Chapter 240: The Emperor’s Favorite (Rong’s Father)
In the fourth year of Jianwu, the newly appointed censor made bold suggestions in front of the palace and overthrew the Minister of Rites who was just sitting in his position doing nothing.

His Majesty was furious and conducted a thorough investigation of the entire court.

During the Jianwu period, the court was reshuffled for the first time, and a large number of important and senior positions were replaced.

Rong Pingyuan knew that as the first person to lead the charge, he had become a thorn in the eyes of the old officials in the court.

He also knew that His Majesty had his own selfish motives.

But he also felt it was worth it as he could take the opportunity to replace a large number of ineffective officials.

In the sixth year of Jianwu, the imperial court allocated 2.3 million taels of silver to reinforce the Hongjiang Dam. Less than half a year after the completion of the project, the newly reinforced dam was washed away after a rainy season.

Hundreds of thousands of people died and millions were displaced.

His Majesty was furious, and the entire Ministry of Works, Ministry of Personnel, Ministry of Rivers, and City Government were all thrown into prison.

In the end, more than a dozen officials were beheaded and more than 3,000 people were exiled.

Two years later, there was a second reshuffle in the court.

Rong Pingyuan had long discovered the corruption in the river system. The river workers had no wages and were complaining. The representatives of the river workers went to Beijing to file a complaint and found him.

He collected evidence, looked for witnesses, and wrote memorials to the emperor.

But they were all piled on the imperial desk. He went to the palace again and again, but was avoided by His Majesty.

There were no grand court meetings in this dynasty, and the court sessions were held once every three days. He was just a minor official of the sixth rank, and the only way for him to see His Majesty was to go to the palace and make a report.

But Your Majesty refused to see him until the promotion was defeated.

He jumped three levels, from a sixth-rank censor to a third-rank chief censor.

At the same time, there was another major event. Qin Xiang was stripped of his position and demoted to a minor county official in a small county on the border of Shu.

Rong Pingyuan then realized that His Majesty wanted to get rid of Prime Minister Qin, and he used the lives of hundreds of thousands of people as a pretext!
He Dao was a student of Qin Xiang and was recommended to He Dao by Qin Xiang.

Just for this one reason, the prime minister of Qin was demoted.

His property was confiscated and 100,000 taels of silver were seized.

Compared with the 12 million taels of silver that were confiscated from the home of the Minister of Rites, this was already quite clean.

In the final analysis, His Majesty has begun to worry that the Prime Minister has too much power, so he is willing to sacrifice the lives of hundreds of thousands of people just to overthrow the Prime Minister of Qin.

Prime Minister Qin brought his wife and children with him in a small carriage and two small bags.

Rong Pingyuan was at the city gate, opened his mouth but could not say anything.

Qin Xiang got out of the car and looked at the young man. He seemed to see his younger self. He also grew up in a leaky thatched house.

He sighed slightly, “I have known your majesty’s ambition since the day he ascended the throne.”

“Your Majesty is like a sharp sword. Without a sheath, it will not only hurt people, but also hurt the country.”

“The late emperor asked me to be a good scabbard, but unfortunately my scabbard has weathered and can no longer cover your majesty’s sharpness.”

Prime Minister Qin took out a purple wolf hair brush from his sleeve pocket and handed it to Rong Pingyuan, “This was given to me by the late emperor. I don’t need it now, so give it to Lord Rong.”

“Lord Rong is a censor. Not only should he be the sword of His Majesty to regulate all officials, he should also be the sword of the people to regulate His Majesty.”

Prime Minister Qin looked over Rong Pingyuan’s shoulder and toward the tall city wall. “Sir Rong, there is nothing wrong with His Majesty removing the noble families and reshuffling the court, but have you ever thought that under the absolute imperial power, wouldn’t there be more mediocre officials who only know how to flatter the emperor?”

“Your Majesty wants to use Lord Rong as a knife, and has offended the entire court. I have one last word for Lord Rong.”

“A knife will become dull if used too much. If Lord Rong cannot keep it sharp all the time, then you should weave a sheath for yourself.”

Rong Pingyuan looked at Prime Minister Qin, who was already over fifty years old, clenched the pen in his hand, and nodded after a while.

“Thank you, Prime Minister Qin. I will remember this.”

Prime Minister Qin nodded, turned around and got on the carriage, “Let’s go, the border is far away, don’t waste time.”

The little carriage carrying the rickety family slowly went away.

Rong Pingyuan held the pen, and seemed to feel that the burden on him was becoming more and more different.

He began to wander among the people, and the place he went to most often was the North City, where there were more common people, more poor people, and more students.

He wrote, painted, and composed poetry. Rong Pingyuan’s name became more and more well-known.

He loved painting mountains and rocks, so he was given the nickname Mr. Akashi.

The fourth-rank official began to attend the court session. He stood at the end, but spoke more than those standing at the front.

He became a veritable favorite of the emperor, and at the young age of twenty, he was already a third-rank official in the court.

The matchmaker almost broke down the threshold of his house!

Every day, he would ask his servant to go home first to see if there was anyone blocking the door before he could go back.

The green-shed carriage stopped by the roadside, and a boy in gray clothes and shorts jumped out of the carriage.

He walked quickly towards the alley in front. The houses in this alley were not big, but they were all inhabited by officials.

At the door of the second house on the right, there were seven or eight chattering women gathered, holding a lot of scrolls in their hands.

The servant swallowed his saliva. There were more people here than yesterday!
If his master appeared in front of them, he would probably be eaten alive!

The servant patted his chest and hurried back.

Only the matchmakers were still waiting at the door, looking forward to it under the increasingly scorching sun.

“Why hasn’t Lord Rong come back yet?”

“According to the time, it’s time to leave the court.”

“What do you know? Lord Rong is a favorite of His Majesty, so he cannot be compared with others. He should go to court and discuss important matters with His Majesty. Please wait a little longer.”

“Hey, who are you matchmaking for?”

When the servant returned to the carriage, Rong Pingyuan had already changed out of his court robes in the carriage.

“Sir, there are more people at the door today than yesterday!”

Rong Pingyuan jumped off the carriage and said, “Then you drive the empty carriage back, and I’ll go look somewhere else.”

Now the places he often goes to are almost all occupied, and he always meets people who want to matchmake for him.

Since he couldn’t go to those places, he decided to go to another place today.

Nowadays, Daqi values ​​literature, and more and more students are coming to the capital. Correspondingly, there are many literati in study rooms, teahouses, and restaurants.

Although many students have not yet passed the imperial examination to become officials, their talents have already spread far and wide.

He wanted to visit Tai’an Restaurant in South City and see the Crazy Scholar who had become famous recently.

He felt that His Majesty wanted new talents, while Prime Minister Qin was worried about the emergence of a group of mediocre people who could only flatter.

He began to look for real talents among the students.

The difference between Tai’an Restaurant and the restaurants in the north city is that the students here come from wealthy families and have been exposed to famous teachers since childhood.

I don’t know the name of this crazy scholar, but I have heard of his reputation.

The article was full of sharp words and was extremely arrogant, so he earned the nickname “Crazy Scholar”.

Rong Pingyuan was also very crazy in the past few years. In this chaotic world, I am the only one who is sober.

This was Rong Pingyuan’s first time in Tai’an Tower and no one knew him.

The waiter came forward and asked, “How many guests are there?”

Rong Pingyuan looked around. The east side of the lobby, which had the best lighting, was opened up and hung with many calligraphy and paintings. There were also two long tables with pens, ink, paper and inkstones on them.

A scholar in a blue cloth gown was lying on a chair behind the desk, holding a wine jug in his hand.

The waiter followed his line of sight and said with a smile, “Sir, do you want to write one too?”

“The boss said that whoever’s calligraphy can beat Dai Yuquan’s will be able to deliver meals for ten days!”

As for the incident of Mu Chun killing Qin Xiang earlier, we still need to look at it separately here. After being tortured by the eldest princess, ignored by His Majesty, and cowardly by the prince, the prince wanted to invite Qin Xiang back, and Mu Chun became murderous.

Babies, look at it separately, look at it separately, the state of mind is different, the values ​​are also different, Muchun puts hatred first.