Emperor Mingde stared at the familiar names of ministers on the memorials, especially those of the Duke of Zhenguo and the Grand Tutor Wang...
"All the mansions of these ministers have disappeared."
Such a huge mansion suddenly disappeared without any trace.
This matter is unbelievable and very scary no matter how you look at it.
As the one who knew Emperor Mingde best, how could Gu Tai report such a thing immediately? He had to think twice before acting.
"Well, especially the Zhenguo Mansion, there is only a big hole left."
"My dear ministers, what do you think? Everyone is free to speak. Tell me what is going on?"
The ministers were sweating profusely and looked at each other secretly. How could they dare to say anything?
They were all shrewd people who had been officials for many years, so they knew what the emperor was thinking. He wanted to bring disaster to the Su and Wang families.
After all, the Great Qi Dynasty is now facing internal and external troubles, especially the collapse of the imperial mausoleum and the riot on the long street yesterday, which has caused public resentment and spread rumors.
They all said that the emperor was unjust, that he had executed the crown prince and killed loyal ministers, that God was angry and people were resentful, and that the Great Qi Dynasty was about to perish.
If a ruler is incompetent and unjust, he should either abdicate or issue an imperial edict to punish the ruler, so as to appease the resentment of the people and eliminate the disaster.
But none of them dared to say these words.
"Gu Aiqing——"
The emperor named him, and Gu Tai had no choice but to take a step forward.
At this point, Gu Tai is also in a difficult situation.
He knew what the emperor wanted him to say. Wasn't it just to come up with a reasonable excuse to put all the blame on the prince's remnants and the Su family? However, there were two people in the world who could make the emperor afraid. Su Zhenbei was hit by six soul-suppressing nails and had been in a coma.
Although Wang Taifu is a shrewd and scheming man, he is old after all. After yesterday's riot on the long street, he had a high fever at the post station last night and was almost dying of fever.
All of this was news brought back from the post station by the people he sent.
Throughout the entire night, no one came out of the two single rooms of the Su and Wang families? No one approached them either.
Under such circumstances, how could he find a reasonable excuse to blame such a shocking event on the exiled people of the Su and Wang families? But the emperor pushed this problem to him, and no matter how difficult it was, he had to find a way to help the emperor solve this dilemma.
Gu Tai was thinking about what to say better.
Seeing that Gu Tai did not reply to him in time,
Emperor Mingde's back was covered with cold sweat, and a particularly ominous premonition crawled into his heart like an ant.
Executing the crown prince, beheading the Su family, and confiscating the Wang family, did he really offend the gods? "Your Majesty——"
Suddenly, the commander-in-chief of the imperial guards, Ji Wei, strode in and fell to his knees in front of the hall.
"Weapons Manufacturing Plant——"
"how?"
Emperor Mingde exclaimed and stood up.
The thieves stole everything from the imperial palace and officials' residences because they were after the money. But what about the weapons factory?
“All gone.”
"What do you mean, all the weapons made there are gone?"
Emperor Mingde felt dizzy.
Before Ji Wei could reply, the Minister of War shouted at Ji Wei, "Don't talk nonsense. What could possibly happen in a weapons manufacturing plant? There are 30,000 soldiers guarding it, and it's so close to your imperial army camp. You can't possibly think that just like that, those hundreds of thousands of manufactured weapons could be stolen?"
The Great Qi Dynasty was surrounded by enemies on all sides. The war in the northern border had just ceased, and the dynasty was about to send envoys to negotiate a marriage. The three tribes in the east, west and south were ready to make a move. Under such circumstances, the weapons manufacturing plant naturally worked overtime and desperately manufactured weapons. That's why there were more than 100,000 pieces in stock.
“All gone.”
"Hundreds of thousands of weapons, and those huge catapults, you think they could all be gone?"
The Minister of War took a deep breath.
"Not only are all the weapons gone, but even the tools used to make them are gone."
Ji Wei simply didn't dare to recall the scene he had just seen in the weapons manufacturing plant.
“There’s nothing left except people.”
"emperor--"
Gu Tai glanced at Emperor Mingde.
When their eyes met, both of them realized that they could no longer blame the Su and Wang families for everything that had happened in the past two days.
This is simply beyond human power.
No matter whether it is Su Zhenbei or Wang Taifu, no matter how powerful they are, they are still human beings after all.
"Prime Minister, something has happened in the village where your clan is located."
Ji Wei looked at the Prime Minister. When he entered the palace just now, he saw the village chief of the Prime Minister's clan village waiting outside the palace gate with two people. As soon as he saw him, the village chief held him tightly and asked him to tell the Prime Minister that something happened in the village and everything in the clan hall was lost.
"What?"
The prime minister's eyelids were twitching wildly. Last night, his mansion disappeared out of thin air, and a series of scandals happened in the house. He and his family hurriedly found a place to live. The emperor summoned him to the palace. He never expected that something happened in the village where the Shou clan lived.
"You mean my ancestral temple?"
Ji Wei nodded, and the Prime Minister rolled his eyes and fainted.
How could he not feel dizzy? Ji Wei was the commander-in-chief of the imperial army, so could the secret of the granary under his ancestral hall be kept? He was a prime minister, but he had more grain than the national treasury. What did he want to do? "Where is the granary?"
The Minister of Revenue stared at Ji Wei. When he was in court just now, the granary was still fine. Could it be that the granary had been stolen now? "It's fine."
Ji Wei looked at Gu Tai again, "General Gu's mansion is gone."
"oh--"
Gu Tai had a blank expression on his face. Since he received the emperor's order, he had checked many mansions and found that they had been completely emptied. Even the imperial palace had been robbed. If only his Gu Mansion was fine, then he would be in trouble. Now, he was relieved.
Besides, he is different from these stupid ministers. He has been in Zhaowei for so many years, and his enemies are all over the world. Every day, someone wants him dead. How could he put all his finances in the mansion?
"Report—800 miles, urgent!"
The Dragon Guard led three scouts and hurried to the palace.
The black-clad scout knelt on the ground, "The Japanese pirates from Donglin have invaded Daqi and have occupied three cities."
The white-robed scout knelt beside him and said, "There is a severe drought in the south, the weather is unusually hot, and there are frequent fires in the forests. The South Vietnam is ready to make a move."
The other black-clad scout didn't even dare to raise his head, "The plague is rampant in the four counties of Yunzhou."
The hall suddenly fell into deathly silence.
Emperor Mingde's face was ashen.
"My dear ministers, what do you think?"
"Your Majesty, according to the original plan, let the Third Prince lead the team to the north, make peace with the Northern Frontier, send annual tribute, open a border market, receive the Su family army, and handle the affairs of Yanjing City."
The right prime minister dragged his broken leg forward and continued calmly, "The Donglin Kingdom is a small country of Japanese pirates. They dared to invade our Great Qi, just to take advantage of our internal and external troubles to grab a piece of the pie. This old minister requests that the King of Yan lead a 100,000-man Black Feather Army to the east to recover the lost territory. At the same time, bring ten imperial doctors to solve the plague problem."
The ministers were speechless. Yes, the crown prince had passed away, the nine generals of the Su family were gone, and Su Zhenbei was crippled. Isn't the only one who was the most capable fighter in the Great Qi Dynasty, His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan, the only one left?