It only took Zheng Shiyuan a little longer. After Mao Xiang came to join them, he was able to grasp the general context of the incident.
As the minister of the Ministry of War, Liu Qian was the mastermind. He took advantage of his authority and was in charge of the Ministry of War, with the Driving Department as the main body. He mainly made profits from the war horses in charge of the Driving Department. He also committed many other illegal acts, but he did not commit any crimes. The benefits gained from the company are great.
The head of the Jiabu Department of the Ministry of War was also the main culprit, either for coercion or inducement. Under the guidance of Liu Qian, he exchanged inferior goods for good ones from the Jiabu Department, and also obtained a lot of benefits from it.
When someone reported that the Minister of War had ceased operations because of Liu Qian's generous gifts, neglect of management, suspicion of dereliction of duty, and suspicion of accepting bribes, it was up to Lao Zhu to decide.
As for the entire Ministry of War, in addition to those directly related to the war horse, there are also a large number of people on the list of Liu Qian's gifts. More or less, just like the Minister of the Ministry of War, they either knew or did not know, and turned a blind eye to this matter.
It can be said that the entire Ministry of Industry was directly or indirectly bribed by Liu Qian.
The involvement was so extensive that Zheng Shiyuan and Mao Xiang did not dare to neglect, and quickly sealed off Liu Qian's mansion and arrested the relevant personnel who were directly involved.
Among them, relevant personnel who were testified by Liu Mansion were also reported.
After that, the two people hurried to the palace with the prisoners and evidence, and rushed back to the court at noon.
After a morning of morning service, Wen and Wu were already hungry and dizzy with hunger.
I woke up early, ate little, and took a long time. Plus standing all morning, it was already too much.
However, Lao Zhu had no intention of leaving the court at all. He originally thought that after surviving the reporting work, Lao Zhu would be able to get everyone off work.
As time went by, more and more details of the cases handled by Zheng Shiyuan and Mao Xiang were presented in front of Lao Zhu, and Lao Zhu's expression also changed accordingly.
His expression went from serious to frosty.
Now, even if no one comes to report to work again and there are no matters that need to be dealt with, no one dares to mention the matter of getting off work even though they would rather hang around like this.
At some unknown time, Zheng Shiyuan and Mao Xiang finally arrived at the court and saluted Lao Zhu.
"Your Majesty, all the officials directly involved in this case have been arrested and brought to justice. In addition, there are many people who have been given a lot of money by Liu Shilang and others in various red and white matters, and this is obviously higher than the wealth of normal human exchanges. , which is extremely unusual, so His Majesty still needs to make a decision."
Lao Zhu asked in a deep voice.
"Who are they? How much did you give? Have you ever returned it? Tell us all this in detail. Let everyone listen and see if it makes sense?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Since Lao Zhu asked about this first, Zheng Shiyuan also told Lao Zhu the list of gifts.
"On the eighth day of the second month of the fifth year, the Minister of War took a concubine and gave her a gift of five hundred guan. The Minister of War happily accepted it."
"In August of the fourth year, the left minister of the Ministry of War was happy to have a grandson. Liu Qian, the right minister, congratulated him and gave him a gift of one hundred guan. The next year, the second son of the right minister's family got married and received fifty guan."
"The same is true for the other three chief ministers. They gave dozens of gifts, but they were all given within five years. There was no happy event in the minister's family, so they were not returned."
After Zheng Shiyuan finished speaking, Lao Zhu looked directly at the Minister of War. His eyes were as calm as water at this moment, but it was more terrifying than the frosty expression on his face.
"Our Minister of War, did you hear that? It's a gift of five hundred guan! It's such a big deal. Is there anything you want to tell us?"
The Minister of the Ministry of War was already confused and uneasy by the news announced by Zheng Shiyuan. Now when Lao Zhu asked him directly, the Minister of the Ministry of War made a plop, knelt down and defended himself to Lao Zhu.
"Your Majesty, I was wronged! I didn't know that your right servant Liu Qian was using his power for personal gain. The gift was huge, and I didn't want to accept it. But my family was in a tight situation, so I wanted to take the money first and wait for it later. When your family is better off, you will bring your money with you."
"But I didn't expect that the right servant Liu Qian would be so bold as to commit such an illegal act. If I had known this earlier, I would not have dared to accept the gift. Please give me your Majesty's warning."
Giving gifts in official circles
It is a matter of unspoken rules. Although the words of the Minister of War cannot withstand scrutiny, if the gift money can be returned without any deviation, it can at best be regarded as a favor.
Now it's just that the amount is a bit too big, and there is no happy event in Liu Qian's family to return the gift money, so this excuse is reasonable.
But Zheng Shiyuan did not give Minister of War a chance, but instead threw out another thing.
"What Lord Shangshu said may be true. I have a question here, and I still need an answer from Lord Shangshu."
"According to people in Liu's residence, someone had reported Liu Qian's illegal activities before giving the gift, and Lord Shangshu also wanted to investigate the matter thoroughly."
"It just happened to be a happy occasion for Lord Shangshu, so Liu Qian sent him a gift. After that, Lord Shangshu stopped and never mentioned the inquiry again."
"And the person who reported it has since been reduced to a marginalized figure within the Ministry of War. Why?"
As long as something has been done, there will be traces to follow. The questions asked by Zheng Shiyuan directly showed the cause and effect relationship, giving another perspective on the behavior of receiving large gifts.
The Minister of War broke out in a cold sweat. If he couldn't explain clearly, then what he just said was nonsense, which also indirectly proved that these gifts were suspected of accepting bribes.
In a desperate situation, the Minister of War did not know how to defend himself, but in this position, he still had the ability to tell lies.
"Your Majesty, your Majesty, since I became an official, I have been clean and clean, and it is obvious to all that my life is difficult."
"It's not that the house is completely destitute, but it's pretty much the same. The act of accepting gift money is also a temporary measure and is definitely not my intention."
"As for what Zheng Yushi said, I really don't know about the report. Please ask your Majesty for your enlightenment!"
His words were sincere and his feelings were sincere, and everyone felt the same way.
There is definitely no problem with Lao Zhufa's salary to feed and clothe everyone, but it is impossible to live a high-quality life.
If the Minister of War takes a concubine, there will be one more person, and the expenses involved will be quite large. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a temporary measure.
No matter how you treat yourself or others, everyone still wants to say a few words for him.
But Zheng Shiyuan immediately threw out evidence.
"Master Shangshu, is this really true? When Xianguan was outside the palace, he had already found this person, and he was also brought here by Xianguan."
"It just so happened that I found this report at the Ministry of War and found it at your headquarters."
"Both of these can be used as supporting evidence. I wonder if you dare to confront me face to face."
At this point, the Minister of the Ministry of War had only one way to speak harshly, and said immediately.
"I am innocent, why don't you dare?"
