Reborn to marry the emperor, I just want to confuse the emperor and seize the throne

royal palace.

Tang Yu, Wu Shen and others were all taken to a side hall. The officials in charge of investigating the case acted quickly and even brought all the shop owners related to the case before the emperor.

Xie Shang was wearing a bright yellow dragon robe, exuding a majestic and cold aura. Everyone in the hall knelt on the ground and trembled with fear.

Empress Dowager Cheng and Jiang Fenghua were also invited to sit aside, but Tang Qianran and Minister Tang knelt obediently on the ground.

Minister You of the Ministry of Rites was also invited to wait on the side. Minister You has been in charge of hosting various major banquets for many years. Today, the Empress Dowager suddenly ordered Concubine Tang to be in charge of the script, which made him dissatisfied. Now that something has happened, Minister You naturally wants to step in.

I only heard Minister You say, "The expenses of this banquet exceeded the budget by a lot. I applied for another allocation according to Concubine Tang's arrangement. The money in the account is all budgeted, so I am sure that this accident was not caused by insufficient money, unless someone embezzled it."

Xie Shang looked at Tang Qianran coldly and said sarcastically, "I didn't expect that I had only been on the throne for a few days, and the concubines in the harem had already started to embezzle and accept bribes at the beginning of this year. How much is the concubine going to embezzle from the beginning of the year to the end of the year?"

Tang Qianran was scared to death, "Your Majesty, I didn't embezzle. I was wronged. Someone must be trying to harm me. I really only wanted to organize a good banquet."

The Empress Dowager was also very angry sitting on the side. The first time she assigned the task, she wanted her to perform in front of the Emperor, but she boasted about it to the sky, but ended up doing things like this.

Jiang Fenghua said in a deep voice, "I thought that Concubine Tang really wanted to host this banquet well. My mother entrusted such an important matter to her and showed her high hopes for her. She would definitely not do something like corruption. It will not be too late for the emperor to investigate it clearly and then punish her." Of course Tang Qianran didn't dare, but the Tang family dared!

Tang Qianran didn't expect the Queen to speak up for her. She said, "I really don't dare. Your Majesty, please believe me."

She turned to Tang Yu and Wu Shen and said, "Speak up, how could this happen? Are you going to kill me?"

Before they could speak, the merchant said, "It's none of my business. Your Majesty, please forgive me. I brought my account book here. Please look into it. I want to sell lanterns in batches at 50 wen each, but Lord Tang only gave Cao Ming 10 wen, which is not even enough to cover the cost. Lanterns are difficult to weave, especially those with shapes. Lord Tang said that they would only be used for one night and burned the next day, so there was no need to weave too finely. I didn't embezzle, but there was really nothing I could do."

Upon hearing this, Minister You said in a cold voice, "Ten coins each, and Concubine Tang gave me a budget of seventy coins each. There are also double lanterns that cost a hundred coins each. Tens of thousands of lanterns were burned overnight. Concubine Tang is really good at planning. Did she burn all the silver in the fire? And the money for fireworks and firecrackers, I'm afraid she must have made false reports to have so many duds."

"Because of the disaster in the southwest, I have been saving money, just to save more money to help more people affected by the disaster. The imperial concubine really burned the money like fireworks." Minister You was very angry, "Alas, it is really difficult to deal with the big devils in power."

Xie Shang pointed the finger directly at Minister Tang, "How much money did your Tang family make and put in their pockets, Tang Jinrong, tell me."

Minister Tang said quickly, "Your Majesty, I didn't know these two evil sons would do such a thing. If I had known, I would never let them do it." I didn't expect them to be so greedy. They are really risking their lives.

He pointed at his son and said, "Tell me, why did you do this? Aren't you destroying my reputation?"

Tang Yu and Wu Shen were just minor officials. It was because of Tang Jinrong's promotion that the entire Tang family became powerful. In addition, Tang Qianran gave birth to a prince and was made a royal concubine, so the Tang family's power became even higher, so they dared to do such a thing.

The two men quickly confessed, "We were wrong. Your Majesty, please spare our lives. We have not touched a single cent of the silver. We will hand it all over." In fact, they had not had the chance to spend the money yet, and they would make up for any part of it that was spent.

Wu Shen was scared to death. They had spent a lot of money buying gifts for the Queen Mother, so how could they fill such a huge hole?

Empress Dowager Cheng was so frightened when she saw this that her face turned pale. Could it be that the jade Guanyin statue that Tang Qianran gave her was also made with silver that the Tang family had embezzled?

Jiang Fenghua sat firmly in her seat. Seeing Empress Dowager Cheng's expression, she found it funny. How could she deal with the fact that the Empress Dowager accepted bribes?

She winked at Nanny Xi and waited to watch the show.

Nanny Xi quickly helped the Queen Mother to the side and quietly reminded her, "Quickly ask the Emperor to hand over the Tang family's offerings. If they are found out, it will damage the Queen Mother's reputation! This matter has such a big impact, and it has made the Emperor lose face in front of the envoys. There is no way the Emperor will not investigate."

Empress Dowager Cheng thought, yes, the emperor is her son after all, and she didn't know that the Tang family would dare to do such a corrupt thing.

So, Empress Dowager Cheng hurriedly asked Nanny Xi to go to the Cining Palace to get the things.

Nanny Xi left quietly, but she did not hide her figure on purpose, so Xie Shang saw her leave.

Xie Shang asked someone to follow Nanny Xi quietly.

Not long after, Nanny Xi came out of the Cining Palace and was caught by the guards. "What are you doing sneaking around like that, Nanny Xi?"

Nanny Xi hesitantly said, "I have come back on the orders of the Empress Dowager to fetch a cloak for her. I really have come to fetch the cloak." She deliberately dodged, which made the guards more suspicious.

"Since it is a cloak, please open it and let us have a look," said the guard.

Nanny Xi didn't dare to give them the cloak and started running away on purpose. The guard took out a knife and scared Nanny Xi so much that she didn't dare to move for a moment, and the brocade box in her hand was exposed.

The guard went forward to check and saw a valuable jade Guanyin inside. He said in a deep voice, "Madam, please come with us!"

When they arrived before the emperor, the guard whispered to him what Nanny Xi had done. After hearing this, the emperor felt a surge of nameless anger in his chest. It seemed that his mother wanted to sell the stolen goods!

No wonder she valued Tang Qianran so much, even wanting to make her a royal concubine and hand over the power of the harem to her.

Mother, oh mother, you have embezzled your son's kingdom, and the people of the Great Zhou are still in dire straits. I am busy every day, but you colluded with concubines to betray your own son.

Xie Shang naturally would not tell anyone about such a scandal in person, nor did he want to investigate further. If he really found out the empress dowager, how would the royal family retain its reputation? How would he explain to the people of the world?

The emperor said in a deep voice, "I order you to return the stolen money immediately. Tang Yu and Wu Shen will be dismissed from office and demoted to commoners. They will never be allowed to serve in the government again. Minister Tang will be fined one year's salary for not teaching his son well."