Starting from a thatched cottage, the farmer embarked on the road to wealth through imperial examina

As the Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching, the emperor suppressed his anger and planned to settle the scores after the Mid-Autumn Festival and put an end to the hoarding and price gouging of grain and the Dragon Boat Festival match-fixing case at the same time.

People's production and life have gradually begun to recover, and they are now preparing for the upcoming autumn ploughing.

This year's severe drought was followed by severe floods, and the people were living in dire straits. The concubines in the harem, led by the Queen Mother and the Empress, decided to live frugally and donated their own belongings to help the children who had become orphans because of the flood.

The ladies of the court, seeing that the Empress Dowager, the Empress and all the concubines in the harem had donated their own money, also donated generously. Of course, it is impossible to know how many of them did so completely voluntarily and how many did so under pressure.

In order to respond to the Empress Dowager's call for frugality, the Emperor decided to break the tradition this year and not hold a Mid-Autumn Festival banquet. He also donated all the expenses originally used for Mid-Autumn Night.

In addition, the empress dowager also donated a considerable sum of money to the Ciyu Temple in Shengjing City, allowing the temple to hold several ceremonies, in which the monks of the temple would pray for the souls of the people who died in the disaster.

Zhong Yunfeng and his wife Xiao Jingxing have already discussed the matter of opening a new branch of Yunfeng Building, building a greenhouse, and starting a kimchi processing workshop.

It was decided to open two new branches of Yunfenglou in two densely populated prefectures outside the capital. The Xiao family happened to have a farm at the junction of Shengjing and Changping Prefecture. The area of the farm was more than twice that of Mr. Cai in Sanyuan County. The Xiao family agreed to use the farm to build a greenhouse and open a kimchi processing workshop.

Apart from the 70% share of the greenhouse and kimchi processing workshop held by Ye Changyan and his apprentice, the Xiao family contributed 20% of the land. Zhong Yunfeng put his knowledge into practice and used the remaining 10% as subsequent investment in the farm, as well as a source of income for the managers and helpers on the farm.

Things in Shengjing have been arranged. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, Zhong Yunfeng will return to Yuzhou Prefecture. Taking advantage of Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng's Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, they went to the Yujing Palace deep in the mountains in the northern suburbs of Shengjing.

After three months of recuperation, Ye Xiaozheng's body has become visibly stronger, and his whole spirit is refreshed.

Originally, when Ye Xiaozheng went to the cave on the stone cliff behind Yujing Palace every day, he needed Xingwang's help. Now, he can walk on the wooden plank road and go up and down the cave on the cliff by himself.

The mental states of Mrs. Lian and Mr. Cai have improved significantly compared to when they first arrived at Yujing Palace. Their parents and husband have also made many friends in Yujing Palace. Ye Xiaozheng and Mr. Cai often play chess with some Taoist priests in Yujing Palace to exercise. Mrs. Lian is very familiar with the people in the kitchen of Yujing Palace and often helps with some light work such as picking and washing vegetables.

Seeing their parents and husband with rosy complexions and full of energy, the three of them felt relieved as they felt that their life in Yujing Palace was quite comfortable. Ye Changyan, Liang Jingcheng and Zhong Yunfeng all felt relieved.

The day after returning from Yujing Palace, Zhong Yunfeng embarked on a journey to Yuzhou Prefecture.

At the first grand court meeting after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the emperor's anger finally erupted.

The Dragon Boat Festival match-fixing case, the dereliction of duty case in earthquake relief and disaster relief, the hoarding and price gouging of grain, the reselling of moldy grain and other cases all came to a conclusion in this big meeting.

There were many identical names in the list of people involved in this series of cases, and among them were many high-ranking officials. The Dingyuan Marquis Mansion, the maternal family of the second prince, was deeply involved in the case, and the emperor stripped Jin Zongtai, the Marquis of Ningyuan, of his title.

Except for Jin Wenxun, who was the county magistrate in Jiangyou, all the male members of the Dingyuan Marquis' Mansion were exiled, including Zhan Xiaohai who was living in the Ningyuan Marquis' Mansion.

Pan Haoyang, the bookmaker who opened the Dragon Boat Festival Polo Match, relied on the influence of his father, Pan Taizhen, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and colluded with many nobles to manipulate the Dragon Boat Festival Polo Match by means of coercion and inducement, causing Lu Xiaotong, the son of Lu Zhiguang, the Chief Censor of the Supervisory Yuan, to fall off his horse and be injured.

After investigation, it was found that a group of sons of nobles, led by Pan Haoyang, had opened handicaps in a similar manner many times, manipulated various competitions, and illegally earned gambling money. The amount involved was extremely huge. The main culprit had his property searched, and the accomplices had their illegal gains confiscated and were fined several times the amount. Pan Haoyang and other main suspects were exiled.

Pan Haoyang's father, Pan Taizhen, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, colluded with internal and external forces to buy and sell official positions, and the circumstances were extremely serious. The six main criminals headed by Pan Taizhen were sentenced to confiscation of their property and execution in the autumn. The rest of the accomplices were sentenced to betrayal, their property was confiscated, and they were exiled.

Any nobles involved in hoarding, driving up grain prices, or selling moldy grain will be punished by deprivation of title, dismissal from office on the spot, exile to a frontier post, banishment, or fines, depending on the severity of the circumstances.

All officials involved in dereliction of duty during flood control and disaster relief were severely punished, and the chief and deputy chief of the Capital Water Conservancy Bureau and the officials in charge of river engineering and water conservancy in the Ministry of Works were all dismissed.

To sum up, at this grand court meeting, as many as five nobles were stripped of their titles and honors, more than twenty key officials were investigated by you, and countless other officials were involved.

Before the grand court meeting was adjourned, officers and soldiers from the Baiqi Division, the Ministry of Justice, the Dali Temple and the Wucheng Bingma Division had already gathered and quickly dispersed to the homes of nobles and officials who were sentenced to have their property confiscated. For a time, the areas in Shengjing City where nobles and officials gathered were in chaos and full of wailing.

The three princes standing in the front row of the court hall had different thoughts.

Among the officials involved in this series of cases, the eldest prince's faction had the least involvement, so the expression on his face seemed relatively relaxed.

Although there are not many people from the Third Prince's faction involved in the case, they all hold key positions. Although the Third Prince is a little anxious inside, he still looks relaxed on the surface.

There were many people involved in the case related to the Second Prince. Among them, Pan Taizhen, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, was the most important official among the six ministries who had defected to him. However, his in-laws, whom he relied on very much, were stripped of their title of marquis.

These two incidents alone were enough to cause serious damage to the Second Prince, not to mention that some other officials in key positions were dismissed and demoted.

The results of the Second Prince's efforts over the years suffered a devastating blow today.

Although these people tried their best to take all the responsibility and there was no direct evidence pointing to the Second Prince, the Second Prince knew that the Emperor already knew the truth. He guessed that the reason the Emperor did not let anyone investigate him thoroughly was probably because he wanted to give him a chance.

Considering the current unclear situation of the crown prince, the second prince felt that the emperor let him go, which proved that in the emperor's mind, he must be an important candidate for the crown prince.

It seems that for a long time to come, I have to be careful and not leave any evidence behind, otherwise I will completely lose the emperor's trust and will be the first to lose in the battle for the throne.