Dressed as cannon fodder and vowing to kick the heroine’s head off

Soon, the servants brought them to the courtyard of Lord Yang's favorite concubine.

From the outside, the yard looked no different from other ordinary yards and was just as simple.

The mottled courtyard wall was covered with moss, and a slightly old wooden door was closed.

However, when Shi Weiran and others pushed open the door, the scene before them was jaw-dropping.

As soon as you enter the yard, it feels like you have stepped into another world.

The ground in the courtyard is paved with exquisite marble, which sparkles delicately under the sunlight.

In the center is a small and exquisite fountain, with clear spring water gurgling and making a pleasant sound.

The surroundings are filled with exotic flowers and plants. Those flowers are colorful and fragrant. You can tell at a glance that they are precious varieties carefully collected from all over the place.

Walking along a winding stone path, there are corridors with carved beams and painted buildings on both sides.

The pillars on the corridor are carved with exquisite patterns, including auspicious dragons and phoenixes, flowers, birds, fish and insects. Every detail shows luxury and refinement.

The rooms in the courtyard are even more magnificently decorated, with colorful glazed tiles inlaid on the doors and windows, reflecting brilliant colors in the sunlight.

The Jinyiwei were all shocked: This Lord Shi, is he good at calculating? How could he know that there was something mysterious in the courtyard of this favorite concubine?

Shi Weiran had a blank expression on his face, as if he already knew everything in front of him.

He waved his hand and ordered his men to begin a thorough search.

The Jinyiwei quickly dispersed and rummaged through the drawers and cabinets in each room.

However, after a thorough search, no valuable clues were found except for valuable items.

The total value of these items is only about 30,000 taels.

Even if a steward of the Imperial Household Department received thirty thousand taels of silver as favor income, it would not be considered out of the ordinary.

Shi Weiran paced in the yard, looking around sharply.

Suddenly, his eyes stopped on a rockery in the corner of the yard. The rockery had a strange shape and looked ordinary, but Shi Weiran felt something unusual.

He walked quickly to the rockery and observed it carefully. At the bottom of the rockery, he found a hidden mechanism.

I gently touched the mechanism, and with a "creak" sound, an entrance slowly appeared on the ground, and a damp and stuffy smell came to my face - it turned out to be a cellar.

Shi Weiran lit a torch and walked carefully into the cellar with a few Jinyiwei.

As the light of the torches illuminated the interior of the cellar, everyone was stunned by the scene before them.

The cellar was filled with boxes of gold, silver and treasures. The gold shone brightly in the firelight, like a mountain of gold.

Silver piled up like mountains, reflecting a cold light.

In addition to gold and silver, there are also various rare antiques, calligraphy and paintings, some of which are packed in exquisite boxes, and some are piled up casually in the corner.

An ancient painting was unfolded, and the ink marks on it were still clear despite the passage of time, obviously from the hands of a famous artist.

And those porcelains have fine body and warm glaze, each one is priceless.

In a corner, they also found several account books.

Shi Weiran opened the account book and looked at it carefully, which recorded in detail the source and destination of each embezzled sum of money.

From falsifying prices in various palace purchases, to withholding craftsmen's wages, to misappropriating funds for palace construction, the methods used were varied and the amount involved was huge.

Shi Weiran's face was heavy. Behind all this wealth was the blood and sweat of countless people and the losses of the court.

At this time, Lord Yang's favorite concubine was brought to the cellar.

She was pale and trembling.

Shi Weiran looked at her and asked sternly, "Where did all this money come from? You'd better tell the truth."

The concubine was so frightened that her face turned pale and she stammered, "These... these were brought by the adults. I... I don't know the details."

Shi Weiran knew she was lying, but he didn't press her further.

He ordered his men to seal up all the valuables and account books in the cellar and prepare to take them back to the Dali Temple for further examination.

The Yang Mansion was completely blocked and no one was allowed to enter or leave.

Accompanied by the crying and begging of everyone in the Yang Mansion, Shi Weiran left without mercy.

The news quickly spread throughout the palace, and people were talking about it. When Emperor Xiao Chenyi learned about it, he was furious.

He flew into a rage in the court: "I have always thought that the Ministry of Internal Affairs was well managed, but I did not expect that such a huge corruption case was hidden there. Lord Yang, I really misjudged you!"

By this time, Lord Yang had already collapsed to the ground in fear.

He kept kowtowing and begging for mercy: "Your Majesty, I was confused for a moment and was blinded by money. Please spare my life, Your Majesty!"

How could Xiao Chenyi forgive him easily?

If you really want to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys, he brought it upon himself.

The emperor immediately issued an order to dismiss Lord Yang from his post and investigate him. During the trial, all those involved in the case were arrested.

Xiao Chenyi greatly appreciated Shi Weiran's ability to handle affairs. He looked at Shi Weiran and said, "My dear Shi, you have done a great job in investigating this case. I appoint you as the Imperial Commissioner, who will be fully responsible for the follow-up investigation of the corruption case in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. You must catch all the people involved in the case and give me an explanation."

Shi Weiran knelt down and accepted the order: "I will do my best to live up to your majesty's trust."

Shi Weiran's status in the Dali Temple was directly improved.

He took his two new henchmen with him and began a comprehensive investigation of the entire Imperial Household Department.

They started with the accounts of various departments, checking every expenditure and income one by one. At the same time, they interrogated officials at all levels of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, not letting go of any clues that might be related to the case.

During the investigation, they discovered that corruption in the Imperial Household Department had formed a huge network.

From low-level clerks to high-level officials, everyone was involved. In order to cover up their crimes, some officials tried to destroy evidence and collude with others, but Shi Weiran saw through them one by one.

As the investigation deepened, more and more secrets of corruption were revealed.

It turned out that Lord Yang not only embezzled money and property, but also colluded with some external profiteers to cut corners and pass off inferior products as good ones in the palace projects, which seriously affected the quality of the palace buildings.

Shi Weiran compiled all these situations into a detailed memorial and presented it to the Queen. After getting the Queen's nod, he sent it to the Emperor.

He would always remember that it was the Queen who gave him the opportunity and who trusted him without hesitation.

After seeing this, Xiao Chenyi looked heartbroken.

He ordered severe punishment for all those involved in the case, and at the same time reformed the palace's management system and strengthened supervision of the Imperial Household Department to prevent similar corruption cases from happening again.

After months of hard work, the corruption case in the Imperial Household Department was finally solved.

Shi Weiran successfully brought all those involved in the case to justice and recovered huge losses for the court.

Because of this achievement, he instantly became famous in the court.