Marrying a concubine and swallowing her dowry? The mistress turns around and marries a high-ranking

Chapter 650

Like other countries, the Western Qi Dynasty generally levied taxes after the autumn harvest, when farmers had enough grain to pay their taxes.

It's only April, a time when food is scarce and infrequent. How are people supposed to survive if taxes are levied now?

Huo Tingsheng was extremely frustrated and angry because he ultimately failed to collect the tax.

The national treasury was robbed, and the people under his command are all useless. After investigating for so long, there has been no progress, and they can't even recover a single tael of silver.

And those pedantic officials and scholars are utterly useless. They won't part with a single penny, and all they do is obstruct him, finding fault with everything. He, the emperor, can't even afford to support the entire palace—what kind of decorum is this!

Huo Tingsheng was overwhelmed with problems, his temper worsened, and he saw everyone as having ulterior motives and deliberately opposing him. Over this period, he had already dealt with countless officials and servants.

As a result, the situation in Ancheng became unstable, and the entire court was filled with complaints about Huo Tingsheng.

Meanwhile, Mo Zhonggui was seizing the opportunity to win people's hearts.

While corrupt officials were one thing, Huo Tingsheng also dealt with a considerable number of honest and upright officials, senior officials in the court, and old guards in the palace.

Those who were demoted and stripped of their official positions by Huo Tingsheng were visited by Mo Zhonggui with generous gifts to help them out of their immediate troubles; those who were sentenced to imprisonment or exile were helped by Mo Zhonggui to improve their treatment; and the few who were directly ordered to be executed were saved as much as possible.

The emperor's incompetence and tyranny contrasted sharply with the crown prince's profound wisdom, compassion, and magnanimity. Huo Jinghuai's reputation in the court rose steadily and became increasingly positive.

Huo Tingsheng suspected several times that it was "Huo Jinghuai" who stole from the national treasury, otherwise how could he have such a comfortable economic situation? But he had no evidence and could not do anything to "Huo Jinghuai".

Several times, Xue Qian was summoned to the palace for questioning, but her answer was always the same: she had not found any connection between "Huo Jinghuai" and the theft of the national treasury.

Since Crown Princess Cheng Wu escaped from the palace, Huo Tingsheng and the Eastern Palace have practically broken off all pretense of civility, with tensions running high and the atmosphere extremely tense.

Huo Jinghuai's hostility was blatantly obvious. Huo Tingsheng had also given up on pretense and directly decided to kill Huo Jinghuai.

He sent several imperial guards out to try and assassinate "Huo Jinghuai," but all their attempts were fruitless. "Huo Jinghuai" somehow managed to have extremely strong guards around him, clearly no less powerful than the emperor himself.

Huo Tingsheng is currently preoccupied with money and doesn't have time to think of other ways to deal with Huo Jinghuai.

After some time, Xue Qian took the initiative to enter the palace and finally reported a useful piece of information to Huo Tingsheng.

"Your Majesty, I have discovered that His Highness the Crown Prince is plotting a rebellion. He has secretly built a weapons workshop on the outskirts of Ancheng to manufacture armor, spears, swords, firearms, and other weapons. He may be planning to recruit a private army to force the emperor to abdicate."

Huo Tingsheng was both shocked and furious. He slammed his hand on the table and stood up abruptly.

"Good! I knew this wicked son had long harbored rebellious intentions! He's already started manufacturing weapons and equipping his private army! If I don't get rid of him soon, he might just force his way onto my throne!"

At this moment, he was actually more excited than angry, because he had finally found a legitimate reason to get rid of "Huo Jinghuai"!