novelraw Chapter 329
Chapter 329
329~ Assist with Investigation~
"So, regarding these matters, do you have anything else to add?"
"Nothing more."
Hearing the ministers below respond, this satisfied her somewhat.
If these ministers still planned to conceal or brush her off, she'd have to use some real tactics to properly play with these ministers.
She also didn't know if her cheap Father the King's usual court sessions were like this current situation, with so many ministers actually planning to fool her...
Or was it only when she substituted for court that it became like this? Just seeing she was easy to fool, they planned to casually brush things off while her Father the King wasn't here for morning court?
Although these ministers greatly disappointed her, at least she roughly understood the usual situations throughout Glaze Nation.
"That border city suffered floods this year. How do you plan to handle it?"
"In response to the Princess, these matters are usually decided by His Majesty. It's not our place to intervene!"
For these things, they normally just carried out His Majesty's orders. The decision-making fundamentally wasn't their turn!
"Then when Father the King usually consults with people, who does he consult?"
Surely he couldn't just not consult with anyone or discuss feasibility before directly proceeding, right?
"This... His Majesty has always consulted the Princess! Every time after court dismisses, His Majesty says he's going to consult with you!"
Little Princess: "..."
Oh right, if they hadn't mentioned it, she'd almost forgotten. Her cheap Father the King seemed to always consult with her, didn't he?
So the things they discussed were fundamentally court affairs! She'd thought he was just simply asking for opinions!
"Fine, then set this matter aside for now... Xiao Xi! Bring out the disaster relief data from the past decade!"
Receiving the order, Maid Xiao Xi immediately searched through the cabinets and brought out all the scrolls recording disaster relief data from the past decade.
"Princess, the disaster relief data reports from the past decade."
"Mm."
The Little Princess nodded, having Maid Xiao Xi place all the scrolls on the table before her.
"Who is responsible for disaster area relief?"
Before long, a middle-aged minister who appeared elderly stepped forward.
"In response to Princess, it's me. I'm the chief official responsible for disaster area relief, personally appointed by His Majesty."
Not bad. He came forward quite quickly. She didn't need to personally drag him out.
Swaying her small feet, she examined this minister.
"Then do you know that over the past decade, a considerable portion of disaster relief grain has not been distributed to disaster victims?"
The Little Princess carefully reviewed each bundle of scrolls in her hands, casually leaning against the dragon throne, quite relaxed.
"This... I know, but..."
"Since you know, then just throw him in the dungeon. If he has any grievances, he can shout them in the dungeon."
"Huh? No, Princess, it's a misunderstanding! Please let me finish speaking!"
He scrambled trying to crawl before the Little Princess to continue pleading, but was quickly kicked over by Maid Xiao Xi who rushed over.
"Someone, take this person who wants to profane Princess away!"
"Yes!"
......
Inside the great hall, everyone dared not breathe loudly, fearing they might accidentally anger this Princess who was carefully reviewing scrolls.
Angering other officials or nobles didn't matter. As long as they still wore their "official hats" and didn't leave office, basically nothing would happen. When they grew old enough to retire, they could still receive the Glaze Royal Family's protection.
But if they angered the Princess... that would be miserable! As the one with the greatest power aside from His Majesty, never mind removing their "official hats," even stepping on their heads that had just fallen from the guillotine to play would be fine.
What kind of Princess was this! This was clearly a little ancestor!
After staring at the scrolls in her hands and reviewing them for half the day, she suddenly discovered one place that was very wrong. So she glanced at Maid Xiao Xi, who immediately understood and transmitted the order.
"Bring that one who was just taken down back up for Princess!"
The minister who'd just been taken down halfway was brought back up again. Upon seeing the Little Princess, he immediately continued shouting his grievance.
"Princess! I'm truly wronged!"
"Mm-hm! I believe you're wronged."
The Little Princess gazed at him with a smile.
"Princess! I'm really... huh?"
Before he could shout out the second half of the sentence, he froze.
What the hell? How did Princess's attitude suddenly change so quickly? Wasn't she just cold and heartless? How come now that he's been brought back up, she says she believes he's wronged?
Isn't this face-changing a bit too fast?
According to his thinking, it should be Princess requiring him to prove he was truly wronged, then investigating step by step. After investigating clearly, only then would she truly believe he was wronged, right? How come now it's this simple, and she believes he's wronged?
"Then... what does Princess mean?"
"Assist me with the investigation. After it's done, I guarantee you'll get promoted and make a fortune."
Simple and brutal, without any concealment or hiding. She directly spoke the reward from her mouth.
"Huh?"
Princess... truly was unpredictable!
"By the way, what's your name?"
"In response to Princess, my name is Diane Ryan."
Diane Ryan answered truthfully.
"Good. Then, Diane Ryan, tell me among everyone present, who has threatened you before, what reason, what time they threatened you. Tell me everything."
"No need to worry about anyone retaliating against you. I guarantee that among anyone present, I will ensure the safety of you and your family. Whoever tries to harm you will receive corresponding punishment."
Like this, this minister should honestly tell her.
As long as she could guarantee he and his family wouldn't face any threats, then basically there were no concerns.
As for other losses, as long as they were problems money could solve, they weren't problems! Since returning to Glaze Nation, what she lacked least was money!
As long as the Glaze Royal Family hadn't gone bankrupt, she still had money!
As for the possibility of the Glaze Royal Family going bankrupt, naturally that was equivalent to nonexistent!
Moreover, in a while she could transfer and sell all those things in the Glaze Royal Family's warehouse to Scarlet Phoenix Nation's side. So speaking of which, Glaze Nation fundamentally didn't lack money right now!
Returning to the main topic, the Little Princess looked at everyone somewhat playfully. She was waiting to watch a good show, a good show of open and covert struggles. When the time came, she only needed to wait for this group of people to fight until they were about even, then she could directly enter to reap the harvest!
"This..."
"No need to have concerns. If there are any problems, directly come tell me, or tell Father the King. I'll explain this matter to Father the King."
The Little Princess stared straight at him.
Even if Diane Ryan didn't agree now, she still had a thousand and ten thousand methods to make him speak. She had plenty of means. No matter how tough someone's mouth, they couldn't withstand family.
Now she'd already brought this matter into the open before everyone. Then it was impossible no one would have crooked thoughts.
Everyone feared Diane Ryan would spill everything, so many people would want to solve the problem from the source before he could speak.
Since they couldn't solve Princess, could a group of people still not solve you?
You don't want your family to lose protection, do you?
Anyway, the situation was roughly this kind of situation. She'd already given the opportunity. Anyone who could mix into a minister's position wasn't any fool. Just thinking about it, they could understand that siding with her meant getting promoted and making a fortune, while the opposite meant being eliminated by those ministers who'd threatened him before.
"Princess, I'm willing to cooperate with you in investigating together, but can you truly guarantee the safety of me and my family?"
"A gentleman's... ah no, a princess's word is as good as gold. If even I can't guarantee your safety, then within all of Glaze Nation's borders, no one can protect your safety."
"Thank you, Princess! But some things I still need to prepare, so I ask Princess to please wait a bit longer. After court dismisses, I'll go get them to show Princess."
"That's good. Straighten your clothes and return to your position. I apologize for the misunderstanding earlier."
"I wouldn't dare..."
Holy cow! Princess actually personally apologized to him!
Clearly as a nation's princess, she fundamentally didn't need to apologize to him. Not troubling him would already be good. This Princess's personality compared to the Princess from two days ago truly differed by more than just a little bit!
If the Princess from two days ago was very violent and crude, then this Princess was simply gentle as water!
He didn't know why Princess's attitude had been switching so quickly recently. He only knew that now the Princess had already laid out all rewards and punishments openly.
He chose getting promoted and making a fortune!!!
"Then, continue. Let me finish reading these scrolls first."
The Little Princess continued reviewing the scrolls. She wanted to continue checking if there were any other problems inside.
Why did she suddenly have someone bring Diane Ryan back up just now? Because when reviewing, she discovered a very large loophole. That was, in this disaster relief data, although grain taken out for disaster relief was embezzled each time, she also discovered the destinations of this embezzled grain were very strange.
If one person was embezzling, this grain couldn't possibly be sent away in several waves consecutively. Just pull it away all at once directly.
Afraid of being investigated, so taking one cart from each wave? Did they really think people were blind?
Sent away under the pretext of disaster relief to remote areas in each wave, then while transporting halfway, the wheels suddenly broke and needed to change carts? If one had data records, they could see that actually, each time during disaster relief, among these so-called carts carrying grain being sent to remote areas for disaster relief, there were always several carts whose wheels suddenly broke, not all the wheels breaking.
And the reason for breaking was because the vehicles sent for disaster relief on the journey were all the worst of the worst products. As long as one tampered slightly, they'd easily break. Therefore, the operational space was much larger.
As for why all these easily broken garbage carts were chosen? That required asking the quality inspector.
The shady dealings hidden within were many, many more, so many she couldn't count them all on one hand. She also didn't know how much disaster relief grain had been embezzled over these ten years...
This grain sent under the pretext of disaster relief to remote areas was probably directly sent to other cities or directly sold to those black-hearted merchants, right?