Chapter 74 From then on, the king no longer held court early
Eunuch Zhang carefully placed the bowl of Tremella and Lotus Seed Soup on the table. He looked up and saw Xie Fei dozing off with a memorial in one hand. He quickly stepped forward and bowed, calling out in a low voice, "Your Majesty? Your Majesty?"
"Hmm." Xie Fei frowned slightly, slowly opened his eyes and glanced at Zhang Dezi beside him, and asked casually, "What time is it?"
Zhang Dezi handed over the Tremella and Lotus Seed Soup and replied, "Your Majesty, it is already past midnight, it is time to go to bed and rest."
Xie Fei took the bowl without saying a word, and drank it calmly, spoonful by spoonful. His dark eyes looked at the person who had just put down the letter, and his mind couldn't help but turn.
There was nothing special about the memorial, but what was special was its content. The Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi sent it to the capital in an urgent manner over a distance of 800 miles, requesting the emperor to allocate disaster relief silver and grain, because it had rained frequently in Guangdong and Guangxi over the past half month, causing floods, destroying all crops, and leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless.
He remembered Qi Xuan saying that not long after most of the power of the Left Prime Minister and General Gao was taken back, he received a memorial about the flood. Because they were dissatisfied, when the morning court discussed solutions, both of them kept silent and did not express any opinions. Even other people in their party began to evade him.
Qi Xuan was extremely angry, but there was nothing he could do. He could not give up the power he had obtained. The Left Prime Minister and General Gao also wanted to use this opportunity to make the emperor compromise. Both sides refused to give in, and the people in Guangdong and Guangxi who were affected by the disaster suffered terribly. There were signs of a riot, which gave Qi Xuan even more of a headache.
In his distress, he thought of Xi Helan. He had just intended to go there to relax, but in his distress he told this matter to her. After some thought, Xi Helan proposed a series of measures. Qi Xuan immediately showed an expression of shock and surprise. From then on, he often asked Xi Helan for advice when he encountered difficulties. This led to his later review of memorials and participation in state affairs.
Thinking of this, Xie Fei couldn't help but curse him as an idiot in his heart. He rubbed his forehead with a headache. He had taken back the power of the Left Prime Minister, and he had already rewarded Xi Helan. The Queen must have suspected him. This mission was really not easy to do.
Based on Qi Xuan's description, Xie Fei concluded that the queen was an intelligent, rational, and decisive woman. Although she might have some expectations of love at a young age, her personality destined her to ruthlessly abandon it immediately once she found that this love had deteriorated.
This is the mother of the country who was taught by such an aristocratic family. She has a very good sense of the overall situation. She has understood since she was sensible that she does not live for herself, but for her family. Therefore, while she expects the emperor's love, she also treats it with caution. If she has it, it's better, but if she doesn't, it doesn't matter, because she deeply understands that the imperial family has been ruthless since ancient times.
Compared to the emperor's love, she cared more about the throne of queen and the future of her family. Love was nothing to her.
Xie Fei sighed deeply, closed the letter and put it away, then stood up and walked towards the imperial study compartment.
Zhang Dezi was stunned with some surprise. As the emperor's personal eunuch, he knew many private matters. For example, Concubine Lan, who seemed to be unfavored by the concubines in the harem, was actually deeply favored by the emperor. In order to protect her, the emperor even set up the queen as a target to block many conspiracies and tricks in the harem for her.
In the past, as long as the emperor told the harem that he was resting in the imperial study, it was indirectly indicating that he was going to Concubine Lan's bedroom. But looking at the emperor's actions tonight, he was clearly heading towards the dragon couch in the second room.
Thinking of the promise made by the noble lady in Xilan Palace, Zhang Dezi hesitated for a moment and then said tentatively: "Your Majesty, Noble Lady Lan..."
Before he finished speaking, he saw the emperor pause, and then a chill rose from the soles of his feet to his scalp. He didn't have time to think about it, and subconsciously knelt on the ground with a "thump", trembling and trembling, "I have overstepped my authority, please forgive me, Your Majesty."
Xie Fei put his hands behind his back and looked at Zhang Dezi quietly. He felt nervous for so long that he said calmly, "You are my personal eunuch. It is not surprising that someone would try to please you. I can also turn a blind eye to it. But... you'd better remember who is your master. You'd better know what to do and what to say. You'd better have a scale in your heart. Do you understand?"
"I understand, I understand. I will keep the emperor's teachings in mind." Zhang Dezi said tremblingly with cold sweat.
"Get up. This won't happen again." After saying that, Xie Fei turned and left.
Zhang Dezi let out a breath quietly and stood up. He raised his sleeve to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, then hurriedly followed, diligently helping Xie Fei wash and change clothes.
The emperor's mind is really hard to guess. He clearly told me to take good care of Concubine Lan, but now he gets furious when I just mentioned it. It's really hard to understand. It seems that I have to be more careful when serving the emperor in the future.
I thought the Emperor was a little special to Concubine Lan, but now it seems that it was just a temporary novelty. After all, foreign beauties are really rare in the Great Qi Kingdom.
After helping Xie Fei rest, Zhang Dezi shook his head and cautiously left the imperial study. While thinking about his worries, he sent someone to Xilan Palace to report that the emperor would rest in the imperial study tonight.
After Xi Helan received the report from the eunuch, he asked the maid to reward him with a few gold melon seeds and returned to the bedroom. He did not show any expression on his face, but his heart was full of doubts.
Last night the emperor had clearly promised her that he would accompany her tonight, but now he suddenly broke his promise. Wouldn't the side quest that she had taken a risk and spent a huge amount of points to embark on in order to get the reward of "Niao Niao Chu Palace Waist" be doomed to fail?
Thinking of this, Xi Helan couldn't help but feel a little flustered. She immediately asked the maids to leave, and then called up the system in her mind to confirm the task.
[Side Quest 3: The host has been favored for ten consecutive days. If successful, he will be rewarded with a pair of "Slender Chu Palace Waist". If he fails, he will take back the "Affectionate Eyes".
Completion level: 9/10. ]
There was only one day left before we failed.
Xi Helan clenched her fists somewhat unwillingly, this "Affectionate Eyes" was something she had finally obtained by completing the previous side quest, and now she failed to gain anything and ended up losing the rice. How could she not be angry?
The angrier she got, the calmer her mind became. The more she thought about it, the more she felt that something was wrong. The emperor had promised everything yesterday, and the eunuch who delivered the message did not say that the emperor was reviewing memorials, but that the emperor was resting in the imperial study. This meant that the emperor deliberately did not come to her bedroom, not because he was too busy with state affairs to come, and certainly not because he forgot to come, because in order to ensure that the task could be completed, she spent a lot of money to please Eunuch Zhang.
There is a problem, there must be a problem.
Unable to figure out what to do, Xi Helan asked the system directly: "System, I want to check the emperor's likes and dislikes of me."
[Target favorability value: 60. ]
"The favorability value hasn't dropped, so why did it suddenly..." Xi Helan murmured, and after a pause, she continued to ask, "System, is there any way to change the emperor's decision?"
[The level is not high enough, so it cannot be changed temporarily. ]
Xi Helan closed his eyes in frustration and asked tentatively: "Do you know why the emperor suddenly changed his attitude, or what happened tonight?"
[Please wait.] ]
After a moment, the system rang.
[Floods occurred in Guangdong and Guangxi, and the target is suffering from the lack of a good solution to completely cure the floods. ]
Flood?
Xi Helan's eyes rolled around, and she remembered that in modern times, when one side is in trouble, all sides will come to its aid. However, this was ancient times, and there were many differences. Besides, she was just a student who had just entered college in modern times. Apart from the opening of warehouses to release grain and allocating relief funds that she had seen in novels, she really couldn't think of any good solution.
However, she has the golden finger of a time traveler, so the system must have a way to deal with such a small matter.
Thinking of this, she immediately asked: "System, do you have any effective way to deal with floods?"
[Flood response plan, 100 points are required to view it. ]
100 points!
Xi Helan looked at his remaining points, which were only 103 points. The cheapest detoxification pill in the system store cost 50 points each. What if 100 points were deducted in an emergency? Besides, even if he spent 100 points to get the flood response plan, his side quest would still fail. It was not cost-effective.
After hesitating for a moment, Xi Helan finally gave up the idea. Anyway, the emperor's favorability towards her did not decrease, and it was not her fault that she broke the appointment tonight. She could only say that she was unlucky.
After resolving the doubts in his mind, Xi Helan yawned and fell asleep.
…
At the dawn of the second day, all the ministers entered the palace one after another to attend the court. In the Golden Throne Hall, the Left Prime Minister and the General-in-Chief stood at the first seats on both sides, one on the left and one on the right, and both of them looked listless.
After everyone had reported everything, Xie Fei took out the memorial from the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi and said, "I'm sure you've all heard about the floods in Guangdong and Guangxi. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced. The disaster relief silver and relief grain can only solve the crisis temporarily. Do you have any good ideas to completely solve the floods?"
For a moment, the court was silent. All the civil and military officials stood with their heads bowed, and no one spoke.
Xie Fei curled his lips, sneered, and called out directly: "Minister Li?"
The Minister of Finance felt his scalp tingle, a subtle expression flashed in his eyes, he walked out of the queue and bowed, saying: "Reporting to the emperor, I have checked all the materials in the treasury and will be ready at any time..."
"I don't want to hear these polite words. My ears are getting callused from hearing them." Xie Fei interrupted directly, "No matter what disaster happens, you all just talk about opening warehouses to release grain and allocating funds for relief, but you never come up with an effective plan."
The officials' expressions changed slightly, and they all knelt on the ground, whispering: "We are incompetent, please forgive us, Your Majesty."
Xie Fei quietly looked at the people kneeling below, his eyes coldly scanning everyone, staring at them until they felt cold all over, then he smiled faintly and said: "Incompetent?"
As he spoke, he chuckled and said coldly, "Okay, I never use incompetent people. If anyone feels that they are incompetent, please stand up. I will arrange for the competent to take the position."
this……
When everyone heard this, they looked around in disbelief. Seeing that everyone had shocked expressions, they believed that they had not heard wrongly.
It was confirmed, but everyone was feeling even more tormented. Looking at the emperor's attitude, if they dared to stand up, they would certainly lose their official hats. As for their lives and family future, it was also unknown. If they did not stand up, wouldn't it mean that they were admitting that they were not incompetent? Then what if the emperor asked them to come up with a good strategy?
It was impossible to advance or retreat, and all the officials frowned in embarrassment.
"No?" Xie Fei looked at everyone coldly and said slowly, "If you don't have any, then you should come up with a good plan for disaster relief. If you can't, don't eat. Go hungry and cold with the common people. Feel it for yourself, and maybe you will come up with a good idea."
After saying this, Xie Fei stood up and left, leaving a group of officials kneeling on the ground, racking their brains for a solution.
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