Eagle-eyed and wolf-watching

Chapter 1712 The Crime of Deceiving the Emperor!

Rao An, Prefectural Government Office

Dressed in formal official robes, Zhang Hu walked into the courtroom, sat in the prefect's chair, glanced at the bailiffs holding fire and water sticks on either side of him, picked up the gavel, struck it once, and began to speak in a drawn-out tone:

"Ascension!"

The two constables said in unison:

"mighty!"

Feeling the ritualistic atmosphere of the court hearing, Zhang Hu's expression subtly revealed a hint of excitement. As Ye Mingsheng's chief bodyguard, although he had only recently been promoted to the fifth rank, in Ye Mingsheng's presence, a fifth-rank official was nothing special. This opportunity to sit in the courtroom and interrogate prisoners was a first for him!
Although this feeling was novel, Zhang Hu did not forget the task Ye Mingsheng had assigned him, and immediately gave the order:

"Today's trial is for Prefect Zhang Dafu. Bring the prisoner in!"

At Zhang Hu's command, a portly middle-aged man and a beautiful young woman were brought up by the constables.

Although he already knew the identities of these two people, Zhang Hu still deliberately asked:
Who is standing below?

"Zhang Dafu, the criminal!"

"Liu Qianqian, a commoner!"

What is the relationship between the two of you?

Faced with this question, Liu Qianqian spoke before Zhang Dafu could even speak:

"My lord! I am his concubine, whom he forcibly took!"

Upon hearing the word "robbery," Zhang Dafu, who was standing to the side, was stunned for a moment. He looked at Liu Qianqian in disbelief, as if he had never expected her to say such a thing.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Hu glanced at Zhang Dafu beside him with an amused expression, and then asked again:
"Liu Qianqian, since you say you were kidnapped by Zhang Dafu, where did he kidnap you from?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Qianqian's expression stiffened, and then she stammered:
"I was stolen from Chunxianglou by Zhang Dafu!"

Seeing that this woman, who was usually so close to him, was now turning on him, Zhang Dafu couldn't sit still any longer and said:
"Qianqian, didn't you ask me to redeem you from servitude? How can you say that?"

Upon hearing Zhang Dafu speak, Zhang Hu's expression turned serious. He then struck the gavel in a manner reminiscent of traditional opera and began to speak:
"Zhang Dafu, the criminal, did I ask you?"

Although Zhang Dafu was unwilling, he could only say:

"I didn't ask!"

"Don't speak unless asked. If you do it again, I'll have to give you a beating!"

"Yes!"

"Liu Qianqian, continue! How was you forcibly taken from me?"

“That day, he came to Chunxianglou with a wealthy merchant from Yijing for drinks, and I went to keep him company. After a while, he took me. Then, for several days in a row, he came to Chunxianglou to find me and subtly hinted to Master Cao that he wanted me. Master Cao, because he was the prefect, let him redeem me for three hundred taels of silver!”

Upon hearing this, Zhang Hu looked at Zhang Dafu and said:

"Is there anything you want to say?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Dafu immediately rebuked:
"Liu Qianqian, you bitch, you're a complete liar! Didn't you tell me you fell in love with me at first sight, that I'm manly and that you wanted to stay with me for life? And that Cao Huan often bullies you, so you begged me to redeem you?"

"Pah! Zhang Dafu, look at yourself! How could I possibly fall for you at first sight? Don't you even listen to the nonsense you're spouting!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Dafu's face turned a deep shade of liver color, and he pointed at Liu Qianqian, saying:
"Liu Qianqian, you heartless bitch..."

Seeing this, Zhang Hu stopped the two from arguing, saying:
"Alright! Alright! Stop arguing!"

"Liu Qianqian, continue. Tell me everything you know about Zhang Dafu's crimes. I'm telling you now, you're trying to get leniency for yourself, so tell me everything you know!"

After speaking, Zhang Hu gave Zhang Dafu a meaningful look. Hearing Zhang Hu's words, Liu Qianqian, without any regard for her past relationship with Zhang Dafu, replied:
"Lord Zhang, this Zhang Dafu, a public official of the court, went to a restaurant to drink and frolic. He wasn't satisfied with just one girl; he insisted on ordering two. As a result, he couldn't last long!"

Upon hearing this, the constables nearby couldn't help but look at the former prefect who was being tried with a mocking gaze, while Zhang Dafu, the protagonist, was both angry and annoyed, and his body trembled slightly.

Upon seeing this, Zhang Hu slammed his gavel again and said:

"quiet!"

After establishing a serious atmosphere in the hall, Zhang Hu continued speaking to Liu Qianqian:
"continue!"

"After Zhang Dafu redeemed me, he settled me in a small courtyard in Rao'an West City. He said he bought the house, but he was lying to me. These corrupt officials, how could they buy their own houses? They're all given to them by others. He's definitely not clean; who knows how much money he's embezzled from the government..."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Hu said with a serious expression:
"Zhang Dafu, is there anything you'd like to say?"

"Slander! This is all her doing to smear me. The house I used to support her was bought with my own salary and performance bonus. I spent seventy-one taels of silver. The person who sold me the house is named Wang Hui, and I have the receipt he gave me!"

"My lord, you can bring him here and ask him. This slut says I took money. Make her produce evidence. If she produces evidence that I took money from whom, may God strike me down with lightning right now!"

"Liu Qianqian, do you have any evidence that Zhang Dafu accepted the money?"

"Sir, what other evidence do we need? Which of these gangsters doesn't take bribes?"

Hearing Liu Qianqian say that, Zhang Hu was speechless for a moment, but still explained:
"The most important thing in Daqian's case handling is evidence. Don't make things up if you don't have evidence!"

Liu Qianqian was somewhat disappointed upon hearing this, but then a plan formed in her mind:

"My lord, there is one more thing. In order to gain His Majesty's favor, Zhang Dafu specially renovated the post station in Lüqiao Town, and even tried to use the renovation as a cover for attracting investment! He has committed the crime of deceiving the emperor!"

Upon hearing that Liu Qianqian had revealed this matter, Zhang Dafu became somewhat anxious and said:
"Liu Qianqian, don't talk nonsense! When did I say such a thing?" "How could you not have said it? You told me that although His Majesty does not allow lavish receptions, he would certainly not like staying in such a simple environment as the post station after coming out of the palace for inspection. So you should renovate it well to make His Majesty comfortable. If His Majesty asks you, you should say that it is prepared for attracting investment, and His Majesty just happened to be there!"

Upon hearing Liu Qianqian reveal her true intentions, Zhang Dafu was momentarily speechless...

Upon hearing this, Zhang Hu encouraged him:
"Liu Qianqian, what you said is very good. Are there any others?"

Liu Qianqian thought about it seriously for a while and said:

"there is none left!"

Hearing her say that, Zhang Dafu looked at Zhang Hu and begged for mercy:
"Lord Zhang, I'm innocent! I was deceived by this vile woman! Lord Zhang, please, for the sake of our shared family, please speak to His Majesty on my behalf. I will be eternally grateful for your kindness!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Hu glanced at Zhang Dafu and said:
"I will report the matter truthfully to Your Majesty, and the decision is up to Your Majesty!"

After finishing his statement, Zhang Hu took the written confession and left the courtroom, leaving behind a deathly pale-faced Zhang Dafu and an expectant Liu Qianqian.

Zhang Hu, holding the confession, originally intended to hand it directly to Ye Mingsheng, but unexpectedly, just as he was about to enter the courtyard, he was stopped by his subordinates who said:

"Sir, you cannot go in now!"

Zhang Hu was somewhat surprised to hear this, and then asked:

"What happened?"

The subordinate didn't speak, only shook his head. Seeing this, Zhang Hu seemed to realize something and asked:
"he came?"

This time, the subordinate remained silent, only nodding slightly. Seeing this, Zhang Hu understood the implications. Just as he was preparing to leave and hand over Zhang Dafu's confession to Ye Mingsheng, a man in gray emerged from the room. This man seemed to disregard Zhang Hu and his companions, and simply left…

Seeing that the gray-clad man treated them as if they were nothing, Zhang Hu, who already disliked the Imperial Guards, spat in the direction the gray-clad man had left, and then walked into the courtyard. This time, the guards did not stop him.

Zhang Hu entered the room and saw Ye Mingsheng sitting in a chair with his eyes closed, resting. Hearing Zhang Hu's footsteps, Ye Mingsheng opened his eyes and looked at Zhang Hu, saying:

"Is the trial over?"

"Yes! This Zhang Dafu has committed the crime of deceiving the emperor!"

"The crime of deceiving the emperor? Where is the confession?"

"it's here!"

Taking the confession from Zhang Hu, Ye Mingsheng flipped through it. After reading it carefully, Ye Mingsheng shook his head and said:
"This Zhang Dafu is really quite interesting!"

After finishing his statement, Ye Mingsheng made his decision:

"The situation in Yuyang is not peaceful, so let's send Zhang Dafu there to be the county magistrate!"

"Yes! Your Majesty, what should be done with Liu Qianqian?"

"Three months of re-education through labor, then release him!"

"Three months? That's too lenient with her. She's not a good woman!"

Ye Mingsheng shook his head and said:
"She's certainly not a good woman, but she didn't commit any major crimes. Three months of re-education through labor is already a punishment for her!"

"Yes!"

After finishing Zhang Dafu's case, Ye Mingsheng closed his eyes to rest. The guards had just come and told him what had happened in Yijing while he was away. Only then did Ye Mingsheng realize how exciting things had been while he was away!

The first thing is the arson attack on Chu Zhiyi!
Although the matter has been investigated and it was found that it was done by Zhao Jian, the prefect of Yuyang, Ye Mingsheng was still somewhat shocked by the extent of Zhao Jian's madness. He actually wanted to burn the provincial inspector to death. This was no ordinary act of greed!
Ye Mingsheng felt that this matter must be dealt with seriously to serve as a warning to others and to calm public opinion.
Ye Mingsheng felt that the cabinet and An Miaoyi had done a good job this time. They reacted quickly and solved the case in a short time. An Miaoyi also comforted Chu Zhiyi and arranged a new house for him so that his family could settle down.

Therefore, Ye Mingsheng had no instructions regarding this matter.

The second thing was even more of a headache than the first.

As Ye Cui gets older, although she is still in relatively good health, she has already begun to prepare for her passing.

Empress Dowager Ye Cui planned to build a mausoleum in Liaoyang as her final resting place. In fact, she had already made preparations for herself in her hometown of Liaoyang more than a decade ago. However, the change in her status made her feel that the original mausoleum was no longer worthy of her status as Empress Dowager. She needed to have a grand final resting place like those empress dowagers in history.

To be honest, Ye Mingsheng didn't really care about these things after his death. He felt that if no fundamental changes were made, the Great Qian Dynasty would only last for two or three hundred years at most. As long as the dynasty existed, the tomb would definitely be safe, but if the dynasty was gone, the tomb would be prepared for tomb raiders, and they would not be able to rest in peace after death and would be disturbed.

Given this idea, although the Ministry of Works had proposed a plan to build a mausoleum for Ye Mingsheng at the beginning of the establishment of the Great Qian Dynasty, it was rejected by Ye Mingsheng, who then asked the Ministry of Works to focus on other matters.

Although Ye Mingsheng himself didn't care, he respected his mother's wishes. After all, some ideas were deeply ingrained in people's minds in this era, and he couldn't change them. According to these traditional values, his mother's decision to build this mausoleum was reasonable. His mother was getting old, and some things really needed to be planned for in advance...
So now there's only one problem left: where will the money to build the mausoleum come from?

The imperial treasury has just built the Furen Palace and hasn't recovered yet. Building this Deling Mausoleum will definitely cost hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. Although the silver won't be all spent at once, it's still beyond the current imperial treasury's means.

Therefore, if Ye Mingsheng were to build this De Mausoleum, he would need to find another source of funding.

Thinking about this, Ye Mingsheng fell into deep thought. To be honest, it was too easy for an emperor to get money. Ye Mingsheng had many ways to get tens or hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, but firstly, he didn't want to do something short-sighted, and secondly, he also had to consider the political implications. So, things were a bit difficult for him, and he couldn't think of a good solution.

Ye Mingsheng felt that this matter couldn't be rushed, and he should think about it carefully for a few days to come up with a foolproof plan.

Having decided on this idea, Ye Mingsheng also began to think about the third thing.

If the first two things were official business, then the third thing was his personal matter.

A palace maid named Li Chunxiu in the Imperial Study is pregnant and claims that the child is her own, but the Attendants' Office cannot find any record of her.

Ye Mingsheng was also somewhat bewildered. To be honest, he had no idea who Li Chunxiu was, nor did he recall having any drunken sexual misconduct in the past two or three months. However, he did get drunk about two months ago, but he couldn't remember why...