Emperor of the Red Chamber

Chapter 33 The cold-faced king meets the imperial examination
The son that the third prince values ​​most now is Yuan Qingbai.

But after all, Yuan Qingzhe is his only legitimate son and the eldest son, and his weight in his heart is not small.

Today, he was really angry with this legitimate son and decided that this legitimate son was incompetent.

The moment he ordered Yuan Qingzhe to be imprisoned, it meant that the legitimate son's status in his heart had been greatly reduced.

As a result, his dissatisfaction with the Xiahou family increased today.

He even had the idea of ​​abolishing the princess.

It's just that he feels it's inconvenient to do so now...

He took a closer look at Yuan Qingbai's residence today and found it shabby and felt guilty.

He also had an idea to change his son Qingbai's residence in the palace.

But he didn't do that either.

He is a pragmatic person.

Yuan Qingbai is indeed no longer living in the palace. Even if he returns to the palace sometimes, he will return to the palace on the same day.

If he, the cold-faced king, fights for that position in the future, Qingbai will be his crown prince, and he will naturally continue to live in the palace. He can also reward him with mansions and gardens at any time.

After he ordered Yuan Qingzhe to be imprisoned, he then ordered Yuan Qingsong and Yuan Qingshu to be punished for copying and endorsing books. Yuan Qingsong was also beaten, and the "Song Siye Seal" was also confiscated...

On this day, Song Xiaosi had one hand red and swollen, crying and wailing in his heart: "My seal..."

And when Yuan Qingbai returned to the palace next time, the third prince replenished him with double the property stolen by Yuan Qingzhe...

……

……

After the third prince proposed and Emperor Jing'an agreed, just after the fifteenth day of the Lantern Festival, a new agency called the "Huikao Mansion" was established in the Great Zhou Dynasty, which was responsible for reviewing the sales of money and food.

The third prince is in charge of the Huikao Mansion, and is also in charge of the Minister of the South Study Room, the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and the Yushi of Zuodu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. The third prince is also in charge of the Household Department.

The Huikao Office became the first independent audit agency in Chinese history.

After the Huikao Office is established, all sales of money and food must be reviewed and approved by it.

This means that the Huikao government has deprived the ministries and agencies of the capital of a great deal of power, prevented fictitious accounting, cut off the financial resources of officials in the ministries and agencies, and made it impossible for local governments to practice favoritism and malpractice.

In this way, new deficits are blocked, and old deficits can be checked out.

The Huikao government requires those who have shortfalls to complete their shortfalls within a time limit and are not allowed to punish people harshly.

Moreover, the Huikao government first checks for misappropriation and then for corruption. When making up for a shortfall, it first compensates for misappropriation and then compensates for corruption. Every account is checked clearly and misappropriation and corruption are not confused.

This also blocks the way of describing corruption as misappropriation.

And if there are people who are short-changed and don't do it, then you're welcome.

Houses were confiscated, officials were dismissed, border guards were sent to the army, and they were executed according to the rules of invading and stealing money and food...

Well, the third prince will treat the list of exceptions given by Emperor Jing'an as appropriate...

This inventory of deficits was first carried out in the capital, and then expanded to all parts of the country.

Obviously, this Huikao Mansion really offended people, not only offending many people, but also offending a lot of people.

The Minister of Nanshufang, the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and the Censor of Zuodu who were assigned to the Huikao Mansion were all more or less intimidated.

Fortunately, the cold-faced third prince was determined, and Emperor Jing'an also strongly supported him.

……

……

On this day, the Seventh Prince angrily walked into the Qianqing Palace, entered the Nuan Pavilion, complained to Emperor Jing'an, and filed a complaint:
"Father, you can't let third brother do whatever he wants."

"How can you support him in setting up such a domineering Guikao Palace?" "With this so-called Guikao Palace, won't our Great Zhou Dynasty be in chaos?"

"Ha, third brother is pretending to be powerful this time. Wei Feng has gone all over the capital to find people to collect debts. It seems that everyone owes him debts. Even the brothers are forced by him to collect debts."

"My father has always valued family ties and been tolerant, but my third brother is so good, but he wants to go against my father's will. These days, my brothers have been forced to sell out."

"If my father no longer cares about the third brother, accepts his job, and withdraws Lao Shizi's examination house, I am afraid that his sons will be forced to die by him!"

"Even if the father doesn't feel sorry for his sons, he still has to think about Zhou."

"I don't know how many people, including relatives of the clan, heroes with different surnames, ministers, and officials from all over the country, will be forced to pay debts by the third brother. If the trouble continues like this, the Great Zhou Dynasty will fall apart!"

"..."

Emperor Jing'an kept looking at the seventh son complaining and complaining with a half-smile.

It wasn't until the Seventh Prince stopped talking that Emperor Jing'an muttered, "Are you done? You can go out now."

Seventh Prince: "..."

After being stunned for a moment, he knelt down and begged: "Father, you..."

Emperor Jing'an frowned and looked sharply, interrupting with a shout: "I want you to get out!"

Seventh Prince: "..."

After being stunned for a moment, he stood up and left Qianqing Palace angrily, feeling a little uneasy in his heart.

The fifth prince, seventh prince, eleventh prince and others from the prince party discussed it carefully in private and believed that Emperor Jing'an's previous arrangement with the third prince and fifth prince to check the deficit was probably an inspection of the candidate for the heir apparent.

Even so, the fifth prince did not regret not taking this job.

The princes' party conspired to find ways to prevent the third prince from completing this job, thinking that once the cold-faced king failed in this job, he would most likely miss out on the throne of emperor.

Today the Seventh Prince came to Emperor Jing'an to complain and complain, not only because he was really cornered by the Third Prince, but also because the prince's party was testing the old father.

As a result, the old father's firm attitude made the seventh prince feel a little uneasy. The old father, who had always been tolerant to his seventh son, actually showed an attitude of "let him get out".

"Isn't it that the old immortal has already decided in his heart that he wants the cold-faced king to be the crown prince?"

The seventh prince thought to himself.

"No, we must stop the cold-faced king from checking the deficit!"

While the seventh prince was thinking about it, he went to discuss it with the fifth prince and the eleventh prince...

……

……

In the Nuan Pavilion of Qianqing Palace.

Emperor Jing'an, who had just told his seventh son to get lost, had a livid face.

There seemed to be a hint of worry between his frowning gray eyebrows.

He knew that this rough and arrogant seventh son was just the leader, and people would continue to come to him to complain, plead, and complain, asking him to cancel the imperial examination, to control the third prince, and to stop checking the deficit...

But this time he was really determined to check the deficit, even though he gave the third prince a list of exceptions.

He knew that Dazhou now urgently needed to check the deficit.

This inventory deficit was also his test for the crown prince.

He was worried that he would not be able to persevere, and he was also worried that the third prince would not be able to endure the pressure and persevere.

Thinking of this, the old emperor breathed a sigh of relief.

He wrote four words on the paper with his pen: Perseverance!
After a pause, he then wrote another copy, still with four words: Perseverance!
One for himself, and one for his third son...

(End of this chapter)