After Zhao Zhenji came out of the cabinet, the original respectful look on his face disappeared in an instant, and was replaced by endless regret.
What Zhao Zhenji did not expect was that not only did he not throw this hot potato away, but he instead turned the Inspectorate into a venue for a battle between Yan Song and Xu Jie.
"It's really a waste of money!"
"Oh, if I had known earlier, I would not have come to the cabinet. But now it's better. I didn't get rid of the trouble, but I even made myself embarrassed!"
Zhao Zhenji complained while walking in the direction of the Inspectorate.
And on the way back, by coincidence, Zhao Zhenji bumped into Lu Fang head-on.
Before Lu Fang could make any move, Zhao Zhenji stepped out of the way first, then stepped aside and said respectfully.
"I have met Eunuch Lu!"
Hearing this, Lu Fang narrowed her eyes, quickly looked away from Zhao Zhenji, and asked.
"Well, Mr. Zhao, did you just come from the cabinet?"
When Zhao Zhenji saw Lu Fang asking him about this matter, he did not dare to hide anything, and immediately told the whole story.
"Oh, I see, our family knows about the impeachment of Jiangxi Governor Cao Shunhe!"
After listening to Zhao Zhenji's narration, Lu Fang was thoughtful and immediately responded unhurriedly.
"Master Zhao, our family still has some things to deal with, so we won't talk more."
Seeing that Lu Fang was about to leave, Zhao Zhenji quickly spoke and called Lu Fang to stop.
"Eunuch Lu!"
"Well, what's wrong?"
When Lu Fang heard this, she suddenly stopped and turned around, looking at Zhao Zhenji with a puzzled look on her face.
Seeing Lu Fang's eyes falling on him, Zhao Zhenji felt nervous for no reason. Soon, Zhao Zhenji summoned up the courage to ask Lu Fang.
"Well... Eunuch Lu, I would like to ask, when will the imperial court issue a new issue of the newspaper?"
After Zhao Zhenji finished speaking, Lu Fang, who had experienced great storms and was used to seeing the ugliness of human nature, couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, and then asked.
"Mr. Zhao, what did you just say?"
Helpless, Zhao Zhenji had to repeat what he said before.
After listening to Zhao Zhenji's question, Lu Fang thought for a moment and then responded.
"As for the newspaper, it should be during this time!"
After Zhao Zhenji learned this exact news from Lu Fang's mouth, his previously depressed mood obviously recovered a lot. He quickly turned his eyes away from Lu Fang and said respectfully.
"Thank you, Eunuch Lu, for clearing up my doubts!"
"Well, it doesn't matter."
Lu Fang waved her hand, then turned and left.
And just after Lu Fang left, the previous problem came to Zhao Zhenji's mind again: "Should we send officials to Jiangxi to investigate as Yan Song and Xu Jie just told us?"
But soon, this idea was rejected by Zhao Zhenji himself: "Hmph, if officials are sent to Jiangxi to investigate, by then, no matter whether there is any problem with Cao Shunhe, I will inevitably be jealous of the other party!"
Immediately afterwards, a solution that was not a solution came to Zhao Zhenji's mind: "Huh, it's better not to take any action until the situation is completely clear. I must delay it until this period of time passes!"
…
On the other side, after Lu Fang finished handling the matters at hand, she walked non-stop towards the Qianqing Palace without any hesitation.
In recent days, Jiajing seemed to be tired of the Yangxin Palace and often lived in the Qianqing Palace.
Lu Fang felt that if this trend continued, the emperor would move back to Qianqing Palace sooner or later. For this reason, Lu Fang also specifically told the eunuchs to be prepared for the move.
"Where is your Majesty?"
Lu Fang looked at the empty Qianqing Palace in front of her and turned to the eunuch on the side to ask.
"Returning to Eunuch Lu, Your Majesty just left Qianqing Palace not long ago and said he was going to relax."
After Lu Fang learned the news from the eunuch, she had a rough guess about the emperor's whereabouts.
After that, Lu Fang didn't stop at all, and immediately hurried towards the place he guessed in his heart.
When Lu Fang came to the place he guessed and saw Jiajing's figure from a distance, he couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief and quickened his pace.
At this moment, Jiajing was holding fish food in his hand and feeding the fish quite leisurely. As Jiajing threw the fish food in his hand into the water, the fish started to fight for it and the water surface also rippled.
Jiajing was not surprised at all by Lu Fang's arrival.
Perhaps he was tired of it, so he saw Jiajing throwing out all the fish food in his hand, then cleaning his hands in the golden basin nearby. After taking the handkerchief from the maid's hand, he turned his eyes to Lu Fang and asked.
"Lu Fang, do you have anything to do with me?"
"Your Majesty, I take the liberty of disturbing you. I have something to report to you!"
After that, Lu Fang came to Jiajing's side and recounted to Jiajing without any concealment what happened when she met Zhao Zhenji on the road and what Zhao Zhenji told her about.
After listening to Lu Fang's narration, Jiajing also frowned: "These guys are really looking for trouble!"
"No matter how good Cao Shunhe is, he is also a feudal official appointed by me personally. How can he be falsely accused like this?"
When Jiajing said this, he paused, looked away from Lu Fang, and continued.
"Besides, they can impeach Cao Shunhe today, Hu Zongxian tomorrow, and Tan Lun the day after tomorrow!"
"If this continues, won't all the people we can use in the Ming Dynasty have to be falsely accused by this group of rotten scholars?"
Lu Fang immediately understood what Jiajing meant, and immediately summoned up the courage to ask tentatively: "Your Majesty, what do you mean..."
Jiajing glanced at Lu Fang rather flatly, and then gave instructions.
"The claws of these people's dogs are too long. Let me cut them off for them!"
"Normally, I just pretend that I don't see those rotten scholars slandering each other. But now, it's a good thing, they actually extended their dog paws to the officials I appointed as feudal officials!"
"I have to draw a line for them. They must know who can move and who cannot move!"
"Besides, even if the feudal officials I appointed really have problems, so what, they can only be handled by me personally. This group of rotten scholars are not qualified!"
After hearing what Jiajing said, the expression on Lu Fang's face suddenly became gloomy, and he spoke word by word.
"Yes, Your Majesty, I will teach them a profound lesson!"
Jiajing was very satisfied with Lu Fang's attitude, nodded slightly, and immediately gave instructions.
"By the way, when the time comes, you can keep part of the property obtained from the house confiscation."
"But... Your Majesty, I think I can do something for Your Majesty..."
When Lu Fang heard what Jiajing said, she subconsciously wanted to refuse, but before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by Jiajing.
"Why are you being polite to me? If I ask you to take it, just take it with peace of mind!"
"What's more, if I say it out loud, can I still take it back?"
When Lu Fang heard this, a look of gratitude appeared on her face, she knelt on the ground with a thump and said in a deep voice.
"This slave shall be killed when he is born, and weeds shall be made upon death. I will go through fire and water for His Majesty, even to the death!"
"Well, get up!"
When Jiajing saw this, he immediately leaned over and helped Lu Fang up from the ground.
…
Jiangxi, Nanchang Prefecture.
In the government office, Cao Shunhe looked at the confession in front of him and couldn't help but rub his temples with his hands and said helplessly.
"In the end, I still couldn't get any valuable clues from these officers!"
Ever since Cao Shunhe had previously ordered the officers to be detained and tortured.
Soon some people couldn't withstand the torture and admitted that "the fire dragon burned the boat" was an excuse they made up to avoid responsibility. However, despite this, this group of officers still did not provide any valuable clues.
The murderer who set the fire earlier seemed to have evaporated without leaving any trace.
While Cao Shunhe was still thinking hard about the possible hiding places of the murderers, a knock on the door came from outside, interrupting his thoughts.
Seeing this situation, Cao Shunhe had to stop thinking temporarily and gave instructions.
"Come in!"
After the words fell, a subordinate came in and reported respectfully.
"Sir Governor, this is a new notice from the Ministry of Revenue!"
After hearing the report from his subordinates, Cao Shunhe couldn't help but become interested and immediately gave the order.
"Oh, the Ministry of Finance has issued a new notice, please show it to me!"
"Yes, Lord Governor!"
Then, the subordinate official came to Cao Shunhe respectfully and handed the new notice from the Ministry of Household Affairs into Cao Shunhe's hands.
After Cao Shunhe took the envelope from the subordinate official's hand, he waved his hand and gave instructions.
"Okay, you can go down!"
"Yes, Lord Governor!"
Upon hearing this, the subordinate official immediately turned around and left the room without stopping at all. When the subordinate official left, he also closed the door of the room with him.
After the subordinate staff left, Cao Shunhe just turned his attention back to the new notice issued by the Ministry of Household Affairs in front of him.
"Hmph, let me see if there are any new instructions from the Ministry of Finance!"
Cao Shunhe sneered, quickly opened the envelope in his hand, and began to browse the contents.
The above content is very simple. In the final analysis, it is just one sentence, asking Jiangxi Governor Cao Shunhe to transfer grain to Zhejiang as soon as possible.
"Interesting, really interesting!"
After Cao Shunhe finished speaking, he immediately put the letter in his hand aside, supported his chin with one hand, and continued.
"Not long ago, the Ministry of Revenue issued an order prohibiting me from mobilizing food in any form. How come in the blink of an eye, I changed my excuse again? Could it be that something happened in the middle?"
After Cao Shunhe poured himself a cup of hot tea, he immediately followed this train of thought and continued to think.
"Right now, Qingliu definitely doesn't want me to successfully transport the grain to Zhejiang. Because of this, they will definitely obstruct it in every possible way and try every means to cause trouble for me!"
"Not long ago, the ships docked near the docks responsible for transporting grain were set on fire. This is a living example!"
"If the Ministry of Revenue had not issued this latest notice, my previous behavior could be defined as disobeying the imperial court's order and secretly adjusting grains."
"When the time comes, it will only take a few impeachment memorials to kick me out of the position of governor of Jiangxi!"
Thinking of this, Cao Shunhe picked up the teacup on the side, took a sip, and continued.
"In other words, someone came forward and forced the Ministry of Revenue to change its decision."
"And there is only one person in the entire Ming Dynasty, and that is His Majesty the Emperor!"
"In this way, everything makes sense. After His Majesty learned about this, he personally came forward to force the Ministry of Revenue to change the decision, so that I can naturally adjust grain to Zhejiang!"
At this moment, there was a rush of footsteps from outside the door, and a guard hurriedly entered Cao Shunhe's room and reported respectfully.
"Sir Governor, the guardsmen you sent out to search along the river have made a discovery!"
Upon hearing this, Cao Shunhe stood up from his seat suddenly, turned his gaze to the visitor, and immediately asked.
"What did you find?"
Seeing how eager Cao Shunhe was, the guard thought about the words in his mind before he answered.
"My Lord Governor, it is said that they encountered several suspicious-looking gangsters near a narrow river. After seeing the officers and soldiers, the gangsters looked extremely nervous and ran away in a hurry without even having time to take their luggage."
When Cao Shunhe heard this, his expression became even more anxious, and he immediately asked.
"Did they catch those gangsters?"
When the guard heard this, his expression suddenly turned ugly, and he hesitated.
"Your Majesty the Governor, they did not catch those bandits, but they accidentally found this extremely wrinkled, water-soaked, and illegible voucher from the baggage they carried with them."
"Later, after looking for someone from the government to check, I discovered that the voucher was the one issued by the court when it was responsible for escorting the official salt."
"What, the certificate for escorting official salt!"
After listening to the guard's report, Cao Shunhe couldn't help but screamed in surprise.
Cao Shunhe has not forgotten that not long ago, more than 20 ships responsible for escorting official salt capsized inexplicably while passing through a narrow local river.
Thousands of kilograms of official salt escorted on the ship, as well as the personnel responsible for escorting the official salt, were missing!
Although the official salt that disappeared later was found in the warehouses of those salt merchants, the personnel responsible for escorting the official salt have never been heard from, as if they have disappeared from the world!
Although Cao Shunhe repeatedly sent people to investigate the matter after that, all to no avail.
But now, a voucher for escorting official salt appeared so coincidentally beside the nearby river, which made Cao Shunhe have to suspect that someone deliberately wanted to divert his attention.
Despite this, Cao Shunhe still felt lucky in his heart. He wanted to check in this direction to see if he could gain anything.
Immediately, Cao Shunhe came back to his senses and gave instructions to the guard in front of him.
"Pass this officer's order to dispatch more guardsmen. Officials from the government will also be sent out to search along the place where the gangsters were found to see if they can find any traces of them!"
"Yes, Lord Governor!"
(End of chapter)
