Your Majesty the Empress, I am really not a traitor!

Qin Ji waved his hand: "Call Uncle Cui over tomorrow, I can't leave the Zongzheng Mansion these few days, just bring him in."

"Yes."

Chapter 65 True Identity

The next morning.

Uncle Cui followed Lingyan and walked into the palace step by step.

Uncle Cui was originally a small handyman in the palace. Later, under the appreciation of Qin Ji's father, he was taken out of the palace and brought into An Guogong's mansion.Because of this, Uncle Cui is no stranger to the environment in the palace.

For decades since then, Uncle Cui has been working as a servant in the mansion of Duke Anguo. Compared with the old housekeeper, he still can't arrange all the affairs in the mansion in an orderly manner, but many servants At work, he is still able to handle it with ease.

And this time, it was the first time in decades that he stepped into the palace again.

Many things in the palace have changed. There were far fewer handymen running around. It is said that after the new emperor took office, in order to save money, a considerable number of redundant handyman servants were abolished.Even so, everything in the palace was still kept clean and tidy.

Walking through the alley made up of palace walls next to him, and making several turns, Uncle Cui finally saw the Zong Zhengfu.

The Zongzheng Mansion is very luxuriously decorated. Since this is the place where the royal family genealogy is managed, the etiquette standards are extremely high, so the luxury here is even comparable to the main hall that the emperor usually uses for court meetings.

"The young master is in here?" Uncle Cui asked.

"Well, he is working inside now, we just go in."

As Lingyan said, she led Uncle Cui all the way upstairs, and pushed open a wooden door.

"Ah, Uncle Cui is here? Just find a place to sit."

Accompanied by Qin Ji's flat voice, Uncle Cui looked around, and finally saw a chair in front of Qin Ji's table, so he sat on the chair.

Qin Ji was working at this time, and there was another stack of materials in front of him from last night until now. These were the military innovation reports that General Bai and the other generals were in charge of.Qin Ji is studying the details of these innovations every day, but this is destined to be a cumbersome and huge project.

He raised his head to look at Uncle Cui, and then smiled: "Why, I heard from Lingyan, Uncle Cui, you want to resign?"

Facing his master's questioning, Uncle Cui did not hide anything: "Yes, young master, I am getting older and older, and even if I want to do it now, I don't have the strength as before. Seeing that my body can still move , and now I am ready to retire and return home."

"Is that so... ready to go back to my hometown?"

"Yes, I bought some land in my hometown and asked my son to help me build a few houses there, and I will live in the countryside for the elderly."

"Very good, very good." Qin Ji nodded, and then said, "Okay, Uncle Cui, if you insist on leaving, I will not stop you. But in the end, Uncle Cui, do you have anything you want to explain to me?"

The old servant in front of him froze for a moment, then he shook his head.

"Okay then." Qin Ji said, reaching under the table, and took out a beautifully crafted small box from there, "I give it to you, Uncle Cui, just take it as a thank you for serving my family for many years."

"Thank you sir."

"Open it and have a look, don't be fooled by me, bring an empty box home, and you won't be laughed out of your mouth by the villagers." Qin Ji joked.

"What did the young master say? Even if it's really an empty box, it's still a gift from the young master. I..."

Cui Shuzhen didn't care how many things were inside, he just followed Qin Ji's words and opened the small box casually, and then his face turned pale.

In that exquisite box, there were golden dragon coins and a few jewels, these things did not exceed his expectations, or in other words, he knew that his young master would definitely not be stingy with money.

But among those things lay a small piece of letter paper, purposely cut very small, on which was written in his own handwriting.

And just at the beginning of his writing, the first sentence he said was: His Majesty, Your Majesty.

"Master...Master!"

The old servant knelt on the ground with a trembling voice, and slapped himself on the mouth with his big rough hand:

"Young master! I deserve to die! I'm guilty! I've failed the young master's trust!"

However, what accompanied his apology was not the young master's scolding.

"why."

Qin Ji walked over, squatted in front of him, and asked.

"Your Majesty, she saw me in person, I dare not..."

Hearing this answer, Qin Ji nodded: "Yes, I understand."

He stood up, then helped the old man who was getting old, and then sat back on his seat.He continued calmly: "Actually, Uncle Cui, I already knew who the eyeliner who came out of the mansion was. I have been waiting, waiting for when you will resign from me--Actually, I am very clear about your majesty's thoughts." , she is worried about me."

"There must be an eyeliner ambushed by the imperial court in the mansion. I asked Lingyan and the housekeeper to screen, and in the end the only suspect was you. But fortunately, Uncle Cui, you didn't really inform the emperor of all my actions. At least, those that are related to When it comes to my life and death, you still retain your loyalty to me."

There was no scolding, or in other words, scolding was useless in Qin Ji's view. Does Uncle Cui want to be this eyeliner?He didn't want to either.But that was the emperor, how could Uncle Cui refuse His Majesty's order?For someone like Uncle Cui who walked out of the palace at the beginning, his awe of the emperor far exceeds that of ordinary people.

It is true that Qin Ji also has the power to contend with the emperor, but Uncle Cui is not a politician, he can't see this. In many people's minds, the word emperor means to listen to this person.

Uncle Cui, on the other hand, only carried out the emperor's order. He had no choice but to obey, and he dared not disobey.

"Uncle Cui, get up, I just hope you can tell me everything you need to say before you leave - since you don't say it, let me say it, otherwise, I believe you will never Nice."

"Master, I'm sorry for you..."

"You are indeed sorry for me, but I didn't say I won't forgive you," Qin Ji patted Uncle Cui on the shoulder, and then suddenly remembered something, "Oh, by the way, Uncle Cui, your son is called Cui Yingchao. Right? Let me tell you first, he was transferred to the Central Committee this year. Although the official position is not big, I will take good care of him for you, Uncle Cui."

Seeing Uncle Cui's face that seemed to be ten years old, Qin Ji waved his hands: "Okay, Lingyan, send him away, outsiders can't stay in the palace for long, and bringing him into the palace is already a Violation."

After saying this, he returned to his seat, facing Uncle Cui's tears, he didn't say another word.

There is no need to say more, what should be done, he has done his best.

However, to be honest, His Majesty the Emperor has gone too far in this matter.The eyeliner is arranged around him...

It is necessary to teach the other party a lesson.

............................

Daxia 558, early autumn.

As the autumn harvest days are approaching, the big summer harvest ceremony is about to be held.

The so-called harvest ceremony, as the name suggests, is a ceremony to celebrate the harvest.This grand ceremony is held every year, and the purpose is to pray and celebrate a good harvest this year before the harvest.

Accompanying it is a series of ceremonies of worshiping ancestors, heaven and earth, and the country.

It is precisely because of this that the harvest ceremony is often prepared long in advance.

But this year, the new emperor was worried.

Before the harvest ceremony, the central government will send a group of people to various places to investigate the situation of this year's crops, and these people will report back the situation of the crops in various places truthfully.

But this year, due to the disaster in Hexi County, Xia Yuxiao now has to consider the storage of the granary.

Hexi County is one of the important grain-producing areas in Daxia. After the disaster this year, it had already missed the best time for farming. As a result, the floods washed away a lot of the people's original grain reserves.In order to ensure that the people would not starve to death, Xia Yuxiao immediately allocated grain from granaries in various places to help Hexi County.

This thing was done smoothly, but the problem soon came out.

That is, the production in Hexi County this year is appalling.

How should this output be reported at the Harvest Ceremony?It was to be announced in front of many people that day. If the disaster situation in Hexi County was revealed, the people would not care about it, but some opposition groups would definitely attack themselves that day.

So, adhering to the idea of ​​asking the prime minister for indecision and the Taiwei for solving problems, Xia Yuxiao called Qin Ji and Prime Minister Long to the front.

Qin Ji's suggestion was, "Please allow me to bring five hundred elites to the ceremony site, no one will dare to speak."

This was so out of the question that even Qin Ji himself didn't intend to implement it, so he was naturally rejected.

Afterwards, Prime Minister Long put forward his opinion—it can be said to be affected by the disaster, or it can be said to reduce production, but these two can be properly avoided and less discussed, and the focus should be on how the country resolved the catastrophe.In the final analysis, just don't pick bad things.

Xia Yuxiao himself agrees with this view. The disaster in Hexi County cannot be hidden. Instead of hiding it, it is better to divert the attention of the people.

Because this matter was resolved, Xia Yuxiao was also very happy, but she soon became unhappy.

The reason for the unhappiness is not because of the harvest ceremony, but because...she got a piece of news that she couldn't believe:

An Guogong, at this time, is going around buying surplus old grain from all over the country.

The most frightening thing is that this large-scale purchase of surplus food from the common people was not a small-scale slapstick by Mr. An himself.

Almost the entire Great Xia army is now buying surplus grain.Without her orders, officers within the army went to negotiate prices with the people in person.

Of course, the military discipline of Daxia is relatively high, and there is no phenomenon of forced requisition, robbing, or deliberately lowering prices. When purchasing, they are collected according to market prices.

Xia Yuxiao couldn't sit still for a while.

What are you doing!Hexi County just suffered a catastrophe this year, and the grain has not been harvested and put into storage, so you started to collect surplus grain everywhere?Are you crazy?

But when Xia Yuxiao called Qin Ji over to inquire, Qin Ji only gave one reason:

"This year's catastrophe, we should hoard grain as soon as possible for next year's use. The granary in Hexi County is already empty, and the imperial court will not collect the surplus grain for unified deployment. This grain will be harvested sooner or later. By then, it will be too late to move temporarily. "

Yes, it makes sense.

But Xia Yuxiao was still terrified.

Chapter 66 We Are Great Loyal Ministers

If it's just a matter of food, Xia Yuxiao can accept it.

But right after that, there were also problems in Tai'an City.

In Tai'an City, many officials were arrested and conducted interrogations and investigations that were completely inconsistent with Daxia's laws. In the end, more than a dozen officials who embezzled the country's disaster relief funds and seized people's property were uncovered. In the end, the treatment of these officials All opinions were written by Qin Ji as a memorial and handed over to Xia Yuxiao.

To be honest, are you doing these things well?It's not bad. After Xia Yuxiao's verification, none of these officials was arrested correctly, and they really should be dealt with.

But......

Xia Yuxiao looked at the captain in front of her.

"What exactly are you going to do?"

"Your Majesty's foundation is not stable now, and I personally think that the officialdom should be rectified now. In the court, there are only a dozen central government officials who have embezzled and embezzled state funds. This is because the minister did not grasp the entire chain, otherwise, Few of the central government officials and personnel from various departments in the palace were spared. Even if this is the case with His Majesty, what will happen to those officials in other regions is obvious."

Qin Ji said respectfully.

"You mean, do you still want to continue?"

"I won't catch all the officials in one go, I just pick out a few typical cases to deter those lawbreakers," Qin Ji said with no conscience at all, "I think that such an officialdom will erode my father and son. The foundation of Xia."

"Qing... is it really for Daxia's Jiangshan Sheji?"

"Exactly."

Qin Ji said so.

However, Xia Yuxiao was as clear as a mirror in her heart.