The first county magistrate in history

Chapter 290 Heaven and Earth Can Witness

Xia Mochu's eyes flickered. "We must be on guard against others, so from the beginning, not giving him real power was the right thing to do. Uncle An, leave him alone for now. Do you have any good ideas for raising money?"

An Dehai lamented, "If Your Majesty had confiscated the homes of Zhu Fengchi and Guo Pingxi in the court, this money would have been enough. Especially for Guo Pingxi, who has caused such serious consequences, confiscating his property and exterminating his entire family would not be excessive."

Xia Mochu smiled bitterly: "Don't I want to? It's just that I'm afraid of the consequences."

An Dehai nodded. "That's true. But right now, raising money is difficult. Although taxes from all sides have been paid by the end of the year, the military expenses for the Four Borders Army are also due."

Xia Mochu frowned and remained silent for a moment. Suddenly, as if he had finally made up his mind, he said, "Uncle An, do you remember that when the Daqian Dynasty was first established, it was also lonely and empty?"

An Dehai's face changed. "Your Majesty, do you mean to imitate the early days of the dynasty? Absolutely not. Back then, during the reign of the previous emperor, civil wars and foreign turmoil were rampant. Although they were eventually quelled, the national treasury was empty and everything needed to be rebuilt. The previous emperor didn't dare to imitate the practices of the early days of the dynasty. Your Majesty should know how much effort the previous emperor put in to correct this mistake."

Xia Mochu smiled bitterly: "What else can I do? Fortunately, the ancestor emperor left behind a way to correct the mistakes, otherwise, I wouldn't even dare to think about it."

Andehai was silent.

At the beginning of the dynasty, the treasury was empty, and all memorials from all quarters required payment. The previous emperor, having no other options, resorted to secretly buying and selling official positions, which did resolve the crisis. However, these officials, however, lacked real talent and knowledge, causing not only a mess of government affairs but also lavishing profits on the people. The people complained bitterly, nearly leading to a civil uprising.

Fortunately, the previous emperor had anticipated the consequences and passed the throne to his younger brother. As the saying goes, a new emperor chooses his own ministers. After ascending the throne, the younger brother went on a killing spree, slaughtering those corrupt officials. Not only did his reputation spread far and wide, but the confiscation of their property also enriched the treasury.

Despite its vast territory, the Qin Dynasty was unable to develop commerce or agriculture, leading to the subsequent emperors living off the land.

By the time of the empress, Daqian was so poor that it was urinating blood.

If the homes of civil and military officials had not been raided last time, who knows how many people would have starved to death by now.

Xia Mochu looked at Andehai. Although she had this idea, she was also unsure and a little afraid that she would not be able to handle the aftermath.

After a long while, An Dehai suddenly bowed and said, "Your Majesty, this matter has nothing to do with you. It was my idea, and I did it on my own. Your Majesty is not aware of it."

Xia Mochu's eyes turned red at that moment: "Uncle An, this is not allowed..."

Uncle An waved his hand and said with a smile, "Your Majesty, I am old, and there is less and less I can do for you. Didn't Qin Zheng say that eunuchs are a disaster for the country? I will show him my loyalty to Your Majesty and to Daqian. Heaven and earth can bear witness to it!"

……

Guo Mansion.

"What?" Guo Pingxi, who was drinking tea, jumped up and knocked over the eight-immortals table with a loud crash!

The tea bowl and teapot fell to the ground and broke into pieces.

Guo Pingxi never dreamed that he would be seduced by the empress even though he did not attend the court.

Who gave the empress the courage?

Aren’t the local women afraid of the King of the West?

Suddenly, Guo Pingxi slumped down in a chair.

It’s over. One misstep will lead to eternal regret.

This time he was arrested, the evidence was irrefutable, and even gods couldn't save him.

Although the empress did not mention the bet between him and Qin Zheng, and although the empress did not say in person that he had been dismissed, he was dismissed anyway.

How could the empress give him another chance to regain control of the Privy Council?

After a long while, Guo Pingxi weakly ordered, "Come here, pack up and wait for the rain to stop before returning to the countryside to retire!"

He didn't dare stay in the imperial capital, under the emperor's feet.

If the empress had time, he could guarantee that it would not be as simple as just stripping him of his official position.

If you leave now, you can still get out. If it’s too late, you may not even be able to leave the capital.

Guanxi, Qinghe Prefecture Government Office.

Qin Zheng was reading the carrier pigeon message from Lu Dong.

Although it’s raining heavily in the capital and we can’t send messages by carrier pigeons, wouldn’t it be better to send pigeons after we leave the capital?

Contact points for receiving carrier pigeons can be set up anywhere.

It’s not that Lu Dong is smart, but that the empress and even Xia Mo Ning don’t know much about carrier pigeons.

Qin Zheng also thought that Liang Heng would save Guo Pingxi, and also thought about how he would save him.

I also thought that Liang Heng would not fail to defend against foreign enemies just because the empress dealt with Guo Pingxi.

We will not let foreign enemies in.

Even if Liang Heng wanted to do this, the soldiers of the Western Border Army would not agree.

Qin Zheng just didn't believe that with Liang Heng's character, he could make millions of soldiers loyal to him?

Therefore, Liang Heng absolutely did not dare to collude with foreign vassals and open the door to the west.

If Liang Heng really colluded with foreign vassals and really completely controlled the Western Border Army, would he have waited until today?

He has long been an independent king.

Moreover, the people behind Liang Heng didn't dare to do this. Otherwise, they would have taken action long ago.

Therefore, capturing Guo Pingxi would not cause a major disturbance, but would only make Liang Heng angry and humiliated, and he would simply direct his full firepower towards Qin Zheng.

That's it!

Qin Zheng also expected that the empress would take the opportunity to capture Zhu Fengchi.

When he inspected the five cities, he noticed something wrong with the city walls. After secretly checking, he found out that they were shoddy construction.

However, he could not report this to the Empress, because, if you were renovating the Five Cities, why would you care about the city walls?

He is suspected of having ulterior motives.

Moreover, he had already calculated that Guo Pingxi and Ji Wenjian's collaboration would inevitably lead to trouble. He also anticipated the South City would be flooded. That would be when the shoddy city walls would be exposed. The previous Minister of Works and the craftsmen had long since perished or disappeared, leaving the case unresolved. But how could the empress let the current Minister of Works, Zhu Fengchi, go unpunished?

Qin Zheng did not recommend the empress to take down Guo Pingxi and Zhu Fengchi because she would suffer backlash.

There will definitely be people who add fuel to the fire.

In reality, Qin Zheng had Xia Mo Ning convey a message to Xia Mo Chu, warning that it would be difficult to mobilize the Four Realms King's men at this time. However, he was powerless to determine whether the woman would listen or see the key to the situation.

Serving the emperor is like serving a tiger. There are some things that he cannot explain too clearly to the empress.

Moreover, everything is just his reasoning.

Although his reasoning skills have never failed so far, this reasoning skill is definitely not accurate in predicting everything. It is only a prediction based on the existing clues.

If he could really predict everything, he would have become a god. Why would he still be living in this chaotic world?

are you crazy?

The bet between Qin Zheng and Guo Pingxi was merely a means of containment, a means of curbing Guo Pingxi's arrogance. Qin Zheng didn't expect the bet to dethrone Guo Pingxi from his position as the head of the Privy Council.

At this moment, Qin Zheng knew that the empress was in trouble.

But, that's okay.

One does not gain wisdom without going through something.

Although it is a crisis, it is not fatal.

Qin Zheng shook off the thought about the empress's crisis from his mind. Now, he was in a more difficult situation than the empress.

He was facing a million-strong army from the four realms.

This time, he killed people everywhere just to provoke the Four Realm Kings.

People only make mistakes and expose certain things when they are extremely angry.

Qin Zheng even hoped to lure out the person behind the King of the Western Territory.

As long as we can lead out the person behind one of the Four Realm Kings, we can determine who is behind all the Four Realm Kings.

Although Qin Zheng had some guesses, they were just guesses.

Qin Zheng had a headache.

I sighed in my heart and suddenly felt a sense of world-weariness.

I hate this world, even the old world.

I even wondered why the world, human beings, and him should exist.

Living in these two worlds is like being in prison.

"Sir, the Prime Minister is here!" Wu Xiaoyou reported.

Qin Zheng put the secret letter away: "Please!"

"You little monkey, how can you remain calm?" Xia Bitu rushed in with an anxious look on his face.

Qin Zheng was speechless. Who was sitting in my arms?

"What's wrong?" Qin Zheng asked.

The old fox is so panicked, something big must have happened.

Could it be that Liang Heng has come? However, with his special intelligence skills, he should have discovered it.