dognovel Chapter 105
Chapter 105
"Give me a seat!"
After several cabinet ministers stood up, they bowed and expressed their gratitude.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
Then several young eunuchs brought round stools and placed them on both sides.
After several officials expressed their gratitude again, they took their seats.
After several cabinet ministers sat down, Emperor Xinglong saw that they were all looking at him.
He smiled and nodded slightly.
"It is said that wonderful writings are to be appreciated by all. I have summoned you all here today to read a wonderful piece of writing!"
As he spoke, he waved to Dai Quan beside him.
Dai Quan bowed slightly and walked to the table beside him to pick up a stack of memorials.
Among them was copied Lin Heshuo's secret memorial.
Dai Quan bent down and personally distributed the memorials to each cabinet elder, then returned to stand beside Emperor Xinglong.
After receiving the memorial, the cabinet ministers did not open it immediately, but waited for Emperor Xinglong's instructions.
Emperor Xinglong smiled and waved his hand.
"My dear ministers, please take a look! Take a look and tell me what you think after reading it!"
After saying that, Emperor Xinglong leaned slightly to the side and picked up the tea. While drinking the tea, he looked at the people in front of him.
Several cabinet ministers responded in unison.
"Yes! We obey your order!"
Then they each opened the memorial in their hands and began to read it.
The Prime Minister of the dynasty, the Grand Secretary of Wenhua Palace, opened the memorial for the first time and his expression changed drastically.
I read it quickly at a glance.
After watching it, everyone was stunned.
He quickly closed the memorial, knelt down and kowtowed to apologize.
"Your Majesty, I will die!"
The other cabinet ministers all knelt down and apologized.
"I am waiting for death!"
Emperor Xinglong narrowed his eyes slightly, but said with a smile,
"My Lords, what crime have I committed? Please stand up immediately. I'm just a mere thief, not worth mentioning at all!"
The Prime Minister Huang Congzhe hurriedly said,
"As cabinet ministers, we are unable to share His Majesty's worries, causing His Majesty to worry about this. This is our dereliction of duty. Please punish us with death!"
Other cabinet ministers kowtowed and apologized.
"Your Majesty, please punish me!"
"Hey! My dear ministers, please stand up quickly. I still need you!"
Emperor Xinglong smiled and waved his hands, then turned to look at Dai Quan beside him and scolded him,
"You old bastard, what are you still doing standing here? Why don't you help the elders up?"
Dai Quan shuddered and quickly responded.
He stepped forward to help Huang Congzhe up.
Huang Congzhe thanked him, stood up and bowed slightly to face Emperor Xinglong, but did not return to his seat.
Emperor Xinglong put down the teacup in his hand, looked at Huang Congzhe with a smile and asked,
"Master Huang, what do you think about the banditry in Yangzhou?"
Huang Congzhe hesitated for a moment, then bowed and said,
"Your Majesty, Yangzhou is just a bunch of bandits, yet they are so audacious as to rob the families of imperial officials. I believe we should mobilize our army to attack them!"
Emperor Xinglong's eyes lit up.
But at this moment, another person stood up from behind Huang Congzhe.
He bowed to Emperor Xinglong.
"Your Majesty, I have a report!"
Emperor Xinglong looked up and saw Liu Weitong, the second assistant who was the Minister of Revenue.
He nodded calmly.
"allow!"
Liu Weitong glanced at Fang Congzhe.
"Since the beginning of the sixth year of Xinglong, the imperial court has been making all-out efforts to prepare for defense against the nine borders after the beginning of this spring. The Ministry of Revenue has invested heavily in this effort. At this critical moment, where would they find the energy and money to go to Yangzhou and suppress a group of unknown bandits?"
As he said this, he bowed to Emperor Xinglong.
"The court can order the Yangzhou garrison general to suppress the bandits on his own!"
"Your Majesty, please make the decision!"
Upon hearing that the Ministry of Revenue would not pay the money, Deputy Prime Minister Liu Weitong immediately retreated.
Fang Congzhe looked up at Emperor Xinglong, then quickly lowered his eyes.
As early as when he saw the memorial, although he was shocked, he quickly grasped the crux of the problem.
The bandits who robbed the family of a fourth-rank official deserved to be put to death.
But at the same time, he also had doubts in his heart. Why would a senior official of the fourth rank personally lead a group of police officers and salt collectors to suppress bandits?
To put it bluntly, those people can only scare ordinary people.
Why not report to the court and mobilize the garrison to suppress the bandits?