Seeing that Cen Wenxing, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance, did not want to listen to roundabout words, Guo Xingwen, the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, had no choice but to speak frankly.
"Okay, since Cen Shangshu has spoken, then Guo will only speak?"
Cen Wenxing nodded and looked at Guo Shangshu's face with a confused and somewhat curious expression.
"You and I were officials in the same dynasty, and it has been more than ten years since I became an official to get the official position I have today. Guo wanted to ask how this Yusi official should be dealt with more appropriately?"
When Guo Xingwen asked, Cen Wenxing nodded slightly and started thinking.
"What about this? Yu Si Bai Gaoyuan coveted the stored grain and ordered people to break into Yu Si and set fire to destroy the evidence. He couldn't cut off a few of his heads. It's strange for this man. Why didn't he do it before he was arrested? Admit it, after suffering so many grievances in prison?"
Upon hearing this, Guo Xingwen, the Minister of the Ministry of Punishments, smiled slightly: "Isn't this unusual? You, the Minister of the Ministry of Husbandry, don't see these things often. It's not common. More than half of the people who entered the prison of the Ministry of Punishments had to endure many tortures before they recognized their identity. . Not surprising.”
"Guo Shangshu, do you really think you can't find any money when you check Sun Cao's Inn?" Cen Wenxing, the Shangshu of the Ministry of Revenue, asked.
Guo Xingwen's pupils immediately widened, he patted his chest and said, "Guo has never told a lie. I have searched the Sun Cao Inn inside and out, but I can't find a penny. It's even cleaner than this Sun Mansion." .”
"Could it be that...they knew they were going to ransack the house and ran away with all the money?" Cen Wenxing wondered.
"It's not impossible. Don't worry, the Left Prime Minister has sent people to strictly guard the gates of various cities. As long as Sun Zhicai is found, he will be searched on the spot!"
With such firm words, Cen Wenxing felt relieved.
"Don't eat naked. Come, Cen Shangshu, eat wine, eat wine." Guo Xingwen raised his wine glass with a smile on his face.
Looking at Guo Xingwen's face, Cen Shangshu smiled slightly, raised it together, touched it, and started doing it.
After a while, Cen Wenxing, the Minister of Household Affairs, expressed his doubts: "Shangshu Guo, if you invite Cen here tonight, I'm afraid it's not just a few words and a few bites of wine?"
Cen Wenxing looked straight at the face of Guo Xingwen, the Minister of Punishment.
Upon hearing what Cen Wenxing, the Minister of Household Affairs, said, Guo Xingwen, the Minister of Punishment, quickly put down his chopsticks and chewed the food in his mouth before answering.
"Cen Shangshu still understands Guo's intention."
After speaking, Guo Xingwen stood up, walked to Cen Wenxing, the Minister of Household Affairs, with a smile on his face, and whispered in his ear with a smile.
At first, the face of Cen Wenxing, the Minister of Household Affairs, was still calm and unaware. As he spoke, his face gradually showed a smile. In the end, as soon as Guo Xingwen stopped speaking, his face suddenly became serious. Come.
"Be bold!"
Cen Wenxing, the Minister of Hubu, said something, and Guo Xingwen, the Minister of Punishment, was so frightened that he knelt on the ground.
Seeing Guo Shangshu's appearance, Cen Wenxing burst out laughing and asked, pretending not to know: "Guo Shangshu, what are you kneeling on the ground for?"
Guo Xingwen raised his head and looked at Cen Wenxing with a blank expression, unable to say a word.
"Guo Shangshu, misunderstanding, misunderstanding. Just now Cen said that this method is a bit bold, not about you."
Upon hearing this, Guo Xingwen took a deep breath, gently wiped the few drops of sweat from his forehead with his sleeves, and smiled: "I see."
Cen Wenxing nodded: "Guo Shangshu, get up quickly."
As soon as Guo Shangshu got up, he sat back in his seat. He didn't dare to speak first and kept looking at Cen Wenxing with a worried face.
"Guo Shangshu. Just when you said this, Cen was a little moved. Let's do this. Cen agreed to this."
"Really?" Guo Xingwen didn't quite believe it.
After seeing Cen Wenxing nodding in response, Guo Xingwen relaxed his vigilance, stood up, and helped Cen Wenxing fill up his wine glass.
In the night, Yanyang City is a peaceful scene.
Ou Shi, the principal wife of the Bai Mansion, was as worried as the dozen or so concubines in the manor, worried that something might happen to Master Bai Gaoyuan.
Suddenly, while the Madam was still thinking about something, she heard the housekeeper's voice in the courtyard.
"lady!"
"lady!"
The sound got closer and closer, until the door in front of me opened, and I saw the figure, it was the butler.
The butler came quickly and walked up to the lady.
"Madam, this is a letter from the Minister of Punishment to you." After speaking, the housekeeper handed the letter over.
"For me?" Mrs. Ou Shi looked confused.
The butler nodded: "It's just for you."
After receiving it, Mrs. Ou Shi began to read nervously and quickly, looking at the beautifully written words on it. She only read it twice, and then put it down with a look of hesitation.
"Madam, what did you say above?" the housekeeper asked.
Before the steward could answer the question, the principal lady asked: "Steward, how much money does the White House have?"
The steward thought for a while and said bluntly: "Twelve taels. The officers and soldiers took the silver with them last time and that's all that's left."
Listening to the Madam's question and looking at the Madam's face, the housekeeper asked again: "Madam, what does this letter say?"
Seeing the butler's want to know, since he was one of his own anyway, the wife said: "The letter said that if you want to save the master's life, you need to show sincerity. Sincerity is a valuable thing. Send it to Guo Guo at the specified time." Mansion, if you don’t press the button, the master’s life will not be saved.”
Upon hearing this, the housekeeper and the maid Xiaolian beside him became worried.
"Madam, I just remembered that I have a bracelet of good quality. Now that the master is in trouble, I can't just stand by and watch."
After saying this, slave Xiao Lian was about to go to the bedroom.
"Madam, I remember that my master once gave me some antique calligraphy and paintings. I will go home and get them now."
After finishing speaking, the housekeeper also wanted to pick it up.
Soon, with the support of these slaves and concubines from all over the house, many valuable jewelry items were collected.
This letter from the Minister of Justice was not only given to the Bai Mansion, but also to the residences of Yusi officials outside the Bai Mansion.
Late at night, I saw a person with excellent Qinggong skills walking on the Washan Mountain every hour, rushing to the Guo Mansion.
…
"Hey! We need to search when entering the city! Stop the car!"
As soon as the soldier shouted, the Sun family's carriage stopped.
Seeing the carriage stop, Master Sun Zhicai asked without knowing it: "What's wrong?"
"Master, go to the city to search." Butler Cen Sheng replied.
Perhaps it was because of the fatigue of walking and the fear of danger during the journey that Mr. Sun became very worried about every parking move.
Just when Master Sun Zhicai was still calming down, a small soldier at the city gate opened the carriage curtain. He wore a long knife under his left waist, held the carriage curtain with his left hand, and held a portrait tightly in his right hand. He looked at it with his eyes. He glanced at the person in the portrait and then looked at the master Sun Zhicai, and so on.
"Found it! Found it!"
Suddenly, the soldier shouted suddenly.
I saw several soldiers from the city gate drawing their swords and surrounding the carriage.
"What's wrong?" Mr. Sun Zhicai looked calm, but he was already panicking in his heart.
"Search!"
With a word, the soldier walked into the carriage and searched each baggage inside the carriage.
After a search, more than twenty taels of silver were found.
Speaking of this amount of money, you can buy a private house in the poor area of Damo, but it is difficult to buy it in the capital. At least thirty taels are needed.
After finding the silver, the soldier held the more than twenty taels of silver to his chest without any courtesy and wanted to go out.
Seeing this, the first lady He and the second lady Ma in the carriage were furious.
The impatient and angry second lady, Ma Shi, yelled at her: "What are you doing?! This is! Is there any way for the king to do this? I'll take all this money!"
Lily, the maid of Mrs. He who was standing next to her, cursed: "That's right, who ordered you to steal this money? Your parents raised you things in vain!"
Upon hearing these two curse words, the soldier suddenly became angry. He looked at a person in the car and said, "We are ordered by the court to search all passing vehicles. As long as we meet Sun Zhicai, we will find out as much as we can." After saying that, the soldier looked confidently at the two scolding people and said, "Is it possible that you still want to go against the imperial court?"
"You!" The second lady was about to scold her when she was stopped by Master Sun Zhicai.
"Okay, as long as your life is there. Money is an external thing, it doesn't matter." Sun Zhicai smiled slightly.
With the master's words, the second wife Ma had no choice but to keep her anger in her stomach.
After a while, passage was allowed, but all the money in the property was gone.
…
"What!"
"Only twenty-two taels of silver were found? Did you search carefully?"
After hearing this, Su Yunqi, the left prime minister, asked Qin Lang, who came to report, with a look of disbelief.
"Back to Zuo Xiang, it's true. Those soldiers searched carefully and found so much." Qin Lang said.
"Okay. The truth is known. In this case, you go and ask them to check all the banks in Yanyang City to see if there is a name of one of their family members, and then check several banks in nearby cities."
"yes."
On one side, the left prime minister is still looking for the whereabouts of the Sun family's money, while on the other side, the Minister of Punishment and the Minister of Hubu are happy.
"Guo Shangshu is wise. In this way, it is not considered embezzlement of money. He can be regarded as someone who takes money to do things. He kills two birds with one stone."
At this moment, Cen Shangshu was heading to the prison of the Ministry of Punishment with Guo Shangshu, and the Shangshu of the Punishment Department was still holding a fake imperial edict in his hand.
Listening to Cen Shangshu's praise, Guo Shangshu smiled broadly and said: "It's not that wise. It's just taking the money to ask for some favors for them. It's just like using the money to buy a pleading person."
The sound of words came all the way to the prison of the Ministry of Punishment.
"Guo Shangshu!"
"Guo Shangshu!"
"Cen Shangshu!"
When they saw their figures, all the officials detained in Yusi looked full of expectation and fear.
"Accept the order!"
"I will receive the order."
"By God, the emperor issued an edict, saying: Yusi is the grain storehouse of the Mo Dynasty. Yusi Bai Gaoyuan, Second Yusi Li Zhen and others secretly sold the grain to Sun Cao's Inn, and then sent people to attack Yusi and set fire to it. Burning evidence should be punished. Today, in the hope that Yu Si Bai Gaoyuan, Ci Yu Si Li Zhen and others have a heart to repent, starting today, Bai Gaoyuan will be removed from his position as Yu Si, Li Zhen will be dismissed from his position as Yu Si..., Yang Kangshi, Zhang Cheng, Cen Nian and others were sent to the army. I admire this."
"I will thank you Lord for your kindness."
"Okay, okay. Everyone, get up." Guo Xingwen, the Minister of Punishment, said with a smile.
After seeing everyone stand up with happy expressions on their faces, Guo Xingwen continued: "I and Cen Shangshu fought hard for your heads in front of the two prime ministers."
Cen Wenxing, the Minister of Revenue, who was doing nothing on the side, was smiling broadly.
"I would like to thank Guo Shangshu and Cen Shangshu for saving their lives!" Yu Si officials said one after another.
"Okay, now that everything is done, I will go back." After saying that, Guo Xingwen glanced at Cen Wenxing, the Minister of Household Affairs.
After the two ministers left, the door of the cell was opened and these people were released.
Some people were sent to the army, and some were simply dismissed from their official positions.
However, Su Yunqi, the left prime minister, asked to check the bank, but failed to find out any information about the Sun family. Su Yunqi therefore no longer had much hope for the Sun family's money.
As for the current emperor, although it is said that he manages the national affairs behind the scenes in the harem, it is actually the two prime ministers who manage the national affairs. The emperor himself only hears good news in the harem, but not the bad, as if he is useless. Ordinary people.
