Chapter 192 A clever move: retreating to advance
Pei Yuan frowned.
Why would Master Feng come at this time?
Have you heard some rumors?
He twirled the jade-bone fan, then turned and sat back down.
"Please let him in."
Master Feng the Second is Empress Feng's younger brother. He is just over forty years old this year, with a fair complexion and no beard, and a gentle smile on his face.
He looks like a scholar.
As soon as Master Feng entered, he bowed respectfully.
"Your humble servant greets the Sixth Prince."
Empress Feng has two brothers, the elder of whom is the current Grand Secretary, known as Grand Secretary Feng.
Although Master Feng the Second did not serve as an official in the court, he was, after all, the emperor's brother-in-law and held a sinecure position. He was generally referred to as Feng the Emperor's Brother-in-law.
Pei Yuan leisurely waved his jade-bone fan, "Is there anything I can do for you, Imperial Uncle Feng, today?"
Master Feng sighed before saying:
"As soon as His Highness and Lord Shen arrived in Anhua, they wiped out the bandits who had been entrenched in Anhua for many years and also captured the unscrupulous merchant Jiang Hongzhi. The people were all delighted."
"Your Highness and Lord Shen, I have come here to apologize."
Pei Yuan raised an eyebrow, "Apologize?"
Master Feng nodded, his face filled with sorrow.
"That's right, it's to apologize. Our Feng family has had some business dealings with the Zhang family over the years."
Your Highness may not know this, but a few years ago, when my elder brother accompanied His Majesty on an incognito visit, he saw many people in remote mountainous areas living in poverty. Many of them fell ill because they couldn't get salt.
After my elder brother returned home, he was constantly worried about this matter and often couldn't eat or sleep. Later, I stepped in and built a salt field in Hanyang Prefecture.
The salt produced at this saltworks is not for profit, but is provided free of charge to the people in all the remote mountainous areas of the Great Wei Dynasty.
However, the salt production in Hanyang was low, and the supply often fell short of demand. So for the past few years, we have been purchasing salt from Zhangjia Saltworks, and over time, we started to cooperate with Jiang Hongzhi.
But we really didn't know that Jiang Hongzhi was such a heartless scoundrel, not only mistreating the salt workers and causing a riot among the salt farmers, but also murdering his wife for money.
"It's all my fault for being negligent in my work, which led to my collaboration with Jiang Hongzhi and gave him the opportunity to grow and expand."
Master Feng looked ashamed as he spoke, then turned and took a stack of account books from a servant.
"Your Highness, these are the account books of the cooperation between the Feng family and the Zhang family's salt fields. They record in detail how much salt was purchased, how it was transported, and the destination of the transport."
I swear, the Feng family has absolutely no involvement in Jiang Hongzhi's smuggling of salt.
"The account books are all here; Your Highness, please examine them."
Master Feng placed the account book on the table in front of Pei Yuan.
Pei Yuan's gaze swept across the ledger, a half-smile playing on his lips.
"Oh? So the Feng family's salt is transported to the mountainous areas for poor people to eat for free. Prime Minister Feng is truly doing this with good intentions."
Master Feng said, "My elder brother often says that those in high positions should be concerned about the worries of the people and be anxious about what the people are anxious about, so that the people can live a good life."
Her Majesty the Empress often wrote to instruct me, but alas, I still failed to judge people well, allowing Jiang Hongzhi to take advantage of the situation.
He sighed heavily, "If Your Highness approves, I am willing to take out money to subsidize the salt workers who have been wronged. It is a small token of our Feng family's goodwill."
As soon as he finished speaking, the servants of the Feng family carried in two boxes.
The box was filled with silver ingots.
Two large boxes, each containing at least tens of thousands of taels of silver.
"Your Highness, please distribute this silver to the salt workers. In the end, our Feng family also bears some responsibility for this matter."
Pei Yuan stroked his chin, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.
“I understand the intentions of the Imperial Uncle Feng. If you truly want to make amends to the salt workers, then go and comfort them directly.”
There's no need for this silver to be handed over through me, after all, giving it directly is far more sincere than passing it on through a middleman.
"Isn't that right, Brother-in-law Feng?"
Master Feng was rebuffed, but he wasn't angry.
"Your Highness is right. I was mistaken. By the way, where is Lord Shen today?"
He looked around and asked casually.
Swish.
Pei Yuan closed the jade-bone fan, his expression indifferent.
"Chen Chu is interrogating Jiang Hongzhi in the dungeon, so he probably won't have time to see you today."
After all, Jiang Hongzhi is very stubborn; if we really manage to get him to talk, who knows what earth-shattering information we might get out of him.
The smile on Master Feng's face was somewhat forced, and he quickly got up to take his leave.
Watching his departing figure, Sun Yan whispered, "What a clever move—retreating to advance and taking the initiative to admit his mistake."
His explanation sounded flawless, completely absolving the Feng family of any responsibility.
"Your Highness, shall we still examine these account books?"
Pei Yuan scoffed.
"If it dares to be sent to me, it must have been dealt with cleanly on paper, and there is no need to check it."
Master Feng's visit today seems more like an attempt to spy on something.
You have someone keep an eye on his every move.
On the other hand, as soon as Master Feng left the county government office, the smile on his face disappeared.
The confidant asked in a low voice, "Do you think they'll believe what we're saying?"
Master Feng shook his head. "If it were that Shen Chu, he would probably believe it, but the Sixth Prince is very shrewd and will definitely send someone to investigate secretly."
However, we settled our accounts very cleanly, and with my elder brother and the Empress Dowager protecting us, we were able to keep track of everything.
They probably won't find anything. How's the thing I asked you to inquire about?
As soon as he finished speaking, a constable came running over in quick steps.
"Reporting to the Imperial Uncle, Shen Chu is not in the dungeon at the moment. I just inquired in the backyard and someone said they saw Shen Chu quietly leave, mount his horse, and leave."
"Not here?" Master Feng's brows furrowed tightly.
Do you know where he went?
All I know is that he left the city, and it seems he's heading in the direction of Yueyang.
Yueyang?
Master Feng immediately remembered that Jiang Hongzhi's hometown was in Yueyang, and his expression changed drastically.
Did Jiang Hongzhi really confess to something?
The more Master Feng thought about it, the more uneasy he felt.
He suddenly turned around and walked out, giving instructions to his trusted aides as he went.
"Immediately send someone to Yueyang to keep a close eye on Shen Chu, and if necessary..."
He paused, then a cold smile escaped his lips.
"Kill without mercy if necessary."
The trusted confidant accepted the order and left.
On the other side, Shen Chu sped along and finally arrived in Yueyang before dark.
Following the address given by Jiang Hongzhi, he successfully located the Jiang family's old house.
The Jiang family's old house was probably renovated after Jiang Hongzhi made his money.
The five-room house was clean and tidy, and there were even people specifically assigned to clean and sweep it.
Shen Chu took out his waist token and ordered the servants to leave.
She carefully searched through the five rooms.
Eventually, she found three letters in a hidden compartment in one of the rooms.
Two of the letters had the inscription: "To my brother."
It's my father's handwriting.
Even after ten years, she recognized her father's handwriting at a glance.
Shen Chu clutched the letter in her hand, her eyes reddening.
Just then, a flurry of footsteps suddenly came from outside.
Shen Chu cautiously stuffed the letter into his pocket, opened the back window, and the two of them climbed out separately.
Just then, the door was kicked open.
A group of people wielding long swords rushed in and surrounded Shen Chu.
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