The door was opened. Although there was a window in the library, the weak light seemed to be unable to illuminate it. There was a gloomy darkness everywhere. The air was very dry and filled with the smell of dust, which made people breathless.
"Turn on the lights." Niu Yuan's momentum was much weaker than before.
"There is no one here," the old minister begged, "Why do you have to search? Anyway, we only have two pairs of eyes. If we say there is no problem, then there is no problem. Who can doubt it?"
"Nonsense, nonsense!" Niu Yuan's eyes widened and beads of sweat covered his forehead, "I came here specifically for the crime of Qiong Zhi Shi Yiyi, how could I deceive the superiors and conceal the inferiors? It's clear that you, the minister, have something evil in your mind!
If you tell me, I'm not afraid of offending anyone."
The Minister of Household Affairs sighed and ordered the clerk to go in and light the lamps before taking a closer look with him.
"All the expenses related to the army are put in the second row of cabinets here." Shangshu stopped in front of the bookcase, "Please take your time to search for them."
Niu Yuan wiped the sweat from his hands, squatted forward, and carefully flipped through the old book covers. The ink marks on them were slightly blurred, but he could still make out the outline.
He was flipping through each book, but before he could find Shi Yiyi's name, he began to feel a little lucky in his heart, hoping that the minister's panic was just an act, and that maybe he had already hidden the evidence.
He searched the documents for a long time without taking a moment to rest. His eyes gradually dropped, but they were still open reluctantly.
"Sir, after you've finished your sleep, it won't be too late to come back and see you. I will never take care of you. I will wait for you here." The minister came to persuade me.
"Okay," Niu Yuan rubbed his eyes, "I'll read another book and then go back and rest."
He reached into the cupboard again, and the volume of paper he touched this time was very light, so he took it out with just one pull.
‘This look is new, I think it’s from recent years...’ Niu Yuan opened the first page and saw the seal of the Ministry of Revenue, with ink written in red: ‘Official letter from Shi Yiyi, Governor of Xuanhua’, which made his heart skip a beat.
He forced his trembling hands down and finally turned to the next page:
'Shi Dudu Qi. The border army suffered repeated defeats, so he specially allocated 8,612 taels of silver and limited the production of 1,000 artillery pieces to aid defense.'
He was stunned. All the words he originally wanted to say were pushed back into his throat. His mouth was still open, but he forgot how to express it. He could only stare hard at this paragraph of text, and there seemed to be several clusters of burning words hidden between the lines.
After looking at the flames for a long time, he actually felt a burning pain in his eyes.
He originally planned to rely on intimidating the government and the opposition to make himself take office with great glory. This so-called reform did not intend to be strict, but just a taste. He learned Yan Wen's way of doing politics, and as soon as he came to power, he
It was naturally undesirable to offend a large number of nobles and nobles of the Liu Party. But what I never expected was that the old minister was indifferent to his misdeeds, but he did not honestly conceal it and accompany him to end this drama.
"Looking for...found it?" the Minister of the Ministry of Finance became anxious.
Niu Yuan could no longer think of any countermeasures, so he patted his head twice as if to vent his anger: "Found it! The evidence of Shi Yiyi's crime should be inside..."
"Feng Xiang, this matter has a lot to do with me, please don't be cruel!" The minister's nose and tears flowed down, and his knees fell to the ground solidly.
"I haven't opened it yet!" Niu Yuan said pretentiously, "But I'm just reacting to you with a guilty conscience. I guess the truth is undoubtedly true!" After that, he snorted coldly and strode out of the door, leaving the old man behind.
The minister grabbed the ground and howled.
"President!" Ye Yongjia couldn't hide his excitement, his eyebrows twitched slightly, "Has it been verified?"
Niu Yuan turned his head and coughed a few times, then pointed his hand to his arms: "I already have the cannon-making official document on me."
"No," Ye Yongjia felt that the other party did not understand, "I mean, I can verify it..."
"Check? Judging from the action of the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, the result of this matter is obvious." Niu Yuan waved his hand casually, "I know it well, wait until I go to Zhongshu Province to discuss it with my colleagues
When the time comes, you might as well take it apart and take a closer look.”
"Can I borrow Yongjia to take a look?"
Niu Yuan suddenly curled his lips and said: "Hey, the minister has been an official for many years, how come he doesn't even understand this? This is a confidential document. It must be read by all the ministers before it can be made public. I will leave it to you to see tomorrow."
"But..." Ye Yongjia was about to put forward his opinion, but saw that he ignored him and walked straight past him.
Early the next morning, Niu Yuan went to the Prime Minister's Mansion before the court meeting started. He saw Liu Zhennian sitting in the middle hall and Yan Wenyi sitting by the window. He held the official letter from the Ministry of Household Affairs and fell to the ground crying.
"Why is the Prime Minister like this?" Liu Zhennian was quite surprised.
"The Prime Minister tried his best to support the old people and asked them to lead senior officials to guard the border as a kindness. Who knew that they did not want to repay their kindness and instead collected money day and night. I deeply regret it! This is evidence of Shi Yiyi's crime of embezzling money. Please look at it, Prime Minister." He handed over his hand.
The things were handed over.
Liu Zhennian looked at the official letter, which noted various inconsistencies after verification. He had nothing to say.
"Fengxiang, Mr. Liu also knows about your reform. What does this mean? Do you want to use this official letter to silence everyone?" Yan Wen asked on Liu Zhennian's behalf.
"General Liu," Niu Yuangeng swallowed, "I know you are struggling in your heart, so you have not expressed your attitude for a long time. However, the border generals and Manchu officials are all involved, and one move can affect the whole body. I don't have this
There is nothing we can do to wake up. Xuanhua still has to rely on Shi Yiyi’s private soldiers...I would like to advise you to clean up the situation and wait for the future."
"I feel aggrieved," Elder Liu Zhen sighed and looked at Yan Wen, "You defected to me at that time, saying that only a strong court can change the whole old situation. But I still have to abide by the original situation.
It’s such a long-winded thing, but we still have to take into account our former brothers. We need to reform, but if we can’t change this, we can’t change that, so what are we going to do!”
Yan Wen said: "This cannot be solved temporarily. Fengxiang is right. It is enough to knock the mountain and shake the tiger."
"Then what do you guys think of how to clean up the situation next?"
"Let's burn this letter first." After Yan Wen said this, Niu Yuan looked at him with questioning eyes.
"It would be a pity to burn it. Keep it for Mr. Niu." He gestured to a confidant with his eyes and returned the official letter to Niu Yuan.
"Thank you Mr. Liu! Thank you Mr. Liu!" Niu Yuan wrote the official letter again and kowtowed three times.
"After that, we need to write a new official letter, and the content must be verified," Yan Wen continued to describe his strategy, "make it look older and replace the original one."
"But if you say this to the outside world, you will fool everyone. There will always be resentment in everyone's heart towards me." Niu Yuan smacked his lips.
"I see, there is a person who can be pushed out by Feng Xiang." Yan Wen stroked his beard and said with a smile.
"Who?" The two of them already understood each other tacitly.