My Husband Is Not Easy To Mess With. - Chapter 19: The Ministry of Rites Goes on a Mass Strike

Chapter 19: The Ministry of Rites Goes on a Mass Strike

Qian Henduo was born during the most tumultuous years of the Great Yu.

Famine and riots were commonplace.

Qian Henduo was the second child his family exchanged away, but he was much luckier than his older sister. He found an opportunity, using his last ounce of strength to struggle to the roadside.

That’s where Nie Yao found him.

Nie Yao said, “I heard that the current Head of the Imperial Academy of Medicine, Ji Fanshan, has exceptional medical skills. You should go see him after court adjourns.”

“See what?”

Qian Henduo didn’t think he was sick.

Since becoming the boss’s subordinate, he had been able to eat well, dress warmly, and save a lot of money. Whenever he thought of the grain and wealth hidden at home, he was happy.

He could eat and drink well and didn’t cough.

What kind of sickness could he have?

Qian Henduo thought the boss was overthinking, “How about you just give me the consultation fee, my lord? I’ll just eat two more bowls tomorrow and guarantee I’ll be leaping and bounding!”

He displayed his muscular arms.

They were very robust.

He certainly didn’t look like someone who needed to see a doctor.

“My lord, it’s been so many years. I’m not the same person I was back then. Look, when do I look like that scarecrow now?”

Back then, he lay on the roadside, his body just a thin layer of skin covering withered bones, his dust-caked head looking bigger than his body.

It was terrifying to look at.

Now that life was good, he had eaten himself tall and strong.

He was almost two meters tall!

Nie Yao slapped the hand that was reaching for more food, “Just go when I tell you to go!”

What normal person would go mad when hungry, losing their mind to the point where dozens of strong men couldn’t restrain them?

Nie Yao urged him to go for a check-up.

“It doesn’t cost money to see a doctor at the Imperial Academy of Medicine, and you can get medicine for free.” Nie Yao knew how to get his subordinates to obey willingly, “Don’t you know how expensive the medicinal ingredients at the Imperial Academy of Medicine are?”

Sure enough, Qian Henduo had zero resistance to freeloading.

As soon as he heard Nie Yao say it was free, his tone immediately changed.

“It’s free? Then we must go!”

He even wanted to bring a few more people so they could get more free medicine.

He didn’t even mind the taste of the herbal decoction and could drink it down in big gulps.

Truly remarkable.

Nie Yao let him fleece as much as he wanted. After all, it wouldn’t be long before he would have a falling out with His Majesty, so it was a good idea to let his subordinates start their performance early.

It would seem more realistic.

Nie Yao instructed, “In the palace, don’t be polite to His Majesty’s people. Speak louder, and be tougher when asking for things. It’s okay to be unreasonable, just don’t get into a physical fight with them.”

Given that Qian Henduo was slow-witted, Nie Yao explained it to him again in simple terms, “In a while, I’ll have a public falling out with His Majesty. But behind the scenes, His Majesty is still our biggest client. Understand?”

This time, Qian Henduo understood.

“Understood! We are putting on a show to fool the idiots!”

Qian Henduo had plenty of experience playing the simpleton who only knew how to be arrogant and tyrannical (feiyang bafu – literally “flying sheep pulling captain”) with his fists.

And his external conditions were superior—he had an honest, simple-looking face, appearing to have little intelligence.

No matter what he did, it didn’t look like an act; as long as he made a move, the matter seemed very convincing.

“Exactly.”

Nie Yao told him to do a good job, and he would give him a silver ingot when the matter was done.

“Don’t worry, my lord! Leave this matter to me!”

Qian Henduo took on the task and started contemplating how to do a good job the moment he got out of the carriage.

He was so engrossed in thought that he didn’t even notice that over a dozen people were missing from the court.

“My lord.”

The military officials woke up and arrived early.

Since the time for the morning court was always delayed, they gathered at the gate of the Xuanzheng Hall to practice martial arts as a group.

After two hours of sparring, they would have bruises for several days.

Nie Yao told them that if they sparred again, they should go find the Imperial Guards.

They couldn’t use deadly force, but they could punch them in the face.

The military officials didn’t know why, but they didn’t need to use their brains in court; in this regard, they just needed to be obedient.

They all agreed.

“By the way, my lord, we found that quite a few people from the Ministry of Rites didn’t come. We all feel that the Ministry of Rites is definitely going to cause trouble today!”

“Didn’t come?” Nie Yao raised an eyebrow with interest, “Who didn’t come?”

A military official recited a string of names.

After listening, Nie Yao found they were all high-ranking officials in the Ministry of Rites.

He immediately understood the trick they were trying to pull: most likely, they were collectively taking sick leave, going on strike to pressure him to let Sun Ji go.

When a new emperor ascends the throne, surrounding nations send envoys to offer congratulations.

If the Ministry of Rites went on strike at this time, there would be no one to receive the foreign guests.

It was bound to be embarrassing.

Unfortunately, Nie Yao didn’t care about being embarrassed. He flicked his sleeve and smiled, “It seems we haven’t made a move for too long, letting them forget that the Nie family’s fist works everywhere in the world.”

As long as he held military power.

Who would dare laugh at him?

Nie Yao told the military officials to exercise more recently, estimating that the opportunity for them to show off their skills would come soon.

“Don’t worry, my lord! We brothers practice every day, just waiting for the day we can go to the battlefield and kill to our hearts’ content!”

9:00 AM.

The morning court began.

Only one high-ranking official from the Ministry of Rites, Guan Junmao, showed up.

Yesterday, after returning, he was busy preparing for the Enke (Imperial Examination), so busy that he didn’t even get a chance to read the letter his colleagues in the same ministry wrote, asking him to join their collective sick leave.

He woke up late and arrived just in time.

Only when he arrived did he realize that everyone his ministry had organized had disappeared, leaving him as the sole sapling trembling in the empty hall.

“Reporting to Your Majesty.”

As the meeting began, Prime Minister Dou Jinyuan stepped forward and reported, “Ruan Zhehan, Ni Ruoyu, and fourteen other officials of the Ministry of Rites have all contracted a cold overnight and have all requested leave.”

“Oh? They are all sick?”

Du Suilan (Little Lanlan) sounded as if he had just heard the news, his tone slow and drawn out, “Could it be an epidemic, with one person infecting a group of officials?”

Indeed.

Nie Yao also agreed with this viewpoint.

He stepped forward to fan the flames, “Your Majesty is brilliant. In my humble opinion, the Ministry of Rites must have someone who has contracted a serious infectious disease, infecting everyone in the Ministry of Rites. Otherwise, how could a dozen people all fall ill and request leave overnight?”

In this world with severely backward medical treatment, how frightening were infectious diseases?

Nie Yao considered this a serious matter and believed people should be immediately sent to isolate the people in the Ministry of Rites to prevent the spread of the infection.

“Your subject is willing to immediately send troops to guard the residences of all the officials until the source of the infection is eliminated!”

He voluntarily offered to send troops.

And quite a few.

He offered eight thousand right away.

The group that came to the palace for the banquet, excluding those taken by Hu Sheng to the South, were all sent out. They were strictly required to guard every person, every household, and every door to prevent the people inside from coming out and “infecting others.”

“Your Majesty… The nature of the officials’ illness has not yet been confirmed. Sending troops to guard them now may not be appropriate and could easily cause panic among the populace.”

“Yes, Your Majesty! Minister Nie’s words are too aggressive. Please consider carefully, Your Majesty!”

“The matter is not yet clear. It is not advisable to make such a fuss, Your Majesty!”

Everyone with eyes knew how the officials of the Ministry of Rites had really fallen ill.

It was wrong for them not to come, but Nie Yao’s immediate call to send troops was too frightening.

Even those who were not Sun Ji’s faction felt his approach was too aggressive and inappropriate.

But Nie Yao didn’t care.

He insisted on sending troops to guard them, “If those old men weren’t seriously ill, why wouldn’t they come to court? Could it be that they are dissatisfied with Your Majesty and deliberately deceiving the Emperor?”

After he spoke, the military officials also chimed in.

“Yes, Your Majesty! Your subject thinks those old men are doing it on purpose; they are deceiving the Emperor! Why don’t your subjects just lead men to confiscate their homes!”

“Exactly, exactly, Your Majesty! Those old men actually disrespect you! In your subject’s opinion, just execute them! This kind of unhealthy trend cannot be allowed to spread!”

“Precisely! Your subject seconds that motion!”

They spoke more and more outrageously.

Some, in the heat of the moment, even rolled up their sleeves, offering to go out and chop people down right then and there.

This infuriated the civil officials, who were jumping in anger.

What was wrong with these reckless fools recently? Were they all crazy? Always talking about executing people.