Chapter 381: Disappearing Wealth
Hearing this, He Qingqing raised the memorial in his hand and smashed it on the eunuch's face.
"Useless! You want me to handle such a trivial matter?"
The chief eunuch was angry but dared not say anything. His forehead was bleeding and he knelt on the ground and cried in fear.
"Your Majesty, I am at my wit's end. As you know, the imperial court has been running out of money for the past few years, and the treasury is severely depleted. Since Your Majesty ascended the throne, he has spent a great deal of money to help the court officials and the people, and this has expended considerable resources."
If he had no other choice, he would not dare to come to He Qingqing for help even if he had a hundred times the courage.
He Qingqing rubbed his temples irritably. "What about the Lin family? I made them the imperial merchants, but it wasn't for nothing. Go find Madam Lin and ask the Lin family to send another million taels of silver to the palace."
"One, one million taels..."
The chief eunuch took a deep breath and thought to himself that these superiors were so ignorant of the hunger that they asked for such a large sum of money as if it was blown by the wind.
He Qingqing sneered, "Why, the Lin family dares not give it?"
The chief eunuch said angrily, "It's not that the Lin family won't give it, but... you forgot, a few days ago, we forced the Lin family to pay silver, and because of the lack of silver in circulation, many of the Lin family's shops closed down."
"Now, the Lin family really can't come up with any money."
The Lin family is the richest family in Jiangnan. In order to curry favor with the royal family, they have already invested half of their wealth. If they continue to force it, it would be like killing the chicken to get the eggs, which would not be worth the loss.
He Qingqing knew this truth, but...
"Has the whereabouts of the Wen Company's property not been found yet?" He Qingqing asked sternly.
The chief eunuch shook his head. "Madam Wen took Lord Meng to the bank to get some silver notes. Our people have investigated this matter, but Lord Meng said he was cheated. There were only a few silver notes with a face value of 100 taels in the brocade box. The rest was just waste paper."
"Lord Meng is your right-hand man. He denies taking the money. I, your servant, dare not force him."
A few months ago, Lord Meng mobilized the imperial guards out of the city, saying that he was using Madam Wen as bait to capture Shen Yu.
But in the end, not only were Shen Yu's men not caught, but the wealth of the Wen family business also disappeared.
The owner of the Wen family money shop said that all the cash in the Wen family business was handed over to Meng Jin by Madam Wen, all the shops were sold, and the proceeds were taken away by Meng Jin.
The palace shopkeeper said cautiously: "Empress Dowager, it was Lord Meng who told you about the capture of Shen Yu, and he only reported it to you afterwards. The huge wealth of the Wen family business just disappeared like that, and Lord Meng also said that he had no knowledge of it..."
"Your Majesty, please don't blame me for being too talkative. Lord Meng is now second only to the emperor. He controls the imperial guards and the court. It's hard for us to tell whether what he says is true or false."
He Qingqing paused and remained silent for a long time, as if thinking about something.
Seeing this, the chief eunuch whispered, "Empress Dowager, think about it. The emperor is still young, and besides Lord Meng, the only ones you have left are the Phoenix Guards. If Lord Meng has any other intentions, then..."
Hearing this, He Qingqing suddenly looked up and stared at the chief eunuch with sharp eyes.
The chief eunuch was terrified and kowtowed repeatedly, muttering, "Your Majesty, I'm just a eunuch. I can't possibly commit treason. But Meng Jin is different. Think about it... is he really willing to work for you... for you?"
Having tasted the sweetness of power, how many people would not be attracted by its taste?
He Qingqing has worked hard to get to where she is today. She understands best that if a person has some ability, he or she will not be willing to be inferior to others.
Meng Jin is a cruel and ruthless man with great abilities. Would he really be willing to submit to a woman like her?
Once the seeds of doubt are planted, they will grow and sprout.
He Qingqing said nothing more, but waved her hand more impatiently, asking the chief eunuch to leave.
*
It was late at night and the full moon was high in the sky.
Deep in the rockery in the backyard of the Meng Mansion, if you walk along a narrow passage that only one person can pass through, you will enter a secret room.
The old Taoist priest with white beard and a bit fat followed the housekeeper and took some effort to squeeze into the passage.
"Brother, is the patient really inside?"
The housekeeper held up a torch and turned back to help him up. "She's really inside. Why would I lie to you? If she wasn't so ill and you weren't such an expert in this area, why would His Excellency have sent people all the way to Fengcheng to look for you?"
The old Taoist priest looked around the dark and damp environment, stroked his beard, and his face was full of confusion.
"That's strange. Since she's been imprisoned in this dark place, why should you care whether she lives or dies? Why not just let her die? Why bother to treat her?"
The housekeeper gave him a meaningful look, "This girl is different... Anyway, you only need to know one thing: our master will not let her die, nor will he let her live comfortably."
"Can't live, can't die?" How cruel.
The old Taoist priest grumbled in his heart, but was afraid to say anything out of concern for the housekeeper.
At the end of the passage was an iron gate. The butler moved the mechanism on the iron gate and the gate slowly opened.
This secret room is not big, only the size of a side room. It is equipped with a bed, a table and other daily necessities.
There were several iron chains hanging above the secret room, hanging down and extending to a corner of the secret room.
The old Taoist priest looked along the iron chain and found a petite black shadow in the corner of the wall. The light here was dim and she was hiding in the dark, so he didn't see her at first.
This black shadow should be the girl that the housekeeper mentioned. The old Taoist priest was shocked when he saw her.
The girl's hair was disheveled and dirty, her clothes were tattered, and she was not wearing shoes, revealing a pair of feet covered with sores.
She lowered her head and couldn't see her face clearly, but her fingernails were a little bent because they were too long. It seemed that she often used her fingernails to dig at the wall. The gaps between her nails were full of black mud. Two of her nails were broken because she used too much force.
Even though the old Taoist priest was knowledgeable, he couldn't help but be frightened by her appearance that looked neither human nor ghost.
The housekeeper urged, "Master, please hurry up, the master is still waiting for your good news."
The old Taoist priest responded, took out a peach wood sword from his waist, and walked forward cautiously.
He had just taken two steps when the woman in the corner suddenly jumped up and pounced on him.
The old Taoist priest was startled and raised his peach wood sword to chop it. "Where did this lonely ghost come from? How dare you harm people here? I will kill you today..."
Before he could finish his words, the woman rushed over and ignored the peach wood sword, grabbed his arm and bit it.
She bites very hard, like a wild beast, and won't let go once she's bitten.
The old Taoist priest cried out in pain and stabbed her hard with the peach wood sword in his hand.
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