Temple of Manna.

Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng hurriedly came over, and looked at the several officials who were jointly impeached, all of whom were inextricably related to the Li family of Zhaojun and the Lu family of Fanyang, and a few of them were related to the salt merchants of Chang'an.

After a salute, Li Er gave the joint impeachment document to Fang Xuanling, Fang Xuanling looked at it very carefully, and while thinking about countermeasures, he found that there were three major crimes listed above, crime one, unruly, maliciously reducing prices; Crime 2: Undermining fair competition; Crime three, snowflake salt has never been the same, there are potential food safety hazards, it is recommended to ban it.

After reading it, Fang Xuanling almost laughed out loud, he was very disdainful of this impeachment document, and gave it to Wei Zheng, Wei Zheng was upright, had the people in mind, and saw that he was angry, and after reading it, he handed the document to the chamberlain and returned it to Li Er.

The two secretly exchanged glances and remained indifferent.

Seeing that neither of them spoke, Li Er felt a sense of loss of control, very uncomfortable, and asked in a cold voice: "Let's talk about it, how should this matter be handled?" ”

Fang Xuanling was tired and didn't want to speak.

Wei Zheng was irritable and disdained to talk to the villain who co-signed the book.

Seeing that the two didn't answer, Li Er felt alienated and disliked, and began to name names: "Fang Aiqing, come on, is this snowflake salt really a safety hazard?" ”

Fang Xuanling was angry when he heard it, and when he came up, he asked about the potential safety hazards, not whether he should sell it? Is there malicious competition, this is the rhythm that wants to suppress the snowflake salt, and said coldly: "Back to the saint, the minister wants to ask the colleagues who jointly wrote the letter, is there any evidence to prove that the snowflake salt is poisonous?" ”

After speaking, Fang Xuanling looked at everyone with a cold gaze.

Wei Zheng also locked on everyone, his eyes beating with anger.

Everyone felt the coercion of the two, and suddenly their courage was released, their necks shrank, and their eyes flickered.

"No evidence?" Fang Xuanling asked coldly.

An official stubbornly said: "New things, have not stood the test of time, should be skeptical, if it is poisonous, will it not harm the thousands of people in Chang'an City?" ”

"That's not it." Fang Xuanling said coldly, immediately looked at Li Er, and solemnly said: "Holy Lord, Zhenguan has a cloud, and he is accused of the same crime, a few of them have no evidence, and they will impeach a dynasty and poison the people based on speculation, and it will damage the majesty of the country, the majesty of the court, and the shame of the neighbors. Please also ask the Holy God to be clear, and cure the remainder of the same sin. ”

The words were loud, and the good old man Fang Xuanling was really angry.

The faces of the people changed greatly, and if they were punished for the same crime, they would lose their heads.

Li Er didn't expect Fang Xuanling to react so much, and hurriedly said, "The imperial court can't be convicted for words. ”

"No!"

Wei Zheng's hot temper came up, and he directly said: "Saint, where the duty of the official lies, you can't be convicted for your words, but they are not from my Yushitai, they are not the officials, how can they not care?" As soon as this case is opened, everyone will be like each other, and the court will inevitably compete with each other to make false accusations. ”

On the platform, it is impossible to seize the moral high ground compared to Wei Zheng.

Everyone was shocked by these words and had no way to refute them.

Li Er also looked at Wei Zheng in surprise, and felt like he was lifting a stone to hit his own feet.

After all, Fang Xuanling couldn't bear Li Er's loss of face, and said: "Holy Lord, it is indeed inappropriate to make false accusations without evidence, not to mention false accusations against the prince of a dynasty, of course, you are bent on the safety of the people, you are worried, and it is understandable, how about this crime be revealed?" ”

Li Er went down the steps: "There is no evidence, it is really inappropriate to falsely accuse the prince of one dynasty, it will chill the hearts of all the princes, cause the neighboring countries to laugh, and the people are dissatisfied, this discussion has been revealed, how to deal with the remaining two crimes?" ”

"Holy."

Wei Zheng said dissatisfiedly: "The other two crimes are even more nonsense, ridiculous, let's talk about the first crime, unruly, maliciously reduce the price, a few days ago the price of salt in Chang'an was only ten pounds, and now it is fifteen pounds, is this considered a deliberate price hike, put the people of Chang'an in fire and water, how to deal with such behavior?" ”

After speaking, Wei Zheng's cold gaze swept over everyone, snorted coldly, and continued: "Raising prices, regardless of the life and death of the people, you don't go to the book, and now the Protector sells high-quality snowflake salt at a low price, which benefits the people, and the people are grateful, but you wait and jump out, the official wants to ask, where is your conscience, but you have received the benefits of the salt merchants, say!" ”

"No, Lord Wei, this is slander."

"That's right, Lord Wei can't just guess and list the charges."

Wei Zheng said coldly: "The old man is the doctor of Yushitai, and he has the responsibility of supervising hundreds of officials, it is his duty to ask you to wait a few words, rest assured, when I go back, the old man will start the investigation procedure, but I want to see if you are really clean, and when the old man finds out who took bribes and framed the Duke of Materia Medica, the old man is not finished with him." ”

An official said unconvinced: "There are rules for everything, all merchants in Chang'an City sell at the same price, fair and reasonable, and the sudden price reduction of the Duke of the Protector is a malicious cheap sale, which is detrimental to fairness. ”

"The price is good, the cheaper the thing, the more the people will get

Li, even if there is a big chaos, the old man will write to the court, make a name for those businesses, and reward them with the name of 'righteous businessmen'? Wei Zheng said coldly.

"But this is messed up with the rules, there are no rules, it's no courtesy, rudeness, this person's heart is in chaos, and the world is in chaos." The other party said with a stalk on his neck.

Wei Zheng glared at him and scolded: "It is true that the imperial court governs the people with courtesy, but everything follows the law, governing the country according to the law, and the law of Zhenguan does not stipulate that price increases are not allowed, so the official is helpless to watch the price of salt in Chang'an skyrocket, but there is no provision that the price is not allowed, so it is reasonable and legal for the protector to sell at a low price. Let you wait for success, the price of salt in Chang'an City may not rise to what extent, is it possible that you want to see that the people in Chang'an City can't afford to eat salt, and the world is in chaos? ”

The last sentence is not so much to accuse everyone of the crime and kill people, but to remind Li Er.

Li Er's eyes lit up, realizing the seriousness behind this, and looked at Fang Xuanling.

Fang Xuanling nodded solemnly and said: "Shengshang, the price of salt in Chang'an City is the same every day, ten Wen has risen to fifteen Wen, the extra five Wen can buy a bucket of rice, so that one person can live, what is more terrible is that it is still rising, last year's grain price is vivid, the lesson of the past, the teacher of the future, and now the Huguo Gong has launched low-cost and high-quality snowflake salt, and some people have jumped out to oppose it, obviously it has moved the interests of many people, and please ask the Holy Lord to see." ”

Li Er's face sank, and his eyes flickered.

The hall suddenly fell silent, a little more depressed.

After a while, Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng secretly exchanged glances, where could they not see that this impeachment was by no means so simple as competition, and there were other calculations hidden behind it, but they were not broken.

"Let's talk about this matter again, step aside." Li Er's voice sounded, with a little indifference and a little dissatisfaction.

The people withdrew and left.

Out of the Ganlu Palace, Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng hung strangely behind the other officials, and when they opened up some distance, Wei Zheng reminded in a low voice: "Fang Xiang, this impeachment is probably the order of the Holy Lord, at least tacitly, it is intended to support the Li clan of Zhaojun and the Lu clan of Fanyang, and cultivate new forces to compete with the old ministers." ”

Fang Xuanling nodded, did not answer, and was already in the line.

Auxiliary Li Er for many years, how can he not understand Li Er's style? Use the price of salt to suppress Qin Huaidao, knock on the old city, and then use the interests of the salt price to support a new force to contend and achieve balance, the art of the emperor.

It's a pity that it was Qin Huaidao who met this time, Fang Xuanling was not optimistic about Li Er's methods, but he couldn't guess why Qin Huaidao suddenly did this, and after a moment of silence, he whispered: "Go to Qinjiazhuang after getting off duty?" ”

"It's good!"

Wei Zheng nodded knowingly.

Neither of them knew that just after everyone left, a young woman came to the Ganlu Palace, holding a bowl of lotus seed porridge, walking with money, looking forward to the brilliance, the watery eyes can make people willing to jump in and drown, and smile smartly: "Saint, the weather is hot, and the concubine boils some lotus seed porridge, which can defeat the fire." ”

"Martial arts, let it go." Li Er said with a calm face.

The woman smiled lightly, and no longer persuaded her, put the lotus seed porridge aside, and continued: "Holy Lord, the concubine wants to go out to the palace to buy some things, and ask the Holy Lord's permission. ”

"What are you going to do out of the palace?" Li Er asked rhetorically.

The other party showed a shy expression and explained: "Holy Lord, the concubine heard that the Protector can afford salt for the people, it is obviously a rare snowflake salt, I have never seen it, it is extremely precious, but it is sold to the people at a low price and at a loss, saving the people from fire and water, it is really benevolent and righteous, the concubine can't bear to lose too much, and I want to buy some at a high price, and it can be regarded as helping the Protector to make up for some losses, I don't know if it's good?" ”

Yixi's words are full of kindness, for the sake of protecting the country, but they hide endless killing intent.

"Save the people from fire and water?" Li Er muttered and waved his hand.

The young woman smiled lightly and turned to leave, a touch of coldness flashed in Gu Pan's bright eyes.

Li Er watched the woman leave, his eyes became more and more gloomy, and he continued to mumble to himself: "What do you want to do when you save the people from fire and water, and buy people's hearts?" Where do I go? ”

A wave of grievance and anger surged into his heart, and the next moment, Li Er's eyes burst with light: "Come on, pass on the decree to the county government, and the price of salt will be adjusted to three wen a catty." ”