After returning to King Wen's palace, Yao Ruoyu asked Xie Kai to send the flame iron to Yu Jieyi's mansion, and he found the shadow of the dark department in the palace, and instructed the other party to let He Li come to see him immediately.

However, after a tea time, Heli had already appeared outside the inner court, and after getting Yao Ruoyu's permission, he immediately crossed the boundary between the inner court and the outer court, and walked quickly to the Splendid Garden.

The scenery of King Wen's palace is thousands, this splendid garden is the top few scenic spots again, the east side is the lake, stretches for more than ten hectares, hundreds of koi fish swim in it, the west is the flower garden, although now the year has just passed, the snow has just melted, but the garden has been in full bloom, thousands of purples and thousands of reds, the flowers are splendid, the end is pleasing to the eye.

At this time, Yao Ruoyu was sitting in the flower garden, and when he saw him coming, he said lightly: "When Wanyan Fuchan was here, did the dark department investigate Duan Chun, Bai Qiuyu and other five ministers?"

He replied, "I checked." ”

Yao Ruoyu frowned: "Can they take bribes and embezzle?"

"Yes. Crane replied.

Yao Ruoyu frowned, not understanding why Yan Fuchan didn't tell herself since she found out, thought for a moment, and said, "You go and bring all the relevant information, as well as the information collected in the shadows recently." ”

"No. The crane bowed sharply, then turned around and left.

Because he doesn't like to drink tea, Yao Ruoyu drinks in addition to water, which is the unique brocade honey water of Chengdu Mansion, which is mixed with honey, sugar and other things, sweet but not greasy, moist and delicious, not only him, but also other people in the Ministry of Literature and Art also like it very much, and it is the royal drink of the high-level of Wenbang.

As soon as he drank three pots of brocade honey water, He Li returned, put the two wooden boxes on the ground, and said with a fist: "Lord Wang, this is the previous investigation of the officials of the Five Ministries and the intelligence collected recently. ”

Yao Ruoyu was silent, reached out and took a square box, took out several of the thin books in it, and read it silently.

As he flipped through it, Yao Ruoyu's face became more and more ugly, just on the books, in addition to Bai Junru, Bai Qiuyu and Duan Chun had accepted countless bribes over the years, Xu Xuanrong and Song Kai were slightly better, but the number of bribes received was not small.

With his eyes narrowed slightly, Yao Ruoyu put a few thin books back into the wooden box and groaned silently.

If it weren't for the fact that Xu Xuanrong and Song Kai were also among the bribes, he would have planned to punish Bai Qiuyu and Duan Chun well, but now that Xu Song and Song were among them, it made him a little embarrassed.

Stroking the wooden box, Yao Ruo suddenly realized why Yan Fuchan did not hand over this information to him, and he was afraid that he would be embarrassed if he found out.

Sighing at the beauty's empathy, Yao Ruoyu was silent for a long time, put the wooden box into the Qiankun ring, and then picked up the second wooden box, took out the information collected in the shadows recently, and looked at it one by one.

Most of these pieces of information record that Wenbang has occupied Sichuan and Shu since then, and there have been dissent in various parts of the territory or that the rebellion has been suppressed, but one piece of information made him frown.

According to the shadow report placed in the fifth department by the dark department, in the mansions of Duan Chun, Bai Junru, Bai Qiuyu, Xu Xuanrong and Wen Yuancai, who had just taken office, people continued to visit quietly, and they also carried a large amount of property when they came to the door.

Because when these people came to the door, the five of them all withdrew from the people in the house, so the shadow of the shadow couldn't find out what those people were doing, but such a large-scale visit to the door to bribe was definitely not ordinary.

Fingertips tapped lightly on the stone table, Yao Ruoyu had a lot of thoughts in his heart, and after a long time, he sighed helplessly and said lightly: "You go to the ministry and let Minister Xu come to see me." ”

Crane Li didn't ask much when he heard this, and turned around and left.

Picked up a piece of crisp cake and took a bite, Yao Ruoyu chewed it gently, his eyebrows were still a little gloomy, he understood the actions of Song Kai and others to take bribes, as said before, when the water is clear, there is no fish, Wenbang's original scale was not small, nor was it large, and human relations were normal.

However, the amount of bribes accepted by Bai Qiuyu, Duan Chun and others is too large, Duan Chun alone has a private income of nearly 100,000 gold every year, no wonder he has the pride of spending 30,000 gold to buy a beautiful woman.

There are three hundred houses on both sides of the square outside the Qiantian Palace, which is the place where the five departments and the Wenwang Mansion do business, and it is still afternoon, with Xu Xuanrong's temperament, most of them are still in the office, and it is estimated that they don't need to wait too long.

Sure enough, after a while, Su Mei walked over quickly, saying that Xu Xuanrong was asking to see her, and when she saw Yao Ruoyu waving her hand, she also quickly retreated with interest.

Yao Ruoyu just drank a cup of brocade honey water, and Xu Xuanrong, who was dressed in a snow-white fox fur, came to the flower garden, saw his drinking posture, couldn't help but smile, and sneered: "We are busy and dizzy, but the prince is here to enjoy the flowers leisurely, so Yaxing." ”

Seeing Meng Mengda, Yao Ruoyu's original gloomy face couldn't help but disappear, stretched out his hand to signal the other party to be casual, and the latter was not polite, came to sit down next to him, poured a cup of brocade honey water and drank it all, and said with a smile: "What are you looking for me?"

Yao Ruoyu hesitated slightly, and put the information about the bribery of the five ministers on the table: "You take a look at this first." ”

Xu Xuanrong picked up the information and looked at it, raised his eyebrows, and chuckled: "So this is to catch corruption?"

Seeing Yao Ruoyu's helpless face, Xu Xuanrong smiled and said, "I won't tease you, what's the matter, I want to know what those people are going to do?"

"Yes. Yao Ruoyu nodded.

Xu Xuanrong thought for a while and said: "We now have sixteen state capitals in Dawen, except for Yuzhou, Liangzhou, Quzhou, Dazhou, Shunzhou, Suizhou, the candidates for the governors of other states have not been decided, according to the original discussion, the five ministries will meet three days later to discuss the candidates for the governors of various places, so, do you know why those people came to visit us?"

"Got it," Yao Ruoyu groaned slightly, and suddenly frowned, "Then what do you think of this matter? And the bribes they have received over the years?"

"It's normal, the tradition of the Chinese, the company of three people can fight themselves, not to mention that now the scale of Wenbang, when it was still in Hezhou before, there were Wen Party, Bai Party, and Duan Party, we may not care, but how can Bai Qiuyu and Duan Chun not care." ”

Xu Xuanrong picked up a piece of crisp cake and took a bite gently, as if it was sweet, he spit out his little tongue helplessly, and said with a smile: "This selection of governors from all over the country is undoubtedly the best opportunity for all parties to expand their power, how could they miss it." ”

"Among the three parties, our literary party is the first because of your relationship, but Brother Kai went to the Mobile Academy, and I am the only one in the Ministry of Officials, Brother Jie They are either in the Literary and Art Army, or in the Tiance Mansion, and their power in the five departments has shrunk significantly. ”

"The father and son of the Bai family are in charge of the ceremony, the second department of the household, the prestige is strong, and Duan Chun has the support of the Dali relics, the two are equal, and most of them will not come to us for trouble, but they must be superior to each other. ”

"So now, I don't think it's what I think, but what you think," Xiu Mei raised, Xu Xuanrong chuckled, "This is the best opportunity for them to expand their power, and it is also the best time for us to change the situation." ”

Yao Ruo heard the sound of the strings and knew the meaning of elegance, and immediately bowed his head and said, "You want to use the knife against the Bai family?"

Shaking his head, Xu Xuanrong smiled and said: "It's not a knife, Brother Demon, you are more nostalgic, and you will always be very tolerant of your own people, in the past, there was only one place in Hezhou, and we lacked people at hand, so there is no problem in letting the Bai family father and son take charge of the two departments, but now, if they let them have two ministers in the family, it will be too powerful." ”

Yao Ruoyu bowed his head silently, Xu Xuanrong said that he hadn't thought about it, but as she said, the Bai family father and son took the initiative to take refuge when they just occupied Hezhou City, and they were loyal for several years, although the excessive power of their subordinates was not conducive to their own power in charge of Wenbang, but they still couldn't make a decision to do something to them.

Xu Xuanrong cupped his chin and chuckled: "Actually, you don't have to have too much headache, with Brother Kai's temperament, if you know about this, most of you will take the evidence to put Bai Qiuyu in prison, but I'm not as ruthless as him." ”

Glancing at her, Yao Ruoyu smiled, didn't make a sound, and suddenly her cute face was cold, and she said in a condensed voice: "Am I ruthless?"

Yao Ruoyu didn't answer yes or no, but just asked, "So what advice do you have?"

"Although Bai Qiuyu has accepted a huge amount of bribes, after all, he is loyal to you, and there is never a deviation in doing things, Minister Bai does not take many bribes, and he acts uprightly, so he must not use too drastic means, otherwise it is easy to shake the foundation and make people think that we are vain. ”

When Yao Ruoyu heard this, his heart suddenly moved, and he asked, "You say, Old Minister Bai, do you know that Bai Qiuyu took bribes?"

"After all, it's father and son, and they are both ministers of the five departments......" Xu Xuanrong seemed to have an understanding, and said with a smile, "You want to do this?"

"Well," Yao Ruoyu bowed slightly, "The reason why the Bai family is too powerful is because they have two ministers, and if there is only one minister, then there is no need to worry about this problem." ”

"Looks like you've got an idea. Looking at him, Xu Xuanrong smiled.

Smiling slightly, Yao Ruoyu said softly: "Yes, but I still want to thank you, Mengmengda, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't know these things." ”

"Whew! Xu Xuanrong pursed his lips, swept his sleeves, quietly hid a plate of pastries, and said with a smile, "Then I'll go first." ”

Yao Ruoyu nodded, got up and walked her out of the inner court, and then walked towards the Ministry of Rites.

At this time, Bai Junru was discussing with the officials of the Ministry of Rites to order a new city-state etiquette system, and the current Wenbang is not larger than it was back then, so the etiquette system undoubtedly needs to be more refined, and it cannot be as simple as it was back then.

Knowing that Yao Ruoyu was coming, Bai Junru hurriedly went out to greet him, and the two politely exchanged a few words and came to Bai Junru's study together.

Seeing the mountains of copywriting on the table, Yao Ruoyu smiled and said, "Old Minister Bai works hard, but you still have to pay attention to your body, don't work too hard." ”

Bai Junru laughed, twisted his beard and said: "Thank you for your concern, there are many affairs in the New Year, plus we have just occupied Shu, and the government affairs in various places are continuous, but the old minister's body is still healthy, just when the prince came over, the old minister still has something to report." ”

"Old minister, please. Yao Ruoyu said.

Bai Junru took out a roster and handed it over, and said: "The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the day when the vassals of the Great Song Dynasty pay tribute, this is the list of my Dawen's tribute this year, and the list of the members of the tribute team, and I also ask the prince to look at it." ”

Yao Ruoyu raised his eyebrows when he heard this, but he almost forgot that every year the vassals from all over the country would pay tribute to the Song Dynasty, but he had not participated in the past few years, and it was all planned by the Ministry of Rites.

Taking the list and looking at it briefly, Yao Ruo foolishly saw the first name in the list of travelers, and couldn't help but raise his head, and said in surprise: "The old minister plans to lead the team himself?

"The prince doesn't know," Bai Junru smiled, as if he was a little proud, "This year, the third prince will hold a meeting in Bailu Academy to discuss the difference between men and women in politics. ”

Yao Ruoyu didn't know much about ancient official positions, and vaguely remembered that the three dukes seemed to be very powerful officials, but he remembered that the political leaders of the Song Dynasty seemed to be two ministers and six scholars, so where did these three dukes come from?

Afraid of highlighting his ignorance, Yao Ruoyu didn't dare to ask, but sneered: "I have heard for a long time that there are many academies in the Song Dynasty, can this Bailu Academy be ranked first?"

He just asked casually, but Bai Junru seemed to be in trouble, and hesitated for a long time before he replied: "It's hard to argue, there are seven great academies in the Great Song Dynasty, all of which have great Confucian celebrities, and it is difficult to distinguish between them, but in terms of celebrities alone, Bailu Academy can be regarded as the first." ”

Nodding as if he didn't understand, Yao Ruoyu glanced at the servant at the door, Bai Junru also retreated willingly, and then said solemnly: "I don't know if the prince is suddenly here, but there is something important?"

"It's not a big deal. Yao Ruoyu cleared his throat and handed the information about Bai Qiuyu's bribes of nearly 400,000 gold over the years to Bai Junru, who had just flipped through two pages, and his face was already as pale as paper.

Yao Ruoyu waited for a while, and saw that the other party didn't speak, so he could only sigh: "This is submitted by the dark department yesterday, to be honest, when I saw it just now, I was also very shocked, back then, my Dawen was only in Hezhou, Brother Bai has taken bribes so amazingly, and now I am Dawen Xiong in Sichuan and Shu, I am afraid that Brother Bai will take even more huge bribes in private in the future." ”

Bai Junru, who has never been motionless, rarely trembled slightly, the past dynasties have always been ruthless in their punishment for corruption, even if Yao Ruo is foolish and misses the old feelings, the criminal department is no longer the commander of the iron-blooded butcher, but once he is questioned, the loss of official is small, and he is afraid of losing his life.

After being silent for a long time, Bai Junru sighed, silently took off the black gauze hat on his head, knelt down when he came to the table, and said in a deep voice: "The old minister has no way to teach his son, which makes the dog lawless, and makes such a heinous mistake, the son does not teach, the father's fault, the old minister is willing to use the black yarn on his head in exchange for the dog's life, and I hope that the prince will see that the old minister has been diligent and loyal for many years, and he will not cut off my Bai family's incense." ”

When Bai Junru knelt down, Yao Ruoyu instinctively wanted to avoid it, but the next moment, he still sat silently on the chair.

After the other party finished speaking, he bent down to help him up, and said solemnly: "The old minister is serious, I was an enemy of the Xu family back then, and Brother Bai helped the king regardless of his safety. ”

Bai Junru was in a little calm, Yao Ruoyu groaned, and said: "It's just that this matter still needs to be explained to this king, don't hide it from the old minister, the fifth minister, Xu Xuanrong, Duan Chun, Song Kai, and you, I also have a record of accepting bribes over the years." ”

Without waiting for Bai Junru to plead, he had already waved his hand: "When the water is clear, there are no fish, this king still knows this, it is precisely because you all know how to control the measurement, so this king never breaks this matter, but Brother Bai has moved too much over the years, to be honest, Minister Song's report letters have been piled up." ”

patted the thin book, Yao Ruoyu smiled and said: "This information is placed here, rest assured, no matter what, this king will never take Brother Bai's life, but no matter what, the Bai family needs to give this king an explanation after all, and give Wenbang an explanation." ”

Bai Junru sighed, slowly bent down to thank him, and Yao Ruoyu waved his hand and got up to leave.