585 Imperial Examination, the Emperor has already made arrangements

After the Ninth Prince was taken away by the Imperial Guards, the entire hall fell silent. The officials present seemed unable to believe what they saw. They all stood there in a daze, but no one dared to look up at the man on the throne.

The emperor's majesty and power reached an unprecedented height. After the fall of the queen's family, the ninth uncle, who had almost all the power in the court, was taken down just like that.

It turned out that the emperor would not take action unless he did, but once he did, he would definitely attack the vital points. The ministers would never dare to underestimate the emperor again.

With the imprisonment of the Ninth Prince, the situation in the court of Dongling may have to be reshuffled. However, the Ninth Prince and the Queen's family have fallen one after another. Who can suppress the limelight of the aristocratic family? Will the aristocratic family rise again? Will the emperor allow it?

The ministers from the aristocratic families were secretly delighted and were ready to do something big. Others were worried, especially those who were close to the Ninth Prince. They hid themselves desperately for fear that the Emperor would target them next.

The people around the crown prince also had worried looks on their faces. Seeing the emperor's actions, the crown prince would be the next target. They had to do something, and the most important thing to do now was to rescue the ninth prince.

But the Ninth Prince's crime was treason and disobedience to the Emperor, and this was stated by the Emperor himself. To overthrow him would mean accusing the Emperor of being wrong, which is a serious crime of treason.

Click...click. In this cold winter, the officials of Dongling were frightened and sweating all over. The emperor looked down from his high position, and seeing all the officials' behaviors, he felt unprecedented satisfaction in his heart.

Half a year had passed since the Ninth Prince and Yuwen Yuanhua teamed up to force him at the morning court. He still could not forget the embarrassment and awkwardness he felt at that time. It was absolutely a shame for a dignified emperor to be forced to that point.

Now... he finally avenged his previous shame.

No one can challenge the majesty of the emperor, not even the ninth uncle who has many privileges and was pampered like a jewel by the previous emperor. The frightened faces and uneasy looks of the civil and military officials make the emperor feel comfortable all over. This is the majesty that an emperor should have.

As expected, the morning court without the Ninth Prince was a relief. This time, he was determined to bring disaster to Dong Ling Jiu Wan...

After the morning court session ended, the emperor returned to the imperial study and drafted an imperial edict, allowing children from poor families to serve as officials in the court. An imperial examination would be held every spring, and no matter whether they were children from poor families or aristocratic families, they could take part in the examination based on their talents.

This decree came suddenly, but no one dared to say no.

As soon as this decree was issued, all the civil and military officials changed their expressions again and instantly suppressed the news that the Ninth Prince was imprisoned. The noble families and the powerful were both happy and worried. They were happy that their children had an additional way out, but they were worried that they could not compare to those poor children who studied hard.

Although people from poor families are poor, there are still many families with decent conditions. The whole family can always support one person to study. According to the performance of their own children who love leisure and hate work, they may not be able to compete with the children from poor families, but...

With the examples of the Empress Mother and the Ninth Prince, even the noble families and the wealthy would not dare to challenge the emperor's authority at this juncture.

Compared with the noble families, the children of poor families were ecstatic. In the capital, there were many young men from poor families who knelt outside the palace and shouted "Long live the emperor", but all this had nothing to do with Feng Qingchen.

The Imperial Guards also left the palace at the same time as the imperial edict. After leaving the palace, the Imperial Guards split into two groups. One group went to the Ninth Prince's Palace and sealed it off; the other group went to the small courtyard in the west district where Feng Qingchen was.

Feng Qingchen wore the phoenix hairpin that only the queen could wear, which was tantamount to treason. The emperor sent the imperial guards to deal with the incident with great fanfare. It was not because he was afraid that Feng Qingchen would run away, but he did it deliberately to show the people in the imperial city that anyone who went against the emperor would not have a good end.

After the Ninth Prince was imprisoned, the Crown Prince ran around everywhere trying to rescue him. He had no intention of caring about Feng Qingchen's affairs. Besides, as long as the Ninth Prince was released from prison, Feng Qingchen would be fine.

Everyone knows that the Emperor used the Phoenix Hairpin as an excuse to throw dirty water on the Ninth Prince and accuse him of having ill intentions and treason.

By then, even if Yuwen Yuanhua ignored the border of Beiling and sent troops to Dongling for rescue, it would be of no use. Instead, it would confirm the crime of treason against the Ninth Prince. Once he was charged with treason, the Ninth Prince would never have the chance to ascend the throne in his life. Even if the emperor was willing, the people of the world would not let a traitor become emperor.

"My father is indeed my father, wise and mighty." Upon learning that his ninth uncle was imprisoned, Dong Ling Zi Luo became energetic and cheerful, sweeping away his previous loneliness. With this good news, Dong Ling Zi Luo went to Anping's palace, ready to cooperate with Anping inside and outside, and strive to get the emperor to lift the ban on his mother.

Anyway, the Ninth Prince has fallen. He can just put the blame of the incident on the Ninth Prince and let the Ninth Prince bear another crime. He believes that his father will be very happy.

There were many people who had the same idea as Dong Ling Zi Luo. After receiving the news, the Wang family also started a heated discussion. The downfall of the Ninth Prince and the fact that poor students could serve as officials in the court had a huge impact on the Wang family. As the head of the aristocratic family, the Wang family was the first to bear the brunt.

The former is an opportunity, and the latter can barely be considered a whip, but not everyone thinks so, at least Wang Jinling does not think so. Wang Jinling does not take the admission of children from poor families seriously. Without thirty to fifty years, children from poor families will never be able to have a seat in the court.

It is easy to be an official, but to hold on to that position, you need someone to help you. Officialdom is a group game. No matter how capable and talented a child from a poor family is, he cannot rise without someone's support.

What Wang Jinling was dissatisfied with was that the Wang family actually interfered in royal affairs. More importantly, this matter actually bypassed him as the head of the family. Did the Wang family think that he was too easy to talk to?

Several elders were just talking smugly about how the Wang family had joined forces with the aristocratic families and worked with the emperor to bring down the Ninth Prince. Before they could finish their words, Wang Jinling frowned and interrupted them rudely.

"Elder Shan, please give me an explanation for this matter. Why, as the head of the family, I don't know about family affairs?" The Wang family has three elders, Shan, Ren, and Zhi. These three elders have the power to supervise and depose and enthrone the head of the family. Their power is even greater than that of the head of the family, but the prerequisite is that these three elders stick together.

Elder Shan was not afraid of Wang Jinling's anger. According to seniority, Wang Jinling had to call him great grandfather. Even if Wang Jinling was the head of the family, don't forget that Wang Jinling had only been the head of the family for less than half a year. He didn't have any prestige and didn't have many people he could use. How could he possibly take Wang Jinling, a little kid, seriously?

Elder Shan didn't even stand up. He took a sip of tea and said, "Don't be angry, Patriarch. You were not feeling well at the time, and we old guys couldn't bother you with such a small matter. The three of us elders all agreed to this matter."

What this meant was that even if Wang Jinling was there, he couldn't change it, as this was a decision made by the three elders.

"Yes, I agree to this matter as well." Elder Zhi said. Elder Ren looked thin, but his eyes were very bright. Hearing the dissatisfaction in Wang Jinling's words, Elder Ren was even more rude and said to Wang Jinling, "Why? Patriarch, do you think it's wrong for the three of us old coffins to make profits for the family? Patriarch, don't forget that the Ninth Prince instigated the emperor to suppress our Wang family. If not for this, our Wang family would not have to look at the face of the Xie family."

The emperor did nothing wrong, it was the ministers who were wrong. It was obvious that the emperor wanted to take back power, but these people put all the blame on the Ninth Prince.

Facing the three elders' attacks, Wang Jinling was not angry. He was relaxed and indifferent, as if he could not see the anger of the three elders. The people who called Wang Jinling uncle and aunt nodded secretly when they saw Wang Jinling's magnanimity. No wonder the patriarch chose Jinling over them. Only Jinling had the magnanimity and skills to fight against the three elders.

If it were them, this group would probably be so bullied by the three elders that they would be speechless and blush.

When the three elders saw that Wang Jinling didn't say anything, they concluded that Wang Jinling had suffered a loss and was unable to fight back, and looked at Wang Jinling with disdain.

You little brat, don't think that you can do whatever you want just because you are the head of the family. The head of the Wang family serves the family, and he must do everything to benefit the Wang family. The position of the head of the family is a thankless one, if you do it well, it is your responsibility, if you do it wrong, it is your incompetence.

Wang Jinling seemed not to notice the three elders' disdainful looks. He brushed the folded paper at his waist and stood up slowly. His gentle eyes concealed sharpness. He glanced at the three elders, making them feel numb. Then he said, "It is the ancestral precept of the Wang family not to participate in the royal family dispute. Elder Ren, Elder Shan, and Elder Zhi violated the ancestral precept of the Wang family. According to the Wang family rules, they should be expelled from the Wang family, and their descendants will never be included in the Wang family tree. Considering that the three elders have done a good deed to the family, it is fine to expel them from the Wang family. From today on, the three elders will retire to Anhua Courtyard and be raised by the Wang family."

Wang Jinling would have been fine if he hadn't spoken, but once he opened his mouth he was going to destroy the three elders. The three elders' faces changed, and Elder Ren, who had the worst temper and manners, slammed the table and roared, "Wang Jinling, how dare you."

The old face instantly turned red, and his bright eyes became cloudy, and it seemed that he was very angry.

"Master, think twice before you act." Elder Shan said with a wry smile. He didn't believe that Wang Jinling really dared to take down the three of them in one fell swoop. If the three of them fell, half of the Wang family would also fall.

Elder Zhi echoed again, saying sarcastically, "Master, we are a family. Even if our bones are broken, our tendons are still connected. The three of us are also working for the benefit of the Wang family and for the sake of their descendants. Master, you have to look at the Buddha's face even if you don't want to see the monks. After all, the three of us are your elders. As a junior, you are unfilial to treat your elders like this. The Wang family will not allow an unfilial person to be the master of the family."

This is taking advantage of one's seniority and adding threats. If it were in the past, Wang Jinling would have taken advantage of it. He has always been smooth and gentle in dealing with things. Besides, these three elders are his elders after all, and he would not embarrass them. But now?