Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 444 Suicide
"Then go and ask for help from Mr. Yang." The official named Zhou said anxiously.

"Brother Zhou, why don't you understand?" The official sighed and said, "The government obviously wants to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys this time. No one can save us."

"Impossible. Mr. Yang is also involved in this matter. If something happens to us, he will also be in trouble. How can he ignore us?" said the official named Zhou.

"Perhaps Yang Xianggong is the monkey. Although it would be troublesome if he did not intervene, he would not be held responsible. But if he intervened, perhaps His Majesty would not only kill the chicken, but also the monkey. Do you think Yang Xianggong would care?"

"Zi Yu, maybe things are not that bad. It's because of something else?" The official named Zhou said hopefully.

"Ugh."

The official named Zi Yu sighed and said, "The Minister of Justice is your Majesty's lackey. If it is something else, the Censorate or the Dali Temple should have contacted us first. How could it be possible that the Ministry of Justice would send someone here?

Brother Zhou, don't hope for the best. Now the two of us will surely end up in a miserable situation. Even our families will be implicated. We will die, but we must find a way to protect our families. I have a method that you can try."

Official Zhou looked stunned when he heard this. In fact, he knew that if the Ministry of Justice sent someone to look for him, there would be almost no other possibility.

But even ants try to survive, so he naturally doesn't want to die.

"any solution?"

"us…"

Zi Yu leaned close to the official Zhou's ear and whispered a few words.

Upon hearing this, the official named Zhou looked at Zi Yu with horror and disbelief.

"Brother Zhou, this is the only way to save our family. Time is running out now. If we delay any further, there will be no chance at all."

Official Zhou was silent for a long time, then said in a hoarse voice: "Okay..."

…………

There were three assistant prime ministers in the Council of State, commonly known as deputy prime ministers.

However, in official circles, few people directly call him the deputy prime minister, and they also use the respectful title of "Xianggong".

After Zeng Gongliang was transferred to the position of Privy Councilor, a position became vacant.

Hai Wenyou officially took over the vacant position of deputy prime minister a year later.

The other two were named Guo Yi and Yang Shengkui.

The deputy prime minister's duty is to assist the prime minister in handling government affairs, but each of them has an independent public housing.

Yang Shengkui was handling government affairs in the public housing when his entourage hurried in.

"My lord, something bad has happened. The Ministry of Justice has just sent someone to the Council Hall to invite two officials, Liu Zhou, from the Personnel Office." The attendant reported.

There are several rooms under the Political Affairs Hall, such as the Kongmu Room, Li Room, Hu Room, Bingli Room, Xing Room, etc., to handle specific affairs.

These rooms correspond to various departments in the court, which are directly managed by the deputy prime ministers.

"what!"

Yang Shengkui stood up in shock when he heard this and said angrily, "What kind of place is the Political Affairs Hall? Even if an official commits a crime, it is not the Ministry of Justice's turn to deal with it. This is simply lawless!"

"My lord, the Ministry of Justice does not have the courage nor the authority to deal with officials from the Council of State. Now that they have sent someone to invite us, they must have obtained the permission of His Majesty," the attendant reminded.

Although he was just an follower, he had been with Yang Shengkui for many years and his political vision was more sensitive than that of ordinary officials.

As the deputy prime minister, Yang Shengkui naturally could not be unaware of this. It was precisely because he was aware of this that he was panicked and afraid.

"Go and find these two people, and arrange for someone to inquire to see if the Ministry of Justice has looked for other officials besides them." Yang Shengkui ordered.

"Yes!" the follower responded and hurried away.

"Is this to kill the chicken to scare the monkey?" Yang Shengkui muttered to himself.

When he learned that the Ministry of Justice had sent people to look for Liu and Zhou, he knew that the matter must have been exposed.

Zhao Xing's guess was correct. The merchants involved in the grain transportation were unwilling to transport grain, and it was indeed a joint effort by them.

But this matter cannot be considered deliberate, it can only be considered as intentional.

After all, many of the merchants involved in grain transportation had already obtained salt and tea permits, which were enough to last for two or three years.

Years ago, the business people in their family had contacted them one after another, unwilling to continue supplying grain to the court. After all, the court's demand for grain was too great, and they could not afford to continue to transport it.

However, these officials were afraid that their collective withdrawal would anger Zhao Xing, so they asked them to continue transporting the goods and then gradually withdraw after the new year on the grounds of insufficient funds.

However, they did not expect that Zhao Xing would propose reforms to the official evaluation system after the new year, and their opposition would be of no use.

So someone suggested that the merchants should simply withdraw collectively to force Zhao Xing to compromise.

The demand for food on the border is so great that merchants themselves have a hard time maintaining themselves. This is also a legitimate reason. Zhao Xing can't get angry because of this.

Now it seems that Zhao Xing’s temper is even more explosive than imagined, and he directly overturned the table.

However, he felt that Zhao Xing was still a little naive. The collective withdrawal was their doing, but even if this incident had not happened, those merchants would not be able to bear it.

Although there is a pile of money at home, and it seems to be no different from exchanging it for salt and tea permits, we can't exchange all the money for tea and salt permits, right?

What Zhao Xing did would not have any deterrent effect at all, and those merchants would still stop transporting grain.

"Your Majesty should know this clearly." Yang Shengkui murmured.

He felt that Zhao Xing should be able to see this clearly.

In other words, Zhao Xing did this most likely to scare them and force their relatives who were doing business behind them to continue transporting grain to the border.

Thinking of this, Yang Shengkui's expression relaxed.

"Jiajun, something bad has happened..."

While Yang Shengkui was deep in thought, his follower ran in with a panicked look on his face.

"How can you be so flustered? Do you think the Ministry of Justice dares to go directly to the Council of State to arrest people?" Yang Shengkui scolded.

The attendant took a few breaths and said, "Masters Liu and Zhou were hanged in the public house!"

"what?"

Yang Shengkui was stunned at first when he heard this, and then he was filled with surprise.

Originally this matter was a bit troublesome, and now that Liu and Zhou both committed suicide, the one who is in trouble is Emperor Zhao Xing.

Since ancient times, it has been very rare for officials to be forced to death in government offices.

Once this incident happened, it would inevitably arouse the grief and indignation of officials and scholars all over the world.

No matter what evidence Zhao Xing had, it was not in compliance with regulations for him to ask the Ministry of Justice to handle it.

As long as they have the upper hand, even if Zhao Xing publishes evidence later, outsiders will think that it is just to cover up the facts and throw dirty water on the two of them.

The dead are the greatest. By then, not to mention the officials, even the common people will feel disgusted.

Thinking of this, Yang Shengkui gave a few instructions to his followers, and then went to the clerk's office.

When Yang Shengkui arrived, many officials from the Political Affairs Hall had gathered outside the public house where the two men had committed suicide.

Han Zhang has arrived and is directing people to take the two people down and block the news.

No matter why the two committed suicide, the news must not leak out until it is fully investigated.

Otherwise, with all the rumors spreading, no one would believe it even if the real result was finally announced.

…………

Long Tuge

Zhao Xingzhen was looking at the list of concubines and album sent by Chuxiu Palace.

After half a month of selection, the audition has come to an end.

A total of eighty-nine ladies were finally selected to enter the Chuxiu Palace.

Although Zhao Xing instructed that no more than a hundred people should be sent, the people at Chuxiu Palace did not dare to send anyone without proper qualifications.

The album in Zhao Xing's hand at this time not only contained portraits of these beautiful ladies, but also their backgrounds and specialties.

(End of this chapter)