"Ci Fu, Shangshu, is this food? Is this edible? Or is this what you eat every day?"
The red lady ordered people to pour the two bags of grain into two baskets, and then waved to the civil servants to come over.
The grain in the basket was not only old grain, some were moldy, but also mixed with a large amount of straw and sand.
The sand is to add weight, the straw is to fill the space, and half of it is real grain.
Everyone looked at each other in confusion and embarrassment as they looked at the food in the basket, obviously not expecting it to be so outrageous.
"Your Majesty, I was careless for a moment, please punish me."
Gao Hongtu, the Minister of Household Affairs in Nanjing, had no choice but to speak out.
"As long as you know that you have neglected your duties, come here and have Gao Hongtu, the Minister of Household Affairs in Nanjing, dismissed from his post and thrown into prison. After hearing this, you will be punished!"
The red lady nodded, then waved her hand and said.
Immediately, several large and thick soldiers rushed forward, pushed Gao Hongtu to the ground, took off his official uniform, and tied him up.
"Your Majesty, so much food needs to be collected in just three days. It is understandable that Gao Shangshu failed to observe the situation for a while. Please give me another chance..."
Everyone was in a hurry, Qian Qianyi said quickly.
"The opportunity has been given, otherwise it would not be imprisonment. I will check again in two days. If there is another moldy grain mixed with these messy things...Qian Qianyi, Hou Xun, I will let you
Eat it all."
After the red lady finished speaking, she ignored everyone's reaction and immediately withdrew her troops back to the city while escorting Gao Hongtu.
"This is really unreasonable!"
"unacceptable."
"Oh, this is really hard to explain when a scholar meets a soldier!"
Seeing the red lady leaving, everyone's faces were full of indignation.
For such a trivial matter, a minister of the Ministry of Revenue would arrest him as soon as he asked. He simply didn't take the court's laws into consideration at all.
"Mr. Ge, Gao Shangshu has been arrested. We can't just die without saving him. What do you think we should do?"
After everyone vented their anger, they all looked at Qian Qianyi.
"Gao Shangshu should be fine for the time being. Let's take care of the food issue first. Then I will go to see the Queen Mother together. It won't be a big deal.
However, this is really outrageous, please don’t cause trouble again this time!”
Qian Qianyi waved his hand, then grabbed the grain in the basket and looked at it, then dropped it, clapped his hands, and said.
Although he didn't think the Red Lady dared to arrest him and Hou Xun, he was not afraid of anything but ten thousand.
Besides, he didn't want to give His Majesty the impression that he couldn't handle such a small thing before he even went to the capital.
The reason why the Red Lady only arrested Gao Hongtu was because Gao Hongtu was the Minister of Household Affairs in Nanjing, while Qian Qianyi and Hou Xun were the Second Assistant and the Minister of Household Affairs in the Ming Dynasty. She really had no right to dismiss them from their posts.
That's why Gao Hongtu was attacked and warned the two of them to collect the food quickly and honestly, and then go to the capital to take office and not stay in Jiangnan.
However, according to the wicked behavior of the two of them, she was sure that they would not last until March when they arrived in the capital.
That little emperor was much more cruel and ruthless than her.
Sure enough, I caught up with a Nanjing Minister of Household Affairs, and two days later, two million stones of grain were found. There was no more fraud. After checking it, the red lady was satisfied and ordered the shipment to be shipped.
Obviously, the gentry and literati in Jiangnan also knew the importance.
Nowadays, the officials who came from Donglin, one is the Second Assistant, two are the Minister of War and the Ministry of Household, plus some other ministers and minor officials, occupy almost half of the court.
If for a mere two million stone grain, His Majesty has a bad impression of the Jiangnan scholars and Donglin officials, then the gain outweighs the loss.
In order to promote Zhou Yanru as the first assistant, the amount of money and food spent was far more than this.
At court the next day.
After the intercession of Qian Qianyi and other civil servants, Zhang Yan only demoted Gao Hongtu from the position of Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs in Nanjing to the position of Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and the red lady said nothing.
A group of civil servants who came from the Donglin Party were relieved. Zhang Yan's punishment was in line with the rules of the court. As for the imperial concubine, it was completely a bandit act.
"The Empress Dowager, Your Majesty, I am very old, and my old illness relapsed yesterday. I may not be able to travel long distances to the capital in the short term to take up my post. I hope the Empress Dowager, Your Majesty, will allow me to rest for a few days!"
Hou Xun stood up and said with a look of shame and morbidity.
Obviously he doesn't want to go to Beijing to take office immediately.
This is also the result of several people's discussions over the past two days.
In the past, the Six Ministers of Nanjing were just government offices for the elderly in name only, but now they not only have to handle government affairs in several provinces in the south of the Yangtze River, but also have the empress dowager and noble concubines sitting in charge, making them full-fledged government offices with real power.
Now Gao Hongtu's Minister of Household Affairs has been demoted to the rank of Minister. If all the prestigious Donglin officials leave, the remaining ones will definitely not be able to defeat Ma Shiying and other eunuchs. In addition, the imperial concubine acts without any scruples.
We know what kind of chaos Jiangnan will become in the end.
So everyone discussed and decided to let Hou Xun pretend to be ill to stay in order to compete with Ma Shiying.
After all, Hou Xun was kind to Zuo Liangyu from Huguang, and Zuo Liangyu commanded millions of troops. Even the imperial concubine must be afraid of him!
At the beginning, so many ministers of the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of War were killed, but Hou Xun was only dismissed from his post. The reason was that Chongzhen was afraid of Zuo Liangyu and was afraid that killing Hou Xun would cause him to misunderstand.
The reason why Zuo Liangyu chose to support the Donglin Party and support King Lu was also for the sake of Hou Xun. It can be said that the two of them were both prosperous and devastated.
This kind of relationship between civil and military officials has become a tradition in the late Ming Dynasty. If civil servants want to make a difference and do practical things to save their lives, especially governors and governors, they must win over a general who can fight.
Similarly, if a general leading an army wants to avoid being impeached by civilian officials, he must rely on a civilian official who can speak for him in court. Otherwise, even if he can fight, he will never get any credit.
For example, Hong Chengchou's Cao Bianjiao, Man Gui, and Sun Chuanting's men were as fierce and powerful as tigers.
"Since Hou Aiqing is not feeling well, he should rest for a while and return to Beijing after he recovers. The Aijia will explain this to His Majesty."
Zhang Yan didn't say anything, just nodded.
"Thank you, Queen Mother, for your understanding."
Hou Xun quickly thanked him and was moved to tears.
Seeing the Queen Mother nodding, other Donglin Party officials also breathed a sigh of relief.
Only Ma Shiying and a few officials who were attached to him frowned. Ma Shiying saw that the red lady did not speak, so she did not dare to stand up and say anything.
After all, the Queen Mother didn't like to see a eunuch like him.
Of course Madam Hou Xunhong would not take it seriously. After receiving the food, she had no time to pay attention to these civil servants. Instead, she looked at Wei Guogong and others.
"Where is the Duke of Wei?"
"I'm here, what are your orders?"
Wei Guogong stood up calmly as if he had been prepared.
The civil servants also cheered up and wanted to know how His Majesty would deal with these nobles.
"Declare the decree!" Lady Hong didn't say much and directly asked the guarding eunuch Lu Jiude to declare the decree.
When the two came, Zhu Cihong gave them a lot of blank imperial edicts, all of which were stamped with big seals, so that they could act according to the situation.
But the highest specification is the imperial edict.
Even if Zhu Cihong trusted the two women again, he would not give them the edict. If there were no nobles in Nanjing, the edict would not be given.
And with the blank edict in hand, in addition to King Fan, even the Duke and the Red Lady can legitimately deal with it.
"The Emperor of Heaven has issued an edict: The Duke of Wei, Xu Wenjue, has ignored his kindness and has taken away his title and confiscated his family property. The entire family has been sent to Qiongzhou. I appreciate this!"
The content of the imperial edict was simple and crude, obviously written by the Red Lady herself.
"Your Majesty, please have mercy!"
"Queen Mother, I, the Duke of Wei, have guarded Nanjing for the Ming Dynasty for generations. They have been conscientious and loyal, and they have worked hard even without merit. This time, I was really forced by King Fu. I was confused for a moment and asked the Queen Mother to beg for mercy from Your Majesty!
"
But just this concise content made Wei Guogong feel like he was dying. He fell to his knees and begged.
Since the Queen Mother had not summoned them for so many days, he knew that there would be no good results, and was even prepared to go to Beijing to plead guilty and pass the title to his eldest son.
But he never expected that His Majesty would directly strip him of his title without giving him any chance to apologize.
"Wei Guogong, if you dare to do something, you must dare to do it. There are some things that you cannot interfere with. Chengzu left many nobles to guard Nanjing just to prevent this kind of thing from happening.
But you are better off, for the sake of your own glory and wealth, you have put your own responsibilities behind, and not only did not come forward to stop it, but actively participated in it. It was you who failed His Majesty and the Ming Dynasty first. With such a result today, I can't blame His Majesty for being ruthless."
The red lady said righteously.
He signaled Lu Jiude to continue reading the imperial edict.
As an imperial edict was read out, one of the famous nobles collapsed on the ground, and some even cried loudly.
They are not begging for mercy, because begging for mercy is useless, and His Majesty is not here. Is it possible that the imperial edict can be changed?
Sure enough, although the civil servants looked shocked, they were gloating in their hearts. Over the past few hundred years, these nobles had relied on their power to stay away from the emperor. I don't know how many people were forced to have their families destroyed, and their land, fields, houses, and shops were annexed.
There were times when the official and gentry families fell into decline, and they all experienced ups and downs, but these noble families endured for a long time, especially the lineage of Wei Guogong.
"Alas! If I had known today, why would I have done it in the first place? Duke Wei, your Majesty has already shown mercy beyond the law."
Seeing how miserable they were crying, Zhang Yan had no choice but to stand up and sigh.
I have to say that her compassionate look was in sharp contrast to the red lady's aggressive look.
"Put them all down!"
The red lady was too lazy to talk nonsense and just waved her hand.
Immediately, the wolf-like soldiers rushed in and dragged out more than a dozen dignitaries, including Duke Wei.
"Your Majesty, your Majesty, these nobles have great influence in Nanjing and the surrounding areas, and their relations are complicated. In order to prevent unrest, we can ask the Ministry of History and War to go outside the city and take over the officers and soldiers of the Beijing camp first. I am willing to take people to personally take charge of maintaining order in the city."
Qian Qianyi deserved to have eaten salt for a few more years. Everyone was still sighing, but he reacted first.
After his reminder, all the civil servants' eyes flashed green.
It is obvious that after these nobles come to Taiwan, a large amount of benefits will have to be redistributed.
"Queen Mother, Empress, and Wei Chen are the Ministers of the Ministry of War in Nanjing. According to the regulations, Wei Chen should take over the capital camp outside the city."
Ma Shiying also stood up hurriedly, wanting to control the tens of thousands of Beijing troops outside the city.
"You don't need to worry. Just stay here patiently. I have my own arrangements. Don't worry, the sky won't fall."
The red lady waved her hand, interrupting everyone's fantasy.
Everyone was filled with hatred. The imperial concubine actually wanted to eat alone. Without their support, could she survive?
So they all looked at Zhang Yan, hoping that she would give her some advice.
Zhang Yan also knew that with the support and help of these civil servants, she would be able to capture these nobles in a better and more stable manner, so she looked at the Red Lady.
The red lady gave her a reassuring look.
Because at this time, action had already begun inside and outside the city, and groups of soldiers and horses were heading towards the noble house.
Similarly, Li Dakai also led an army of 10,000 to attack the Beijing camp.
