Not only the ministers, but also Lu Fang were deeply shocked by what happened before! At this moment, Lu Fang was leaning on a pillar nearby, with a look of fear on his face. After all, the place where he was struck by lightning was only a dozen steps away from him.
As the person closest to Jiajing, Lu Fang also had some guesses about this. Thinking of the weather that thundered from time to time before, she silently said to herself: "Could it be that the weird weather in the capital some time ago was because your Majesty was communicating with God? "
Thinking of this, Lu Fang was even more in awe of Jiajing. After all, throughout the ages, Jiajing was the only emperor who could communicate with God!
"No, Lu Fang, stop thinking about it! You don't know anything! Just serve His Majesty with peace of mind!"
Lu Fang shook off the chaotic thoughts in her mind, and then her expression returned to its previous appearance, without letting anyone see the clues.
Compared with the other ministers who were kneeling on the ground and kowtowing to apologize, Yan Song and the others were as stable as Mount Tai and their expressions remained unchanged.
But if you look carefully, there is still a bit of fear on their faces, and their bodies are shaking slightly uncontrollably! And they themselves were completely unaware of all this.
Time passed like this minute by minute, and after an unknown amount of time, the door of Yangxin Hall was slowly pushed open, and Jiajing walked out, overlooking the ministers kneeling on the ground not far away.
And almost at the same moment, those despairing ministers seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw, and the flame called hope was rekindled in their hearts.
In the end, thousands of words converged into one sentence: "I bow to your Majesty, long live my emperor!"
Jiajing did not respond, but stood on the spot minding his own business, like a sculpture.
After a long time, Jiajing said slowly: "To be honest, I am very disappointed in you."
Jiajing's voice was not loud, but it was clearly heard by everyone present.
After hearing the emperor's words, many ministers present had shameful expressions on their faces and lowered their heads involuntarily.
"Water can carry a boat, but it can also overturn it. The common people are water, and the court is a boat! I believe that you, as officials of the Liubu Hall, don't know such a simple and easy-to-understand truth, right?"
"Think about why Your Highness Taizu started the uprising back then? It was not because he could no longer survive that he had no choice but to rise up and conquer such a huge empire single-handedly!"
"And now, what you are doing is digging into the roots of our Ming Dynasty! The taxes on the people are getting heavier and heavier. It's okay in good years, but once there is a disaster, no food can be grown in the fields, and the people have no livelihood. , he will transform into a refugee and rise up to take action!"
"If you are a little bit rotten, the Ming Dynasty will be ruined. If you are all rotten, the people will swarm up and let us die without a burial place!"
"But if that time comes, you will have no chance to find a new master, because before that, I will kill you all!"
As soon as Jiajing finished speaking, as if he was agreeing with his words, several more thunders sounded in the sky, and then several bolts of lightning struck down, the power of the sky was unfathomable!
"Your Majesty, this humble minister is guilty, and I beg your Majesty to punish him!"
Yan Song stood up tremblingly and apologized to Jiajing.
"Kneel down for me! Who asked you to get up!"
Jiajing glanced at Yan Song and said coldly.
Yan Song was swept by Jiajing's cold gaze and immediately knelt down, his face full of self-blame.
"Yan Song, of course you are guilty. As the chief minister of the cabinet, I don't believe you don't know about this! Maybe you are the culprit of everything."
"And you, Xu Jie, how did you become the second minister of the cabinet, and do you know nothing about it? You are not much cleaner than Yan Song!"
Then, Jiajing glanced at the remaining three people and said in a deep voice.
"And you guys, do you really think that I don't dare to kill you? To tell you the truth, even if I kill all of you today, someone will come to fill the vacancy soon!"
"Your Majesty, if I know my crime, I will let your Majesty punish me!"
Yan Song and others knelt down to Jiajing again, and there was also a little crying mixed in there.
"You just kneel here and think about what you have done. When you have figured it out, you can leave!"
After Jiajing finished speaking, he left without looking back. Seeing this, Lu Fang quickly followed Jiajing's footsteps and returned to the Yangxin Hall.
…
In the Yangxin Hall, Lu Fang personally poured a cup of tea for Jiajing who was sitting on the dragon chair, then stepped aside and comforted him softly: "Your Majesty, please calm down and don't get angry because of this."
Jiajing took the tea cup from Lu Fang's hand, took a sip, and said, "It doesn't matter, I'm in good health, it doesn't matter."
After receiving the response from Jiajing, Lu Fang felt relieved and said to herself: "Fortunately, Your Majesty was not carried away by anger."
Immediately afterwards, Lu Fang put away her inner thoughts and respectfully said to Jiajing: "Your Majesty, what do you think we should do with Mr. Yan Ge and the others next?"
Jiajing took in the expression on Lu Fang's face. After pondering for a moment, he slowly replied: "It's still useful for me to keep them! Next, I have one more thing that they need to do."
"Your Majesty means to take this opportunity to reopen the sea..."
After listening to Jiajing's words, Lu Fang was thoughtful and spoke subconsciously. When he came back to his senses, he found that the emperor was looking at him with a half-smile.
"Tell me, why don't you continue?"
Seeing this, Lu Fang quickly knelt down on the ground and said respectfully: "This servant has overstepped my bounds. Please forgive me!"
Unexpectedly, Jiajing did not care about this matter. Instead, he slowly stood up from the dragon throne and explained to Lu Fang: "Lu Fang, you guessed it right. I really want to take this opportunity to reopen the sea ban." !”
"But, lifting the sea ban will not happen overnight! If the sea ban is lifted rashly, the court will not be able to obtain the maximum profit from it."
"The biggest part of the profits will fall into the hands of the smuggling families on the coast. In this way, wouldn't it be like making a wedding dress for others?"
"Your Majesty, what you mean is to temporarily open a part of the port? And firmly control it in the hands of the imperial court, and then lift the sea ban when the time is right?"
Lu Fang continued to think along Jiajing's train of thought and said this.
"Well, that's right, that's what I think."
Jiajing nodded and said.
"Then which place does Your Majesty want to open? Quanzhou or Fujian?"
Lu Fang couldn't restrain her curiosity and asked Jiajing.
"Quanzhou."
Jiajing glanced at Lu Fang and then said the name of the place.
"Your Majesty is wise! I think Quanzhou is the most suitable place!"
Lu Fang saw that the emperor had planned everything before this! The emotions inside are very complicated. While I feel fear, there is also a hint of reverence.
Jiajing immediately waved his hand, stopped the topic, and gave this instruction to Lu Fang.
"Okay, Lu Fang, go and keep an eye on them for me! If there is any movement, just report it to me directly."
"Slave, you obey!"
After Lu Fang listened, she responded respectfully.
And just when Lu Fang was about to walk out of the Yangxin Hall, Jiajing's voice came from behind.
"You can control the specific heat yourself. It's almost time, let Yan Song and the others come in. I still have things to tell them to do next!"
"This slave knows."
Lu Fang's footsteps paused for a moment, and then left the Yangxin Hall without looking back.
And Lu Fang knew very well in her heart that if Yan Song and the others did not agree with His Majesty's idea, then they would no longer be of any use to His Majesty.
When the time comes, there is only a dead end waiting for them!
(End of chapter)
