Wu Zhonglin was frightened now: "I, I am a royal relative, you can't hit me. If you dare to hit me, it would be a violation of the rules, a provocation to the royal family, it is..."
Before Wu Zhonglin could finish, Zhao Lin said, "Hit him!"
Immediately, the personal guards came to drag Wu Zhonglin out.
"Wait."
Fu Wenqi quickly stopped him and said, "Forget it, we're not at a disadvantage anyway."
"Yeah, forget it. He knows he's wrong."
Bai Shiyuan and Chi Qiaoyu both tried to dissuade him.
Zhao Lin snorted coldly: "Are you stupid? We've already offended him, so just letting him go will be fine?"
"It's okay, it's okay, absolutely okay."
Wu Zhonglin quickly said, "As long as the Xiantai releases me, I'll pretend that what happened today never happened."
"...I'm not! I must tell my niece to severely accuse you in front of the emperor and let you know the consequences of offending me. Humph, our Wu family is the master, you are just a servant, how dare you hit me?"
Wu Zhonglin thought to himself.
Zhao Lin looked at Wu Zhonglin calmly and said, "Are you thinking that as soon as you leave here, you will immediately complain to your niece and have her speak ill of me in front of the emperor?"
"No, no, I absolutely don't have this idea." Wu Zhonglin waved his hands in fear.
Fu Wenqi advised again: "Just give Rong Fei a favor and let him go. Otherwise, if the incident is reported to the Emperor, it will embarrass him."
Zhao Lin shook his head, moved closer to Fu Wenqi, and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear, "Rong Fei has colluded with Zhao Chenhan. Regardless of whether this happened today or not, she will speak ill of me in front of the emperor."
Fu Wenqi was shocked, then flew into a rage, "Really? The concubines in the harem actually colluded with the court officials. They deserve to be put to death!"
Zhao Lin sneered, "Brother, why do you have to be like this? These days, there's no other choice. Which concubine doesn't have ties to the previous dynasty?"
Fu Wenqi's face flushed, and he said, "You can't collude with Zhao Chenhan. It doesn't matter to him, but his father, Zhao Jingzhou, has an army of 200,000. What does Rong Fei want to do?"
"It's not what Rong Fei wants to do, it's what Zhao Chenhan wants to do."
Zhao Lin said: "He is the prince of Zhenbei Marquisate and a member of the Imperial Academy. He can do whatever he wants, but he has to collude with Concubine Rong."
Fu Wenqi's face immediately turned ugly.
If it was as he thought, it would be a huge scandal.
"No, no, Zhao Chenhan is only seventeen years old, and with the Marquis of Zhenbei here, there's no need to do this." Fu Wenqi shook his head repeatedly.
But he no longer stopped Zhao Lin.
Since they are already enemies, we naturally have to strike first.
"Hang him up and beat him, send people to seal the Tongzhou prefectural government office, investigate for evidence of their extortion, and escort them to the capital with me to be handed over to Your Majesty for punishment." Zhao Lin ordered.
The guards immediately dragged Wu Honglin out and hung him there together with Yang Si and Lu Fang. They first beat them severely, and then groups of people went ashore and quickly rushed towards the Tongzhou prefectural government office.
The poor Tongzhou prefect was blocked in his yamen and threatened before he knew what was happening. Then all the documents and files in the yamen were confiscated. In addition, all the officials in the yamen were called in and locked up, and their property was confiscated.
It took a full three days.
"Sir, after our preliminary investigation, Wu Zhonglin embezzled and accepted bribes amounting to 100,000 taels. In addition to him, everyone in the Tongzhou prefectural government office has problems, including Tongzhou prefect Zheng Yingtao. Adding together, it is at least 2 million taels." Shen Yuan reported.
Zhao Lin nodded and said, "It is indeed so."
He sighed deeply, "This is all the people's blood and sweat. It could have gone into the national treasury and become the foundation for the development of the imperial court. Instead, it was all pocketed by these corrupt officials."
Managing rivers is a good job, especially the Jinshui River, which flows from south to north and passes by the capital city, and there are many ships traveling on it.
To sail on the river, you have to pay various fees, such as ship material tax, which is calculated based on the cargo capacity of the ship, and dam usage fees. You have to pay to pass through the sluice, otherwise you cannot pass.
etc.
Plus their active blackmail.
So these officials who manage the rivers are all very rich.
As for the others, there is naturally no need to say more.
Two million taels, this is just a number that was found out in a short time.
Give Zhao Lin time and he can double this number.
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