Chapter 496

Half past five in the morning!

Outside the Meridian Gate, the cold wind howled.

The officials arrived at the Imperial Palace in their carriages and walked to the Meridian Gate.

The howling cold wind was like a bone-scraping steel knife, swaying the lanterns hanging on the city walls and the stone lamps by the roadside, causing the torches in the guards' hands to shake violently.

The officials were wrapped in thick cloaks and wore windproof hats. Those who were observant could see that regardless of their rank or power, everyone was dressed very simply.

The cloaks were made of wool and the hats were made of rat skin.

Even the wealthier families in the capital could afford to wear this kind of attire.

The attitude of the officials was very clear. They were all poor people, living a life of food and clothing. Where would they get the money to donate?

There was still an hour before the court meeting. The officials gathered in groups of twos and threes and discussed in low voices …

The imperial censor who was in charge of order turned a blind eye to this.

"Every court meeting, His Majesty is determined to torment us."

"Yes, why don't we just donate some money? It's not much."

"Official Yang is muddle-headed. He said that we would only donate three months' worth of salary, but in reality, it is a feint by His Majesty. Let me ask you, when the time comes and Wang Shoufu takes the initiative to donate a year's salary, will you respond or not? Do you really think this little bit of donation is enough? It is just to pry open our mouths first. "

"This … Official Zhu's words make sense. I understand."

…

"We must not give in on this matter. Just like what we discussed yesterday. As long as we follow the steps of the officials and do not give in, His Majesty will at most torture us for a few more days. "

"Sigh, I am clean and honest. I am living in a rented house. The capital is already starting to lack food. If we donate our salary, how will we survive? "

"We are the same as Official Zhao, we are all clean and honest scholars."

…

"Officials, the weather is freezing and I am not feeling well. I really can't take it anymore. Why don't we donate according to His Majesty's wishes? "

This was an official who was in a wait-and-see state and was inclined to donate.

The official beside him immediately showed an angry expression, "Official Li is too muddle-headed. There is a lack of food, charcoal and money everywhere. With our meager salary, how can we fill the national treasury?"

"Official Li only sees what is in front of him but does not think deeper. The reason why you are gritting your teeth is because this is the first time. If there is one, there will be two, and two, there will be three. When His Majesty is short of money, he will donate again. Are we going to starve?"

"Such simple logic, that Shu Jishi Xu Xinnian doesn't understand."

"How could he not understand? He is clearly pretending to be deaf and dumb to please His Majesty."

"This brat thinks he's infallible, relying on his cousin's prestige to look down on everyone. Recently, I've also gotten close to the Grand Secretary, so I've become a bit complacent. "

"He is Son."



On the other side, Zhang Xingying, who had been promoted to the Right Imperial Censor, slowly approached Liu Hong and sighed.

"Your Highness's idea is very good. If we can call on the scholar-officials to donate, then the local government can call on the squires to donate. With money and food, we can greatly alleviate the disaster and control the refugees.

"As long as we get through this winter, the people will see the hope of spring plowing and will not cause trouble everywhere.

"It is a pity that His Majesty has just ascended the throne. He does not have enough prestige and his foundation is not stable. Duke Wei has also passed away. Otherwise, if he worked together with Wang Shoufu, he would definitely be able to promote the donations.

"Now … sigh, there are people under us who are dissatisfied."

Princess Huaiqing urged Xu Erlang to submit a memorial. The former Wei clique did not know about it at first.

After the discussion, a few key personnel felt that the plan would be difficult and would encounter great obstacles.

First of all, it was an extremely difficult task to take wool from the pockets of the civil and military officials. Everyone had lived through the era of the Yuanjing Emperor. How could they not know each other's character?

They were greedy and amassed money without limit.

Was the decline of Daibun's national strength really the fault of the late Emperor alone? When the late Emperor's leader was not upright, the people under him followed suit.

They did not even have time to amass money. One could imagine how great the resistance would be if they hoped to take wool from these old gluttons.

Secondly, no one knew when this "cold disaster", which was the last straw that broke the camel's back, would come to an end. It had only been a month since winter began, and the colder season had yet to come.

At that time, the imperial court would still be out of money. What would happen to the emperor? Another call for donations?

Finally, this was essentially a game in the imperial court.

The Emperor and the officials belonged to two opposing camps. This was the first time the new emperor had done something like this, which made the civil officials' group smell a trace of a bad smell.

Be it out of their standpoint or love of money, they instinctively resisted and resisted.

Not to mention the Yongxing Emperor, even the Yuanjing Emperor would face resistance when he tried to do this when he ascended to the throne.

Liu Hong looked at the officials who were gathered together and whispering to each other.

"Perhaps Prince Huai Qing is watching coldly from the sidelines at this moment. Who is in favor of donating; who is in favor of it but does not dare to offend the public; and who is so stingy that they are not willing to spit out a single cent. "

Zhang Xingying came to a realization. "She knows that this plan is not feasible?"

He frowned. "If this is the case, won't it hurt Xu Ci's old friendship?"

Liu Hong smiled. "It won't be. He has Wang Shoufu backing him up. At most, he will sit on the bench for a few years."

Zhang Xingying nodded and sighed.

"I still hope that this can be done. The national treasury is running out of money. Now that the refugees are causing trouble everywhere, there are signs of chaos. If we don't put an end to it soon, there will be chaos sooner or later. "

Liu Hong revealed a meaningful smile. At this moment, a commotion in the distance attracted the two of them.

Liu Hong and Zhang Xingying squinted their eyes and looked over. They saw a young official dressed in a green robe standing in front of Xu Xinnian, who was also dressed in a green robe. He was cursing angrily and spittle was flying.

Liu Hong's eyes were not very good. After looking for a long time, he asked,

"Who is that?"

Zhang Xingying smiled. "The third flower of the imperial examination, Qian Mu."

Liu Hong also smiled.

"Is he the one who wrote the memorial to accuse the assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel of corruption and bribery, implicating a group of officials in the Ministry of Personnel?

"It seems that he has been sitting on the bench for too long. His buttocks can't stand the cold and he is here to show his loyalty."

Zhang Xingying shook her head. "He is being used by others. He will indeed benefit in the short term. But in the long term, heh. He has angered His Majesty. What good will he get? "

Liu Hong smiled. "It doesn't matter. He has shown his loyalty and entered the Green Party. He can still be an official. As long as he keeps a low profile in the future, His Majesty can still keep an eye on him. "

On one side, they were chatting cheerfully. On the other side, there was a tense atmosphere.

Qian Mu pointed at Xu Xinnian and said aggressively,

"In the cold of the year, the honest people in the court are short of rice and coal. Not everyone is like Xu Tanhua, who has thousands of taels of gold and lives a luxurious life.

"How do you expect those uncorrupted colleagues to survive this winter with only three months of salary?"

Without waiting for Xu Xinnian to speak, Qian Mu sneered and said sarcastically,

"In order to gain His Majesty's favor, you actually came up with such a ridiculous plan. You are a despicable person. I feel ashamed to be in the same position as you. "

The surrounding officials agreed.

Xu Xinnian said expressionlessly, "I am doing this for the people. I have a clear conscience."

"A clear conscience? What a good one!"

Qian Mu laughed and said loudly, "I am willing to give away all my assets to fill the national treasury and provide relief to the victims. Xu Tanhua, since you have a clear conscience and are doing this for the people, do you dare to do what I did and donate all your assets? "

After he finished speaking, the people around him cheered.

"Lord Qian is of noble character and unquestionable integrity."

"Lord Qian is righteous."

Everyone looked at Xu Xinnian with mischievous eyes.

Xu Xinnian frowned. Qian Mu's words were really shameless. The Xu family had a bunch of shops, fertile land, and the chicken essence dividends left by his elder brother. What did the other party have?

Although he was not penniless, after sitting on the bench for so long, he probably only had a few buckets of rice and a few taels of silver.

However, he could not reason with them. Regardless of whether it was Qian Mu, the people behind him, or the surrounding officials, none of them wanted to reason with him.

They were here to find trouble.

If he ignored it, he, Xu Xinnian, might be called a "hypocrite" after the court meeting.

At this moment, Wang Shoufu walked over. He did not say anything and only glanced coldly at the surrounding officials.

The officials immediately fell silent.

Qian Mu smiled. Regardless of whether Xu Xinnian responded or not, he had already conveyed what he wanted to express.

After that, there was no more movement until the morning when the drums sounded.

The civil and military officials remained silent. They passed through the Meridian Gate, crossed the Golden Water Bridge, and lined up according to their rank.

Only a small group of people were allowed to enter the Throne Room.

As one of the key figures in this storm, Xu Xinnian was also allowed to enter the Throne Room, but he had to stand at the entrance of the Throne Room.

As the officials entered the Throne Room, the Yongxing Emperor arrived a few minutes later.

He sat on the Dragon Throne and looked down at the officials. He said in a loud voice,

"The disasters are severe everywhere. As the ruler of a country, I am very distressed. Dear ministers, do you have any good plans for disaster relief?"

The officials and nobles revealed an expression that said "I knew this would happen". They made a few superficial suggestions, such as reducing taxes, calling on the country's gentry to donate, and so on.

The Yongxing Emperor said,

"Since we want to donate, the Imperial Court should set an example, and the ministers should set an example. This way, the country's gentry will be willing to donate, and they can also warn the officials to prevent them from pocketing their own money. "

If they only called on the country's gentry to donate, the money would most likely be exploited.

The party leaders and nobles of several parties tacitly stepped out of the ranks and shouted, "No!"

At this time, the Chancellor of the Dali Monastery appeared and said in a deep voice,

"Your Majesty, the atmosphere in the court is corrupt and corruption is prevalent, so the national treasury is empty. Donations can only treat the symptoms but not the root cause. If we want to provide disaster relief, we must first clean up the evil wind. "

As soon as he finished, the bellicose Minister of the Ministry of Revenue stepped forward and said loudly,

"Your Majesty, I want to impeach Xu Xinnian, a scholar of the Hanlin Academy, for accepting bribes."

No one in the Throne Room spoke, and no one questioned what kind of bribes a scholar of the Hanlin Academy could accept. It seemed that they had already expected such a thing.

The Minister of the Ministry of Appointments stepped forward and said loudly,

"Your Majesty, I want to impeach Xu Xinnian, a scholar of the Hanlin Academy, for accepting bribes under the banner of Wang Shoufu."

Then, the Ministers of the Six Ministries stepped forward one after another to impeach Xu Xinnian.

Those who could stand in the Throne Room were all old foxes. They immediately understood what these people were playing.

This was their counterattack.

With Xu Erlang as the starting point, they would rebel against the Yongxing Emperor and Wang Shoufu.

By doing this, they would not completely anger the Yongxing Emperor and Wang Shoufu. At the same time, they could show their attitude and tell the Yongxing Emperor that they would get rid of his vanguard.

At the same time, they tactfully warned Wang Shoufu that although the Royal Faction was powerful, it was not to the extent of covering the sky with one hand. Moreover, there were voices of disagreement in the Royal Faction.

Did Xu Xinnian accept gifts?

The answer was yes.

As the future son-in-law of Wang Shoufu, the members of the Royal Faction gave him many gifts. In the bureaucracy, only those who accepted gifts were considered part of the Royal Faction.

If he wanted to integrate into the Royal Faction as a student of the Yunlu Academy, he could not be too aloof.

Although Xu Xinnian rejected many expensive gifts, it did not change the fact.

"Being in the bureaucracy, it is good to be clean, but if you achieve nothing, it is easy for your enemies to attack you when the wind and waves are at its fiercest. Therefore, the core problem is that you are not powerful enough.

"The problem to solve is to rope in more people."

Xu Xinnian suddenly understood.

Some of the officials in the hall were observing the Yongxing Emperor's expression, while others were scrutinizing Wang Shoufu.

They wanted to see how they would deal with this.

If the Yongxing Emperor protected Xu Xinnian, they still had a backup plan. If Wang Shoufu stepped forward, they also had a backup plan. For example, they could drag him down with them and impeach him together.

Right now, they were the ones who had the upper hand.

No one noticed that Liu Hong slowly stepped out of the ranks and bowed with his hands clasped in front.

"Your Majesty, I believe that the Dali Monastery's words are reasonable. The treasury is empty and taxes are hard to collect because of corruption and bribery.

"Therefore, I request Your Majesty to investigate the officials and rectify their conduct."

"Interesting …" The officials and nobles in the hall all looked at Liu Hong.

This was an opportunity to fish in troubled waters. Liu Hong was seen as the 'successor' of Wei Yuan and took over Wei Yuan's team. After the new Emperor ascended the throne, many members of the former Wei Faction were demoted and their power was reduced by almost half.

The vacated positions were divided between the Royal Faction and other factions.

In the bureaucracy, this was an appropriate concession.

Now that Liu Hong stepped forward, it was obvious that the former Wei Faction, who controlled the Censorate and the night watchman, wanted to take advantage of the situation.

The Yongxing Emperor smiled. "Liu Hong's words make sense. Continue."

Liu Hong said in a clear voice.

"Ever since Duke Wei passed away, the night watchman's power has declined. I am not as capable as Duke Wei. I have worked hard and my energy is not enough. I would like to recommend someone to Your Majesty to replace me in charge of the night watchman's office.

"To better supervise the officials."

The officials were stunned. This was not the script they had imagined. Liu Hong was actually abandoning his job at this critical juncture and handing over the position of the night watchman to someone else?

The Yongxing Emperor pretended to be surprised. "Who is it that you want to recommend?"

Liu Hong glanced at the officials who were either confused or vigilant. He said in a clear voice.

"The former night watchman, Xu Qi'an!"