Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 106 Two Imperial Edicts
Changshoufang, a house on South Street.

Di Renjie followed a eunuch from the Changqiutai and came to the outside of a house.

The house was heavily guarded, with the windows nailed shut and four guards stationed outside the door.

"Shaoqing Di, the person is inside. Her Royal Highness the Queen has ordered that you can take him away." The eunuch said in a deep voice.

Di Renjie bowed and said, "Thank you, eunuch. May I go in and have a few words with him?"

The eunuch said, "Yes."

Di Renjie thanked him again and entered the house, only to see an old man sitting inside. It was Shi Hedan who had been replaced.

"Who are you and why are you locking me up here?" Shi Hedan asked in a deep voice.

Di Renjie brought a chair and sat down opposite him, saying calmly, "I am Di Renjie, the Junior Minister of the Dali Temple."

Shi Hedan's face turned pale and he said, "You...you..."

Di Renjie said, "I think Shi Weng should know why I asked you to come here."

Shi Hedan gritted his teeth and said, "I don't understand what you are talking about."

Di Renjie said calmly, "You should understand that since I came to see you, I have already investigated everything about you. To be honest, I really admire you."

Shi Hedan lowered his head, his hands trembling slightly.

Di Renjie said, "Your Excellency is originally a Sogdian. You made a fortune by trading Kunlun slaves. With this money, you made many connections and became an interpreter in the Secretariat."

"Later, your Excellency became too ostentatious, and the mansion caught the eye of Chu Suiliang, who forcibly bought it at the official price. Although Chu Suiliang was exiled, your Excellency was unable to get the mansion back."

"However, in just less than five years, you have bought a similar mansion in Xuanyangfang. That mansion must have cost at least tens of millions of yuan, right?"

Shi Hedan snorted coldly, "Is it a sin for me to return to my old job and make money to buy a house?"

Di Renjie shook his finger and said, "No, you do want to resume your old business, but those Western merchants you were familiar with back then are no longer around. You simply can't make that much money."

Shi Hedan said in a trembling voice, "Shaoqing Di, I am already a dying man, can't you just let me go?"

Di Renjie said in a deep voice, "I will never let anyone who violates the laws of the Tang Dynasty or embezzles public funds go unpunished."

Shi Hedan gritted his teeth and said, "I wonder what crime I have committed?"

Di Renjie said, "Official Shi Yi is old and has a poor memory. I'd like to remind you that in April of this year, a clerk from the Ministry of Personnel accidentally knocked over a candlestick while on night duty, burning several imperial edicts."

"The clerk was expelled from the Ministry of Revenue and demoted to the Ministry of Revenue. A few days later, you resigned from your position as an interpreter at the Secretariat. Is there any connection between the two?"

Shi Hedan's face was pale and cold sweat was pouring down his forehead.

Di Renjie said, "That clerk also resigned this month and wanted to leave Chang'an, but he was killed. Then, someone else wanted to kill you."

Shi Hedan's face turned pale and he asked, "Someone wants to kill me?"

Di Renjie said, "Of course. Otherwise, why would we rescue you from Shi's house last night?"

Shi Hedan asked anxiously, "My Sun Sanlang, is he, is he okay?"

Di Renjie said, "They only want to kill you. Your grandson is doing well now, but if you don't confess, they will probably capture him and threaten you once they find out you're not dead!"

Shi Hedan took a deep breath and said, "If you let me see Sanlang, I will tell you everything."

……

After Li Zhi finished dealing with today's memorials and left Ganlu Palace, he was about to go to the harem when he felt that he had forgotten something.

"Fu Sheng, did I forget something?"

Wang Fusheng asked cautiously, "Is it about the Princess Courtyard?"

Li Zhi slapped his forehead and said with a smile: "Yes, I said I would go to see Changshan, but I almost forgot." He strode towards the princess's courtyard.

When passing the Liangyi Palace, I suddenly saw a man walking towards me quickly.

After seeing who was coming, Li Zhi stopped and waited.

The man walked over quickly, bowed and said, "Your Highness, Di Renjie pays respects to your Majesty."

Li Zhi laughed and said, "Mr. Di is in such a hurry, is there any progress in the case?"

Di Renjie's face was solemn. He said, "Your Majesty, Shi Hedan has confessed the truth. The whole story of this case is clear now!"

Li Zhi nodded repeatedly and said, "Let's go to the main hall to talk."

The two men came to Ganlu Hall. Li Zhi sat down behind the imperial desk and ordered someone to bring a chair for Di Renjie.

"What's going on with this case? Is it a corruption case?"

Di Renjie said in a deep voice, "Your Majesty, this is an extremely serious case of corruption. They embezzled the imperial tax."

Li Zhi said in a deep voice: "Who did it?"

Di Renjie said, "There are three people involved in this case: Chang Sun Yang, Shi Hedan, and He Guang."

Li Zhi asked, "Is He Guang the clerk who was killed?"

Di Renjie said, "That's right." Li Zhi nodded and said, "Please tell me the case in detail."

At the end of April in the sixth year of Yonghui, Goguryeo joined forces with Mohe and Baekje to attack Silla.

In order to quickly gather troops for rescue, the Tang Dynasty collected a head tax from the five prefectures in Hebei Province and transferred it to Yingzhou for military supplies.

After the emperor approved the tax edict, the eunuchs sent it to the Secretariat for review.

This was a procedure that only took place during the reign of Zhangsun Wuji.

After review, due to negligence, the imperial edict was confused with a foreign letter that needed to be translated. The imperial edict was sent to the desk of the translator Shi Hedan, while the foreign letter was sent to the Menxia Province.

Shi Hedan had already left the government office and knew nothing about this.

That night, a clerk from the Ministry of Personnel accidentally knocked over a candlestick, burning all the imperial edicts that had been stamped that night.

As a result, the clerk was demoted to the Ministry of Revenue.

When Shi Hedan discovered that the edict had not been burned, he was extremely shocked.

He did not dare to report to Zhangsun Wuji and Chu Suiliang, fearing that Chu Suiliang would take advantage of the situation to convict him for personal revenge.

Within two days, an identical edict appeared and was delivered to the Ministry of Revenue.

Both edicts bear the seals of the emperor and the two provinces and are legally binding.

Shi Hedan had been resentful because his mansion was robbed by Chu Suiliang, and suddenly a bold plan came to his mind.

Since the edict in his hand also has legal effect, he can ask local prefectures and counties to enforce it.

In this way, wouldn’t it be possible to make a lot of wealth?

Having said that, he was just an interpreter, and if he wanted to get this done, he had no choice but to go through the Ministry of Revenue.

He made up his mind and went to see Changsun Yang, the highest official of the Ministry of Revenue at that time.

Chang Sunyang was very surprised at first, but after thinking about it carefully, he realized that he was the only one who had the final say in the Ministry of Revenue at that time, so this matter had a great chance of success.

Under the temptation of money, Chang Sun Yang and Shi Hedan hit it off.

The only flaw was the official. If he had read the imperial edict, he might have known the inside story.

It happened that the clerk was transferred to the Ministry of Revenue. Chang Sunyang tried to find out from many angles that the other party was not aware of the matter, so he felt relieved.

After careful planning, Changsun Yang sent two edicts to the five prefectures in Hebei and told the prefecture and county officials that the court was worried that the people would be burdened too heavily, so it would levy taxes in two installments.

The county officials were unaware of the true situation and thought that the tax was really being collected twice, so they collected it twice in succession according to the two imperial edicts.

The people of the five states suffered terribly. Many of them had no food at home and had to leave their hometowns and become refugees just to survive.

Chang Sunyang secretly operated the operation, sending part of the tax revenue to the front line, while the other part was secretly transferred by him and pocketed by him.

Shi Hedan also received a large sum of money and bought a new house in Xuanyangfang.

That Lingshi is also a smart guy.

When Chang Sun Yang was testing him, he became wary of him. Later, he sent people to Hebei to inquire about him, but Chang Sun Yang discovered his weakness and asked for a share of the profits.

Chang Sunyang didn't want to make a big deal out of this matter, so he gave him some money.

After hearing this, Li Zhi finally understood why refugees came from Hebei.

He pondered for a moment and asked, "Is this matter only related to Zhang Sunyang? Is there anyone else behind him?"

Di Renjie said, "According to my investigation, there are many people involved in this case, but only these three people truly know the inside story, and they have also gained the most benefits."

Li Zhi asked, "Is Changsun Quan related to this case?"

Di Renjie said: "It shouldn't matter."

Li Zhi frowned and said nothing.

From this point of view, Changsun Quan was not involved in the case, he was just helping Changsun Yang.

Is it possible that just because they have the same surname as each other, he helps Chang Sunyang to such an extent?

Li Zhi thought about the Yanshan Society again and wondered, "Changsun Quan's help to Changsun Yang was most likely directed by the Yanshan Society. What is the Yanshan Society's purpose?"

Thinking of this, Li Zhi said to Di Renjie, "Mr. Di, you are from Bingzhou. Have you heard of the Yanshan Society?"

Di Renjie thought for a moment and said, "I haven't heard of it."

At this moment, Wang Jishan, who was standing by, suddenly said, "Your Majesty, I know about the Yanshan Conference."

Wang Fusheng glanced at him and said, "General Wang, if you already knew this, why didn't you tell me last time at Jiulongtang?"

Wang Jishan said in a deep voice, "I only heard someone mention it last time. Later, I asked that person in detail, and then reported it to Your Majesty."

Li Zhi said, "Who are you talking about?"

Wang Jishan said, "This is my subordinate, the Guoyi Commander, Cheng Wuting."

(End of this chapter)