amaotonovel Chapter 192 Not a Natural Disaster
Chapter 192 Not a Natural Disaster
The next day, Ning Sangsang was called out of bed early by Xiaoman. After getting herself ready and having breakfast, she got on the carriage to the palace with Ning Xiaotian. She sat on the soft cushion of the carriage. As the carriage was moving, she felt drowsy and nodded like a chick pecking at rice. Normally, she slept until she woke up naturally, but today she was called out of bed early. She had not slept well and was very sleepy.
Ning Xiaotian looked at her drowsy appearance and said gently, "Sangsang, if you are sleepy, take a nap. Dad will call you when we get to the palace."
Ning Sangsang nodded obediently when she heard this, then leaned back on the soft backrest and slowly closed her eyes.
Ning Xiaotian looked at her sleeping with a gentle gaze, and softly told the driver to slow down.
The carriage slowly traveled through the prosperous streets of the capital. Shops on both sides opened their doors to welcome customers. Small vendors on both sides of the street also began to set up stalls. The sounds of hawking were heard one after another, making the scene very lively.
Ning Sangsang was sleeping soundly in the car, not affected by the noise outside at all.
Soon, the carriage slowly stopped in front of the majestic gate of the imperial palace. After the carriage stopped, Ning Xiaotian thought that it would take some time before he went to court, so he did not wake up Ning Sangsang who was sleeping soundly, but waited quietly for her to wake up.
After a while, footsteps sounded outside the carriage, and then Duke Gu's loud voice also rang out: "Duke Ning, let's go in together."
Ning Xiaotian frowned, worried that Ning Sangsang would be woken up, so he opened the curtain and said to Duke Gu, "Duke Gu, please go in first. Sangsang is still resting."
Hearing this, Duke Gu raised his eyebrows and cast his gaze on Ning Sangsang. Ning Sangsang woke up slowly at this moment. Seeing Duke Gu, she sat up straight. Before she could react, she saw Duke Gu greet her cheerfully, "Ning girl, we are colleagues now, we should get along well."
Duke Gu thought that this girl Ning knew a lot about the ministers. If he had a good relationship with her, he would be able to impeach those ministers more happily in the future.
Ning Sangsang knew what Duke Gu was thinking, and she nodded obediently, "Duke Gu is right, we should live in harmony." Duke Gu was a well-known troll in the court, and he had a very powerful mouth. She could develop him into her substitute.
Upon hearing this, Duke Gu laughed heartily, his eyes full of joy, "Okay, okay, I like sensible children like you. Now that you are awake, let's go to the palace together. The emperor doesn't like anyone to be late for court."
"Okay." Ning Sangsang nodded obediently, tidied her clothes, then got off the carriage with Ning Xiaotian and walked into the palace side by side with Duke Gu.
The palace was magnificent and golden, with glazed tiles sparkling brightly in the sun, revealing the royal majesty and dignity. Ning Sangsang followed Ning Xiaotian and Duke Gu to the Golden Palace where the emperor held court meetings.
There were already quite a few people in the hall, and the ministers had lined up according to their rank, waiting for the emperor to arrive. As soon as they came in, everyone's eyes fell on her at the same time, with very complicated feelings. The emperor could hear the girl's thoughts, and this girl knew their secrets. How would they live in the future? Going to court every day was more painful than going to the grave.
Ning Sangsang felt everyone's gazes and deliberately said in her heart:
[If anyone looks at me again, I will reveal all their secrets. ]
Hearing her thoughts, the ministers who had been staring at her with complicated expressions were so frightened that they quickly turned their eyes away from her, fearing that if they angered her, she would reveal their secrets and make them lose face.
Ning Sangsang raised the corners of her mouth slightly when she saw the reactions of the crowd. In fact, it was not a bad thing that these people could hear her inner thoughts. At least now she could use their thoughts to cause trouble.
Ning Xiaotian and Ning Sangsang are of different ranks, so they cannot stand together. Ning Xiaotian brought Ning Sangsang to her seat and then stood in his own seat. Ning Sangsang stood in her seat bored, looking at the people around her.
The ministers who were stared at by her were frightened. They lowered their heads and tried to reduce their presence, fearing that she would reveal their secrets.
At this moment, a eunuch's loud shout came from outside, "The Emperor has arrived!" With this loud announcement, the Golden Throne Hall instantly became quiet, and everyone's eyes were cast in the direction of the Golden Throne Hall. The emperor, wearing a dragon robe, walked in from outside the hall with steady steps. The golden dragon robe shone with a brilliance in the sun that made people dare not look directly at it. The majesty and dignity of the emperor were emanating from his whole body, and everyone knelt down to pay their respects.
Emperor Ming Qing walked into the hall with brisk steps. He scanned the people in the hall, looking for the person he wanted to see. When he saw Ning Sangsang, Emperor Ming Qing's mood instantly became happy. He smiled and sat down on the dragon throne above the hall.
"Everyone, please stand up." His voice was steady and powerful, with a hint of relaxation.
"Thank you, Lord." All the ministers responded in unison, stood up and returned to their seats. Ning Sangsang also stood up.
After everyone stood up, Emperor Ming Qing's eyes fell on Ning Sangsang, and he thought, why is this girl so quiet today? Emperor Ming Qing wanted to hear Ning Sangsang's thoughts, but his face showed no sign of it. He coughed lightly, and the eunuch behind him immediately shouted loudly: "If you have something to say, please report it. If not, please leave the court."
As soon as he finished speaking, a minister stood up and said, "Your Majesty, there has been a serious natural disaster and flood in Jiangnan. The disaster is severe and the people are displaced. We urgently need funds from the court to solve the urgent problem."
Ning Sangsang's eyes flashed when she heard this. In the book, the flood in Jiangnan did not happen now, but in October. It seems that the plot has been advanced again.
In the book, not long after the Jiangnan flood occurred, the Northern Desert Kingdom would use poison to cause trouble, causing heavy damage to the Hua family army and resulting in many deaths. Now that the Jiangnan flood has come earlier, it seems that the Northern Desert Army will also cause trouble in advance.
Upon hearing this, Emperor Mingqing frowned. Just as he was about to speak, he heard Ning Sangsang's inner voice, "The flood in Jiangnan was not a natural disaster, but the Jiangnan prefect and the Liangjiang governor-general embezzled the money allocated by the court for river repair when they were repairing the river. They cut corners and made the river embezzlement a shoddy project, which led to the river embezzlement when the heavy rain and river water rose, causing serious floods.
In order to avoid responsibility, those corrupt officials falsely reported to their superiors that the flood was caused by natural disasters. After the imperial court allocated funds for disaster relief, these corrupt officials were blinded by money and divided up all the funds, causing more than 100,000 people to starve to death.
Upon hearing Ning Sangsang's inner voice, Emperor Ming Qing's face instantly became gloomy as if water was about to drip from his face. In order to hear more of Ning Sangsang's inner voice, he suppressed his anger and did not flare up. However, his face was terrifyingly gloomy, and his whole body exuded a terrifying low pressure.
Seeing this, the ministers all lowered their heads, trying to reduce their presence, fearing that his anger would affect them, and some of the ministers showed panic on their faces.
When Duke Gu heard Ning Sangsang's thoughts, he quickly stepped forward and said to the emperor, "Your Majesty, the flood in Jiangnan this time is not a simple one. We need to send an imperial envoy to Jiangnan to investigate the matter and provide disaster relief."
Upon hearing this, Emperor Mingqing's eyes were piercing. He glanced at all the ministers in the hall and said softly, "What I hate most is corrupt officials who disregard the lives of the people for their own selfish interests. I will conduct a thorough investigation into the flood in Jiangnan this time. If I find out that any of you abused your power to commit corruption and caused the flood in Jiangnan, I will punish you severely!"
If what Ning girl said was true, there must be ministers in the court who were involved in the flood in the south of the Yangtze River, which allowed those corrupt officials to be fearless and conceal the truth, so that he could not find out that the flood in the south of the Yangtze River was man-made.
The ministers who participated in the corruption were terrified when they heard what Emperor Ming Qing said. Fine beads of sweat oozed from their foreheads. They cried out in their hearts: How could this damn girl know everything? They prayed in their hearts that she would not tell them. But she couldn't help but hear her inner voice ringing again in the next second:
[The reason why the prefect of Jiangnan and the governor-general of Liangjiang were able to conceal the truth and embezzle the imperial funds was because they had their backers in the court who helped them conceal the matter and profit from it.]
[Liu Taishi, the Minister of Revenue, and the Vice Minister of Works colluded with the Fourth Prince, embezzled and accepted bribes, and received a lot of ill-gotten gains.]