"Lord Xu, does the emperor really not know?" Zhao Gou asked again.

Xu Jingheng nodded firmly and replied, "My lord, the lower officials dare to decide!" ”

Zhao Gou was silent, according to his guess, if his father really didn't know, he was afraid that someone deliberately closed the news. Since the founding of the Song Dynasty, the annual financial income of the Great Song Dynasty is about 80 million taels, and the middle and late periods are about 60 million taels.

The official salary of the Northern Song Dynasty was the highest in the entire feudal dynasty, and the monthly salary of a first-class official was 400 taels, which was 10 times that of the Han Dynasty and 2 to 6 times that of the Qing Dynasty. In addition to money, there are also rice, large and small officials in brocade clothes and delicacies, and a luxurious life.

In addition, the Song Dynasty also established the "ancestral system", in which respected ministers carried out regular recuperation, and all expenses were borne by the state. In addition, many officials in the Song Dynasty were also able to receive two salaries, which also made their salaries much higher than those of any other dynasty, so the annual official salaries issued by the Song Dynasty were a large amount of expenditure, much higher than the expenditure of the army.

Two million is just a drop in the bucket for the Song Dynasty's fiscal revenue of 60 million taels, but this money has fallen into the hands of corrupt officials. If it was the mediocre and incompetent emperor in history, Zhao Gou would not care, let alone pay attention to it, but now this father is different.

Zhao Gou asked Xu Jingheng, and when he got a positive answer, he knew it, and he also decided to start investigating from the household department. After all, the disaster relief funds are allocated by the household department, and all the sources are in the household department, which has to make people suspect that there is something wrong with it. Xu Jingheng is only supervising the behavior of hundreds of officials, investigating cases is not his field of expertise, and he does not have that power, so he has to let Zhao Gou come forward to handle it, and he only needs to assist from the side, and he must find out all the things.

"Lord Xu, do you know who sent those people?" Zhao Gou remembered that Xu Jingheng had been monitored for a while, and hurriedly asked.

Xu Jingheng said in a deep voice: "Seriously, I don't know who sent those people. If I'm not mistaken, they should have been sent by those people. The lower officials did not continue to investigate, and they disappeared, presumably related to the corruption case. ”

Zhao Gou really couldn't think of anyone who was so bold and greedy for such a huge amount of money, and he also knew that nine out of ten officials in the Great Song Dynasty would be corrupt, some big and some small. Moreover, some vacant officials in the Great Song Dynasty can be bought with money if they are not of high grade, and they are also pseudonymous, commonly known as "donation officials", which is the most serious, and he secretly vowed to abolish such a system.

"Master Xu, after that incident, have you ever continued to investigate?" Zhao Gou guessed that with Xu Jingheng's character, it was impossible to give up halfway, so he asked this question.

Sure enough, Xu Jingheng nodded and said, "This matter is very important, how can you stop here." Although they sent people to watch, it inspired me to investigate the matter thoroughly. However, I knew that this matter could not be investigated openly, so I could only change it to an unannounced visit, and it took a whole year to find out a trace of eyebrows. ”

Zhao Gou hurriedly asked, "What is it?" ”

"Those two million taels are just a small number, the real number is eight million taels!" Xu Jingheng roared indignantly.

Zhao Gou exclaimed, "What? Eight million taels? ”

Zhao Gou couldn't be surprised at this time, two million taels was already an incredible amount, and it had increased to eight million taels, which made Zhao Gou a little unacceptable. Even if the annual military expenditure is only about 10 million taels, he really can't figure out who is greedy for this money.

Xu Jingheng smiled bitterly: "Eight million taels? How many people will be affected by the disaster? How did someone rebel in the Great Song Dynasty, these are the culprits of everything! ”

Zhao Gou said angrily: "These people really deserve to die! ”

Only now did he know why Xu Jingheng had to start with the household department, and even felt that the household department categorically couldn't escape the involvement. Xu Jingheng's idea was approved by Zhao Gou, and he also decided to thoroughly investigate the corruption case with Xu Jingheng, and it was bound to deal with all these people, which were even more hateful than Gao Yu, Tong Guan and others.

Then, Zhao Gou left Xu Jingheng's mansion, and did not return to his own mansion, but directly entered the palace, and there must be many people implicated in this matter. Zhao Gou didn't dare to decide privately, he needed Song Huizong's will to avoid trouble in the future.

Embezzling eight million taels is not something that can be done by one person, there must be a huge force behind it, and this force is not known to Zhao Gou, and even Song Huizong may not be clear. Even if there is no record in history, this incident was unexpected by Zhao Gou.

"Father, my son asks to see you!"

At this time, Song Huizong stayed in the imperial study, and the guards, maidservants and others around him all withdrew, leaving him alone here to review the chapters. He didn't expect that in the middle of the night, Zhao Gou would come to look for him, and he couldn't help but be a little curious, and said, "Lao Jiu, what are you doing here?" ”

Zhao Gou said respectfully: "Father, the son has something to report!" ”

Song Huizong was slightly stunned and said with a smile: "If you have something, you might as well say it directly, this place is my study, not above the court, so there is no need to be so restrained." ”

He saw that Zhao Gou was respectful and respectful, looking a little rusty, like a monarch and a minister, if everyone else didn't matter, the person in front of him was his most beloved son, and he wouldn't be like a monarch and a minister in the court. Zhao Gou did not have the slightest presumptuousness, he was still respectful, this is a public matter, no favoritism, and said again: "Erchen got a news today, there is a matter about the foundation of the Great Song Dynasty, and he has come to report to his father, and he also asks his father to decide." ”

Song Huizong smiled: "Are you talking about a corruption case? ”

"Father knows?" Zhao Gou raised his head, looked at the smiling father in a daze, and asked with some uncertainty.

Song Huizong nodded and said, "I already knew about this matter, even if someone in the Privy Council interfered with it, it still couldn't escape my ears and eyes. It's just that I haven't been unintentional about politics all these years, so I forgot that I heard that you went to Xu Jingheng's house, and I thought that he told you, so there is no need to hide it. ”

Zhao Gou was stunned, he couldn't see through his father and emperor a little, the father in front of him was still elegant, but it was a little different, and he was deeply hidden, as if he knew all the affairs of the court, but he didn't move, let the situation develop, he really couldn't think of what his father wanted to do.

"Father, since you already know, why don't you never investigate this matter?" Zhao Gou complained a little in his heart, knowing that there were corrupt people in the ministers of the DPRK, but he never made any moves, and he didn't seem to say anything, and it was difficult to hide the doubts in his heart.

Song Huizong smiled indifferently and said slowly: "The time was not ripe at that time, but now it's okay!" ”

Zhao Gou was silent, this day was the most silent for him, his heart was like turning over the river and the sea, it was really difficult to see clearly, even the father in front of him gave him an illusion, as if it was not Song Huizong, but someone else pretending.

"Father, do you know how many taels of silver those people embezzled?" Zhao Gou asked again.

Song Huizong smiled and said, "Two million taels!" ”

"Two million taels? If only it were really two million taels! Zhao Gou smiled bitterly and said in a low voice.

Song Huizong's face changed greatly, his smile stopped abruptly, and he asked coldly, "Isn't it two million taels?" ”

When Zhao Gou saw his father's face, he knew that he still underestimated the ambitions of those people, and shook his head and said, "Of course it's not two million taels, but a full eight million taels!" ”

"Eight million taels?" Song Huizong's face showed murderous aura, and he sneered and said, "What a group of good ministers!" ……”