The doctor suffers from amnesia, but not complete amnesia.

The emperor originally only wanted to investigate a vice minister because he only knew that this person had a dirty past—now that the man has been killed and the culprit framed, the emperor will surely realize that this Vice Minister Wang was not only not clean, but a complete scoundrel.

So the emperor would definitely continue to investigate, looking for where there had been coal briquette marks, and then follow the trail all the way down, eventually dragging the entire Ministry of Revenue into the mess.

"Teacher Cai, what should we do?"

"The best course of action is to remain unchanged amidst all changes. Chen Fan created this mess himself, so he has to clean it up!"

Cai Yan gave a cold snort.

"Are we just going to watch?"

"Of course we'll just watch. He's made a fortune in Longmen these past few years, and with this windfall, he's managed the Ministry of Revenue so well that he's even showing signs of wanting to rival me. He's been outwardly compliant but inwardly defiant of my requests several times—now we'll let him taste what the consequences of creating division are."

Gao Cheng nodded.

“Then I’ll have to avoid Minister Chen a bit. He’s approached me privately several times already. I came here this time to ask about your attitude, my mentor. Since you’ve said that, I understand.”

"Unless the Dali Temple really finds something and the emperor wants to take the opportunity to replace the Minister of Revenue, then we can join forces to protect him—until then, let this guy suffer a bit."

Cai Yan set the final tone.

For disobedient "subordinates," they must be beaten until they are hurt before a helping hand is extended.

------------------------------------------------------------

Chen Fan sat listlessly in his study, his face haggard and gloomy.

Wang Shilang's case has been investigated by the Dali Temple for seven days. During these seven days, the emperor has been holding court every day. He has never seen the other party so diligent.

The reason the other party was so diligent was that the Dali Temple had indeed unearthed quite a lot of things.

First, it was discovered that Vice Minister Wang had bribed the Prefect of the Capital to secretly take away Manager Wang's property. Then, as the investigation continued, it was found that Vice Minister Wang's family wealth was inexplicable—even if it was earned through traveling merchants, it did not match the accounts of Wang's Trading Company.

So they continued their investigation, and eventually the investigation led them to other officials in the Ministry of Revenue.

Now, the entire Ministry of Revenue is in a state of panic. He was once riding high, thinking that he had turned the Ministry of Revenue into an impenetrable wall, but now, that impenetrable wall has been soaked in acid and is rotting away.

Things wouldn't have come to this. No matter how sharp the sword of the Dali Temple is, it couldn't be wielded so recklessly by the emperor. Otherwise, the court would have been taken back long ago.

The problem was that, apart from himself, there was no one to hold the emperor's hand down.

Cai Yan pretended to be deaf and dumb at the court meeting, while Gao Cheng from the Ministry of Personnel, whom he had approached countless times, always gave him official platitudes, saying that it hadn't come to that point yet, and that they would of course help him when it did.

"That's all bullshit!"

Chen Fan gave a sudden push, sweeping everything on the desk onto the floor.

dong dong dong.

"master--"

"roll!"

The outside quickly became quiet.

Chen Fan was panting heavily. How could he not know what Cai Yan was planning?

He was simply envious of the money he was making and dissatisfied that he wasn't Gao Cheng's lackey, so he wanted to use the emperor to put him in a good position.

Yes, perhaps they really would stand up for themselves and save their position as Minister of Revenue if the emperor wanted to remove them—but this was just to ensure that the court remained in their hands, and it was all for show!

If all the vice ministers and physicians under his command were wiped out by the Court of Judicial Review, then all his hard work over the years would have been in vain, leaving him with nothing but an empty shell.

And when these official positions become vacant, the people who fill them will definitely be Cai Yan's people—wouldn't that just be putting himself out of office and becoming just a puppet minister?

"That's ruthless—Prime Minister Cai!"

He muttered through gritted teeth.

This was another open scheme—Cai Yan knew it, and Chen Fan knew his intentions, but Chen Fan had no choice. He either had to surrender now and beg for forgiveness, becoming Cai Yan's servant, or he could wait for Cai Yan to use the Dali Temple to kill him and leave him all alone, ultimately leaving him with the position of a puppet minister.

But Chen Fan had no intention of admitting defeat. His Cai family was a prestigious family with students and old friends everywhere. Could his Chen family be so bad that they didn't even have the right to fight back?

If you really push him too far, the Cai family will definitely not have an easy time either!

Chen Fan calmed down and sat down to think.

Nowadays, no one in the court will speak up for the Ministry of Revenue anymore. However, his position as Minister is not so easy to change, and the evidence he has is not enough to do anything to the Chen family. If the emperor really wants to make a mountain out of a molehill, not only Cai Yan, but all the other ministers will stop the emperor.

Therefore, the most important thing now is to cut losses in time. The vacancies in the Ministry of Revenue are fine, but the important thing is to fill these vacancies with people who are not all Cai Yan's or the emperor's people. They must also have their own people.

He began to consider the people he could still use, those who could rejoin the Ministry of Revenue with the support of the Chen family. These people were the most important part of his continued control of the Ministry of Revenue.

dong dong dong.

There were three more knocks on the door.

Chen Fan's expression froze.

Given his attitude just now, if someone still dares to knock on his study door, then something big must have happened.

"Come in."

The person who rushed in was the clerk, who looked extremely nervous.

"My lord—something terrible has happened again! Something horrific has happened!"

Chen Fan's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately stood up from his chair, staring at the advisor in front of him.

When the clerk told me about the massacre of Vice Minister Wang's entire family, he only said with a solemn expression, "Something has happened."

Now, the phrase "Something terrible has happened"...

"The Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial, whom His Majesty sent to Victoria, Zhu Ronghui, who brought his family with him, had his entire family slaughtered—it was only after a passing caravan discovered this and reported it to Letania that the news was finally reported back!"

The advisor, trembling, delivered this earth-shattering news.

Chapter 87 Only the Truth Can Deceive

"Minister Yu, it's been a long time. Is there anything you need our cooperation with the Court of Judicial Review to have come to the Ministry of Personnel this time?"

"There is indeed something, but it's just a few questions. I hope to verify this with the Director of the Imperial Household Department."

Yu Cheng was visibly exhausted, but his expression remained extremely serious.

"Please take a seat. I will answer all your questions without reservation."

The two sat down in the lobby, and before the tea was even served, Yu Cheng began her questioning.

"Lord Qiao, I heard from the palace that His Majesty issued the decree of appointment to Zhu Ronghui, the Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial, which was delivered by you."

"That's right. I personally handed the imperial edict to Zhu Rong Shaoqing after reading it aloud."

"After the message was delivered, Zhu Rong Shaoqing did not see anyone else. After packing up, he took his family to Victoria the next day?"

"I don't know if he has met anyone else, but I did go to see Zhu Rong Shaoqing off when he left, after all, we worked together."

Qiao Yelan sighed.

"I never imagined that this farewell would be our last."

Yu Cheng had no time to see Qiao Yelan's sentimentality; he was here to investigate the case.

“Lord Qiao, I can tell you now. Ever since I arrived that day, officials from the Dali Temple have been keeping an eye on you. Therefore, they reported on the situation when you went to deliver the imperial edict that day—the person pushing your wheelchair was not a palace eunuch, but a foreigner.”

“You mean it—before I was promoted to the position of Shaofu Jian, I was just the general manager of a business. In addition, I was always weak and sickly, so I kept some guards by my side. However, after I entered Shaofu, it was Zhu Rong Shaoqing who protected me. These guards have been kept in the royal villa where I stayed when I came to the capital.”

Qiao Yelan narrowed his eyes, then nodded in acknowledgment.

"There's nothing wrong with that, is there? I know the rules. These guards have always lived in the royal villa. It would be very easy for you, Junior Minister, to find out their whereabouts."

"I didn't say there was anything wrong with the guards at the Royal Villa. I was just curious, Lord Qiao, you only keep so many guards, don't you have any others?"

Yu Cheng stared intently at Qiao Yelan, not missing a single change or detail on the other's face.

"The Dali Temple has also investigated the Babel Tower trading company. Its main business is not within the Great Yan territory. The company has a branch in Longmen, but it has only done some business within the Great Yan. Therefore, your true strength lies outside the Great Yan."

"That's right, the headquarters of Babel Tower is indeed in Kazimir, and its commercial activities within the Great Yan territory are mainly concentrated in the Lungmen region—but so what?"

The gentle humility on Qiao Yelan's face had vanished, replaced by a cold, businesslike demeanor.

"It's nothing. It's just that Lord Qiao had just met with Zhu Rong Shaoqing, and in the blink of an eye, Shaoqing's entire family was murdered by thieves outside of the Great Yan. I know Zhu Rong Hui's strength, and the other members of the Zhu Rong family are not without experts as well. To kill them, we must have a powerful armed force."

“I have also met the guards you left at the Royal Villa. They are all skilled and extremely adept at team-based combat. Since you have said that you have not only kept these people, but that the main business of Babel Tower is outside of the Great Yan, it is inevitable that people will have some doubts.”

Yu Cheng continued to press forward, while Qiao Yelan showed no further emotional fluctuation.

"So what—Minister Yu, it's your prerogative to have suspicions, but if you want to arrest and interrogate someone, you have to produce evidence first. Don't forget, in terms of rank, you're a rank lower than me. If you want to interrogate someone, let your Minister of the Court of Judicial Review do it yourself!"

The scene froze after Qiao Yelan's words, but Yu Cheng felt that she had grasped something—the other party's reaction was very different from the last time.

Then something must have changed.

"Yes, evidence is indeed needed. My subordinates are looking for evidence. During this period, the Dali Temple has been keeping a closer eye on the money shops because of the investigation into the two cases of the extermination of Manager Wang and Vice Minister Wang. Interestingly, we found that on the night before Zhu Rong Shaoqing left the capital, which was after you delivered the imperial edict, Zhu Rong Shaoqing went directly to the money shop and withdrew two sums of money."

Qiao Yelan's face remained expressionless.

"Besides the official banks, there are also many private banks in our Great Yan. These banks don't have the same financial backing as the official banks, so all the banknotes they issue have a special stamp. When a customer deposits money there, the banknote they receive will have a stamp that is unique to that customer. This is to verify their identity and to prevent them from withdrawing more money than they are entitled to."

"That night, Zhu Rong Shaoqing not only went to the official bank and withdrew all of the Zhu Rong family's savings, but he also went to a private bank and withdrew a large sum of money of dubious origin—a sum far exceeding the salary he could have as a commander of the palace guards."

Yu Cheng continued to increase the pressure, but still did not notice Qiao Yelan's reaction.

"Then you should investigate whether Zhu Rong Hui has engaged in any corrupt or bribery activities, instead of coming to me. After all, I only worked with Commander Zhu Rong for a very short time."

“We are investigating, but the simplest way, of course, is to directly check the stamp on that banknote to see who gave him the money.”