"Your humble servant, Your humble servant..." He felt his throat start to hurt again, and it became very difficult to pronounce words. Every word that came out of his throat felt like he had gone through a lot of hardship.

"Hmm?" Yuwen Wuji's voice was low and tinged with impatience, almost terrifying Li Liufang.

Remembering what Xie Liwei had told him, Li Liufang steeled himself and pulled a scroll from his sleeve, holding it above his head.

"Your Majesty, I am guilty! I have failed to make any progress in my position, have been a mere figurehead, and have even accepted bribes. I beg Your Majesty to punish me severely!"

His words were like a drop of water thrown into a pot of oil; no one expected him to explode!

Of the officials present, how many dared to say they were completely innocent? Those who hadn't taken money from anyone mostly held sinecure positions and couldn't earn that kind of money even if they wanted to.

Is Li Liufang now admitting to accepting bribes in an attempt to make an enemy of all the officials in Da Chen?

Suddenly, everyone felt insecure, fearing that Li Liufang would expose them.

While inwardly cursing Li Liufang, he thought, "He's been taking money for so many years, and suddenly his conscience has come back to life? What a load of nonsense!"

Yuwen Wuji looked at the scroll of bills that he had been presented with. It clearly recorded when and where he had received a sum of silver, and the source of each sum of silver was Wan Hua Lou!

Looking at the endless stream of bills, Yuwen Wuji suddenly felt a surge of anger. He slammed the scroll down at Tong Qian, who removed his official hat, the jade hairpin holding his hair askew, and his long, black hair fell loose, draping over his shoulder.

Yuwen Wuji was angry because the Wan Hua Lou's profits were so high that he was envious. The amount of money they paid to local officials each month was as high as five hundred taels, not to mention the gifts for holidays and festivals, and the cleanup after things went wrong.

"My dear minister, your good relative is making quite a bit of money!"

Tong Qian's eyes were red. He never expected Li Liufang to betray him and become the scapegoat! What benefit did he get from revealing all this? He'd already taken the money!

Yes, something happened at Wan Hua Lou. He was afraid of being implicated if he were found out, so he staged this "bearing thorns to plead guilty" act in order to get the emperor to give him a lighter punishment.

This Li Liufang is truly a coward!

Yuwen Wuji rubbed his forehead, thinking about this year's capital inspection and the Gu worms he had raised. He thought, perhaps this is the right time.

"Ye Cang".

The Minister of Personnel, whose name was called, trembled slightly, wondering what this had to do with him.

"During this year's capital inspection, you and the people from the Ministry of Revenue should thoroughly investigate the income of all officials."

Some officials present breathed a sigh of relief, while others began to panic.

Those who have already falsified accounts are naturally not afraid, but those who have never done accounts before are inevitably anxious.

However, when it comes to auditing accounts, as long as officials have good relationships with each other, they tend to turn a blind eye.

"Is there anything else to report?" Yuwen Wuji rubbed his temples, clearly not wanting to hear any more.

"Your Majesty, I have something to report!" One of the censors stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, yesterday the Prince of Xiaoyao accused Lord Tong of having no money to repay his debts but plenty to run a brothel. I ask Your Majesty, since Lord Li is imprisoned, who should preside over this case? And since Lord Tong claims that the Wan Hua Lou brothel is run by his relatives using his name, in order to prove Lord Tong's innocence, his family's accounts should be publicly examined!"

Having served as an official for so many years, Tong Qian naturally had political enemies, and there were many who wanted to kick him while he was down. The key was that no matter how hard or how much they tried to kick him, it wouldn't matter; ultimately, it all depended on the Emperor's will.

The emperor wanted to protect him, so even if he was condemned by everyone, he still had a way to survive.

He firmly believed that the emperor would protect him.

"Xie Liwei reported him?" Yuwen Wuji's eyes sharpened. "When did Minister Tong owe Prince Xiaoyao money?"

"Your Majesty, it's not that I owe Prince Xiaoyao money, it's a national debt!"

Those who didn't understand were stunned by these words. Yuwen Wuji's eyes were so cold they seemed capable of conjuring ice shards that could kill.

"The prince, for some reason, was short of money and came to me with an IOU for national debt, asking me to lend him some money. However, the Ministry of Revenue has a fixed amount of money, so there was no way to spare any more. This caused a dispute between us. I never expected that he would go to the Jingzhao Prefecture to complain about me."

What does he need the money for?

The Xie family's IOU contained a large sum of money, and his sudden request for such a large sum aroused Yuwen Wuji's suspicion and made him vaguely worried.

"I do not know."

Yuwen Wuji waved his hand impatiently, and Li Wei, seeing this, said, "Court adjourned!"

The events that took place in the imperial court today have caused a great uproar in the capital. Li Liufang, the Prefect of Jingzhao Prefecture, has been dismissed and is under investigation. Tong Qian, the Minister of Revenue, has been suspended from his post and confined to his home pending an audit by the Ministry of Revenue.

Officials in the capital were busy checking their own accounts, and for a time, the scenes of singing, dancing, and banquets in the capital were rarely seen anymore.

"After Wan Hua Lou was shut down, the madam in charge committed suicide by poisoning herself in her room that very day. The prostitutes and pimps who were arrested were unaware of the inside story or who their employer was. The amount of gold and silver found in Wan Hua Lou was all normal, and every transaction matched the bills. No one could identify Tong Qian. We underestimated him."

Song Yaozhu, with her legs crossed, peeled chestnuts and ate them. "Tong Qian has amassed a huge fortune. How could so much silver, not in the bank, just vanish into thin air?"

“Peng Er has already investigated the banks under their own names. The accounts with huge sums of money belong to families with deep pockets, and nothing suspicious has been found.”

Song Yaozhu held up a finger and shook it. "There are so many banks in the world, why would you put all your money in one place? Everyone knows you can't put all your eggs in one basket, let alone so much silver. Putting aside the possibility of the bank going bankrupt, that amount of money is conspicuous enough. If I were Tong Qian, I would definitely keep a small amount of inconspicuous silver in each bank, so as not to arouse suspicion or cause me to lose everything."

Xie Liwei's eyes lit up for a moment, then the light went out again.

"If it's as you say, then it will be even more difficult to investigate."

They didn't have customer information from other money changers, nor could they match them one by one. What if Tong Qian was cautious enough and used a different name to deposit the money?

“It’s alright,” Song Yaozhu said. “The fact that he can persistently save so much silver shows that he really loves money. A miser will always check his treasure trove from time to time; otherwise, what’s the point of earning so much silver?”

Therefore, Song Yaozhu is more inclined to believe that he has a secret room that no one else knows about, where all his assets are hidden.

Xie Liwei immediately bent down and kissed her forehead, blurting out, "Sister is so clever!"

Embarrassment made Song Yaozhu's body stiffen, her eyes widened slightly. Although she guessed that he might have guessed her identity, it was still so embarrassing to have such a direct confrontation with him.

Xie Liwei realized he had misspoke and tried to explain, "You look so much like my sister, I couldn't help it..."

Song Yaozhu: "......"

That's such a weak explanation; it would have been better not to explain at all!