[Qing Chuan] Mu Emperor's Grace

Hongli didn't speak for a long while, and finally threw the booklet and said angrily: "Shandong has always been a big province for land tax collection, and the amount of grain collected in these years has only been a lot. If it wasn't for the local officials to embezzle it privately, how could it fall to the government?" To the point where the library is short-lived.”

He Shen was also secretly startled, thinking of the 8000 taels of silver bills in his room, he could somehow get a glimpse of how tricky Shandong Province's finances are.

He softly persuaded: "Your Majesty...Xu Ji and Guotai don't know the contents of Gui Zhongtang's secret book, and they can't plan ahead of time. We might as well catch him by surprise and catch him by surprise."

Hongli looked at He Shen who was smiling slightly, and said slowly: "You mean..."

He Shen curled his lips: "Open the treasury directly and check the money. The evidence is so strong that they want to deny it, but they can't do it."

Seeing Hongli's thoughtful expression, He Shen said again: "Jinan Mansion is the emperor's first stop in Shandong. Cathay Pacific and others are likely to make preparations and move the money from the local government treasury to Jinan Mansion first." .If the emperor wants to seize the current situation, he can wait until the prefectures and counties below, and then order someone to open the treasury."

Hongli nodded and said: "In this way, no matter how clever Xu Ji and others are, as long as the treasury is indeed in short supply, there will always be a day when they will show their feet."

Seeing that Hongli had already understood what he meant, He Shen smiled and said, "Exactly."

That genuine smile made Hongli inexplicably in a trance.Perhaps because of staying up late, Hongli's face looked haggard at this moment: "Go and rest, stay up with me all night, and postpone today's arrangements."

Before He Shen left, he poured out the cold tea in the cup for Hongli, and said in a warm voice: "Your Majesty, it's good to rest, don't spoil the dragon's body."

When He Shen returned to his room, he carefully placed the carved wooden box beside his pillow.Just when he was about to fall asleep in a daze, he heard a sound from outside.It was just whispers at first, and then gradually became louder, and occasionally there was a scream or two.

After staying up all night, his brain was already a little hyperactive, but now even a little noise can disturb him from falling asleep.He Shen opened the door with a grim expression, greeted the boy outside and asked, "What's going on outside? Why is it so noisy?"

There was a trace of panic in the boy's expression, it was the moment when he was holding back his words.Seeing Heshen's question, he poured out all the beans like pouring beans: "Master He... a female corpse was found in the well of the yamen. According to the maidservant, when the water was fetched last night, there was no abnormality in the well. It should be last night. What happened."

He Shen's heart trembled when he heard the word "female corpse".He tried his best to suppress the bad premonition in his heart, and said to the attendant: "Lead me to have a look."

The servant's lips trembled a little, and he hesitated to persuade: "My lord...that woman's corpse was soaked in water, and she looked really ugly. You are a guest, and the Governor is here for such trivial matters, so nothing can go wrong."

When He Shen heard this, he couldn't restrain the anger and sadness in his heart for a moment, and said sharply: "A trivial matter? A living person's life is gone. You call this a trivial matter? What do you mean can't go wrong? A woman's corpse suddenly appeared in the well of the yamen. Is it a bug?"

The attendant lowered his head when he asked him, not daring to speak.

Seeing this, He Shen eased his tone, but still insisted: "Take me there quickly."

The attendant had no choice but to lead He Shen to the crime scene.

When He Shen arrived, there were many people standing on both sides of the mouth of the well, but there was an empty road in the middle.Cathay was standing in the middle, covering his mouth and nose with his hands, looking at the salvaged female body with disgust.

He Shen stepped forward, and unexpectedly saw a trace of surprise on Cathay's face: "Mr. I will definitely find out the truth."

As if he was afraid that He Shen would not agree, Cathay persuaded with a smile on his face, while blocking He Shen's sight with his body, preventing him from seeing the female corpse.

Unexpectedly, the more this happened, the more suspicious He Shen felt, and immediately said to Guotai with a cold face: "You and I are both officials of the imperial court, and now this kind of thing happened in the government office where the emperor resides. As the chief minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, I must be responsible for the safety of the Holy Majesty, otherwise I will not be able to do business in front of the Emperor."

Speaking of this, Cathay knew he couldn't stop him, so he smiled stiffly and stepped aside.

He Shen took a closer look, and the bad premonition in his heart was confirmed by surprise.Although the corpse was swollen and deformed after being soaked in water, He Shen recognized it at a glance. The corpse in front of him was the woman who knocked on his door at night.

He Shen's complexion changed suddenly, and his heart trembled violently.Obviously she was a young woman last night, but today she has turned into a swollen and deformed corpse.He Shen couldn't take it anymore, covered his mouth and retched.

Cathay smiled and handed him a handkerchief, and said with a helpless smile: "My lord... the official has only persuaded you..."

He Shen bowed his body and relaxed for a while before he calmed down.But his face still looked a little pale, he took a deep breath and asked, "What's going on here? Has Mr. Fucha found anything?"

Cathay smiled casually: "Who knows? This female corpse appeared inexplicably. I asked the guards and attendants in the yamen, and they all said that they had never seen this girl before. It is just an unknown person, and adults do not need to pay too much attention to it." .”

He Shen glanced at him, frowned and said, "Have you ever found out the cause of death?"

Cathay laughed and said: "My lord... you are making things difficult for me. In the middle of the night, she couldn't bear to be wronged, so she ran here and threw herself into the well. First, there is no witness, and second, how can I investigate?"

However, He Shen sensitively grasped the clues in his words, and asked, "How did you know that she was wronged and threw herself into the well?"

Cathay was taken aback, the perfunctory smile on his face froze for a moment, then smiled again: "Under normal circumstances, throwing yourself into the well in the middle of the night like this is nothing more than being trapped by love, arguing with others, and being unable to think about it for a while. Others are different. Say, Mr. He, have you ever seen someone dressed like this running out in the winter?"

He Shen looked at the crumpled clothes stuck to the body of the female body, but his heart sank little by little.

Seeing Cathay Pacific's performance, He Shen is sure that he must know the inside story.Regardless of whether he did it or not, at least he knew about the woman's throwing into the well earlier than anyone else.

But now if Cathay refuses to admit it to death, even the emperor can't do anything about him.That woman failed to enter He Shen's room last night, so it was a useless move.If she dies, it's all over, and the mastermind behind her can rest easy.

But at this time, Cathay was still fanning the flames and sighed: "I just don't know who this girl is looking for at night, and how wronged she has been. She is willing to throw herself into this well at a young age."

He Shen gritted his teeth, endured Cathay Pacific's strange words, and forced a smile: "How did you know that this girl is looking for someone at night?"

Cathay squeezed out a meaningful smile, but stopped talking.

He Shen didn't agree with him, and said in a deep voice: "Listen, all of you, strictly interrogate all the servants, servants, and maidservants in this yamen. I don't believe that there can be a big change in this yamen. female corpse."

After everyone dispersed, He Shen took away the painter from the government office.

After He Shen left, Cathay Pacific's originally smiling face immediately collapsed.He rushed to the person beside him and said, "Has everything been arranged?"

Qian Shi replied: "Please rest assured, my lord, everything has been properly arranged. All relevant people are locked inside, and I guarantee that he will not find any clues."

Cathay Pacific nodded: "It's better to be careful, I see that He Shen looks like he's watching me."

Qian Shi smiled and said: "Please rest assured, my lord, no matter how powerful He Shen is, he is just a passing passer-by. As the saying goes, it is difficult for a strong dragon to overwhelm a local snake. My lord has been operating in Shandong for many years, how can he be compared with Shen."

But he said that Cathay Pacific had just taken care of it, while He Shen was describing to the painter what the woman looked like before she was alive.For the first time, he realized that no matter how exquisite the language is, it is difficult to describe a person's appearance through relaying.The painter revised it several times, and finally drew a [-]% similarity.

He ordered the guards to take the girl's portrait to question everyone in the yamen, but they got the same response: "I haven't seen... I don't know... There is no such person in the mansion." Rao Heshen knew how difficult the process was. , I can't help but feel a little annoyed.

The girl, like the box, seemed to appear out of nowhere.But his momentary gratification caused the girl to throw herself into the well.He Shen didn't say anything on the face, but his heart was filled with guilt, and he had already regarded it as his duty to find out the truth.

"I will definitely find out the truth." He Shen murmured while pinching the cloak.

That evening, he took the carved wooden box, packed it up and went to Hongli's residence.

Seeing He Shen's hurried appearance, Hongli wondered, "You...what's the matter?"

The usual gentle expression on He Shen's face disappeared, replaced by a determined expression.

He didn't answer Hongli's question, but just knelt down.

Hongli saw him lift the wooden box above his head, and heard him say word by word: "Your Majesty, I went back to my room yesterday and planned to rest. But I saw a carved wooden box on the table inside the house. It is an imperial brush painting of Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty and 8000 taels of silver notes. Now that they are all here, I implore the emperor to open the government treasury immediately and thoroughly investigate the officials big and small in Shandong, so as to return justice to the people."

At the beginning, Hongli listened with a normal expression, but at the end his expression became clouded: "He Shen, do you know what you are talking about?"

He Shen took a deep breath, straightened his shoulders and looked directly at Hongli and said, "Everything I said today is true. If the emperor doesn't believe it, he can open the box and check."

Hongli was silent for a moment, then said: "Submit it."

He Shen handed the wooden box to the imperial case, Hongli touched the exquisite carvings on the box, and opened it with a complex expression.

"Picture of Wintersweet and Two Birds, I have never seen the authenticity of this rare treasure." Hongli's tone was light, but He Shen's heart shuddered: "The Emperor..."

Hongli still said to himself: "8000 taels, this is the blood and sweat of many people. The imperial court of the Qing Dynasty kept such a group of blood-sucking moths."

Hongli's tone sounded flat, but He Shen knew that Hongli was struggling to suppress his anger at the moment: "pass down the order to open the treasury granary in Jinan and count the silver and grain in the treasury. , what kind of tricks are there?"