatred of evil!
There is such an uncontrollable force in the court now, which is definitely not a blessing for the court.
Sure enough, Wei Yong's face was as ugly as ever. Those who knew him knew that this was a sign that he was about to lose his temper.
As expected, he stepped forward, saluted Li Zhuo, and immediately began to criticize, "The Jinyiwei only have about two hundred men in total, and a large number of them haven't yet been deployed. If such a tiny force can disrupt our Great Qi, then we should reflect on why our Great Qi is so fragile!"
"Also, I've received a report that some officials in Yangzhou are actually blocking the official ships carrying anti-epidemic and disaster relief supplies, and are refusing to let them pass. They deserve to be killed!"
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