The princess was ordained by Heaven.

With such a powerful emperor around, how could they possibly rebel? Even if they did rebel, the royal family would be the first to suffer if the Brown Kingdom attacked. Why would they want to invite trouble?

Donate, donate! Money lost will come back again; consider it a way to avert disaster.

When the newly rich made their moves, the remaining officials in the court were too embarrassed to turn a blind eye, so they competed to "generously contribute their money."

The emperor suppressed the wildly upturned corners of his mouth. Seeing that the scene was somewhat chaotic, he simply decided to choose another time to raise funds.

The Supervising Secretary of the Ministry of War shook his head and stepped forward: "Your Majesty, the national treasury is currently empty, and it is one thing to not have money to support the army. More importantly, how can we ensure that the money reaches those who deserve it?"

Imperial Censor Jiang, his brows furrowed, swept his sharp gaze over some of the court officials: "Have our soldiers received what they are owed? Have the subsidies due to the families of fallen soldiers reached them? Are those who received their salaries still alive?"

He asked three questions in a row, each one like a knife.

Someone felt their lungs were being punctured and immediately began to argue.

The emperor nodded expressionlessly at Li Xiaojun, who immediately shouted to stop him.

The emperor then looked at the Supervising Secretary of the Ministry of War and the Imperial Censor Jiang.

The two of them jointly presented a memorial to the emperor.

They were not speaking without reason. In fact, they had been investigating this matter for a long time, and only after obtaining some evidence did they reveal the truth at this court meeting.

The memorial not only detailed how they discovered the matter, but also all the evidence they found.

The evidence was shocking enough, but it was still incomplete. They only hoped that the Third Princess could fill in the gaps.

They have too many things to do and no time left for them to investigate slowly.

As the emperor silently reviewed the memorials, the entire Fengqin Hall was eerily quiet, with only the tinkling of bells on the eaves outside, each sound seeming to strike at the heart.

A quarter of an hour later, the emperor closed the memorial.

He didn't speak immediately, but remained silent as if he was thinking about something.

Another quarter of an hour passed, and he chuckled sarcastically, his voice seemingly containing shards of ice: "You've got some nerve."

People who dare to draw salaries without working must be incredibly bold.

However, the evidence submitted was missing a list of those involved. But that's not a big problem; I have it. I'll pass the note to Eunuch Li tonight, and no one should find out it was me.

The emperor suddenly stood up, perched on the high platform, his expression stern and his majesty unassailable.

"Li Zhuo! Sword!"

In the Fengqin Hall, only two people were qualified to carry weapons: the emperor and Li Zhuo, who was specially granted the Shangfang Sword by the emperor.

When Li Zhuo solemnly stepped into the hall with his hand on the hilt of his sword, all the ministers knew that the Great Yong Dynasty was about to face another bloody storm.

Such a scene occurred twice after the current emperor came to power: once, the entire Empress Dowager's faction was ousted; and once, more than ten vassal kings were beheaded, leaving only two.

"Perhaps because they are far from the battlefield, some people have forgotten the duties of military officers. They have been ennobled and rewarded for their military achievements, but now they betray their former comrades."

"My beloved ministers, do you still remember the glory and hardships of your ancestors? Do you still remember where your titles came from and what their significance is?"

He walked up to a second-rank general, suddenly drew the sword from Li Zhuo's side, and beheaded the man in one stroke.

Blood spurted out, splashing onto the surrounding ministers, but they dared not move.

The emperor, sword in hand, walked step by step back to Gaoque.

"Li Zhuo, Duan Yunfeng, Ren Qianshan."

"Your subject obeys!"

The emperor threw the memorial in front of them: "Those involved in this matter shall be executed, and their entire families shall be exterminated. If there is any resistance, they shall be killed without exception."

He deliberately kept everyone in suspense and didn't read out the names of the people above.

However, it doesn't matter whether it's read aloud or not.

Those who committed the crimes all knew that with Zheng Xun around, they couldn't escape.

If the emperor were unaware of the impending doom, they could have bought themselves some time. But now, with the emperor in a hurry to rectify internal affairs, they have no chance of taking any chances.

The saying "When an emperor is angry, millions will die" is not just a joke.

The emperor was furious about the issue of receiving salaries without working, and no one dared to bother him with trivial matters. They also lost interest in gossip, so the court session ended particularly quickly.

The sky above the palace was covered with dark clouds.

It's going to rain soon.

"This weather is really depressing." Zheng Jiao frowned and looked at the sky with displeasure as he came out of Fengqin Hall.

Zheng Xun smiled happily and said, "Once the dark clouds pass and the heavy rain stops, the sky should clear up."

The crown prince's brows furrowed with worry: "The weather is fine, the weather is fine."

Upon hearing this, Zheng Xun looked at him and asked, "I wonder if Yuanjia has had the honor of visiting the Crown Prince's residence?"

[They've been investigating a spy for so long. If they hadn't found anything, fine, but they clearly found something yet couldn't bring themselves to take action. I don't even know what to say about them.]

[Tsk, if it weren't for my father forbidding me from leaving the palace, I would have secretly gone and killed that spy. Why would I need the Crown Prince to take me out?]

With a personality like that, what kind of prince are you? You might as well become a monk. You could even feed your own flesh to an eagle and no one would stop you; they'd all sing your praises.

[If he were the crown prince, I wouldn't care about him at all. They say that in times of chaos, the first to be killed is the mother of the emperor. Having such a crown prince would be a disaster for the Great Yong Dynasty.]

Although Zheng Xun didn't use any foul language, every word he said was hurtful, creating an awkward atmosphere.

Just then, the Sixth Prince chuckled and said, "Your Highness, you mustn't be soft-hearted, or Father will blame you."

Since he had already said that, the Crown Prince couldn't agree even if he wanted to, so he could only politely refuse Zheng Xun.

When his kind offer to help was rejected, Zheng Xun turned and left.

The sixth prince raised his voice: "Hey, aren't you going to wait for me?"

Zheng Xun stopped, turned around and glared at him: "Mind your own business!"

The sixth prince quickened his pace to catch up with her, blinking innocently: "Just telling the truth."

Everyone is waiting for her to reveal the list. Not everyone cares about her identity, nor does everyone care about the survival of Dayong.

He was afraid that if she left the palace, she would be torn to pieces by those reckless madmen.

Presumably, the Emperor's decision not to let her leave the palace was also a way of protecting her.

"Is that the truth? I think you just can't stand to see me doing well!"

"Alright, please, I'm begging you, stay in the palace with me, okay? My health can't take it, and I can't go to court with you tomorrow..."

"decide as things go……"

The two left chatting and laughing, leaving the other princes and princesses forgotten in the same spot.

Before they could even react, a "dog" on the roadside suddenly jumped out and bit them.

"Isn't it a bit inappropriate for you all to ostracize me like this?"

The Fifth Prince appeared not far from them at some point, laughing and teasing them.

Zheng Jiao crossed his arms and nodded: "Yes."

The smile on the Fifth Prince's face suddenly froze.

However, he quickly regained his composure: "Since my little sister knows it's not good, she can play with her brother."

He spoke wittily, but everyone listening remained expressionless.

Zheng Jiao raised her chin and continued, "What I mean is, we are indeed ostracizing you, and we don't feel there's anything wrong with it."

Third Prince: !! !! Jiao Jiao's sharp tongue.

Zheng Jin: Well done.