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

The court's verdict on the Dragon Boat Festival match-fixing case, the flood prevention and disaster relief dereliction of duty case, and the hoarding and price-gouging case of selling moldy grain quickly spread. Upon hearing the news, the people beat drums and gongs and set off firecrackers, praising the emperor for his wisdom and bringing bright sunshine to the people.

Zhong Yunfeng set out to return to Yuzhou on the third day after the Dragon Boat Festival. Quan Youfang was mainly responsible for the preparation work for the new branch of Yunfeng Building, while the construction of the greenhouse and the kimchi processing workshop was jointly responsible by Dai Xing, the housekeeper of the Cai family, and Yang Lin, the manager of the Cai family's farm in Sanyuan County. Dai Xing's two grandsons Dai Song and Dai Bai and Shen Liu were responsible for assisting.

On this day, Li Ping invited Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng to a small gathering at Yunfeng Building. Only then did the two learn in detail the verdict that had been causing a lot of controversy in recent days.

"I didn't expect that these cases would involve so many nobles. There are as many as five nobles who have been stripped of their titles. These titles were earned by their ancestors with so much blood and sweat. Now, they have been ruined by these unworthy descendants. It seems that they have really angered His Majesty."

Li Ping and Ye Changyan both nodded in agreement with Liang Jingcheng's words.

"Your Majesty is really furious this time. This is the first time since Your Majesty ascended the throne that you have punished so many officials and nobles, and stripped so many titles at the same time. This is the first time since the founding of our dynasty that this has happened."

Li Ping couldn't help but sigh, then raised his glass. Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng bowed, and the three of them raised their glasses and drank them all, looking a little sullen.

"The Second Prince has suffered heavy casualties this time. Even his relative in-law, Marquis Dingyuan, who he relied on, has been stripped of his title. The position of Crown Prince is currently undecided. The relatively balanced situation among the princes has been disrupted."

As soon as Ye Changyan finished speaking, he heard Li Ping chuckle, shook his head slightly and spoke.

"It is true that they have lost many soldiers and generals, but it is not necessarily true that they have seriously damaged their vitality. Judging from the evidence currently on the surface, if Your Majesty is willing to dig deeper and find out the real person behind the scenes, it will not be difficult. But now that Your Majesty has made a ruling, in the eyes of the officials in the court, this is to protect the second prince in order to maintain a relatively balanced situation among the princes in front of them."

Li Ping's words made Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng a little puzzled, and they looked at Li Ping with doubts.

"You mean to say that Your Majesty has not yet decided who will inherit the throne, and therefore wants to maintain the current situation of the princes fighting but not breaking up?"

Hearing Liang Jingchen's question, Li Ping showed a meaningful smile on his face.

"On the surface, the Second Prince's people did suffer heavy losses, but did you notice that, apart from the Second Prince's maternal family, the Marquis of Dingyuan, the other four families whose titles were stripped, should not have been stripped of their titles due to the mistakes they made, according to your majesty's past principles of doing things."

"You mean to say that these people crossed His Majesty's red line and violated His Majesty's taboos, which led to their demise?"

Ye Changyan's question made Li Ping's eyes light up, and Liang Jingcheng seemed to have vaguely grasped something, and he smiled and nodded.

"You guessed right. As far as I know, His Majesty appreciates people who clearly state their stance. Even if your views are contrary to His Majesty's, His Majesty will not kill you. But if you are double-dealing and pretend to obey but actually disobey, like a weed on the wall, His Majesty will definitely kill these people and root them out."

As far as Li Ping knew, at least among the nobles who were stripped of their titles this time, Ningyuan Marquis was the one who was wavering between the eldest prince and the second prince, trying to please both sides. On the surface, Ningyuan Marquis's family was just selling some of the grain to the people.

Such a matter could be big or small. If it was small, it could be settled by a reprimand from His Majesty and a fine. But this time, the Ningyuan Marquis's mansion suffered a catastrophic disaster. From the outside world's perspective, the Ningyuan Marquis was just unlucky and happened to be caught in the crossfire.

The fundamental reason why the Ningyuan Marquis's Mansion suffered a devastating disaster was that on the surface, Ningyuan Marquis was dedicated to the public and maintained a neutral attitude without taking sides, but in private, Ningyuan Marquis's two sons, one secretly contacted the eldest prince, and the other flirted with the second prince. On the one hand, they made a lot of money from the market opened by Pan Haoyang every time with the help of the second prince, and on the other hand, they followed the eldest prince's confidants to hoard grain and drive up the grain price.

It was precisely because of this that the Ningyuan Marquisate tried to please both sides and bet on both sides, wanting to have it all, that it touched the bottom line of His Majesty and brought about its catastrophic disaster.

Because the topic was too heavy, the atmosphere in the private room was a little stagnant. Seeing that Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng both looked a little unhappy, Li Ping changed the subject and talked about a topic that both Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng were very interested in.

Li Ping picked up a piece of pickled fish and put it into his mouth, then he started talking with a gossipy look on his face.

"Now that the court has dealt with so many officials, a lot of positions have become vacant. The various factions in the court are currently fighting overtly and covertly, all wanting to push their own people to the top. The focus of the competition is on important positions such as the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, the Langzhong in charge of river engineering and water conservancy in the Ministry of Works, the Langzhong of the Military Selection and Purification Department of the Ministry of War, and the Chief Adjutant of the Capital Water Conservancy Bureau."

Sure enough, as soon as Li Ping changed the subject, Ye Changyan and Liang Jingchen became interested and stared at Li Ping with sharp eyes.

"As far as I know, Pan Taizhen has been suffering from an old illness and has proposed to resign as the Minister of Personnel many times. He has once again proposed to Your Majesty to resign and return home to recuperate. This time, Pan Taizhen's incident may have made Your Majesty deeply aware that as the head of the six ministries, the Ministry of Personnel will inevitably have big troubles if it does not have a chief official with outstanding ability and virtue to lead it."

It seems that Li Ping is indeed well-informed. Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng are waiting for Li Ping to continue speaking with anticipation.

Seeing that Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng were looking at him expectantly, Li Ping's next words shocked both Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng.

"I heard that in the trial of the Dragon Boat Festival match-fixing case, your senior brother Zhu Yuchun performed outstandingly, and the official Wang Xinkuan was very satisfied with the further supervision. The two of them may be the candidates that His Majesty will focus on considering. Your second senior brother Zhao Mubai, third senior brother Ji Yunting, and fifth senior brother Lu Geang are all included in the scope of consideration."

If the eldest senior brother Zhu Yuchun, and the fourth senior brother Wang Xinkuan, who were related to this case, were included as key candidates, Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng were not too surprised, but the other three senior brothers were also included in the consideration, which made Ye Changyan and Liang Jingcheng somewhat unexpected.

The two looked at each other and both felt that Li Ping seemed to say these words to make them happy. For a moment, their hearts were warmed and they raised their glasses at the same time and toasted Li Ping with a glass of wine.