Ming: I am fake, walking on thin ice

Chapter 87 Your Majesty, if you are not discreet, you will lose your ministers!

The Marquis of Huichang was furious: "You ungrateful wolf! I will kill you!"

"Uncle, please kill me." Sun Lian stiffened his neck, tears in his eyes, "Nephew, this is all for the Sun family, uncle, you are so confused, the Queen Mother and His Majesty have bestowed wealth and honor on our Sun family, you...how can you break the law? How can you deceive the emperor?"

Zhu Qizhen secretly praised in his heart.

Damn, this Sun Lian is a good actor, he is very scheming, and he played the backstab beautifully. He completely occupied the highest point of morality and law.

"Empress Dowager, Your Majesty~" Sun Lian kowtowed, crying, "Although my uncle did something unjust, I believe he is absolutely loyal to the Empress Dowager and Your Majesty. He has reached the highest position among the ministers and has made great contributions to the Ming Dynasty over the years. The reason he broke the law was because of his selfish desire, for his son. How can an old father watch his son die? I beg the Empress Dowager and Your Majesty to forgive my uncle. I will also resign from my official position and serve my uncle for the rest of my life."

Pretty!

Zhu Qizhen smiled playfully. This Sun Lian was really vicious. If he continued to use this trick, the only son of Marquis Huichang would be dead, so wouldn't the Sun family be his? Moreover, he showed his loyalty and filial piety in front of all the ministers. It was perfect.

"Marquis Huichang, did you hear everything? Your nephew understands your thoughts better than you do." Zhu Qizhen said slowly, "As the old saying goes, a family with a filial son will have a long-lasting family. You lost a son, but you have a good nephew."

Marquis Huichang looked ferocious, and felt more uncomfortable than if he had eaten a fly.

Zhu Qizhen stood up, glanced at the ministers, and asked, "My dear ministers, how should we punish the Marquis of Huichang?"

He thought, what else can you say this time? Even the nephew of Marquis Huichang has come to complain to him.

……

The chief minister of the cabinet, Wang Zhi, stepped forward, bowed, and said, "Your Majesty, the Marquis of Huichang was so anxious to save his son that he made a mistake. This is understandable. Moreover, fortunately, the King of Xiang discovered it in time and no disaster occurred. I beg Your Majesty to forgive him this time."

"I second the motion." Cabinet Minister Shang Lu also stepped forward and spoke earnestly, "His son is about to face execution. I hope Your Majesty can understand the painstaking efforts of an old father. It would be sufficient to fine him his salary as a warning."

Subsequently, dozens of ministers stood up and seconded the motion in unison.

Zhu Qizhen's face was cold. He had never expected that these civil servants would be so determined to protect Marquis Huichang, and that Wang Zhi would be the leader.

"Haha, haha!" He sneered, "Just a salary deduction? I want to ask, if it were someone else, would you still beg for mercy like this?"

"The guilty person is Sun Zhen, he has been sentenced to death by beheading, and Marquis Huichang has only committed a minor offense." Shangshu Yu Shiyue bowed and said.

"Your Majesty governs the world with benevolence and filial piety, so you should forgive this old father." Duke Chengguo also echoed.

Zhu Qizhen was so angry that he laughed: "Now you are quite united, usually you are like wolves and dogs. Very good, I like them all!"

Wang Zhi, the chief minister of the cabinet, bowed and said, "Your Majesty, we are all for the sake of the Ming Dynasty, and we have no selfish motives. If a king is not discreet, he will lose his subjects. What Your Majesty said just now is not the way for a king to judge his subjects. I beg Your Majesty to take it back."

Older gingers are more spicy!
Zhu Qizhen realized that he was angry and said something wrong, so he quickly calmed down and said, "Lord Wang is right, I made a mistake. The matter of Huichang Marquis should be decided by the Queen Mother."

After saying this, he turned to the back of the curtain and bowed, "Please make the decision, mother!"

He deliberately pushed the matter to the Queen Mother, secretly guessing that the Queen Mother would pretend to avoid suspicion at this time, after all, Huichang Hou was her brother. When the Queen Mother pushed the matter back, he could convict Huichang Hou.

After a moment, the empress dowager's cold voice was heard: "Strip Huichang Marquis of his post as Grand Commander of the Rear Army and only retain his title of marquis. You don't need to take care of state affairs in the future and enjoy your old age in the mansion. Your Majesty, what do you think?" "As my mother wishes." Zhu Qizhen bowed slightly and responded.

……

Huichang Marquis knelt in the hall, tears in his eyes, and bowed respectfully: "I thank the Queen Mother and Your Majesty for your great grace."

Zhu Qizhen's thoughts raced.

Although this failed to completely overthrow the Marquis of Huichang, his position was abolished, which undoubtedly cut off the Queen Mother's power. Moreover, the position of the Grand Commander of the Rear Army was now vacant, and he could place his own people there.

"Your Majesty, the position of Grand Commander of the Rear Army is extremely important." The Queen Mother's voice came again, "I want Prince Qing to take charge of the Rear Army Commander's Office."

Zhu Qiyu, the Prince of Qin, who had been watching the excitement, was shocked. He did not expect that such a good thing would happen to him. However, he bowed with an embarrassed look and said, "Thank you, Queen Mother. But I still have a job in the Ministry of Personnel."

"I have every confidence in you to take charge of the rear army governor's office." The Queen Mother said calmly, and then asked, "Your Majesty, what do you think?"

Zhu Qizhen was a little confused, as he had never expected the Queen Mother to choose Zhu Qiyu. However, as a prince, Zhu Qiyu was suitable to be in charge of the rear army governor's office.

However, he always felt that something was wrong. Would Zhu Qiyu stab him in the back at this time?
"That's what I meant." Zhu Qizhen smiled slightly, "Second brother, the burden on your shoulders is even heavier."

Zhu Qiyu was filled with excitement and knelt down again, saying, "I will not let down the Queen Mother and Your Majesty's trust."

Zhu Qizhen smiled slightly, his eyes fell on Sun Lian, and said: "Sun Lian, you are loyal and filial. How about this, you will be the heir of Huichang Marquis, and you will take care of Huichang Marquis until his death."

"I thank Your Majesty for your grace!" Sun Lian was secretly delighted.

Marquis Huichang standing by wanted to kill him.

……

Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Qizhen held a small court meeting here, of course, he only summoned his own people. Xu Youzhen, the Minister of Revenue, was reporting on the situation of the "land annexation" case in various places.

"Your Majesty, being able to withdraw most of the occupied land is already the limit." Xu Youzhen smiled bitterly, "If it weren't for your Majesty's thunderous means to kill the vassal king first, we would never have been able to achieve the current level."

Zhu Qizhen looked through the memorial, frowned deeply, and snorted: "Even if they return all the occupied land, the royal family, eunuchs in the palace, officials at all levels and gentry still own half of the farmland in the world, and they don't pay taxes. The common people have less than half of the land they can cultivate, but they have to pay taxes!"

Li Xian, who was standing by, bowed and said, "Your Majesty, all dynasties have shared the world with scholars and officials, so this result is inevitable. The Song Dynasty has nurtured scholars for three hundred years. You treat me as a scholar, and I repay you with my life, so there is Wen Tianxiang."

"There was only one Wen Tianxiang!" Zhu Qizhen snorted, "So when the country was destroyed, the 66-year-old Empress Dowager Xie Daoqing cried while looking at the empty Lin'an City. For more than 300 years, our dynasty has treated scholars and officials with courtesy. Now that the new emperor and I have suffered so much, none of you ministers, big or small, have come out to save the country."

Xu Youzhen bowed and said, "We just look at the problem from different angles. We must not abandon the scholars and the common people!"

Zhu Qizhen frowned and said, "It's time to make some changes. However, before the changes, I want to rule the country completely!"

(End of this chapter)