When they heard the name Chen Yueze, everyone in the hall was shocked, and Xi Yan, who was standing by the side, was no exception.

Everyone present knew how much of a role Chen Yueze played in the water dumping incident, he was only a seven-grade official, but he dared to be greedy for more than 500,000 taels of silver, and the whereabouts of the silver taels he was greedy for were unknown...... Unexpectedly, this woman with a vegetable-like face would be Chen Yueze's widow.

"You said you were Chen Yueze's wife?" The emperor's face was cold, but he was still stunned in his heart, thinking that the water burst was just because the officials were greedy for ink, but now it seems that there is a greater involvement.

"What do you have to do with it? Chen Yueze's crime of embezzling ink is indefensible. ”

Yu Shi knocked again and said, "Back to Your Majesty, it is true that the deceased husband is greedy for ink, but he is not the mastermind of the corruption case...... In this, there is another hidden secret! ”

"What's the secret?" The emperor was already suspicious of the matter of greedy ink, and at this time, Yu said that there was another reason, and he was even more suspicious in his heart, and said with a cold face, "I want you to say one by one, if there is no untruth, it will be the crime of deceiving the king." ”

"The women don't dare to bully the king," Yu's voice was mournful, touching the ground with his forehead, and kowtowing again, "The reason why the deceased husband Chen Yueze was greedy for ink was because he was persecuted, and the deceased husband was afraid of power, so he had to embezzle the court silver." ”

"Presumptuous! Who would dare to persecute the imperial court!? The emperor was already furious at this time, and his palm slapped heavily on the imperial case, "You tell me, who is it!?" ”

Seeing that the emperor was so agitated, Yu Shi was even more sad: "The deceased husband was originally the governor of Huai'an Mansion, and at the end of last year, he was implicated in the Northwest ink corruption case, and he should have been demoted to the border pass, but the deceased husband was nearly half a hundred years old, and he didn't want to go back to such a bitter cold place." After being stunned for a while, the deceased husband asked the eldest son of the Jing family for help. ”

"Help?" Hearing what Yu said involved important officials in the court, the emperor's heart tightened, and his piercing gaze was fixed on Yu's face. After waving his hand and getting rid of the unrelated people, the emperor asked again, "Why did Chen Yueze ask for Jing Yuan's head?" How can Jing Yuan help him? ”

"The deceased husband used to serve under Jing Gongzi, and when the deceased husband was demoted last year, he personally went to Jing Gongzi's mansion for help. Jing Gongzi promised his deceased husband to transfer him to serve in Shuishui, but the condition was that the deceased husband would give him 500,000 taels. ”

"Chen Yueze is just a seven-grade petty official in the water, how can it be worth 500,000 taels? This is not true. ”

"The women of the people dare not deceive Your Majesty!" Yu raised his eyes and saw that the emperor's face was gloomy, and he hurriedly banged his head, "At that time, Jing Gongzi already knew that the imperial court was going to build an embankment in the water, so he transferred the deceased husband to the position of the water pipe, and secretly used means to make the water water too shou let the deceased husband be responsible for the purchase in the matter of building the embankment. ”

Hearing this explanation, the emperor's face was even more gloomy like a dark cloud before the snow, but he was still thinking...... After all, this is only Yu's one-sided statement, which is not enough as evidence. And the Jing family is also very well-behaved during this time, and it has been much more restrained than in the previous two months...... If you make a big move at this time, then the balance that you have managed to establish with great difficulty...... For a while, the emperor was quite uncertain.

Xi Yan saw the emperor's thoughts at this time, so he spoke up: "Your Majesty, the case of embezzlement of ink in the northwest occurred at the end of last year, but the matter of damping water and building embankments was decided after the year. Besides, Jingyuan is in the northwest, so it stands to reason that he will not be so clear about the construction of the embankment a year ago...... Could this be a false accusation? ”

"The folk woman doesn't dare," Yu kowtowed, and said in a continuous voice, "What the folk woman said is true, Jing Gongzi not only made the deceased husband greedy for 500,000 taels of ink in the matter of water draining, but also secretly instructed the deceased husband to put the responsibility of greedy ink on the person in charge once the East Window incident happened!" ”

The emperor let out a gloomy "um", turned to Xi Yan and said, "You haven't entered the court at the end of last year, and you don't know that the matter of water washing actually started preparations a year ago. Falsely accused...... She didn't dare. ”

When Xi Yan mentioned this, the emperor remembered one thing, Jing Yuan had been in the northwest before the year, even if preparations had begun before the year before, but the only people who knew about it were the officials of the imperial court in Chongdu...... Jing Yuan would have known about this matter so early, and he could still stretch out his hand to the ministry. Thinking of this, the emperor's already gloomy face darkened by three points.

"I see, it's the minister's negligence," Xi Yan nodded thoughtfully, and said in a deep voice, "But this matter is too important, although Chen Yueze's widow has the courage to cry out in shock, but there is no evidence." ”

Yu, who had been kneeling on the ground, seemed to be suddenly touched at this time, and said abruptly and rudely: "There is evidence!" There is proof! At the same time, she put her hand into her arms and took out something, but because of the trembling caused by nervousness, Yu did not take out the "evidence" she said for a while.

The Emperor watched Yu's series of faux pases with displeasure, and it was not until his face was already evident that he took out a book that was not too thick from the placket of his coat.

Yu Shi held this book with trembling hands and some curled corners, and her voice trembled slightly like her hands, "The deceased husband hid the confession and some letters he wrote in his own hands in the pages of this book before his death. ”

The emperor was a little upset at this time, even if Chen Yueze committed a big crime, he only needed to go to the Criminal Department or the Imperial History Observatory to present his guilt, so why bother to stop and shout injustice.

"Your Majesty didn't know, after the deceased husband was afraid of the crime and self-judged, Jing Gongzi didn't know where to learn about the existence of this book, and actually sent someone to the house to kill the people's women, but fortunately, the people's women escaped in disguise, so they fled all the way to the capital. The deceased husband confessed to the women before his death, and he should not be blamed in the Criminal Department or the Imperial History Tower, only His Majesty can protect the women in the world! ”

Yu's words are true. After the water burst the embankment, although Chen Yueze committed suicide in fear of crime, Jing Yuan already knew that Chen Yueze had told the Yu family about the conspiracy between the two, and was afraid that the Yu family would tell them about their conspiracy to embezzle ink in a panic, so he sent a killer to Chen Yueze's mansion to kill Yu's mouth. It's a pity that the killer hasn't arrived yet, and the Yu family has already escaped first.

The evidence in Yu's hand was presented to the imperial case by the eunuch, and the emperor looked over page by page, his already gloomy face became more and more gloomy, and when he saw the next few pages, the emperor's beard was already trembling with anger. For a while, the atmosphere in the entire hall was extremely depressed, not only did the Yu clan still kneel in place in fear, but the rest of the people also stood solemnly with their hands down.

In this depressing and quiet atmosphere, the emperor finally couldn't bear it anymore, grabbed the smoker on the imperial case and threw it to the ground, the ambergris incense in the furnace burned Zhenghuan, and after the rage, the emperor found that his hands had been burned by the smoker.

"Your Majesty!" The inner eunuch exclaimed and rushed over to hold the emperor's hand in his hand, while sending the little eunuch to pass on the eunuch, and before the little eunuch reached the door of the palace, the emperor shouted again, "Come back!" No one is allowed to leave! ”

The emperor was still trembling with anger at this time, and the eunuch patted his chest and beat his back, and it took a while for the emperor to calm down a little, "Go...... Go get Jing Yuan, you fanatic! He, how dare he be so rebellious! ”

"Your Majesty," Xi Yan saw that the emperor was using the word "take", and bowed, "Jing Yuan is now a book, if he is directly arrested in front of the emperor...... I'm afraid that when the DPRK and the central government ascend, there will be a lot of discussion, and the ministers are really a little panicked. ”

As soon as Xi Yan said this, everyone in the hall looked at him in amazement...... The emperor was furious, and he couldn't imagine that this Xi Gongzi would dare to speak out to dissuade him. The eunuch also stood uncertainly, and the hall was silent again, waiting for the emperor's decision.

The emperor had just made a decision in anger, but after all, as an emperor, the emperor slowly calmed down...... At this moment, he had already begun to think about it, although the Yu family presented Chen Yueze's confession, but this was not enough to convict Jing Yuan, after all, the 500,000 taels of silver that was greedy for ink still had not been found, if he didn't care about taking Jing Yuan to the imperial front...... I'm afraid that the court, which is not very stable, is about to explode again.

Thinking of this, the emperor said "um", "Then I won't go yet, but ...... Xi Yan, what do you think of this matter? ”

Xi Yan saluted the emperor and said: "The minister has been transferred from the criminal department, and the minister of such an important case does not dare to put his beak at will." ”

"But it doesn't hurt for you to say," the Emperor raised his hand to signal him to get up, "what I am asking now is what you think, and it has nothing to do with your position. ”

"Yes," Xi Yan groaned slightly, thinking about Qingyue Road in the rear, "The minister thinks that Jing Yuan is also a hard worker in the matter of rectifying military affairs in the northwest." How could Jing Yuan dare to commit such a serious crime as greed for ink for no reason? Besides, if His Majesty wants to investigate the case, it will take some time to find out, and he is not in a hurry to deal with Jing Yuan at this time. ”

As soon as Xi Yan said this, the emperor could naturally think of the limelight that the Jing family had been in the court these days, and he could also naturally think that Jing Yuan's status today was all made by him...... The Jing family has recently begun to calm down the edge, but the felony of greedy ink ...... It is still not to be easily tolerated.

"Well," the Emperor thought for a moment, frowning, "what do you mean...... Don't dispose of him for the time being? ”

Xi Yan took a step forward slightly, bowed his head and said: "Please think about it, Your Majesty, Jing Yuan is a secretary of the military department and a member of the third grade, if you dispose of him with only this confession, it will be a little slow." When His Majesty secretly verifies the case, if what Yu said is true, there will naturally be three divisions to try it; If the Yu family did make false accusations, they could naturally return Jing Yuan's innocence. ”

Xi Yan said this very neutrally, and the emperor thought about it carefully, and found that he really couldn't find a more appropriate way at the moment, so he bowed slightly: "Anyway, it will take some time to investigate the case, and I am not in a hurry at this time." ”

Before the words were finished, the emperor looked at Xi Yan with a slightly affirmative gaze, "I only transferred you to the army a few days ago...... But I am the Son of Heaven, and I can't change my order overnight, and you will be wronged for a while. ”

Xi Yan lowered his head slightly, bowed and said, "The minister is not aggrieved, but I wish to serve His Majesty." ”

The emperor said "um", and his eyes intimidated everyone in the hall, "In today's affairs in the palace, no one is allowed to miss a word." If anyone dares to leak out, it will be regarded as the sin of great rebellion. ”

As soon as these words came out, the hall was silent again.

The Emperor leaned back on the armrest of his seat slightly tiredly and gently rubbed his eyebrows, he was indeed a little tired...... Since the end of this year, too many things have happened in the DPRK and China, and he himself is no longer as high-spirited as he was when he was younger. The emperor looked at the afterglow of the sun outside the hall, and his heart suddenly became desolate.