The couple fell silent for a moment, then said, "No matter who it is, neither of these two can escape."

Xie Liwei's tone was heavy, carrying a ruthlessness he himself hadn't realized. He wouldn't let anyone who had hurt his sister get away with it, especially those she had once trusted so much.

This Tang Shuang, wasn't my sister good enough to her? My sister treated her almost like her own younger sister, but she climbed to the top by stepping on my sister.

He not only wanted to make her years of planning come to naught, but also wanted her to experience the pain of having her flesh and blood corroded by poison.

He wanted her to experience the same things her older sister had gone through.

Seeing the murderous glint in Xie Liwei's eyes, Song Yaozhu reached out and covered his hand.

"Didn't you tell me not to rush things? Now that we have a child, we need to be even more careful."

Xie Liwei lowered his eyelids, then looked up again, his eyes filled with tenderness.

"Don't worry, sister, I know what I'm doing."

We've waited all these years, so why would we give up for a moment?

After the Xie family's child's full moon celebration ended, other events in the capital quickly took over the Xie family's limelight.

The Prince of Lin'an finally managed to kick his good-for-nothing half-brother and his family out of the house. The couple, along with their child, threw a tantrum at the door, refusing to leave. The Princess Consort ordered someone to throw a chamber pot at them and drive them away, declaring to the outside world, "From now on, the Prince's mansion will no longer be responsible for the mess this couple makes!"

Once the Prince's Mansion spoke up, those the couple had offended all sought revenge. Soon, the couple slunk away from the capital, no longer daring to stay there.

By May, a report from Jiangzhou arrived in the capital. Seven months had passed since the canal construction began, and seventy percent of the canal was already completed. It was expected to be fully completed in another month. The report was submitted now in order to request funding.

Yuwen Wuji never expected that so much silver wouldn't be enough.

"Your Majesty, Yunzhou suffered a great disaster last year, and several surrounding prefectures were exempted from taxes. Of the taxes paid last year, after deducting the amount to be allocated to the various armies this year, only this much remains."

Liu Jiaci handed over the ledger in her hand. When Yuwen Wuji saw the numbers, his eyes widened, and he felt as if he couldn't breathe.

However, these provisions and military pay could not be withheld, otherwise it would cause unrest in several armies and be the end of it.

"Let's reduce the workforce on the canal first; have all those death row inmates been deployed?"

Yuwen Wuji sighed helplessly. He also wanted to finish digging the canal in one go. Once the entire canal was completed, trade between the north and south would be able to flow freely, bringing extraordinary benefits.

But I don't have any money right now...

Yuwen Wuji closed his eyes and waved his hand to dismiss Liu Jiaci.

The following day, an imperial censor submitted a memorial impeaching officers in the three major military camps for allegedly receiving salaries without working. This memorial reached the emperor's ears immediately, and Yuwen Wuji was furious, ordering Prince Xuan to lead a thorough investigation.

King Xuan felt that he had been like a donkey pulling a millstone for the past two years, having to meddle in everything.

In addition, the matter was not difficult to investigate, and within three days, Prince Xuan presented the case file to the emperor. After reading it, Yuwen Wuji was so angry that his chest heaved, and his breathing sounded like a broken bellows, wheezing and panting.

"How dare these people!" Yuwen Wuji slammed his fist on the table. "Execute them immediately! Execute them immediately!"

He roared.

Prince Xuan was not in a hurry and said, "Your Majesty, there is a shortage of people in Jiangzhou right now. Since they are to be sentenced to death, I will have them escorted to Yunzhou immediately."

The Emperor, still furious, declared, "All their families shall be exiled to Jiangzhou to serve in the canal! Once the canal is completed, they shall be used as a sacrifice to the river!"

Even the ruthless and decisive King Xuan found his elder brother, the emperor, to be terrifying. He was now blinded by rage, and his decisions were both foolish and malicious.

"Yes, Your Majesty, I shall take my leave."

Several military camps were thoroughly investigated again, and those who were receiving salaries without working were removed from the list. The remaining funds were not substantial, merely a drop in the bucket.

At the end of May, Xie Liwei took his family out of the city to pray at the Jokhang Temple. Unexpectedly, they encountered bandits on the way. Fortunately, he had guards with him and successfully escorted his wife back to the capital. The people who chased after the bandits returned and reported that the bandits were dressed in gold and silver and were fat and bloated.

After the Five Cities Military Command reported to the Emperor, they immediately dispatched a force to suppress the bandits and managed to seize 48 million taels of silver!

According to the laws of the Great Chen Dynasty, their army could keep 50% of the spoils, with the remainder to be handed over to the national treasury. The soldiers of the Five Cities Garrison were celebrating wildly; even if only 20 million taels remained, divided among them, it would still be a huge sum of money!

However, before they could even enjoy the money, the Ministry of Justice arrived and took it over.

“This sum of money matches perfectly with the amount of bribes embezzled by the disgraced official Ye Cang. We have reason to suspect that this money is the embezzled funds, and now our Ministry of Justice is taking over.”

The Minister of Justice is the Crown Prince's man. If this silver falls into the Ministry of Justice, isn't it the same as falling into the Crown Prince's hands?

Moreover, these soldiers don't care who the money ends up in; what they're really worried about is how this is any different from taking money out of their own pockets!

So the two groups started arguing, neither willing to back down.

The matter quickly reached the Emperor's ears, and Liu Jiaci, the Minister of Revenue, immediately brought an abacus into the palace. This sum of money was exactly what he wanted!

The Emperor also believed the silver was stolen money, so he ordered the Ministry of Justice to interrogate the captured bandits. The bandits confessed readily, saying that although they robbed, they also made a living by swindling. This money was obtained by their leader through fraud.

Upon hearing about the details and methods of the scam, the petty thief claimed he was too low-ranking and knew nothing. The boss and the others had all run away.

The whole thing seemed incredibly bizarre, like they were delivering silver to the Ministry of Revenue. After all, with so much silver, the bandits must have spent some of it after swindling it, right? Even if they didn't spend it, didn't they have other stolen money in their house?

Throughout the entire village, no matter how hard they searched, all they found was this sum of 48 million taels, in varying amounts. Moreover, the bandit leader had already fled; those captured were all recent recruits with no prior murders on their hands. In this whole affair, only the Five Cities Garrison had wasted their time.

Because of Xie Liwei's meritorious report, the Emperor had no choice but to reward him. Yuwen Wuji was somewhat annoyed with the Five Cities Garrison. Even if it was stolen money obtained from suppressing bandits, it belonged to him, Yuwen Wuji. How dare they complain about the decision made by the Emperor!

Xie Liwei took charge and privately invited the commander to a banquet, where he presented him with the rewards bestowed upon him by the emperor.

Give it all to him.

The commander asked in surprise, "What does Your Highness mean by this?"

Xie Liwei said, "This is just a small token of my gratitude. I hope you will accept it, Commander. If it weren't for you and your brothers making this trip, I might have been retaliated against by these bandits when I took my princess out in the future. I can't speak frankly about what the higher-ups are doing, but I really can't let you and your brothers have made this trip for nothing."

Upon hearing this, the commander beamed with joy and accepted the gifts without hesitation.

"Your Highness's willingness to drink with me shows you think highly of me. I may not be well-educated, but I understand the principles perfectly. What are we brothers risking our lives for? Isn't it to support our elderly parents and young children? We have so many mouths to feed when we're out here. What else would we be doing if not for some food and drink? If Your Highness needs anything in the future, just let me know!"

Xie Liwei smiled faintly and accepted the toast offered by him without saying a word.

Although I didn't manage to elevate myself in this round, I did manage to recruit a commander, so it wasn't a complete loss.