Doctor Amnesiac, but not completely amnesiac

Shopkeeper Wang died in unclear circumstances. If the Heavenly Master found out that I was transferring Shopkeeper Wang's property, wouldn't that be like dropping mud on my pants?

It’s death if not death!

"Sir Shangshu, this Wangji Company is the white glove of our Ministry of Revenue. It is not only engaged in business, but also in Longmen..."

"Shut up!"

Chen Fan glared at him angrily. Minister Wang knew he had said the wrong thing and immediately fell silent, but his hands and feet were still shaking.

“This thing…this thing…”

He paced back and forth, but ultimately could not make a decision.

"Alright! Stop shaking! Change your clothes now and come with me to meet the person!"

"Who to meet?"

Although Minister Wang was confused, he was not in a hurry and immediately caught up with Chen Fan.

“Of course, it’s the people who get the money.”

Although Chen Fan is the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, it is impossible for him to shake the Dali Temple's determination to investigate the case. However, even if he can't do it, someone else may be able to do it.

A carriage quietly left from the back door of the Chen Mansion, and a person selling things nearby took a look and reached out to take a hairpin.

News began to spread in secret.

A servant pushed open the door and handed Qiao Yelan a prescription.

Qiao Yelan handed it to Wang Zhi casually, and Eunuch Wang took out a book and translated the text by comparing it.

[Minister Wang entered Chen's residence, but before he left, another carriage came out from the back door and entered the Prime Minister's residence.]

"Master Qiao - it seems we have caught a big fish this time!"

Eunuch Wang couldn't suppress his emotions, and his deep voice was still filled with excitement.

"Yeah, I'm really lucky."

Qiao Yelan picked up a cup of tea and sipped it slowly.

After all, he "could not help but" be more cautious about the caravan that had been able to do business in Longmen and Tower of Babel in recent years and had an unusually big appetite.

Chapter 84: Cutting Grass

"Prime Minister, this is what happened."

Inside the main hall, there were three people, each with a different look on their face.

Minister Wang was hunched over with his head down, looking completely depressed.

The Minister of Revenue Chen Fan remained calm at this time, but he was staring at the Prime Minister's face, obviously trying to see something.

Prime Minister Cai Yan simply picked up the tea and took a sip.

"This is not a big deal. Your Majesty just referred the case to the Dali Temple at the court meeting today. It will take at least until tomorrow for the Dali Temple to start a formal investigation of the case. Meanwhile, doesn't Your Majesty have another decree?"

"You mean...replace the Jingzhao prefect?"

"This case has always been handled by the officials of Jingzhao Yinfu. Now that the Jingzhao Yinfu has been replaced, it is understandable that they would be temporarily uneasy. If they add fuel to the fire, then the complete transfer of this case will be delayed for another day."

Cai Yan put down the teacup, looking calm.

"Today plus tomorrow, two days, if it's not enough for you to return all the things in Shopkeeper Wang's hands - then Minister Wang, you are so incompetent that you deserve to die."

"I understand! I understand! Thank you for your guidance, Prime Minister! Thank you for saving my life!"

Minister Wang, who had been in a depressed mood just now, didn't even care about his boss's expression and directly expressed his gratitude to Cai Yan.

"Mr. Prime Minister, I will now--"

The words suddenly stopped because Minister Wang saw the expressionless face of his direct superior, Minister of Revenue Chen Fan.

"Go."

Chen Fan said calmly.

"Yes, I will take care of it now."

After saying this, Minister Wang ran out of the Prime Minister's Mansion as if escaping.

At this time, only Cai Yan and Chen Fan were left here.

"You said, according to your method, Minister Wang can really escape from the disaster?"

"Man proposes, God disposes."

"What if he can't escape?"

"If he can't escape, then it's time for Your Majesty to take advantage of this situation."

Cai Yan’s words startled Chen Fan.

"you mean......"

"Although our Majesty is young and has not been with the late emperor for a long time, he still has a keen sense of power and conspiracy."

Cai Yan sighed softly.

"First, they used the late emperor's name to bring back a person from the outside world. This person has no foundation, no background, and has never had any contact with us. In other words, there will be no one in the court who is cleaner than the new Shaofujian."

"Your Majesty is promoting him from a commoner to a third-rank official. He is paying a huge price for his talents. He wants to tell everyone clearly that as long as you have the ability, His Majesty will give you enough trust and a stage. In this way, he can skip the imperial examination and directly issue a recruitment order to the world's talented people."

Chen Fan's face turned gloomy.

The imperial examination was the biggest proof that this group of civil servants became increasingly unscrupulous after they were united.

The emperor could not control the imperial examination without their knowledge, because, after all, a person's energy was limited, and the emperor could not pay attention to so many scholars. These scholars entered the officialdom after passing the imperial examination, and they were "cultivated" and "trained" by their senior superiors who had become experienced people.

Perhaps these people had a heart to save the world and serve the country before entering officialdom, but the emperor was alone and he could not see everything, and they did not have the extraordinary talent to break out of their cage - in the end, didn't they still become part of a huge bureaucracy?

Now, the emperor wants to remove this obstacle with his own hands and directly promote his confidants into officialdom in order to suppress them directly.

Chen Fan did not respond. He just picked up the teacup and pondered secretly.

The emperor wanted to prove his vision, which meant that the new Shaofujian had to produce results immediately. This was a complete "buying horse bones" exercise.

Therefore, since taking office, Qiao Yelan has been running around to expand the Shaofu, obviously intending to accomplish something big.

With the title of Shaofu and the money to pave the way, it was only a matter of time before he wanted to expand. However, business matters obviously could not be brought to the table.

After all, the scholars and officials are all "ashamed to talk about money".

Therefore, at this time, killing all the members of Shopkeeper Wang's family who had no intention of selling the business could be considered a brilliant move - if Shopkeeper Wang's family was killed and Qiao Yelan continued to buy businesses, everyone would think that Qiao Yelan did it, and everyone would think that this was against the rules and had no morality.

And the emperor’s behavior will also be questioned—is someone like Qiao Yelan really worthy of such importance?

So after this incident happened, Qiao Yelan could not continue to make acquisitions, nor did he dare to continue making acquisitions - he would even give back all the things he had acquired before in order to prove that he did not do it.

A good cook cannot cook without rice. No matter how talented Qiao Yelan is, without people, carriages, and shops, he has no way to expand the Shaofu.

In this case, the emperor could no longer continue his act of "spending a fortune to buy horse bones".

The family annihilation case was undoubtedly an open conspiracy, so Qiao Yelan had no choice but to accept the defeat.

Therefore, after realizing that this drama could not go on, the emperor immediately stepped in personally and transferred the case to the Dali Temple. Rather than watching Qiao Yelan step down in disgrace and embarrass himself, it would be better to make the matter a big deal and let the whole city know about it. Fortunately, there would be a reason to make the case public later.

Because no matter what is found out in this case, it will ultimately be a dirty trick on the part of the civil service group, not a problem on the emperor's side.

What Xu Fan is considering now is who is behind the conspiracy to kill Manager Wang.

Judging from the cause, the planner obviously saw through the emperor's methods at a glance, so he immediately concocted this incident, destroying the emperor's plan and forcing the emperor to bring in the Dali Temple.

Everyone knows that the Heavenly Masters of the Dali Temple are not influenced by power and money, and they only act for Da Yan and justice.

This is a double-edged sword.

Therefore, the emperor's choice to use the Dali Temple meant that his plan had failed. Instead of admitting defeat at this time, it would be better to let the Dali Temple join the game and end up with a lose-lose situation.

The planner obviously had other purposes in choosing Manager Wang instead of anyone else - he must have intended to drag the Ministry of Revenue into the water as well.

The true story of Wang’s business was an extremely secretive one, with only a few people knowing the truth - and obviously, the planner knew it, otherwise wouldn’t it have been possible for Qiao Yelan to just pick any one of the many businesses he visited?

Why is it Shopkeeper Wang?

He glanced at Cai Yan inconspicuously.

He had thought about this problem when he was in his own mansion before, so he deliberately brought Minister Wang to see the Prime Minister, wanting to see what his plan was.

With just two sentences, Cai Yan made a completely useless suggestion, which Minister Wang took back as if it were a treasure.

Lord Shu could figure it out with his heels that the Dali Temple could not be delayed at all, so no matter whether Minister Wang was transferring the property or coming back later, the more he moved, the bigger the flaw would be, and he would definitely be pulled out in the end.

After being dragged out, the first person to bear the brunt is himself, the Minister of Revenue, and if the Dali Temple finds out more things...

Obviously, Cai Yan is happy to see such a situation.

Gao Cheng from the Ministry of Personnel was a student of Cai Yan. It was the collaboration of these two people that changed the imperial examinations held by the Ministry of Personnel from selecting officials for the country to selecting servants for them.

Although I am the Minister of Finance, I am still an outsider.

"Mr. Prime Minister, after all, Minister Wang is from my Ministry of Revenue. If Your Majesty starts a rebellion, and points the finger at the Ministry of Revenue, I will be unable to handle it alone."

Chen Fan continued to test the situation calmly.

"I will naturally speak up for Minister Chen. There is no need to say more about this. I understand the principle of the lips and teeth being cold."

Cai Yan made a verbal promise lightly.

"If that's the case, then I'm relieved."

Chen Fan smiled but cursed in his heart.

You know shit, you know!

This guy clearly wants to sit back and wait first, and then intervene to mediate based on the emperor's and his own behavior.

He bowed and left the Prime Minister's Mansion, feeling even more certain of his guess.

The one who killed Shopkeeper Wang's entire family must be someone who was targeting the emperor. In this entire court, apart from me, Chen Fan, and your Cai Yan and your family, who else would target the emperor like this?

Who else has the vision to come up with this plan?

Who else has the ability to carry out this plan?

more importantly--

Who else got a share of the money from Wangji’s smuggling business and knew all about it?

A dark crack appeared silently in this alliance that was linked together by interests.

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

"Your humble servant, Yu Cheng, Junior Official of the Dali Temple, greets Master Qiao."

A middle-aged man in his forties bowed to Qiao Yelan.

"Meet Yu Shaoqing."

Qiao Yelan also bowed to the other party.

"Your Majesty has ordered the Dali Temple to take full charge of the Wangji Company murder case. As someone who had contact with the family within twelve hours before the incident, Sir Qiao, do you have any objection to my investigation and questioning of you?"

"I have no objection. His Majesty has already conveyed the imperial edict in the court. Everyone in the Shaofu will cooperate with the Shaoqing's investigation."

Qiao Yelan's answer did not change Yu Cheng's expression. It was obvious that no matter whether Qiao Yelan agreed or not, it would not affect Yu Cheng's behavior.

"That day, when did Lord Qiao meet Shopkeeper Wang?"

"I don't remember the exact time, but it was probably between 5 p.m. and 3 p.m., because after I met with Shopkeeper Wang, it was still light outside, so I went to meet another shopkeeper."

Yu Cheng recorded it in detail. It was the end of the year and the days were short in winter. Qiao Yelan's statement was consistent with their inquiries on the street.

"What did Lord Qiao and Shopkeeper Wang talk about?"

"It's about the acquisition of Wang's Company. In order to expand the Shaofu, I have been busy acquiring talents such as clerks and shopkeepers from the company these days. When I discussed with Shopkeeper Wang, he was only willing to sell a few shops, and was not willing to sell the company's people."

"After this, has Mr. Qiao ever returned to Wang's Company or met Manager Wang again?"

"No, I went directly to the next store."

After Yu Cheng inquired about Qiao Yelan's whereabouts and actions in the two days before and after the incident, he paused for a moment and made a somewhat strange request.

"Master Qiao, can you please arrange it? I want to give everyone in the Shaofu a rough feel of their muscles and bones."

The Shaoqing of Dali Temple said with a serious face.