"Later, we have always been very good, and he wants to help me recognize a noble father-in-law, so that I can get a higher position, even if it is only a concubine in the end." Wei Nong's words came to this point, and he sighed: "As a result, when he went to visit my aunt and uncle and wanted to check my household registration, he found my background and the relics left by my mother...... Later, I became the princess of Qingcheng by mistake and returned to the Yanwang Palace with him. ”

Wei Nong stopped at this point, as if he was waiting for Ming Danshu to take the initiative to wake up to something.

The latter naturally felt quite uncomfortable in his heart, and repeatedly recalled the four words that Nie Xingji said in his mind - "probably not". She wanted to cry, but she refused to give in in front of her rival, so she could only choke up: "You told me this to demonstrate to me?" Or do you want to illustrate how stupid I was back then? ”

"Neither," Wei Nong said calmly, "I wanted to tell you that he is a man of gratitude. He accepted me at first, just to repay the favor, because I was unconditionally invested in the affection, he was willing to reciprocate the affection; Because I don't want it, he will give it to me. ”

Ming Danshu shook her body, and she was already a little unsteady on her feet.

"Actually, you also had this opportunity," Wei Nong said transparently, "Maybe he asked you for marriage at the beginning, because he liked your family background, but you accepted his admiration, and he already wanted to like you...... If you had been willing to marry him against all odds, there would never be a second person in his heart now. ”

Hearing this, Ming Danshu finally felt heartache, staggered a few steps uncontrollably, and fell back into the chair.

And Wei Nong was still calm and composed: "Actually, there is nothing wrong with girls being greedy for vanity, not to mention that at that time, Helian Biyue promised you the position of crown princess, and Ming Xiang did not agree to the marriage of the two of you." In fact, you didn't become the crown princess later, I guess he should be relieved, after all, he doesn't want to embarrass you. ”

Ming Danshu supported her forehead with her hand, wanting to laugh but couldn't: "The night is slightly thick, the tone you say this is like the mistress of Yanwang Palace." She paused, then added, "Oh, but you're there now." ”

"It doesn't matter if I am or not, you won't be anyway." Wei Nong didn't sarcastic, didn't ridicule, just narrated plainly: "Ming Danshu, you have helped him after all and taken care of him for the past five years, I think he must be grateful." But insatiable women, he must not like. ”

"I'm not insatiable!" Ming Danshu choked up proudly, and didn't even explain a word.

"Are you insatiable, what you want, you know, I know, and he knows." Wei Nong pierced sharply: "That's why he handed over the phoenix seal to you, and connived at your small actions in the harem." But don't use kindness as a bargaining chip for affection, it will only kill the last trace of his affection for you. ”

At this point, Ming Danshu finally burst into tears, leaned back on the back of the chair without any manners, and had nothing to say.

"Even if there is a regret pill in this world, you can't afford it. A woman with an impure heart is not worthy of eating. Wei Nong slowly got up from the seat and glanced at her lightly: "For his sake, this is the last time I warn you, if you dare to provoke me again, it's best to fight with your life!" ”

"Now that the phoenix seal is in your hand, you can say anything." Ming Danshu looked up at her, tears and sneering.

"I agreed to take over the phoenix seal in order to let him have peace talks." Wei Nong's expression was firm: "I might as well tell you today, it is imperative for me to clean up the harem." At this point, I will also give you two choices, one is that you ask yourself to be grounded, and I will take you out of this matter; Second, on the basis of facts, we look at the ledger and speak. ”

At this time, Ming Danshu's makeup was already crying, but she still raised her hand to wipe away her tears, and said stubbornly: "Let me bow to you, I can't do it." ”

Wei Nong had no choice but to sigh helplessly: "Ming Danshu, if you lose, you will lose, and if you can't afford to lose, you will be contemptible." ”

*****

From the end of April to the end of July, it took Wei Nong three months to read the account books of the past five years, and she was only cursory, and she was able to find many problems. It seems that Nie Xingji really doesn't ask about the harem, and he only asks about the expenditure of money, otherwise how could there be so many omissions?

In fact, Weinong's account inspection is just an excuse, one is that she is not good at accounting, and the other is that it is impossible to recover the money that has been deducted and embezzled.

What Nie Xingji asked her to do was not to open up sources and reduce expenses for the harem at all, or to accumulate surpluses, but to stabilize people's hearts! Therefore, she is just taking the opportunity of checking accounts to establish her prestige and make an example.

Wei Nong never found out that he could be so aggressive, and in three months, he thoroughly investigated many female officials with thunderous methods, and even used torture. Later, he made up his mind to put Ming Danshu under house arrest, replaced the four directors of the Shangfu Bureau and the Shangshi Bureau, and transferred a director from the Shangyi Bureau and the Shangshu Bureau to temporarily take over the duties. In addition, she also ordered Xiaoxin to take charge of the Sixth Bureau, although there was no will to appoint it, but the main affairs of the Twenty-four Divisions of the Sixth Bureau, Xiaoxin had the right to intervene.

This is the first time in the hundreds of years since the establishment of Yanwang Palace that a female official has overtaken more than 24 divisions and is in charge of six bureaus. It was also from this point in that the original equal status of the six bureaus quietly changed, and in the following years, until the establishment of the Daxi Dynasty, the Shanggong Bureau has always been the head of the six bureaus, although the grades of the directors are the same, but the rankings have been divided before and after.

With the concerted efforts of Xiaoxin and the Shanggong Bureau, Wei Nong found out that there was a huge deficit of money in the six bureaus and twenty-four divisions, and the bad debts began to accumulate since the time of Queen Helian. Among these huge deficits, 10% were used by female officials to subsidize their families, 10% were used to buy land and property, and 30% were taken to the palace to put seals.

Although the sum of these silver coins is huge, the motive for the female officials to embezzle them can be regarded as a small fight, not to mention that the original intention of Wei Nong's account check is to remove a group of palace people who are not right-minded and cannot be used by her, so as to ensure that Nie Xingji will not cause trouble during his departure from the palace. As for who is corrupt and perverts the law, and who is not clean in the hands and feet, this can be left for a slow settlement in the future. So after thinking about it, she decided not to pursue the crime of enriching the female officials for the time being, but the premise is that these people are willing to bow down and admit their mistakes, and from then on they will do things in peace.

In addition, there are still fifty percent of the silver taels that are missing, although the money is from the Sixth Bureau and the Twenty-Four Divisions, but the female officials have no right to use it at all, so the only person who can use it is Ming Danshu.

Wei Nong was shocked when he saw the amount that had been misappropriated. Rao is that she thought that Ming Danshu would fill her own pockets, but she did not expect that it would be diverted for personal use so much, which was beyond her imagination.

Although she said cruel things to Ming Danshu that day, in fact, she didn't plan to punish her harshly, just a warning. A Ming Danshu has been in charge of the phoenix seal for many years, and once severely punished, it will shake the hearts of the harem; The second Ming Danshu is, after all, the concubine of Zhengyipin, and Nie Xingji's person, she still wants to leave the power of disposal to Nie Xingji herself.

But so much money was swallowed by Ming Danshu, and Wei Nong began to feel faintly uneasy, and even if he invited Ming Chenyuan and Xiaoxin to discuss countermeasures, he hesitated whether to conduct a thorough investigation. If you don't check, the loss of money is small, and I am afraid that these money will be retained by Ming Danshu and cause any turmoil in the future; However, if it is thoroughly investigated, it may implicate too wide and cause turmoil in the harem, which goes against Nie Xingji's original intention of letting her take charge of the Phoenix Seal.

Several people were distressed, not knowing what to do, and finally Ming Chenyuan patted the board and said: "Ming Danshu is also half my sister, I know her temper very well, although her heart is high, her knowledge is limited, and she can't make any trouble at all." But after this matter, I advise you to continue to investigate the Inner Chamberlain thoroughly. ”

If it is said that the six bureaus and twenty-four divisions are controlled by female officials, the inner service province is the place where the eunuchs are in charge, responsible for conveying edicts, guarding the palace gate, sprinkling and sweeping the inner court, cashiering the inner treasury and taking care of the king's diet and daily life.

The Court Bureau is responsible for disciplining the palace maids, the Palace Bureau is responsible for sending people to manage the keys, the Xi Official Bureau is in charge of the birth, maintenance, death and burial of Xi Li's laborers, the Internal Servants Bureau is in charge of the chariots of the king and queen, the Inner Government Bureau is responsible for the rewards and payment of officials above the fifth rank in the palace and outside the palace, and the Inner Fang Bureau is specially set up for the prince of the East Palace.

In short, the six bureaus and twenty-four divisions are in charge of all matters in the harem, and the people in charge of the harem are in charge of the province; The six bureaus and twenty-four divisions were all female officials, and the inner chamberlain province was controlled by eunuchs. For a long time, the two institutions have been restrained and relied on each other, competing with each other and supporting each other, and have been able to coexist peacefully until now, because of the differences between men and women. Although, the eunuch is no longer a complete man.

However, the Inner Servant Province is not completely under the jurisdiction of the harem, but mostly obeys the king's orders, even if Wei Nong is in charge of the Phoenix Seal, she can't completely care about the affairs of the Inner Servant Province. Therefore, for Ming Chenyuan's proposal to thoroughly investigate the Inner Servant Province, she did not answer.

But Xiaoxin echoed: "Yes! Our six bureaus and twenty-four divisions are all women, and they can embezzle so many silver taels in five years, not to mention the eunuchs in the palace? For so many years, His Royal Highness has delegated power to the harem, and he is also lavish in money, and he will definitely be exploited! ”

Wei Nong still didn't answer.

"Are you afraid that there will be too much resistance and cause criticism?" Ming Chenyuan could see her hesitation.

"Resistance is only one aspect," Wei Thick worried, "I'm afraid to investigate like this...... There will never be peace in the palace. ”

"Since the investigation is investigated, it will be investigated to the end, and if the means are appropriate, this is also a good opportunity to win people's hearts." Ming Chenyuan took the opportunity to persuade: "Besides, if you think about it, the six bureaus and twenty-four divisions have all been checked, but other places have not been checked, how can the female officials be convinced?" ”

Xiaoxin also nodded again and again: "You check first, if it is an account that is not painful, you can also turn a blind eye, it may not cause much turmoil." Even if it's big, can it be as big as six rounds and twenty-four divisions? ”

However, facts have proved that the deficit of the Inner Service Province is far more serious than that of the 6th Bureau and 24th Division.

Due to the restriction of authority, Wei Nong couldn't investigate thoroughly at all, but he raided and checked for a month, and looked at the surface accounts superficially. But just like this, I found out a lot of problems, and these eunuchs have a lot of appetite than female officials!

(I'm glad to see my intention in writing these chapters, Gong Dou is just a façade, I am paying tribute to Xi Jinping's determination to fight corruption.) In fact, it takes a lot of determination to cut out these deep-rooted corrupt forces. My level is not up to the word "tribute", but I still want to pay my respects in my own way! ）