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After arriving at the naval port, Yin kept his men on high alert for news from the capital. Consort Tong's final instructions greatly annoyed Yin, and things could go wrong.
"Fourth Prince, your emotions have been a bit unstable these past few days!" Qingyan noticed that Yin's temper was rather bad. He might punish Su Peisheng and others for the smallest things, which gave Qingyan a real headache.
"Little darling, this is the news we received a few days ago. Your mother has been confined to her quarters by Father Emperor." After hearing Consort Tong's words, Yin didn't vent his anger on Qingyan and the children, but the surrounding servants suffered the consequences.
Qingyan was taken aback and quickly browsed the messages. Those people were only framing Consort Tong for the sake of their own power.
"Have you forgotten what your mother said before she left?" Qingyan asked, looking at Yin. Consort Tong had always instructed him to be careful and never to stand up for her.
"No!" Yin's eyes reddened. In the past, he was unable to help Consort Tong when she was ill. Now, she was suffering in the palace, and Yin could not say anything more.
Yin's mind was in turmoil, and he hoped to calm his thoughts.
"My little darling, I'm sorry to have worried you!" Yin took two deep breaths, hugged her, and patted her back. He was glad that Consort Tong had given instructions to Qingyan in advance.
Otherwise, if Yin had received the news, he would have gotten stuck on it and eventually fallen into the trap set by those people. Getting it back would have been a complicated matter that couldn't be explained in just a few words.
After Yin arrives in the capital, the Crown Prince and others will definitely not give him a chance to explain. They might even say that Yin entered the capital without imperial decree. What would be the final outcome then?
"Don't be angry, your mother's life shouldn't change!" Qingyan had subtly inquired and learned that Consort Tong had already arranged a way out for herself. She had instructed the manager of Linglong Pavilion to provide Consort Tong with some jewelry at any time. "The people at Linglong Pavilion have connections with the Imperial Household Department; ask them to look after your mother a little!"
Yin's face darkened. Qingyan had once again used his Linglong Pavilion to do things.
"Fine, you can help your mother then." Yin hardened his heart and decided not to get involved in Consort Tong's affairs anymore, leaving everything to Qingyan to handle.
"Fourth Brother, so many people are watching you outside! Why is Mother saying this? There's no peace at Yuqing Palace!" After Qingyan returned to the military port, she discovered that there were some discrepancies in the silver within the port.
"How much silver is missing?" Yin noticed that Qingyan's expression had worsened over the past few days of investigation, and many things had to be repurchased.
"Several hundred thousand taels were spent over the past two weeks buying winter supplies. Each purchase was small, just a few tens of thousands of taels, but when you add it all up, it really adds up to a significant amount," Qingyan sighed.
Hundreds of thousands of taels?!
Yin gasped twice. If he found out about this sum of money, he would definitely...
"Does your sister-in-law know?" Yin quickly asked.
"I don't know. I only figured it out today. I wanted to ask you what to do. Should we report it to the capital? Or should we handle it ourselves?!" Qingyan heard that things were very tense in the capital. Emperor Kangxi was increasingly favoring the Crown Prince. Because Consort Tong and the Crown Princess had a quarrel, Emperor Kangxi chose to side with the Crown Prince.
The trigger for Consort Tong's confinement was the Crown Princess, and the Empress Dowager even demanded that Consort Tong diligently copy Buddhist scriptures while in confinement.
"Let's send it to the capital," Yin said helplessly.
The silver is too much missing; if Emperor Kangxi is informed, the final outcome will be...
"Alright, we need to hurry. Our treasury's silver won't last much longer," Qingyan muttered under his breath.
At dawn, slogans resounded loudly in the military port. Yin had been up for almost an hour. In his study, two men dressed in black with their faces half-covered by black veils knelt on the ground. Yin handed them a memorial from the desk.
"Give this to Father Emperor as soon as possible. Tell him that something has happened to the treasury at the military port and we hope that Father Emperor will lend a hand!" With these words, the two bowed silently in agreement.
He stood in front of the window, watching as the two men in black silently disappeared, and the naval port returned to calm.
"Fourth Prince, why are you up so early?" Qingyan turned over and found that the bed on Yin's side was already cold. Hearing Yin's voice, she did not get up. Hearing movement in the study, she quickly came over.
“Little darling…” Yin didn’t want the treasury silver to be taken by the Hesheli people, as the background checks on people in the military port were very strict. “It has already been secretly sent back. You and the children can play in the courtyard. Don’t go to the treasury for the next few days.”
After breakfast, Yin took the key to the storeroom from Qingyan and, with his personal guards, surrounded the entire storeroom, opening the chests to inspect the silver.
Upon inspection, Yin discovered some flaws. In the boxes near the inside, the silver was not official ingots, but rather melted-down silver from the common people.
"Bayan, let the people from the Ministry of Revenue in!" Yin specially brought in an official from the Ministry of Revenue, who was often bullied there because of his upright character and expertise in inspecting the quality of official invoices.
Now, Yin has brought people here, transferred from the Ministry of Revenue, to find an assistant for Qingyan. In the second half of the year, Qingyan's health will be worse, and he certainly won't be able to check the accounts anymore.
"Songgan, go to the accounting office and check the treasury to see how much of the silver has been switched," Yin said quickly.
Song Gan was a man in his early thirties. He was upright and honest, and disliked dealing with the powerful and wealthy. Like Han Yi, he was a wise and intelligent man.
Two hours later, Song Gan's face turned pale; a third of the silver had been melted down from private silver.
"Reporting to Fourth Master, one-third of the silver was melted down from private sources." Song Gan's heart was pounding. The Ministry of Revenue was even more murky; how could they have exchanged so much money right under Fourth Master's nose?
"Bayan, move the silver out and send all of it to the capital!" Yin had to hand over the evidence to Kangxi.
"Your servant has awakened!" Bayan understood that the Dragon Guards and the Sticky Rod Office had to do it, as the journey would definitely not be peaceful.
Yin was somewhat worried. He had to tell Kangxi about this in advance. If even a little bit of the news leaked out, it was uncertain whether this batch of silver could arrive safely.
"Furthermore, send someone to the capital in advance to inform only Father Emperor that all the guards on duty today should be temporarily confined to the courtyard and heavily guarded, and they should not be allowed to pass on any information!" Yin could only block all possible leaks from the biggest source.
"Yes!" Bayan replied and went to make the arrangements.
Upon hearing Yin's instructions, the guards realized that there was a problem with this batch of silver.
"Your servant has awakened!" The guards all knelt down and bowed.
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