"Dare you dare to say that you confiscated the gold and silver of Prince Gaochang?!"

A angrily shout echoed in the Liangyi Hall.

Li Mu's eyes swayed, holding everyone's expressions in his eyes.

Wang Jingze, who said this, had no acting skills. His performance was very realistic, but there was still a hint of timidity in the depths of his eyes. Yu Guang looked at Li Shimin and Changsun Wuji again, and Li Shimin showed displeasure. Li Mu also understood in his heart that, because Wang Jingze disrupted his plan, the drama of a wise monarch and wise minister could not be performed. Moreover, because of his bribery, he did not inform him in advance. Of course, this was not the point. The point was that Wang Jingze, a fool, made this matter clear in public. If he dealt with himself, he would feel guilty. If he did not deal with himself, he would not be able to block the long-lasting mouths of civil and military in the court, so he was embarrassed. Changsun Wuji's expression was relatively simple, and he became angry. He originally thought that he could show his words before His Highness, but he did not expect that he had accepted the bribe first and he used it.

Others looked different. Some were angry, some watched the fun, some were gloating, and some were worried. Li Mu specially glanced at those uneasy people, most of them were doctors, ministers and others in the real power yamen. He thought about it with his toes that they must have accepted Ju Zhisheng's bribes and were worried that the truth would be revealed.

After collecting information, Li Mu suddenly laughed three times before Li Shimin spoke!

"Hahaha!"

Three sneers, the whole person's aura soared. Everyone felt a stern in their hearts and said to myself, "He's here, he's here!" He came with the trolls! Who knew that Zhulu Hou laughed three times and was about to start squirting people. After being choked by Wang Jingze for a few times, he finally became anxious and could not help it!"

The eyes of people who had nothing to do with this matter in the court lit up. The life of civil servants in the Tang Dynasty was also very boring. If you have free dramas, who is unhappy? Even if you don’t get anything, you will be the topic of conversation for a few days when you go back!

"That's right! I'm corruption and I've taken bribes! Yesterday, Prince Gaochang gave me money. Two big boxes were all silver ingots, each box of 1,000 kilograms. What's wrong?"

Wang Jingze looked at Li Mu's momentum and almost piled up on the ground. It was Li Mu who winked him. He barely stabilized his airs, took a deep breath, and said angrily: "It's good if you admit it. Each box is one thousand kilograms, a total of two large boxes, which is 20,000 taels of silver and 20,000 jin! You accepted such a huge bribe and ran for Prince Gaochang. This time, there was no false accusation! Marquis Zhulu, confess your guilt!"

Wang Jingze turned around and looked at Li Shimin and said, "Your Majesty, Zhulu Hou has admitted his crime. Please make a clear decision!"

Liangyi Palace is silent.

Wang Jingze looked up and saw that Li Shimin's expression was also very strange. When he looked at the officials around him, his expression was most of the same.

Wang Jingze shouted again: "Your Majesty, the facts are there, how can you abuse the law for personal gain!!"

Li Shimin frowned and didn't say anything. At this time, Cheng Yaojin stood up, looking amused and crying, and said, "Hey? That boy, you just said, how much did Li Mu accept bribes?"

Wang Jingze shouted: "Duke Su Guo, haven't you heard it clearly? Twenty thousand guan! A full twenty thousand guan!"

Cheng Yaojin laughed: "Oh, it's so ridiculous. I'm so ridiculous... If you say it's 200,000 yuan, I might still believe the previous letter, 20,000 yuan... With Li Mu's wealth and ability, will he take it seriously? If he had a bigger gap in his fingers and lost it, you would have no idea. At least you can say a big deal. It's just 20,000 yuan, which is too petty."

Some other neutral officials also agreed, saying that Li Mu would not be greedy for this little money.

Seeing that the voice of helping Li Mu became louder and louder, Wang Jingze was stunned and hurriedly said to Li Shimin: "Your Majesty, the Marquis of Zhulu just admitted it. He collected 20,000 guan! How much is the 20,000 guan? How can it be described as "just"? Please be careful and observe!"

Li Shimin pondered for a while, looked at the anxious Wang Jingze, and then looked at Li Mu who looked angry. He thought that the money was probably true, but 20,000 yuan was really nothing to Li Mu. After thinking about it, he decided to stumble and suppress the matter. He said, "Wang Aiqing, you don't know much about Li Mu. He, for the huge business in his hand, he really won't be greedy for 20,000 yuan..."

"Your Majesty does not need to excuse me, I have indeed accepted it!"

Li Mu suddenly spoke, interrupting Li Shimin's words. Li Shimin's expression froze and glared at Li Mu fiercely! Do you think this is embarrassing? As the emperor, he took his face to excuse his ministers, but the ministers did not appreciate it! Li Shimin was also angry and said, "Li Mu, are you looking for death? Taking 20,000 bribes, and if you want to be bribed, it is also a crime of exile. Do you want to encircle the house and exile?"

"Ha!" Li Mu chuckled, with an indescribable sense of freedom all over his body. He stepped forward to Li Shimin, lifted up his court uniform, and knelt in the center of Liangyi Hall. Seeing that he was pleading guilty, Li Shimin was really anxious and gritted his teeth and whispered: "What do you want to do? Can't you get up?"

"Your Majesty, I feel so wronged in my heart. I must make it clear today!"

Wang Jingze was standing by the side and said, "Your Majesty, I have been a censor for some time. It was the first time I heard that someone was bribed and felt so wronged. If this could make sense, wouldn't the world be inverted?"

Li Mu ignored him and continued, "Your Majesty, please listen to Li Mu's words, right and wrong, and your Majesty and all of you will be free and clear. If your Majesty and all of you think Li Mu is guilty, Li Mu is willing to die and will never complain."

When Li Shimin heard this, he felt very hated. He didn't hate others, so he hated Li Mu. He thought he hadn't caused trouble for a while, but this kid finally calmed down. But now it seems that it's still a big fuss! It's really hard to explain, so I can only stand up and take the blame. Li Shimin made up his mind, looked at Li Mu, and said unhappy: "Tell me, tell me!"

"Your Majesty, I have accepted the 20,000 guan of Prince Gaochang. This is a fact. I do not defend myself. Just now, Duke Su was grateful to me, but I have to say something, he said it was bad. He said that I am not short of money, not lacking these 20,000 guan. This is right. In the past, not to mention 20,000 guan, even 100,000 guan, I didn't care at all. I built more than 100,000 guan in the craftsman workshop and repaired the alleyways in Chang'an, and another 100,000 guan. This is not a messy little money, and it is tens of thousands of guan in total. When did I mention it?"

When Li Mu turned up the old accounts, Li Shimin's anger was also relieved and said, "I know your efforts in my heart, but why did you accept the bribe from Prince Gaochang!"

"Please listen to me after I finish." Li Mu took a deep breath and continued: "I just said that I didn't care before, but since I became the Minister of the Interior Department, I have cared. I am short of money, but I am indeed short of money, and I am short of everything!"

Li Mu said in grief and anger: "Your Majesty only sees that the cooperation between the Office of the Internal Affairs and the merchants is in full swing, but can Your Majesty know the details behind this? Do you know the Lord?"

Li Shimin was suffocated and said, "I have never asked about the Ministry of Internal Affairs, how do you know?"

Li Mu looked at the civil and military officials, and everyone shook their heads.

Li Mu spoke again and said, "That's what I said. When doing business, there is no money falling from heaven. You have to invest first, then produce, and then sell the things, so that you can get a reward. Take Zhenguan Plough as an example. Now the factory of the Ministry of Industry is producing the ploughshares of the Zhenguan Plough and cooperates with merchants to produce other parts. The order is too large and the merchant's workshop is too small to meet the demand. What should I do? The Ministry of Internal Affairs first takes money to invest, expand the workshop, and then produces the parts and sells it to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Ministry of Internal Affairs settles the funds for the workshop, and then divides the accounts according to the amount of shares held. But the premise is to invest first!"

"Besides, it seems that there is no need to invest. The factory belongs to its own family, but when producing plowshares, you have to need iron ore? There must be a furnace and a mold, and there must be a craftsman working, right? The craftsmen are not slaves, so they have to pay wages! The Zhenguan plow has not been sold for a single one now. I want to ask Your Majesty, and ask the Lords, where does this money come from? Don't you have to wait until the spring of next year to sell the Zhenguan plow to get back money? Before that, they were all placed in the warehouse. Is that money?!"

Li Mu was so angry that he asked again: "Perhaps some people would say, then don't produce it! Is it okay to not produce Zhenguan plows? Is it okay? There are not enough oxen plowing! If you think so, the people who don't have oxen should just farm, so can you starve to death together?!"

Seeing that everyone was silent, Li Mu felt relieved and continued, "Zhenguan Pi is just a business of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. There are many others, so I won't list them one by one. In short, it's not time to make money yet, and now I'm investing money in it. The money from the treasury is not allowed to be moved. You know better than me how much money is in the treasury. To be honest, the business of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is supported by my winery. I won't say the amount involved. I'm afraid I'll scare you if I say it!"

"In addition to the business of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, there are also places that require money. I don't know if you have heard of it or have never heard of it. I can also say it. There are thousands of beggars in the streets of Chang'an City. No one cares about it, no one asks. By chance, I met a few beggars, and they felt sorry for them and wanted to give them a bite of food. There were many empty houses in the East City, so I asked the craftsmen to repair it, and the prototype of today's Chess Office. But at that time I didn't expect that there were as many as thousands of orphans! But what can I do? Can I save one person and kill one person? There is no way, I can only send the older children to the factory as apprentices, and the smaller ones have to be raised. That's it! There are more than 200!"
Chapter completed!