"My lords, he is the one who sent the villain to contact the rebels. This person is Lord Zhu's confidant."
At this time, Lu Junyi had captured all Zhu Min's people.
Without much effort, the arrested gangster identified the mastermind behind the scenes.
The staff member was also speechless. Such a simple task could be overturned, and he had nothing to say.
He just couldn't understand why the Saint of the White Lotus Society would ignore the revenge of killing her father and cooperate with Cao Bin to plot against Zhu Min.
But at this time, it was useless to think about this, so I could only shout:
"The young man is innocent and will never be insulted by you..."
As he said that, he took out a pill and stuffed it into his mouth. That charlatan could betray Zhu Min without any scruples, but he couldn't.
At this moment, a flying stone hit his arm and knocked down the poison.
Only then did Jiang Ping and others react and quickly stepped forward to tie him up.
Feng Yihan retracted his finger, nodded to Cao Bin, and said nothing.
Zhu Min was relieved when he saw that his staff wanted to take matters into his own hands, but he didn't expect that he would still fail.
But now that the matter has come to this, no matter how hard he tries to defend himself, he is no longer convincing. He can only hope that his staff will be strict in their words.
Then his face became cold and solemn, and he said in a cold voice:
"Cao Bin, Bao Zheng, I will definitely impeach you, just wait."
"Not long ago, I presented you with the auspicious Kirin and the great joy of the dragon face. Not only did Cai Xianghui make the decision for me, but the officials will not believe your frame-up..."
His purpose in saying these words was not to threaten Cao Bin and Bao Zheng, but to build confidence in his staff and make him believe that he would not fall.
Even if he falls, the court will be lenient and give himself a chance to make a comeback.
As long as the staff is strict enough, I have the ability to save him.
What's more, Bao Zheng doesn't like torture. As long as his aides don't confess themselves, there is still a chance of getting away with it...
Just as he was planning his next move, Cao Bin suddenly asked:
"Li Guan, I heard that you wrote a record of your experiences of foreign birds and beasts?"
Official Li from Hangzhou stepped forward and said:
"Reporting to the Marquis, I suspect that a small foreign country deceived me, the Song Dynasty, and did not know overseas birds and beasts, and wanted to use ordinary deer as unicorns to defraud gifts, so I conducted extensive research."
"As expected, there are hundreds of thousands of so-called unicorns. They are called giraffes, which is very common."
"In order to avoid similar scams, I have compiled a collection of various foreign birds and beasts into a volume. One hundred thousand copies have been printed and are waiting for sale..."
As he was speaking, he suddenly saw Zhu Min looking at him with a fire-like look. He suddenly trembled in fright and stammered:
"Master Zhu."
There was a chill in Zhu Mun's words, and he said quietly:
"Li Guan, do you know what you are talking about?"
"I advise you to think carefully!"
Madam, one hundred thousand copies were printed.
Now everyone in the Song Dynasty knows that the imperial court has a unicorn coming to the world. Why do you do this? This is a blatant slap in the face of the imperial court and makes the imperial court a laughing stock in the world.
I don’t know if you, Li Tuiguan, are unlucky, but I, Zhu Min, will definitely be hated by the whole court.
Zhu Min knew the consequences of offending the entire court, and he would rather be convicted of colluding with rebels and embezzling taxes and money.
If the latter was the case, he might still be able to rely on his many years of experience as an official to seek help from Cai Jing, save his life, and perhaps have the possibility of a comeback.
But if he presents false auspiciousness and makes the court a laughing stock, he will undoubtedly die.
This is no longer a question of guilt or innocence.
Everyone wants to bring bad luck to him, so what a fool he is.
Upon hearing Zhu Min's threat, Li Tuiguan took a careful look at Cao Bin and felt helpless, so he could only say righteously:
"Your Majesty is telling the truth. Even if your body is broken into pieces, what do you have to fear?"
"If Mr. Zhu doesn't believe it, you can go and see it with your subordinate. In order to verify the truth, your subordinate has spent a lot of money to ask maritime merchants to capture dozens of giraffes..."
Before he could finish speaking, Zhu Min was already pale and covered in cold sweat.
This is because I feel that my death is not thorough enough. After killing someone, I have to step on him a few times. There is no way to save him...
Three days later, Bao Zheng found Cao Bin and said:
"Hou Zhongjing, all Zhu Min's staff have been summoned to testify."
"According to what he said, the White Lotus Society has concealed its identity and sold the tax grain to you."
"I hope you can hand it over to make up for the official tax."
As he spoke, he stared at Cao Bin closely and said:
"Don't worry, Marquis Zhongjing, since he has admitted that he used this method to frame you."
"Even if the imperial court knew that the taxes and grain were in the hands of Marquis Zhongjing, you would have only missed the investigation temporarily..."
Cao Bin glanced at him, shook his head and smiled:
"Since Mr. Bao said this, he should know that Cao doesn't know what tax food is."
"Anyway, all the food in Cao's hands has been used to help the refugees!"
He strongly suspected that Bao Zheng was tricking him, but even if he didn't trick him, Cao Bin had no intention of handing over the food.
Why should you hand over the things you bought with money? You can't do business at a loss.
Bao Zheng looked at Cao Bin for a long time and said:
"The imperial court ordered us to make up for the tax revenue from Zhejiang and Zhejiang, but now the gap is huge."
"I suspect that the White Lotus Society has not been completely wiped out. They have hidden a large part of the tax money and are missing. I dare to ask Zhongjing Hou how to solve it?"
Cao Bin shook his head and said:
"Then you have to ask Zhu Ming."
As he spoke, he laughed and continued:
"Master Bao, why don't you suspect Zhu Min's accomplices? Maybe they used this tax robbery case to embezzle money and food..."
Bao Zheng muttered:
"Are you planning to ask the Jiangnan gentry to make up for the tax? Do you know the consequences of doing so?"
Cao Bin smiled and said:
"Master Bao, a lot of evidence was found in Zhu Min's home that he had contacts with local officials and gentry."
"Whoever dares not to cooperate will be guilty of the same crime as Zhu Ming and collude with the rebels!"
Bao Zheng was speechless when he saw that Cao Bin was trying this trick again, but he was not too disgusted that he could deceive a powerful gentry.
Officials with serious backgrounds did not like the fact that many gentry annexed land, evaded state taxes, and had bad records.
Several famous reforms in later dynasties included laws specifically targeting the gentry's taxation.
After Cao Bin expressed his thoughts, he didn't stay long and left quickly.
At this moment, Gongsun Ce came back from his shock and said to Bao Zheng:
"Marquis Zhongjing is so courageous. Isn't it possible that he is not afraid of the Jiangnan gentry joining forces to resist?"
"I'm afraid he will be hated by the whole Jiangnan, and there may be civil unrest."
As a native of the Song Dynasty, he knew the power of the gentry all too well.
Bao Zheng shook his head and said seriously:
"It's not that serious, and Cao Bin is not that simple either."
"He only targeted some people close to Zhu Min this time. Mr. Gongsun may not have noticed that he also used the Maritime Trade Chamber of Commerce to win over a group of gentry."
"Soon, the power of these targeted gentry will be greatly reduced and replaced by another group of people."
"As he draws in a group of people, attacks a group of people, and scares a group of people, his methods become more and more sophisticated. I don't know if it's a blessing or a curse."
"I am just worried that his goal is to completely control the two Zhejiang provinces."
"At that time, I can't just sit back and watch, otherwise I won't be able to explain it to the court!"
Speaking of this, his face became more worried:
"There is also the case of the tax bank being robbed. It is not as simple as it seems."
"Zhu Mun colluded with the White Lotus Society... I'm afraid Cao Bin's collusion went deeper, and Zhu Mun just failed in his plan."
"Although I don't want to admit it, this matter really fulfills the old saying that the winner is the king and the loser is the enemy."
Gongsun Ce was greatly moved and said:
"This...what do you plan to do, sir?"
Bao Zheng sighed:
"Let's see... maybe I'm worrying too much."
"Cao Bin has always been unconventional in his work, and I still believe in his character."
"As long as his intentions are not bad, I can do anything to compensate."
As he spoke, he waved his hands and said:
"Okay, Zhu Min's case should have a result."
"I will write a memorial and submit it to the court. I will also ask Mr. Gongsun for more details."
