It is a very old river, no one knows how many years it has flowed from west to east, and no one knows how many times it has burst its banks and diverted its course, but no matter how young it is, the water in this river will still rush to the eastern wilderness, where the sun rises.

Although there are often things that break the embankment and divert the route, but the north and south of the water are fertile for thousands of miles, and the two mountain ranges from north to south form a figure of eight to protect the city of the water in it, with such a shape of victory, the water is an extremely important grain producing area of the Great Zhao, and it is the case in all dynasties.

Since the day of the Great Zhao Dynasty, the imperial court has relied particularly heavily on the grain production along the water, and it is good to encounter the year when the wind and rain are good, but once the wind and rain are out of tune and cause the flood to rag, the grain production will inevitably be greatly reduced that year, so one of the things that the imperial court is most afraid of is to burst the embankment.

When the emperor ruled the world with benevolence and virtue, he has always regarded the people's livelihood as very important, and this time he rebuilt the embankment of the river, in order to ensure the well-being of the people, and also to consolidate the big granary of the imperial court, but the Ministry of Industry has always done things safely, although the emperor heard that the official sent to supervise this matter is the new Xi Qing, but he has a good impression of the Xi family, so he has no opinion.

Moreover...... The Ministry of Industry has already had a complete plan for such a major event as the construction of river embankments, and sending individuals to supervise it is only to show the importance of the matter, and nothing can go wrong at all.

Everyone in the court, including the emperor and Xi Qing, thought so. Only Xi Yan and Qi An know that the seemingly stable and smooth water draining matter has long been undercurrent surging under its peaceful surface, but I don't know if Xi Qing, who is in it, has noticed the urgency before the storm is coming?

At this time, Xi Qing was a glamorous appearance in the eyes of outsiders, and he was appointed by the DPRK and China for such an important matter less than half a year after taking office...... But only Xi Qing himself understands what kind of situation he is in now.

Most of the time the days in late spring are still clear, and the scenery of the water is even more so. Although the skylight was very good, Xi Qing had no intention of feeling it......

That's right, too. If you are in a gloomy mood, how can you feel the beauty of spring?

In the slightly dim study, Xi Qingzheng sat on a nanmu chair, his back was very straight, but his hands were tightly grasping the armrests on both sides of the chair, and the joints of his fingers turned blue and white due to too much force...... His teeth clenched, his chest slumped together, and his eyes burned like fire......

He couldn't figure out why he suffered such a big loss in Lingjiang? Why did it happen so suddenly? Why did almost all of his savings for many years fall into Xi Yan's hands? Why did such a fatal thing happen when I was desperate?

After thinking about it for a long time, Xi Qing didn't come to any result. Gu Zhiyuan was not around these days, and he had to make up his own mind about many trivial things, and only then did he realize how much he usually relied on Gu Zhiyuan......

Although he already has some handles for Xi Yan in his hands, he is still too busy to take care of himself, how can he attack Xi Yan again? Xi Qing is really holding his breath now, as long as he thinks that all his savings in the past few years have fallen into Xi Yan's hands, he can't wait to break Xi Yan's body into pieces immediately.

Thinking of this, he grabbed a teacup and threw it to the ground, the teacup fell to the ground with a clatter, so frightened that the maid standing aside trembled, and did not dare to come and clean it up without being instructed.

But the nest fire is the nest fire, Gu Zhiyuan is not there, and Xi Qing still has to do many things he is reluctant to do.

When Chen Yueze presented the details of the income and expenditure of the construction of the water to Xi Qing's table, Xi Qing's pupils suddenly contracted, and he saw that on the income page, the silver taels produced by the Xi family were much larger than those of the other families...... According to the rules of Da Zhao, if the Ministry of Industry wants to build projects related to people's livelihood, in addition to the routine appropriation of the Ministry of Households, the family must also take out some silver taels to support the administration of the imperial court. First, it is to serve the court, and secondly, it is also to gain a good reputation among the people.

Originally, this kind of thing was not stipulated in the law, but during the time of Emperor Taizu, the major families did not hesitate to waste money for the sake of fame, which was not only satisfactory to the emperor, but also well-known among the people. Over time, this has become an unwritten rule, and if any one of them does not come out or goes out less, they may suffer from the cold eyes of the emperor and the ridicule of other families.

The Xi family has always acted inconspicuously, but this time, ...... Inevitably, there are too many of them. Xi Qing looked at this very conspicuous number, and unconsciously frowned deeply.

"Why does the Xi family come out so much?"

Chen Yueze lowered his head slightly, this person who had been up and down in the officialdom for a long time always looked humble in front of his boss. He is forty-six years old this year, and the fine lines at the corners of his eyes indicate that he is no longer young, although he has worked hard in the sea for many years, he is still only a petty official of the seventh grade, although the official rank is not high, but Chen Yueze is responsible for such an important matter as material procurement in the matter of water washing.

Chen Yueze thought about it for a while, and then muttered: "Originally, the Xi family was similar to the other three families, but the third prince added 200,000 taels half a month ago, and the silver of the Huan State Houfu was also listed in the name of the Xi Mansion, so the Xi family will have more than the other three." ”

"Why?"

"What, why?" Chen Yueze was in a trance for a moment, and then understood what Xi Qing was asking, of course Xi Qing was asking why Xi Yan would add 200,000 taels, and then thinking back to Xi Qing's tone just now, Chen Yueze couldn't help but shake his head secretly, it seems that ...... This Xi clan is also inevitably broom-fighting......

"The third prince said that he had been away from Chongdu for three years, and he had been on the side of Lingjiang and had failed to serve the imperial court, so this time he had the opportunity, so he naturally wanted to contribute more to the imperial court...... I heard that Xue Shangshu of the household department praised the third prince for his good character and high character. ”

Hearing these words, Xi Qing was so angry that he was dizzy, what to serve the court, what a glorious moon! It's all! The 200,000 taels in Xi Yan's hand were obviously snatched from himself! Fortunately now, I am fortunate to have worked hard to manage all the savings I have earned over the years, and I have all made a wedding dress for Xi Yan...... But Xi Qing was angry, and he still behaved very calmly on his face.

Xi Qing nodded slightly, casually flipping through the booklet, which was not too thick. Suddenly, his eyes fell on a few lines of inconspicuous small words......

"You go down first," Xi Qing didn't raise his eyes, and instructed Chen Yueze, "I'll have to look at this detail for a few more days, and if anything is unclear, I'll call you again." ”

Chen Yueze knew that most of the sons from these big families had some problems with high self-esteem, but he was a transparent person, so he naturally wouldn't take these little things to heart, for him, power, status, fame and fortune were even more important than dignity, although he was only a seven-grade petty official, but this did not mean that he did not think of the idea of entering the Taiji Hall in Chongdu City.

After Chen Yueze left, Xi Qing's mind couldn't help but start to come alive. During this time, he had already lost too much, hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, even in the Xi family, which was piled up with gold and jade, it could not be regarded as a small amount; In addition to this silver, Xi Yan's official position is already above him, and he has won a good reputation among the government and the opposition through the matter of transferring money from the water......

If you don't do anything about it, I'm afraid that you will fall too far behind in this struggle...... It's just that Xi Qing is still weighing, in order to reverse the situation that he has fallen behind, is it worth it?