The rise of the late Song Dynasty reigns supreme

Chapter 194 Clues
After Zhao Gou came out of the palace, he went straight back to the mansion, his mind was full of this case.Although Song Huizong and Xu Jingheng both mentioned it, the difficulty is still relatively high, which made Zhao Gou a little headache. He always felt that there was a big secret hidden behind this matter.

"Young Master, why are you bothered?" Seeing Zhao Gou's frown, Steward Wang asked with a bow.

Zhao Gou sighed: "Housekeeper Wang, this time my father asked me to investigate a case that has been going on for many years. It has been several years since this incident. Doing it is really annoying.”

Wang Guanjia said: "Young master, I don't know what case it is?"

Zhao Gou said: "Three years ago, the court launched a corruption case, embezzling 200 million taels, and then the same thing happened again, with a total of 800 million taels. Three years have passed since this case, and some people have long since disappeared. Even if they know There are some eyebrows, and there is no way to start."

Steward Wang said in surprise, "Young Master, are you talking about disaster relief funds?"

Zhao Gou was taken aback, and said, "Butler Wang, how did you know?"

"If the young master is worried about this matter, maybe I can help a little!" Steward Wang said with a smile, "Actually, the owner of this case also knows that the person who is investigating this matter is in the county prince's mansion, and it is the young master's." Subordinate, I have also participated in it, but the real process still requires the two of them to come."

"The two of them? Could it be the brothers in the mansion?" Zhao Gou said hastily. He didn't expect his luck to be so good, and he felt a little weird.

"The owner of the villa got the emperor's will, saying that someone was corrupt in the court, so he started to investigate. However, the owner of the villa had something important to do, so he ordered me to go. So I sent Gong Cang and Huangshi to monitor Mr. Xu, who was the supervisory censor at the time, asked them to investigate again."

Steward Wang didn't know that it would be such a coincidence. They were also involved in what Zhao Gou wanted to investigate, and then said: "However, because of other things, this case was also put aside. If the two of them come forward Come, maybe we can get more information."

Zhao Gou was shocked and said, "Brothers Gong Cang and Huang Shi?"

So, Zhao Gou asked Steward Wang to call the two of them over. It was unexpected that Gong Cang and Huang Shi were the parties involved in the investigation of the corruption case back then.Perhaps, this was the fate of the heavens. Until the two of them came, Zhao Gou hadn't asked. They already knew, so they told the story straight to the point. This is also the reason why Butler Wang explained on the way here.

Gong Cang said: "In that case back then, the owner asked Steward Wang to investigate, and the two of us had a clear division of labor. I was in charge of monitoring Master Xu's every move; Huang Shi was in charge of monitoring other people, but the servant still has some doubts about this case."

Huang Shi went on to say: "Young master, the slaves are responsible for tracking and monitoring the whereabouts of other people in Yushitai, and there is not much doubt about their behavior. In the end, we did not get any results, so we continued to monitor, this time the target is Hu Ministry officials."

Zhao Gou asked: "Then did you find anything suspicious?"

Gong Cang said: "At that time, there was not enough manpower in the village. Only the two of us went to investigate, and we didn't find anything strange, and these people didn't have close contacts with other people. However, we felt that this matter was even more strange, so we continued to investigate. After investigating, the officials of the six ministries searched all over, but still found no clues, and finally locked their targets on the Privy Council, the Third Division and other institutions, and finally discovered a strange thing."

Zhao Gou hurriedly asked, "What strange thing?"

Huang Shi answered, "The other officials in the six ministries didn't have much difference. The only strange thing is that Ye Mengde, who was the minister of the household department at that time, was recommended by Cai Jing as the minister of the household department. It happened after Ye Mengde served as Minister of the Household Department for a month, but he wanted to continue to investigate but was recalled by the owner, and went directly to Tangyin County, which is the place where the young master studied art, secretly protecting the young master."

Zhao Gou thought about it, and murmured: "In this way, the person Ye Meng found in this corruption case must be an insider."

Now, he remembered what Xu Jingheng said, he must start the investigation from the household department, presumably he also learned something, and this incident coincides with the results of Gong Cang and Huangshi's secret investigation, the most important thing is that There is also the figure of Cai Jing, but Cai Jing has died tragically, this clue is broken, and the only person who knows is Ye Mengde, that is to say, if you want to find out this matter, you must start with him.

"Young master, this servant remembered something, maybe it has something to do with it!" Gong Cang suddenly said as if he remembered something, even Zhao Gou looked at him curiously, and he continued: " Huangshi, do you still remember that when the two of us went to investigate this matter, an official from the Ministry of Household Affairs once went to Yang Chan's restaurant when he was drunk and said something?"

Everyone looked at Huang Shi again, and he said awkwardly: "It's been so long, I don't know, if I call them in, I must know what happened."

So Steward Wang called Yang Chan, Chen Liu and others over, which was Zhao Gou's intention.The county palace where Zhao Gou was located had no valuables, so he didn't care about the three sevens and twenty ones, and he didn't want to be so troublesome, so he simply called everyone here, which might have an unexpected effect.

Yang Chan said: "Young master, what did that person say, I don't remember it very clearly, and he was very drunk. He thought it was drinking, so he didn't pay much attention. I heard what he said here and there... ..."

He looked at Zhao Gou, thought for a while and said truthfully: "He said, the emperor is so confused, the world is in chaos, he favors treacherous ministers, and the Song Dynasty is about to change!"

Zhao Gou said in a deep voice, "He really said that?"

Yang Chan nodded and said, "There is absolutely no falsehood!"

"Why did he say such things? Did he know something? Or something else?"

Zhao Gou was full of doubts, he really couldn't figure out what the meaning was, and it was no wonder that Yang Chan would think it was drinking talk. If such words were passed to the ears of those who cared, they must be decapitated and would surely die. Words are outrageous.

"Then do you know who this person is?"

Chen Liu answered, "This person is Zhu Minzhong, the former Minister of the Household Department!"

"Zhu Minzhong?" Zhao Gou looked at Chen Liu in surprise. He really had never heard of this person's name, even in history books.

Chen Liu went on to say: "Zhu Minzhong is a Jinshi in the second year of Yuanfeng. His ancestors are the grandsons of Zhu Jingze, the prime minister of Yongcheng in the former Tang Dynasty. Well, the family background is quite deep. Because this person does not know how to adapt, is honest and honest, and does not follow others, he offended many people, resulting in poor official luck. It was not until the current emperor ascended the throne and was appreciated that he came to Beijing as an official from the local area. The Minister of the Household Department, I don’t know what to do, and I will return to my hometown.”

Zhao Gou intuitively told him that there was something wrong with Zhu Minzhong's resignation and return to his hometown. Even if calculated by his age, he was only a few years old. It was at that time that Ye Mengde rose from the servant of the household department to become the minister of the household department.

Therefore, Zhao Gou knew that there must be a breakthrough to investigate this corruption case, and this breakthrough was Zhu Minzhong, the former Minister of the Household Department, and he was the only one who knew the truth of the matter.If you go to investigate from the capital, it will definitely attract the attention of other people, and you can only do it in a roundabout way.

(End of this chapter)