The next day, during the morning court session.
Because of his low rank, Yao Zhijie was not usually allowed to attend court sessions. He could only stand guard during major court ceremonies, making him a nobody who had never shown his face despite being an official for several years.
Nowadays, it's neither a festival nor a major day of court, yet we're being woken up early to attend court.
It was almost December, so cold it was about to snow. I got up in such a hurry that I didn't even have a bite to eat. I was starving and freezing, and I was really pitiful.
As if things weren't bad enough, the sedan chair had just entered Zhuque Street when it collided with a redwood carriage with a blue roof.
"Brother, I'm so sorry, so sorry... Oh, so it was you who was the culprit!"
I thought I had accidentally bumped into a colleague, but it turned out to be Pei Yanzhi.
He rolled off the sedan chair and squeezed into the other person's carriage, where he saw the other person leisurely drinking hot tea and eating hot cakes.
Yao Zhijie was even angrier. He snatched the pancake and started eating it, while angrily berating him.
"Tell me, why did you go and provoke the brother-in-law of the Vice Minister of Revenue?"
"Look, now you've been impeached by the Vice Minister of Revenue, and I've even had to accompany you to court. The Vice Minister of Revenue is the superior of your superior. You're just a lowly sixth-rank official, and you're already targeting the Vice Minister of Revenue as soon as you take office. Don't you think you're being a bit too clever?"
Faced with his aggressive questioning, Pei Yanzhi only frowned and replied with eight words, "A parasite of the nation, so be it."
After saying that, he looked at Yao Zhijie with some disdain for his eating manners, moved aside, and then revealed the memorial in his sleeve, "Perfect, I also want to impeach him."
"Hehe, I knew you were bold, but I didn't expect you to be this bold. Don't blame me for not reminding you, the Vice Minister of Revenue is the Crown Prince's man. If you dare to touch him, you will be making an enemy of the Crown Prince."
"Also, I remember we agreed at the beginning that auditing the accounts was fine, but we had to be very careful when dealing with a high-ranking official like the Vice Minister. You were a bit reckless this time."
Yao Zhijie munched on a pancake as he spoke. He didn't expect Pei Yanzhi to reply. This man was used to being a dictator; whatever he said was law, and no one could control him.
Just as the carriage was about to reach the palace gate, there was still half a biscuit left. Yao Zhijie swallowed it whole in two or three bites, drank two cups of water, patted the crumbs off his hands, tidied himself up, and got off the carriage.
Everyone else had already embarked on the imperial path when he heard the person beside him speak softly.
"I just don't want to owe anyone a favor."
"Owe someone a favor? What favor? When have you ever owed anyone a favor?"
Yao Zhijie was completely bewildered; the people around him had already entered the main hall.
In the bustling Golden Palace, the Emperor sat high in the hall, surrounded by civil and military officials on either side, with the eldest prince, the crown prince, the fourth prince, and other princes seated at the head of the court.
"That's so complete."
Just one glance at Yao Zhijie made his calves tremble. It wasn't that he was cowardly, but the highest-ranking official in his family was his father, a third-rank official in the Ministry of Personnel.
Then look at him. He had just started working for Pei Yanzhi when he offended a high-ranking official who was of the same rank as his father.
How could he not be afraid?
The key point is that they have the support of the eldest prince.
Feeling the vicious gazes cast upon him by the Crown Prince's faction, Yao Zhijie knelt down beside Pei Yanzhi with a "plop," and the two bowed in greeting.
"Your subject, Pei Yanzhi, the principal clerk of the Ministry of Revenue, greets Your Majesty. Long live Your Majesty!"
"Your subject, Yao Zhijie, a secretary in the Ministry of Revenue, greets Your Majesty. Long live Your Majesty!"
Yao Zhijie knelt there, drenched in sweat. Fortunately, in the eyes of the First Prince and the Vice Minister of Revenue, he was just an insignificant little karami, and all the attention was focused on Pei Yanzhi next to him.
Pei Yanzhi was no pushover either; he had even prepared in advance by producing memorials and various pieces of evidence.
"Your Majesty, I wish to impeach the Vice Minister of Revenue for embezzlement, corruption, and disregard for human life."
"The commercial tax rate of one-thirtieth is already extremely low. The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, along with several other officials in the Ministry, colluded with merchants to evade taxes and embezzle no less than one million taels of silver. We beg Your Majesty to punish them."
"What! A million taels?"
How could the old emperor listen to such things? He was already so poor, and these ministers not only refused to be poor with him, but also dared to embezzle his money.
This is outrageous!
The emperor was furious and immediately arrested the Vice Minister of Revenue and other guilty officials, handing them over to the Ministry of Justice for interrogation and severe punishment.
The court was in an uproar, and the officials were astonished.
"He's just a greenhorn, fresh out of school, and he's already purged half the officials in the Ministry of Revenue. How dare he?"
"He has His Majesty's backing, but you didn't see how even the First Prince's words on behalf of the Vice Minister of Revenue were ineffective."
"He's really bold, not even giving face to the First Prince."
All the officials in the court, whether they were from the First Prince's faction or the Crown Prince's faction, were secretly watching Pei Yanzhi.
After the court session, no one spoke to him; they all avoided him. Even officials from the old emperor's faction kept their distance from him.
"He's too ruthless. He emptied half of the Ministry of Revenue in one fell swoop. Isn't he a scholar? His actions are too vicious."
"They say a new broom sweeps clean, but his fire is burning way too brightly."
"Tax collection is a job that offends people, and now, thanks to his actions, he's become someone that everyone hates and everyone wants to kill."
“Let’s stay away from him. He’s a newly favored minister now. We don’t have his influence over His Majesty. If the Crown Prince takes his anger out on us, we won’t have any reason to reason with him.”
"Tsk tsk tsk, did you hear that? Even His Majesty's confidants are afraid of you."
The officials in front had all left, leaving Yao Zhijie and Pei Yanzhi behind. As he walked, he talked and elbowed Pei Yanzhi.
However, even though he was isolated by the court officials, Pei Yanzhi still acted as if he didn't care. "It doesn't matter. I never needed to get close to them anyway."
Yao Zhijie gasped, looking at him in astonishment. "Do you really want to be a lone minister like your father?"
"The Pei family has long been indebted to the Emperor's favor, so this is only right."
"..."
Yao Zhijie paused for a moment before nodding hesitantly. “That seems to make sense. Since the late emperor passed away and our current emperor ascended the throne, the military families that fought alongside the late emperor to conquer the country have all fallen out of favor. However, your Pei family is favored by the emperor and is a close minister of the emperor. You are deeply indebted to the emperor and should be willing to go through fire and water for him. But you have offended the eldest prince by doing this. What will you do if the emperor takes a liking to the eldest prince in the future?”
"I was only loyal to His Majesty and never thought about these things."
"..."
No, you're so great and righteous...
Yao Zhijie looked at the upright-looking man beside him with suspicion. He and Pei Yanzhi had been friends for twenty years. This man was a man of few words, but when it came to loyalty to the emperor and love for the country, there was no doubt about it.
Marquis Wenyuan is also His Majesty's staunch confidant. He would never go against His Majesty's wishes. It is not impossible for father and son to be of one mind.
But how to put it? If Pei Yanzhi hadn't tricked him into letting the Sixth Prince take charge of the commercial taxes last time, he would have believed him one hundred percent.
After what happened last time, he noticed something different.
You can't believe everything this person says!
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