Going to Beijing to save his father, all the powerful officials in the city are vying to be his fath

Because there were so many people shouting so loudly, people in other cells could also hear it, and soon the entire prison was filled with curses and wailing.

Many people excitedly knocked on the prison door, demanding that the corrupt officials be handed over.

The prisoners in the jail were causing trouble, and the news soon reached the prefect. He had heard in the morning that Zhao Liangchen was going to the palace to persuade the emperor to resolve the issue of refugees in the jail, and he was in a very good mood. As long as these prisoners were sent away, he would feel relieved.

He had originally thought that since these prisoners were all going to be sent away, it wouldn't be a big deal to provide them with one or two meals. However, when he heard that the prisoners were causing trouble, he got angry and stopped anyone from delivering meals.

Originally, there were still prisoners in the prison who remained calm, thinking that the court would not ignore them. However, when the porridge did not arrive for a long time, those people knew that what Su Qin said was true. Now there were even more people making trouble, and everyone shook the prison door desperately, asking them to let them out.

And Su Qin continued to fan the flames.

"What's the point of making such a fuss? If you make too much noise, they will come up with a few scapegoats and kill them. How will we know who the real embezzler is?

They spent the money and said they couldn’t find the disaster relief money. What can we do?

Even if we gave it, we wouldn’t know it was too little.

That's just right. We should be grateful to this group of corrupt officials and express our gratitude to them profusely.

But the money originally belonged to us. If they were not greedy, we would have taken the money back to our hometown to build houses and prepare the land. Who would still be suffering here?

We don't want this favor, we want money. Once you give us the money, we'll leave. Otherwise, don't try to fool us by simply accusing a few officials of corruption."

"Yeah, don't try to fool us!"

"Silver, silver, give us back our silver!"

"Return the money!"

The noisy shouting and cursing at the beginning were gradually replaced by the uniform shouts of "Return the money."

The shouting was like a tide, one wave higher than the other, so loud that it almost blew off the roof of the cell.

The prison door was shaken by them and was about to fall down.

The jailers were terrified and retreated, locking the prison door.

When the prefect heard the news, he was so scared that he ran into the palace.

When he entered the palace, the court meeting had not yet ended. The previous important events had been discussed, and it was Zhao Liangchen's turn to talk about the excessive number of prisoners in the prison.

Just as the ministers were discussing how to resolve the matter, the prefect stumbled in. He knelt on the ground and exclaimed, "Your Majesty, the prisoners in the jail are causing trouble and are about to escape."

"what?"

The emperor slammed the table angrily and shouted, "Explain what's going on."

The prefect wiped the sweat from his brow and secretly glanced at the expressions of the officials standing in the front before saying, "Your Majesty, this prisoner heard from somewhere that the disaster relief money had been embezzled, and then all the prisoners started clamoring for the money to be returned. They were arguing so loudly in the prison that the prison door was about to shake down.

Because there were so many of them, the government office was short-staffed and had no way to deal with them. They could only retreat and guard the prison gate.

Your Majesty, please send someone to suppress them, otherwise these lunatics will really escape from prison."

The emperor sitting on the dragon throne was a boy of seventeen or eighteen. Even though he exuded the domineering aura of a king, his face could not hide his childishness.

He was also very angry after hearing what the prefect said. He had been sitting on the throne for five years, but after five years he still had not been able to truly rule the country.

He was still young when his father died, so he left behind four ministers to assist him in governing the country. These ministers had no intention of usurping power, but they were all rigid in their thinking. No matter what he did, he had to follow the rules, and any deviation would be constantly nagged by these four ministers.

So he felt resentful and thought that his position as emperor was very worthless, and he always tried to break free from their control.

In order to lead the army in person as soon as possible, he secretly trained his own people. Zhao Liangchen was one of them, and he had begun to slowly control the court in the past few months.

However, the flood in Chanzhou disrupted his rhythm. The affected area was large and many people were affected.

Generally, when such a major disaster occurs, the people will blame the reigning emperor for his poor personal morals, so God will punish him. This will have a great impact on his reputation and make his path to ruling the country more difficult.

Therefore, he not only issued a self-criticism edict but also took out some money from his private treasury to provide disaster relief, just to establish a good image among the people. However, he did not expect that the disaster relief money was embezzled.

This incident almost drove him crazy, so he privately ordered Zhao Liangchen to investigate. After finding out Su Jijing, he couldn't wait to send him to jail.

He originally thought that by catching Su Jijing, he could track down the whereabouts of the disaster relief money, and then distribute it to the victims, which would also help him restore a lot of his image.

Now he is told that the victims have started to make trouble again. How can he not be angry? If he fails to properly handle the victims' affairs, causing riots and civil war, he will be a sinner for all eternity and will be replaced without even having to take power.

He was extremely angry and called Zhao Liangchen, who was on duty outside the hall, in and issued an order: "Zhao Liangchen, take the imperial guards to the government office and the prison. Anyone who causes trouble will be executed on the spot. I don't want to see anyone dare to cause trouble again."

Zhao Liangchen immediately accepted the order: "Yes."

He wanted to release the victims from the city, but he couldn't bring it up directly. He had to wait for others to bring it up, otherwise it would arouse suspicion.

As expected, Grand Tutor Yan, who was standing at the front, stepped forward to stop them: "Your Majesty, this is absolutely unacceptable."

The emperor saw that it was the regent who tried to stop him, and he became even more furious: "What's wrong with Master Yan saying it?"

Grand Tutor Yan said, "Your Majesty, the flood in Chanzhou was originally a divine punishment. If you wantonly kill the victims, it would be against the will of heaven and undermine your personal morality. It would be detrimental to your Majesty and the fate of the country."

The emperor was furious. He wanted to stand up and point his finger at Grand Tutor Yan and curse, "Bullshit! Natural disasters happen every year. What has this got to do with divine punishment? Stop blaming me."

But he didn't dare to scold him, because if he did, it would mean that he was morally deficient, vulgar, and uneducated, and then the tutor would nag him in class every day.

His face flushed red with anger, and he could only finally say, "Then, according to the Grand Tutor, how should this matter be handled?"

The Grand Tutor was also in a dilemma. Throughout history, the people's affairs were the most difficult to deal with. Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it. If not handled properly, at the very least, it would affect the image of the emperor and the court in the hearts of the people, and at worst, it would force the people to rebel.

Finally, he thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, the victims are causing trouble because they're worried they won't get relief. Now that the officials who embezzled the relief funds have been apprehended, I believe the funds will be found soon. I'm willing to personally go to the prison to comfort the victims. If they just wait a few more days, I'll definitely provide them with proper accommodation."

The emperor looked at the prefect and asked, "Is the Grand Tutor's solution feasible?"

The prefect replied with a sad face: "Your Majesty, there are too many prisoners in the prison. There is no room for them. So many prisoners need to eat every day, and the government office has no money to buy them food.

Waiting like this is not a solution."

The emperor looked at Grand Tutor Yan again. This time, Grand Tutor Yan was in a difficult situation. He could use his words to comfort the victims, but he had no way to deal with the money.

The silver in the national treasury is useful and cannot be moved easily. Otherwise, the emperor would not have had to use the private treasury to provide disaster relief before. Now the disaster relief silver has not been found yet, and there is no extra silver to appease the victims. The silver in the government office is also limited. If the expenditure here is increased, there will be shortages in other places.

He turned to look at Tong Zhongqian: "Master Tong, hasn't Su Jijing explained the whereabouts of the disaster relief money yet?"

Tong Zhongqian stepped out and replied, "No, we used all kinds of torture, but Su Jijing insisted that he was innocent and refused to plead guilty. We have searched his house and all his property, but nothing has been found."

He clenched his hands in his sleeves, where there was a letter sent to him by the guards of the Ministry of Justice early in the morning. He read the evidence inside, which was that Li Zheng, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, had embezzled disaster relief funds. The evidence was the same as Su Jijing's. He had no time to verify it before he came to the court. At this time, he was hesitating whether to submit this evidence to the court, after all, it was something that had not been verified yet.

At this moment, a person standing at the front tilted his head slightly and glanced back. Immediately, an official snorted coldly: "Does refusing to plead guilty mean he's innocent? The fact that he can't find the money doesn't mean he didn't embezzle it.

If you ask me, Su Jijing was the one who caused all this trouble. We should just drag him out of the city, announce his crimes, and then chop him up in front of the people to vent their anger. As for the relief money, we'll slowly look for it. I don't believe he could have hidden so much money in the sky. There will always be clues."

As soon as he said this, many officials immediately echoed him. Everyone supported using Su Jijing's life to appease the public anger.