It is late at night, and most people who are used to going to bed early have fallen asleep.
This is an era without electricity, and there are no computers, TV and other entertainment programs. Sleeping has naturally become the best choice for ordinary people at night.
In the courtyard of the Chen Mansion, Chen Xinshu was still not sleepy.
"My lord, since you are suspicious of Mr. Huyan, why don't you send someone to keep an eye on him? There are many experts in my mansion."
"Brother Baoshan, you don't know anything about martial arts. The martial arts of Mr. Huyan's followers are still better than those of the Lin family. If you want to keep an eye on these masters in the mansion, I'm afraid they will be self-defeating. You must know that the Lin family is one of the three most famous families in the martial arts.
The master of the family is so skilled in martial arts. In my memory, only Xie Daolin, the master of the Lin family, has surpassed him. Mr. Huyan is on good terms with the Lin family and is from the imperial city, but I don’t know if he has anything to do with the palace.
?”
"Sir, are you suspicious?"
"Well, I have a feeling that Huyan may be a bridge between me and the emperor, and he is here for me this time. As for the imperial envoy Ye Mengding, it is just a cover-up."
"Sir, if Mr. Ye keeps interrogating, sooner or later problems will arise."
"It depends on how long it can be delayed." Chen Xinshu sighed, "Which of our officials has no problem? Corruption or malfeasance? If according to the law, the lighter case will be jailed, and the more serious case will be sentenced to death. It just depends on the meaning above.
, if the superiors want to touch me, these problems cannot be concealed."
"Then your Majesty's intention is to meet Mr. Huyan as soon as possible?"
"Yes, but we have to wait for this matter. I think he is also waiting for the opportunity."
"Maybe, sir, we will visit Mr. Xiaye tomorrow to find out what he has to say."
"Yeah, it's doable."
Since getting up in the morning, Chen Huainan's right eye has been twitching non-stop, which is not a good sign. Chen Huainan walked into the government office with an uneasy mood, and then realized that there was something strange in the court today.
People from Lin's Trading Company who were the plaintiffs were not here, nor were people from the Pu family, not even Mr. Zhang Song, the magistrate of Fuzhou.
Imperial Envoy Ye Mengding, who was sitting in the middle, had cold eyes. As soon as he saw Chen Huainan entering, he said straight to the point: "Sir Chen, the case of Lin Zhixiong will not be tried today."
Chen Huainan's heart sank: "Sir, this?"
"Chen Huainan, I have received another complaint, accusing you of the Shipping Department secretly charging illegal fees, such as docking fees, offshore fees, etc. Is this true?"
Chen Huainan thought for a moment and said, "Sir, this is the fee in all ports in our country."
"Are they included in the taxes stipulated by the imperial court?"
"This, this, no, no."
Ye Mengding said: "Mr. Chen, does this count as private charges? Where did these funds go? It's not like they all went into your pocket."
"Sir, all of it has been used for port construction."
"Really? Mr. Chen, do you know why I did not allow others to participate in the trial today?"
Chen Huainan wiped the cold sweat on his head: "Sir, I don't know this."
"Well, I will tell you slowly."
"Sir, please clarify."
"Because the prefect also has a share in the money, right?"
"Sir, what does this mean?"
"Chen Huainan, not only Zhang Song, but also Chen Xinshu and others are involved, right?"
"Sir, this is a false accusation. I am willing to confront him in court."
"Chen Huainan, I have a second and third complaint here, all accusing your Shipping Department of corruption and perversion of the law. Do you want me to read them out one by one?"
"Sir, I have been wronged by this official. Please make the decision for me."
"Unjustly accused? Really?"
"Exactly, please make the decision, sir."
Ye Mengding suddenly smiled, and his face became gentle: "Mr. Chen, I am asking the case alone because I don't want to publicize this matter, and I also know that you are just following orders. I am following the emperor's order.
I came to investigate the current situation of our officials. No one will be investigated this time. Don't worry about that. Even Chen Xinshu, the emperor will not punish him this time. The emperor just wants to know the truth so as to find out the problems in our local officialdom.
Where, do you understand?"
When Ye Mengding was interrogating the case in the lobby of the state capital, I was also interrogating Pu Wenfeng.
In the secret room of Tongle Building, I looked at Pu Wenfeng who had just woken up.
Pu Wenfeng left Fuzhou early in the morning, but encountered a robber in the suburbs. He lost consciousness before he could react.
"You may not care about your own life or death, but will you care about the life or death of your Pu family?" I asked this question without thinking, which made Pu Wenfeng confused and even more at a loss.
"Where am I? Who are you? How do you say it is related to the life and death of my Pu family?"
"In the first year of Kaiqing (1259), your Pu family visited the capital, right?"
"I've been there before."
"At that time, the Song-Mongolian War broke out, and your Pu family donated 1.63 million silver to the country. Is this true?"
"Ah, how do you know?"
"It seems that you also know it. Then let me ask you again, do you know why it is 1.63 million taels? Instead of an integer, 1.6 million taels or 1.7 million taels?"
"You, who are you? Only the late emperor knew about this matter. How did you know about it?"
Six years ago, Pu Shougeng, the head of the Pu family, offended the then Prime Minister Ding Daquan for some reason. Ding Daquan sent people to Quanzhou to investigate and found out that he was suspected of evading huge amounts of tax.
The imperial study called Pu Shougeng alone and said, your Pu family has evaded taxes for a total of 3
260,000 taels. When the war breaks out and the country needs investment in armaments, you can donate half of it. In this way, the Pu family donated 1.63 million taels of silver, and the late emperor no longer pursued the crime of tax evasion. Except
Song Lizong and only the person involved, Pu Shougeng, knew the reason.
Pu Shougeng later told his two sons about the matter, and said solemnly that the emperor promised to settle the matter and no one would tell it. You must also remember not to tell anyone, not even your uncle Pu Shoucheng.
"Father told him this matter, then who will the late emperor tell this matter to? The late emperor's son? Could it be..." Pu Wenfeng suddenly thought of it, and his father told his son that the person in front of him would be,
But, this is too incredible.
"Are you the emperor, the emperor...?"
I interrupted him and said calmly: "It doesn't matter who I am, you just need to know that I can easily let your Pu family live, and I can also easily let your Pu family die."
Pu Wenfeng himself is not afraid of death, but he cannot help but worry about the life and death of the Pu family: "I, I..."
"You have no choice, and you don't have to guess who I am."
Although Pu Wenfeng has an impatient temper, he is not a reckless person. Perhaps he saw the aura exuding from me, or perhaps Pu Wenfeng believed his guess, so he nodded and said, "You, what do you want to know?"
"Details of your Pu family's interactions with Fujian Road officials."
"What should I call you?"
I smiled and said, "Just call me Young Master."
"Yes, Young Master, I will tell you everything I know, except that many things are handled by Pu Wenyong."
Although Pu Wenfeng knew a lot of things, they were not detailed. Pu Shougeng, the head of the Pu family, naturally also knew the nature of his son, so most of the things were left to Pu Wenyong, Pu Shoucheng's son.
I don't need too many details, just what I have is enough.
"Say it."
Pu Wenfeng was a little incoherent as he recounted the Pu family's bribery of officials one by one.
"Master, Master Ye is here." Yuan Ji said in my ear.
"Well, sir, arrange for someone to keep a close eye on Pu Wenfeng and release him after the incident is over."
"Yes, sir, don't worry."
Ye Mengding came in and said: "Sir, Chen Huainan has admitted to the corruption for personal gain, including Chen Xinshu, Zhang Song, etc., but I don't know whether Shi Hongsheng was involved."
"Okay, maybe it's time to meet Chen Xinshu."
"Sir, Chen Xinshu said he wanted to visit me alone tonight."
"Haha, that's just right. It's time. Let's completely resolve the Fujian Road matter tonight."