Chapter1048

“Who is so bold as to oppose our Fei family!”

Fei Yuhe slammed the teacup he was holding onto the table. “Great-uncle, are those people led by Pang Yukun deliberately targeting us?”

“It’s hard to say.” Fei Ji glanced at Fei Pei. He remembered something and said, “I heard you and a few other powerful people are setting up some kind of private school recently?”

“Brother, that is indeed the case. You saw what happened today. These children from prominent families simply do not get along with the children from ordinary common families. Rather than that, it would be better to establish our own school. We could spend a lot of money to invite excellent teachers to our school, and at the same time, raise the tuition fees. In this way, both merchants and powerful families would be happy to send their children here, after all, studying here means they will be able to gain a strong network of contacts in the future.” Fei Pei said with smugness.

Fei Yuhe echoed, “Great-uncle, this is also for the benefit of the nobles. The Emperor is now giving too many resources to the common people and is extremely stingy with us, and is even targeting us everywhere. He has completely forgotten that it is we nobles who supported him, and that is why he is where he is today.”

“Impudent!” Fei Ji was both shocked and angry. He looked around and, seeing no one nearby, he rebuked, “Are you tired of living? How dare you speak so carelessly about the Emperor.”

Fei Yuhe muttered, “I am not the only one who discusses this in private.”

Fei Ji closed his eyes. He said, “Fei Yuhe, you said something wrong. This empire of the Emperor’s was won by that group of people led by Pang Yukun. We are just enjoying the ready-made benefits. It is precisely because of this that I have been deferring to Pang Yukun and his people all these years.”

After a pause, he continued, “Since you dare to discuss the Emperor, do you know when the Emperor truly gained control of the six prefectures?”

Fei Pei and Fei Yuhe both shook their heads.

“It was from the beginning of the massacre of the powerful families in the six prefectures,” Fei Ji said sternly. “So the people who truly helped the Emperor win the empire are the common people of these six prefectures.”

“But later, if it weren’t for the support of us nobles, how could the Emperor have unified the world so quickly?” Fei Yuhe argued.

Fei Ji gave a wry smile and shook his head. He said, “At that time, the barbarians were eyeing the north and could invade at any time. It was then that the Emperor adopted my advice and implemented a moderate policy to quickly unify the north, otherwise, not even one in a hundred of the northern powerful families would have survived. Do you understand?”

Fei Yuhe’s face turned pale when he heard this. For all these years of prosperity and peace in Qingzhou, they had forgotten about the era of blood and fire.

“Then what do you mean, Great-uncle?” Fei Yuhe was a little confused.

“Pang Yukun and his ilk will definitely not allow you to run these private schools. This matter has probably become his excuse to attack us, and the Emperor will surely support him. This time, I am afraid our Fei family will suffer a calamity.”

Fei Ji had been in officialdom for decades and was very clear about the struggles in the court. He saw the trick in this at a glance.

Fei Yuhe and Fei Pei were both shocked. Fei Pei said, “Brother, what do you mean?”

“This matter of Tong’er is probably a trap to lure the snake out of its hole. You sent people to take care of things everywhere, which is equivalent to taking the bait. Now, everything is too late.”

Fei Yuhe’s eyes darted around. He finally understood what was wrong. He said with hatred, “Great-uncle, are we just going to wait for death? Tong’er is the future head of the Fei family.”

A look of helplessness appeared on Fei Ji’s face. All these years, he had violated the Fei family’s motto of not participating in factional struggles and had instead aligned himself with the old nobles. His purpose was simply to give Fei Yuer a powerful family as a backer, so she could secure her position as Empress and her son’s position as Crown Prince.

If it weren’t for this, he would have retired from officialdom long ago, like Luo Quan, and enjoyed a life of planting flowers and herbs. But what he did not expect was that he had intended to use the old nobles, but he was now entangled with them.

And what pained him the most was the position of head of the Fei family. He only had one daughter in his life, so the position of the Fei family’s head would fall to a side branch.

That was one thing, but in his opinion, Fei Pei, Fei Yuhe, and Fei Tong were all useless. He feared that the Fei family would fall into decline in his generation.

With a wry smile, he said, “Go back now. The truth will be revealed at the morning court tomorrow.”

Fei Pei and Fei Yuhe were speechless.

The next day, the morning court officially began at eight o’clock. As usual, Xiao Ming arrived at the Zhengda Guangming Hall early.

But before eight o’clock, the imperial guards suddenly escorted dozens of people into the hall. All of these people had ashen faces, as if they were mourning their parents’ deaths.

When the officials arrived one after another, they were all astonished. Some of them were gloating, while others were uneasy.

Pang Yukun and Fei Ji entered the Zhengda Guangming Hall together. Seeing this scene, they both had different expressions.

The morning court began with everyone chanting “Long live.”

Xiao Ming then waved his hand to calm them down and smiled. “You ministers have all seen these criminals, haven’t you? From the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of News, the schools, the security office, to the newspaper agencies. A single investigation has brought out a whole string of them, which truly opened my eyes. You all say that the area under the Emperor’s feet is clean, but in my opinion, it is not clean at all.”

Many officials were still confused. Zhan Xingchang asked, “Your Majesty, what crime have these people committed?”

Xiao Ming sneered and said calmly, “Yesterday, a very vicious incident occurred in Qingzhou Senior School. Fei Tong, the eldest son of the Fei family, got into a fight with a poor student over a mere seat, and in the end, he drew a knife and stabbed the student.”

After a pause, he said, “Logically, this should be a big news story, but what a shame, there was not a single report about it in the newspaper.”

While speaking, Xiao Ming showed the newspaper that had just come out today.

Li Ran, who was kneeling on the ground, cried out, “Your Majesty, it’s not that your humble official did not report it. I was worried that this matter would affect the court’s reputation, so I did not dare to publish it in the newspaper. I beg Your Majesty to look into it.”

Pang Yukun was stunned for a moment. He then understood what Xiao Ming was talking about. It turned out that the preparations Xiao Ming mentioned that day were for this matter.

Coming to his senses, he said, “Can the court’s reputation be protected by concealment? You, the director of the Ministry of News, are truly a joker.”

Xiao Ming sneered. He said, “One hundred thousand gold dragons were also for the sake of the court’s reputation? And you people from the education system and the principals, you deliberately concealed the matter, making a big deal into a small one, and a small one into nothing, also to conceal it. Do you take me for a fool?”

After rebuking Li Ran, Xiao Ming continued, “Qian Dafu, read out the results of the investigation to them.”

Qian Dafu just held a booklet and walked out, reading out the corruption, bribery, and illegal activities of Li Ran and the others one by one.

Upon hearing this, Li Ran’s face turned ashen. He understood that he was finished.

“Take them all down and punish them according to the law!” Xiao Ming glanced at these people with disgust and waved his hand.

Then he looked at all the ministers. “I am deeply pained that these officials are corrupt, but what pains me even more is the cause of this incident. Today, I will speak about it here.”