Chapter 161

A great Confucian scholar, reduced to this state—it is truly hard to know how to judge it.

"Chunyu Yue colluded with the remnants of the Six States to assassinate the Prince; originally, his entire clan should have been executed to demonstrate imperial authority."

"But considering he is the teacher of Prince Fu Su, the execution of the three clans is waived, and changed to the execution of his entire household!"

"You should be grateful you have a good student, otherwise the execution of the three clans would have been unavoidable!"

Upon hearing this sentence, Chunyu Yue was so agitated that he fainted on the spot.

"Take him away!"

"Carry out the execution of the entire household!"

Ying Ying Zi Ye drew the Lu Lu Sword.

"Understood!"

Wang Li took the Lu Lu Sword and ordered the soldiers to drag Chunyu Yue away.

The civil and military officials broke out in a collective cold sweat; not a single person dared to speak up to plead for mercy.

They were terrified that saying one extra word would implicate them.

Feng Quji stood to the side, not daring to utter a single word.

Today, he was merely a passerby.

"Lin Zhichong."

"The guilty subject is here."

Lin Zhichong knelt on the ground, trembling like a cicada in winter.

"Considering your merit in exposing Chunyu Yue, though you once shielded him."

"The execution of your entire household is waived, and you may also be spared death, but your whole family shall be stripped of all possessions and cast out!"

Ying Ying Zi Ye deliberated for a moment; Lin Zhichong's crime could be seen as major or minor.

He was just a small figure, after all; there was no need to implicate so many ordinary people.

"Thank you, Ninth Prince, for the grace of not killing me!"

Lin Zhichong kowtowed heavily several times.

An unexpected joy!

Truly an unexpected joy!

He had originally thought he could not escape death; perhaps this news could allow his family to survive.

But he never expected the Ninth Prince to actually let him go; this was enough to make him incredibly excited.

After all, the Ninth Prince had previously been decisive and ruthless, yet today he had spared him.

Perhaps it was because he had not yet touched the bottom line, otherwise he would certainly have died.

"Ninth Prince, what does 'stripped of all possessions and cast out' mean?"

After the joy subsided, Lin Zhichong asked weakly.

"Your entire family cannot take any gold or silver jewelry; you may only take some clothes when you leave the residence."

"Understood!"

Lin Zhichong gave a bitter smile; this was no different from having his home raided, but the good thing was that his life remained, and everything was still possible.

Ying Ying Zi Ye waved his hand, and two soldiers stepped forward to lead Lin Zhichong out of the great hall.

"Xiao Ren."

"The subordinate is here."

Xiao Ren walked out; being named at this moment made him somewhat anxious.

"You have merit in leading the tax reform and impeaching those two."

"The position of Palace Grandee shall be temporarily handed over to you."

"A three-month probationary period; if you do well, you continue; if you do poorly, go back to being your physician!"

Xiao Ren was stunned; he was actually... actually being made Palace Grandee; this sudden massive pie had left him dizzy.

He was originally just a small physician, a minor official under the jurisdiction of the Palace Grandee.

Now, suddenly promoted to Palace Grandee, it felt like a dream.

He slapped his face hard, the pain making him wince.

But realizing it was not a dream, Xiao Ren knelt down abruptly.

"Thank you, Ninth Prince! This subordinate will certainly work hard!"

Everyone looked at Xiao Ren; this guy had stepped in dog dung, his luck was truly good.

A tiny physician, transformed into a Palace Grandee—if word got out, it would make a whole crowd of people envious to death.

"Someone, draft an edict!"

"Understood!"

An eunuch walked out, bringing out xuan paper.

"Proclaim to the world: Great Qin has discovered a new crop, the sweet potato, which can yield seven to eight thousand jin per mu and can now be planted."

"Previously, I ordered you to reform taxes and collect the noblemen's fertile land; now that the commoners have fertile land in their hands, they can begin planting."

"At that time, Great Qin will distribute sweet potato seeds and planting techniques to the commoners for free."

"Also, the new farming tools, the curved-shaft plow and the seed drill, will be distributed to the commoners for free, to be deducted from future tax collections."

"This matter must not be taken lightly; it concerns the century-long foundation of Great Qin!"

Ying Ying Zi Ye also gave some details, which the eunuch recorded.

After recording, the eunuch left the great hall to prepare to post the notices and proclaim them to the world.

The civil and military officials were all astonished.

If things continued this way, there would be no more people starving to death in Great Qin.

This was no longer a dream; it seemed reform was necessary.

Previously, they were unwilling to reform and were forced to do so.

Now, they could not help but sigh that the Ninth Prince truly had some methods.

If one were to plant the auspicious crop without reforming first, it would certainly have benefited those noblemen.

But now it was different; the commoners all had fertile land in their hands.

With these auspicious crops, the commoners would be self-sufficient.

The officials seemed to see a super-powerful Great Qin Empire standing proudly in the world!