Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 132: The Lone Sail Distantly Disappears into the Blue Sky

The dragon boat set sail again, leaving Fuliang in a mighty manner, and disappeared on the river in an instant without a trace.

Everyone on the boat felt a little lost to some extent. This place was really too good, so good that it made people feel as if they were not in the same space as the outside world.

But at this moment, Emperor Hongbao, who was on the dragon boat, was checking four accounts, and the Minister of Works below him was crawling on the ground, shaking like a sieve. His official uniform had been taken away, and now he was waiting to see whether he would be beheaded directly or his entire clan would be killed.

Emperor Hong Bao was not in a hurry either. He checked them one by one, picked out the same materials and the same things and copied them out separately.

About three hours later, he slowly raised his head and said, "Tian En, summon all officials above the fourth rank to come here."

Soon all the high-ranking officials of the court arrived. When they saw the Minister of Works had been stripped of his official uniform and lying there, they already had a general idea of ​​what was going on.

So they could only stand by with their heads down and said nothing.

Emperor Hong Bao threw down the account book he had copied from: "Pick it up and read it!"

The ministers had never seen Emperor Hongbao like this before, and they were all a little surprised. The Minister of Works on the ground picked up the account book tremblingly and began to read it.

"Jiangdu...3,775 pieces of wood, with a core value of 1,073,550 taels. Fuliang...5,119 pieces of wood, with a core value of 151,700 taels."

"Jiangdu stone... stone... material... 170,000 catties, 870,000 taels... Fuliang stone material, 390,000 catties, 51,400 taels."

When he read this, his voice began to tremble, his hands holding the account book began to shake, and his breathing rhythm became disordered.

"Read!"

"Jiang...Jiangdu...people...manpower...5,900 people, 6,300 taels. Fuliang's manpower is 7,200 people, 300,000 taels."

"During the trip to Jiangdu, we consumed 5,000 eggs, total... total..."

"Read it!!!" Emperor Hong Bao slammed the table and said, "Why not read it?"

"A total of two hundred thousand taels!" After reading this, the Minister of Industry was already sobbing: "Your Majesty, I deserve to die... deserve to die!"

"Don't worry." Hong Baodi said coldly, "Read it again."

"During the trip to Fuliang, we consumed 7,500 eggs, totaling... 770 taels..."

There is no need to read the rest. Every item in the trip to Jiangdu is priced sky-high. What else is there to ask? It is obvious that there are layers of exploitation in the middle. These are not counted. The fastest expansion is that the Jiangdu Palace and shipbuilding used 5,000 people, but only 6,300 taels were paid in ten months! Looking back at Fuliang, 7,200 people also spent ten months and 300,000 taels.

From food, clothing, housing and transportation to apprentices and master craftsmen, the money earned by each person was recorded in great detail, with clear items and transparent destinations. Looking at the Jiangdu accounts again, it was a mess, full of confusing accounts.

Stones are six taels per pound, and six taels can buy hundreds of pounds of meat! And eggs, fifty taels each, do you only eat eggs? What about other accounts?

Seeing these things, Hong Baodi, who was working as an accountant in the Ministry of Revenue during his internship, was furious. It was obvious that he was being made a fool of.

"If I were to tell you, next time you cook up the accounts, you must hire a skilled accountant to at least make the accounts even. It's over four million taels on the account, but the details say seven million taels."

Emperor Hongbao laughed out loud when he said this, but as he was laughing, he slammed the table hard and stood up: "Asshole! What an asshole!"

He stood up and walked in front of the Minister of Works, kicked him over, pointed at him and said in a stern voice: "I am really blind to let you, a fool, become the Minister. Check your conscience, I have treated you well, even if I raise a dog, it knows to guard my house. Look at you, with a head full of white hair. You were my classmate at the age of sixteen, and you were so talented at the age of nineteen that I am ashamed of yourself. Now look at your bloated appearance, I am heartbroken to see you, Feng Ziru, Feng Ziru, you have failed me, failed the Wei Dynasty, and even failed your father who worked so hard for the country!"

Emperor Hongbao took a deep breath and said, "Someone, please help me find out what crime a criminal like Feng Ziru should be punished for under the laws of the Wei Dynasty."

At this time, the Dali Temple Minister stepped forward tremblingly, "Your Majesty... Lord Feng has already pleaded guilty. According to the law, he will be dismissed from his post and his property confiscated. This will be announced to the world."

"Announce it to the world? Hahaha!" Emperor Hongbao pointed at the Dali Temple Minister and said, "Li Shang! You are also a fool! He admitted it, how can I admit it? He Feng Ziru entered the Imperial Examination Hall at the age of sixteen, became the top scholar at the age of nineteen, and became an official at the age of twenty-one. His father was the Grand Tutor, one of the Three Dukes, and his mother is my aunt! We have been brothers and subjects for fifty years, and he is one of the six ministers. Announce it to the world? Tell the whole world that I have been played by such a person for fifty years? Tell the whole world that all the people in the government of the Wei Dynasty are such idiots?"

At this point, Emperor Hongbao gritted his teeth and said, "Do I still want to have this face? Does the Great Wei still want to have this face? Do you, a bunch of rubbish, still want to have this face!!!" As soon as he finished speaking, all the ministers knelt down and shouted in unison, "I deserve to die..."

"Six taels of silver and one pound of stone is enough to kill Feng Ziru a thousand times, but he can't die. For the sake of your face, he can't die. If he dies, the world will be in chaos, because I let the world see clearly what kind of people are in the court, and what kind of bastards are maintaining the country. If the people are not satisfied, who can be satisfied? If they are not satisfied, they will rise up. How many officials in your Wei court can resist this torrent? By then, you, me, and all the people in the world who are just sitting there doing nothing will be trampled into the mud and nailed to death in the history books! But if Feng Ziru doesn't die, I really can't get over this hurdle in my heart."

Emperor Hongbao flicked his sleeves and said, "Lord Gao, you can do whatever you want."

After saying that, he turned around and went back to his room to rest, leaving the highest-ranking ministers in the court kneeling there, not daring to move. Finally, Gao Shilian was the first to stand up. He lowered his head and looked at Feng Ziru on the ground, his face changing from gloomy to happy.

He thought that there would be idiots in the world, but who could have known that the idiot was actually right next to him, and that this idiot could actually rise to the position of the Minister of Six Ministries.

"Gao Xiang... Gao Xiang... I don't want to die, Gao Xiang..."

Feng Ziru was scared now. His hair and beard had turned white, but he still held Gao Shilian's thighs tightly. Gao Shilian frowned and didn't know what to do.

Everyone in the world knows that except for the Minister of Rites Cao Dahua, the other five ministers are all Gao Shilian's people. But now Emperor Hongbao wants him, Gao Shilian, to deal with his own people. The implication of this is obvious.

But could he not do it? If it really came to a point where both sides had to fight to the death, he would disobey orders, but now was obviously not the right time, and Guo Dake was still watching! If he dared to disobey the order, Guo Dake would dare to throw him off the boat into Poyang Lake.

This is someone else's territory.

But if he really did it, it would undoubtedly be a heavy blow to Gao Shilian. If he couldn't even protect his own people, how could he be the leader? Many fence-sitters, wait-and-see factions, and even people in his camp would think more about whether this surrender was worth it.

What a difficult question! The emperor is indeed not a simple person.

Half an hour later, a cry of surprise suddenly came from the boat: "Oh no! Oh no! Lord Feng fell into the water!"

After the shout, the guards on the boat immediately got into a mess, but the river was turbulent and undercurrents were surging here. After struggling for several times on the river, Lord Feng disappeared.

The fleet had no choice but to stop and search along the downstream shore. Finally, they found Lord Feng twenty miles away. However, Lord Feng was already dead at this time. His stomach was bulging, his eyes were wide open, and he seemed to be full of unwillingness.

What to do with this unexpected event? Of course, it is to celebrate it with great fanfare... He was posthumously awarded the title of Si Tu, the governor of Bingzhou, and the posthumous title of Wen Xian, and his deceased wife was buried with him.

This incident actually dealt a heavy blow to the officials in the court. Most of these people had a keen sense of smell and had vaguely felt that the emperor had become a little strange after this southern tour, which obviously meant that the court was destined to become unstable in the future.

The originally happy atmosphere of the southern tour became cloudy with Feng Ziru's accident. Although everyone was discussing "Why was Lord Feng so careless" on the surface, they were privately wondering at which point in this southern tour caused Emperor Hongbao to change.

This must be some kind of agreement that made the usually docile emperor suddenly become fierce. Only when he became fierce did they realize that the little old man sitting on the dragon throne could really kill people.

Everyone was in danger, but Lao Guo just folded his arms and watched them perform.

The words His Majesty said to himself and Xia Lin before he set off were actually very clear in meaning. He was going to appoint a crown prince. The old emperor was using his last bit of energy to pave the way for the new emperor, using his body to block all problems and difficulties, so that the young people behind him could grow up with peace of mind.

For example, Tuoba Jing and Xia Lin. It was obvious that Xia Lin was the regent chosen by the old emperor to be prepared for the new emperor. But now he is still in his infancy, so of course the old guys have to protect the kids from any storms.

So his sudden change from dove to hawk was not because he reached any agreement with anyone, but rather the last burst of fire from an old man in his twilight years, also known as the last flicker of light.

Fourth brother...you have been a coward all your life.

At this moment, Xia Lin was also facing a problem, but it was not a problem now, it was something that had been expected before, weren't those more than a hundred courtesans, they were all redeemed, their indentures were burned, and they were entered into the Yellow Book, and they became good wives. And now that His Majesty was returning, some officials took a fancy to these courtesans, Xia Lin was not that kind in their eyes, they almost asked Xia Lin to give him so and so, but they still made people believe that they took a fancy to so and so.

Xia Lin faced the messenger and spread his hands. "Go back and tell the gentlemen that these girls are good men. If you want them, you can only rely on your ability and friendship. I must be worthy of the law and my conscience. I cannot do human trafficking as an official. Please respect yourselves."

Self-respect! ?
The people who delivered the message were dumbfounded. How could a seventh-rank official say such words?

(End of this chapter)