Chapter 146: Silencing the Witness
Pei Yi suppressed his inner nervousness and went forward to check the two sets.
normal.
His eyes fell on the third set and his pupils shrank suddenly.
really!
He pretended to be calm and went forward to check the fabric, and exclaimed: "This is not our Pei family's product."
There was an uproar all around.
Yuan Zhongying was the first to shout, "It's not yours? How is that possible? What nonsense are you talking about?"
More than a dozen officials from the three ministries gathered around, and the officials who had made purchases before touched it.
"The fabric is cotton, which is fine, but the cotton inside seems wrong. It looks fluffy and has no elasticity. It flattens when you pinch it."
"Cut it open and see."
Several people hurriedly cut open a few cotton-padded jackets, reached in to take out the fillings inside, and when they took a look, their faces all changed.
"What is this? This is Chen cotton! And there are also kapok and dandelion?"
Someone carefully peeled it apart and said, "There are grass and hemp mixed in. What is this?"
The group of people were so shocked that they quickly cut open the remaining parts, and found that they were all fake.
Pei Yi was so angry that he was shaking all over. "You can tell it's fake just by touching the fabric. In order to supply winter clothes this time, my Pei family used part of the fine cotton cloth we wove ourselves. Because of the tight schedule and insufficient fabric, we spent a lot of money to buy fine cotton cloth of the same quality in Bianjing and its surrounding areas. But look at this, my lords, what is it? It's rough, has bumps, and breaks easily. This is the lowest grade of coarse cotton cloth and aged cotton cloth."
The Minister of Works and Yuan Zhongying did not dare to say a word and looked straight at Prince Jiang.
The truth is revealed and disaster is imminent.
Prince Jiang looked very unhappy.
He glanced at Yuan Zhongying, then glanced towards the military camp gate.
Yuan Zhongying immediately understood and quietly retreated.
If this group of stubborn guys report the matter directly to His Majesty now, the Jiang family will definitely be implicated, so no news can leak out.
So, the people here have to be obedient.
If I want one, it’ll be a corpse!
Prince Jiang approached in a pretentious manner, reached out and touched it, and suddenly his face sank: "Pei Yi, you Pei family are so bold! How dare you pass off inferior goods as good ones and deceive the emperor!"
Pei Yi was so angry that he was shaking all over.
"Prince Jiang, I just said that we should check in public. If there is any problem, my Pei family will risk our lives to send another batch. But Prince Jiang has always refused to let us check, and now he is biting back. What's the reason?"
Prince Jiang snorted coldly: "Do you think that adding another batch will solve the problem? You, the Pei family, dare to defy the imperial court and commit fraud. This is a crime of deceiving the emperor. The war in southern Xinjiang is tense and has delayed the opportunity to fight. This prince suspects that you are colluding with the enemy. Can this crime be made up? This is a crime punishable by the extermination of the entire clan and the death penalty."
Pei Yi's face changed drastically.
He knew that the officialdom was treacherous and that the Jiang family was ambitious, but he never expected that the Jiang family could be so treacherous.
Zuo Fengtian frowned: "Prince Jiang, do you think we are all blind and deaf?"
Cao Liyu also said, "Who is deceiving the emperor? If we hadn't insisted on checking according to the rules and taking samples under surveillance, we would not have found the fakes. If we had followed the wishes of Crown Prince Jiang and let General Yuan take the genuine samples to pass the inspection, covering up the matter of 300,000 fake winter clothes, and then transporting them to southern Xinjiang, the consequences would have been great. I wonder if General Yuan and Crown Prince Jiang could bear the responsibility?"
Prince Jiang said coldly, "You were all deceived by Pei! This prince was also deceived. This batch of winter clothes was sent by Pei. Pei also has people guarding outside the military camp. General Yuan's three thousand soldiers are also guarding here. Who can exchange such a large number of winter clothes? Only when Pei sent it in, it was fake!"
Jin Guyong shook his head: "Whether it is true or not, this matter is too serious and must be reported to His Majesty for a decision immediately."
Cao Liyu looked around: "Where is General Yuan?"
Suddenly, a warehouse not far away burst into flames and the military camp was in chaos.
"The fire is coming. Oh no! The fire is coming."
The soldiers guarding the camp rushed to fetch water to put out the fire.
More than a dozen ministers had different expressions.
Zuo Fengtian grabbed Pei Yi and said, "Let's take the fakes and go into the palace right away."
Pei Yi nodded: "There are people from the Pei family outside the camp. I will ask them to come in and count how many have been swapped. The Pei family will immediately make new ones."
Prince Jiang suddenly said in a gloomy voice: "There is a fire, and you gentlemen can't get out."
Zuo Toyota's face darkened: "What do you mean?"
Prince Jiang retreated quickly, and the Tianwu soldiers guarding the camp rushed forward and surrounded them.
The ministers' faces changed drastically.
"Prince Jiang, what do you mean by this?"
Zuo Fengtian said angrily: "Prince Jiang, do you want to kill people to silence them?"
Cao Liyu was surprised: "How dare you..."
Prince Jiang stood outside the encirclement and said with a smile, "What are you talking about? What's so ugly about killing people to silence them? If there's a fire, it's inevitable that several adults will be burned to death. Oh, by the way, bandits are rampant recently, and swords are merciless. But don't worry, the 300,000 winter clothes will not be burned, and this prince will report the matter to His Majesty in detail."
He suddenly smiled and said, "Today, those who don't obey will die."
Pei Yi was shocked.
Prince Jiang was so bold that he had the guts to kill an imperial official in broad daylight?
He also wants to confuse right and wrong and throw all the dirty water on the Pei family!
Zuo Toyota also brought a few generals with him. They looked at each other and drew their swords instantly.
"We are also generals who have killed countless enemies on the battlefield. Do you think you can stop us?"
"Yes, let's fight our way out!"
Prince Jiang shouted, "Anyone who disobeys will be killed without mercy!"
The Tianwu Army rushed over immediately.
The frightened official quickly raised his hands and shouted to Prince Jiang to spare his life.
In the chaos, the Tianwu Army went crazy and didn't care who you were, as long as you were an official from the three departments, you would be killed.
In the blink of an eye, some officials fell in a pool of blood, and other civil servants were so scared that they knelt on the ground and begged for mercy.
Zuo Fengtian held Pei Yi tightly with one hand and fought hard with the other hand waving his sword.
"They closed the gates to the barracks."
“They really want to kill us.”
Some people were shouting in panic and running around.
Not far from the military camp, there was a black carriage parked.
Zhou Chunyu, Zhou Zhilan, Donghua and others held swords and protected the carriage.
Gu Huan sat in the car nervously.
His mind quickly recalled the information he knew in his previous life, fearing that he would miss anything and harm Pei Yi and the three adults.
Suddenly, Gu Huan heard chaos coming from the direction of the military camp and quickly lifted the car curtain to look over.
"It's on fire! How did it start?"
Gu Huan tried hard to recall, but there was no fire in the military camp warehouse.
Could it be that...
Gu Huan screamed: "Oh no! They are going to kill us to silence us! Let's go and save them!"
Zhou Zhilan held her down and said, "Don't move. Chi Yan and Chi Yu will go."
Zhou Chunyu put something in his mouth and blew it hard. A not very loud but sharp sound came out.
At the same time, a team of cavalry rushed out from the east and west, each of them looked majestic, holding silver spears, and headed straight for the military camp.
"Who are they?"
Gu Huan was surprised because it didn't look like what Chi Yan and the others were wearing.
Zhou Chunyu took out the food in his mouth and breathed a sigh of relief: "Madam, you see they are holding silver spears. They are the Silver Spear Yulong Zhuzhi. The leaders of these two cavalry teams were once generals of the Mu family army."
Gu Huan felt relieved: "Was it Chi Yan who mobilized him?"
Zhou Chunyu smiled and said, "Chiyan couldn't be transferred. It was you, Madam, who transferred him."
Gu Huan was surprised: "How can I transfer it?"
"You used your master's token to find the Minister of War, Zuo Fengtian, and he arranged this."
Gu Huan understood.
This was the first time she had done something this big. If it weren't for Zhou Chunyu and Zhou Zhilan's advice, and Chi Yan and the others, she couldn't imagine that she could really stop it.
Akabane?
Gu Huan remembered it belatedly.
"Butler Zhou, you just mentioned Chiyu? Didn't he go to war with the master? Why is he here?"
Zhou Chunyu hated himself for speaking too quickly.
But the words have been spoken...
"The master sent him back to clear out the bandits."
Gu Huan was anxious: "His most capable people Chi Yan and Chi Yu are back? How can this be possible? Doesn't he care about himself anymore?"
"My Lord is worried about you."
"Why worry about me!"
Gu Huan was so anxious that she wanted to jump out of the car, and Zhou Zhilan quickly supported her.
At this time, a group of people came galloping from the north.
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