After a while, several soldiers brought Li Xiong and Kou Fei up.

Li Xiong and Kou Fei stood and bowed, "May I ask my lord, what are you looking for us?"

Zhao Guangyi asked, "This letter accusing Steward Zhang, but you two wrote it?"

Li Xiong picked up the letter on the ground and looked at it, and then saw Zhang Taoguo kneeling on the ground. No matter who handed over the letter to Zhao Guangyi, at least it coincided with the meaning of the two of them, so Li Xiong said: "That's right, this is indeed written by the two of us." Master, we just want to report Zhang Taoguo's father and son, collusion between officials and businessmen, and corruption and perversion of the law. ”

Zhang Taoguo quibbled: "Wronged, master." Li Xiong and Kou Fei, who have been the procurement of the Prime Minister's Mansion in the past few years, have been short of catties and shortages in private, shoddy, and have taken a lot of kickbacks. ”

Zhao Guangyi asked Li Xiong and Kou Fei again: "Li Xiong Kou Fei, have you two done this?"

Li Xiong argued: "No, master, we have been working innocently in the Prime Minister's Mansion in the past few years. It was Steward Zhang's dog who jumped over the wall in a hurry and wanted to accuse the two of us. ”

Kou Fei also trembled and said, "Yes, master, it was Steward Zhang who falsely accused us. ”

Zhang Taoguo scolded: "You two are really shameless. How many things have you deducted over the years, how many kickbacks have you taken, don't think I don't know. The shopkeeper of Liao Ji Rice Shop, Boss Zheng of Wang's Silk, and Boss Li of Jixiang Goods Store, they are all witnesses, do you two want to repay the debts like this?"

Zhao Guangyi asked solemnly: "You two confess honestly, but is there such a thing?"

Li Xiong and Kou Fei were so frightened that they both knelt on the ground, and Li Xiong said: "Master, we admit that there is indeed such a thing, but the kickbacks we take are very small, not as much as Steward Zhang, who sold officials and received bribes. ”

Zhao Guangyi heard this. His eyes widened and he asked in shock: "He is a traitor? He is just a housekeeper, where does he get the power to sell officials?"

Li Xiong said: "Master, you don't know, in the past few years, Steward Zhang has taken advantage of the opportunity by your side to recommend the officials to you, and all of them have accepted silver taels from others. ”

Zhao Guangyi asked in disbelief, "What you said, but the truth?"

"It's true, sir, Steward Zhang sold his official position and accepted a huge amount of silver taels. Although his son Zhang Qianmei was only a merchant, he purchased goods for the imperial court, and the Persian carpets he bought were all shoddy and defective, and they illegally obtained a lot of silver taels, and they are now secretly planning to abscond with the silver two rolls. Li Xiong confessed one by one.

Zhao Guangyi listened to the content of several people's reports against each other, and slapped the table fiercely in anger.

At this time, Elk Tairong stepped forward. said to Zhao Guangyi: "Prime Minister, the recovered silver has been counted. ”

Zhao Guangyi asked, "How many?"

Elk Tai Rongxuan lowered his head and said embarrassedly: "There is... One million taels. ”

Zhao Guangyi was shocked, and hurriedly asked, "What? How many? Say it out loud again." ”

Elk Tairong repeated loudly: "Back to the Prime Minister." and a million taels of silver. ”

When Zhao Guangyi heard this, he was so frightened that he took a few steps back, slumped in his chair and said, "What?

Elk Tairong preached: "Yes, Prime Minister. It took hundreds of us brothers hours to order it. ”

Zhang Taoguo thought to himself, fortunately, he was prepared. He brought a few Cantonese merchants on board. So he took out the rhetoric that he had prepared a long time ago and quibbled: "My lord, this money is not mine, it is the money of those merchants, they said that they would go to Persia to buy green glaze and come back to fire new porcelain bottles, and then sell them back to Persia and other countries to earn more wealth for my Han." ”

Li Xiong saw Zhang Taoguo so quibbling, so he asked him, "Since the money is not yours, then why did you run away?"

Kou Fei also chimed in: "Yes, I still want to take Mei'er with me." Hmph, don't think about it. ”

Zhao Guangyi asked, "What you said is true?"

Kou Fei said: "It's true, master, don't hide it from you, master, in fact, Li Xiong and I both like Mei'er very much, but Steward Zhang insisted on taking Mei'er away." Last time, I followed Steward Zhang at Jufu Restaurant with Li Xiong, and I heard him discuss with the Persian merchant how to escape. Buying green glaze is just a pretense, he just wants to abscond with the money. ”

When Zhang Taoguo heard this, he suddenly realized. It turned out that Li Xiong and Kou Fei did not report themselves because they extorted 10,000 taels of silver, but because they wanted to take away their sweetheart, and they held a grudge.

At this time, a soldier came over and said to Zhao Guangyi: "Prime Minister, those merchants have already confessed, they said that they just listened to Steward Zhang's advice and went to Persia to have a look first, and did not bring money out, and the silver is Steward Zhang's own." ”

When Zhao Guangyi heard this, he said very angrily: "Zhang Taoguo, what else do you have to say now?"

Zhang Taoguo slumped on the ground and said, "The matter has come to this, I have nothing to say." ”

"Tell me honestly, how did you get so much money, and you haven't made it clear to me yet. Zhao Guangyi reprimanded angrily.

Zhang Taoguo said lightly: "Most of this money was obtained by me in the past few years, taking advantage of the opportunity by your side to ask those officials. ”

Zhao Guangyi asked, "Who did you collect money from?"

"40,000 taels of Lord Wei of the Ministry of Rites, 50,000 taels of Lord Zhou of the Ministry of Households, and 30,000 taels of Lord Xinzhou Thorn Shi Tong..."

After a while, Zhao Guangyi finally couldn't help but say: "Enough, these people are now important ministers of the imperial court, and they are all promoted by me." When you first recommended them to me, I complimented you on your insight. I thought they were also virtuous and honest people, but I didn't expect them to soak in your cesspool. What makes me even more angry is that they may still think that I have taken their favors, right? You are trapping me in injustice, which is really hateful. ”

At this time, Li Xiong on the side added: "That's right, and Zhang Shilun, who came to the house a few days ago, also sent him money." ”

Zhao Guangyi said: "Come on, go and bring that Zhang Shilun to me immediately." ”

"Yes!" (To be continued.) )