Chapter 22: The One who Caught the Emperor’s Eye
While Xing and Shengli were trapped in the Heavenly Flowers Palace, the emperor and his general safely reached the palace. All the way people cheered for the emperor although he never showed his face as he travelled in a carriage. The Palace that had followed it’s rules, where the Emperor never left the palace, first encountered the emperor’s direct visit and address. Also this was the first time this emperor had punished a noble family, not to mention an older family like Ming Family and that too for the sake of people. This made the other noble families who thought they could do anything as long as they support the Emperor, uneasy.
An entire family being punished is not uncommon, but the emperor leaving the palace for the complaints of the people, made the officials tremble. The Western Province officials were all investigated in the past couple of days and all found guilty were stripped off their posts and their wealth were seized and they were degraded to commoners. The oppressed people were really happy by this turn of events and the hunters became the prey overnight. No one helped the fired officials and they were chased away. Those included some officials from notable families and even their own families didn’t help them fearing they’ll be investigated if they help them.
The officials from other provinces tried to clean their acts and other noble families tried to change their arrogant ways and underground connections. One visit from the Emperor made many changes. The sheepish people were troubled and the moral people rejoiced and of course there were some evil people who were prudent, who did not care too.
As soon as the Emperor entered his study the next day, he was welcomed by the very crossed Prime Minister with his adopted son Huang Rijun who was the assistant Civil Affairs minister. Since Rijun was close to the Emperor and the General, he was here to act as a buffer between his father and the Emperor as it was his unspoken duty as his friend.
As the Emperor entered, both of them gave the courtesy bow to greet the emperor. "Prime Minister, what breeze blowed you here this early in the morning?, the emperor sneered. Huang AoTian gritted his teeth and held his fists. His nerves in his forehead were visible and his eyes were red with anger.
" Your Majesty, I’m here because of the storm you created, to educate the implications of your actions this time ",he said controlling his anger. The Emperor sat in his chair and the Prime Minister sat opposite to him with his son standing by his right and the general to his left.
" Zhen’s actions are appreciated by the people. The bad people are being punished, what’s there for you to worry, unless..",he smirked.
"You..",he was about to swear when Rijun interfered, " Your Majesty, you know more than ninety percent of our court officials are from noble families. If a group of them unite and stopped working or worse - start to act against you, the court will not function and the people would be suffering then too. Our Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Lord Zhong had to work really hard these couple of days to prevent such things from happening. I hope you understand the gravity of the situation we are in", he talked in a soothing way.
The emperor rubbed his temples. " Those noble families... can’t live with them, can’t get rid of them. So now, how is the situation? "
" Psst, look who’s worried now.. ", Ao Tian sneered. The emperor ignored him and looked at Rijun.
" Your Majesty, we made sure that every official know that only those who are guilty should be worried and if they do anything out of normal, they’ll only look guilty. Those who still protested were investigated and some were arrested and others were suspended. Also Zhong army is also used in addition to the imperial guards for safety of the capital city. This will only appease them on the surface, but they are definitely going to plan something in the future", Rijun replied.
" You are really good at intimidating, Prime Minister AoTian. Just arrange a banquet or something to soothe them", the Emperor smiled.