While complaining, Sister Wang floated towards Lin Xiaoman, and soon she moved to her own position.
The position of the second princess, Little Sister Wang, is right behind the crown princess, Lin Xiaoman. The third and fourth princesses have just come of age and do not need to attend court yet.
When they arrived at the place, Sister Wang yawned again, then stopped complaining and leaned against Lin Xiaoman.
"I'll take a nap for a while. The Empress will come and call me."
"Don't worry, Sister Wang!"
Then, Sister Wang performed a difficult act of dozing off while standing.
Several censors not far away saw this scene, shook their heads, and then gathered together to whisper, most likely saying bad things.
The hall was already filled with waves of small groups, with people from the same faction gathered together and discussed in low voices.
About half an hour later, at the dawn, everyone consciously stopped their small gathering and returned to their seats, standing in neat rows like primary school students in physical education class.
Less than two minutes of silence passed before a maid's voice rang out, "Your Majesty has arrived!"
"Your Majesty, long live your Majesty, long live your Majesty, long live your Majesty."
The Empress of Huangyuan, wearing a golden crown and a golden dragon robe, walked to the throne with fierce steps, sat down with a bold gesture, and waved her hand majestically, "Your Excellency, please stand!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
The maid said in a clear voice: "If there is a memorial, go out of the class. If there is nothing else, dismiss the court."
"Your Majesty, I have something to report!" The Minister of Revenue, who was in a relatively forward position, stepped forward first.
"My dear, what do you want to tell me?"
The Minister of Revenue said: "Your Majesty, the thirteen southern counties are located in a fertile land with abundant resources and are the economic center of our country. However, in the past two years..."
The Minister of Revenue blah blah, to sum it up: the South, which originally collected the most taxes, has not been very good at collecting taxes in the past two years, with a large drop in tax collection, so the national treasury is empty.
Then, around the question of "The treasury is running out of money, what should we do?", the court was like a market, and a heated discussion broke out.
Ministry of Revenue: Reduce the budgets of the other five ministries!
Ministry of Rites, Ministry of Personnel, Ministry of Works, Ministry of War, Ministry of Justice: Why?! No way!
Ministry of Revenue: Reduce the budgets of the six prisons!
Imperial College, Imperial Household Department, Military Equipment Department, Imperial Water Conservancy Department, Imperial Household Department, and Imperial Palace Department: Why?! We don't agree either!
Ministry of Revenue: Reduce...
Everyone: No!
The idea of increasing revenue and reducing expenditure was unanimously resisted. Then, a minister suggested that the problem should be solved from the source, the thirteen southern counties. Inspectors should be sent to the south to investigate whether there were any corrupt officials, and a few corrupt officials should be fired to enrich the national treasury.
Everyone: This works!
The next thing to discuss was who to send.
Going to the local government for oversight, especially in the wealthy south, was definitely a lucrative job, but also a high-risk one. You could make a lot of money, but if your martial arts skills were poor, you could easily die outside. Local officials weren't pushovers, either, and were very skilled at assassination.
After much discussion, we just couldn't decide on the candidate.
Finally, perhaps feeling that too much time had been wasted, Empress Huang Yuan, the topic terminator, spoke up, "My dear ministers, all your points make sense. I will consider the selection carefully and discuss it tomorrow."
Okay, one problem solved, next one.
A minister came forward to report that drought in the north had reduced grain production and that famine was possible in the winter, so we needed to take precautions...
There was another round of discussion about this situation, and in the end, it was decided to send an inspector to conduct an on-site inspection. If the situation was true, the warehouses would be opened to provide relief. But then the question arose: who should be sent?
The north is a cold and bitter place with a backward economy and a harsh environment. It is dangerous and has no benefits. This is definitely not a good job. All the court officials recommended their political enemies.
A lot of time was wasted in the back-and-forth conversation. Finally, Empress Huang Yuan resorted to another delaying tactic. "...Let me think it over carefully. We'll discuss the selection of the person to go north tomorrow."
This problem has been solved again.
Next, the Minister of Works stepped forward and said that their Ministry of Works had recently developed blueprints for improved warships and wanted to build a few, so... Your Majesty, please give us some funding!
As soon as the Minister of Works finished speaking, the previous Minister of Revenue jumped out.
Minister of Revenue: No money! Get lost!
Then the two of them argued fiercely, their faces turning red.
Finally, the empress sided with the Ministry of Revenue and appeased the Ministry of Works: Let’s talk about the budget later, just submit the drawings for her to review first.
Next, another minister stood up...
After a few relatively important events, the ministers began to fight with each other.
Minister A accused Minister B of allowing his daughter to commit a crime. Minister B, unwilling to give in, accused Minister A of abusing his power for personal gain. Minister C accused Minister D of corruption and bribery. Minister D countered that Minister C was reckless with human life.
Anyway, they just attacked each other, and among them, the most people attacked Yongding Hou. All kinds of trivial matters were brought up, even the dog raised in Yongding Hou's mansion biting someone was brought up.
The result was that Marquis Yongding was fined another month's salary.
After waiting for a long time, the ministers finally managed to survive this wave of infighting with each other, and then it was the turn of the censors to take the stage.
The censors began to speak one by one, asking which minister had lost his moral integrity, which minister had trouble in his backyard, which minister had gone out to have an affair with a girlfriend, etc.
The impeached ministers all had green faces and their eyes were like knives, as if they wanted to chop the censors to death.
Then, just as Lin Xiaoman was secretly gloating, a censor impeached her with a long speech condemning her without a single curse word. The gist of it was: As the crown princess, you don't learn culture or practice martial arts, and just muddle through your days. It's simply shameful, and you should be deposed!
Lin Xiaoman: ...
The original owner was just a bit mediocre, who did he offend?!
Lin Xiaoman secretly remembered the censor in her heart and did not refute. She just looked at the empress with grievance, like a poor little thing. Then the censor was scolded by the empress who was protecting her child.
The other censors who originally wanted to impeach Lin Xiaoman suddenly changed their tone and impeached the second princess instead, saying that she was not doing her job properly and was only obsessed with beauty, which was a disgrace to the royal family.
Little Sister Wang, who was still dozing off and slacking off: ...
Little Sister Wang also looked at the empress with grievance.
Then the censor was scolded by the empress again.
It has to be said that among the censors, the majority are young and inexperienced.
Even though they were scolded to pieces, the censors still faced the challenge head-on. This time, they impeached the Princess of Prince Dongping without any tact, saying that she was morally deficient and unworthy of being the Princess.
Although the person impeached was the daughter of Prince Dongping, the implicit meaning of his words was simply to express that the empress was randomly matchmaking people.
This time, the Empress really touched her sore spot.
The furious empress directly demoted the two leading censors, dismissed them from their posts and investigated them. After killing two to warn the hundred, the remaining censors finally quieted down.
Seeing that the empress was angry, all the court officials who had something to say became silent.
Finally, the court session ended.
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