Dugong

Chapter 37 Killing the chicken to scare the monkey

"Xiao Yuzi..."

Li Ping'an's mouth curled up slightly. His original intention was to target Eunuch Dong, but he actually had an unexpected gain. He cleared his throat and said.

"How much money did he embezzle?"

Little Mencius quickly replied, "At least a few hundred thousand taels."

Xiao Dezi, who was kneeling beside him, added, "This fellow deceived officials from all over the country, took advantage of the situation to threaten and extort money, collected extra tribute, and then resold it to merchants for profit."

Li Pingan asked, "Can those officials be afraid of his threats?"

Little Mencius said, "Your Excellency, you may not know that if any official disobeys, Little Yuzi will take the opportunity to damage the tribute, causing the amount to be inconsistent with the accounts. The court will then issue an imperial edict, which will affect the official's evaluation and promotion."

The eunuch next to him added, "If an official gives more silver, Xiao Yuzi will put the tribute at the front of the list and boast about its benefits. When Your Majesty sees and tastes it, he might praise it a little."

Your Majesty's casual praise will be regarded as a great political achievement for officials.

Even if the performance evaluation that year was C or D, after receiving this praise, the Ministry of Personnel would hold their nose and give at least a B grade to fulfill His Majesty's words.

There is no greater majesty than that of the imperial power.

Li Ping'an raised his eyebrows. The Tribute Bureau was not only lucrative, but also had such power.

"Which one is Xiao Yuzi? Tell us, have they wronged you?"

Xiao Yuzi crawled out of the crowd, his face pale and his expression desperate. He could never have imagined that he had shared many benefits with his colleagues, but in the blink of an eye, he was sold out.

"Master, I plead guilty."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Mengzi and the others immediately breathed a sigh of relief. They were a little reluctant to part with the money, but compared with their lives and property, selling Xiao Yuzi was nothing.

Li Ping'an's face instantly darkened, and he snorted coldly, "A mere eunuch, yet he is so greedy! Now that he has confessed his crime, why don't you hand over the stolen money so that you can have an intact body!"

Xiao Yuzi said helplessly: "Our family only has more than 10,000 taels, and the rest has been distributed to others."

"Okay, it's still a case of collusion!"

Li Pingan looked at Xiao Mengzi and the others and said, "Can you share the profits? This case is worth hundreds of thousands of taels. If we are even slightly involved, our family will not be able to save it."

Little Mengzi shook his head repeatedly: "Eunuch, this is pure slander from Little Yuzi. We didn't accept any money."

"Little Yuzi is making random accusations and should be put to death."

"Eunuch, this fellow is still doing frivolous things, and he's greedy for a lot of money..."

"We heard that he colluded with officials from the north and replaced the tribute of snow ginseng with dried radish..."

The other eunuchs jointly reported the case, trying to shirk all responsibility and even put the blame of their own crimes on Xiao Yuzi.

Once the person who took the blame dies, the accounts will naturally be settled!

Xiao Yuzi collapsed on the ground, his eyes empty and dim. He thought he could not escape death, so he gave up on defending himself and allowed his colleagues to frame and slander him.

Li Pingan saw that the situation was almost over, so he winked and Eunuch Yuan immediately understood. He said in a difficult tone: "To catch a thief, you must seize the stolen goods. If Xiao Yuzi can't find more than 100,000 taels of silver, it will be difficult to convict him!"

Li Pingan frowned and said, "Since we couldn't find the stolen silver, does that mean Xiao Yuzi was wrongly accused?"

Little Yuzi was smart and clever, and was good at listening to what was said. He immediately realized that the eunuch in charge wanted to spare his life, so he kowtowed and shouted.

"Father, this is unfair. Our family has never been greedy for money."

Li Pingan said meaningfully, "It's not up to you to say whether you are greedy or not. Our family will investigate thoroughly. You should think about how to prove your innocence."

Xiao Yuzi had just escaped death, so how could she dare to have any opinions? "I understand, I will definitely satisfy you, sir."

Li Pingan scolded: "What are you talking about? The Tribute Department is His Majesty's Tribute Department. We must satisfy His Majesty!"

"Eunuch An is right."

Eunuch Yuan agreed, "We have been assigned the task of investigating corruption, and we must satisfy His Majesty. Therefore, we must thoroughly investigate corruption and clean up the Tribute Bureau." Li Ping'an said, "Little Yu, Eunuch Yuan wants to investigate corruption. Do you have any evidence to report?"

Xiao Yuzi wanted to report all his colleagues. He raised his eyes and noticed his eunuch's gaze. He looked in the direction and saw Eunuch Dong hiding in the corner.

When Eunuch Lu was alive, Eunuch Dong was extremely powerful in the Tribute Department. He was tyrannical and ruthless, and no one dared to provoke or offend him.

Now that his influence is still there, the young eunuchs dare not report it easily.

Little Yu Zi steeled his resolve and gritted his teeth, saying, "Sir, we are reporting Eunuch Dong for passing off inferior goods as genuine ones, secretly selling tribute, and embezzling tens of thousands of taels!"

Li Pingan said angrily: "Such a corrupt official must be severely punished by our family."

Eunuch Dong felt something was wrong and crawled to the front, wiping his tears and crying, "Eunuch, we are wronged. We dare not embezzle the money. If you don't believe me, you can search our house."

Li Pingan interrupted, "How could you leave the stolen money in your residence? You must have hidden it in a secret place."

Eunuch Yuan nodded and said, "We followed our godfather to investigate several corrupt officials and saw many ways to hide stolen money. Some buried it underground, some hid it in toilets, and some gave it to clan members for safekeeping."

Li Pingan was surprised and said, "If there is silver hidden in the toilet, won't it stink?"

"Otherwise, why would there be the saying of money smelling bad?"

Eunuch Yuan pulled out two ingots of silver from his sleeves and said, "Eunuch An, look at this silver in front of you. Can you say that the stinky one is lighter or can't be exchanged for white flour buns?"

"Fun and interesting."

Li Ping'an skillfully put the silver into his sleeve. Not to mention hiding it in the toilet, even if it was soaked in feces and urine, it could still be exchanged for two acres of land.

Eunuch Dong was so frightened by the two men's banter that he was sweating profusely. He didn't understand that he had become the chicken to scare the monkeys, so he hurriedly made excuses.

"Eunuch, you said we should catch the thieves and seize the stolen goods. If we can't find any stolen silver, how can you accuse us of embezzlement?"

Li Pingan said quietly, "Whether to search for the stolen silver first or investigate the case first is up to us. You will follow Eunuch Yuan and if you are wronged, we will kowtow to you and apologize."

Eunuch Yuan said, "The Inspection Office will not let any bad guys go. Eunuch An, don't worry, we will interrogate Eunuch Dong thoroughly."

Before Eunuch Dong could open his mouth to speak, two young eunuchs beside him were quick-witted and knocked him to the ground with one punch and one palm.

The true energy blocked the acupuncture points in the throat, and no sound came out even when the mouth was opened.

Li Pingan nodded in satisfaction: "Little Mengzi and Little Dezi are good. They should serve His Majesty well in the future. I will let these minor matters go."

They both knelt down and kowtowed: "Thank you for your forgiveness, eunuch."

"Jie Jie Jie..."

Li Ping'an couldn't help but laugh out loud. He was clearly the one bullying others, but in the end he still had to thank him.

It’s great to be an official!
……

evening.

The eunuchs from the Tribute Department were off duty.

Xiao Yuzi quietly came to the master's office. As soon as he entered, he saw Eunuch An sitting and drinking tea. He slid all the way to his knees and held the silver bills in both hands above his head.

"Thank you for saving my life, sir."

Li Ping'an glanced at the banknotes, all of which were worth thousands of taels. He took most of the stack and put it into his sleeve, then spoke slowly.

"What do you call our family?"

Xiao Yuzi was slightly startled, then suddenly an inspiration came to him and he shouted.

"Godfather!"

(End of this chapter)