It turns out that the legendary wealthy and prosperous capital city is only owned by a few people.
Song Wanla stopped his horse,
"Miss, why don't you leave?" Song Qi dismounted and walked forward to ask.
Although the main street was spacious, it was not privately owned by them. Their carts only occupied the middle lane, leaving both sides for passing carriages and pedestrians. So if Song Wan did not move, the ones behind him naturally could not move either.
Song Wan put his left foot on the cart, his elbow against his knee, frowning and sighing, before finally fixing his gaze on Song Qi's face.
Every time Song Qi was stared at like this, he felt a chill down his spine. The eldest lady's aura was really too strong.
He subconsciously asked, "Miss, what's wrong with you?"
Song Wan sighed and waved to him, "Song Qi, come here."
Song Qi approached and asked, "Miss, what's going on?"
"Put up a notice tomorrow saying the day after tomorrow, the day after tomorrow..." "What did they say about nine o'clock in the morning?" Song Wan paused. "Say there will be a rice stall outside the South Gate at 9:00 PM the day after tomorrow, and every household can get a bag of rice for free."
Song Qi was surprised, "Miss is giving out porridge?"
Song Wan corrected herself, "It's rice. A bowl of porridge isn't even enough to fill someone's teeth."
Song Qi understood, "What about the money for the rice?"
You have to know that even though they were carrying things back and forth, they only got a few dozen taels each time, and all added up was only enough to make some thin porridge at most.
"You and your new subordinate, Wei Lin, take a bag of gold and go buy it." After Song Wan finished speaking, she felt a little sad. She didn't understand why the place where she lived always seemed poor.
Song Qi knew his young lady well. Even if the enemy held a knife to her neck and threatened her to hand over the silver, the young lady would not hand over even a tael of silver.
Of course, Song Qi has never seen anyone who can put a knife on the young lady's neck.
However, this did not prevent him from being surprised and unbelievable about the decision made by the eldest lady.
"Miss, a sack of gold is quite a lot." Song Qi reminded her in a low voice, as he was afraid that she would regret it in the future.
"Just take it if I tell you to, hurry up!" Song Wan was really afraid of regretting it. "Go now, don't let me see that bag of gold again, and don't mention this matter to me again!"
Song Wan caught a glimpse of the curious looks from the people around her, and finally understood why the eldest lady made this decision. Although the eldest lady loved money very much, she was still kind-hearted and could not bear to see the suffering of the world.
He suppressed his smile and said, "Song Qi understands."
As soon as the notice was released, the whole city was shocked. Many people gathered in front of the notice, and there was discussion one after another, wondering whether it was true.
After Gu Yanji heard about this in the palace, he was not surprised compared to the attitudes of Song Qi and others. No matter how much empathy he had, it was not as good as experiencing it personally. His Awan had lived a life of hunger, so he could better understand the difficulties of the people of Dai Yue.
When everyone heard that it was a woman who went to raid the Xu and Yao families.
That is why today many officials submitted memorials to the new emperor, requesting him to send other officials.
In their eyes, letting a woman search a house is simply indecent and immoral.
With the assistance of Xu Ziwei and Wei Xuezhi, and the careful teaching of Li Songzhi and Gu Lingfeng in Yuzhou and Qiandi, Gu Yu was able to read memorials like this one even though he was only seven years old.
In the main hall, Gu Yu was wearing the dragon robe that the Ministry of Rites had worked overtime to make. His face was serious, and he looked quite majestic like a monarch. He frowned as he looked at the officials below who kept slandering Song Wan.
The official, feeling completely justified, finally stopped criticizing Song Wan. Seeing no dissenting voices, he grew even more complacent and began to press his case. "In my humble opinion, Your Majesty could simply appoint a minister from the court. If the world knew that the Dai Viet court was involved in a woman's involvement, wouldn't it become a laughing stock for the world and other nations?"
"Then who does Lord Yang think should be sent?" Gu Yu glanced at him, and his childish yet dignified voice rang out, "Lord Yang seems very willing."
Wei Xuezhi and Xu Ziwei, who were sitting below them, both showed expressions of relief. The new emperor was much more stable than they had expected.
The man surnamed Yang said that this was the plan he had been working on for so long. The calculation on his face was almost visible to the new emperor. "If the emperor trusts me, I am willing to share your worries."
A new official has three things to do. As the emperor, Gu Yu had no intention of giving Yang face. He directly sarcastically scolded, "Share the worries? Share what worries? Do you think our treasury is too full, or do you think the soldiers on the border have enough food and fodder to drink and eat meat every day? So you want to raid the mansions of two officials to fill your private treasury, Lord Yang?"
These questions directly exposed Yang's hypocritical face. He hurriedly knelt on the ground, crying out in injustice, "Your Majesty, that is not what I meant. You have misunderstood me! I only wanted to help Your Majesty with his worries! Your Majesty, you only assigned a woman to such a major task as confiscating the property. This is really against the rules! Moreover, I heard that woman took all the treasures for herself. How arrogant!"
"I'd like to know how much free time Lord Yang has, to know so much about such matters." Gu Yu straightened his body and spoke sternly, "Then why don't you continue to inquire about what Miss Song did after she ransacked my house?"
Wei Xuezhi cooperated tacitly and took out the notice from his sleeve pocket and held it in front of Lord Yang. "This is the notice that Miss Song had posted. If Lord Yang is dissatisfied, you can go to the South Gate tomorrow to queue up and see it yourself."
"The Emperor said in court yesterday that if it weren't for the eldest daughter of the Song family, neither you nor I would have seen him today! Don't such contributions deserve rewards?" Wei Xuezhi sarcastically glanced at the group of court officials who were just sitting there doing nothing. "From the capital to Guizhou, even a normal journey would be quite difficult, let alone a dangerous exile."
"Do you want the Emperor to send people to dig up the bodies of all the assassins encountered during his exile and bring them back? Only after you see them with your own eyes will you acknowledge the merits of Miss Song?"
After Wei Xuezhi finished speaking, Gu Yu and the others continued, "Beijing is the capital of Dai Viet, but the people's lives are becoming increasingly difficult. You have served in Beijing for so many years, but you haven't even submitted a single memorial to the emperor to understand the people's sentiments! I would like to ask you, apart from attending court every day, have you never left your residence?"
"You serve as my and my father's eyes outside the palace, yet you never personally understand the sentiments and opinions of the people and bring them before me and my father. Instead, you slander this and that in court every day!"
"The soldiers on the border are starving for food and fodder, the south is suffering from floods, the Ministry of Revenue is short-changed, and other countries are coveting it. Dai Viet is so devastated and in crisis, and your first thought is not how to change it, but to use flawed evidence to slander the Dai Viet hero who allowed you to stand here and talk about him!"
"Have you all forgotten who led the troops to hold off the powerful Daye Kingdom in the southwest for ten years after our father stabilized the Dai Viet regime? And who led the troops to resist the Qiang people in the northwest?"
The other standing officials didn't dare to refute a single word, but the one kneeling on the ground seemed to still have some courage. "They are just unruly people. If the court keeps giving out porridge and charity like this, it will only make them picky! Your Majesty is still young, and you don't see things clearly. I think Your Majesty shouldn't restore the titles of the Song and Gu families so quickly. After all, it was the late emperor who ordered the confiscation of property and exile of the Song and Gu families. I remember that the crime they were charged with was conspiracy to rebel."
This time, Wei Xuezhi did not speak out, so he had to give the new emperor a chance to perform. Lord Yang had stepped forward and become a target, so he had to bear the consequences.
Gu Yu was silent for a few moments, and when he looked up again, the look he gave Yang Zhuo was as cold as it could be.
"Treason?" Gu Yu's young face was filled with an emotion Yang Zhuo couldn't understand. "I've been raised in the Gu family since birth. The prince and princess raised me as their own son. During exile, they let me eat white flour buns, while they ate bran flour, which you consider the lowest grade! The Gu family always protected me firmly behind their backs when I faced assassination attempts. When I arrived in Guizhou, the Gu prince dragged his frail body to teach me calligraphy and reading. The second young master Gu and the eldest lady Song even taught me martial arts personally. During the two years of exile, the princess and the prince's wife personally provided me with food, clothing, housing and transportation. Could this be what Lord Yang is referring to as treason?"
Yang Zhuo wanted to argue, but Gu Yu didn't even want to give him the chance.
"My father and the King of the Southwest are sworn brothers. I grew up in the royal palace, and the prince and princess raised me. If I were among the common people, I would call them father and mother!" Gu Yu said this, slowing down his speech and continuing, "And Lord Yang is here today, making a strong argument, slandering my parents for treason, and even trying to get me to violate Dai Viet's principle of governing the country with filial piety and have them arrested and imprisoned!"
"Lord Yang, do you want everyone in the world to call me unfilial?" Gu Yu stood up from the dragon throne, his hands clasped behind his back, staring at Yang Zhuo with disgust. "Or does Lord Yang prefer that the imprisoned commoner Li Shi be the emperor of Dai Viet? Or perhaps the commoner Li Che of Yuzhou?"
Yang Zhuo hadn't expected that the new emperor, despite his young age, would be so difficult to fool. He kowtowed and defended himself, "I was shortsighted! I believed the rumors! Your Majesty! You must believe that I did this for the sake of Dai Viet! For you!"
Gu Yu was too lazy to argue with him, so he dismissed him from his position as Minister of Personnel in front of him, confiscated all his property, and exiled his entire family to Guizhou.
"Since Lord Yang doesn't understand me, and doesn't know the contents of the handwritten letter left by my father, then I can only resort to this foolish method." Gu Yu looked at Yang Zhuo, whose legs were trembling and begging for mercy, "I have decided to order Lord Yang to experience it firsthand."
"I was wrong! Please, Your Majesty, please consider my hard work over the years—"
"Working so hard?" A female voice suddenly came from outside the hall, "You are worthy of it!"
When everyone heard the sound, they turned around and saw Song Wan, dressed in red, dragging a dying man into the hall with a whip in his hand.
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