"Your Majesty, although the mountain bandits in Tongzhou have been entrenched for many years, they have been burned by wildfires and regenerated by the spring breeze. But after all, they are just bandits. If these bandits had not arrived in Mingzhou, they would not have been able to cause such a big wave. Come and let Nandi fall into such a situation."
"Fang Shoufu is right, Your Majesty, this Mingzhou has been in the hands of Princess Protector for five years. According to the tax revenue reported below, it exceeds the surrounding three states every year, and is close to the richest Qingzhou and Yuezhou. ah."
"In any case, it is a fact that the princess has violently conquered Mingzhou and forced the people to rebel. If the emperor cannot give an explanation to the people of Mingzhou, I am afraid that there will really be a war in Dazhao!"
"Your Majesty, think twice."
"Your Majesty, think twice!"
…
"Think twice? Everyone is asking me to think twice, but don't I know what they have in mind?"
In the Yangxin Hall, Emperor Shengde swept the memorial in front of him to the ground, with an extremely ugly expression on his face.
He and Qi Xiao had already guessed that the enemy had a back-up move, but they didn't expect that the back-up move would come so quickly, leaving them no time to breathe.
That's right, today's news that the five counties of Mingzhou and Tongzhou bandits rebelled was directly delivered to the morning court by Babaili.
What made things even more difficult for them was that the soldiers who came to deliver the message did not suppress the news at all, but instead shouted along the road to the front.
The soldier himself said it was the request of the superior, and the ministers in the court also said that the people had the right to know about such a major matter. What's more, the soldier did this to evacuate the crowd in time and send a message to the capital as quickly as possible, right?
But in reality?
Not to mention Tongzhou, the news that Shan Fengxi's fiefdom Mingzhou rebelled, and it was due to excessive expropriation, was enough to make most people change their views on Fengxi.
However, this is not the most difficult thing...
"Your Majesty, the news that the princess was assassinated in the eldest princess's mansion last night has spread, and many courtiers said that they almost suffered disaster. And..."
"What else? Tell me!"
Staring at Zhao Xi who was hesitating at the side, Emperor Sheng De felt that he was now an ant on the hot pot. Urgent, he was very anxious!
Zhao Xi didn't dare to neglect this and immediately said:
"The slogan "The sky is dead, Mingzhou must rise, attack the unjust, punish Zhaoming", I don't know who spread it today. Now the streets and alleys are talking about it..."
Emperor Sheng De: "..."
Taking a deep breath, Emperor Sheng De knew who it was almost without even thinking.
Who hopes most that something will happen to Feng Xi now?
That was naturally the person who was hiding in the gutter and controlling everything, as well as the prince and fourth son who now hated Feng Xi to death.
No matter which one of these three parties it is, making Feng Xi stink is what they want to do most.
"Zhao Ling, tell me, what do you think?"
Finally, Emperor Sheng De set his sights on Qi Xiao, waiting for his good son-in-law to come up with a useful idea.
He didn't believe that he was worried, but the son-in-law in front of him was not worried.
Qi Xiao heard this and immediately said:
"Judging from our interrogation of Liu Rong last night, Xiao Fenghuang is actually just taking the blame for the people below. But Mingzhou is her fiefdom, and a large part of the tax revenue is indeed handed over to her. In addition, The people below unanimously said that it was because of her excessive taxation and the targeting of the other two factions in the DPRK..."
"Yes, these people have made it clear that they want her to take the blame. Even if it's not her fault, it must be!"
Emperor Shengde rolled his sleeves, didn't he know this? He knows it too!
What he wants to hear is the solution to this matter!
Then he listened to Qi Xiao:
"Father, haven't you noticed that although people from the prince's and fourth prince's lineage are scolding Little Phoenix today, few of them ask you to punish her severely now?"
Emperor Sheng De was stunned.
Yes, even Chu Yu, the Minister of Civil Service, who spoke the most harsh words, only asked him to give an explanation to the people of Mingzhou, but did not directly ask him to deal with Feng Xi.
Accounting and handling are two different things. There are so many articles that can be written on it.
This is not right, there is definitely something wrong inside!
Seeing that Emperor Sheng De had regained his composure, Qi Xiao turned coldly and said with a pair of peach blossom eyes:
"If my guess is correct, these people's next plan should be to write a letter asking you to put Little Phoenix under house arrest and ask my son to avoid talking about it."
When Qi Xiao said this, Emperor Sheng De immediately understood.
"You and Xi'er can't interfere in this matter, but the imperial court will always express its stance on Mingzhou. Who will I send to Mingzhou to quell the chaos? Not only do you have to avoid taboos, I am afraid that Li Cifu and others from your and Xi'er faction will also have to avoid taboos! "
And once the Princess Protector's lineage is not allowed to participate, those who are neutral and those who are towards him, the emperor, may also be labeled as the Princess Protector's faction.
In the end, as the emperor, if he wanted to handle the matter fairly, he had to hand over part of the power of quelling the chaos and investigating the matter to the prince and the fourth child.
And what results can they find?
No matter what it is, it can't be good for Feng Xi anyway.
But if he must protect Feng Xi and prevent them from going to investigate, they will kill Feng Xi and forcefully demand that the court give Bai Xin an explanation as soon as possible.
What's your explanation?
If Feng Xi is convicted, either his fiefdom will be cut off directly, or he will be jailed or his family will be confiscated.
But once he does this, wouldn't he be admitting his guilt for his unfortunate daughter?
"The situation we are facing right now is very difficult. If we don't send the case down, not to mention that things can easily change in Southland, it will be difficult for even the little Phoenix to escape unscathed.
But once the crown prince, the fourth prince and those hiding in the dark are allowed to investigate, little Phoenix may not only be unable to escape the reputation of excessive expropriation, but will also be forced to bear the lives of many Mingzhou people and soldiers..."
Qi Xiao thought about it in the morning today.
If he were the crown prince or the fourth prince, he would definitely try to bring in as many people as possible to quell the chaos, and the consequences would be more serious.
No matter what the scene is like, the news coming back will be as bad as possible.
When the time comes, the Princess Protector's Mansion will not only be in trouble, but also fall down.
"Ruthless, they are really ruthless!"
Emperor Sheng De was sitting on the dragon throne a little dejectedly. At this moment, he couldn't help his daughter even if he wanted to. He might even help more and more.
Qi Xiao's speculation soon became a reality. The two factions headed by Fang Qian, the First Assistant, and Chu Yu, the Minister of Civil Affairs, quickly submitted a letter asking to put an end to the chaos. The Crown Prince Feng Jing and the Fourth Prince Feng Yu knelt down directly in front of the emperor. Outside the heart palace.
However, they said that this move was not for themselves, but for the sake of the people of Nandi and Mingzhou.
But Emperor Sheng De understood that they were forcing him!
Emperor Shengde didn't want to express his position, but Qi Xiao, who returned to the side hall to discuss with Feng Xi briefly, said:
"My son, I beg my father to grant their request tomorrow morning, and order my son and little Phoenix to be put under house arrest in the palace, waiting for the matter to be investigated. As for the deployment of troops, my son feels that the Shen family's navy, which has been idle for a long time, will That’s right. There’s lots of water in the Southland, so it must be what they’re good at.”
