Chapter 6: Preventing Future Troubles
"Have you heard?"
"The Chen Mansion was ransacked!"
"Is this true? Isn't Lord Chen the Minister of Revenue? How could he..."
"What's the big deal? Any high-ranking official could be guilty of this... I heard that Lord Chen was thrown into prison for embezzling disaster relief grain, and his entire family was exiled."
"He actually embezzled disaster relief grain. This is a crime worthy of death, yet he was only exiled..."
Some people are very angry. You know, the weather has been abnormal in recent years. There was a drought for three years, and then heavy rains, which resulted in no harvest and countless people starved to death.
The imperial court had finally managed to raise relief grain, but part of it was embezzled, leading to more people starving to death. How could such behavior not make the people angry?
Therefore, everyone immediately started to accuse him indignantly.
"Do you know? My relative was there when the Chen Mansion was ransacked, and it's said that not a single cent was taken from it."
"How is this possible!"
"Didn't they say that the relief grain was hidden in his home?"
"Even if there's no disaster relief grain, there's still other grain and silver at home. How could a third-rank official not have a penny at home?"
"I heard from my second aunt's uncle's niece's cousin that when the imperial court donated money for disaster relief, Lord Chen donated 10,000 taels. It is said that Lord Chen sold all his belongings and everything in his house to raise the 10,000 taels."
"I see. So, we have wronged Master Chen?"
"But why hasn't the court released Mr. Chen yet?"
The people were talking about it, and some of the news that followed was naturally spread by the Censor in order to prove Chen Yuan's mistake.
At the same time, he also wrote a letter to the emperor, reporting what he saw during the house search.
Golden Palace.
The emperor, dressed in a dragon robe, was holding a memorial with a frown on his face. This was exactly what the censor had written.
"Little Li, is this true or false? Is Chen Yuan's family really that poor?"
If it had not been written by the impartial and strict censor, he would have doubted the authenticity of this matter, but he still had doubts.
Regardless of whether Chen Yuan was corrupt or not, the fact that he slept on a bed board... and the fact that there was not even a grain of rice in the pot at home, all sounded a bit unbelievable.
"this……"
Little Leo didn't know how to answer, so he had to play dumb.
The emperor did not care about the lack of an answer. What he cared about was the request of the censor to re-examine the case.
In fact, he knew that this matter involved the Minister of Revenue, but his second son, the second prince, was also involved behind the scenes.
Besides, as the emperor, his words were final and he could not easily change the verdict he had already made.
However, the situation at Chen Yuan's home was beyond his expectations.
"never mind."
He shook his head and said, "For the sake of the Imperial Censor, let Chen Yuan be exiled with his family."
In normal exile, men and women were separated, and Chen Yuan had to be tortured for a period of time before being exiled.
"If he has the ability in a few years, it's not impossible to employ him."
…………
"uncle!"
Guo Qiang's face looked unhappy. He lowered his head and looked at the old man in front of him. The man in front of him was the Minister of Revenue, Chen Yuan's immediate superior.
"waste."
"Not enough to accomplish anything, but more than enough to cause trouble!"
The Minister of Revenue slammed the table, his face ashen. If the house was searched and it was discovered that Chen Yuan really had disaster relief grain, then Chen Yuan would not be exiled but beheaded in public.
Once he died, the case of embezzlement of disaster relief grain would be over.
By then, he would be the Minister of Revenue and would be able to live freely.
But now, everything has been messed up by Guo Qiang.
"I, I didn't expect the Chen Mansion to be so poor... That's not right." Guo Qiang shook his head. "The relief grain was clearly in the Chen Mansion, how could it have disappeared?"
"Where's the Chamber of Secrets?"
The Minister of Revenue knocked on the table.
"No."
Guo Qiang shook his head and said, "I dug three feet deep but couldn't find it, and the secret rooms were all empty."
Thinking of this, he felt a stomachache. It was not like he had never had his house searched before, but never had he felt as aggrieved as he did now.
I copied for a long time, but in vain.
"What about the tunnel?" The Minister of Revenue said calmly, "That mansion belonged to the general of the previous dynasty. There is a tunnel inside. Maybe they transported the things away through the tunnel."
"I found that tunnel, too." Guo Qiang agreed. "But the other end of the tunnel is halfway up the mountain, and there's no sign of a carriage. But we'll keep searching!"
"That's not important." The Minister of Revenue waved his hand, his eyes gleaming with murderous intent. "What's important is, Chen Yuan, he must die!"
Guo Qiang gritted his teeth and said, "I understand. I will send my trusted aides to infiltrate the exiled yamen runners and have them secretly deal with Chen Yuan."
"Don't fail this time, don't let anyone catch you, otherwise..." The Minister of Revenue snorted coldly, but Guo Qiang understood his threat and shuddered.
…………
At the home of the Imperial Censor.
A group of people gathered together, and the Imperial Censor was still telling everyone about what he had seen and heard in Chen's Mansion.
"You don't know that Zhengyuan not only sleeps on the bed board himself, but also Xiaoxue, that girl, sleeps on the bed board. Even if he doesn't understand himself, he should understand his own girl..."
"Ah, I didn't expect Zhengyuan to be so honest and upright. It's our fault for hesitating and letting him suffer."
When everyone heard the words of the Imperial Censor, the image of Chen Yuan's family sleeping on the bed came to their minds, and they immediately felt distressed and guilty.
When they heard that Chen Yuan was corrupt, they did not stand firm. Although they believed that Chen Yuan would not do that, they knew that one could only judge a person by his appearance, so they also had some doubts.
As more witnesses appeared, they became even more hesitant.
And most importantly, this matter involves too many people. His Majesty is very angry and furious. He looks like he wants to punish severely, as if he will hold anyone who speaks up responsible.
However, conscience is ultimately more important than anything else. They felt that the matter could not be easily concluded and requested a review by the three courts.
But unexpectedly, His Majesty made a direct decision and beheaded him in public to appease the public anger.
Everyone argued for their rights and finally the exile happened.
But now, after hearing the censor's narration, they suddenly felt that a good man had been wronged.
So they jointly wrote a petition, but it was all rejected. However, the result was that Chen Yuan's family was directly exiled without having to suffer the punishment of tattooing.
This barely gave Chen Yuan some dignity.
Although they were unwilling, they also knew that this was the best outcome. After all, overturning the verdict would mean that His Majesty was wrong, which was impossible.
"Let's try our best to help in other ways!" The Imperial Censor sighed.
"I have a classmate who is the county magistrate in Lincheng. He can take care of Zhengyuan and his party when they pass by."
"I'll go and make some arrangements. At least I can make sure that Zhengyuan's family suffers as little as possible during their exile."
Everyone discussed how to help, and of course, everyone also unanimously decided to give Zhengyuan some silver.
After all, when the Chen family's property was searched, not a single penny was found, and this news had spread throughout the Dayue Kingdom.
Everyone knows that Mr. Chen is penniless and his family is in financial difficulty.
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