You get Lu Bu as your starting character.

Chapter 7 You are guilty, and you deserve to die.

"Grand Tutor, is this the good news you told me about?"

Zhou Chen closed the memorial, raised his head, looked at Grand Tutor Yan Hua with a gloomy expression, and angrily threw the memorial at Grand Tutor Yan Hua's feet.

"Look for yourself, is this good news?"

"Didn't you say that the Empress had already issued an edict to provide disaster relief and quell the peasant uprising? But the people of the four northwestern prefectures are resorting to cannibalism, and there are piles of bones for thousands of miles. Where is the court's disaster relief fund?"

Why did what started as a civil unrest involving only a few dozen people eventually escalate into a civil uprising involving hundreds to thousands of people?

"Is this how you provide disaster relief and quell popular uprisings for me?"

Zhou Chen was furious.

He never expected that the disaster relief funds allocated by the imperial court would hardly be used to help the people, which led to the peasant uprising eventually turning into a civil rebellion, with officials being killed, grain being looted, and flags being raised in rebellion.

The local government failed to quell the uprising in time, allowing it to escalate until it reached its current uncontrollable state.

If he hadn't suddenly taken the throne today, he probably wouldn't have known that flames of war had already broken out over his Great Zhou empire.

When Grand Tutor Yan Hua saw the Emperor's anger, he quickly picked up the memorial and read its contents. His face turned grim.

He never imagined that the situation in the four northwestern prefectures would deteriorate to such an extent.

Damn it.

He allocated over a million taels of silver for disaster relief to the four prefectures in the Northwest. Even if half of it was used for disaster relief and to help the people, the four prefectures in the Northwest should not have fallen into such a state of devastation!

"Your Majesty, this old minister is guilty."

Grand Tutor Yan Hua knelt down with a thud, his previous confidence gone.

He knew that as the person in charge of this disaster relief effort, he was likely to be held responsible for the great chaos that had occurred in the four northwestern prefectures.

Even though he is one of the four regents, his guilt this time is probably not light.

This is no longer a simple matter of inadequate disaster relief.

Rather, it was the inadequate disaster relief that led to a popular uprising, resulting in the fall of two prefectures and the uncontrollable situation in the four northwestern prefectures.

Zhou Chen glared down at Grand Tutor Yan Hua with fury.

"You are guilty, and your crimes are unforgivable."

Don't assume that if you confess, he won't punish you.

If it weren't for the imperial court's ineffective disaster relief efforts, the tragic situation of cannibalism and countless bones scattered across the four northwestern prefectures would not have occurred.

There would be no popular uprising, which would lead to the fall of the two prefectures and the outbreak of war in the four northwestern prefectures.

Who will bear the consequences?
"Someone is coming."

"The Grand Tutor's ineffective disaster relief has caused the people of the four northwestern prefectures to be displaced and popular uprisings to break out. The Grand Tutor should be dragged away and imprisoned in the imperial jail to await further punishment."

Zhou Chen said coldly.

As one of the four Grand Ministers of the Great Zhou Dynasty, he couldn't even handle such a small matter as disaster relief and emergency assistance for the people.

What use is there in keeping such a person who holds a position without doing any work?

Upon hearing Zhou Chen's words, the ministers' expressions changed drastically.

They expected the Emperor to punish Grand Tutor Yan Hua for his ineffective disaster relief efforts, but they never imagined the severity of the punishment would be.

It should be noted that Grand Tutor Yan Hua was one of the four regents left by the late emperor, a pillar of the court.

The Emperor actually wants to throw Grand Tutor Yan Hua into the Imperial Prison.

"Your Majesty, although the Grand Tutor has failed in his disaster relief efforts, he is a key minister in the court who assists the nation. I beg Your Majesty to show mercy and punish him leniently."

General Wu Jin immediately stepped forward to plead for Grand Tutor Yan Hua.

“Your Majesty, the General’s words are reasonable. The Grand Tutor is a key minister who assists the country. Although he is in full charge of this disaster relief, the local government is the one who actually carries out the relief. It is understandable that the Grand Tutor has been kept in the dark. I beg Your Majesty to have mercy and punish the Grand Tutor leniently.”

"I beg Your Majesty to show mercy and punish the Grand Tutor leniently."

……

One by one, civil and military officials stepped forward to plead for Grand Tutor Yan Hua.

Zhou Chen saw it all, but remained unmoved.

"Drag down."

"Anyone who dares to plead for the Grand Tutor shall be dragged out and thrown into the imperial prison." Upon hearing this, all the officials turned pale.

No one dared to speak up for Grand Tutor Yan Hua anymore.

They had never seen Emperor Zhou Chen so domineering and unquestionable.

They had no doubt that if they dared to plead for Grand Tutor Yan Hua again, Emperor Zhou Chen would throw them into prison as well.

Grand Tutor Yan Hua opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end he could only let out a long sigh and was dragged out by the Imperial Guards with a pale face.

It wasn't that he didn't want to speak, but that he couldn't.

He couldn't very well tell Emperor Zhou Chen that the disaster relief funds he allocated had been embezzled!

That would be no different from courting death.

"besides."

After Grand Tutor Yan Hua was dragged out by the Imperial Guards, Zhou Chen sharply surveyed the assembled officials.

"From this moment forward, the Empress and the Emperor shall abolish their power to rule as regents. From now on, the women of the inner palace shall not interfere in politics, and all matters, large and small, in the court shall be subject to my approval."

what?
Abolishing the power of the Empress and the Holy Mother to rule as regents?

The imperial harem is forbidden from interfering in politics?

What is Your Majesty trying to do?
The courtiers were all taken aback, wondering what Emperor Zhou Chen was really up to.

It was Emperor Zhou Chen's idea to rule as regents during the Second Emperor's reign.

Now they want to abolish it again.

Could it be that the Emperor now feels threatened by the Empress's dual rule and wants to strip her of her power?

Some people with a keen sense of smell have already detected an unusual odor.

They immediately understood why Emperor Zhou Chen had insisted on imprisoning Grand Tutor Yan Hua, no matter how much the generals and ministers pleaded.

It turns out that the Emperor is beginning to eliminate the Empress's supporters.

Everyone knows that Grand Tutor Yan Hua is the Empress's man.

Besides Grand Tutor Yan Hua, there was also General Wu Jin.

It can be said that two of the four regents in the court were affiliated with the Empress.

This doesn't even include the other court officials.

This shows how powerful the Empress was in the court.

A strange glint flashed in Prime Minister Yuan Bo's eyes as he glanced at General Wu Jin.

Originally, he wanted to see if General Wu Jin would stand up and oppose it when he heard that Emperor Zhou Chen wanted to abolish the Empress's right to rule as regent.

After all, General Wu Jin is the emperor's father-in-law and the empress's father. If the empress were stripped of her power as regent, the influence and prestige of the maternal relatives' faction would be greatly weakened.

However, the Prime Minister was disappointed.

General Wu Jin remained silent throughout, showing no intention of standing up to oppose the movement.

Other officials who belonged to the Empress's family and her relatives remained silent when General Wu Jin made no move.

With this, the civil and military officials tacitly accepted Emperor Zhou Chen's decree to abolish the Empress's and Emperor Zhou Chen's dual authority to rule the country.

From then on, Empress Wu Ying officially ended her right to rule from behind the curtain.

"All right."

"Now, my ministers, tell me how to resolve the issues concerning the four northwestern prefectures."

"How should we provide relief for the drought in the four northern prefectures?"

Seeing that no ministers raised any objections, Zhou Chen spoke again, looking at the ministers.

He was actually waiting for someone to stand up and challenge him, so that he could establish his authority!

However, not a single minister stepped forward.

This saved him a lot of trouble.

(End of this chapter)