Traveling through the emperor, overthrowing the empress dowager at the beginning

After hearing what Cao Tao said, Ye Chen had already guessed Yang Dechang's intention.

"Do you want to use Cao Kun to save the entire Beijing camp and make the whole thing a small matter?"

Ye Chen narrowed his eyes and pondered for a moment, then suddenly said, "Cao Tao, are you saying that all the officers from the Beijing camp captured by the Imperial Guards were secretly colluding with those bandits?"

"Including your brother, and you were completely unaware of it?"

Hearing this, Cao Tao nodded continuously.

"Your Majesty! Indeed, I was unaware of this."

"Snapped!"

Ye Chen slammed the table.

"Cao Tao, do you think I'm stupid?"

Upon hearing this, Cao Tao shuddered and was terrified.

"Your Majesty, I believe that Cao Kun, relying on his status as General Cao's younger brother, is collaborating with the bandits in the Qinling Mountains. Naturally, those bandits are very happy to see this."

"If he wasn't General Cao's younger brother, he might not have been able to do this. He naturally tried his best to hide all this from General Cao, so General Cao never discovered it."

Yang Dechang's tone was quite calm, as if he had already figured out the whole cause and effect.

Hearing this, Ye Chen narrowed his eyes.

"Prime Minister Yang, your story is quite reasonable."

"Your Majesty, this old minister is just speculating, but I think the facts should be no different."

"fart!"

Ye Chen's face darkened and he said, "If it's really as you said, then the Imperial Guards were following orders, so why did Cao Tao send troops to fight against them?"

"Six thousand soldiers surrounded a thousand imperial guards. Even if they ignored the imperial decree, they still wanted to rescue the prisoners captured by the imperial guards. Prime Minister Yang, I ask you, how do you explain this?"

Ye Chen looked at Yang Dechang and asked word by word.

Upon hearing this, Yang Dechang immediately felt tremendous pressure.

His scalp was slightly numb, but he deeply felt the imperial aura of Ye Chen, which was so great that it moved him.

His heart sank, but his tone remained steady: "This old minister believes that General Cao may not have understood the situation at the time and thought that it was a bandit who forged the imperial edict!"

"As the saying goes, ignorance is not to blame. I hope Your Majesty will understand."

Hearing this, Ye Chen laughed.

"Ignorance is indeed not to blame."

Ye Chen waved his hand.

"But it is also true that Cao Tao disobeyed the imperial order and his brother secretly colluded with bandits."

"Cao Tao is guilty of both dereliction of duty and disobeying imperial orders. However, considering he was unaware of this beforehand, he is dismissed from his post from this very day and ordered to reflect on his mistakes behind closed doors. He is also prohibited from serving as an official again for three years!"

"As for Cao Kun, his crimes are extremely heinous and his entire family should be executed!"

Ye Chen changed the subject instantly, not giving Yang Dechang and his followers any time to react.

"Someone, take Cao Tao away!"

At Ye Chen's command, two imperial guards walked into the hall.

Cao Tao was a little confused for a moment. He realized that he would not be killed, but would be put in solitary confinement, but his brother's entire family would die. He didn't know whether to be happy or sad.

Yang Dechang's face was so gloomy that it looked like water was about to drip out of it.

He suddenly realized that he seemed to have made a misunderstanding. The little emperor did not seem to care whether he could immediately clean up the Beijing army.

All the previous rhetoric was just a way of advancing in order to retreat.

Now Cao Tao was punished lightly, while Cao Kun was punished severely, but this blocked Yang Dechang's mouth, making him unable to say a word of objection.

"The issue of the Beijing Camp has been resolved. Next, the Minister of War."

Ye Chen suddenly said again.

"The minister is here."

Huangfu Guang stood up with a nervous mood.

"Are you guilty?"

"I am guilty, I know my crime!"

Huangfu Guang said immediately.

"Oh, what is your crime? Tell me about it."

Ye Chen narrowed his eyes and looked at Huangfu Guang, waiting for his performance.

"Old, as the Minister of War, in charge of food and military strategy, I failed to foresee that some of the generals in the Beijing camp were colluding with bandits. I thought the bandits in the Qinling Mountains were rampant because they were cunning. I was deceived by these treacherous people and didn't know how to judge people."

Huangfu Guang kowtowed.

Hearing this, Ye Chen had to admit that some people's thickness of skin could break records.

Even though such a big thing happened, Cao Tao said he didn't know.

Huangfu Guang not only said he didn't know, but also almost portrayed himself as a victim.

It seems so aggrieved.

"The Ministry of War is responsible for setting strategy. Over the past few years, Cao Kun has developed a copper mine in the Qinling Mountains. Huangfu Guang, you claim you were unaware and deceived, and you want to erase it?"

"Since you don't know how to judge people, then how about this? You can no longer be the Minister of War. I will find someone who can judge people."

"Or maybe you are lying to me, knowing all these things, then you have committed the crime of exterminating all nine generations of your clan!"

Ye Chen waved his hand and said, "Come here, drag him away, put him in the Sky Prison, and interrogate him strictly!"

"No!"

Yang Dechang frowned. At this point, he understood what Ye Chen wanted to do.

The Six Ministries of the Secretariat.

The former ministers of the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of Works have all been overthrown by Ye Chen.

Now the Minister of Justice is about to fall.

If Huangfu Guang was imprisoned in Tianlao again.

Ye Chen extended his hand completely into the six departments.

Yang Dechang wanted to sacrifice the rook to save the king, but he never said to cut off all his hands and feet.

"Your Majesty, Lord Huangfu was simply deceived by a villain. I, this old minister, can guarantee that Huangfu Guang was absolutely not involved in this matter! He has absolutely nothing to do with it."

"Besides, if Your Majesty throws Master Huangfu into prison without any evidence, how can the officials be convinced?"

Yang Dechang said with a righteous look.

"Prime Minister Yang, you may not know this yet, but the Ministry of War has already transferred a large amount of food to the Beijing Camp. Without this food, the Beijing Camp would be unable to send troops to the Qinling Mountains."

"If it's true, as Prime Minister Yang said, that the soldiers who went up to the Qinling Mountains were there to suppress bandits, then it was the Ministry of War supporting the Ministry of Revenue in suppressing bandits that allowed Cao Kun to collude with those bandits for so long."

"Is this due to the deception of a villain, or is it because Cao Kun already had a connection with this? Can you tell?"

"Isn't this enough for me to punish you?"

Ye Chen asked again.

"Your Majesty, if you want to interrogate him, that's fine, but there's absolutely no need to imprison him!"

"Minister Huangfu really has no idea!"

"Unless Your Majesty has evidence, it is unreasonable to rashly detain a first-rank official in the Heavenly Prison."

Yang Dechang refused to give in.

"What a joke! Not to mention the suspicion of collusion between him and Cao Kun, who should be held responsible for the money and food wasted in suppressing bandits over the years? There's still food and fodder left in the Beijing camp for suppressing bandits? The north is still short of food due to the war, and yet he's wasting it!"

"Imperial Guards, arrest them!"

Ye Chen said again.

Hearing this, Yang Dechang was slightly stunned.

"Your Majesty, I can bring back the food and fodder immediately!"

Seeing that the imperial guards were about to arrest him, Huangfu Guang panicked and spoke quickly.

Upon hearing this, Yang Dechang gritted his teeth and secretly felt that he had been fooled.

Ye Chen smiled with satisfaction.