Li Sihong thought about it and tears came to her eyes. She choked and said, "Husband! You..." She wanted to say something but couldn't. She felt that her husband's image was extremely tall.
"Why are you crying? Women are made of water! Her tears are meant to melt this man made of clay." Zhao Xiaofei said as he cupped her face and gently wiped away her tears with a handkerchief. Their faces slowly moved closer, and just as they were about to kiss, Xiao Si called out from outside, "Master! There's a letter from the palace! Eunuch Wang Erxi has come to deliver an imperial decree, asking you to come to the palace immediately."
Zhao Xiaofei was frustrated! Why did Chongzhen always send someone to deliver his orders at critical moments? Why didn't you come earlier or later? Why did you have to press the pause button at the most critical moment?
But Li Sihong laughed and said, "Haha! Every time I do something bad, a eunuch comes to deliver the order. This is retribution in this life!"
Zhao Xiaofei walked out, turned around at the door and said, "Just wait and see how I deal with you tonight!"
When he returned to the mansion, he saw Wang Erxi waiting anxiously. Zhao Xiaofei asked with a smile, "Eunuch Erxi, why are you so anxious? Is it because the emperor is praising my contribution to epidemic prevention this time and is planning to reward me with something good?"
"Oh! Your Majesty, you don't know! The ministers are impeaching you, saying that you killed civilians at will, took advantage of the epidemic to enrich yourself, and made a fortune in the national disaster! During the morning court, the emperor forcibly suppressed it. I thought the matter was over, but who knew that the emperor just now consulted with several ministers about the Liaodong affairs. After they finished talking about the Liaodong affairs, they turned around and brought up your epidemic prevention this time. They said that if you were not dealt with, it would be difficult to appease the public anger." Wang Erxi said this as if he was impeached by the ministers.
Wang Erxi also made a lot of money during this epidemic. Zhao Xiaofei knew that he couldn't eat alone. Otherwise, these people would not work hard. So he gave Wang Erxi and Doctor Hu 10,000 taels of silver each, and gave each soldier an extra 10 taels of silver. This was two taels of silver. He also went to the Five City Military Department and the Chengguo Mansion to make some arrangements. Another two taels of silver were spent. A total of two silvers were spent, so that this epidemic could be solved without too many people interfering.
Zhao Xiaofei sneered, "It seems someone thinks we're making too much money and is jealous! Where were the emperor's civil and military officials when he asked them to come up with ideas?"
"Your Highness is right! But this group of ministers just eat our food and do nothing about it. I can't do anything about it! I hope Your Highness can think of a solution!" Wang Erxi said.
"If the enemy comes, we will fight him; if the water comes, we will block it with earth. Let's go! Let's go see the emperor!" Zhao Xiaofei said confidently.
Inside the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Chongzhen sat behind the Dragon Desk, with several ministers kneeling on the ground. At this moment, a eunuch outside the hall shouted, "The Prince Consort comforted Zhao Xiaofei and came to see him!"
Zhao Xiaofei walked into the Yangxin Palace, knelt down and saluted, saying, "Your Majesty, I, Zhao Xiaofei, greet you!"
"Son-in-law! Several ministers below said that you took advantage of the epidemic to make profits, killed civilians at will, and enriched yourself. Is this true?" Chongzhen said calmly.
"Your Majesty! They are framing loyal officials! I have done nothing of these!" Zhao Xiaofei had just finished speaking when the Minister of Rites, Lin Yuji, spoke up, "Your Majesty! This imperial consort is clearly making excuses!"
Chongzhen glared at Lin Yuji and said, "Did I ask you to speak?" His voice was very cold. When Lin Yuji heard this tone, he knew that the emperor might have been biased today.
Seeing that Lin Yuji was silent, Chongzhen said to Zhao Xiaofei, "Since you say you didn't do it, then tell us why. Let these ministers see it too!" Chongzhen was really annoyed. At this time, he was still here impeaching a potential son-in-law for such a trivial matter. What had he done to offend you?
"Your Majesty! When you asked me to do epidemic prevention, you gave me two taels of silver. But I gave 20 taels of silver to each of the 5,000 people. How can this be considered embezzlement?" Zhao Xiaofei said. Seeing that the other ministers were silent, Zhao Xiaofei spoke again: "Your Majesty! How can you say that I killed civilians without authorization? I killed those who deserved to die, not without authorization!"
"I heard that you paid money yourself to ask Zhang Tianshi to pray for the soldiers and ward off evil spirits? The allegation that you embezzled money is not true, but do you have any evidence of killing civilians?" Chongzhen asked.
"Your Majesty! I have a treasure that can record what people said at the time and save it for a period of time. So every time I enforce the law, I turn on this machine. In order to save it as evidence." Zhao Xiaofei said.
"Oh! You have so many treasures in Nan'ao! I have seen the gift you gave to Kunxing before, which was a box that could sing songs. It turns out you also have a box that can record music. You can also open the eyes of the ministers!" Chongzhen said.
"Yes!" Zhao Xiaofei agreed and immediately pulled out a long object, then pressed the play button. A voice from that moment rang out: "Did you know this? This is a business run by Master Dong. Go ahead, kill someone! Master Dong's backing you up!"
Do you know whose business this is? This is...
After playing several paragraphs in a row, Chongzhen became furious! He whispered, "You always say you are as clean as water. What's going on?"
"Your Majesty! These are just some unruly people who are deceiving others under the guise of ministers. In fact, they are all unaware of the situation! Your Majesty!" The speaker was Lord Wang who was holding the jade porcelain bottle.
"So Lord Wang means that these are troublemakers and they deserve to be killed?" Zhao Xiaofei smiled sinisterly.
"Then the charges against the son-in-law are not established!" Chongzhen said.
"Your Majesty! But it is true that the prince consort took the opportunity to make money. My servants saw the prince consort's carriage carrying countless silver and calligraphy and antiques to his villa, Yanyu Tower." Chen Xinjia said.
"Master Chen, your servant is really idle! Why is he staring at me for no reason? Besides, all this money is earned by my own ability. If you have the ability, you can also make a prescription to cure the plague!" said Zhao Xiaofei.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
