As soon as Li Kuan's educational preparations were ready for the school's books, Wei Zheng sent a letter back, and something big happened.

There have been corruption cases and major corruption cases in Hebei, and it is estimated that the funds will be 4 million yuan.

Li Kuan was called into the palace overnight, and Li Chengqian entered with him.

Li Shimin directly gave the two of them the right to transfer troops, and transferred 8,000 people from the 16th Guard as a basis to investigate the case.

After Wei Zheng found out about this situation, he did not conduct an in-depth investigation in the place, but only sent back news.

Hebei Province is the granary of the north, and it is the foundation of the Tang Dynasty to control the grain prices in the north.

Li Kuan and Li Chengqian set out overnight, killed Hebei Province without anyone reacting, controlled all the local officers in Hebei Province on the spot, collected the low-level government soldiers, and directly controlled the military.

Officials large and small in Hebei were controlled and all operations were stopped.

The arrival of Li Kuan and Li Chengqian directly told those officials that we were not here to investigate the case, but to quell the rebellion.

Wei Zheng laid out the evidence he had gathered, and then interrogated him from person to person.

Everyone didn't admit it, so Wei Zheng told them indifferently, if you don't admit it and don't report it, then I will kill one and keep the other, and those who stay will be exiled en masse.

There is definitely corruption.

Because the output of the grain processing plant in Hebei Province is there, the actual production volume is seven percentage points higher than that of the reporting state.

And after comparing the actual data, it started from the tenth year of Zhenguan.

In other words, they did a series of activities to promote output, such as technological innovation and institutional change, but the increased output did not go into the hands of the state, but mysteriously disappeared.

Where did that go, it's very easy to check.

As for where the money went, it was also very easy to check.

The money bank checked the bills one by one.

Nearby Taoist temples, large chambers of commerce check orders.

Under the deterrence of force from the central government, this case was easily detected.

Then Wei Zheng led Li Kuan and Li Chengqian to meet the mastermind behind the scenes.

An old man who followed Li Shimin in the year of Wu De.

This old man after seeing Wei Zheng, Li Chengqian, and Li Kuan.

After seeing the handwritten letter sent by Li Shimin urgently sent by Wei Zheng, he was directly silent and gave it all out.

"Because I'm old and don't want to work hard, I want to leave enough wealth for future generations."

Facing the existence of this uncle, Li Kuan and Li Chengqian glanced at each other, the two of them came only to learn, not to speak.

Wei Zheng's words in the face of him were directly trembling and cold.

"Zong Xian, I think you just have too many good days, and you are too lazy to live."

"Datang's integrity system has been doing, and the family property you have accumulated over the years is enough for your family to run for several lifetimes."

"If I remember correctly, when you went out of Chang'an to take up your post, Your Majesty personally saw you off, and every year when Your Majesty gave benefits to his cronies, you were not missing."

"Are you worthy of him by doing this?"

Wei Zheng hated it.

The old man's name was Shang Zongxian, a name that Li Kuan had never heard of.

Li Shimin, whom he met in middle age, followed Li Shimin to fight the country.

Before meeting Li Shimin, he had been depressed and unwilling, but he was personally promoted by Li Shimin.

Li Shimin's biggest advantage is that he is partial to his own people, so when he selects officials, he basically holds that there is not much difference in ability, and his own lineage is the first.

Shang Zongxian ascended to the throne under this circumstance.

After being scolded by Wei Zheng, Shang Zong opened his mouth first, smiled bitterly, and said nothing.

As soon as Li Kuan and the others returned to their place of residence, news came that a large number of officials had collectively laid off themselves.

It's basically all involved.

Among the people in charge of state-owned factories and mines, those who had followed Li Shimin have also been laid off.

The rest of those who didn't die and begged for mercy didn't follow Li Shimin.

This situation can be described as quite awkward.

Wei Zheng just sneered and didn't say anything.

At night, Li Chengqian came to Li Kuan's room.

looked at Li Chengqian, who was full of sorrow, and raised his eyebrows, Li Kuan didn't know what he was doing.

"They are all His Majesty's old subordinates, and it can be seen from their self-judgment that they still remember Your Majesty, why do they want to be corrupt?"

Faced with this inquiry, Li Kuan smiled, shrugged his shoulders, and pondered: "Maybe it's the lard that blinds the heart." ”

Li Chengqian was stunned and felt that this answer was very nonsense.

Li Shimin is still kind, knowing that after these people cut themselves, he did not hold their families accountable, but only confiscated the family property and recovered the money.

But the eldest grandson Wuji personally wrote a letter and asked Li Kuan to pack up these people's families and send them to the frontier.

Those who had relatives in Central Asia were sent over, and those who did not were divided among the ministers of the DPRK and China and sent to their own islands.

Basically, it's taken care of.

Although the family property was confiscated, Wei Zheng didn't know where to get a sum of money, which was almost equivalent to half of their family property and distributed it to them.

To be honest, Li Kuan didn't like this kind of treatment without repeating the code.

The corruption case in Hebei Province was basically dealt with by this time.

But Li Chengqian and Li Kuan were not let go by Wei Zheng, and the two were arrested together to strengthen their labor to maintain the local work.

Looking at Wei Zheng, who was sitting in the top position to deal with the work, the corners of Li Kuan's mouth twitched: "There is still a lot of work to be done in the three provinces, and I want to go back to Chang'an." ”

Wei Zheng glanced at Li Kuan, sneered, and said disdainfully: "Impossible." ”

"There is Fang Xuanling and Ma Zhou in the three provinces, and it is not your turn to intervene."

"And there is a group of people such as Xiao Yu in Chang'an City who can be on standby at any time."

After Wei Zheng finished speaking, he probably also felt that it was not good to speak like this, after all, it was a strong labor, so he didn't say anything anymore.

After the evening was over, Wei Zheng led the two to a temple.

The hundred-year-old temple is not famous, and there are only seven or eight old monks and more than two dozen young monks in it.

They planted a field of their own to feed themselves and drink.

Wei Zheng led them all the way to the temple's Hall of the Dead.

There's a bunch of tablets there.

"Many of the tablets enshrined here are the tablets of the fallen soldiers who fought in Hebei that year."

Wei Zheng said softly after finishing the incense.

Li Kuan and Li Chengqian glanced at each other, not knowing what he meant.

Wei Zheng took the two of them to wander around the temple, stopped in front of the clay Buddha statue again, and spoke again: "As the Tang Dynasty gets better and better, many problems will gradually be revealed. ”

"What do you think is the reason for this kind of big corruption this time?"

Faced with this question, Li Chengqian and Li Kuan looked at each other again, and Li Chengqian motioned to Li Kuan to say, but he was too lazy to say.

"It's a matter of personal morality and a depraved mind after losing the future."

Wei Zheng glanced at Li Kuan in surprise and laughed in a low voice: "The answer you said is the most interesting I have ever heard. ”

"It's what I feel the most right."

Shrugging his shoulders, Li Kuan also felt that what he said was right, there was nothing wrong.

"Tell me why you think so."

Wei Zheng's questioning made Li Kuan not like it very much, but he still said quickly: "Shang Zongxian and others were also heroes when they were young, and they also shed blood for this country and His Majesty. ”

"Even in the troubled times of that year, they were not afraid of the life and death crisis in the face of the siege of the army, and they once slapped the table and glared at Pei Lin and others in order to fight for a little benefit for the people."

"At that time, they could say a word of hero."

Wei Zheng nodded, that's right, he had worked with him and knew the state of these people.

Li Kuan took a deep breath and continued: "But all this changed after four years of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty, the people's lives became better, their young wishes came true, and their moral values began to change. ”

"As they get older, the room for growth becomes smaller and smaller, and they can only live on the merits of the past, and their moral sense completely collapses, and at this time they probably only think about how to enjoy."

"I checked, Shang Zongxian has to go to Luoyang once a year and enjoy it there fiercely, and this time the expenses are directly in the tens of thousands."

Li Kuan said, with a touch of sadness in his eyes.

The hero died in Gentle Township.

Wei Zheng nodded and said softly, "You're right, they all died under time. ”

As he spoke, Wei Zheng began to look at the coarse linen clothes on his body.

Even he occasionally comes up with the idea of wanting to enjoy it.

"So how do you think this should be solved?"

Li Chengqian, who was next to him, suddenly opened his mouth to interrupt the emotion of the two.

After thinking for a while, Li Kuan said softly: "What I can think of now is the unspoken rule within the family, retirement." ”

"When they reach a certain age, they force officials to retire and make room for them."

This answer made Wei Zheng laugh, and Li Chengqian also laughed.

Forced retirement, this is a bit difficult.

Who can give up the glory and riches in their hands?

(End of chapter)