The door was opened. Although there are windows in the library, the weak light seems to be unable to illuminate it. There is a gloomy darkness everywhere. The air is very dry and full of the smell of dust, which makes people breathless.
"Turn on the lights." Niu Yuan's momentum was much weaker than before.
"There is no one here," the old minister begged, "Why do you have to search? Anyway, we only have two pairs of eyes. If we say there is no problem, then there is no problem. Who can doubt it?"
"Nonsense!" Niu Yuan's eyes widened and beads of sweat covered his forehead, "I came here specifically for the crime of Qiong Zhi Shi Yiyi, how could I deceive the superiors and conceal the inferiors? It's clear that you, the minister, have something evil in your mind! Turn it out, I'm not afraid of offending anyone."
The Minister of Hubu sighed and ordered his clerk to go in and light the lamps before he could take a closer look.
"All the expenses related to the army are put in the second row of cabinets here." Shangshu stopped in front of the bookcase, "Please take your time to search for them."
Niu Yuan wiped the sweat from his hands, squatted forward, and carefully flipped through the old book covers. The ink marks on them were slightly blurred, but he could still make out the outline.
He was flipping through each book, but before he could find Shi Yiyi's name, he began to feel a little lucky in his heart, hoping that Shangshu's panic was just an act, and maybe he had already hidden the evidence.
He searched the documents for a long time, without taking a moment to rest, and his eyes slowly dropped, but they were still open reluctantly.
"Sir, after you finish your sleep, it's not too late to come back and see you. I will never take care of you. I will wait for you here." Shangshu hurriedly came to persuade me.
"Okay," Niu Yuan rubbed his eyes, "I'll read another book and then go back to rest."
He reached into the cupboard again, and the volume of paper he touched this time was very light, so he took it out with one pull.
'This look is new, I think it's from recent years...' Niu Yuan opened the first page, which was stamped with the seal of the Ministry of Household Affairs and written in ink: 'Official letter from Shi Yiyi, Governor of Xuanhua', which made his heart skip a beat.
He forced his trembling hands down and finally turned to the next page:
'Shi Dudu Qi. The frontier troops suffered repeated defeats, so they allocated 8,612 taels of silver and limited the production of 1,000 artillery pieces to aid defense. '
He was stunned, and all the words he wanted to say were pushed back into his throat. His mouth was still open, but he forgot how to express it. He had no choice but to stare hard at these paragraphs of text. There seemed to be a few burning flames hidden between the lines. Reading for a long time made him feel a burning pain in his eyes.
He originally planned to rely on the method of intimidating the government and the opposition to make him take office with great glory. This so-called reform did not intend to be severe, but only a superficial taste. He learned Yan Wen's way of doing politics, and he offended a large number of nobles from the Liu Party as soon as he came to power, which is naturally not advisable. But what I didn't expect was that the old minister was indifferent to his misdeeds, but he didn't honestly conceal it and ended the drama with him.
"Looking for...found it?" Shangshu of the Ministry of Finance became anxious.
Niu Yuan could no longer think of any countermeasures, so he slapped his head twice as if to vent his anger: "Found it! The evidence of Shi Yiyi's crime should be inside..."
"Fengxiang, this matter is closely related to the old man, please don't be cruel!" The minister's nose and tears flowed down in disorder, and his knees fell firmly to the ground.
"I haven't opened it yet!" Niu Yuan said pretentiously, "I just reacted to you with a guilty conscience, so there is no doubt that the truth is true!" After that, he snorted coldly and strode out of the door, leaving the old man behind. Shangshu grabbed the ground and howled.
"To the Prime Minister!" Ye Yongjia couldn't hide his excitement, his eyebrows twitched slightly, "Has it been checked?"
Niu Yuan turned his head and coughed a few times, then pointed his hand to his arms: "I already have the official document about making cannons on me."
"No," Ye Yongjia felt that the other party did not understand, "I mean, I can verify it..."
"Check? Judging from the action of the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, the result of this matter is obvious." Niu Yuan waved his hand casually, "I know it well, wait until I go to Zhongshu Province to discuss it with my colleagues When the time comes, you might as well take it apart and take a closer look.”
"Can I borrow Yongjia to take a look?"
Niu Yuan suddenly curled his lips and said: "Hey, the minister has been an official for many years, how come he doesn't even understand this? This is a confidential document. It must be read by all the ministers before it can be made public. I will leave it to you for the meeting tomorrow."
"But..." Ye Yongjia was about to put forward his opinion, but saw that he ignored him and walked straight past him.
The next morning, Niu Yuan went to the Prime Minister's Mansion before the court meeting started. He saw Liu Zhennian sitting in the middle hall and Yan Wenyi sitting by the window. He held the official letter from the Ministry of Household and fell to the ground crying.
"Why is the Prime Minister like this?" Liu Zhennian was quite surprised.
"The Prime Minister tried his best to support the old people and ordered them to lead senior officials to guard the border as a kindness. Who knew that they did not want to repay the kindness and instead collected money day and night. I deeply regret it! This is evidence of Shi Yiyi's crime of embezzling money. Please look at it, Prime Minister." He handed over his hand. The things were handed over.
Liu Zhennian looked at the official letter, which noted various inconsistencies after verification. He was speechless.
"Fengxiang, Mr. Liu also knows about your reform. What does this mean? Do you want to use this official letter to silence everyone?" Yan Wen asked on Liu Zhennian's behalf.
"General Liu," Niu Yuan choked, "I know you are struggling in your heart, so you have not expressed your attitude for a long time. However, the border generals and Manchu officials are all involved, and one move can affect the whole body. I do not have this awareness. , there is nothing we can do about it. Xuanhua still has to rely on Shi Yiyi’s private soldiers... I would like to advise you to clean up the situation and wait for the future. "
"I feel aggrieved," Elder Liu Zhen sighed and looked at Yan Wen, "You defected to me at that time, saying that only a strong court can change the whole old situation. But I still have to abide by the original situation. It’s such a long-winded thing, but we still have to take into account the original brothers. We need to reform, but if we can’t change this, we can’t change that, so what are we going to do!”
Yan Wen said: "This cannot be solved temporarily. Fengxiang is right. It is enough to knock the mountain and shake the tiger."
"Then what do you guys think of how to clean up the situation next?"
"Let's burn this letter first." After Yan Wen said this, Niu Yuan looked at him questioningly.
"It would be a pity to burn it. Keep it for Mr. Niu." He gestured to a confidant with his eyes and returned the official letter to Niu Yuan.
"Thank you, Mr. Liu! Thank you, Mr. Liu!" Niu Yuan put the official letter back in his hands and kowtowed three times.
"After that, we will write a new official letter, and the content must be verified," Yan Wen continued to describe his strategy, "make it look older and replace the original one."
"But if you say this to the outside world, you will make a fool of everyone. Everyone will always have resentment towards me." Niu Yuan smacked his lips.
"I see, there is one person who can be pushed out by Feng Xiang." Yan Wen stroked his beard and said with a smile.
"Who?" The two of them already knew each other tacitly.
"Ye Yongjia."
