The playboy county magistrate

As soon as he finished speaking, a series of steady footsteps came from outside the lobby.

Several high-ranking officials dressed in purple robes slowly entered, the leader of whom was Ren Jianxiao, the newly appointed Left Prime Minister who had married a royal princess.

Ren Jianxiao's expression was gentle, with a faint smile. He seemed approachable, but his eyes concealed a shrewd and calculating gaze.

He walked straight to the desk, his gaze sweeping over the stacks of old case files, and spoke casually:

"Censor Li is newly married and should be resting at home. I didn't expect him to come back so soon to deal with such a complicated old case. He is truly diligent and commendable."

Li Xuanzhi raised his eyes and stood up, displaying impeccable manners, yet remaining neither servile nor arrogant.

"To receive the emperor's bounty and bear his burdens is merely one's duty; it's hardly a matter of diligence."

Ren Jianxiao stroked the jade button on his sleeve and slowly smiled:

"I'd like to add something: these are old cases, and with the passage of time and changes in personnel, the evidence is incomplete, making them impossible to investigate thoroughly. In previous years, they were all hastily concluded to maintain stability in the court and avoid damaging harmony."

He subtly shifted his tone, his words carrying a hint of pressure.

"Imperial Censor Li is young and promising, with a bright future ahead of him. Why dwell on the past? Why create enemies and ruin your promising future?"

These words, though seemingly admonitions, are in fact a warning.

Smart people should know when to back down and turn a blind eye.

Selling merits is a favor that brings peace and stability to the court in the future.

If one insists on being serious, then one is ignorant of the rules and out of touch with reality.

Inside the main hall, the other officials standing there all held their breath and bowed their heads, none daring to interrupt.

Everyone was waiting to see if the most prominent Imperial Censor Li would compromise and back down under the pressure from Xun Gui.

Li Xuanzhi raised his eyes and looked directly at the Left Chancellor Ren Jianxiao, his gaze clear and bright.

"The harmony you speak of, Your Excellency, is harmony among the powerful and wealthy. But have you considered that the corruption in the river works is embezzling the blood and sweat of the common people? The deficit in the grain transport is emptying the national treasury's grain and salary."

"A hasty conclusion to an old case means countless people suffer injustice without recourse. A single instance of leniency and indulgence by the powerful renders the law meaningless."

He took half a step forward, his aura imposing, his words resounding.

"As an imperial censor, I am in charge of overseeing the entire realm. If I were to evade investigations to advance my career, or to obscure right from wrong for the sake of harmony, I would be derelict in my duty. I would be ashamed of this official robe, ashamed of the Emperor's grace, and even more ashamed of the people of the realm."

Ren Jianxiao's smile froze instantly.

He originally thought that what others said about Li Xuanzhi was deliberately exaggerated and a distortion of the facts.

I thought that Li Xuanzhi, who had achieved success at a young age, valued his future the most and was the most shrewd at weighing options. His previous reluctance to cooperate with them was simply because the offer wasn't enough.

But to his surprise, Li Xuanzhi was truly an unyielding and stubborn person. He even dared to publicly refute him without showing any mercy.

Ren Jianxiao's face gradually darkened, and his tone turned cold.

"So, Imperial Censor Li is determined to reopen old cases?"

"It's not about overturning the verdict, it's about correcting the mistake." Li Xuanzhi stood firm. "Wrongdoings must be corrected, crimes must be investigated. No one is exempt from the law."

Ren Jianxiao gave him a deep look, a shadow of malice flashing in his eyes. He simply said in a cold voice:

"Since Censor Li has made up his mind, I will say no more. I only hope that Censor Li will conduct his investigations in the future with reason and evidence, and not to frame court officials out of thin air, thus incurring the crime of being radical and arbitrary."

After saying this, he turned around and calmly left with the group of officials behind him.

The atmosphere in the lobby grew increasingly stagnant, so oppressive that it was hard to breathe.

The subordinate turned pale and quickly stepped forward, whispering:

"My lord! You were too outspoken today! The Left Prime Minister and his wife, the Princess, are known for holding grudges. Now that you have been publicly refuted, they will surely join forces with Xun Gui's faction to target you!"

Li Xuanzhi lowered his eyes and focused his gaze back on the dossier, his expression remaining calm.

"If I back down today, I will be vulnerable to being exploited from now on." He continued softly, "The world will think that I, Li Xuanzhi, am timid and cowardly. From now on, all the difficult cases and old malpractices of the powerful will be pushed onto me. That would be a time of endless trouble."

"Continue the investigation." Li Xuanzhi picked up his brush, dipped it in ink, and wrote with sharp and neat handwriting.

"All evidence must be sealed and stored properly, and all witnesses must be properly housed without error."

"yes!"

After Ren Jianxiao and his entourage left, the tense atmosphere in the Censorate Hall lingered for a long time.

Officials from various departments walked quietly and spoke in hushed tones.

Everyone avoided the figure directly in front of the desk, yet couldn't help but glance sideways to spy.

Everyone knew that the Left Chancellor Ren Jianxiao's personal visit was not merely for persuasion, but rather a test, an application of pressure, and, more importantly, an ultimatum.

Li Xuanzhi's public refusal completely shattered the facade of harmony.

The files on the desk were spread out in layers. The ink was old and the pages were yellowed. Every page was filled with traces of corruption that had been deliberately concealed.

His subordinate, sweating profusely after running around all day, hurried back to the hall carrying a stack of newly retrieved account books, his expression grave.

"My lord, I have checked the previous years' records of grain transport and the documents for river works funding, and there are indeed problems."

"Two years ago, the imperial court allocated a total of 370,000 taels of silver for the repair of the Linghe River in Jinling City. However, the actual cost of labor and materials was less than half of that. The remaining silver was split and transferred, and was simply offset in the accounts under the vague term 'river channel loss.' There were no details or verification."

Li Xuanzhi traced the blurred ink marks on the ledger with his fingertips, his eyes cold and deep.

Thirty-seven hundred thousand taels of silver is not a small amount.

It was the blood and sweat of countless laborers toiling in the cold and heat, and the wealth that filled the national treasury to support the people, but in the end, it all flowed into the pockets of the nobles.

"Have the summoned witnesses arrived?" Li Xuanzhi asked in a low voice.

"We've arrived." The subordinate paused slightly, a troubled look on his face. "But... no one dared to say anything."

"The clerk who was in charge of keeping accounts was secretly threatened and became evasive, only daring to say that he was ordered to keep accounts and did not know where the money went. Several laborers who participated in the river repair were inexplicably threatened yesterday, and their families were harassed. Now they are silent and refuse to testify."

Li Xuanzhi's fingers paused slightly as ink condensed at the tip of the brush, splashing across the paper in a large area.

He wasn't surprised.

That group had been entrenched in the court for many years, with deep roots and insidious methods. Their specialty was silencing witnesses through murder.

The reason why old cases from previous years are often shrouded in ambiguity and impossible to investigate is never because of a lack of evidence, but because living people dare not testify.

"I'll go and question them myself."

Li Xuanzhi stood up, the hem of his official robe lightly sweeping the ground, his steps steady.

The witnesses in the side room were all pale-faced, with their heads hanging low and shoulders hunched, looking extremely uneasy.

Hearing footsteps approaching, the group froze, lowered their heads even further, and barely breathed.

The old official gripped his sleeves tightly with both hands, his knuckles turning white, and his voice trembling.

"Lord Li, this humble subject... this humble subject was merely performing official duties back then, and truly knew nothing. I simply followed the records of past cases as they were, and dared not speak ill of my superior."

Before he could finish speaking, his eyes were already filled with fear.

Ordinary low-ranking officials, whose families have been rooted in the city and government for generations, would be at risk of losing their posts and being exiled, or even losing their families and lives, if they dared to testify against the powerful and wealthy.

The other laborers echoed this sentiment, their voices filled with fear, and none of them dared to look up at the other laborers.

The atmosphere inside was so oppressive it was suffocating.