Chapter 135 Three Memorials
April 7th, early morning sun.

The bright sun breaks through the night sky, and the layers of glazed tile roofs shine brightly.

The bell tower on the left side of the Noon Gate rang five bells. All the officials walked along the white marble arch bridge, entered the Noon Gate, and headed towards the Golden Palace. Many of them glanced sideways at Mei Qingchen who was still kneeling.

"Pity."

Many people sighed in their hearts, thinking that if Mei Qingchen had not eaten that bowl of rice yesterday, he could have forced the emperor to come to the court today, but in the end, he was defeated by Zhou Jiazi.

All the officials entered the Golden Palace. Although His Majesty had not yet attended court today, the eunuch Xue Minghao, who held the seal, had already arrived early.

He had a fair face and no beard, and looked to be in his thirties. He had very deep nasolabial folds on his face, making him look very difficult to get along with.

When all the officials were present, the eunuch in charge of the seal announced, "Everyone, the emperor has issued an order."

All the officials stood in order, bowed and said, "We accept your order."

"The emperor is destined to be carried by heaven, and the edict says:"

"Sima Liang, the Minister of Words, disregarded the emperor's favor, indulged his son, blocked the army, delayed important matters, and brought disaster to Tianjing. Fortunately, Zhou Tieyi, the general flag of the God-Slaying Division, found the root of his evil and exterminated his clan, making them vicious and stubborn, and destroying them without form. The Ministry of Justice is ordered to re-examine his three clans. If there are any criminals, they will be exiled 8,000 miles away. I decree this."

In the magnificent hall, all the officials were silent for a moment.

A minister of the Ministry of Justice was killed and his entire family was wiped out in the political struggle last night, without a trace of life. This is Tianjing.

The Grand Minister of Justice was the first to speak, "Your Highness, we will receive your order."

As soon as he spoke, it meant that all the officials agreed to the result, and everyone spoke up.

The eunuch in charge of the seal smiled at this time, "The emperor wants to hear the sermon today, so please do as usual."

Simin Dong Xingshu frowned, not because the emperor did not attend the morning court, but because of the words of Xue Minghao, the eunuch who holds the seal today.

In the past, even though the emperor did not attend court, he would always pretend to be sick. But today, he didn't even pretend.

Xue Minghao naturally didn't dare to say this casually. It must have been the emperor who said this, which also meant that last night's fight was won, making the emperor determined to take the final step.

This is the greatest misfortune in the world!

All the officials handed the memorials to the three officials, and then left the Golden Palace as usual.

In Cheng'en Hall, the three officials did not chat and laugh as usual today. Everyone was silent.

After a while, Dong Xingshu looked at the pile of memorials and said, "How about submitting all the memorials today truthfully?"

There are too many of his Confucian methods in the memorials submitted today, and it is difficult for him, the Grand Minister of Justice, to write anything.

He also needed to stop the other two from writing, so as to avoid being stabbed in the back by the Legalists and the Military Strategists at this time.

Of course, this is also a small warning to His Majesty. Although you are as powerful as the sun and the moon in the sky in Tianjing, the world still needs hundreds of families to govern it.

Si Lu Qingkonggui pondered for a long time, looked at the memorial again, and said, "Okay."

The right general Yuchi Pojun also hesitated for a long time. If he had accepted Zhou Tieyi on that day, he would definitely refuse this matter today. But now that the three divisions have stood together, he naturally cannot fight among himself anymore.

Otherwise, under the double attack of the Queen Mother and Zhou Tieyi, the power of the Three Officials would be drastically reduced.

After last night, the three divisions no longer dared to underestimate Zhou Tieyi. He was indeed worthy of being the pawn chosen by the emperor to cross the river.

"That's it."

······
After listening to the teachings and practicing boxing, His Majesty came to the imperial study in high spirits today.

As usual, the Queen had been waiting for a long time.

His Majesty smiled and said, "Nothing important today, right?"

The Queen replied, "There is nothing important, but the three officials seem to be sick." "Sick?"

His Majesty's smile suddenly turned cold.

The Queen continued, "Today's memorial has not been approved by the three courts."

The emperor chuckled, "It seems they are still unwilling to give up. If they are sick, they must be treated."

He didn't care at all. Even if the three courts did not approve it, with his virtuous wife around, the approval result would be just as good, or even better!
Everyone in the world thought that the Queen Mother had such great power because of the favor of the Emperor.

But the emperor himself knew that the reason why he dared to lead his troops out of Sunset Pass and launch a surprise attack thousands of miles away was because of his wife’s good plan!

The Queen Mother smiled and said, "I have written notes for most memorials, but there are a few that I find it difficult to write."

Hearing that the Queen had achieved what he wanted, the Emperor of Daxia couldn't help but sigh in his heart that his wife was sometimes too perfect, just like another side of himself.

"I want to see which memorials my queen dared not approve."

The emperor sat on the throne with a smile on his face, and the empress took the lead in taking over the memorials that she had not touched.

One was a memorial of apology from Leng Zizhen, the guard of Tianjin. It basically said that Zhou Tieyi had requested troops to patrol the mountains yesterday, but was blocked. He did not bring the guards there immediately, which was actually a crime of dereliction of duty.

The emperor sneered, "He still knows that he has neglected his duties."

Then the red pen fell, "Approved."

The second memorial is the prince's memorial.

This memorial did not talk about any serious business, but simply listed carefully what had happened in the Prince's Mansion during that period of time.

But in his words, he quite admired the way the officials in the Prince's Palace conducted themselves, and it sounded like he was trying to commend his own officials.

His Majesty saw it at a glance.

Isn't the Prince's Mansion a 'small court'? His son's words were just a euphemism to say that the ministers were still useful and he shouldn't get too angry.

The emperor was not angry about this. First, he was the winner yesterday, not a loser.

Secondly, the prince listed the things he had to do, including mentioning that the Minister of Education had interrupted his evening tea. This was the Confucian way of using the prince's words to show his weakness.

Thirdly, the crown prince is his own son and the heir to the throne. Doing such a thing is "kind" and also a way to save face for himself. Not doing it would be a sign of deep-mindedness.

"All the books he read over the years were not in vain. They are pretty good."

His Majesty sighed.

Afterwards, he thought for a moment and commented, "Rewards are given for merits and punishments are given for mistakes. This is how wise rulers in ancient times acted."

He closed the letter, and his anger towards Si Cun Dong Xingshu had quietly subsided a lot.

The third memorial was also written by the Minister of Education Tang Anshi. It was a letter of recommendation, saying that the councillor Zhao Guanshan was knowledgeable, diligent, prudent in his work, and humble, and was indeed a great talent for the country.

The emperor sneered in his heart, this was a clear arrangement for him.

Of course, he did not want to follow the Confucian ideas, but he glanced at his gentle and virtuous wife beside him. His wife had done so many things for him silently. Even when she wrote a letter to her family asking for reward, she did not plead for Confucianism or influence them secretly. This was a good thing.

So even if husband and wife are one, they still cannot help but appreciate each other.

The wise rulers of ancient times punished mistakes and rewarded merits!

So he smiled and said, "I am not giving face to the Confucian school, but to the queen."

After that, he wrote in red on the memorial, "Order Zhao Guanshan to take charge of Tianjing's defense affairs to see how it works."

(End of this chapter)