Qian Canjun's seemingly drunken but actually incredibly shrewd probing was like a pebble thrown into what was originally a relatively harmonious banquet, stirring up an invisible ripple.
Lin Wanwan simply held her teacup and replied indifferently, "Commander Qian is joking. We're just a small business; we don't have any connections or connections."
She neither admitted nor denied it, her attitude was ambiguous and hard to fathom.
A fleeting, almost imperceptible disappointment flashed in Qian Canjun's small eyes, but it was quickly masked by a smile. He laughed heartily, punished himself with a drink, and then swayed back to his seat, as if everything that had just happened was merely a drunken joke.
However, Xiao Che witnessed this entire scene.
The meme of "fox tail showing.gif" above his head also quietly disappeared.
The banquet drew to a close in an atmosphere that was outwardly lively but inwardly turbulent.
After all the generals had taken their leave, only Meng Wei, the emperor, and the empress remained in the front hall.
The drunkenness on Meng Wei's face vanished instantly, replaced by an unprecedented solemnity.
He glanced at the mess of cups and plates scattered on the floor and respectfully said to Xiao Che and Lin Wanwan, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, this is not the place to talk. Please follow me to the secret room."
Xiao Che nodded.
Meng Wei personally led the way, guiding the two through several corridors until they arrived at a seemingly inconspicuous study.
He entered the study and, on an inconspicuous bookshelf, turned several mechanisms in a specific order. With a creak, the entire bookshelf slowly slid to one side, revealing a dark entrance to a secret passage, barely wide enough for one person to pass through.
The secret passage was brightly lit.
This is the true heart of the General's Mansion. Huge border defense maps hang on the walls, and the sand table is filled with small flags representing both sides. A chilling atmosphere permeates the air.
Upon entering the secret room and confirming that no one else was around, Meng Wei suddenly turned around and once again knelt down to pay homage to Xiao Che and Lin Wanwan.
This time, his movements were more solemn and serious than before, both at the gate and in the backyard.
"This humble general, Meng Wei, pays his respects to Your Majesty and Your Majesty the Empress!"
"Get up." Xiao Che's voice was unreadable.
He didn't rush to help Meng Wei, but slowly walked to the huge sand table, reached out his hand, and gently touched the flag representing Zhenbeiguan.
Then, he turned around, his deep eyes, like two bottomless ancient wells, quietly watching Meng Wei, who was still kneeling on the ground.
"General Meng."
He spoke slowly, his voice calm and undisturbed.
"I noticed that you seemed... insincere at the banquet just now."
A simple sentence, yet it struck Meng Wei's heart like a heavy hammer!
Meng Wei's burly body trembled violently!
He raised his head, and in an instant, an uncontrollable crimson surged into his bright, single eye!
He offered no explanation, nor did he hesitate.
This seven-foot-tall, iron-willed man, who shed blood but not tears on the battlefield and was known as the "One-Eyed War God," suddenly kowtowed heavily to Xiao Che with a "thud"!
The hard bluestone floor emitted a dull, loud thud.
"His Majesty!"
His voice was hoarse and choked with sobs, filled with endless grievances, anger, and sorrow!
"You... are wise!"
After saying those four words, two hot tears rolled down his single eye, tears of a hero!
Xiao Che and Lin Wanwan were both moved by it.
They knew that for such a tough and resolute man to reveal such a vulnerable side in front of them, the pressure and suffering he was enduring must have reached an unspeakable level.
"Speak," Xiao Che's voice softened slightly. "I am here. What is it? You may speak freely."
Having received the emperor's permission, Meng Wei's tense emotions finally found an outlet.
He raised his head and looked at Xiao Che with his single, crimson eye, revealing, word by word, the cruel truth hidden beneath the glittering facade!
"Your Majesty, everything you heard and saw at the banquet was a lie!"
"All the talk about ample supplies and timely military pay is just lies... fabricated by your humble servant to keep morale high and to avoid disappointing you!"
He reached out and punched his chest hard.
"The truth is... of every tenth of the grain and military pay allocated by the imperial court, only seventy percent reaches the hands of our brothers at Zhenbeiguan!"
"The 30% that was cut was replaced with old rice mixed with sand! The cotton in the newly issued winter clothes was replaced with damp and moldy cattail fluff!"
"Even... even the brothers' wound medicine was replaced with wood ash that couldn't stop the bleeding!"
Meng Wei's voice grew more and more agitated and indignant as he spoke.
"Your Majesty! Do you know? Last winter, more than thirty of our brothers didn't die by the enemy's sword, but froze to death on the patrol route! Just because they were wearing those damned cotton-padded clothes with catkins!"
“And last month, in a small-scale conflict, more than a dozen of our brothers were only slightly injured, but because the medicine was ineffective, their wounds became infected and they died…”
By the end, he was sobbing uncontrollably. This upright man, like a child who had suffered a great injustice, burst into tears in front of Xiao Che!
Xiao Che listened quietly, his face gradually darkening.
That handsome face, which had previously held a relaxed smile, was now as gloomy as the sky before a storm.
The air pressure around him was terrifyingly low.
The temperature inside the sealed room seemed to plummet to freezing point in that instant.
Lin Wanwan stood to the side, feeling a bone-chilling coldness rise from the soles of her feet to the top of her head.
She had never seen Xiao Che so angry.
Even back in Jiangnan, when faced with the Gao family's disregard for human life, although he was furious, he still maintained the rationality and restraint of an emperor.
But at this moment, the killing intent emanating from him had almost solidified into a tangible form!
Because he was the one who was deceived!
He was the one who was fooled!
He had just felt proud of the soldiers' praise, but in the blink of an eye, that pride was extinguished by a bucket of icy, bone-chilling blood!
This is no longer simple corruption, but betrayal! It is the most blatant betrayal of him, the emperor!
"Who...is it?"
Xiao Che's voice was so cold that it seemed to freeze one's soul.
Meng Wei raised his tear-streaked face, gritted his teeth, and squeezed out a name.
"It's Qian Ming, the one who toasted the Empress at the banquet just now!"
“That parasite!” Meng Wei’s eyes were bloodshot. “It’s him! He colluded with a bunch of scoundrels to tamper with logistics! They embezzled the supplies allocated by the court at every level! The good supplies were sold off for silver! The bad, moldy supplies were given to us brothers who risked our lives on the front lines!”
"He relies on being a distant nephew of Qian Dehai, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue in the capital, to act arrogantly and domineeringly in our Zhenbeiguan area! Anyone who dares to disobey him will be punished! Anyone who dares to report him will be falsely accused of 'colluding with the enemy' within three days and forced to confess under torture!"
Qian Dehai, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue!
A cold killing intent flashed in Xiao Che's eyes.
Very good, very good!
I am on the front lines, providing you with a safe haven.
You are right behind me, undermining my cause, drinking the blood of my soldiers, and eating human flesh!
"This humble general...this humble general has thought of ways," Meng Wei's voice was filled with helplessness and despair, "but this humble general is a rough man. Qian Ming's account books are flawless! I sent people to investigate several times, but we couldn't find any evidence against him!"
"But if this continues... even before the enemy attacks, the morale of our Zhenbeiguan troops will collapse, Your Majesty!"
Meng Wei once again slammed his head heavily onto the ground.
Xiao Che remained silent.
He just stood there quietly.
But Lin Wanwan clearly saw that above his head, an unprecedented emoticon, filled with violence and murderous intent, slowly appeared—
It was a pixelated image of a young emperor sitting on a dragon throne.
His face was expressionless, but his eyes were a dark abyss.
In his hand, he held a vermilion brush stained with blood.
Before him, rows of pixelated characters' names were being crossed out one by one with a vermilion pen!
Next to the emoji, a line of large, bloody characters is constantly dripping blood.
[I will exterminate his entire family.gif]
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