Chapter 771 The Mainstay
Although the carriage was covered with thick plush carpet, it was still not as warm as staying in the warm room.
Xiao Xixi was wearing a thick coat and skirt, with her hands tucked into her sleeves, two heaters in her arms, her neck hunched, and she didn't move.
Luo Qinghan touched her cheek. Fortunately, it wasn’t very cold.
Xiao Xixi asked: "Why did you suddenly think of returning to the palace?"
Luo Qinghan: "Fengyang County was hit by a snowstorm, I have to go back to deal with the aftermath."
He took out the teapot from a secret compartment in the car, touched the pot, and found it was still warm.
He poured a cup of hot tea for Xixi.
"If you drink something hot, you won't be so cold."
Xiao Xixi refused to pull her hands out of the warm sleeves. She opened her mouth and posed as if to be fed.
Luo Qinghan had no choice but to hand the cup to her mouth and feed her himself.
The king of a country actually fed someone tea himself. If others saw this scene, they would probably be so scared that their jaws would drop to the ground.
Fortunately, there was no one else in the car except the two of them, so there was less to worry about.
After Xiao Xixi finished her hot tea, she asked, "Is the disaster situation in Fengyang County serious?"
Luo Qinghan poured another cup of tea from the cup she had drunk from, and spoke while drinking the tea.
"It's very serious. Many people died. Fortunately, we were prepared in advance, otherwise more people would have died."
Xiao Xixi sighed.
Even if she could have foreseen it in advance, she still could not completely erase the damage caused by the natural disaster.
In the face of natural disasters, there is very little humans can do.
The carriage passed through the heavy snow and entered the palace.
That afternoon, the emperor suddenly issued an edict, summoning six cabinet ministers and six ministers to the palace to discuss how to solve the disaster in Fengyang County.
They discussed in the meeting hall for two full hours.
This time they were all very honest and did not play any tricks on the emperor. They responded to almost everything the emperor said, and then extended and improved it according to the emperor's intentions.
No one said anything, but everyone felt guilty inside.
After things had been discussed almost completely, Luo Qinghan gave this reminder.
"Return two million taels of silver from the national treasury to the King of England."
The Minister of Revenue instinctively wanted to cry about his poverty, but before he could say anything, he was blocked by the emperor's cold eyes, and in the end he could only respond in a stammering voice.
"I obey your command."
Luo Qinghan prepared to adjourn the meeting and leave.
At this time, an elder stood up and asked cautiously.
"Excuse me, Your Majesty, are the supplies sent to Fengyang County the same batch as the one escorted by General Xiao?"
Luo Qinghan understood what they wanted to know, and said calmly: "The supplies that Xiao Lingfeng escorted were filled with hay and stones."
Everyone was stunned.
What Xiao Lingfeng was escorting was actually hay and stones, not supplies at all!
So, the emperor had actually anticipated that there might be accidents on the way of escorting supplies, so he asked Xiao Lingfeng to escort a batch of fake supplies out of Shengjing City in advance, in order to attract the attention of people with ulterior motives, while the real supplies had already been secretly transported to Fengyang County from another route.
Make a feint to the east and attack in the west, and sneak through Chencang.
Everyone was fooled by the emperor.
After being stunned, someone asked again.
"Then General Xiao and the others should not be dead, right?"
Luo Qinghan: "Well, Xiao Lingfeng has led people to capture all the bandits who dared to rob the imperial court's supplies. They will be escorted back to the capital soon. Minister Dong, the interrogation of those bandits will be left to you."
The Minister of Justice Dong Mingchun immediately stepped out and said, "I obey your command."
Everyone watched the young emperor slowly walk out of the council hall, feeling extremely complicated.
From beginning to end, the emperor never blamed the court officials for what happened before, but it was precisely because he said nothing that made everyone even more uneasy.
If they had a choice, they would rather the emperor vent his anger in person than be in the state of being neither here nor there, which made people feel uncomfortable.
After this incident, they finally understood that although the emperor was young, his mind was deeper than the previous emperor and should not be underestimated.
Luo Qinghan went to the imperial study and took out all the memorials that had been piled up during this period to review them. He was busy until the middle of the night before Eunuch Chang persuaded him to take a rest.
Before dawn the next day, Luo Qinghan got up again.
Today is the grand court meeting, and all officials above the fourth rank in the capital must attend.
At this time, many civil and military officials had already learned about the disaster in Fengyang County, and they were inevitably worried.
Sure enough, as soon as the court meeting began, the ministers began to talk about the disaster in Fengyang County, while not forgetting to praise the emperor's foresight.
They praised it very naturally, as if they were not the ones who had previously firmly believed that the emperor was worrying too much.
After so many years in the court, being thick-skinned is a basic skill.
Luo Qinghan sat upright on the high hall.
He looked expressionlessly at the kneeling courtiers below.
If the court is a chess game, these ministers are the chess pieces. They are scattered on the chessboard and seem to be disorderly, but in fact they are deeply involved with each other.
As the emperor, Luo Qinghan is the one who plays chess.
No matter where he wants to put the chess piece, the chess piece will fall there obediently.
After the elders had finished speaking, Luo Qinghan glanced at Eunuch Chang.
Eunuch Chang took two steps forward holding the imperial edict written by the emperor.
He unfolded the imperial edict and began to read its contents aloud.
"Hu Shiming, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel, has been transferred to the post of director of the Imperial College."
"The head of the Ministry of Revenue, Zhou Xuze, has been transferred to the position of Doctor of the Imperial College."
"Peng Rong, Junior Secretary of the Dali Temple, is transferred to be the Chief Secretary of Zhong."
…
After a long paragraph, a total of thirteen people were named.
Some of them are in the court, while others are not qualified to be here.
These people were all transferred at the same level; their official ranks remained unchanged, but their positions changed dramatically.
They were originally in departments with real power, but now they have either been transferred to less powerful offices or transferred far away to other places.
If nothing unexpected happens, their careers will end here.
The officials whose names were called stepped out one after another.
They knelt on the ground, their hands and feet were cold, their hearts were filled with despair, and they were still shouting.
"Thank God for your grace!"
Then came another imperial edict.
This time, the names of more than ten people were mentioned in one breath. Their official positions were all promoted a little bit. Some of them simply did not change their original ranks, but the positions after being transferred were all departments with real power.
Li Qingyan was also among these people.
He was transferred to the Ministry of Personnel and took over the position of Vice Minister of Personnel.
Being born in a poor family, he was able to be promoted so quickly, which was enough to show how much the emperor valued him.
Those whose names were called stood up one after another, and knelt down to express their gratitude with excitement.
Among these people, the oldest is only thirty years old and the youngest is only nineteen years old.
They are young, impulsive, energetic, and passionate about their ideals.
If nothing unexpected happens, these people will be the backbone of the court in the future.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
