On the throne, Emperor Chongzhen also watched with cold eyes, watching the ministers below shouting and objecting. This matter was actually anticipated in advance during the discussion last night. Therefore, he already had a countermeasure, and he was not in a hurry. He just waited for them to be "filled with righteous indignation". Later, he would eat the shit they sprayed out and praise it again for how delicious it was!
Finally, as they were talking, some people began to notice that the emperor's expression seemed wrong, and he seemed a little dissatisfied with them. Come to think of it, when the imperial court was in urgent need of money, they happened to be dozing off and were given a pillow. As a result, the pillow was sprayed on by people like myself before it was put on it. Seeing that the pillow was gone, it was strange that I was in a good mood. .
Thinking like this, these people knew that the emperor must be dissatisfied with them, so they felt a little timid and their voices became much weaker. Many people stopped talking.
Of course, if they were afraid in their hearts, they were not afraid at all. Because in their opinion, this is something that makes sense to them. Even if you are an emperor, you have to be reasonable!
Seeing that the hall finally slowly became quiet, Emperor Chongzhen turned to look at the lonely man.
As soon as Li Guochen saw it, he knew it was time to speak, so he immediately shouted loudly: "Your Majesty, my late father did tell the common people about dividing the family wealth equally! The common people are willing to guarantee it with their lives!"
As soon as they heard what he said, several civil servants jumped out, accused him on the spot, asked who could testify, and asked if there was anything written in black and white... Anyway, it was just one sentence. They asked Li Guochen to provide real evidence.
"Your Majesty, when my late mother begged my late father, my late father agreed on the spot in front of my mother. My younger brother was also present at that time." Li Guochen immediately defended, "But I didn't expect that not only would my younger brother not I followed my father’s orders, but after my father passed away unexpectedly, I treated the common people harshly and wanted to drive them away. The above are all true, please be clear to your majesty!”
Obviously, even calling Li Guorui about this kind of thing would be of no use, and Li Guorui would definitely deny it. Only the dead Wu Qinghou himself can tell who is real and who is fake.
As a result, these civil servants were more confident. Seeing that the people who had spoken earlier did not seem to arouse the emperor's anger, many people followed up and spoke again, accusing Li Guochen, and clamoring to punish Li. The crime of deceiving the emperor by a minister!
Seeing this situation, Emperor Chongzhen did not let them continue to attack Li Guochen this time. Instead, he suddenly slapped the imperial case and made a "snap" sound, which shocked everyone in the palace. At the same time, he also shouted angrily: "Noisy, noisy, noisy, if you can get the money that the court urgently needs, I will let you noisy enough!"
Such an angry outburst immediately shocked everyone. Having made Junfu so angry, he could only kneel down and plead guilty.
In fact, they did not dare to face the emperor's words. Make them clamor for money? No matter how you argue, you will definitely not get any money out of it, so you can only be a coward.
Emperor Chongzhen seemed very angry. He stood up and said sternly: "Previously, it was Dongchang who discovered the major case of the Royal Horse Supervisor and the corruption of some Jinyiwei officials. He received a batch of money and finally solved the problem of the front line. There is a shortage of salary and money. At that time, did you share my worries?"
"Now that the frontline is in urgent need of money, what do you do? Can you share my worries?" Emperor Chongzhen became more and more angry as he spoke. He couldn't help but slap the imperial case again, and at the same time continued to shout angrily, "Without money, how can the soldiers fight, how can they fight?" Victory? Without money, the Tatars will continue to wreak havoc. How many people and property will they plunder in our Ming Dynasty? If there is no money, then we are doing the Tatars a favor. They want the Tatars to continue to be arrogant and do whatever they want in the customs! Without money, how many people will still be able to survive? Will I be displaced, my wife and children scattered, my family destroyed?”
"Where's the money? Where did the money come from? Why don't you help me solve it? Why didn't you say anything? Why didn't you say anything when I wanted you to share my worries?"
"..."
Emperor Chongzhen was furious in the thunder, and all his ministers lowered their heads, and no one responded.
They are not too worried. After all, there are so many ministers here, and the law will not punish everyone anyway. If they really want to find a scapegoat, they will definitely give priority to the chief minister or the minister of household affairs!
However, they thought wrong, and heard Emperor Chongzhen shout angrily: "Now Li Guochen has voluntarily donated 200,000 taels to relieve the court's urgent needs. You think there is something wrong with this, no! Okay, I will satisfy you. I myself Let’s find a way to solve this money problem!”
Hearing this, almost all the ministers couldn't help but be a little surprised. What can the emperor do and solve the money problem by himself?
If this is the case, you, the emperor, should have solved it as soon as possible. Why bother to make things difficult for us?
While they were thinking about it, they suddenly heard Emperor Chongzhen shout loudly: "Where is Cao Daban?"
"The slave is here!" Upon hearing this, Cao Huachun knew that it was time for him to appear, so he quickly stepped out of the queue and echoed loudly.
"You did a great job in the Royal Horse Prison case!" Emperor Chongzhen looked at him and said loudly, "Not only did you uncover the worms in the imperial court, but you also helped me solve the urgent need for money..."
Upon hearing this, most people in the hall immediately guessed how the emperor wanted to get money quickly. Suddenly, everyone complained in their hearts.
Sure enough, I heard that Emperor Chongzhen was already telling Cao Huachun: "Cao Daban must continue his efforts and investigate ruthlessly for me. No matter who he is or what his background is, as long as problems are found, I will never tolerate it and punish the crime strictly. I don’t believe it, the only moths in our Ming Dynasty today are Wang Zhixin and the others!”
Obviously, the emperor was pushed into a hurry, and the consequences were serious.
After hearing this, Cao Huachun was about to receive the order loudly when he suddenly heard someone shouting loudly from below: "Your Majesty, I have my own intention to play!"
When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he turned around and saw that it was Liu Meicai, the imperial censor. He turned cold and asked angrily: "If you have something to say, say it quickly, and if you have anything to say, let it go!"
This was all foul language. It was obvious that the emperor was really angry just now.
Liu Meicai was thinking in her mind, so she did not dare to neglect, and quickly said: "Your Majesty, I just thought about it for a while and felt that Li Guochen is loyal and honest, and he will definitely not lie. In my opinion, the court should do justice for him."
Anyone who is not a fool can hear the subtext of his words. It means, isn't there two hundred thousand taels of silver here? It's just enough to save the day. Your Majesty, please calm down the fire. We already have money!
The reason why he was the first to say this was because in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, he was never short of money because Shanxi merchants provided for him. In order to speak for Shanxi merchants, he often even distributed money to his colleagues and asked them to help speak for him.
If Dongchang really wants to go crazy and bite people, he, as a censor and a more conspicuous target, might be the first to be stabbed. Once caught by Dongchang, everything will be fine. He is afraid!
In fact, he was not the only one who was afraid, most of the officials in the palace were also afraid. Seeing Liu Meicai, he started to speak, and for a while, other people followed suit, all agreeing with his proposal, completely forgetting that just now they were condemning and opposing Li Guochen.
If Dongchang hadn't gone crazy before and hadn't investigated Wang Zhixin, Fang Fengnian and others, maybe these officials wouldn't be particularly afraid. But at this time, they already knew that Dongchang's knife was sharp again, and it would hurt someone if they were not careful. Those who have ghosts in their hearts are even more afraid of getting hurt.
When Emperor Chongzhen saw this, he couldn't help but sneer and said: "This is Li Guochen's one-sided statement, and there is no real evidence. I'm afraid it won't work, right?"
"..." After hearing this, all the ministers could not help but be speechless, knowing that the emperor was still angry and was trying to manipulate them.
There is no way, the situation is stronger than the person, no matter what, it is better than letting Dongchang bite people like crazy, right?
With this in mind, Liu Meicai replied to Emperor Chongzhen and said: "Your Majesty, the ministers have heard about Wu Qinghou's poor treatment of Li Guochen. From this, it can be seen that Wu Qinghou's invasion of his brother's property is probably not going to happen. It’s fake!”
When other courtiers heard this, they all agreed, saying that they had also heard that Wu Qinghou Li Guorui treated Li Guochen poorly, and even kicked him out of Wuqing Hou's mansion. His behavior was really outrageous. It can be seen from this that his I'm afraid there is something wrong with my character.
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen seemed no longer so angry, but he still asked a little angrily: "There is a difference between the legitimate son and the legitimate son. Shouldn't the family finances belong to the legitimate son?"
Since the emperor has mentioned things that cannot be helped, these have to refute the views he has raised before. No matter what, the emperor had to calm down and accept Dongchang's sword.
"Your Majesty, since I have the last words of the old Marquis Wu Qing, I should abide by the wishes of the old Marquis Wu Qing!"
"really?"
"really!"
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen seemed to think for a moment, and then said hesitantly: "Is this really appropriate?"
At this time, how could these people in Ming Dynasty's officialdom not know that Emperor Chongzhen was angry with them for stopping him before and was still trying to manipulate them. But in order for Dongchang not to act recklessly, they had no choice but to nod and respond: "That's right, that's right, that's absolutely right!"
Emperor Chongzhen looked at these people and finally felt bad in his heart. He immediately said to Li Guochen: "Okay, since all the ministers support you, then I will ask Dongchang and the Ministry of Household Affairs to send people to accompany you to deliver the inheritance. The court is waiting for you. How about using this money?"
"The common people obey the decree!" Li Guochen, of course, had no problem and quickly replied.
"Okay!" Emperor Chongzhen immediately praised, "I will not treat you badly after this matter is over!"
After finishing speaking, he immediately named Cao Huachun and Li Daiwen and asked them to immediately send someone to accompany Li Guochen to the residence of Marquis Wu Qing.
Seeing that the matter was settled and the emperor no longer mentioned the strict investigation in Dongchang, the civil servants in the palace breathed a sigh of relief. However, Yang Sichang was an exception, but he secretly complained in his heart.
He didn't believe that the emperor could really let Dongchang mess around at this moment? The law does not punish the public. If all the officials unite to resist, the emperor will have no choice but to compromise unless he really wants to overturn the table. And once the table is really lifted, the Ming Dynasty will be even more chaotic, and maybe something big will happen.
It's such a pity that these people are all timid and afraid of getting into trouble, just afraid that Dongchang will find out about them first and they will be unlucky first! Now that they saw that Wu Qinghou was unlucky, they were fine, so they couldn't wait to sell Wu Qinghou one by one.
When Yang Sichang thought of this, he couldn't help but cursed in his heart: Do you know that once the emperor touches Marquis Wu Qing, the next step will definitely be to use Xue Manzi's bad idea! Looking back, I will still force you to pay one by one!
No, absolutely not, I must not be implicated by Xue Manzi!
Yang Sichang kept thinking about it, so much so that he had not yet come to his senses when the emperor retired.
But at this time, he also had an idea in mind to avoid being dragged down by Xue Manzi.
The method is very simple, that is, let the civil and military officials, the royal family and nobles know that he is not Xue Manzi's accomplice, but was forced to do so.
In this way, once the civil and military officials, royal relatives and nobles rebound, their target will only be Xue Manzi, the troublemaker! Maybe he can get a blessing in disguise. If Xue Manzi is eliminated, he can go one step further and sit on the position of chief minister of the Ming Dynasty, but he will not be opposed by the ministers like Xue Manzi.
Thinking like this, he started to think about it.
But then he thought about it and remembered that Emperor Chongzhen had warned him not to leak Xue Manzi's proposal. Remembering that the emperor had become more powerful recently, he hesitated again.
However, Yang Sichang was indeed a man of quick thinking. After thinking about it for a moment, he still came up with an idea.
Besides, Li Guochen was extremely happy after receiving the decree. He couldn't get the land anyway with the two hundred thousand taels of silver, but now it was donated to the court, so he didn't care. Thinking about how his younger brother would appear when the decree arrived at Wu Qinghou's house, and remembering how harshly he treated his brother because of his status as his legitimate son, he couldn't help but want to go back and avenge the previous shame as soon as possible. return.
Thinking this way, he couldn't wait. Then he said to Cao Huachun and Li Daiwen, who were about to go back to the Yamen to arrange manpower, "Mr. Factory Master, Mr. Li, the emperor is in a hurry. How about the common people go first and meet at Wuqinghou's house?"
Cao Huachun and Li Daiwen could see his thoughts at a glance, but no one cared. You can go if you want, what does it have to do with them?
So, Li Guochen bid farewell to the two of them and hurried back to Wuqinghou Mansion as fast as he could.
"Dong dong dong..."
As soon as Li Guochen arrived at the door of his house, he looked at this place and thought of all the shameful past experiences between him and his mother after his father passed away. He couldn't help but reach out and pat the door, and he patted it hard, as if he wanted to knock him out. All the anger is vented on this door.
"Who, who is making trouble at the gate of the Hou Mansion?" The concierge shouted in fright when he heard the sound and hurriedly opened the door.
However, when he opened the door and found that it was Li Guochen, his attitude immediately became bad: "Hey, you still dare to come, be careful of the master being angry, this time it's not just about driving him out!"
"Bitch, let's see who dares to chase me away this time?" Li Guochen heard this and shouted sharply, and then prepared to go to the house.
When the concierge saw it, he quickly stopped him and shouted loudly: "Master, I have something to say. From now on, the Hou Mansion has nothing to do with you. If you dare to break into the Hou Mansion privately, you are asking for a beating!"
"Bold, who dares to hit me?" Li Guochen looked angry. The faces of these servants were still the same as before, "Go and tell my unfaithful brother that I am here to get half of the inheritance left by my father. This time , He has to take it even if he takes it, and he has to take it even if he doesn’t take it!”
Seeing that he was so confident, the porter and the other servants who rushed over after hearing the sound hesitated a little. They had also heard that the eldest man who had been kicked out had taken refuge with Xue Guoguan, the minister in charge of the cabinet. When he came back to say this this time, he must have something to rely on, right?
At this moment, Li Guorui, Marquis of Wuqing, was about to go out. When he came to the door, he also heard what he said. He immediately shouted away the people, walked up to Li Guochen with his hands behind his back, and shouted with a cold face: "They say family scandals should not be made public. , are you worthy of the ancestors of the Li family? Don't think that with Xue Manzi as my support, I, the Marquis of Wu Qing, will be afraid! Haha, today I want to see, how do you handle it? It's just you. Born of a cheap maid, even Xue Manzi can’t help you!”
When Li Guochen heard that he was making fun of his mother's background again, and in front of so many servants, his face turned red with anger, he pointed at Li Guorui's nose and said repeatedly: "Okay, okay, okay, I If I take away the 200,000 taels of silver left by my father, from now on, my surname will no longer be Li, and I will have nothing to do with the Wuqing Hou Mansion! "
"Haha, I won't let you off lightly this time! From now on, you won't even have the surname Li!" Li Guorui even sneered after hearing this, "What's wrong with those people who have already been kicked out by me?" Just use your skills. I put my words here. If you can take away a copper plate, I was born by a cheap maid!"
