381 The Furious Emperor
Yan looked towards the letter on his hand with a face devoid of any emotion, yet his eyes were burning with rage. On the side, Shu knew very well that his Master was terribly angry at the sudden attack towards Soujin's family. Not to mention, this time there were causalities and the wounded person was someone close to them.
He looked towards the rising sun outside with fury. This morning court will be the place for him to let all of his rage out. He would not allow those idle officials to get away with just saying that they were going to investigate the matter.
"Shu, help me dress up," Yan ordered.
Shu swiftly took Yan's clothes and helped the other party to wear them. Amidst Yan dark face, he knew that this morning court won't end up in peace because those assassins had touched his bottom line.
It was a very important bottom line of this Emperor.
The emperor walked down the corridor with a dark face. The servants and the maids didn't dare to look at him as they trembled on the side. All along, the atmosphere in the palace had been quite calm and natural because Yan was quite an easy going person. However, this time they would tremble when Yan passed over them.
This made them remembered the prestige of an emperor was not something to be looked down into. No matter how much amiable Yan usually looked, he was still the emperor and they cannot be casual with him. Did they think with the other party usually friendly gesture, he was someone they could trample?
Right now, at this very moment, they were reminded once again: no one was allowed to trample on the prestige of the royal family!
The moment Yan stepped into the court, all of the officials caught their breath. They can feel the coldness from Yan as he looked at them coldly. They had heard about the matter of Soujin's wife getting attacked yesterday, but none of them expected that the emperor would be this angry.
As Yan walked towards his throne, step by step, the stifling pressure increased. The officials were all bowing down, no one dared to raise their head. They have the feeling that once they did, they would lose their life.
It was a feeling that they had never experienced coming from this amiable and easy going Emperor before.
Amidst the silent officials, Yan suddenly opened his mouth, "Have you heard what happened yesterday?"
With the commotion from Soujin's residence yesterday, there was no way for them to not know what had happened.
"We… heard that Prince Soujin residence was attacked," one of the officials opened his mouth and uttered out. His voice cracked a bit, yet he still braved himself to answer.
"And what do you think of the matter?" Yan asked again.
An official from the defense part quickly kneeled down, "It was our fault that the defense in this kingdom is not safe enough. Please punish us, Emperor!"
"50 beatings for each of them," Yan said in a cold voice, "After that make sure to return back because your task is not over yet."
The officials didn't expect that Yan would suddenly give them punishment. They thought that they could talk their way out, but before anything else, Yan had given the order to punish them heavily. 50 beatings… they were sure that they wouldn't be able to sit down anymore after that.
"What are you waiting for? Do it now or do you want me to increase it?" Yan asked menacingly.
The guards immediately moved forward and dragged the officials out to the punishment room on the side. The other officials didn't dare to raise their head in fear they might offend the emperor. They knew that this new emperor wouldn't let them off if they caught his eyes. The sound of the beating near them already gave them the warning to not shot their mouth carelessly.
After the beating has been over, the officials returned to the hall again. Their steps were limpid and their face paled, but they didn't dare to complain.
Yan looked towards them again, "You better do your work. If even an imperial family member can be attacked, how is the state of the defense in this kingdom is?"
His meaning was clear. If even they could penetrate the defense in an imperial family member, how about the other nobles and even the ordinary citizen? He was clearly showing them their incompetence.
"This subject will review the defense again, Your Highness," one of the officials immediately bowed down heavily.
"I want the guards training to increase and make test to select them as the guards. No one shall pass relying on money. Do you think you're selected to stay idle and use your connection for yourself? Go to the training hall and retest all of the guards!" Yan said icily.
The officials' faces flushed red. He knew that many of the guards that were chosen over the years were indeed not suitable. They were chosen because they paid for their position. Now that the emperor imposed this new rule, he knew that many of them were going to be eliminated.
"And the head of the defense minister will change," Yan added, making the head of the defense minister fell into despair. He knew that he had plunged into deep trouble this time.
"In addition, I believe that the money that you all get from the bribery is a lot, am I right?"
The question thrown to them caused many of the official's face to turn blue in shame. They couldn't say outright that they did receive a lot of money, but denying them was clearly impossible. Only a handful of them was feeling grateful because they didn't accept any of them.
Yan tapped the handle of the throne where he sat down. "I want you all to report your treasure and money to me, not a single one left behind."
The official's face turned ashen immediately. They didn't know what this emperor would do if he found out that they had a lot of dirty money. Internally, they were praying hard that this emperor would ease his anger.
The usually amiable person was simply too scary when he became angry!
After that, Yan continued to issue many changes and he wanted all of them to be done in a swift manner. None of them were allowed to slack off. The moment the court ended, the officials were all scurried away to do their task. Their faces were extremely solemn.
Those who saw their face would think that these officials have just aged a few years old because of the deep frown on their forehead. That day, numerous changes happened as the officials were doing their best to do Emperor's order because they knew that the emperor wouldn't forgive them if they didn't. Without Emperor's forgiveness, they could forget about keeping their head intact.
"That was tiring," Yan leaned back against his chair. He had driven all the servants and officials out from the place. Only he and Shu were still staying in this large hall.
"Your Majesty, please have some drink," Shu offered a drink to Yan.
Yan took the glass with a sigh. He peered towards the letter on his hand. He had secretly put the letter from Soujin in his hand sleeves. He took out the letter and handed it to Shu.
"Shu, watch over the officials. Make sure they do all the points listed here."
Shu took the paper and read them. His face looked calm throughout his time reading because he had already expected that Yan wouldn't be able to think about all of those important points he said before on his own. Granted, Soujin have already written down all the important points for him in this paper.
"I understand, Your Highness."
Yan nodded his head. He was indeed angry, but he didn't know what to do except do the things that Soujin had written for him. He wondered if this way he could change the way the kingdom was being governed.
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