Corrupt official in the Red Chamber

Chapter 349 Whose?

After Jia Rui came out of the old master Jia Dairu's place, he did not go to the back. Instead, he went to the study room. He had a casual meal here and then hurried to the cabinet.

Just as he arrived at the door of the cabinet and was chatting with the little eunuch guarding the door, he suddenly heard a noise in the cabinet.

Jia Rui was still surprised. This was the cabinet. Even though the room was small, it was the center of the entire empire. Who would have the guts to make a noise here.

The little eunuch chatting with Jia Rui reminded him at this time: "Jia Houye, it seems to be the voices of Master Chen and Master Li."

Jia Rui listened carefully and saw that these two people were really quarreling.

Jia Rui was also confused. During this period, Li Chengyang almost wore a pair of pants with Chen Guozi. Why are they arguing now? What's the cause of this fuss?

Although he didn't deal with these two people, he was the head of the cabinet after all. When his subordinates had a quarrel, he went over to give them some advice.

Jia Rui pushed the door open and walked in. He saw Chen Guozi and Li Chengyang, with red faces and rough necks, and glares, almost starting to fight.

The other two big bosses in the cabinet, He Chaodong and Xu Biao, were sitting in their seats, hanging high on matters that had nothing to do with themselves.

"Everyone, we are all in the same palace, so why are you arguing?" Jia Rui quickly stepped forward, got in between the two people, and separated them.

As soon as Li Chengyang saw Jia Rui coming, he grabbed Jia Rui's arm and said, as if he had found a savior:

"Master Jia, please tell me, Chen Guozi really thinks that he is the chief minister of the cabinet. If he doesn't agree, the entire cabinet will not be able to handle it."

Jia Rui felt happy when he heard Li Chengyang's complaint.

Chen Guozi, you old guy, aren't you trying to win others over to fight against me? How about the alliance disintegrated from within?

Although Jia Rui has decided to work with Li Chengyang to cause trouble for Chen Guoxing, the situation on the surface as the country's first assistant still has to go.

So Jia Rui asked solemnly: "What is the specific matter?"

"Master Jia, it's like this. Zhang Ji, the Marquis of Ruyang, was defeated in the campaign against Gansu a few years ago. Wasn't he punished by the Supreme Emperor to build roads?" After saying this, Li Chengyang glanced at Jia Rui secretly.

Jia Rui frowned when he heard the name Zhang Ji.

Who does Jia Rui admire the most? Naturally, it is none other than Zhang Ji.

He started from an ordinary scholar, traveled all over the world, and was awarded the title of Marquis of Ruyang through military achievements.

Even if something went wrong with Zhang Ji in Gansu, it was because the emperor was too impatient and wanted Zhang Ji to get rid of Jia Rui at that time.

Only then did Zhang Ji fall short.

In the end, Jia Rui picked up a loophole. Relying on the foundation laid by Zhang Ji, he swept across Gansu and finally was granted the title of Ding Xihou.

Now that Li Chengyang mentioned this name, Jia Rui felt very uncomfortable in his heart, but as the chief minister of the imperial court, he had to show some tolerance.

"Zhang Ji has been building roads for several years. It's really hard work." Jia Rui said perfunctorily to Li Chengyang.

Li Chengyang saw the impatience in Jia Rui's eyes. Under normal circumstances, he would not have continued speaking, but thinking about his master's order, he could only grit his teeth and continue:

"Now Zhang Ji knows that he was wrong, so we should give him a chance to take the blame and perform meritorious service. Let him go to the border to guard one side. This can be regarded as worthy of the grace and cultivation of the Supreme Emperor."

Jia Rui frowned when he heard this, and then turned to look at Chen Guozi.

I only saw this old guy sneering at Jia Rui. What does that mean? Isn't it better to steal the chicken than to lose the rice? I'll see how you end up.

Jia Rui just wanted to vomit blood when he saw him. This old guy was so annoying.

"What about Mr. Jia? Let Zhang Ji return to the court!" Li Chengyang continued to press.

Jia Rui felt a little sad at this time. He had been so polite to Li Chengyang just now. If he vetoed his opinion now, wouldn't he be a human being inside and outside?

But Jia Rui was absolutely unwilling to let Zhang Ji continue to hold military power.

Jia Rui rolled his eyes, and then said with a smile: "This is not a trivial matter. I can't make the decision alone. Let's discuss it with others. We can always come up with a sound solution by pooling our wisdom."

After Jia Rui finished speaking, he turned to Chen Guozi and asked with a hypocritical smile on his face: "Mr. Chen, what do you think?"

Chen Guozi rolled his eyes, and then said: "Although Zhang Ji is very capable, he is unruly and delayed the military flight last time. Moreover, he was punished by the Supreme Emperor himself. Let's hand over the paper. If the Supreme Emperor is angry, we will How should I explain it?"

Before Li Chengyang could refute, Jia Rui clapped his hands and said, "What Mr. Chen said is absolutely true. He is really an old man seeking the country. I think we should do as Mr. Chen said. We will talk about Zhang Ji's matter after a while."

After finishing speaking, Jia Rui turned around and returned to his seat, picked up a memorial at random, and looked at it pretendingly.

Li Chengyang knew there was no chance when he looked at the scene in front of him.

If Chen Guozi could still fight against him, but even Jia Rui objected, then he didn't even have a real chance.

Li Chengyang had no choice but to return to his seat and vent his anger on the memorial in his hand.

He Chaodong, who was sitting next to him, peeked at some of the memorials approved by Li Chengyang, and then his mouth broke.

These people who had failed were unlucky. Their suggestions and requests were all refuted by Li Chengyang.

If it were in the past, others might have given him some advice, but today Li Chengyang was angry, so everyone didn't bother to provoke him.

Jia Rui sat on it and pretended to read the memorial while thinking to himself, why did Li Chengyang suddenly intercede with Zhang Ji today?

Could it be that Li Chengyang also belonged to the emperor?

The ministers in this court really have me among them, and you among me. Jia Rui can't figure out who these people are now, so he doesn't trust any of them except those who are controlled by him.

In this way, Jia Rui stayed there until noon. He couldn't stand the silent atmosphere in the cabinet, so he quickly left the cabinet and trotted to Longshou Palace.

After entering the Dragon Head Palace, the Supreme Emperor was very happy to let Jia Rui have a meal with him.

In fact, everyone in Longshou Palace knows that Jia Rui comes here at this time every day just to have a meal. However, the Supreme Emperor did not object to Jia Rui's behavior, and was even very happy, so the eunuchs below did not say much.

While eating the royal meal, Jia Rui told the Supreme Emperor what happened in the cabinet today.

The Supreme Emperor frowned as he listened, then put down his chopsticks and stopped eating, just listening to Jia Rui's words quietly.

But Jia Rui seemed to have not noticed the Supreme Emperor, still nagging there.

When Jia Rui felt that he was full, he pretended to be unconscious and looked up at the Emperor.

Seeing that the Emperor's face was wrong, he quickly stood up and apologized, "I'm rude, please forgive me."

The Supreme Emperor waved his hand, then closed his eyes and thought for a moment, and finally said: "Let them not mention Zhang Ji's matter in the future. At the same time, you should also have some snacks. Don't let the people below fool you."

Jia Rui pretended to be honest and rubbed the back of his head, "Your Majesty, I will remember this."

Then the Supreme Emperor stood up weakly, and Zhao Jin, who was waiting next to him, quickly helped the Supreme Emperor to the side hall next to him.

The Supreme Emperor sat down on the Kang in the side hall, closed his eyes and rested for a while, then opened his eyes and said to Jia Rui:

"Concubine Zhen's health is getting worse. The doctor said she will be sick this month."

After speaking, tears filled the eyes of the Supreme Emperor.

Jia Rui was stunned for a moment when he heard the news.

However, for a certain period of time, Concubine Zhen was absent during this period of time in Dream of Red Mansions.

However, in Dream of Red Mansions, the Supreme Emperor had already passed away at this point in time, unlike now, because the Supreme Emperor had Jia Rui's Yang Finger to help him, so he survived again.

"Isn't there anything Li Shenxian can do?" Jia Rui thought of the powerful Master Li.

"Hey, they outsiders are talking about going with the will of heaven. How can they go against heaven and save people's lives." The Supreme Emperor was also very helpless. He also invited Master Li over several times, but Master Li refused every time.

And Jia Rui didn't know what to do. He could only stand aside silently and accompany the Emperor.

After an hour, the Supreme Emperor forced a smile, and then said to Jia Rui: "Birth, old age, illness and death are determined by God. Who can escape it?"

Then the Supreme Emperor waved to Qin Shun who was standing beside him.

Qin Shun trotted over quickly, "What orders does the Supreme Emperor have?"

"Bring the account books for this period and let Jia Aiqing take a look."

Qin Shun quickly bowed after hearing this, then bowed and left, and soon came back with a stack of account books in his arms.

What Qin Shun was holding was the ledger of the crime money he had collected during this period.

Jia Rui is only the person in charge on the surface now. In fact, everything has been handed over to Qin Shun.

This was also a reminder from the Supreme Emperor, so now Jia Rui did not dare to intervene in the matter of discussing sinners, leaving it completely to Qin Shun.

So now Jia Rui just picked up a book and flipped through it, without even looking at it, and threw it aside.

"Back to the Supreme Emperor, all the money is correct."

There was a trace of relief in the eyes of the Supreme Emperor, "That's right. Then you can hand it over to Qin Shun today and put the money into the inner treasury."

"The minister obeys the order."

Next, when Jia Rui saw that the Emperor was fine, he said goodbye and left, and then waited for Qin Shun in the flower pond in the courtyard of Longshou Palace.

Qin Shun hurried out without letting Jia Rui wait long, "Brother Jia asked you to wait in a hurry, right?"

"Haha, I am willing to wait no matter how long it takes for you to serve the Supreme Emperor."

Then the two chatted a few more words, and then Qin Shun secretly put his mouth to Jia Rui's ear and said:

"Tonight, I will deliver one million taels of silver to Brother Jia's house."

Jia Rui nodded with satisfaction after hearing this.

Although this amount of money is much less than what you can get from holding the crime silver, it is still meat if you have few mosquitoes.

"Haha, why are we brothers talking about this among ourselves? Let's go to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to put it in the warehouse, and then we can have a drink in the evening."

Qin Shun was also very happy. He followed Jia Rui and quickly arrived at the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

First, the accounting office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs checked the account books sent by Qin Shun.

One of the cashiers took a peek and saw Qin Shun sitting there drinking tea and joking with Jia Rui.

Finally, he gritted his teeth and came to Jia Rui with the ledger in hand, whispering a few words in his ear.

Jia Rui lowered his eyes, "Why do you care about this little thing? It's basically good."

The accountant immediately understood and went down again holding the account book.

(End of this chapter)