Chapter 218; What to do?

"If such a big thing happened, why don't you tell me that you don't know?"

Thinking of what happened in the imperial study that day, Emperor Hongwen felt murderous intent towards Gao Yanming.

But he knew very well that it was impossible to deal with the other party just by relying on the current matter. At most, he could only think about it.

After all, he is the leader of the officials from aristocratic families in the court, and those officials from aristocratic families will not just look at him like this.

Similarly, it is impossible for the wealthy families to just watch like this.

Once Gao Yanming is dealt with, it will directly lead to instability in the court and the world.

He knew this very well in his heart. At this time, he just wanted to beat Gao Yanming. At the same time, he also wanted to take this opportunity to tear off a piece of meat from the aristocratic family.

Some things cannot be accomplished overnight and need to be done step by step.

"His Majesty."

At this time, an official's voice came.

Emperor Hongwen looked around and his eyes turned cold again. He was annoyed to see these officials with aristocratic family backgrounds, but he had to rely on them.

"Gao Changxing and Cao Dong have committed extremely heinous crimes, and I request your Majesty to punish them severely."

"Gao Xiangren is unclear. Although there is suspicion of oversight, his starting point is also for the people of Jinyang Mansion."

As soon as the man finished speaking, Gao Yanming, who was kneeling in front, quickly kowtowed upward.

"I made a mistake for a moment and caused a great disaster. I beg your Majesty to punish me."

Well, with this chorus, this heinous crime was instantly placed on Gao Changxing and Cao Dong, while Gao Yanming only admitted the crime of negligence.

Emperor Hongwen wanted to have an attack, but he hadn't spoken yet.

More than a dozen officials with aristocratic family backgrounds stood up one after another below.

Seeing so many officials from aristocratic families standing up, Wen Songtao glanced sideways at them and instantly understood that they were grouping together to put pressure on Emperor Hongwen.

As a close minister of Emperor Hongwen, he knew very well that Emperor Hongwen wanted to influence Gao Yanming and the officials of the family, and he also understood that Emperor Hongwen was just an idea and would never take action directly.

But it was not easy to catch the other party's big mistake. If it was just an oversight, he would not be reconciled, and Emperor Hongwen would not be reconciled either.

Thinking of this, he cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, since the establishment of this dynasty, there has never been such a bad thing."

"I request your Majesty to bring justice to the people of Jinyang Mansion and severely punish all participants in this incident."

"Only in this way can we appease the people of Jinyang and the people of the world."

There were many officials behind Prime Minister Wen, and after his voice fell, they all stood up and agreed.

Two of the three major factions in the DPRK have ended, but the remaining faction has not moved at all.

Emperor Hongwen glanced at Duke Zhen Guo and saw that he was just standing there with his eyes and nose concerned, without saying a word.

He understood very well why Lord Zhen Guo did not stand up.

It is nothing more than worrying about the eldest prince’s appointment as heir apparent, and fear of stepping forward to step on Gao Yanming at this time. If he fails to trample the other party to death, when the eldest prince’s appointment as heir apparent is mentioned again in the future, the other party will probably be the first to stand up and object.

Emperor Hongwen was very disappointed that he was so careless about right and wrong for the sake of being a prince.

"I am guilty, please punish me."

Gao Yanming kowtowed again.

This incident was unavoidable and bleeding was certain, but I was very confident that Emperor Hongwen would not kill him with a single blow, and he did not dare to do so.

Emperor Hongwen above was silent for a moment before he said, "We will discuss the punishment later."

"You all know the current situation in Jinyang Mansion now. Tell me, how to deal with the aftermath?"

He said and sat down again.

He still needs to think carefully about Gao Yanming's punishment. Originally, he wanted to take this opportunity to demote Gao Yanming and then eliminate him step by step.

As a result, so many officials from aristocratic families came forward today and only admitted to the crime of oversight.

If Gao Yanming was fired because of an oversight, I'm afraid the family would not agree.

The situation in Dongzhou is still a bit difficult to deal with now. He will still need to use the aristocratic family for some time in the future, but it is not suitable to start a war with the aristocratic family at this time.

"I believe that troops should be sent to suppress the riot."

As soon as a noble family official finished speaking, Wen Songtao immediately rebuked him.

"That's nonsense."

"Why are the people of Jinyang Mansion like this?"

"They were forced to do so. Now the culprit who caused all the situation has not been dealt with, but you are suppressing the people."

"If we do this, how will the people of the world view our Dongzhou court?"

The rebutted official of the family did not give Wen Songtao any flinch and continued, "There is a reason for the connivance, but it is a fact that they gathered a crowd to attack the government and caused casualties of three thousand soldiers."

"Rebellious people must not be tolerated, otherwise once this example is set, there is no guarantee that other places will not follow the same example."

"Master Han is absolutely right. Although there are things my court cannot do in this matter, this is not the reason for their civil uprising."

"No excuse can cover up their guilt of treason."

Another official from aristocratic family stood up.

Two aristocratic family officials were dismissed in succession, and someone from Wen Songtao's side also stepped forward.

For a while, people from the two groups started to quarrel again. Emperor Hongwen, who was sitting at the top, seemed to be used to this kind of situation and did not say anything to stop it.

Just listen to their noise quietly.

After a while, Gao Yanming stepped forward and stopped the commotion.

"Gao Xiang, what do you think of this matter?"

At this time, Emperor Hongwen above spoke slowly.

"I think we should take a two-pronged approach, mobilize food and elite troops to Jinyang Mansion, first pacify them, and then suppress them if they cannot be pacified."

Hearing this, Emperor Hongwen nodded, and Wen Songtao did not refute.

"Xiang Wen, how much food do you think Jinyang needs?"

As soon as these words came out, Wen Songtao immediately understood what Emperor Hongwen meant. After thinking for a moment, he raised his hands and said, "In the final analysis, the fault of this matter lies with my court. I think it cannot be handled according to ordinary disaster relief."

"The top priority is to appease the people of Jinyang to prevent the matter from continuing to expand and be taken advantage of by people with malicious intentions."

After hearing this, everyone nodded inwardly.

"Last time, Prime Minister Gao mobilized five thousand stones of grain to go to Jinyang."

"I don't think it's enough. There are many people in Jinyang Mansion, and now they have resentments in their hearts. I think that at least 50,000 stones are needed, and the culprit Gao Changxing needs to be punished in public."

As soon as the figure of fifty thousand shi was announced, it immediately attracted opposition from many ministers.

Especially the Minister of the Ministry of Finance, he almost cried.

Since the drought, the Ministry of Revenue's money and grain have been continuously transported to various parts of Dongzhou. After many years of accumulation, more than half of it was spent this time.

The remaining ones cannot be used casually, but a large part of them are used to stabilize the lives of frontier soldiers.

Moreover, the drought has not been completely resolved yet, so we cannot take out all the supplies at once, leaving the Ministry of Households without food.
Chapter completed!