"Have you confirmed all of this?"

Ying Zheng sat behind the desk and reacted indifferently to everything Zhao Gao said. He didn't show any emotion and just asked again indifferently.

Zhao Gao considered his words carefully and did not dare to add too much jealousy. He replied truthfully, "Returning to Your Majesty, I can only confirm that His Royal Highness the eldest son loves the people as his own son and indeed has the above-mentioned actions of helping the people."

"But it's hard to say whether the materials found are really the food and clothing used by the eldest son... Even if it is confirmed that the latter does come from the former, it is difficult to prove that the latter is all of the former."

"You can't find out more?" Ying Zheng asked calmly.

Zhao Gaocheng replied fearfully, "Your Majesty, please forgive me for your incompetence."

Even if he could find out about this matter, he wouldn't be able to find out about it.

It's better to be vague.

If you don't know clearly, the emperor is easy to associate and guess, and has unlimited possibilities.

Of course, Zhao Gao really couldn't find a suitable breakthrough for a while to find out the truth - this matter involves Fusu, it's not just what he says, there must be enough reliable evidence for Ying Zheng to accept it

.

If he could really find out the truth behind it, he would definitely report it directly to Ying Zheng - after all, it was a level that Ying Zheng could hardly imagine.

"Continue to investigate." Ying Zheng did not care about Zhao Gao's "incompetence" and said in a calm tone, "You still have a lot of time."

They are now in Taiyuan, and Fusu is in Shangjun. According to the plan of the eastward tour, they are also separated by Yanmen, Yunzhong, Jiuyuan, and parts of Xinqinzhongjun (that is, Henan), and then they will

Enter Shangjun.

Such a long journey would take at least three months if converted into time.

Before the Northern Patrol convoy left Shangjun Fushi, Zhao Gao could report the truth to Ying Zheng if he found out the truth.

Of course, if you find out later, you can report it. Ying Zheng can't just say that the convoy passed Shangjun and just turn the story over.

It's just that Zhao Gao may not have much credit, or it may not be considered a credit at all.

Timeliness is sometimes very important.

Zhao Gao knew it well, so he responded and left with satisfaction.

Whether he can find out anything is another matter. Ying Zheng is willing to ask him to find out. This is enough.

The trouble of quicksand is inevitable!

After Zhao Gao left, Ying Zheng buried his head in the papers and concentrated on the various documents on the table.

Soon, another person came into the room, a person shrouded in a black robe.

"What did you say?" Ying Zheng asked without raising his head.

The man in black robe nodded slightly and replied, "There is basically nothing wrong with Zhao Gao's investigation, but it is not comprehensive enough."

"Have you gained anything else?" Ying Zheng asked casually as if he didn't care.

The man in black robe immediately replied, "I found out that not long ago, a large number of mysterious goods were sent to Hedong from Taiyuan, but no one knows their specific destination."

"I tried my best to trace it, and I can only roughly confirm that the supplies were sent to Dongjun or several surrounding counties further east, such as Jibei, Dangjun, and Xuejun."

"As for the specific recipient, it's hard to say because I can't confirm whether it is the final destination or a transit place."

"Besides this, there is another thing. The military equipment of the Northland Frontier Army was expanded and refurbished not long ago. However, there are no problems with military expenditures. It seems to be just a normal replacement and update."

All military equipment, including weapons and armor, will be worn out and consumed. It will be worn out during battles and during normal training. They all need to be replaced and replenished regularly.

The Northland Frontier Army's ordnance update this time is a bit abrupt, but the scale is relatively small, and it is a reasonable and compliant operation, and there seems to be no problem.

In fact, Ying Zheng knew about this - Meng Tian must report to the emperor when he updated the army.

Of course, this is just a small-scale equipment update. It does not need to be approved by Ying Zheng before it is implemented. It can be implemented first and then reported. It is enough to inform the emperor of this matter.

In fact, Ying Zheng did not pay much attention to this matter before.

The man in black robe suddenly mentioned this, and he was a little surprised:

"Is there a problem?"

Although the man in black robe said 'no problem', if there really was no problem, he wouldn't mention it.

"I'm still checking the specifics. It seems to be OK at the moment, but it feels like it's a bit too coincidental." The man in black robes replied calmly.

Coincidence is a very delicate topic for people like them.

On the one hand, anyone with a normal mind has to admit that there are many coincidences in this world, just like a joke of fate.

On the other hand, we have to admit that many people like to do sneaky things in the name of coincidence.

For ordinary people, one thing less is worse than one thing more, but for extraordinary people, one thing less is worse than one thing more.

Therefore, people who work in espionage are often suspicious of all coincidences.

The suspicion of the man in black robe can be regarded as a professional habit.

Ying Zheng's suspicion is not serious - the main reason is that he is generally not afraid of anything, not afraid of rebellion or people plotting evil - he does not doubt everything, and he does not have the professional habit of a man in black robe.

Faced with his statement, Ying Zheng asked, "Besides coincidence, is there any other reason?"

"One thing." The man in black robe nodded, "There seems to be a problem with the source of the new batch of ordnance and equipment that General Meng Tian replaced."

Meng Tian was not very familiar with such things as falsifying accounts, but he was not completely unfamiliar either.

As the saying goes, if the cook does not steal, the grain will not be harvested.

Every profession has its own survival tips, and they are all practices that are unattractive or even illegal.

As a general, the most common operation is naturally to take empty pay.

However, the laws of the empire are strict and the enforcement level is relatively strict. Almost no one will do such a conspicuous operation as free money.

Meng Tian would not be so stingy as to rely on this method to make money.

But he is not a saint and a gentleman, and he will still fish a little when it is time to fish.

And the main source of his money is this military equipment.

Since ancient times, managing materials has been a lucrative job, and there is a lot to be done in it.

Even if it does not affect the combat effectiveness of the army at all, there is still a lot of money to be made.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! The empire does not have a financial budget, or in the next two thousand years of the imperial system, there is basically no financial budget.

All government departments in the empire spent money very lavishly. As long as the figures were roughly correct when the accounts were audited later, no one would hold them accountable.

This is not official corruption, this is forced by reality.

In this era, who has the ability to really calculate the funds required for various government policies?

For a project, how many manpower are needed to start, how many materials are needed to complete, how many people need to be mobilized during the transportation process, how much is the loss, and how much is the price of materials... If you want to calculate this clearly and clearly, you can wait.

Just think about it.

Maybe in the end, the little money saved will not be enough to pay the salary to the person who settles the accounts.

So it's generally passable, and the numbers shouldn't be too outrageous. We all work together to maintain the normal operation of the entire court, even if we are very responsible - just like the rhetoric of "fire consumption" in later generations, it is an unspoken rule that must exist.

Meng Tian belongs to the aristocratic class who cares about face and ethics. He has always tried to control the "fire consumption" within a reasonable enough range, and then he takes the big head, and the people below him divide the small head.

Officials in the empire, especially those in the central court, were basically similar in this respect.

There are many ways to make money, and there is no need to lose face.

Of course, another important reason is that money is not very important to officials.

There is a difference between money and money.

For example, the money of the Qin Dynasty is very different from the money of the Qing Dynasty.

The difference is not in the money itself, but in what the money can do.

As the saying goes, money can make trouble, but if you want to find someone who can push the wheels, you can use money to solve it. If you want to find someone who can land on the moon, money can't solve it.

The empire's commodity economy simply did not exist because the types of commodities were scarce.

It is enough to supply the daily needs of ordinary people, but for the upper class, it is simply not enough.

If there are no attractive enough products, what's the point of asking for money?

Of course, sometimes, money may go beyond its use as a general equivalent and can achieve some purposes beyond the act of 'purchasing'.

But for imperial officials, this kind of thing can be achieved more reasonably and easily with their power.

Therefore, for them, money is just a useless thing that can be used to buy things legally, but they often cannot buy satisfactory products.

There is demand, but the demand is average.

Let’s get back to the topic.

Meng Tian arranged for people to forge reasonable sources as much as possible for the ordnance and supplies sent by Han Fei. However, such materials were very sensitive and were basically items that did not need to be traded among the people, and were not even allowed to be held privately.

It is difficult to find a reasonable source for such a large amount of military supplies appearing out of thin air.

Meng Tian could only try his best to make amends. If there was really nothing he could do about it, he had to conceal the source as much as possible.

As long as no one can directly trace it to Han Fei or Liusha, even if others see the problem, he still has room to fool him.
To be continued...