Chapter 29: Court Struggle

The prince walked into the hall in high spirits and saluted Xia Zhengqi.

"Is the prince recovered?"

"Hasn't the prince been recuperating in the palace?"

Several gossiping ministers whispered.

Xia Zhengqi stood up, looked around at the ministers, and said in a loud voice: "Prince, in the past two months, you have been following my secret order to go to Jiangxia Province to investigate the disaster and disaster relief situation." "

Prince, please tell everyone about your investigation results."

The prince stepped forward and said in a loud voice: "Your son and his men followed the grain transport team all the way and found that before they arrived at the disaster area, they sold the rice allocated by the court to the grain merchants, and then bought cheap moldy old rice and rice bran to make a profit from the difference."

"These are the rice and grain transaction ledgers that your son has collected." The prince raised a tray with both hands, on which was a stack of ledgers.

Eunuch Debao walked over in small steps and presented the account book to Xia Zhengqi.

"My son and my men disguised themselves as disaster victims and mixed in with the common people. We found that the local government did not issue a single cent of disaster relief money."

"Most of the 500,000 taels of disaster relief money were embezzled by them, and the remaining small part was also ripped off by local officials!" The prince pointed at Master Jiang with anger in his voice.

Master Jiang and the other two were shocked.

[The Emperor is mighty! The Emperor is domineering!]

Xia Miaoyuan looked at Xia Zhengqi with admiration.

Xia Zhengqi: Haha, my precious daughter is praising me.

My daughter, just wait and see, Daddy will punish them severely!

Grand Tutor Jiang tried to suppress his emotions and pretended to be calm, saying, "I didn't know about these things! I am innocent!"

"My dear Jiang, don't worry. I will not wrongly accuse a loyal minister, but I will not let a traitor go either." Xia Zhengqi looked at Grand Tutor Jiang meaningfully.

"Come here, take Grand Tutor Jiang, Lord Xiao Jiang, and Lord Sun to the Dali Temple." Xia Zhengqi said.

Suddenly, a minister staggered a few steps and knelt down in front of Xia Zhengqi, crying, "Your Majesty, my father and brother are loyal ministers of Daxia, and they will never do such a thing. Even if these things really happened in the disaster area, it must have been done by subordinates!"

"Please show mercy, Your Majesty!" Jiang Zhishan is the second son of Grand Tutor Jiang and serves as the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. Xia Miaoyuan glanced at Jiang Zhishan and complained, "Humph, the second son of the Jiang family, you still have the nerve to beg for mercy

!

】

【What are you saying? Even if it happened, it must have been done by subordinates! It wasn't your father, nor your brother, so it must have been done by Sun Chaogui alone! 】

After taking a glance at Jiang Zhishan, the Minister of War Liu Hong also knelt down to plead: "Your Majesty, Grand Tutor Jiang has worked diligently for the Great Xia for decades, he must have been wronged! What the prince found out is that someone must have framed him. Please have mercy, Your Majesty."

【Tsk tsk tsk, what a joke! What the prince found out is that someone framed Grand Tutor Jiang! 】

【In the book, when Grand Tutor Jiang framed the prince, why didn't you suspect it was a frame-up? You even knelt down to force the emperor, saying that the prince was guilty of the same crime as the common people! 】

Xia Miaoyuan rolled his eyes in disgust.

"Pong, pong!" There were two more kneeling sounds.

The Minister of Revenue Chen Youdao and the Secretary of the Imperial Court Zhang Pengju knelt down

and begged for mercy: "Your Majesty, please show mercy." Then another seven censors knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, please show mercy."

[Wow, this group of steadfast supporters! ]

[But it's normal to think about it. These people have a thousand connections with Master Jiang and the Jiang family. Many of them have married their children. If Master Jiang falls, they will most likely be implicated! ]

The scene at this moment really shocked Xia Zhengqi.

He had listened to his daughter's voice before, and he knew that many ministers in the court were Master Jiang's cronies, but he didn't expect that under such circumstances, these cronies would still be willing to plead for him firmly.

Xia Zhengqi was stunned and his face was dark.

Xia Miaoyuan looked at Xia Zhengqi's expression, waving his two chubby hands anxiously, calling out in his heart.

[Emperor father, you can't panic today! ]

[If you panic today, all the previous layout will be wasted! ]

[The current situation is not necessarily all bad. As long as it is used properly, it can achieve twice the result with half the effort! ]

Xia Zhengqi heard his daughter's voice, and his eyes lit up.

[Those who kneeled down to beg for mercy are all in serious collusion with Master Jiang. We can just take the opportunity to identify them. ]

[Hurry up and catch them all,

catch them all in one fell swoop! ] Catch them all? Catch them all in one fell swoop!

Hearing this, Xia Zhengqi felt his brain stir.

His daughter's voice reminded him.

Xia Zhengqi handed his daughter to Eunuch Debao and said, "You...you...are you forcing me?"

He changed his confident look and immediately put on a cowardly look.

The cowardly look, the timid tone, and the shivering back made the officials instantly feel familiar.

That's right, this is the Mingxi Emperor Xia Zhengqi who ruled the country with kindness.

Recently, the Mingxi Emperor suddenly became decisive and they all thought that the emperor had changed his nature, but it seems that it was all fake.

In the past ten years, whenever the old ministers in the court united to put pressure on Xia Zhengqi, he would be so submissive.

Over the years, the ministers have already figured out his temper. Whenever Xia Zhengqi shows this expression, it means he is not far from surrendering.

Seeing this scene, Jiang Taishi, Jiang Zhiyuan and others were secretly delighted in their hearts.

A hint of pride flashed across Jiang Taishi's eyes: Humph, my lovely nephew, I knew you were a paper tiger, and your mighty power was all fake.

Jiang Taishi turned his head slightly and gave a look to those party cronies.

The meaning is: you guys hurry up and add fuel to the fire, and you will be done soon.

The Minister of Revenue and the Minister of War immediately knelt down and crawled onto the steps, shouting that Jiang Taishi was innocent, while stretching out their hands and hugging Xia Zhengqi's feet tightly.

Xia Zhengqi showed an embarrassed expression and said hesitantly: "You...you...don't do this!"

But he just kept repeating this sentence and refused to agree to the request of Jiang's cronies.

Then, the other ministers who knelt and begged quickly came to Xia Zhengqi, some pulling his sleeves, some pulling his robes.

For a moment, Xia Zhengqi was surrounded by these ministers and couldn't move.

[Woqu, what are you doing? Are you monkeys from Mount Emei?]

Xia Miaoyuan's eyes widened in shock.

[Emperor Daddy, what are you waiting for? !]

"Someone come! Protect the emperor!" Xia Zhengqi suddenly shouted.

The deep and powerful voice echoed in the hall.

The crying voices of this group of ministers who were begging for mercy stopped abruptly, and they were all shocked by Xia Zhengqi's behavior.

If it were usual, Xia Zhengqi would have given in long ago if they had made such a fuss. What happened today?

Hula!

More than 20 eunuchs wearing armor and holding swords ran into the palace and quickly handcuffed the hands of the ministers who were begging for mercy.

"You bold lunatics, how dare you take this opportunity to harm me!" Xia Zhengqi's eyes were fierce. As soon as

Xia Zhengqi said this, all the ministers in the palace were stunned with their eyes wide open, their mouths wide open, showing an extremely shocked expression.

Oh my God! What happened?

What's wrong with the emperor?

Pulling the robe and pulling the sleeves, is it considered to harm the emperor?

Didn't they use this trick to entangle the emperor and force him to change his mind before?

"Your Majesty, I didn't do it!" The Minister of Revenue shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Your Majesty, I didn't mean to harm you!" Jiang Zhishan cried.

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty!" Zhang Yushi was so frightened by this sudden situation that he peed his pants.

Xia Zhengqi gave a look to Eunuch Debao, who immediately ordered the guards to stuff their mouths with handkerchiefs.

"Take them to the Dali Temple together with Grand Tutor Jiang, Lord Xiao Jiang, and Sun Chaogui, and hand them over to the Grand Tutor for strict interrogation!"

"Yes, I obey your command!" Grand Tutor Wang Deguang responded.

Xia Miaoyuan was shocked when he heard a few words from Grand Tutor Wang Deguang.

[Emperor Daddy, you can't let the Grand Tutor try them. The Grand Tutor is also Grand Tutor Jiang's man! 】

【My third uncle worked with him in the Dali Temple and refused to go along with him, so he was suppressed by him. 】