"Alright, Lord Qi, rest assured, I will definitely handle this matter well."

Li Xuanji and several high-ranking officials, who were far away in the capital, received a memorial from Qi Yuan, which also bore Murong Yue's private seal.

That means Murong Yue was fully aware of the contents of this memorial.

When His Majesty is away from court, he does not hold court sessions. The small court assemblies are all held by his own people in the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

As for the grand court assembly, just say His Majesty is ill; it only happens twice a month anyway.

At this moment, all the officials had the same feeling: beneath the brocade robes, there might already be worms growing everywhere.

Li Xuanji closed the memorial.

"From another perspective, this is a good thing. It's always better to discover and deal with things early than to discover them only when they are beyond repair."

Zhang Yuqing, from the Ministry of Personnel, frowned so deeply that he could have trapped a fly in his brow.

"I thought I had done enough oversight of the officials and the state government, but now it seems there are still many loopholes."

Jiang Feng, from the Ministry of Revenue, offered a rare word of comfort: "Lord Zhang, too much of a good thing can be bad."

"There has always been a saying that when there are policies from above, there are countermeasures from below. If the supervision is too tight, they will only hide themselves even more."

"The current level of effort is reasonable; the problem is that our patrol efforts are insufficient."

That makes sense.

With so many officials, big and small, in the Qing Kingdom, it's impossible to monitor everything from eating to defecating.

They always find a way to do bad things.

If we increase the intensity and methods of inspections, we can at least find out about problems as soon as they occur.

Unlike Luoyang, where so many people were lost and the imperial court was unaware.

Chen Shi'en from the Ministry of Justice stroked his beard, his eyes gleaming with excitement. "Hehe, I want to see what else Jiang Defu has up his sleeve that we don't know."

"As for the descendants of the former deposed crown prince, I request that the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Rites investigate them as soon as possible."

As the saying goes, the most dangerous place is the safest place.

Back then, the deposed crown prince rarely left the capital, and even when he did, he was always accompanied by officials.

Moreover, when he was dismissed, the late emperor investigated so vigorously, but he still couldn't find out anything.

If he had an illegitimate child, there's a high probability he'd be hiding in the capital, and in a way that's impossible to trace or associate with the former deposed crown prince.

So, where is this place?

The former deposed crown prince got into trouble 33 years ago. He was 25 years old at the time. If his child hadn't been born yet, he would be over 30 now. If the child had been born, he would be much older now.

Therefore, all men in the capital aged 33 to 47 were suspects.

Hehe.

Jiang Feng, the Minister of Revenue in charge of the investigation, was speechless.

"Let's get the Ministry of War to cooperate."

Chen Shi'en immediately shook his head, "There is a war in the south right now, His Majesty needs people abroad, and also needs people to keep an eye on the Yue envoys returning home."

"The Ministry of War really can't spare any people."

Under pressure from Xiao Yuanshuang, Lord Pi finally used those counterfeit silver notes to purchase enough grain from Yue Kingdom to make up for the grain that Xiao Yuanshuang lost in the bet with the Empress.

She then swapped the glass cups with He Bing.

The day after Murong Yue set off, news came from the front lines that General Huo Cheng had discovered the second prince of Yue on the battlefield!

On the battlefield, swords and spears are silent; the second prince is seriously wounded.

Although the Second Prince appeared in the enemy's military camp, Huo Cheng, adhering to humanitarian principles, still brought the seriously injured Second Prince back to the capital.

However, the second prince still died on the way.

Then they sent back the cold corpse.

After completing the transaction, Xiao Yuanshuang immediately set off back to Yue Kingdom with the delegation and the Second Prince's body.

This trip truly resulted in the Yue Kingdom losing both its wife and its army.

Their attempt to arrange a marriage failed, their attempt to find a consort also failed, and one of their princes even died.

Xiao Yuanshuang had no idea how furious the old emperor would be when she returned.

But it doesn't matter, the old emperor still has the crown prince, so his anger is limited.

Everything that happened in Qing Kingdom could be conveniently attributed to Xiao Yuanche, which was a good thing for her.

Everyone knows the truth of this.

Jiang Feng then turned to Li Daoyun of the Ministry of Works, who stared at him with wide, innocent eyes and asked, "What, Lord Jiang?"

Jiang Feng: ...It's nothing.

She glanced at Murong Anle again.

never mind.

Murong Anle's identity is special, and it is not appropriate for her to appear in the case of the former deposed crown prince.

Aaaaaah!

In the end, the Ministry of Revenue took the blame for everything.

"Oh, right, Lord Li, Cen Hongxue from your Ministry of Works, that female scholar who won the top scholar title."

"I remember her as meticulous and having a photographic memory. How about I borrow her for a few days?"

Li Daoyun scratched his head, "Then I'll have to go back and ask Lord Cen."

"No, you're her boss, how can you not make this decision?"

Xu Qing, the Minister of Justice standing nearby, immediately sensed something.

Li Daoyun's face turned visibly red, and he stammered, "It can be done, but why...why can't it be done?"

Well...

The side hall of the Hall of Diligent Governance was quiet, and even Li Xuanji was looking at him.

His eyes rarely betrayed his gossip.

Li Daoyun flicked his sleeves and said, "Hmph, with His Majesty not here, you can all slack off."

After saying that, he ran away in a flash.

The group was left looking at each other in bewilderment.

Xu Qing and Jiang Feng exchanged a meaningful glance, and then both of them laughed heartily.

"Forget it, let the Ministry of Revenue handle it themselves."

"By the way, Grand Preceptor, the water control order has been distributed. The next step is to increase patrols."

"The subsidies have all been distributed."

That's one good thing about Jiang Feng; he's consistently efficient at his work.

Li Xuanji nodded and continued working on the memorials with the Prime Minister.

The lights in the side hall were not turned off until dawn.

The other adults all looked like wilted eggplants, listless and dejected.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!