At the beginning, I became a county magistrate with greed of 500 million. The empress asked me to be

As the empress personally confirmed Xiao Zongnan's guilt, all the civil and military officials present were collectively stunned, and some of them wanted to report to the emperor immediately.

But this time, the empress did not give these officials a chance to continue speaking.

"I feel unwell for a while, my dear ministers, please leave the court first."

The empress swept her cold eyes over the civil and military officials. She could naturally see what these guys wanted to do.

"The ministers obey the order."

When the ministers were a little hesitant, the chief minister of the cabinet, Xu Jinsong, spoke.

The Jiangnan Party officials, led by the Young Prime Minister, saw Xu Jinsong take the order and had to stop their actions even though they were reluctant.

"I will obey your orders!"

After a while, dozens of officials in the court retreated one after another, and in a blink of an eye, only a few people were left.

The Ninth Prince Xiao Yan, the Grand Marshal of the Army Yang Wenzhao, and the Chief Minister of the Cabinet Xu Jinsong were still standing in the same place.

Sitting on the dragon throne, the empress first quickly swept her gaze over the three people, and then let out a sigh.

At this moment, the young empress seemed to have aged a lot.

The empress then gave a signal with her eyes, and the eunuch who was delivering the imperial edict beside her quickly brought the three memorials on the table to the Ninth Prince Xiao Yan and Yang Wenzhao.

After a short moment, the two men finished reading the contents of the three memorials, and a gloomy look appeared on their faces.

"What is Zhejiang trying to do? Are they planning to use their military power to gain power and take over the land?"

A very hoarse voice came out of Yang Wenzhao's mouth.

Obviously, after reading the contents of the memorials, both of them quickly realized the true meaning of these three memorials.

"There are 680,000 troops, and they are all elite soldiers of the Liang Dynasty. Xia Yun... cannot be punished."

Xiao Yan shook his head.

The development of events was completely beyond his expectations.

In fact, both Xia Yun and Zhao Gongming were recommended by him to His Majesty.

To be honest, the current situation is more or less related to him.

"In my opinion, Zhao Gongming will not rebel."

Suddenly, Xu Jinsong spoke.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Yan and Yang Wenzhao immediately cast a slightly puzzled look towards Xu Jinsong.

As court ministers who had served during the previous emperor's reign, they were quite clear about the grievances between the Xu and Zhao families.

If Xu Jinsong had not climbed up the ladder, Zhao Gongming's father-in-law would not have been removed from his position as prime minister of the cabinet.

"Why do you two look at me like that?"

"In the final analysis, Zhao Gongming and Lei Zhenning's memorials were only intended to protect Xia Yun from being punished."

"The Zhao and Li families have both received favors from the country for generations, so there is absolutely no reason for them to rebel."

In less than a cup of tea, Xu Jinsong sorted out all the confusion in his mind.

At first, when he saw the contents of these three memorials, he couldn't help but feel a surge of anger in his heart.

But as time passed, he quickly calmed down.

"I think what Elder Xu said is correct. Zhao Gongming and Lei Zhenning are good friends with Xia Yun."

"The joint petition is obviously because they are worried that Xia Yun will be severely punished by the court after killing Xiao Zongnan."

Xiao Yan also began to analyze it seriously.

"Although your majesty has convicted Xiao Zongnan, I think the three of them still have doubts in their hearts. It would be better to issue an imperial decree to reward the three for their contributions in resisting the Japanese pirates and urge them to fight back against the Japanese pirates."

"In this way, I believe that after the Anti-Japanese War is over, these three people will not do anything that violates the regulations of the court."

Xiao Yan then looked at the empress and said.

When the empress heard this, a thoughtful look appeared on her face.

By this time she had completely calmed down.

Although these three memorials seemed to be in rebellion against the superiors, the words used by Zhao Gongming, Lei Zhenning and Xia Yun in the contents of the memorials were still extremely respectful.

"You two ministers have a point, but the one who died this time was a prince of the imperial court, my uncle. If we simply convict him of a crime, we still cannot explain to the imperial court and royal family."

"I plan to send someone to Jiangnan to collect Xiao Zongnan's body and transport it back to the capital."

The empress nodded in affirmation of Xiao Yan and Xu Jinsong's analysis, and at the same time made a new decision.

As soon as the empress finished speaking, Yang Wenzhao's hoarse voice rang out.

"Your Majesty, let this matter be handled by this old minister."

Yang Wenzhao said with a solemn vow.

The empress, considering Yang Wenzhao's age, did not intend to send him to Jiangnan.

But before he could open his mouth to refuse, a righteous look suddenly appeared on Yang Wenzhao's face.

"Your Majesty, although I am old, I have been living in seclusion for many years without any travel."

"Besides, Zhao Gongming and Lei Zhenning are both high-ranking officials. If we send other people to collect the bodies, it would be difficult. And I think they would not dare to act presumptuously in front of me."

Yang Wenzhao stated the reasons why he had to move forward.

When the words fell, Xiao Yan and Xu Jinsong nodded in agreement.

"Your Majesty, what the old marshal said is correct. If someone else were to go, I'm afraid it would be hard to save their lives, let alone collect the bodies."

Xiao Yan echoed.

"In that case, old Marshal, I'll trouble you to take the lead in this trip and make sure to bring Xiao Zongnan's body back to the capital!"

The empress no longer hesitated and issued an order immediately.

"Old minister, I obey."

Yang Wenzhao nodded with satisfaction. Ever since he left the army and took up a high position in the government, he rarely had the opportunity to leave the capital.

……

The twists and turns in the court could never spread to the distant Nanzhili.

This day.

In Ningdu City, Qin Tianye was intensifying the training of tens of thousands of soldiers and horses according to Xia Yun's orders.

Ever since they arrived in Ningdu City a few days ago, the atmosphere in the entire city has been very tense.

According to Xia Yun.

The Japanese pirates will land in the coastal areas of Fujian in the near future and launch a large-scale attack on the residents of Fujian Province.

At that time, they will have to lead the army and take the initiative to attack.

At the same time, Jiang Wenzhong started the conscription mission on the spot in Ningdu City.

With the tens of thousands of soldiers and horses they now have, they are not afraid of the Japanese pirates' army of hundreds of thousands.

But as Han Xin said when selecting soldiers, the more the better.

They must plan ahead and be fully prepared for any possible war!

"Wan'er, Gu He, how many disaster victims are there in Ningdu City that have not been properly resettled?"

In the lobby of the governor's office, Xia Yun was handling official business.

"In reply to your words, as of last night, all the disaster victims in Ningdu City have been properly resettled. From now on, no one will starve to death in Ningdu City anymore."

Xu Wan'er responded immediately.

With the experience of providing relief to disaster victims in Zhejiang, Xu Wan'er was more adept at dealing with the problems of the disaster victims this time.

"Have the wealthy merchants paid their grain?"

After getting Xu Wan'er's answer, Xia Yun looked up at Gu He.