"Huh?" Everyone was stunned and looked at Xuan Tianming. The eighth prince Xuan Tianmo asked, "What do you mean, Ninth Brother? It was Father who decided to refine the steel tools. The money for the steel tools came from the national treasury. At that time, the war in the Northern Territory was tense, so all the steel tools came from the Northern Territory. Oh, of course, the army that attacked the Northern Territory Qianzhou was the Northwest Army controlled by Ninth Brother, which means that all the steel tools were in the hands of Ninth Brother. Later, the East was in danger again, and part of the steel tools were transferred to the East Territory, but other parties did not receive any support from the steel tools. Ninth Brother, the good things are made with the money from the national treasury, and they are all in your hands. Isn't it inappropriate?"
Xuan Tianming rolled his eyes, glanced at the Eighth Prince's party like an idiot, and then said nothing.
Everyone felt suffocated. Every time they talked to the Ninth Prince, they felt an indescribable sense of oppression. You could never know what his eyes meant, nor what he was going to say. You didn't know if he would just keep silent, or even if he would whip you until you were paralyzed. Even in the court, they had no doubt that the Ninth Prince's temper would be restrained. After all, it was not the first time that he suddenly attacked in front of the emperor.
At this moment, they followed the Eighth Prince in talking about the steel weapon, and all they got from the Ninth Prince was a "No" and a big eye roll, and that was it. The atmosphere... was so awkward!
An old minister cleared his throat twice, and it was unclear whether he was reminding Xuan Tianming or Emperor Tianwu. However, looking at the father and son again, they were more silent and irritating than the other. Emperor Tianwu even closed his eyes and began to rest, and it seemed that he was about to fall asleep. Even the eunuch Zhang Yuan who was standing next to him turned his head away, unwilling to pay attention to them.
The eighth prince Xuan Tianming groaned, repeated his previous words, and finally asked: "Ninth brother, don't you think it's inappropriate?"
Xuan Tianming finally responded, but he said: "Not appropriate? Yes, it is indeed not appropriate." When people heard this, they thought, is it possible? But then, they said, "So what if it is not appropriate? This king said there is no such thing."
"How could there be none?" the ministers were anxious. "Hasn't the camp outside the capital been making steel all the time?"
Xuan Tianming nodded, "They are refining steel, but all the steel they produce has been taken to the north to fight, and some has been sent to the East Territory, so the inventory is gone. I wanted to hurry up and refine a new batch of steel after the New Year, but you joined hands and said that Princess Ji'an would not be allowed to interfere in the affairs of the court, not to enter the palace, not to enter the camp, and even not to open Baicaotang. Now, you have driven her out of the capital and returned to her own fiefdom. The steelmaking process is Princess Ji'an's unique skill, which has never been passed on to others. Not to mention those craftsmen, even I don't know it. She has always been the one who refined it with the craftsmen, but now that she has been driven away by you, the craftsmen are at a loss, sitting in the camp with their eyes wide open every day, doing nothing, and they don't know how to refine steel. I was thinking that they were wasting military rations in the camp, so I might as well dismiss them. Anyway, there will be no more steel to refine in the future." He spread his hands and spoke very innocently.
The Eighth Prince's party was dumbfounded when they heard this. The steel craftsmanship belonged to Princess Ji'an, and everyone knew it. But Princess Ji'an was driven away by them, and everyone knew it. Not only the people in the palace knew it, but even the people on the street knew it. They had a miserable year! Now they followed the Eighth Prince to bring up the steel issue. Isn't this just slapping themselves in the face? What else can they say?
Xuan Tianmo had not expected that the other party would set such a trick. The matter of steelmaking was extremely secretive. It was the top secret of Dashun. Emperor Tianwu had already issued an imperial decree that no one except Princess Ji'an and His Royal Highness Prince Yu could spy on the secrets. Otherwise, no matter who it was, they would be executed. But... "Ninth brother, you are too arbitrary!" He was angry and spoke in a heavier tone, "Just let a woman master such a secret?"
Xuan Tianming glanced at him and said, "No wonder everyone in the capital says that the Eighth Prince is shameless. It seems that it is true." After that, he fell silent, which made Xuan Tianmo so angry that he jumped to his feet.
At this time, the left prime minister Lu Song suddenly stood up and said something to Xuan Tianming. He said, "Your Highness Prince Sheng, what you said is wrong. This is not about letting a woman master the secret, but the secret was originally brought to our Dashun by that woman. She was able to help Dashun refine such a heaven-defying weapon for free, which is already a favor. How can Your Highness Prince Sheng not be grateful and even say such things? With such thoughts in your mind, how can those who want to make plans and efforts for Dashun in the future think about it? Who dares to enhance the prestige of Dashun again? Your Highness Prince Sheng, please think more about the national destiny of Dashun and stop doing things that hinder the development of Dashun. This old minister is ashamed to hear this!"
As the left prime minister of a dynasty, Lu Song also has a certain status among the civil officials. He has never been a party of the Ninth Prince, and even his daughter was almost promised to the Eighth Prince Xuan Tianmo. But unfortunately, the girl herself was not in good health and failed to make this marriage happen. But people have always believed that even if the marriage fails, there is always benevolence and righteousness, right? At least in their hearts, the left prime minister has always stood on the side of the Eighth Prince! But unexpectedly, today he openly sabotaged and helped the Ninth Prince to press the man who almost became his son-in-law.
Xuan Tianmo was so angry that his teeth itched. He glared at Lu Song fiercely, but didn't say anything. But then someone brought up the question, "I don't think you said you wouldn't let Princess Ji'an enter the camp, did you?"
"Hmm?" Xuan Tianming accurately found the owner of the voice, and then said in a sarcastic tone: "Say it again to me?"
The man shuddered, and immediately thought of Xuan Tianming's whip, and dared not speak again. But in his heart, he was still thinking, did they say that Princess Ji'an would not be allowed to enter the camp? Really? He was also confused.
Just as they were confused, Emperor Tianwu, who had been silent on the dragon throne for a long time, suddenly spoke, and said, "You don't even let him enter the palace. Do you think he can enter the camp? Didn't you say that you don't let him interfere in government affairs? Military affairs are also government affairs. You drove him away, and now you come to ask for his things. Are you sick?"
Tianwu is a very serious person when he is serious, but if someone annoys him, he will dare to say anything regardless of time, place or occasion. "Do you guys have any shame? You slap someone in the face, and then you want to ask for favors from him. What kind of logic is this? How did you get into the court to be an official? Why do I feel that your brains are not worthy of being an official? So! Two prime ministers!" He called the right prime minister Feng Qing and the left prime minister Lu Song, "I will give you a task. After the court is adjourned today, you will study it and come up with test questions. According to the standards of the imperial examination, from beginning to end, from the student examination to the palace examination, you will have a set of questions for each link. I will give you half a month to come up with this set of test questions, and then let these people take the test again. I want to see if their brains are still qualified to be officials in the court. You two remember this, the test questions must be kept absolutely confidential. If they are leaked, you will be beheaded and see me!"
Tianwu became more and more angry as he spoke, and in the end he simply slapped the handle of the dragon throne. The two prime ministers did not dare to neglect it, and quickly knelt down to accept the order, which was considered as formally accepting this matter.
The decision of Emperor Tianwu was the first time since the founding of the Dashun Dynasty that an official was asked to retake the imperial examination. Of course, more people were speculating about what would happen to these people if they failed the examination.
The two ministers on the left and right also understood that the reason why the emperor was so difficult was that he definitely looked down on the faces of these Eighth Prince's party. In the heart of Emperor Tianwu, Princess Ji'an was a treasure! Not only in Tianwu's heart, Feng Yuheng was also a treasure for the entire Dashun! Now that these old guys bullied Dashun's treasure and drove it away, how could the emperor not be angry? The two of them looked at each other and saw a message in each other's eyes: these guys must not be allowed to pass the exam! This test must be difficult! Difficult! Difficult!
The Eighth Prince and his party were in great pain, but the words had been spoken and there was no reason to change them. Their hearts were sinking little by little, almost sinking to the bottom. They felt that their lives had come to an end, and it was the Eighth Prince Xuan Tianmo who had brought them to such an end! They gnashed their teeth in hatred, but they also knew that it was too late to cut off their relationship with the Eighth Prince at this time. It would be better to think about how to make amends and let the Eighth Prince mediate and keep their official positions.
People made up their minds and prepared to discuss it together after the court session. However, they did not know that the Eighth Prince Xuan Tianmo had already made up his mind. In his opinion, these people were already half useless. Unless someone could pass the imperial examination, they would still be useful. But if they failed, they would be useless. He would never try to save them.
What prompted him to have such an idea was actually the case of the loss of the orifice. He always believed that the wealth of those people was not lost, but was secretly transferred, just to avoid paying money to support him. Such people are typical ungrateful. They forgot that the reason they were able to rise to prominence was because of Xuan Tianmo's secret help. Otherwise, no matter their official career or financial luck, how could it be so smooth. And the reason why they made up such a lie must be that they must have heard about the case of the loss of the orifice in the Sheng Palace, so they simply imitated the Sheng Palace's affairs and did the same, so as to avoid him from thinking too much.
Xuan Tianmo felt that this must be the case, and he secretly hated it. He once again decided to abandon these people and find another way to find support.
These old ministers did not know that they had been abandoned by Xuan Tianmo. After the court was dismissed, they gathered together to greet Xuan Tianmo very intimately. While talking, some of them were even thinking about counting the remaining property in their homes as soon as possible and sending it to Prince Sheng's Mansion to avoid any more trouble.
Everyone left the palace, and Xuan Tianmo got on the imperial carriage first to go back to the palace. The ministers were still greeting each other at the palace gate. At this time, they saw a carriage rushing towards this side. After it stopped, a man who looked like a servant ran out of the carriage, looked around the ministers in front, and finally found his master. Then he ran to one of them and said urgently: "Master, please go back to the palace quickly. The third wife is having a difficult delivery and will die soon!"
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