Liu Mingzhi knew in his heart that among Li Baihong and his brothers, the one who had been most unjustly accused was the fourth brother, Li Yunping.
First, he was blindly tricked into a pirate ship, and later his wife and children were kidnapped as a threat.
Although when Li Yunlong and the others rebelled, Li Yunping found out that he had lost his way and turned back in time, which delayed Li Yunlong and the others from attacking the city. However, only Li Baiyu knew about this.
Li Baiyu cut himself off from the Qinzheng Palace to preserve the majesty of the emperor. No one knew about Li Yunping. Although many people defended Li Yunping, it is unknown how many people believed him.
Li Yunping will probably have to bear the label of being a rebel for the rest of his life.
Although Young Master Liu knew what happened from Xiao Keai, it was unclear whether he could do anything about it.
Once you are a rebel, you will always be a rebel.
No one cares about the reason why you rebelled, they only care whether you rebelled or not.
Thinking of this, Liu Mingzhi fell silent.
Although I have said more than once that the past will be in the past, but what has happened can really be in the past.
Saying that is just to deceive yourself and others for the sake of the court's face.
With Liu Mingzhi feeling in his arms, He Zhang, followed by a group of household officials in light green, walked into the hall with a large stack of account books in their arms.
"Your Majesty, Sir Ren, the accounts are here."
Liu Mingzhi perked up, stretched out, looked around at the various expressions of the officials in the palace, moved his neck and walked towards He Zhang.
"Find a place to put it down. I will start accounting immediately."
He Zhang's heart trembled, and he gave a helpless wink to the household officials behind him, and ordered them to put the account books on the ground in the palace.
Liu Mingzhi took the Four Treasures of the Study and the abacus from an official in the Household Department. He didn't care about his valuable dragon robe. He shook the abacus in his hand and sat cross-legged. He picked up an account and opened it gently.
Li Baihong slowly stood up and walked over, glanced at Ren Wenyue's position and sat cross-legged next to Young Master Liu.
"Brother-in-law, I will grind ink for you as a brother."
"Thank you very much. Thank you for your help, brother."
Liu Mingzhi thanked him and then turned his attention to the account in his hand.
Although he only glanced at it, Liu Mingzhi only wanted to comment on the account in his hand with one word.
chaos.
A mess.
Although each item of expenditure is clearly recorded, it is quite complicated.
It was so chaotic that it felt like it was being covered up.
Liu Mingzhi glanced at the nervous-looking officials around him and smiled softly. Did he think that the king would not be able to find out if the accounts were like this?
The bad debts Lao Jiang had in his hands back then were much more troublesome than this, so he couldn't figure them out easily.
Pheasant University, that is also a university. I really think this young master is living a life of idleness for one day and three hours at a time!
Under the nervous gazes of many officials around him, Liu Mingzhi held a pen in one hand and slowly flipped through the accounts with the other hand, writing something on the blank rice paper from time to time.
When he was halfway through an account, Liu Mingzhi stopped writing, smiled softly, and touched his chin with the penholder.
"Repairing the stone of the imperial mausoleum..."
The way Young Master Liu hesitated to speak made many officials' hearts jump. They stared closely at the half-smiling Young Master Liu with their hearts in their throats.
"The stone materials used to repair the imperial mausoleum were well chosen. They are worthy of the status of an imperial mausoleum. It seems that Ren Guozhang is quite good at doing things?"
Young Master Liu's breathless words made many officials suddenly relax their stiff bodies and let out a sigh of relief.
Ren Wenyue snorted lightly: "I am repairing the imperial mausoleum for two generations of late emperors. How dare I not do my duty and go all out."
Liu Mingzhi chuckled and turned to look at Ren Wenyue: "Ren Guozhang is indeed a pillar of the imperial court. It seems that I will feel sorry for him for a long time. Such high-quality stone must be worth a lot of money."
After Liu Mingzhi finished speaking, he glanced deeply at the surrounding officials, the sneer on his lips disappeared, and he continued to concentrate on calculations.
It was not bright in the east in the morning, and it was not until the sun reached the zenith that Young Master Liu straightened up and stretched out. Suddenly, the sound of cracking bones resounded throughout the palace, making many officials who had been sitting there suddenly become energetic.
Liu Mingzhi closed the last ledger, picked up a piece of rice paper in his hand and flicked it.
"The total amount is 5,728,612 taels of silver, of which 7,618,888 taels of silver are not accounted for within the consumption allowed by the court."
"Hey, dear, a rough calculation shows that the king has to spend more than 570,000 yuan to replenish the national treasury. How can it be so much?"
Ren Wenyue finally became proud when he saw Young Master Liu's slightly regretful expression: "Your Majesty, my subordinates have repeatedly stopped me because I don't want your Majesty to spend money. However, your Majesty has not stopped my official position to dissuade me. I insist on settling the accounts."
"You must know that a gentleman's words are hard to follow, so the prince will not intend to go back on his words, right?"
"Hey... Ren Guozhang was joking. It's only five hundred thousand taels of silver. Although it's a lot, it's just that much to me. Who asked me to cooperate with the Marquis of Guannei in the coal business?
!”
"Since I said I would give out 10% of the silver, I will never break my promise."
"It's just that I have a few questions to ask some colleagues from the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Works, and the Water Supervision Bureau. I hope you will be willing to give me some advice later to clear up my doubts."
Ren Wenyue looked stunned, looking at Young Master Liu's suddenly calm expression in astonishment, not knowing what he was trying to do.
The accounts calculated by him are almost the same as those calculated by the left and right prime ministers, the other five ministers, and the ministers of the nine major temples. Since there are no problems with the accounts, what else is there to ask.
Ren Wenyue was full of doubts, but He Zhang, the right servant of the Ministry of Revenue, looked at Mr. Liu's slightly narrowed eyes and his heart trembled, and an unpleasant feeling came to his mind.
Liu Mingzhi shook the rice paper in his hand a few times and looked towards the position of the Ministry of Industry officials.
"Who is Mr. Gao Jingyuangao, the left minister of the Ministry of Industry, who supervises the stone polishing, wood and dragon wall carving?"
Among the officials of the Ministry of Industry, a middle-aged official wearing a vermilion official robe came out holding a royal hut: "The lower official Gao Jingyuan met with King Bingjian. The repair of the stone, wood and dragon wall of the imperial mausoleum was supervised by the lower official."
"Oh, you're polite, I have some doubts here, Sir Gao, please enlighten me."
"I... I don't dare. Your Majesty, just say it. I will tell you everything you know and tell me everything you want to say."
"Master Gao is indeed devoted to his duties, and I admire him."
"I dare to ask Mr. Gao, just around the imperial mausoleum, there are more than 5,000 craftsmen repairing the imperial mausoleum, including 2,000 stonemasons, 2,000 carpenters, and 1,000 carvers."
"It is recorded in the accounts, including the daily wages of the craftsmen, plus the construction period for repairing the imperial tomb..."
"Up to the completion of the project, including the loss of materials, the total amount of silver was six hundred and fifty-four thousand eight hundred and twenty-six taels. However, according to Mr. Gao's report to the accounts of the Account Department, the silver expenditure supervised by you was ninety-six taels.
Thirty-one thousand one hundred and fifty-two taels of silver."
"I won't talk about the small amount. I would like to ask where these three hundred thousand taels have been used? Can the white silver ingots grow wings and fly?"
"Master Gao, do you want to give me an explanation?"
Gao Jingyuan shuddered subconsciously when he heard the amount of money Liu Dashao said.
His fingers nervously twirled the Chao Hut in his hand, and he looked at Young Master Liu with a smile, looking for advice.
"My lord, I'm afraid you may have made a miscalculation. Every account above is clearly recorded. How could there be a difference of 300,000 taels of silver? I guess it's because my lord has been dazzled by the long journey."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk... Mr. Gao is right. Maybe I really got it wrong. After all, to complete the imperial mausoleum, we need to install many mechanisms. The craftsmen must have suffered a lot of casualties. Please pay the pension."
Gold is indeed a big expense.”
Gao Jingyuan nodded hurriedly: "What the prince said was timely. The prince can understand the hard work of the official, and the official is very grateful."
Liu Mingzhi looked at Gao Jingyuan happily, took out a piece of rice paper from his hand and handed it to Gao Jingyuan.
"I have here an account calculated from the Accounts Department. It seems to be somewhat different from the account of matters supervised by Mr. Gao. Mr. Gao may wish to take a look at it himself."
"how?"
Gao Jingyuan took the rice paper handed over by Mr. Liu with a blank expression and lowered his head to examine it.
After drinking tea, Gao Jingyuan, who had just apologized to Mr. Liu, began to sweat continuously on his forehead. In the cold winter weather, Gao Jingyuan was sweating profusely. This shows how much content Mr. Liu compiled on the rice paper.
Horrible.
Gao Jingyuan kept wiping the sweat on his forehead with the sleeves of his official robe. From time to time, he raised his eyes and glanced at Mr. Liu who was smiling across from him, making his hair stand on end. He started to tremble slightly.
When Gao Jingyuan saw the names of the officials of the Ministry of Industry written in block letters under the rice paper, as well as the amount of silver these officials had handled, and the amount of silver that was completely different from the one above, he suddenly shook like chaff.
stand up.
"Master Gao, are the accounts calculated by this king still clear?"
"If Mr. Gao doesn't understand clearly, why not..."
Liu Mingzhi's eyes stayed on some Ministry of Industry officials who did not dare to raise their heads for a moment before looking at Gao Jingyuan again.
"How about I give you a good explanation?"
"See how the tall people work hard and achieve great results?"
"What do you think, Sir?"
Gao Jingyuan's body was shaken, and he looked at the figure of Mr. Liu slowly walking towards him in panic. The rice paper in his hand fell to the ground, while Gao Jingyuan himself collapsed on the ground in the hall and trembled.
"I'm confused, I'm guilty of death, I'm willing to hand over all the money, please show mercy to me, Your Majesty!"
When the officials around him saw Gao Jingyuan's appearance, they glanced at the rice paper on the ground in shock, wondering what was written on it, which actually frightened the second-rank officials in the court to look like this.
Liu Mingzhi bent down and picked up the rice paper on the ground and shook it. Looking at Gao Jingyuan who was kneeling on the ground and begging for mercy, he looked towards Ren Wenyue. Looking at the panic in Ren Wenyue's eyes, Liu Mingzhi raised his foot.
He kicked the boneless Gao Jingyuan aside.
"Sin worthy of death?"
"Master Gao, even if you die a hundred thousand times, your death will not be a pity."
"Don't worry, you won't be alone on the road to hell."
"Who is Master Wen Changfengwen, the governor of the Capital Water Supervisor's Young Mansion?"