Emperor Xia cast his eyes on the courtiers in the palace, trying to tell their mood from the expressions on their faces!
In this palace, except for the old officials of the former Qin Dynasty who did not dare to raise private armies for fear of being accused of treason, most of the high-ranking officials and nobles had private armies in their homes!
Also, the Jiang family, Zhou family and other families who had just been granted the title of minister had relied on their private troops to save the country, and thus they were reused!
Now, the prince is about to take over their private soldiers!
Is this revenge?
As a result, the Sima family, which has countless private armies, cannot escape!
The prince no longer cares about his father-in-law!
interesting!
"Cough cough cough..."
Emperor Xia habitually broke the silence in the palace by coughing: "Second son, third son, fifth son, left prime minister, and several ministers, what do you think?"
first.
The second prince jumped up: "Unacceptable!"
"Father, I do not have a private army. Among the generals who followed me to the imperial capital, half are from the fief army and half are temporarily recruited rebels. They have now returned to the fief and have been disbanded. Therefore, I have no private army!"
"right!"
The fifth prince quickly helped: "My son's situation is the same as that of my brother Wang, he doesn't have a private army!"
In fact, it is common knowledge that they have a private army!
However, as long as they don't tell the truth, they will never admit it!
Even if I say it now, I will never admit it!
That is what they need to save their lives!
The third prince quietly tugged on the sleeves of the second prince and the fifth prince, and reminded him softly: "The terminology is inappropriate. If we don't have a private army, how can we say it is unacceptable?"
The second prince frowned: "Father, what I mean is... I don't have a private army, so there is no private army to hand over to the prince!"
"Yeah?"
Xia Tian calmly took out a memorial from his sleeve: "But here is the number of private troops in your fiefdom, as well as the names of the leading generals, as well as the quantity of grain and grass supplies, and the quantity of ordnance supplies!"
"impossible!"
The second prince jumped up: "Absolutely impossible!"
"Yeah?"
Xia Tian raised his eyelids: "Could it be that someone falsely accused the three Wang brothers?"
The second prince and the fifth prince were a little confused: "Third prince, tell me..."
The third prince stepped forward: "Brother Prince, is this your evidence?"
"yes!"
"A memorial?"
"yes!"
"Then you have no evidence and it's a false accusation!"
The third prince rolled his eyes: "Father, if everyone prepares a memorial like this to make false accusations and casually writes some numbers on the memorial, wouldn't it mean that in our Great Xia Dynasty, we can frame anyone we want to frame?"
"That makes sense!"
Emperor Xia agreed.
But he knew that Xia Tian was never unreasonable: "Prince, do you have any real evidence?"
"have!"
Three more account books popped up from Xia Tian's sleeves: "For the record, my father, this is the account book of the food and grass supplies used by the three brothers to raise private soldiers. It contains the number of private soldiers raised by the three brothers. Please take a look at it!"
Eunuch Wei quickly came down, took the account book respectfully, turned around and handed it to the emperor!
The expressions of the second prince, the third prince, and the fifth prince changed greatly.
"Fake!"
"This account book must be fake!"
Emperor Xia opened the account book and took a closer look at the stick of incense. Then he raised his eyes and asked, "Prince, is this account book true or false?"
"Where did it come from?"
"I would like to report to my father that the account book is authentic and was taken from the residences of the three princes and brothers by ambitious people!"
Hear the words.
The second prince jumped to his feet and said: "Absolutely impossible!"
"How could Brother Wang leave the account books for raising a private army for others to steal?"
The third prince's eyes were throbbing with veins, and he quietly reached out and gave the second prince a hand!
The second prince felt that he had said something wrong again, so he changed the subject and asked, "Brother Prince, who stole the account books?"
"Trespassing to the Prince's Mansion and stealing is a capital crime!"
"If you hand this person over, Brother Wang will ask him...why he framed us?"
"yes!"
The fifth prince helped: "If this account book really belongs to us, then it would be a death penalty for him to break into the prince's palace and steal it!"
"If this account book is false, then he has slandered the prince and is a capital offender!"
"We know that the prince's younger brother has always been fair and just in doing things, and has always advocated governing the country by law. We will not protect this person, right?"
The fifth prince was so clever that he would kill the person who presented the account book with just one word!
The third prince glanced at the fifth prince with admiration: "Brother Prince, please hand over this person!"
Emperor Xia narrowed his eyes: "Prince, where are you?"
At this time.
Xia Tian is still calm and calm: "Outside the palace!"
"Xuan!"
"yes!"
Eunuch Wei scratched his throat, and his sharp voice penetrated the void and came out of the palace: "The person who presented the account book enters the palace!"
Not long after.
Three old men in Confucian robes stepped into the main hall, knelt down and saluted respectfully: "I bow to His Majesty the Emperor, long live my Emperor!"
Emperor Xia was very curious: "Who are you?"
at this time.
The second prince, the third prince, and the fifth prince looked at the three people who were prostrating on the ground, their faces extremely ugly!
An old man in a Confucian shirt replied: "The three of us are the inner treasury accountants of the Second, Third, and Fifth Princes, and we are also secret agents of the Imperial City Department!"
As soon as these words came out, the expressions of the three princes changed drastically!
These three people are secret agents of the Imperial City Department and accountants of the three royal palaces. They are not thieves and do not need to be beheaded!
Emperor Xia took a deep look at Eunuch Wei and asked meaningfully: "Since you are spies of the Imperial City Department, why didn't you take the account books back to the Imperial City Department and give them to the prince instead?"
"Your Majesty!"
A Confucian scholar in the accounting room said cautiously: "After the villain took out the account book, he was chased by a killer and almost died. Fortunately, he was saved by the guards of the East Palace. Therefore, the villain dedicated the account book to His Highness the Crown Prince. Today I dare to Show up!”
"I see!"
Emperor Xia turned his attention to the second, third, and fifth princes: "What do you say?"
"Plop..."
The three princes knelt down and gritted their teeth and said: "Father, my sons and ministers don't know them at all, someone must have framed them!"
"Yeah?"
Emperor Xia asked the three accountants again: "Can you prove your identity?"
"able!"
The Confucian scholars in the three accountants each took out a token from their body, which was the identity token of the three princes' palaces. It had a name and a description of the character on it!
Eunuch Wei quickly presented the token to Emperor Xia!
Emperor Xia looked at it and said meaningfully: "Prince, do they really raise so many?"
"yes!"
The three princes gritted their teeth and stared at Xia Tian angrily!
At this time.
Xia Xia smiled and said: "Father, now that we are facing a powerful enemy, the imperial court needs soldiers and horses. If the three prince brothers raise private soldiers, not only will they be innocent, but they will also think they have merit!"
As a result, Tianxia Palace became quiet!
What on earth does the prince want to do?
Emperor Xia was also a little confused: "It's okay for the prince to speak frankly!"
Xia Tian's face became solemn: "If you want to win this battle, I need the help of three royal brothers!"
"My son believes that the princes can be appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Northern Army's reinforcements, the commander-in-chief of the Qingzhou reinforcements, and the commander-in-chief of the Huangzhou reinforcements, and lead the fiefdom's troops to the front line to defeat the three empires!"
The words have not yet been spoken!
The second prince and the fifth prince jumped up: "No!"
Xia Tian's tone could not be refuted: "I think all the kings can do it!"
Second Prince: "..."
Fifth Prince: "..."
"Why......."
The third prince sighed quietly: "Brother Prince, there is no need to threaten us!"
"Tell me...what do you want us to do?"
