Cui Cheng thought for a while and said:
"For those officials in prison, we can arrange for their relatives to visit the prison. Go in and convey the family's wishes to them, and ask them to bear all the responsibility for their crimes. The family will keep their wives and children."
Everyone nodded after hearing this, thinking that this method was feasible, and it was considered a way to survive by docking their tails. In this way, the family's losses can be minimized.
Cui Cheng saw everyone nodding, so he continued:
"As for the accounts of previous years, I suggest that we find some dead men to see if we can secretly burn the accounts of the Ministry of Accounts. In this case, Li Shimin will naturally be unable to investigate without the accounts."
Wang Gui frowned and said:
"The burning of accounts has a huge impact and requires long-term consideration. You can wait. I have an idea here, but it requires your cooperation."
After hearing this, everyone spoke up one after another, expressing their willingness to cooperate fully with whatever strategy was appropriate.
Wang Gui looked at the people in the hall and said:
"Now, whether it is in the court or in the local area, more than half of the officials are from our Shandong gentry."
"We can inform the officials of our own faction to stay home sick from tomorrow and not go to the court or the yamen. Without our officials from the Shandong gentry, even if Li Shimin wants to audit the accounts or arrest officials, the process may not go through. Even The end-of-year assessment of the personnel department will also come to a standstill."
"This is a warning to Li Shimin that his Li family is not the only one in this world. Without the support of our Shandong nobles, he can't accomplish anything."
Everyone's eyes lit up when they heard this, and they all praised Wang Gui's clever plan. Everyone said that they would send a message to the officials of their own faction after returning home.
At this time Cui Cheng asked:
"Then we can't stop going to court, right?"
Wang Gui smiled and said:
"As long as Li Shimin is smart enough, he will naturally suppress this matter of the accounts of the Ministry of Accounts. As long as he stops here, we will naturally return to the court. If he does not compromise, then we will find a way to burn the accounts and continue to recuperate at home. , Don’t worry, Li Shimin can’t afford to delay, he will compromise with us sooner or later, without us our court can’t function at all.”
When everyone heard this, they clapped their hands and applauded, while imagining in their hearts how Li Shimin would compromise with the family. The more they thought about it, the happier they felt.
So what about the emperor? If we support you, you are the emperor. If we don’t support you, then you are nothing.
After a while, just as everyone was preparing to go back home, Lu Hong interrupted:
"Everyone, do you think we should also teach Changsun Wuji a lesson? After all, we were tricked by him about the last donation."
When everyone heard this, they couldn't help but think of how each family lost 10,000 yuan due to Changsun Wuji's trick more than a month ago.
Thinking back to what Lu Hong had just said, Changsun Wuji would assess and suppress the officials of the Shandong gentry line at the end of the year, and he suddenly became angry.
Wang Gui smiled and said:
"Brother Lu, what do you think? Tell us and let's listen together."
When Lu Hong saw everyone looking at him, he didn't hesitate. In a few words, he told the most popular news in Chang'an City recently about cousins getting married and not having children.
Everyone was thoughtful when they heard this. Speaking of the recent rumors about the marriage of cousins in Chang'an City, they had all heard a little bit about it, and the reason why the five surnames and Qiwang were so united was inseparable from the family's long-term marriage.
Cousins getting married is common in every family. There have been stillbirths or premature deaths in the family before, but no one noticed this pattern. Until this rumor spread in Chang'an City, everyone felt a sudden realization.
And this matter has been verified and the news has been passed back to the clan. I believe that starting from next year, all marriages will try to avoid the union of cousins.
Lu Hong saw everyone was silent, so he continued:
"Changsun Wuji has always wanted to marry the royal family to consolidate their family's status. We can secretly arrange for the servants in the mansion to go to the streets to spread the news that cousins cannot get married. Let the marriage between Changsun Wuji and the royal family become a symbol of Chang'an City What a joke. What do you think?"
After everyone heard Lu Hong's words, they thought for a moment and then arranged for their servants to spread the news after they returned.
...
Youshi, Imperial Palace, Manlu Hall
Li Shimin had been in a bad mood these past few days. First, it was because his father, Li Yuan, seemed to have disappeared from the world. No matter how the secret guards checked, they could not find out where Li Yuan was now.
The second reason is that when a group of math doctors reviewed the accounts of the Ministry of Accounts, they found that 30% of the taxes in the treasury this year had been embezzled by officials.
Although some officials have been arrested, they are just petty officials. The officials who took the lead have also been targeted, but due to the lack of actual evidence, they cannot be arrested directly.
That's why Li Shimin ordered Sun Fuga, the young minister of Dali Temple, to interrogate the arrested officials overnight, hoping to obtain actual evidence as soon as possible so that he could trace the stolen money.
The only thing that makes Li Shimin happy in the past few days is that through the people of Baiqisi, he spread the news of the court's arrest of corrupt officials in Chang'an City, which increased the people's recognition of the court and his reputation among the people. It’s getting better and better.
And as more and more officials were identified, Li Shimin felt that within a few days, he would be able to uncover all those corrupt officials.
While he was concentrating on cracking down on corrupt officials, Bai Qisi brought back a piece of folk news yesterday that made Li Shimin unable to swallow.
When he first received this news, Li Shimin was a little unimpressed. But when he learned that the news came from Taoist Master Sun Simiao, he had to take it seriously.
In order to verify the authenticity of this news, Li Shimin specially arranged a task for Baiqisi yesterday. Let them go to Chang'an City to visit the families where cousins are married to see if, as rumored, they can't give birth to children, or there is something wrong with the children they give birth to.
While Li Shimin was pacing back and forth in the hall, the eunuch's voice came from the door.
"Your Majesty, General Li is asking for an audience outside the palace."
"Announce him to come in."
Hearing this, the little eunuch turned around and shouted outside the palace:
"Xuan, General Li has an audience."
After a while, Li Junxian, wearing a suit of armor, walked into the hall. Then he knelt on one knee and said:
"Last General Li Junxian, please see your Majesty."
Li Shimin stared at Li Junxian and said:
"Okay. Get up. How is the investigation going?"
Li Junxian stood up after hearing this, took out a pamphlet from his arms, handed it to Li Shimin with both hands and said:
"Your Majesty, Baiqisi has visited more than 300 households in the past two days. The specific information has been written in this booklet. Your Majesty, please read it."
After hearing this, Li Shimin took the booklet, then glanced at Li Junxian lightly and said:
"I, this matter must be kept secret and don't let others know."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Well, you go down first."
"Yes." After Li Junxian finished speaking, he exited the hall.
Li Shimin took the booklet, walked to the chair and sat down, then opened the booklet and read page by page.
Soon after, Li Shimin closed the book and let out a long sigh.
