126. Confrontation

The palace gates had already been locked. After the imperial guards left Beijing, the Xuanji Camp was the one guarding the imperial palace. Therefore, when the Regent Prince's carriage arrived at the palace gate, it was not able to enter the palace as desired, but was stopped by the Xuanji Camp instead.

"The palace gates are locked. Please come back tomorrow, Your Majesty."

The guard was blocking the door.

Rong Se pushed open the carriage door upon hearing the voice, his face as cold as ice. Just as he was about to get off, Liang Shenyu stopped him.

"I'll go." Liang Shenyu smiled slightly, "Your Highness, just wait."

Liang Shenyu got off the carriage as he spoke. The smile on his face instantly disappeared, and he instantly turned into a general looking down on the battlefield. His handsome eyes were filled with cruelty, and under the light of the silver moon, he looked even colder.

"This Marquis and the Prince have been ordered to deal with the disaster victims in Tong County. We are now going to the palace to report to His Majesty." Liang Shenyu said coldly, his eyes stern, and he scanned the people in Xuanjiying. "If we delay important matters, can you afford it?"

The guard was obviously stunned, and said with a lack of confidence: "Unless your majesty summons you, no one is allowed to enter the palace at will!"

Liang Shenyu narrowed his eyes slightly. Before he could say anything, another carriage hurriedly arrived and stopped in front of the palace gate. Cao Haoyun's voice came from inside: "Open the palace gate! Open the palace gate for me! I want to see my cousin!"

The guard paused again and was about to order the palace gate to be opened, but he suddenly met the fake smile of Marquis Dingbei. He felt as if he was being stabbed in the back and broke into a cold sweat in the middle of winter.

"This……"

Cao Haoyun in the other car had already opened the door and shouted angrily to the outside: "What are you waiting for! Open the car for me——"

His voice stopped abruptly when he saw Marquis Dingbei.

The palace gate fell into oppressive silence in an instant.

Liang Shenyu glanced at Cao Haoyun slowly, then looked at the guard with a smile.

"Is this palace gate open?"

The guard kept complaining. He was already afraid of Marquis Dingbei and the Regent King, and now there was another young master from Lord Cao's family. After hesitating for a moment, he finally ordered the palace gates to be opened.

Who can deny that these people are people you cannot afford to offend?

Moreover, Your Majesty did say that if Master Cao wanted to enter the palace, there was no need to stop him.

So the carriage of the Regent Prince's Palace and the carriage of the Cao family entered the palace together. Rong Se peeked out through the gap in the window and sneered, "I said Cao Lun wouldn't come so soon. It turns out that Cao Haoyun is here."

"Cao Lun should be here soon." Liang Shenyu whispered, "The Jinbei Cavalry is on standby."

He took out a sword from the carriage, as if he had prepared it long ago.

Rong Se was silent for a moment, then smiled and said, "It doesn't have to be that serious. We should use courtesy before force. We should talk about reason first. They may not dare to tear each other apart."

"It's better to be prepared." Liang Shenyu said succinctly, "We have to make them wary."

Rong Se quite agreed. Even though the Cao family was holding Zheng Fu hostage, they did not dare to act rashly because they were jealous of the power in his hands. The imperial guards alone were enough to cover half of Jinjing, not to mention Liang Shenyu's Jinbei Cavalry.

The original owner was very wary of Liang Shenyu, otherwise he would not have given up the throne.

But Rong Se didn't have this concern. He just didn't want to follow the path of the original owner, the tyrant Qin Shi Huang.

The oil lamps were on in Zhaoyang Palace, and Rong Jing had not gone to bed yet. He summoned Rong Se and Liang Shenyu today, but they simply ignored the imperial edict, which made him very angry. He could not send people to arrest them directly. Who would have thought that at night, these two people would break into the palace again without being summoned.

Rong Jing was surprised and angry. He couldn't keep his usual fake smile when he summoned the two. When he saw Cao Haoyun coming, his expression became even more complicated. He stroked his forehead and said in a low voice: "Uncle, Marquis Dingbei, I summoned you two today, but you two ignored me. Why are you here in the middle of the night? And you——"

Rong Jing glanced at Cao Haoyun, and his tone softened slightly.

"Why are you here too?"

"I--" Cao Haoyun's eyes were wandering. He was drunk and wanted to come to the palace to complain. Who knew that he would run into those two people. After hesitating for a moment, he gritted his teeth and said, "Cousin! It was the imperial guards. Xiao Mufeng, that bastard, led the imperial guards to break into Jiaolan Garden and drove us out! And he said--"

He glanced at Rong Se and continued, "And he said it was an order from the Regent!"

Rong Jing was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at Rong Se, "Uncle, is this true?"

"It's my order." Rong Se sat down without hesitation. He raised his eyes with a look of sneer. "I came here for this reason, but the emperor can wait a little longer. I also summoned Lord Cao. The six ministries are leaderless. I remember that it was Lord Cao Lun who temporarily took over the position of Shangshu Ling."

Seeing Rong Se's calm expression, Rong Jing's mind started to ring with alarm bells, and he felt that something was going to go wrong.

If Rong Se showed this attitude of taking over the situation, it would definitely mean that he was going to cause trouble again.

Rong Jing's original intention to call him to account was extinguished like a candle in the wind. He even felt a slight chill and forced a smile. He asked tentatively, "Uncle, what happened?"

All of a sudden, he lost all his momentum.

Rong Se saw that he looked like he was facing a powerful enemy, and raised his eyebrows slightly, and said softly: "Let's talk about it after the people arrive. Master Cao doesn't have to leave."

Rong Se glanced over.

"Listen carefully here to why I ordered the evacuation of Jiaolan Garden."

Even though the regent during this period was much gentler, he was more ruthless and ruthless than before, and no one was not afraid of his fierce reputation and majesty.

Including Cao Haoyun, who has always been arrogant and unruly.

What he said behind people's back was one thing, but when it came to a real confrontation with Rong Se, he was already half frightened before things were even explained.

So Rong Jing and Cao Haoyun fell silent.

They are all waiting for Cao Lun, the backbone.

However, the first person to arrive was not Cao Lun, but Ji Chang, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, who was escorted into the palace by Yun Zhi.

Ji Chang was taken from his residence to the palace by the imperial guards in the middle of the night. Seeing the regent king making such a big show, he almost fainted. He knelt down hastily to pay his respects and said with an apologetic smile: "…Hey, Your Majesty, Governor Yun said that he was following your orders, but why?"

"I don't know why, Minister Ji." Rong Se sneered, "Then kneel down and think about it carefully!"

Ji Chang shuddered and could no longer laugh, "Prince..."

"Minister Ji." Dingbei Hou said indifferently. He seemed to be smiling, but his eyes were more frightening than the Regent Prince. "The prince said, kneel down and think carefully. It won't be too late to talk after the Minister has figured it out. There's no rush either. Lord Cao and Minister Luo will both enter the palace in a while. It won't be too late to talk then."

When Ji Chang heard this, he knew that there was no way to resolve the matter today. He had done many things that made him unhappy, and now he was so frightened that he was shaking like a sieve and really didn't dare to speak.

Luo Ling and Cao Lun arrived soon. When they saw Ji Chang kneeling, they both frowned. Then they saw Cao Haoyun was also there, and Cao Lun's face changed slightly. After the ceremony, Cao Lun asked, "Why did the prince summon us to the palace so late at night?"

"Of course it's something urgent." Rong Se raised his chin towards Ji Chang who was kneeling on the ground, "Minister Ji is here too. I have something to ask Minister Luo, so we can confront him face to face."

Luo Ling leaned forward and said, "Please speak, Your Majesty."

"Okay, Minister Luo, let me ask you a question." Rong Se spoke clearly, his eyes clear, "During this earthquake in Tong County, the Ministry of Revenue allocated silver for disaster relief. I ordered that half of the money be sent to the disaster area and the other half be used to settle the victims in Beijing. Is this true?"

Luo Ling nodded, "It is true. I have also approved the document and approved the allocation of funds."

Rong Se snorted and laughed, indifferently, "Then we should ask Minister Ji, is it because the money allocated by the Ministry of Revenue is not enough? Why did they place the disaster victims I sent to Beijing in that broken temple in the East Market that leaks on all sides? Tong County is not big, with only about ten thousand people. Thousands of people died in this earthquake, and some people stayed in Tong County and could not be transferred. Not counting these, there are also thousands of disaster victims who came to Beijing. They are human beings, but I saw that they were rolled up like broken straw mats and stuffed into that broken temple! They don't even have a place to live. I want to know, where is the money allocated by the Ministry of Revenue?!"

Ji Chang's face turned pale, and he quickly argued: "I am innocent, Your Majesty, there are too many victims, and their daily food and medicine cost money. I really had no choice but to place them there. At least they have a place to stay!"

"Then, Minister Ji, please bring out the account book." Rong Se looked at him coldly, "I want to see how much money the court spent on the herbs that were boiled over and over again and the porridge that had barely a grain of rice."

Ji Chang instantly became depressed, and lowered his head with a guilty look on his face: "This... this..."

Obviously, he couldn't produce it.

Rong Se looked at Luo Ling with a serious look, "Minister Luo should have an account. Is the money you allocated not enough for the disaster victims?"

"That's absolutely impossible." Luo Ling denied it immediately. "The Ministry of Revenue has the accounts to check. The Ministry of Revenue spent a total of 200,000 taels of silver on the Tongxian earthquake. How could it not be enough to feed the victims?"

Ji Chang's face turned visibly paler.

"Then I don't need to explain what the problem is." Rong Se was still calm, but his face was cold. He changed the subject and said, "Let's talk about the young master of the Cao family. I ordered the Jiaolan Garden to be emptied because there are many houses in Jiaolan Garden that can be used to temporarily accommodate the disaster victims. Young Master Cao came to the palace to complain so angrily. Is it because I think there is something wrong with my decision?"

Cao Haoyun was speechless, gritted his teeth, and said, "The Imperial Guards, the Imperial Guards shouldn't have chased us out!"

"What should we do?" Rong Se said coldly, "I think the imperial guards must have persuaded him with kind words. If Master Cao had come out obediently, how could he have been chased away?"

Cao Haoyun retorted: "I spent money! Why was I kicked out?!"

"Because it belongs to the royal family!" Rong Se said in a deep voice, "Let's not talk about how much money Mr. Cao gave. If the royal family doesn't want to do this business, you have to give up Jiaolan Garden. Not to mention that the disaster in Tong County happened suddenly, and countless people died in the natural disaster. The court allocated funds for disaster relief, and the imperial army rode to Jinbei to risk their lives day and night to save people. I dare to ask, as a child of a noble family, what did Mr. Cao do?"

Cao Haoyun's cheeks flushed. He clearly felt that he was right, but he didn't dare to look Rong Se in the eye.

"Indulging in luxury and pleasure is useless."

Rong Se concluded sarcastically, then looked at Cao Lun indifferently and said coldly: "Master Cao, you really raised an extraordinary son."