Drawing fire from the bottom of the cauldron

"Fifty thousand dan is too much."

Emperor Hongwen was also shocked by the numbers that popped out of Wen Songtao's mouth.

However, Wen Songtao below was not deterred at all by the opposition from his ministers and His Majesty.

"Jinyang Mansion, the current situation is still under lockdown, but if such a big event cannot be hidden, once it spreads, the consequences will be disastrous."

"Fifty thousand shi of grain can demonstrate our court's attitude towards this matter and use these grains to stabilize the hearts and minds of the people of all parties."

The ministers suddenly fell silent. Emperor Hongwen thought for a moment and nodded secretly.

"Your Majesty, the main culprits this time are Gao Changxing, Cao Dong and the Gao clan members from the ancestral land of the Gao family."

"Cao Dong lost his way and found his way back. He is already dead, so he is considered to have been executed."

"But the remaining Gao Changxing and the Gao family cannot be lenient."

"I don't know how much they have corrupted in Jinyang Mansion over the years. It's time to let them spit it out."

Even after talking about this, everyone still didn't understand that the 50,000 shi of grain mentioned by Wen Songtao was not for the imperial court, but for the Gao family.

The Minister of Revenue immediately stopped talking and returned to the queue honestly.

As long as he is not allowed to step out of the household department, he will support anyone who does.

Gao Yanming also heard what Wen Songtao meant, but he didn't dare to speak. The other officials from the aristocratic families also fell silent.

Seeing this situation, Emperor Hongwen nodded and said, "What Xiang Wen said is absolutely true, so let's handle it like this."

As he spoke, his eyes turned to Duke Zhen Guo, who had been silent all this time.

"Mr. Zhen Guo, how about I leave this matter to you?"

Upon hearing this, Duke Zhenguo walked out of the queue, cupped his hands and said, "I obey your order."

Emperor Hongwen was very satisfied with his attitude.

"That's the end of today's court meeting. Let's retreat."

Wang De quickly announced his resignation from the court.

The ministers bowed their hands in obeisance.

Emperor Hongwen stood up and left, and the ministers retreated one after another. When Gao Yanming met Wen Songtao, there was a cold murderous intent in his eyes.

In this regard, Wen Songtao did not give any reaction.

From the moment he chose to side with His Majesty and compete in the ring with Gao Yanming, he already knew that such a day would come and was prepared for it.

"Gao Xiang, Your Majesty asked you to go to the imperial study room."

As soon as he left the main hall, Wang De came over and stopped Gao Yanming who was walking out.

Hearing this, Gao Yanming nodded, then turned and walked towards the imperial study room.

In the imperial study, Emperor Hongwen sat on the dragon throne with a cold face.

After Gao Yanming came in, he quickly bowed his hands and bowed.

"Gao Yanming, do you know your guilt?"

Hearing this, Gao Yanming was also very honest and quickly admitted his mistake.

Yes, he only admitted his mistake, not admitted guilt. There is a big difference.

"You can see for yourself how many evil things your Gao family has done over the years to cause harm to the village."

Emperor Hongwen grabbed a memorial from the Long Case and threw it at Gao Yanming.

This move made Gao Yanming shocked and angry, but there was nothing he could do about it. He ignored the matter today and could only keep a low profile.

This memorial was commissioned by Emperor Hongwen to investigate, and what is recorded in it are all the evil deeds done by the Gao family.

There are countless cases of people being killed and being forced into prostitution, one after another.

Doesn’t Gao Yanming know this?

No, he doesn't say he knows everything, but he knows most of them.

"Your Gao family is really kind."

"I don't even know that in Jinyang Mansion, your Gao clan is the heaven. Why do you, the Gao clan, plan to give me a country called China?"

As soon as these words came out, Gao Yanming knelt down.

This is not a trivial matter for the country of China, it is a serious crime that will annihilate the nine ethnic groups.

"Your Majesty, please calm down. I really don't know how dare they be so bold."

"You don't know?"

Emperor Hongwen snorted coldly.

"I remember that Gao Changxing was not supposed to be the governor of Jinyang Mansion. It was you who repeatedly recommended and guaranteed it to me."

Talking about recommendations and guarantees, there is actually pressure from Gao Yanming and officials from the family.

"You actually tell me now that you don't know?"

Sweat dripped from Gao Yanming's forehead.

At this moment, his original confidence had been somewhat shaken.

He couldn't understand what Emperor Hongwen wanted to do.

Could it be that he wanted to take this opportunity to completely defeat his Gao clan?

Thinking of this, Gao Yanming became a little panicked.

"Hmph, I don't know people well and I employ people on nepotism. If it weren't for the fact that you have made great contributions to me, this memorial would not be shown to you in the imperial study."

Gao Yanming could not move for the time being. Emperor Hongwen knew this very well, otherwise this memorial would have appeared at the court meeting long ago.

Gao Yanming below also thought of this and breathed a sigh of relief.

"My incompetence has disappointed His Majesty."

Besides, those officials from aristocratic families who went to court immediately conveyed the news from the court today.

Members of the aristocratic families in the capital were in an uproar when they heard this.

Many children from aristocratic families began to complain about Gao Yanming.

After all, a lot of the grain in their hands was purchased at high prices, and now wheat flour has emerged.

All their calculations failed. Not only did they not make any money, they also lost a lot of money.

Moreover, His Majesty's request for help was rejected three times this time. Now that the food issue has been resolved, who knows whether His Majesty will settle the score later?

This time, I really lost my wife and my troops.

"Master, what should we do now?"

In the mansion of the head of the Wu family, the old housekeeper looked carefully at Wu Yue, the head of the Wu family's capital city, who had a face as deep as water in front of him.

"What else can we do? Hurry up and let the shops under our control open and empty out the food as quickly as possible. We can get back as much as we can."

There are people from other aristocratic families who also made this decision.

All of a sudden, the major shops that had been closed due to lack of food opened their doors again, and bags of food were moved out of the warehouses.

When the people in the capital heard the news, they took action one after another.

However, before the grains of the major families started to be sold, an edict came out from the palace.

The edict explained the matter of wheat and wheat flour in detail, and the court also set up several shops to sell wheat and instruct the people on how to make wheat flour and steamed buns.

This move had been arranged by Emperor Hongwen a long time ago.

He knew that as soon as the wheat flour incident came out, all the major families would clear out their grain stocks and wanted to take the opportunity to stop losses.

So yesterday, he had people arrange everything, not only preparing tens of thousands of stones of wheat, but also a lot of wheat flour.

As soon as the edict came out, the food shops of the major aristocratic families, which were crowded just now, became deserted in a short time.

The wheat sales point prepared in the court hall was overcrowded.

"Don't be crowded, everyone has a share."

Several court officials were introducing wheat flour to everyone, and also prepared a lot of steamed buns for the people to taste.

The people who were given steamed buns couldn't believe that the food in their mouths was actually made of wheat.

"Is this really made of wheat? How can it be so delicious?"

The officials of the imperial court explained it with smiles and even made it on the spot.
Chapter completed!