How could these friends of my deceased husband be so loyal, and what a coincidence that they would appear together?
To cover it up, Da Hu grinned and explained.
"Oh, I was just worried that my sister-in-law might be harmed by a villain, so I specially arranged for a brother to keep an eye on her. The compensation from the Prime Minister just arrived, so I brought it to you right away!"
As he spoke, Da Hu took out several large silver ingots from his pocket and placed them on the table.
To be honest, Ah Feng had never seen such a large amount of silver in her life, and she was shocked.
"How could there be so many? The Prime Minister responded so quickly?"
"My elder brother is now a deputy general. According to military regulations, this is the amount of compensation for those who die in battle! In addition, the Prime Minister heard about your situation and expressed his deep sympathy, so he rounded it up to eighty and asked me to make sure it is given to my sister-in-law."
Ah Feng tremblingly took the silver, tears welling in her eyes, and couldn't help but praise it.
"The Prime Minister is truly a good official who cares about us poor commoners!"
Wang Hu chuckled ingratiatingly, "That's right, that's right."
"Oh, right! The Prime Minister also asked us to pass on a message, saying that we must tell my sister-in-law."
"To be cared for by the Prime Minister is truly a blessing for us ordinary people. Tell me!"
"The Prime Minister said that the soldiers in Youzhou who fought against the Xiongnu are all true heroes of our Great Xia. No matter what, he will not sit idly by and watch these brave warriors sacrifice themselves for the country!"
"The fact that the pensions were embezzled is truly infuriating. The Prime Minister needs the support of the actual orphans and widows involved in the case to get things done. He wants you to take the families of the other fallen soldiers who are owed pensions to the Prime Minister's residence and ask him for their pensions!"
Ah Feng wiped away her tears and nodded repeatedly.
"Your Excellency is truly benevolent! I will take care of it right now!"
......
Inside the Eastern Depot, Wang Zhen leaned back in his armchair, enjoying the massage and kneading from the eunuch beneath him, his expression one of contentment and bliss.
"Hehe!" The little eunuch seized the opportunity and naturally showed off all his skills. "Eunuch Wang, how strong is this servant?"
"Not bad! I can put in a little more effort. Even though I'm getting on in years, I can still handle it!"
No sooner had he finished speaking than he suddenly hissed coldly, his lips twitching in pain.
It turned out that the little eunuch was a bit careless and accidentally aggravated the wound on his wrist.
In an instant, a splash of crimson seeped through the white cloth!
Wang Zhen was furious and kicked the little eunuch to the ground.
"Are you fucking blind? Can't you see we have an injury on our hand?"
The latter hurriedly got up and knelt down, begging for mercy in fear.
"You little slave deserves to die!"
Given Wang Zhen's previous temper, he would have definitely hung up the little eunuch and whipped him to vent his anger.
But this time he knew the fault wasn't with the little guy.
Feeling the pain of his deep wound being stretched, Wang Zhen gritted his teeth, the image of that old man An Fu flashing through his mind.
"The grudge of those two knives! One day, my family will get it back from you, interest and all!"
Just as he was filled with resentment, a guard from the Eastern Depot rushed over to report.
"Reporting to Chief Eunuch Wang, we have important intelligence."
Wang Zhen sat up straight and looked serious.
"explain!"
"As you instructed, we have been secretly monitoring the Ministry of Revenue recently."
"A major event occurred at the Ministry of Revenue during the day. His Majesty conducted a surprise inspection of the Ministry of Revenue's offices and discovered a petition on He Fang's desk!"
"After a preliminary investigation, it was found that He Fang embezzled the pension and lined his own pocket, but he pretended to be a good person in front of the orphans and widows and shifted the blame to the Prime Minister."
Upon hearing his report, Wang Zhen's eyes shone with excitement.
He stood up abruptly, his body trembling involuntarily.
"This news! This old servant must report it to the Prime Minister immediately!"
However, he only got halfway through his sentence when he felt a faint pain in his face.
Clearly, he was still somewhat shaken by the beating he received from Sima Lie last time.
He frowned and confirmed it again and again.
"Was your intelligence accurate this time? Please don't let it be wrong!"
The imperial guard who gave the report was extremely confident.
"There's no mistake! Many officials in the Ministry of Revenue know about this; I swear it's true!"
Wang Zhen took a deep breath and straightened his clothes.
My opportunity has finally arrived!
Providing favorable information in advance would be a great achievement!
The prime minister would often reward himself.
Anfu, just you wait. When I'm on top of you, I'll grab that big cleaver and bleed you dry!
"Let's go! We must get to the Prime Minister's residence as quickly as possible!"
Sima Lie was in a good mood at the moment.
Although the frontline battles were unsuccessful, the Xiongnu seemed to have halted their southward offensive and appeared to be waiting for peace talks.
Qiu Beiming, standing to the side, stroked his beard and chuckled.
"Congratulations, Prime Minister! Once the north is stabilized and the army is reorganized, the Zhao family army will be helpless!"
Sima Lie suddenly stood up, walked to the front of the hall with his hands behind his back, looked up at the sky, and let out a long sigh.
"This is truly one of the few pieces of good news I've received recently!"
"However, the weather has been really bad lately, hot and humid, and I feel like there's a stone weighing heavily on my heart."
"I have a feeling that there's an invisible net sweeping towards my true self!"
Just as he was sighing, Wang Zhen rushed over.
"Prime Minister! This old servant has important news to report!"
"You have news again?" Sima Lie replied disdainfully, not even glancing at him. "Are you sure it's not just baseless speculation, completely unfounded?"
Wang Zhen looked bitter and was speechless when asked the question.
After a moment, he gritted his teeth and assured him, "Prime Minister! It's normal for information to be inaccurate from time to time, but this time, this old servant can guarantee that the information is absolutely accurate!"
Sima Lie returned to his seat, took a sip of tea, and said, "Alright, then you can speak!"
"According to reliable intelligence from the Imperial Guard, He Fang is suspected of embezzling pension benefits, deceiving the Prime Minister, and even plotting against you!"
puff!
Sima Lie's eyes widened, and he spat out the tea he had just drunk.
Completely unable to accept Wang Zhen's report, he laughed coldly.
"Where? How is that possible?"
Seeing that he did not believe him, Wang Zhen immediately began to report the whole story in a serious tone.
Sima Lie's mouth grew larger and larger.
By the end, he had no choice but to believe it.
Snap!
The teacup in his hand was immediately smashed!
"Where are you, you ant! How dare you speak like this!"
No wonder I always felt that after Tan Wu left, the loopholes in the Ministry of Revenue's purse became bigger and bigger, and the amount of silver flowing into the accounts became less and less.
Oh, so someone was scheming and deceiving us!
Just as he was enraged, the steward rushed over to report.
"Master, there's news from Yuzhu's side."
Sima Lie was so angry that he took the secret letter with trembling hands.
The content is concise and to the point.
He Fang was currying favor with the tyrannical emperor in the Imperial Study and even gave him the pension money he had embezzled. The tyrannical emperor has now agreed to make him the Minister of Revenue!
Instantly, Sima Lie's face turned bright red, veins bulged, fists clenched, teeth grinding, and he looked like a volcano about to erupt!
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