Lu Xingjian gently patted Su Wanwan's hand.
She understood him without needing to say anything more.
Wanwan is so sensible and intelligent. She can calmly and rationally analyze the situation and make the best choice in everything.
Her understanding nature made him feel sorry for her and ashamed.
Even today, he still cannot provide her with a sufficiently safe environment.
Lu Xingjian felt even more agitated. He handed her the memorial he had just put down, his eyes filled with coldness.
"These greedy and treacherous officials are truly afraid that the world will not be in chaos."
Su Wanwan glanced at it a few times, and her brows furrowed.
It's very familiar.
This is a memorial impeaching the corrupt officials of the Nine Garrisons, involving a large number of officials and imposing extremely severe sentences.
They fear nothing more than a peaceful world.
Fortunately, the cabinet remained rational, and the proposed sentence was deemed too severe and implicated too many people, and therefore should not be encouraged.
Su Wanwan said quietly:
"Do you still remember those two officials who were imprisoned for impeaching Ningxia's border storage case a while ago?"
Lu Xingjian raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"
Su Wanwan's heart sank.
His expression was somewhat serious.
"you do not know?"
At that time, Lu Xingjian secretly went to Shanxi and disappeared without a trace.
Because of her stepmother Yang's pleas, she went to Liu Jin, the chief eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, to tell him about the matter.
Su Wanwan recounted the whole story.
Lu Xingjian's expression was quite unpleasant, and finally he curled his lips into a cool, sarcastic smile.
"This matter was handled quite well, but I was completely unaware of it."
This is serious.
The fact that the trusted chief eunuch acted on his own initiative was more serious than the matter itself.
This is how imperial power was gradually undermined.
Lu Xingjian did not specifically seek out Liu Jin about this matter, but instead issued an order:
An Kui, a censor, and Zhang Yu, a palace attendant, were imprisoned for failing to properly inspect the money and grain, and were put in shackles as a warning to the public.
The location for the public humiliation was on the route that all civil and military officials had to take after court.
It was the height of summer in July, and the two unfortunate civil officials suffered from heatstroke, becoming swollen and near death.
The officials watching were all terrified and shrank back, but none of them dared to stand up and speak out for them.
They all knew that the emperor had not attended morning court for a long time, spending his days indulging in play and amusement, while Liu Jin was in charge of state affairs.
Liu Jin was known as the "Standing Emperor" because if he wanted someone to die during the day, he wouldn't allow them to live to see the end of the day.
Liu Jin was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat.
Is the Emperor giving him a warning?
Finally, it was Grand Secretary Li Dongqian who stepped forward to plead for the two men, saying that even prisoners in shackles under the guise of the sweltering heat had been pardoned.
These two officials should be treated leniently, either by being convicted or given a different punishment. This would be a proper way to control the situation, achieving both authority and kindness, and upholding the proper conduct of the court in treating its officials.
Lu Xingjian then ordered the two officials to be released and demoted to commoners.
This tactic of making an example of someone to scare others completely frightened those who wanted to exploit the border inspections, causing them to abandon their plans.
The civil officials' anger and fear of Liu Jin reached a new high.
...
Lu Xingjian threw the accounts that Jiaziku had initially compiled onto the ground, his expression icy:
"Is this how you serve me?"
Liu Jin and the others knelt on the ground, only daring to beg for forgiveness: "Your Majesty, please forgive us!"
Lu Xingjian suppressed his anger, his voice booming like thunder:
"You're all clamoring for border troop inspections, but the palace has a huge mess of accounts, with such a massive deficit!"
"Where do you think I'll put my face?!"
Liu Jin didn't dare to look up, but secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
The Emperor is trying to save face by making them find a way to make up for the deficit.
He presented the solution he had been pondering for a long time:
"Your Majesty, please calm your anger!"
"Du Cheng and other merchants from the Lianghuai Transport Office in Yangzhou have 1.16 million salt permits stored in warehouses. If they are not dealt with soon, problems will arise in the long run."
"Your Majesty, I request that one official from the Censorate and one official from the Department of Transportation be dispatched to the Transport Commissioner and other officials to inspect the inventory, sell the goods, and send the silver to the capital for treasury."
"In this way, the deficit of the Jia-type treasury can be easily resolved."
Lu Xingjian's face was as still as water.
There's no way these people would ever return the money they've embezzled.
This is like finding a fat sheep to slaughter in order to fill the deficit.
They were targeting the salt merchants of Jiangnan.
That's a good eye.
The Xie family, including the Vice Minister, were forced to retire, and Empress Dowager Wang is now hiding in the shadows, not daring to make any move.
The powerful families of Jiangnan have no say in the imperial court, so they have set their sights on the lucrative salt merchants.
He glanced calmly at the Minister of War: "What is Minister Gu's opinion?"
Minister of Revenue Gu Zuo quickly expressed his opinion: "I second that proposal."
Lu Xingjian reluctantly agreed:
"Now that you've all reached an agreement, get on with it quickly. If any trouble arises, you'll be held responsible!"
Those salt permits were worth more than two million taels of silver.
The fact that such a large amount of benefits can be gained from a single inventory check of the "甲" character database makes it all worthwhile.
And in the future, the retaliation from the powerful families of Jiangnan will fall on them.
...
Wen Shuyi felt a pang of sadness looking at Gu Ziyu, who stayed by her side every day.
The nicer he was to her, the more awkward she became.
She is a person who has sinned against the Gu family.
The elders of the Gu family have already given up hope for the baby in her womb.
But he stepped forward and saved her and the child.
Why bother?
He doesn't love himself.
Gu Ziyu brought the cooled bird's nest porridge to her: "Drink it while it's hot, you've lost a lot of weight recently."
Wen Shuyi didn't take the bowl; she just stared straight at him.
Tears involuntarily rolled down her cheeks, falling into the porridge bowl with a soft patter.
Why force yourself to be so good to me?
Gu Ziyu took the handkerchief that was placed aside, wiped away her tears, and smiled gently.
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