allendalepharm Chapter 683: Cooperation reached, Patriarch token
Chapter 683: Cooperation reached, Patriarch token
Li Dongsheng opened them one by one. The second box contained silver ingots and banknotes. The two large boxes at the back were filled with precious treasures and jade articles, all good stuff. Pearls, cat's eyes and other things were stuck in the gaps, making the pile a bit messy.
The last two boxes were not big, and they contained account books and booklets.
Li Dongsheng didn't even look at the silver, gold, jewelry and banknotes, but went straight to the last two boxes.
Jiang Youzhen swallowed her saliva. Although she was already very rich, her eyes couldn't help but light up when she saw the treasures.
Following him, Jiang Youzhen watched Li Dongsheng pick up the account book and flip through it, and he leaned over to take a few glances.
She found that these people liked to keep evidence of their corruption, bribery and factionalism, probably to keep it in their own hands so that they could catch those people in the future.
Unfortunately, these are also their death warrants.
Li Dongsheng's eyes flashed with joy. He opened the booklet next to him again, glanced at it roughly, and found that it was just a list of bribery.
He frowned immediately. This was not what he wanted. Where were the lists of traitors? Why were there only these?
He looked through other account books and registers without giving up, but still found nothing unusual.
"Why not?" Li Dongsheng frowned.
Jiang Youzhen took it and started reading it. She flipped through several pages and found that there were records of time, position, personnel, and amounts.
Tsk tsk! The officials in the Ministry of Personnel really have plenty of money!
"If that's all, it's not enough to make up for my mistakes." Jiang Youzhen raised the booklet in his hand and said nonchalantly.
Li Dongsheng turned to look at Jiang Youzhen, "If you help me this time, I will definitely follow your lead and serve you in the future."
Jiang Youzhen hesitated a little, but still shook his head.
"Do you think the Li family is still qualified to discuss cooperation with me?"
"A lean camel is bigger than a horse. As long as we get through this difficult time, the Li family will never decline." Li Dongsheng looked at Jiang Youzhen eagerly. He knew that Jiang Youzhen would definitely find a way.
"Why don't you go and ask the Fourth Prince for help?" Jiang Youzhen was very confused. It was impossible for the Fourth Prince to just stand by and watch at this time.
Li Dongsheng smiled bitterly, "This is a serious crime that will lead to the extermination of the family. The Fourth Prince is not responsible for investigating this case, so even if he wants to help, he is powerless. The only thing he can do is to plead with the Emperor, right?"
"I have another question. How did you get into the city gate?" Jiang Youzhen learned from the confessions of Li's family that Li Dongsheng was not in the capital and had been away for more than half a month.
After that, the whole city was blocked off, and every guard guarding the city was given a copy of Li Dongsheng's portrait. With such a high city wall, it would be impossible for Li Dongsheng to get in without help, she thought.
Li Dongsheng hesitated for a moment, and seeing that Jiang Youzhen's eyes were getting impatient, he said, "Since I have decided to join you, then, there is nothing I can't say. I met the third lady of the Luo Mansion on the way, and I saved her life by chance. It was she who helped me enter the city and found a place for me to hide."
Wow! Is this the encounter between the hero and heroine?
"But Miss Luo San also wants to repay my kindness. She is just a girl in the boudoir and doesn't know much about government affairs. Please let her go."
Li Dongsheng didn't want to drag Luo Shuhuan into this, as harboring a suspect was a serious crime.
She's protecting him now? Tsk tsk! It seems the heroine still has her halo.
But is the heroine preparing to intervene in the court? Jiang Youzhen decided to be more careful in the future. The heroine and the heroine should have a halo, so a cannon fodder like her should be careful!
Jiang Youzhen smiled, picked up the booklet in his hand and looked through it carefully.
Time was running out, and footsteps and voices could be heard from the secret passage. The guard who had fallen outside had been found, and Li Dongsheng also heard Qin Yandong's voice, asking where Jiang Youzhen was.
"Your uncle is the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. He holds a high position of power and influence. He must be in collusion with other rebels in the court. If those people want to place pawns in the court, they must go through him, so he must know a lot."
Jiang Youzhen analyzed while flipping through the booklet.
Now Li Yanzheng refused to tell anyone because he wanted to wait for those people to rescue him, because he knew that if he told anyone, he would die. On the contrary, as long as he was not dead, there was still hope of survival.
In fact, his correspondence alone is not enough to convict him because it is rather obscure, but the most important thing is the list.
"Huh?" Jiang Youzhen suddenly found something suspicious, which made Li Dongsheng come over immediately.
"But what have you figured out?" Li Dongsheng's tone was very excited, his eyes full of hope.
"It seems a little unusual." Jiang Youzhen nodded, but after looking up at Li Dongsheng, he smiled and said, "But this is what I found out, what does it have to do with you?"
Li Dongsheng was so anxious that sweat broke out on his forehead. "What do you want in exchange for helping our Li family? I promise you that as long as you can get through this difficult time, my Li family will be at your service. Isn't that enough? We are not preventing you from presenting these evidences to the emperor. We just want to pass them through our hands. There is no loss to you."
"What do you mean no loss? If you sacrifice your own relatives for the sake of justice, my contribution will be weakened. The emperor promised me that as long as I solve the case, he will allow me to be promoted to a higher rank. This is a promotion, can you afford it?" Jiang Youzhen snorted coldly.
Li Dongsheng shook his head. "Then I will exchange it with you for something else. There are officials in the court who colluded with salt merchants and sold salt privately. If this case is investigated, the credit will not be small, right? How do you think?"
"Do you think I'm stupid? Selling salt illegally is rampant despite repeated bans. How many salt inspectors survived? Do you want me to die? If I push those people into a corner, there will be more people trying to assassinate me than there are now."
Jiang Youzhen is not a fool who would get dizzy when she hears about the credit. Now that she is still young and inexperienced, she has no intention of provoking those salt merchants.
"But how can I believe what you say? What if you regret it in the future?" Jiang Youzhen was actually already moved, but what she wanted was absolute loyalty. If the Li family defaulted on their debt in the future, who could she turn to for justice?
Li Dongsheng breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this. As long as he could just relax, it would be fine.
He quickly took something out of his arms. Jiang Youzhen took a closer look and found that it was a black jade pendant with a carved longevity pattern.
Before I could see what kind of beast it was, I heard Li Dongsheng say, "This is the jade pendant of my Li family's patriarch. It has the Li family emblem, the Suanni, on it. As long as you show the patriarch's jade pendant, no one in the Li family will dare to obey your orders."
He handed the jade pendant over and said, "I'll keep it with you for now. Now you can finally rest assured, right?"
"Isn't your father the second son of the Marquis? Where did you get the token of the head of the family?" Jiang Youzhen suspected it was fake. After all, the token of the head of the family should still be in the hands of the old Marquis, right?
“In fact, my grandfather had noticed something unusual about my uncle before. At that time, my uncle’s reputation was not very good, and he was vaguely known to be too greedy.
Grandfather warned him many times that he was too greedy and would be liquidated sooner or later, but it was a pity that uncle kept pretending to obey but secretly disobeying. "Li Dongsheng said with a deep sigh.