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

Chapter 199: Destiny?

Xia Lin wanted to be transferred from the inner city to Luoyang for medical treatment. Who would refuse such a request? Officials from top to bottom in the inner city wanted to send him away by all means. Now that he wanted to leave on his own initiative, it was already a big deal if there were no fireworks.

On the day he left, all the officials, both big and small, from Yanmen Pass came to prepare a car and load his belongings, for fear that he would forget to take something with him and have to return. They even sent a special guard team to escort him back to Luoyang.

This trip to Yanmen Pass was really a rough one. The inspection of the Salt Transport Office and the River Office was a small matter, after all, most people had no access to this business. But the fact that the Daoli Duzhi Office ordered all offices to start self-checking their accounts made them feel uncomfortable. It was estimated that at least thirty or forty people would be dealt with on this trip.

This plague god even made the two big guys guarding the northern gate so angry that they rushed to the center to kill each other. Now it seems that nothing is wrong, but it would be strange if he doesn't make trouble for their subordinates after he comes back.

So now that the God of Plague is leaving, all they have to do is sing and dance to see him off.

"You don't care about the affairs of the River Office?"

"Of course I care. I'm recovering from my injuries. It takes 180 days to heal a broken bone. I'll check it out again after I'm healed."

In the car, Lao Zhang asked curiously, and Xia Lin's answer made him laugh. The two of them tacitly did not continue to talk about it, but Dong Niang, who was in the car, could not help but ask: "But you are obviously not injured, why don't you continue to investigate?"

Xia Lin glanced at her, and Lao Zhang also glanced at her. Then they looked at each other and burst into happy laughter.

This smile made Dong Niang completely confused and she had no idea what she had said wrong.

But Xia Lin was kind-hearted. He patiently explained to Dong Niang: "Some things in this world are better to be done to the end, while others are better to be abandoned halfway. I gave them 180 days to repent and reform. It depends on whether they can grasp it."

"But why should we give such a thing a chance? Aren't those people corrupt and unjust?"

Xia Lin looked at Dong Niang blinking his eyes and suddenly felt that it was a bit tiring to communicate with such a stubborn person. It was because Miss Tang was smart. She reacted immediately after hearing Xia Lin pretending to be injured, but Dong Niang obviously did not have this professional quality.

At this moment, Lao Zhang was taking out the specialties of Yanmen Pass from his sack and said with a smile, "This case cannot be investigated. If we continue to investigate, the whole Wei will be in chaos. The deficit of Yanmen Pass alone is as high as one million taels, and the deficit of the whole country may be as high as 50 or 60 million taels. No one can afford this amount of money."

"What about the money?" Dong Niang asked curiously, "We lost so much money, didn't we just get it taken away by someone else?"

"Alas." Xia Lin sighed deeply at this moment: "I don't deny that part of it was indeed eaten up by others, but it is probably only one twentieth at most. Most of the remaining money will be apportioned to various corners to fill the holes. For example, Shezhou wants to build a bridge. The budget given by the Ministry of Construction for this bridge is 5,000 taels. The local governor gave this project to his brother-in-law. When the bridge was half built, it was found that 5,000 taels were spent. If you want to complete it, you need another 3,000 taels. Where does this 3,000 taels hole come from? It can only be paid from the government office first. At the end of the year, when the government office is counted, it is in deficit. The government office cannot be in deficit, so the Ministry of Revenue has to make up for this hole. The money of the Ministry of Revenue does not come out of your mouth. It has to be paid from the national treasury. At the beginning of the year, you reported a plan of 30 million taels, but at the end of the year, you found that the whole country has spent 50 million taels. What should I do with the deficit of 20 million? Do I have to find a place to fill it?"

Dong Niang nodded.

Xia Lin continued, "So this river administration office was set up specifically to fill the deficit. Where did the money go? Of course it went to local officials and merchants. Most of it went to merchants, and eventually went to the aristocratic families behind the small merchants."

"So this matter becomes something that you know, I know, the heaven knows, and the earth knows, but you pretend not to know and I pretend not to know. Does His Majesty know? Of course he knows, do the officials know? Of course they know. But the fear is that if someone reveals this matter, it will spread to a large extent. If you try to catch it, the country will be destroyed, and if you don't catch it, the flag on the city wall will change." Xia Lin patted his thigh: "Let me give you an analogy. The current Wei Dynasty is a mountain of dung. If you don't touch it, it will stand there steadily, but if you try to clean it up, it will collapse on the spot for you to see. Under the surging tide of dung, no one can be spared, whether it is the emperor squatting on the tip of the dung or the dung beetle working hard to move the dung below."

Old Zhang smacked his lips and said, "Your analogy is too disgusting, but it is quite apt. Those officials from noble families are dung beetles. Although they are moving, it will take some time to empty the place. What the Wei Dynasty fears most right now is an unexplained dung explosion. If we really investigate, not to mention Xia Lin, even the emperor's own son will have to go to Qiongzhou to dig oysters."

After hearing this, Dong Niang reluctantly understood a little bit and said with a long sigh: "So you don't dare to continue investigating, right?"

"It's not that I dare not, but I can't. You can rush around in the officialdom, but you have to leave some dignity for each other. You have to fight constantly, but you have to stop when it's almost time, otherwise no one will be happy if you tear your face apart. What I want is to achieve my demands, and they probably understand it in their hearts."

After Xia Lin finished speaking, he leaned back with his eyes half closed, looking very relaxed, while Lao Zhang said with a smile, "So you've figured out that you'll be reinstated, right?"

"What else? Who would dare to let me hang out outside again?"

The two men didn't speak again after that, and while they were still on their way to Luoyang, Commander Chen had already arrived in Jinling City.

Before the grand court meeting started, Chen Qi was already standing in front of Emperor Hongbao, crying bitterly, wishing he could pour out all the grievances he had suffered over the years.

"Your Majesty, I have been with you for twenty-seven years. I appreciate your contributions, but I appreciate your hard work. If Your Majesty feels that I have done nothing, you can just send me back to my hometown to be a farmer with a golden medal. I will never complain. But now they don't leave me any way to survive."

As Chen Qi was talking, he suddenly knelt down in front of Emperor Hongbao: "Your Majesty, please sentence me to death! Your Majesty..."

At this moment, Emperor Hongbao had just fallen ill and had just recovered from a cold. He was still a little weak. He had just eaten a bowl of millet porridge in the morning and was in a daze. Suddenly, a frontier official came running over and cried, asking him to be executed...

At this moment, Emperor Hongbao hadn't reacted yet, so he could only turn his head and look at Tian En. Tian En shook his head slightly, then leaned close to Emperor Hongbao's ear and whispered, "The spies under my command haven't returned yet, but I heard that Xia Daosheng is in Hedong Road."

When he heard the three words "Xia Daosheng", Emperor Hongbao suddenly became stiff. Judging from Chen Qi's appearance, he was probably tortured badly by Xia Daosheng.

So he immediately stood up and walked forward to personally support Chen Qi: "Chen Aiqing, what are you doing?"

"Your Majesty..." Chen Qi was fifty years old, and he cried so hard that his face turned red. As he spoke, snot bubbles appeared on his nose. "I can't live any longer, Your Majesty."

"Quick, quick, quick, Tian En, bring me a chair, and tell him to sit down and talk."

But this time Chen Qi didn't dare to sit down. As soon as he was helped up, he knelt down again, as if he had suffered a great injustice. Then he crawled on the ground and told everything that had happened in the past few days.

When it came to Xia Lin's investigation of the River Administration Office from the death of the envoy, Emperor Hong Bao's heart skipped a beat, but then when he heard that Xia Lin was assassinated, he became furious.

"Assassinating the imperial envoy?"

Emperor Hongbao asked in disbelief: "But is it true?"

"It is absolutely true, Your Majesty. There were two assassins in total. One has been killed, and I have already placed the other in the prison of the Ministry of Justice. Your Majesty, Your Majesty... This is not an assassination of the imperial envoy, this is clearly an attempt on my life, Your Majesty!"

"Okay." Emperor Hongbao flicked his sleeves and said, "Don't cry anymore. You're making me irritated. Get up and talk." Chen Qi's tears were instantly stopped. He replied with an "Oh" and stood up.

"How is Xia Daosheng?"

"He is fine. He just told the public that he was injured in an assassination attempt and needs to rest for 180 days. He also wants you to... to..."

"Speak!" Emperor Hong Bao's patience was also wearing thin at this moment: "When did you, Chen Qi, become so nagging?"

"Your Majesty, he also told me to tell others that the assassin had injured him there, and he was afraid that he would not be able to have children in the future."

Emperor Hongbao was still thinking about this when Tian En suddenly laughed out loud. Emperor Hongbao turned his head to look at Tian En: "What are you laughing at?"

"Your Majesty, I was just laughing at Xia Lin for being so childish. How could he say such a thing?"

"Him?" Emperor Hongbao's eyes rolled. "I'm afraid he didn't say this just for fun. Minister Chen, please continue."

Chen Qi bowed and continued, "Now what people say outside is that he was seriously injured and can't continue investigating the case. He can only continue investigating the case after he recovers from his injury."

"This cunning guy." Emperor Hongbao sat back down at this moment: "I understand. Tomorrow is the grand court meeting. It is not appropriate to talk about this now. You should go and rest for a while. We can discuss it again in the morning court five days later."

This year's grand court meeting was not as lively as in previous years, because the Jiangnan and Lingnan provinces were still competing against each other, Henan Province had also purged a large number of officials, and Li Jing, Li Yuan and others were also stationed at the border, so overall it was relatively dull, and it would have to wait until all things were resolved before things could return to normal.

However, during this period, news about Yanmen Pass also gradually spread back to the capital. On the first day after the grand court meeting, Gao Shilian had just returned to the mansion to rest when his confidant suddenly ran in and said, "My lord, something happened at Yanmen Pass."

"What happened?"

"The river administration office was investigated."

Gao Shilian rolled his eyes and asked his maid to take off his court robes and change into his home clothes. He said disdainfully, "We are investigated every year. What's so strange about that? Is this worth your panic?"

"My Lord... it's Xia Lin Xia Daosheng who is in the river inspection office."

Gao Shilian, who had just picked up the teacup, suddenly stopped and said, "He is investigating? How is the investigation going?"

"In fact... he was just investigating a deficit of one million yuan in the Salt and Transport Department. Before the River Administration Department had even started its investigation, he was assassinated."

With a clang, the teacup in Gao Shilian's hand fell to the ground. He quickly walked to his confidant, grabbed his collar with both hands and lifted him up: "Assassinated? Who did it? Who!?"

The one who didn't want Xia Lin to die the most in the court was definitely Gao Shilian, because no matter how Xia Lin died, he would be in a very passive position, and he couldn't be stabbed. If Xia Lin continued to investigate, he wouldn't be worried, because his backers couldn't escape it. Without backers, Xia Lin was just a small jerk who could be manipulated at will, but he couldn't let anything happen to him, because if anything happened, someone would make a fuss about it.

"Yes...it's the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue..."

Before the confidant could finish his words, Gao Shilian hurried out with one shoe still in his slippers. Without saying a word, he went straight to the home of Shi Shilang of the Ministry of Revenue.

After opening the door, Minister Shi was surprised that Prime Minister Gao came to visit him in person. Just as he was about to say some compliments, he was kicked in the face by Gao Shilian. At that time, Lord Shi was bowing with his hands clasped, and the kick hit him right in the face.

At the same time, the master was kicked out and fell to the ground, crying out in pain. But he did not dare to neglect it, and quickly stood up but still had to smile: "Prime Minister Gao...you..."

"You bastard, you are such a bastard. Did you order someone to assassinate the imperial envoy?"

"Imperial...Imperial Envoy? What Imperial Envoy?"

"Yanmen Pass! Xia Lin!"

Hearing Xia Lin's name, Lord Shi finally remembered. He was stunned for a moment and his face turned pale: "Imperial... Imperial Envoy? I thought... I thought he was just an ordinary censor."

"You didn't even check!?"

Gao Shilian was instantly furious. He just wanted to draw his sword and kill the idiot with one blow. But when he was about to draw his sword, he felt dizzy and almost fell to the ground. After he finally recovered, he pointed at Master Shi who was standing there in a daze: "You...you...you!"

"Gao Xiang... Gao Xiang, I really don't know."

Shi Shilang immediately knelt on the ground and moved step by step to Gao Shilian's feet, kowtowed: "Prime Minister Gao, please save me because I have followed you for many years!"

"Save? I'm about to be killed by you, how can I save you?"

Gao Shilian held onto a nearby peach tree and sat on a stone bench, his chest rising and falling rapidly: "Waste, all of you are waste, why did I raise a bunch of waste like you!"

After a long while, Gao Shilian, true to his name, stood up and kicked Shi Shilang over again, then pursed his lips and said, "Get ready and resign on the grounds of illness. I wonder if the assassin is you?"

"Of course I don't know."

Gao Shilian nodded and said, "I'll take care of the rest. Get out! Don't let me see you again, get as far away as possible!"

"Thank you very much for saving my life..."

(End of this chapter)