The most romantic little emperor

After Qin Hao solved the problem, he was in a good mood and said, "My dear ministers, do you have anything else to report?"

Lu Yuanshan, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, stood up and knelt on the ground. "Your Highness, please help me! This is what happened. The day before yesterday, several officials of the Ministry of Revenue were severely injured by Princess Qiqi. You asked them to rest at home. I promoted several people to temporarily take over their positions according to your wishes to ensure the normal operation of the Ministry of Revenue. As a result, these new officials were threatened yesterday, and some were even beaten. Please help them, Your Highness!"

Qin Hao heard about this and asked anxiously, "Is this true? Who dares to beat and threaten court officials? This is simply lawless."

Lu Yuanshan cried, "Who said it wasn't true? These people are so evil. They don't even take us officials seriously."

"Are there any suspects, or have they offended anyone recently?"

"I heard from them that the people who threatened and beat them were the ones who were injured by Princess Qiqi. They were obviously seeking revenge."

"This is outrageous and lawless. I was kind enough to let them stay home to recover from their injuries, but I didn't expect them to dare to retaliate against their colleagues. I will never tolerate this."

"Fan Wenhai, the Ministry of Justice is now temporarily in your charge. I order you to arrange for the Supervision and Arrest Division to arrest the mastermind behind this."

Fan Wenhai had just taken office as the acting Minister of Justice. He was obedient to Qin Hao's orders and quickly bowed to receive them.

After a while, Qin Hao saw that no one wanted to play, so he slowly said, "Since you don't have anything to play, I have something to discuss with you and need to seek your opinions."

"I want to lift the curfew. I wonder what everyone thinks. Please share your opinions."

Once these words were spoken, it was like dropping a bomb in the crowd, causing the ministers to talk a lot. Some agreed, some opposed, but of course most were against.

Everyone was talking, but no one expressed their attitude directly to the prince. It was as if everyone was waiting for others to speak first so that they could see the situation clearly before expressing their attitude. No one knew when this unhealthy phenomenon began to form in the court.

Dong Sicheng suddenly heard that the prince actually wanted to lift the curfew. He thought that the prince was really whimsical. He had to strike a blow to the prince's arrogance and let the prince shoot himself in the foot. Only in this way would he start to rebuild himself and avenge the previous humiliation.

After listening carefully to the discussions of the ministers, he found that most of them were against the prince's proposal. He felt more confident and happier.

He didn't mind being the first to speak out, so he walked out and said, "Your Highness, I think this is absolutely unacceptable. Curfew is a system followed by all dynasties. Before our Great Xia, so many dynasties implemented curfews. Why? It's not to maintain the long-term stability of the country and protect everyone's life safety. Moreover, our Great Xia has implemented a curfew since the founding of the country by Emperor Taizu. The current emperor has also been following the instructions of Emperor Taizu and implementing a curfew. This is why our Great Xia is safe and stable today, and the people can live and work in peace. Therefore, this old minister does not agree to lift the curfew. We cannot ignore the instructions of our ancestors. I ask Your Highness to withdraw your order."

Wen Tai, the Minister of War, was the favorite student of Su Zhengfang's father. Seeing Dong Sicheng directly refute the prince, he quickly took the opportunity to add insult to injury and said, "Your Highness, have you ever thought about this? Once the curfew is lifted, thefts, murders, and even uprisings and mutinies will happen more frequently at night. How should we deal with it? How can we maintain social order? How can we protect everyone's life safety?"

"So lifting the curfew is no joke. As the Minister of War, I need to be responsible for the safety of the capital. I also think it is inappropriate. Your Highness, please think twice before acting."

Dong Sicheng and Wen Tai have always been at odds with each other. When the ministers saw that Dong Sicheng and Wen Tai had a rare coincidence of ideas, they all made suggestions and asked Your Highness to reconsider.

Qin Hao thought that this matter would be difficult, but he did not expect that all the civil and military officials in the hall would oppose it, making him unable to save face for a while.

However, the more the ministers opposed, the more determined Qin Hao became to lift the curfew.

Dong Sicheng couldn't help feeling happy when he saw that all the civil and military officials in the court were standing against the prince, because they all wanted to see the prince get angry and frustrated.

Qin Hao was not angry. Instead, he smiled and nodded at Dong Sicheng and Wen Tai, agreeing: "Grand Tutor Dong and Minister Wen are indeed mature and capable. What you said makes sense. It is me who is overthinking it."

"However, you only think about the fact that curfews are conducive to maintaining social order and security and stability, but you ignore the fact that curfews also hinder business development and cultural exchanges."

"Business must be vigorously developed and culture must be exchanged more. Only when the economy prospers and the people's entertainment needs are met can society develop and the country be stable. We must look at problems from a development perspective, rather than standing still."

"The previous dynasty, Daliang, fell in the second generation, and Daliang also implemented a curfew, but the curfew did not bring long-term stability to Daliang. Therefore, the rise and fall of a dynasty or a country is not determined by a small curfew, but by people. An incompetent emperor can lead a country to decline or even destruction, while a qualified emperor can lead a country to prosperity."

"Fire trees and silver flowers bloom together, and the iron locks of the star bridge open."

"The Emperor of the Earth and the Son of Heaven are all day and night."

"You don't understand me. I want to make the capital a city that never sleeps, to allow the people to do business and have fun at night, and to push Daxia's commercial economy to an unprecedented level of prosperity."

"Therefore, this king will spare no effort to lift the curfew, and no one can stop this king."

At the end, Qin Hao looked indignant and spoke eloquently, and everyone was impressed by his aura.

Dong Sicheng was still unwilling to give up, and continued to refute, "Your Highness, we cannot ignore the teachings of our ancestors, and we cannot break the rules that have been passed down for thousands of years!"

Qin Hao snorted coldly, "Rules are meant to be followed, but also to be broken."

"We should follow the teachings of our ancestors if they are right and change if they are wrong."

"Alright, I will explain this to my father. Don't just focus on the teachings of our ancestors and secular rules. You also need to focus on what benefits lifting the curfew will bring to the court and the people."

Dong Sicheng was left speechless by Qin Hao's rebuttal and could only return to his original place in disappointment.

Wen Tai saw that the situation was not good, and quickly asked: "Your Highness, if the curfew is lifted, the guards in the capital will not be enough, and criminal activities will increase greatly. How can this be solved?"

Wen Tai thought that if he threw the difficult problem to Qin Hao, Qin Hao would give up.

Unexpectedly, Qin Hao had a plan in mind. He laughed and asked Wen Tai: "Minister Wen, I want to ask you, what is the most lacking thing in the Great Xia Kingdom?"

Wen Tai was stunned, not knowing what Qin Hao meant, so he bent down and asked Qin Hao: "This old minister does not know what your Highness means?"

Qin Hao looked at the stupid Shangshu in front of him and reminded him, "People! The guards are not strong enough, won't the court recruit people?"

"In addition, the capital has two battalions and four guards, totaling 150,000 people to protect the capital. So many people are receiving salaries from the court. If we ask them to each take out 1,000 people from the two battalions and four guards, a total of 6,000 people will be added to strengthen the patrol force in the capital. Will that be enough?"

"How dare those criminals commit crimes under the noses of so many patrolling officers and soldiers?"

When Wen Tai heard that Qin Hao wanted to reach out to the army, he immediately panicked and said quickly: "Your Highness, the rest is easy to deal with, but the soldiers of the two battalions and four guards have important responsibilities to protect the safety of the capital, and they must not be easily mobilized!"

Qin Hao knew that he had touched the sore spot of the Minister of War, and said calmly: "Minister Wen, why are you so anxious? Did I say that I must mobilize the soldiers of the two battalions and four guards? I just said a method for everyone to choose."

Wen Tai was so confused by the prince that he didn't care whether the curfew was lifted or not. As long as the prince did not mobilize the soldiers of the two camps and four guards, what was wrong with agreeing to the prince lifting the curfew?

Qin Hao saw that Wen Tai had already surrendered, and fearing that he might not be convinced in heart, he did not push him too hard.

At the same time, they are also worried that once the curfew is completely lifted, an uncontrollable situation may arise, and they will lose face.

So he took a step back and tactfully suggested, "Minister Wen, how about this? Let's lift the ban for one day on the first and fifteenth day of each month, for a total of two days each month. This way, we don't need to increase the guard force. We only need to let the guards on duty work half a day. Isn't that the best of both worlds?"

Seeing that Qin Hao didn't push him too hard and gave him enough face, Wen Tai said with a smile: "Your Highness, this method is very good. I strongly agree with it."

All the civil and military officials in the court also agreed.