allendalepharm Chapter 665 How much do these people hate her?
Chapter 665 How much do these people hate her?
"Three hundred and eighty thousand taels?" The fourth prince was shocked, and then he slammed the table in anger, "He is just a junior official of the Dali Temple, but he has made so much money. I don't know how much bribes he has received. He is so bold."
Most of the suspects investigated by Dali Temple officials were officials of the imperial court. These people would receive sufficient benefits whether their homes were searched, their families wanted to visit them, or they asked for mercy.
Especially since Wei Xiyuan was still a fourth-rank official. Although he had lost a lot of power, it would not be difficult for him to get it back if he wanted to.
Three years as a clean prefect, 100,000 silver coins. Even local officials can embezzle so much, let alone the powerful Dali Temple.
"Your Highness, when we got there, he was destroying the evidence and had already packed up his valuables, trying to escape."
Commander Lu Hengfeng pointed to a bunch of books and letters that had been burned, with only a small portion left.
"It was my incompetence that caused most of the evidence to be destroyed."
Lu Hengfeng apologized, and Fang Zhongyi, who followed behind him, also bowed and apologized.
"Where are the people? Have they been caught?" asked the Fourth Prince.
"He has been caught and imprisoned in the Dali Temple!" said Lu Hengfeng.
Fang Zhongyi was just a guard, so of course he had no right to speak in this room. He glanced at Jiang Youzhen and found that Jiang Youzhen nodded to him, so he couldn't help but smile.
"Bring the man here and interrogate him immediately." The Fourth Prince was burning with anger and couldn't wait to know who was behind this.
The court has been infiltrated by the remnants of the previous dynasty, and he must eradicate these people completely, otherwise it would be ridiculous if the country ended up falling into the hands of outsiders.
Wei Xiyuan was brought in soon. He was tied up and had a rag stuffed in his mouth.
He struggled hard, and when he saw the Fourth Prince sitting at the top, he whimpered. Fang Zhongyi stepped forward and kicked him, knocking him to the ground.
He stepped forward and held Wei Xiyuan down, making him kneel down, and then took the rag out of his mouth.
"Your Highness! This is unjust! If you want to accuse someone, you can always find a pretext! I am a senior official in the court, how could I be colluding with the rebels? This is slander."
As he spoke, he looked at Jiang Youzhen who was standing aside, and then said angrily: "Your Highness, it was Jiang Youzhen! It must be Jiang Youzhen who framed me for political achievements. If we follow her wishes, many officials in the court will definitely be harmed in the future. Please Your Highness, please be clear-headed and clear my name!"
Jiang Youzhen: Hmm? How much do these people hate her? Why do they want to pin the blame on a small fry like her?
Oh my! She really wanted to say that she was just a small shrimp and their target should not be her!
"Humph!" The Fourth Prince slapped his armrest and pointed at Wei Xiyuan and cursed, "The truth has been revealed, and you still want to quibble? Then what about the letters and account books that were searched from your house?"
The fourth prince casually opened a booklet and said, "There are so many treasures and gold and silver. Even the palace doesn't have this Ru porcelain vase from the previous dynasty. How can you, a mere fourth-rank official, have one? How much is your monthly salary? How can you afford such a treasure?"
Wei Xiyuan was stunned for a moment, then said: "Your Highness! I admit that I did embezzle money, but I have absolutely nothing to do with the rebels! Your Highness, you can't listen to the slander of villains!"
"Oh?" The fourth prince picked up a half-burned account book and sneered, "Oh? Then where did all the money you looted every year go? Even if half of it was burned, the treasures and silver recorded there are not in the treasury."
"Don't tell me you've spent it all." The fourth prince turned to the last page of the account book. "This account book is from last year. The silver and treasures in it are no less than 100,000 taels. Do you spend so much silver in a year?"
The Fourth Prince thought about the major changes that had taken place in the court before, in which many officials had been dismissed or demoted. This idiot must have made a lot of money, right?
Wei Xiyuan was shocked. He didn't expect that all the evidence was not burned and fell into the hands of the Fourth Prince.
Jiang Youzhen smiled, "Master Wei is really meticulous. He actually records every account. This is a good habit!"
Wei Xiyuan suddenly fell silent, no longer protesting his injustice, but also stopped talking.
He knew that things had come to this point and there was no room for him to explain. He was thinking about how to get out of this situation.
The crimes of corruption and collusion with a treasonous party are different. Corruption only harms oneself, but collusion with a treasonous party will result in the execution of nine generations of the clan.
Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead. He secretly hated those people for not informing him earlier, causing him to lose the opportunity and the evidence fell into the hands of the Fourth Prince.
"You remember it in such detail, so you must need to reconcile accounts with someone, right? That person doesn't trust you, so you have to keep evidence." Jiang Youzhen suddenly said.
Wei Xiyuan looked at Jiang Youzhen in shock, his expression changed drastically.
But after a moment, an idea suddenly came to his mind. Jiang Youzhen's words reminded him that even if he died, he had to take someone with him.
"The reason why I did this is because I want to curry favor with Li Yanzheng, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. If you don't believe me, please look through the account books carefully. As long as you find the treasures in the account books in his house, you can't suspect that I'm lying."
The Fourth Prince's face suddenly darkened. Li Yanzheng was the heir of Marquis Jin'an. Wei Xiyuan knew that Marquis Jin'an's mansion was his accomplice. Was he deliberately using Marquis Jin'an's mansion as a scapegoat, or did Marquis Jin'an's mansion really have other intentions?
Jiang Youzhen immediately thought, Li Yanzheng, the son of the Marquis of Jin'an? Isn't that Li Dongsheng's uncle?
Thinking back to the day when he fell off his horse, wasn't Li Dongsheng in the Fourth Prince's residence? He was definitely a member of the Fourth Prince's party!
"Your Highness, are you afraid to investigate? I admit that I gave many treasures to other officials, but they were all for promotion. You also know that after the Crown Prince lost power, officials from our lineage did not have an easy time in the court. If that's the case, then don't I have to go to another mountain to worship?"
Wei Xiyuan's eyes flashed with sarcasm. "So in the past two years, I have given many officials gifts, mostly officials from the Ministry of Personnel, in order to get promoted. If you don't believe me, you can also go to the residences of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Personnel to check. They have taken a lot of the good things in these account books."
The Fourth Prince's face was livid. Wei Xiyuan was just making random accusations. How could the Emperor and the other princes not know that officials were taking bribes? But if the water was too clear, there would be no fish. Sometimes they just turned a blind eye.
When you commit a crime, these will be grounds for reckoning. You must spit out everything you have eaten or taken.
The chief minister has the highest voting power and is in a high position, so it is reasonable for him to curry favor with others and give gifts. The minister of the Ministry of Personnel is also a lucrative position, so naturally there is no shortage of gifts.
However, if we search their house for these reasons, it will be like a vine, involving everywhere.
Who among the officials is not greedy? There are very few who are honest.
Wei Xiyuan relied on the fact that they would not search the residences of other officials, so he pinned all the account books on those officials.