At the court meeting the next day, the first thing Emperor Ning Kang asked after he came to court was: "Why is Prime Minister Zhang not here?"
The eunuch on duty hurried forward to report. : "Your Majesty, Prime Minister Zhang suffered a sudden illness and was bedridden last night. His son handed over the leave certificate on behalf of Prime Minister Zhang."
Emperor Ning Kang said lightly and thoughtfully: "Oh, It's a sudden emergency, and it's just the right time to get sick..."
All the officials below bowed their heads and said nothing. The person whose face was glowing yesterday suddenly suffered an emergency overnight. There is nothing fishy about it. Who can believe it.
Emperor Ning Kang glanced at the ministers and asked in a deep voice: "Prime Minister Zhang is seriously ill. It seems that he was unable to select a candidate to take charge of disaster relief. Ministers, do you have any recommendations?"
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Ministers, look at me and look at you. No one is speaking. Recommending others is making enemies for oneself. Recommending oneself is asking for trouble. They are not stupid, so how can they speak.
Only Zhang Siren, the chief minister of Honglu Temple, nodded slightly to Emperor Ningkang. This Lord Zhang Siren is the eldest son of Duke Dingguo and the eldest brother of the queen.
Emperor Ning Kang looked coldly at the silent ministers, because he no longer had hope for them, so naturally he would not be disappointed again. But the future of this group of ministers ends here.
Looking at Zhang Siren, Emperor Ning Kang's eyes were slightly warm, and he called out loudly: "The chief minister of Honglu Temple listens to the decree."
Zhang Siren knelt down when he left work, and other ministers responded in unison. Take a breath. The person the emperor named now must be the unlucky guy who will be forced to take charge of the disaster relief. As long as this unlucky guy is not me, anyone can do it.
Sure enough, Emperor Ningkang loudly announced that Zhang Siren was the minister of imperial envoy for disaster relief, and gave Shang Fang a sword. Anyone who sabotaged the disaster relief work would be killed first and reported later. This decree did not surprise the ministers, but the next decree from Emperor Ningkang made some people break out in cold sweat.
Emperor Ningkang immediately issued two grace decrees. One grace decree was given to Prime Minister Zhang Ruoyu, allowing him to temporarily step down from his post and recuperate in peace, and ordered Deputy Prime Minister Song Shize to act as prime minister.
The other is for He Jin, the Minister of Household Affairs. He was asked to return to his hometown to recuperate for three months, so that he could fully recuperate before serving the imperial court. While He Shangshu was recuperating, Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Household Affairs acted as Shangshu with full authority.
When He Shangshu heard this, he immediately became anxious. He immediately threw himself in front of Emperor Ningkang and shouted: "Your Majesty, I am not sick, I am not sick... I don't need to..."
Before He Shangshu could finish speaking, Emperor Ning Kang said coldly: "He Aiqing may have a hidden illness that he doesn't know about, otherwise he wouldn't have coughed like that in the court yesterday. I am not the emperor who is inconsiderate to his ministers. "If He Aiqing is ill, you can definitely ask for leave."
He Shangshu's face turned pale and he knelt down slumped on the ground. He was so careless that he forgot who was sitting on the dragon throne now. Then there is the young emperor who is not yet weak in his crown and is restrained by his ministers, but is now the emperor who is young and powerful and is gaining increasing prestige.
"I obey the decree." Squeezing out a sentence through his teeth, He Shangshu kowtowed and thanked him, stood up slowly, and retreated to his seat. Emperor Ningkang looked at him from above and saw that He Shangshu's figure was no longer as tall as before. His back was a little hunched and his steps were slightly staggering.
Emperor Ningkang's sudden toughness shocked all the courtiers in the palace. Before this, Emperor Ningkang's behavior had always been gentle and tolerant.
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As time went by, some ministers’ hearts grew. These ministers have forgotten that those who can survive to the end and successfully inherit the throne cannot be really gentle and harmless.
Emperor Ningkang's sudden toughness made all the ministers feel uncomfortable for a while. It was not until the court was over that everyone came to their senses. The situation in the harem was probably going to change again. After all, the power of the concubine Shu's family has always been suppressing the queen's family. But today in the court, the emperor was obviously promoting the queen's line and suppressing the concubines' line.
Nowadays, the princes are still young, and the eldest prince born to Concubine He Shu is only seven years old. Although the courtiers were not in a hurry to stand in line, they had been carefully detecting every slightest movement in the imperial city. Emperor Ningkang's move today has made the study rooms of many ministers' mansions brightly lit all night long.
After the dispersion of the dynasty, Zhang Siren immediately began to provide disaster relief. He quickly wrote the disaster relief document and sent it to Emperor Ningkang's imperial study. After seeing this, Emperor Ningkang praised him repeatedly, but at the same time he secretly regretted once again that he had listened to the Queen Mother's words and suppressed the Dingguo Palace, causing him to lose a lot of help in vain.
After receiving approval from Emperor Ningkang, Zhang Siren ordered dozens of disaster relief proclamations to be transcribed and sent people to the towers of the four cities to announce to the victims outside the city.
After the emotions of the victims have stabilized, people will be sent to transport the wood, reed mats, felts, oilcloths, firewood, cauldrons and other items urgently allocated from various ministries out of the city gate in an orderly manner and place them outside the city. Set up a tent to protect yourself from wind and snow and a porridge shed to store porridge.
Master Zhang also invited several imperial doctors from the imperial hospital and doctors from various medical clinics in the capital to go out of the city and set up three medical tents outside each city gate to treat the victims.
Zhang Siren's set of punches really relieved the victims' near-collapse emotions. Especially when the victims saw truckloads of grain being transported from the capital and poured into cauldrons of boiling water, they felt a little more at ease. In fact, the requirements of the victims are very simple. As long as they have a stutter, some clothes to wear, and they will not die of hunger or freezing.
Emperor Ning Kang, who was in the Wanchen Palace, heard the progress of the disaster relief from the young eunuch, and his brows that had been furrowed for several days finally relaxed a lot. He just wanted to go to Kunyi Palace to talk to the queen. But he heard Concubine He Shu's sharp cry from outside: "Get out of the way, I want to see the emperor."
Emperor Ning Kang frowned again, and said coldly in his heart: "In recent years, I have been I am so used to her that she doesn’t know how high the sky is.”
At the foot of the steps outside Wanchen Palace, two forest guards held halberds and crossed to block the road.A eunuch holding a fly whisk was bending his face in pain, and said to an arrogant beauty in costume with a smile: "Concubine Shu, don't make things difficult for your servants. It is the ancestral motto that concubines in the harem are not allowed to set foot in Wanchen Palace..."
Concubine He Shu was angry, ashamed and annoyed. Her father had just been sent home by the emperor to "recuperate", and this dog slave in the palace dared to talk to her like this. If...
Concubine He Shu coldly squeezed out a sentence through her teeth: "Good... good... such a good and loyal servant! I am kneeling here waiting for the emperor." After saying this, she flicked the magenta satin hanging fox armpit lining. with a cloak, and knelt down at the foot of the steps with a plop.
The eunuchs who can work in Wanchen Palace are all top-notch people. I saw that the eunuch was not panicked, but said more respectfully: "My Lady, it's snowing and cold now. You are precious, so you don't dare to scream." You've caught a cold... How about you get up first and go to a leeward place to get out of the cold, and my servants can help you pass the news?"
Concubine He Shu glared at the eunuch angrily and shouted: "It's not that good. Go..." She knew that this eunuch was not serving the emperor closely, so there was no need to give him a good look. He was just an eunuch, and he didn't deserve it!
The eunuch trotted into the corridor and muttered a few words to another eunuch. The eunuch nodded and walked quickly into the palace to report to Emperor Ningkang. After a while, the eunuch trotted out. The eunuch waiting in the corridor said a few words. After listening, the expression on his face was distorted. It was really hard to suppress the laughter!
Jogging back to Concubine He Shu, the eunuch who sent the message loudly said: "The emperor said that He Shangshu will be benevolent if he asks for mercy, so why do you have to force it! If your concubine feels that the snowy day is boring, you can study hard behind closed doors. Review the palace rules."