Thief Emperor

Chapter 999: The Love Is Clear
Returning to his hometown of Nanjing and looking at the people along the way, His Majesty the Emperor felt deeply moved.

Although he was from Xuanzhou and his initial team was also recruited from Xuanzhou, there is no doubt that he really made his fortune after entering Jinling. He began to expand rapidly outward with Jinling as the center, and eventually occupied Jiangnan Road and Huainan Road, becoming a giant.

When Li Yun was preparing to move out of Jinling, the people of Jinling gathered to petition. Until now, Li Yun still remembers that he held his son Li Yuan's hand and promised the people of Jinling that Jinling would always be the capital of the Li family.

This was actually achieved. Although Jinling was not designated as the national capital, it was set as a secondary capital by the court. Officials in the entire Jinling Prefecture were half a level higher than ordinary local officials, and some were even a whole level higher, on the same level as Jingzhao Prefecture.

As for what Li Yun had promised the elders of Jinling, he still remembered it.

Any disturbance in Jinling would be heard by Li Yun. If any Jinling official did anything to let down the people of his hometown, he would never be forgiven under the law.

These are the exact words spoken by Emperor Li.

Now, nearly ten years have passed, and Li Yun, who has been the emperor for many years, once again recalled the promise he made. Looking at the people of Jinling kneeling on the ground, he lifted the curtain of the dragon chariot several times and looked out.

He didn't close the curtain until the chariot entered the city, looked at Zhang Sui who was riding with him, and said, "This year, the people of Jinling Prefecture will be exempted from taxes."

"Tomorrow we will post a notice to inform the entire Jinling Prefecture."

Zhang Sui was startled, then he lowered his head and said yes. He hesitated for a moment, then said, "Your Majesty, part of the local taxes and grain is used by the local government. If they are all exempted this year..."

The Emperor glanced at him and said in a muffled voice, "Don't worry, your salaries will not be reduced. Submit a report to us later to find out how much the government spent last year. If the Ministry of Revenue does not pay for it, I will pay for it from the treasury."

The Ministry of Revenue will not be able to collect any money if the taxes and levies of a prefecture are exempted. If it is still required to subsidize Jinling Prefecture, the officials of the Ministry of Revenue will probably quarrel again. Instead of this, it is better for Li Yun to pay from his own pocket to avoid trouble.

Zhang Sui smiled and bowed his head, thanking the emperor. He rolled his eyes and whispered, "Actually, there is no need to go through so much trouble. I heard that the Liuli Factory in Jinling is a property of the inner treasury. When the time comes, Your Majesty can just send a note and ask the Liuli Factory in Jinling to allocate some money to the Jinling Prefecture."

Upon hearing this, His Majesty the Emperor glanced at the Jinling Yin and said with a smile, "You, you are eyeing my property."

There are two Liulichangs, one in Luoyang and the other one settled in Jinling early on. Now is the time to make money.

After hearing what Zhang Sui said, the Emperor glanced at him and continued, "Liulichang is not all my property. This matter is very troublesome. You don't have to think too much. I will give you the money when the time comes."

As they were talking, the sedan chair had already entered Jinling City. His Majesty the Emperor opened the curtain and looked at the scenes in Jinling City all the way. It was not until the procession stopped at the gate of the Jinling Royal Palace that Emperor Li got off the carriage and looked up at this former palace of the King of Wu.

After His Majesty the Emperor became emperor, the Palace of the King of Wu naturally could no longer be called the Royal Palace, but was renamed the Imperial City of Jinling, corresponding to the Imperial City in Luoyang.

Li Yun and his family lived here for quite a long time. The imperial palace in Jinling was not much different from the one in Luoyang City. At most, it was a little smaller in scale.

To this day, palace servants still live here and take care of the palace.

Many of the palace maids who had lost their power in the Luoyang palace were demoted here.

After entering the palace, Emperor Li looked at the sky, then waved to Zhang Sui and said, "It's already evening, go back to Jinling Mansion and come to see me tomorrow."

Zhang Sui bowed his head deeply, replied "Yes", and then said: "Your Majesty, we have prepared a banquet to welcome Your Majesty..."

"We'll talk about it tomorrow. We'll talk about it tomorrow."

His Majesty the Emperor waved his hand and said, "I want to take a good rest today."

Zhang Sui then bowed his head respectfully and retreated cautiously.

At this moment, Concubine Lu and her sister as well as Princess Lujiang had already gotten out of the car. Li Yun, with his family, walked into this former residence.

Princess Lujiang was very excited because she had lived here when she was a child. She looked left and right in the palace and ran back from time to time to tell her parents about some of her childhood memories.

Emperor Li looked at her with a smile, and after a long pause, he said to Concubine Lu, "Someone has arrived here in advance and has made all the arrangements. It's been a long journey, so you should take my younger sister and Shu'er to rest first."

Concubine Lu looked at Li Yun and asked, "Your Majesty, don't you want to rest?"

"I have some things to do."

His Majesty the Emperor walked away with his hands behind his back, saying, "Don't worry about me."

The emperor came all the way to his study in the Jinling Palace. Not long after he sat down, an ordinary-looking middle-aged man walked in cautiously, knelt on the ground respectfully, bowed his head and said, "Your subordinate Qi Min, kowtows to Your Majesty."

After the founding of the country, in the entire court system, there were not many people who called themselves "subordinates" in front of Li Yun. After all, everyone was formalized now, and the ministers in the court were ministers. This was the working relationship between the monarch and his subjects.

The government offices that could call themselves subordinates were all directly under the emperor and were not subject to the control of the imperial court. Among them, the Jiusi was naturally one of them.

The person kneeling in front of Li Yun was Zhong Min, the director of Jinling Division of the Ninth Division, one of the senior executives of the Ninth Division.

The Jinling Division may not sound big, but because Jinling is the secondary capital, the Jinling Division actually manages the nine divisions of the entire Jiangnan East Circuit, and can even restrain the three Jiangnan Circuits to a certain extent.

And Zhong Min is one of the few people in the Nine Departments, second only to Liu Bo.

His Majesty the Emperor looked at him and said silently, "I asked you to prepare half a year ago. How are you doing?"

Zhong Min took out the document from his bosom and said, "This is the document I compiled. Please have a look, Your Majesty." "It contains a detailed record of all the illegal officials in the entire Jiangnan East Road."

"Everything that the Nine Departments have found has been recorded."

His Majesty the Emperor took the thick document and was silent for a long time before he asked, "What percentage is it?"

Zhong Min thought for a moment, then lowered his head and replied, "About 30% to 40%."

About 30 to 40 percent.

His Majesty the Emperor looked at the document in his hand and said silently: "Okay, you have done a good job, please leave first."

Zhong Min responded and retreated cautiously.

As for His Majesty, he asked the palace servants around him to grind cinnabar, then he quickly picked up a red pen and began to look through the documents handed over by the Nine Departments.

He looked through them one by one, and when he saw something he couldn't tolerate, he frowned and ticked the person's name with a red pen.

Some that seemed to be tolerable were circled in red.

For some other cases, where the circumstances were relatively minor, no action was taken.

Just like that, when His Majesty finished reading these documents, it was already dawn. The emperor stretched his body, made the last check mark, then stood up and walked outside the palace, shouting, "Yang Xi."

When in Luoyang, outsiders like Yang Xi were not allowed to enter the harem, but the situation was special at the time. The defense force of the imperial palace in Jinling was insufficient, so Yang Xi and other Yulin soldiers also moved into the palace.

After Emperor Li called out, Lord Yang hurriedly trotted forward, bowed his head and saluted Li Yun: "I am here."

Li Yun handed him the document and said, "Have someone make a copy and send the original back to me. Then you take the copy and go find Zhang Sui and go with him."

"Catch all those who have ticked my box and interrogate them thoroughly."

"Those circled will be dealt with as appropriate."

Yang Xi was stunned at first, then quickly lowered his head, replied yes, and took the document from Li Yun's hand.

"I'll do it now."

Li Yun hummed, and said silently: "I am tired, I will take a nap first."

Yang Xi hesitated for a moment, then bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, just now, the brother of Prime Minister Zhuo came and said that he wanted to see you and apologize to you."

Li Yun looked at Yang Xi and curled his lips: "Let him wait until I wake up."

The emperor stretched himself and said, "See him again."

Yang Xi responded, bowed his head, and went down to do his job.

Emperor Li went to his bedroom and fell asleep with his clothes on.

It was already afternoon when he woke up. After getting up, the emperor washed his face. He asked and found out that Zhuo Guangqing, the head of the Zhuo family, had been waiting outside for half a day. The emperor wiped the water drops off his face, thought for a while, and said, "Take him to the study. I'll go see him later."

The palace servants around him quickly responded yes and went down to look for Zhuo Guangqing, while His Majesty the Emperor ate something leisurely, looked at the documents sent by the Nine Departments, and then came to the study in the Jinling Palace.

After entering the study, Zhuo Guangqing was already waiting inside. After hearing the voice, the head of the Zhuo family quickly stood up, then knelt down in front of Li Yun with a plop, and bowed his head deeply: "Wu Jun Zhuo Guangqing, kowtow to Your Majesty."

"May your Majesty be blessed with peace and prosperity."

Li Yun sat in his seat, frowning: "Why are you so anxious to see me?"

Zhuo Guangqing bowed his head and said, "I have come to apologize to Your Majesty."

Li Yun looked at him and asked, "What is your crime?"

Zhuo Guangqing was stunned. He knelt on the ground with his butt raised high, and said blankly: "I don't know what crime I have committed to cause Your Majesty to blame me. Please explain it to me..."

Zhuo Guangqing did not lie. Until now, he still did not understand why the emperor, who had such a good relationship with his family in the past, suddenly turned against his family.

Although it was most likely due to his brother's affairs, he was still unsure and did not dare to mention his brother Zhuo Guangrui.

"You mean the matter of that house?"

The emperor looked at him, shook his head and said: "That's not a blame, it's just that I..."

"I have parted ways with your family."

(End of this chapter)