Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 453 Loyal and treacherous ministers

"Your Majesty, Lord Zeng, the Left Vice Minister of Rites, requests to see you!" a eunuch reported.

"Let him in!" Zhao Xing waved his hand.

"Yes!"

The eunuch left, and soon the Minister of Rites Zeng Qingxuan walked in.

Zeng Qingxuan is now just over 40 years old, but he can already serve as the Minister of Rites. Among the third-rank officials in the court, he is considered relatively young.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you!" Zeng Qingxuan bowed.

"No need to be polite!" Zhao Xing waved his hand and said, "What is the matter with you, Mr. Zeng?"

"I have a secret to report!" Zeng Qingxuan said.

"Ok?"

Zhao Xing was startled when he heard this and said, "All of you retreat!"

"Yes!"

Except for Sanshui, all the palace maids and eunuchs in the hall retreated.

"Tell me what's the matter!" Zhao Xing said.

"Your Majesty, Prime Minister Yang has joined forces with the heads of various departments and many officials in the court to persuade Your Majesty to release the arrested officials at the morning court tomorrow. Some of these officials are even prepared to die in the hall tomorrow!" Zeng Qingxuan said.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xing looked at Zeng Qingxuan deeply.

Of course he knew what Yang Shengkui and the others were doing, but he didn't know that they were prepared to die for their protest.

It was not a big deal that two officials were hanged in the Council of State Affairs Hall.

But it would be a different matter if an official made a death-defying appeal at the morning court session.

You know, most emperors in history were afraid of officials dying for their remonstrances, even an emperor like Zhu Yuanzhang who would kill officials without blinking an eye was afraid of it.

The word "afraid" is not quite appropriate to describe it, but rather "something with a sense of caution".

When an official dies for his advice, everyone will see him as a loyal minister.

After all, everyone is afraid of death. If someone dies in order to persuade the emperor, he is a loyal minister.

Since he is a loyal minister, it means that the emperor has a problem on this issue.

Once the news spreads, not only will he lose the hearts of scholars, but he will also lose the hearts of the people.

Of course, there were also emperors who were afraid of being badly criticized.

Therefore, when the emperor heard someone was threatening to die for his remonstrance, he would eventually compromise.

Even if Zhao Xing did not care about his reputation after his death or the opinions of those scholars, he could not ignore the people's will.

If everything in the world were peaceful, he wouldn't care.

But the existence of the Wizarding Cult forced him to care.

Once the people are in turmoil, the Wizard Cult will take the opportunity to stir up trouble, which will probably cause quite a bit of chaos.

However, he was more curious about Zeng Qingxuan. The fact that he came to report this matter at this time made him either a loyal minister or a treacherous minister who wanted to use this matter to gain power.

The possibility that this person is a loyal minister is very small. Even if he has no selfish motives, he will feel that what he did this time is wrong. If he is a loyal minister, it is impossible to tell him these things.

Therefore, it is not appropriate to say that Zeng Qingxuan is a treacherous minister. It should be said that this person is ambitious and wants to use this matter to gain his favor.

However, Zhao Xing was not opposed to this situation.

He remembered that when he was watching a drama in his previous life, he had seen Qianlong and Ji Xiaolan say that Heshen was greedy for money. He knew it, but apart from being greedy for money, everything else Heshen did was in line with his wishes.

Zhao Xing couldn't understand it at that time, but he finally understood it after he became emperor.

For a country, loyalty and treachery are actually relative.

In fact, it depends on whether the emperor is incompetent or not. If the emperor is wise, there will naturally be no soil for treacherous ministers to take power.

On the contrary, if the emperor is wise, those loyal ministers will become a hindrance to the emperor's development of the country.

As I said, loyalty does not mean virtue.

The loyalty required by the ancient emperors was actually blind loyalty, the kind of loyalty that the emperor would order his subjects to die, the kind of loyalty that would protect the emperor even though they knew he was incompetent. For Qianlong, Heshen's greed for money was just a small matter, but Heshen's work was in line with his wishes, that is, a loyal minister.

For Zhao Xing, he needed someone with ambition to deal with the diehards in the court.

Sometimes it is easier for ministers to deal with each other than for the emperor to deal with him.

Thinking of this, Zhao Xing asked, "Since Mr. Zeng has come to report, you should have a plan to deal with it, right?"

"Your Majesty, these people want to commit suicide in the palace, which puts Your Majesty in an unjust situation. This is simply an unforgivable crime. However, it is a bit troublesome to deal with it, and the usual methods are not applicable. I do have a way, but..."

"I don't want to know what method you are going to use. I will leave this matter to you. I only ask that no one dies in the morning court tomorrow. Can you do it?" Zhao Xing said lightly.

"can!"

Zeng Qingxuan was delighted when he heard this, and quickly said, "But I need the cooperation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs."

Zhao Xing tilted his head and said, "Sanshui, you must obey the orders of Mr. Zeng Aiqing and cooperate with him no matter what he wants to do."

"Yes!" Sanshui replied.

"If you do it well, I will reward you handsomely. If you fail, you know the consequences." Zhao Xing said calmly.

"Your Majesty, rest assured. I will definitely get this done." Zeng Qingxuan assured quickly.

"Sanshui, please see Lord Zeng off." Zhao Xing ordered.

"Yes!"

Sanshui looked at Zeng Qingxuan and smiled, "Minister Zeng, please come in!"

After the two men left, Zhao Xing pondered for a while, asked someone to bring Yan Kuan over, and then continued to deal with the ties.

After about an incense stick of time, Sanshui came back and whispered Zeng Qingxuan's arrangements.

"This is a ruthless man. It would have been better if he had surrendered earlier."

After hearing the compliment, Zhao Xing felt it was a pity.

If Zeng Qingxuan had surrendered earlier, many things would have been much simpler.

Originally, he wanted to train Yan Kuan to be his minion, but Yan Kuan was too timid.

He was full of concerns when asked to do something, let alone deal with those officials.

However, Zhao Xing also understood that the reason why Zeng Qingxuan only showed up now was because he had arrested so many officials at once this time and saw his determination.

Zeng Qingxuan must have had concerns before, worrying that he was not firm enough, and that if he surrendered, he would end up being abandoned.

"Do as he says." Zhao Xing said.

"Yes!" Sanshui replied.

At this time, a eunuch came in to report that Yan Kuan had arrived.

Zhao Xing asked someone to bring Yan Kuan in.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you!" Yan Kuan said with a salute.

"The charges against those officials in the prison must be investigated as soon as possible. We cannot delay it too long. Do you understand?" Zhao Xing waved his hand.

"Your Majesty, although the Imperial City Bureau has provided evidence, it will take some time to verify the evidence. It can't be done quickly." Yan Kuan became anxious when he heard this.

He knew without hesitation that some of the so-called evidence was forged.

It’s not to say that those people have no problems at all, but according to the evidence provided by the Imperial City Bureau, half of them are sentenced to death, and the rest will be exiled.

You have to know that there were more than 30 officials, all of whom were ranked in Chaoyang. If all the officials of the Song Dynasty had such serious problems, the Song Dynasty would have perished long ago.

Although he knew it, he didn't dare to expose it, but the evidence still needed to be verified to confirm its authenticity.

If it is found to be fake, then it means that there is a problem with the counterfeiting on the part of the Imperial City Bureau, and it will have nothing to do with him.

If he really did as Zhao Xing suggested and closed the case quickly, and problems were discovered later, he, as the main person in charge, would be finished.

"We have certified materials, so it's impossible for them to be fake. This matter is causing a big stir right now, and I want a result quickly, do you understand?" Zhao Xing said calmly.

"I understand." Hearing the impatience in Zhao Xing's tone, Yan Kuan didn't dare to say any more nonsense.

(End of this chapter)