Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng hurried over and took a look at the several officials who jointly impeached them. They all had inextricable connections with the Li family of Zhao County and the Lu family of Fan Yang, and several of them were related to Chang'an salt merchants. Obviously, Qin Huaidao's
Xuehuayan has affected the interests of many people, and everyone can't sit still.
After some greetings, Li Er gave the joint impeachment document to Fang Xuanling. Fang Xuanling read it carefully and while thinking about countermeasures, he found that there were three major charges listed on it. The first charge was unruly and malicious price reduction; the second charge was,
Undermining fair competition; the third crime is that snowflake salt is unique and poses potential food safety hazards. It is recommended to ban it.
After reading it, Fang Xuanling almost laughed out loud. He was very disdainful of the impeachment document and gave it to Wei Zheng. Wei Zheng was upright and caring about the people. He became angry after reading it. After reading it, he handed the document to the chamberlain and returned it to Li Er.
The two of them secretly exchanged glances and remained indifferent.
Seeing that neither of them spoke, Li Er felt out of control and felt very uncomfortable. He asked in a cold voice: "Two beloved ladies, please tell me, how should this matter be handled?"
Fang Xuanling was tired and didn't want to talk.
Wei Zheng was irritable and did not bother to talk to the villain who signed the petition.
Seeing that the two of them didn't answer, Li Er felt alienated and was very unhappy. He started to call names: "Fang Aiqing, tell me, is this snowflake salt really a safety hazard?"
Fang Xuanling became angry when he heard this. He came up and asked about the safety hazards instead of whether he should sell it? Is there malicious competition? This is the rhythm of trying to suppress Xuehuayan. He said in a cold voice: "Go back to your Majesty, I want to ask
Do the colleagues who signed the letter have any evidence to prove that snowflake salt is poisonous?"
After speaking, Fang Xuanling looked at everyone with cold eyes.
Wei Zheng also locked eyes with everyone, his eyes beating with anger.
Everyone felt the coercion of the two people, and their courage suddenly dropped, their necks shrank, and their eyes flickered.
"No evidence?" Fang Xuanling asked coldly.
An official said bravely: "New things cannot stand the test of time, so you should be skeptical. If they are poisonous, won't they harm thousands of people in Chang'an City?"
"Then there is no more." Fang Xuanling said coldly, then looked at Li Er and bowed solemnly: "Your Majesty, the law of Zhenguan says it is the same crime. They impeached a person based on speculation without any evidence.
The Duke of Chao poisons the people, and if word spreads about it, it will damage the majesty of the Duke, the majesty of the imperial court, and make neighboring countries laugh at him. If everyone imitates it, wouldn't it be a big mess? Please ask the Holy One to see clearly and punish the others for their crimes."
Those words were resonant, and the good old man Fang Xuanling was really angry.
Everyone's expressions changed greatly. If he was punished with the same crime, his head would be lost.
Li Er did not expect that Fang Xuanling would react so violently, and quickly said: "The court cannot be punished for words."
"No!"
Wei Zheng lost his temper and started to retaliate: "Your Majesty, it is the duty of an official to speak, and you cannot be punished for your words. However, they are not from our Yushitai, and they are not officials, so how can we ignore it? Once this case is made, everyone will do the same.
, everyone in the imperial court will be competing to make false accusations, and the atmosphere is full of smoke and smoke. How can officials govern the Qingming Festival?"
There is no one better than Wei Zheng to seize the moral high ground.
Everyone was shocked by these words and had no way to refute.
Li Er also looked at Wei Zheng in surprise, feeling as if he had shot himself in the foot.
After all, Fang Xuanling couldn't bear Li Er's loss of face, so he smoothed things over and said: "Your Majesty, it is really inappropriate to make false accusations without evidence, let alone to make false accusations against the Duke of the country. Of course, you are all thinking about the safety of the people and are understandably worried. This is
How about just getting rid of the crime?"
Li Er walked down the steps: "There is no basis or evidence. It is really inappropriate to make false accusations against a prince. It will chill the hearts of all princes, make neighboring countries laugh, and make the people dissatisfied. This proposal has been dismissed. How to deal with the remaining two crimes?"
"Your Majesty."
Wei Zheng said dissatisfied: "The other two crimes are even more nonsense and extremely ridiculous. Let's talk about the first crime first, unruly and malicious price reduction. A few days ago, the price of salt in Chang'an was only ten cents per catty, and now it is fifteen cents per catty.
Not counting deliberately driving up prices and putting the people of Chang'an in dire straits, how should such behavior be dealt with?"
After saying that, Wei Zheng glanced at everyone with a cold gaze, snorted coldly, and continued: "Inflating prices, you don't care about the life and death of the people, but you don't write a letter. Now the Lord Protector is selling high-quality snowflake salt at a low price. This is a move that benefits the people, and the people are grateful.
You jumped out while you were waiting. I wanted to ask you where your conscience lies, but you accepted the benefits from the salt merchants, so I said!"
"No, Mr. Wei, this is slander."
"That's right, Mr. Wei can't just list the charges based on guesswork."
Wei Zheng said coldly: "I am a doctor at Yushitai, and I have the responsibility of supervising all officials. It is my duty to question you and wait a few words. Don't worry, I will start the investigation process when I get back. I want to see if you are really clean."
When I find out who accepted the bribe and falsely accused the Duke of Materia Medica, I will never be done with him."
An official said unconvinced: "Everything has rules. All merchants in Chang'an City sell at the same price, which is fair and reasonable. If the Protector suddenly lowers the price, it is malicious selling at a low price. This is detrimental to fairness. If everyone follows suit, wouldn't business be bad?"
Big chaos?"
"It's good to lower prices. The cheaper things are, the better off the people are. Even if there is a chaos, I will write to the court to make those businesses famous. So what if they are given the title of 'righteous merchants'?" Wei Zheng said coldly.
"But this has messed up the rules. Without the rules, there is no etiquette. It is rude. This person's heart is in chaos and the world is in chaos." The other party said with a frown.
Wei Zheng glared and scolded: "It is true that the imperial court governs the people with etiquette, but everything follows the law and governs the country according to the law. The Zhenguan Law does not stipulate that price increases are not allowed, so I have nothing to do when I see the price of salt in Chang'an skyrocketing, but there is nothing I can do about it.
The regulations prohibit price reductions, so it is reasonable and legal for the Protector to sell the salt at a low price. You have to stop talking nonsense. Do you have the ability to ask various salt merchants to sell it at the same low price? If you wait, the price of salt in Chang'an City may not rise.
To what extent, do you really want to see the people in Chang'an unable to eat salt and the world going into chaos?"
This last sentence is not so much to accuse everyone and kill people, but to remind Li Er.
Li Er's eyes sharpened, realizing the seriousness behind this, and looked at Fang Xuanling.
Fang Xuanling solemnly nodded and said: "Your Majesty, the price of salt in Chang'an City remains the same every day. It has risen from ten cents to fifteen cents. The extra five cents can buy a bucket of rice to keep one person alive. What's even more frightening is that it is still rising. Last year's grain supply
The price issue is fresh in my mind, and it serves as a lesson for the future. Now that the Lord Protector has launched low-priced, high-quality snowflake salt, some people have jumped out to oppose it. Obviously, the interests of many people have been affected. Please be careful, Your Majesty."
Li Er's face darkened and his eyes flickered.
The hall suddenly became quiet and became a little more depressing.
After a while, Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng secretly exchanged glances. They couldn't tell that this impeachment was anything but a competition. There were other plans hidden behind it, but they didn't reveal it.
"Let's discuss this matter later. Please step aside." Li Er's voice sounded, with a hint of indifference and dissatisfaction.
Everyone resigned and left.
After leaving the Manlu Hall, Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng were hanging strangely behind other officials. After they put some distance between them, Wei Zheng reminded him in a low voice: "Prime Minister, this impeachment is probably the Holy One's instruction, or at least his tacit approval, in order to support Zhao.
The Li family of the county and the Lu family of Fanyang cultivated new forces to compete with the old ministers."
Fang Xuanling nodded and did not answer the question. He was already walking like a mirror.
Having assisted Li Er for many years, how could he not understand Li Er's style of doing things? Using the price of salt to suppress Qin Huaidao, destroying the old city, and then using the profit from the price of salt to support a new force to compete and achieve balance, this is the art of the emperor.
Unfortunately, it was Qin Huaidao whom he met this time. Fang Xuanling was not optimistic about Li Er's methods, but he could not figure out why Qin Huaidao suddenly did this. After thinking for a moment, he whispered in a low voice: "Go to Qinjiazhuang after you get off duty?"
"That's fine!"
Wei Zheng nodded knowingly.
Neither of them knew that just after everyone left, a young woman came to the Manna Hall, carrying a bowl of lotus seed porridge, walking gracefully and looking forward to it, her watery eyes could make people willing to jump in and drown.
Qiao smiled sweetly: "Your Majesty, the weather is hot. I have cooked some lotus seed porridge, which can ward off the heat."
"Wu Cairen, let it go." Li Er said with a solemn face.
The woman smiled lightly and stopped trying to persuade her. She put the lotus seed porridge aside and continued: "Your Majesty, I want to go out to the palace to buy some things. Please ask for your permission."
"Why do you want to leave the palace?" Li Er asked.
The other party showed a shy expression and explained: "Your Majesty, I heard that the Protector of the Kingdom wanted the people to eat salt. It was obviously a rare snowflake salt. I have never seen it before. It is extremely precious. However, he sold it to the people at a low price and at a loss to save the people.
Yu Shuihuo is really benevolent and righteous. I can't bear that Lord Protector loses too much, so I want to buy some at a high price, so that I can help Lord Protector make up for some of his losses. How about that?"
The words were full of good intentions and for the sake of the Protector, but they concealed endless murderous intent.
"Save the people from fire and water?" Li Er murmured and waved his hand.
The young woman smiled and bowed, turned around and left, a cold look flashed in her bright eyes.
Li Er watched the woman leave, his eyes became more gloomy, and he continued to mutter to himself: "What do you want to do when you save the people from misery and buy people's hearts? Where do you put me?"
A feeling of frustration and anger welled up in his heart, and the next moment, Li Er's eyes flashed: "Come here, tell the county government that the price of salt will be adjusted to three cents per catty."