Joy of Life: I'm really not a saint

The man just nodded stupidly.

Chapter 231 Where did the money go?

"Is everything under control?"

There were no candles in the room and the windows were closed, so not even a ray of light could get in, making it pitch black.

In the darkness, Fan Jian seemed to be able to see at night. He tilted his head and muttered in one direction.

"No, the information he said before was all false. The retainer's real name was Zheng Tuo, and he had no children. Even some of his relatives thought that Zheng Tuo was drowned in a flood a few years ago."

A man in black blended perfectly into the room, answering in a deep voice with a frown on his face.

"It seems that he is indeed from the Overwatch Council."

"Your Excellency, according to my investigation, Zheng Tuo and Yuan Bo'an may have had private contact."

"Let's stop here and don't alarm him. I didn't expect Yuan Bo'an to be from the Supervisory Council. Chen Pingping, ah, Chen Pingping, my relative deserves to be defeated!"

"Don't worry, sir. Zheng Tuo does have a nephew. But the relatives haven't had any contact for many years. Zheng Tuo loves the nephew very much, but he doesn't reveal his identity."

"That should be his biological son." Fan Jian raised his eyebrows and smiled slightly, "Very good, then you can keep an eye on him secretly, and when the time comes, you can threaten him."

The man in black didn't say anything, but rubbed his fingers silently, and his calloused hands made strange sounds.

He was waiting for Fan Jian's remaining instructions.

"This is the only thing that matters to me. I'm sorry to bore you with all the idleness."

"Although I am no longer in the Tiger Guard, I have never missed a day of my training and I don't feel bored."

Fan Jian nodded, and told the man in black to go and do his job, and reminded him: "Depending on the situation, if you feel it is necessary, send one of his son's hands to his room."

The man in black disappeared into the room in silence.

······

The Ministry of Finance in Kyoto collapsed, and a large amount of deficit was exposed, but the silver it represented was nowhere to be found.

Fan Jian did not make any extra moves and continued to claim illness and not attend court. He did not even give any extra explanation, which aroused the dissatisfaction of all the civil and military officials in the court.

For several days in a row, the Crown Prince and the Grand Secretary requested to see Emperor Qing, but were not allowed in. It was obvious that Emperor Qing was still hesitating about how to deal with Fan Jian.

From the spies, we learned that Fan Jian was still loyal and indispensable. The biggest reason for replacing the Minister of Revenue with someone else, besides his ability, was that Emperor Qing was worried.

Fan Jian's 'greed' is at least for the sake of Qing State.

Emperor Qing gradually made up his mind.

When the investigation team continued to dig deeper, they were terrified by the huge deficit. If it was just that, it would be fine, but the identities of the people involved made them dare not increase their efforts!

They didn't communicate, but they all stopped tacitly.

Unexpectedly, at the court meeting the next day, the official who had previously attacked Fan Jian the most fiercely began to speak well of Fan Jian.

Some even signed their names to guarantee that Fan Jian had been with His Majesty for 30 years and had always been conscientious and had never made any mistakes. They had already pushed the deficits in the account books onto the former Minister of Revenue.

Some smart people have already realized that something is wrong.

Lord Fan Jianfan has been ill for a long time. Even after such a big mess was exposed, the illness still hasn't healed! And the palace actually tacitly accepted that he was ill and couldn't attend the court. The meaning of this is self-evident.

This means that the person in the palace tolerated what Fan Jian did.

Therefore, the final result was that the former Minister of Revenue embezzled a huge amount of money and was executed in the autumn!

Although everyone knows that when Fan Jian was the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, he had the final say in the Ministry of Revenue.

The palace commended all the departments responsible for the matter, and even rewarded the Crown Prince and the Grand Secretary who were in charge of the matter. This embezzlement case that shocked the entire Kyoto was thus hastily closed.

Although Fan Jian successfully avoided this incident, he could not do anything more in the short term.

After all, he was still sick.

Since you are sick, you should recuperate at home.

The house of the former Minister of Revenue was searched, and only more than 500,000 taels of silver were found, which was far from the deficit recorded in the account books, but no one cared where the silver went.

In a teahouse on Suzaku Street in Kyoto, a man wearing a bamboo hat was reading a notice posted by Jingzhao Prefecture.

The national master has made a brilliant plan, and this first phase is proceeding according to the planned route.

Now that we have the results, it’s time to move on to the second step.

No one could help him expose Fan Xian's true identity anymore.

Those who wanted to protect Fan Xian could not hide this news, and would not easily let it be exposed. As for Fan Xian's enemies, they also did not want to make Fan Xian's identity as a prince public, because that would do more harm than good!

With Fan Xian's current strength, it is hard to say whether there will be any fence-sitters who will turn around and support the other party to take the position, thus increasing the other party's strength for nothing.

This is also the reason why Ang Lee and Sean sent He Daoren to Kyoto.

This time, even if he is a master of the ninth rank, he is still in danger of death.

After reading the notice, Taoist He tightened his hat and disappeared into the teahouse.

There were more than a dozen people in a small courtyard.

Taoist He took out the contact token and identified himself.

"Meet the adults!"

He Daoren nodded and said, "There is only one thing to do. Don't stay after you finish it. Evacuate Kyoto completely. Life or death depends on yourself!"

The others nodded when they heard this, full of excitement!

If I can survive this mission, I will return to Northern Qi and enjoy endless wealth and glory, and it will also benefit my descendants!

Not to mention that once this matter is accomplished, it will be a great thing for Da Qi!

Some of them are determined warriors, and some are patriotic people. Although they don't know what the final result of exposing Fan Xian's identity will be, since it is the order of the Northern Qi State Master and the leader of the Black Ice Platform, and they are willing to activate all the hidden lines that have been buried for so many years, it must be a matter of great importance!

"Copy the contents of this letter 10,000 times. The paper has already been prepared. Do not print it to leave traces. Once the preparations are complete, everyone will go to the designated locations to distribute them. The specific method of action is already stated later."

"I wish you all a triumphant return!"

Taoist He said in a deep voice.

"For Da Qi!" After everyone responded in a low voice, they began to get busy in this small courtyard.

······

The Qing court was still dealing with the aftermath of the deficit case at this time, and the Supervisory Council also sent a large number of personnel out of Kyoto to the Ministry of Revenue and the Qingli Division in Jiangnan and neighboring counties to begin arresting people.

All attention was diverted, allowing He Daoren and others to act safely.

The prince has been exceptionally diligent these days. He has long been immersed in the praise from Emperor Qing and has forgotten everything else, completely unaware of the change in the atmosphere in Kyoto.

It was rare for His Majesty to praise him, and even though the case had been closed, the prince still diligently participated in the interrogation of the guilty officials.

The person in charge of the Jiangzuo Qinglisi was a Yuanwailang named Fang Li, who was considered a relatively senior official sent by the Ministry of Revenue.

"Bring him in!"

The prince had an expression of righteousness, as if he was serving his country and his people. It was a little heavy and a little sacred.

When Fang Li was escorted in by the staff of the Supervisory Commission with a sad face and at a loss, he had already wet his crotch.

The prince frowned at first, then looked at the face in the audience, his heart suddenly skipped a beat. Wait, why does this person's face look so familiar?

He was no longer as high-spirited as before, and asked tentatively:

"Speak now! Where did all that silver go!"

It will be posted during the day tomorrow. It’s a bit sudden as I have a lot to do today.

Chapter 232 It's hard to get off the tiger.

The courtyard fell into an eerie silence.

The Minister of Personnel Yan Xingshu looked at the prince in surprise, while the accompanying Grand Secretary was very cunning and said nothing.

Seeing that the Crown Prince was acting as the presiding judge, contrary to their usual practice, the other officials were happy to take some time off and let the limelight go to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

Although the prince felt that the person in front of him looked familiar, how many officials had he met over the years? How could he remember them all? Although his name sounded familiar, it seemed that he had heard of it somewhere.

Fang Li, the Deputy Director of Jiangzuolu of the Ministry of Revenue, was slightly startled, his face turned very pale, and even his lips trembled a little, and it was unclear whether he was afraid or angry.

He looked at the Crown Prince in astonishment. He had not expected that the Crown Prince would treat him so differently. His previous tolerance seemed like an illusion. After realizing his situation, he gritted his teeth and bowed slightly, clasping his hands and saying, "Your Highness, I am Fang Li, the Deputy Director of the Jiangzuo Route of the Ministry of Revenue!"

The prince was already somewhat displeased by the fact that the person who had just lowered himself looked directly at him. Now that he saw the other party repeating his position and name again, the prince's brows had already formed the shape of a "川" character.

"Of course I know your information, and now I want you to tell me where the money went! Don't talk about other things!"

The unhappy tone filled Fang Li's ears, causing him to look up in surprise again, looking at the prince as if he were a fool!

"I don't know!"

Fang Li prostrated himself on the ground, shaking all over as if he had been struck by lightning!

The prince said gloomily, "I don't know? If you can get away with it by shirking responsibility, then doesn't that mean you don't take me seriously? And you don't take all the ministers present here seriously?"

Fang Li's heart fell into an icy cave. He finally understood the idiot in front of him!

It would be fine if he forgot about me, but that sum of money was used by the prince for his own entertainment, how could he forget it? But even if Fang Li understood the inside story, whether the prince really forgot or was just pretending to be stupid, he couldn't say it!

I can only hope that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince can remember my ordinary face and come forward to think for me. If I tell the truth, not only will the Crown Prince not save me, I'm afraid he will be the first to take my life!

He felt very sad. Who on earth was he?

The prince forgot about the money after using it, and he was just a dog.

I don’t know if I can survive the punishment from the Supervisory Commission.

"I don't know!"

"Very good!" The prince didn't seem to notice Fang Li's 'flirting glances'. Even if he noticed, he didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

As the crown prince and the future master of Qing Kingdom, he would have to cut off all ties with this man, not to mention trying him as a criminal! Even if he was his subordinate, he would definitely get rid of him completely!

"Torture me! Torture me severely!"

Fang Li's mouth was dry and his tongue was parched. He was already panicking. He had never expected that things would develop to such an out-of-control point! He trembled for a long time, lowered his head, and thought to himself that since the Crown Prince had ordered the torture, he would have no room for maneuver!

I was so angry that I just threw the jar into the ground!

"That hundreds of thousands of taels of silver..." Fang Li was almost crying helplessly. Seeing that the people from the Supervisory Council had come forward to drag him away, he hurriedly said, "That silver was handed over to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and was spent by His Royal Highness!"

"What did you say! You bastard, what did you say!"

The prince was horrified and could no longer bear it. He jumped up from his seat and rushed towards Fang Li, who was crawling on the ground. He immediately started punching and kicking him, each move aimed at the vital parts, and he used all his strength!

"Your Highness!"

"Your Highness, please calm down and don't do anything yet!"

The Grand Secretary smiled slightly, then flashed away, stepped forward and grabbed the prince's robe, and whispered to comfort him: "Your Highness, please listen to his words first."

"You say!" The prince's eyes were red and ferocious, as if he was going to choose someone to bite!

"I have account books in my government office, and every penny of this money is recorded!"

The prince fell down on his chair. Now he understood Fang Li's strange behavior and why he looked familiar to him.

His face was filled with anxiety, and the first thing he thought of was how to remedy the situation. Then he realized that there were not only people from the Supervisory Council, but also people from the Minister of Personnel, the Grand Secretary, the Ministry of Justice, and the Dali Temple! How could he excuse himself?

The only solution now is to go to the palace and ask my mother for help!

Yes! That's right! It's just a few hundred thousand taels of silver, what's the big deal? When he inherits the throne, all the money in the world will be his. So what if he embezzled it before? So what if he can't remember where the money came from?

What we need to do now is to kill and silence the witnesses!

"You bastard, you don't tell a word of truth! You are so brave! Torture me! Torture me severely!"

The prince's murderous intent was evident in his words, and Fang Li felt a cold sweat on his back, the chill penetrating deep into his bones!

"Don't worry, Your Highness. The matter has not been thoroughly investigated yet, so there is no need to rush to conclusions."

The Grand Secretary glanced at the accompanying officials and said, "Why not send someone to search his home first to see if he has these things? If they are false, then your Highness will be able to deal with this person."

When the official just led his men out of the yamen, the prince was shocked and countless memories flooded into his mind.

This person is the same age as Guo Baokun, and they are also somewhat related. He did give him a sum of money through the eldest princess. For this reason, he was able to achieve the position of Yuwenlang of Jiangzuolu in the Ministry of Revenue at such a young age.

The prince glared at the Grand Secretary viciously, and at the same time he hated the Minister of Personnel Yan Xingshu who was smiling and silent beside him!