Chapter 75
Chapter 75
No!
This was all wrong!
He was only supposed to admit to the Yizhou embezzlement, then cleverly enlist his colleagues to make a serious offense seem trivial. How had this suddenly turned into him admitting that he had been corrupt all along?
At what point had everything gone off the rails?
Yang Qinghui’s mind raced. At last, retracing his memories, he found the source –
It was when Xie Chengze had saddled him with that grandiose label of “putting himself in the game.”
“Your Majesty!” He hastily dropped to his knees and explained in a panic, “This old minister only embezzled Yizhou’s disaster-relief silver. I have committed no other crimes!”
Emperor Jian finally understood the whole performance.
Xie Chengze and Shen Yuan were working in tandem, one playing the good cop and the other the bad cop, all to dupe Yang Qinghui!
Emperor Jian raised an eyebrow so slightly that no one noticed. Then his face darkened, and his voice rang with unquestionable authority. “Yang Qinghui! A moment ago, you boasted that you had put yourself in the game and stockpiled silver against future disasters. Now you claim you only embezzled Yizhou’s relief funds. We allocated a mere three hundred thousand taels to Yizhou. Is that paltry sum all the preparation you believe necessary to save the common people from calamity?”
“Are you truly this foolish and incompetent, or are you deceiving your sovereign in an attempt to clear your name?” Emperor Jian roared.
“Th-this…”
Cold sweat streamed down Yang Qinghui’s forehead. His voice shook. “This old minister… this old minister…”
Damn it. Why had he admitted to that nonsense about putting himself in the game?
It was all because the Second Prince had spoken with such impassioned conviction and twisted black into white so persuasively that Yang Qinghui had failed to react in time and unwittingly confessed to his own embezzlement! Then that Shen brat had seized the opening to fan the flames and blow the matter out of proportion, leaving him with no way to explain himself!
“This old minister was foolish and incompetent. I beg Your Majesty to remember my years of service and show me some mercy!” Yang Qinghui knocked his head against the floor again and again, his face full of regret.
Seeing this, Shen Yuan stepped forward and cupped his hands. “Your Majesty, since Minister Yang’s statements contradict each other, a thorough investigation is all the more necessary to restore integrity to the court. If Minister Yang is truly innocent, he should have nothing to fear and may face the inquiry with a clear conscience.”
Yang Qinghui himself had now shattered the impasse of “baseless conjecture that merits no further inquiry.” The Censorate had ample and perfectly legitimate grounds to investigate the Ministry of Revenue from top to bottom.
Realizing this, Yang Qinghui glared furiously and said through clenched teeth, “Naturally, this official does not fear an investigation. But as the Second Prince said, Lord Shen’s conduct does indeed suggest that he means to use his colleagues as steps in his climb to high office. I ask that Your Majesty not indulge him!”
Shen Yuan lifted his eyes calmly. Standing tall in his deep-purple court robes, he was as straight and unyielding as a pine. “If an investigation proves that Minister Yang has committed no wrong beyond the Yizhou matter, this Shen will personally submit a memorial requesting dismissal, circle the capital three times, and proclaim to all that I am a man of meager talent and virtue who falsely condemned a loyal minister.”
Yang Qinghui’s lips curled into a sneer. “Hmph. In that case, let us investigate the matter to the bitter end!”
He had served as an official for decades. How could he possibly have failed to prepare a fallback?
Shen Yuan, you are still too young! Even if you turn the Ministry of Revenue upside down, you will find no evidence!
“If Minister Yang is not innocent, however, then under the laws of Jian’an, the Minister of Revenue holds a vital office and controls the court’s finances. Should he accept bribes or embezzle funds, his punishment must be increased by one degree. His crimes must be proclaimed throughout the realm, and he must be beheaded in the marketplace. Any colleagues, subordinates, or relatives who colluded in, concealed, or tolerated his corruption must likewise be thoroughly investigated. Depending on the severity of their involvement, they shall either be demoted and exiled as punishment, or subjected to the ultimate penalty as a warning to others.”
Shen Yuan’s fathomless eyes narrowed as he pressed forward step by step. “Minister Yang, do you acknowledge this law?”
Yang Qinghui clenched his jaw. “The law is plain. Naturally, I do!”
Shen Yuan bowed to Emperor Jian with both hands clasped. “In that case, Your Majesty, this subject possesses a piece of material evidence and humbly requests permission to present it.”
Emperor Jian raised a hand, granting permission.
Shen Yuan slowly drew an object from his sleeve. Eunuch Zhao hurried forward to receive the booklet and placed it on the imperial desk.
The instant Yang Qinghui saw the words on its cover, all color drained from his face, and a storm raged through his heart –
How had this fallen into Shen Yuan’s hands?
Yang Qinghui trembled from head to toe and stared at Emperor Jian in terror. Then Shen Yuan’s cold, pitiless voice rang out, like an executioner’s blade sheathed in ice descending straight toward his neck:
“Your Majesty, this booklet uses fictional tales to record the hiding places of every tael of government silver, every famous painting, and every piece of jewelry Minister Yang embezzled. The quantity was so great that the official seals were never removed from much of the hidden government silver, making its origin easy to trace…”
Emperor Jian leafed through the “storybook.” His expression changed sharply when he saw the marked passages, and he hurled the account book down before the throne. “Yang Qinghui! How do you explain this?!”
Yang Qinghui scrambled toward it on his knees. The moment he saw the handwriting and annotations, his mind went blank. He felt as if his head had already parted from his body, every inch of him turning cold.
It was real. It was actually real!
How had Shen Yuan found this? He had clearly hidden it in – How could Shen Yuan possibly have found it?
Seated in his chair, Xie Chengze covered his flower-bright face with both hands. His crimson lips slowly curved upward, then stretched wider and wider until they formed an extravagantly hideous grin.
Aha!
Gobsmacked now, aren’t you, you old crook?
This was the thrill of having a reborn powerful minister armed with a complete walkthrough!
Yang Qinghui held the booklet in trembling hands, at a loss for any explanation. “This subject… this subject…”
He instinctively started to look toward someone, only to force himself to stop. He placed his final hope in Xie Chengze. “Your Highness…”
Xie Chengze’s grotesque grin vanished in a single instant, replaced by an expression of regret. “Minister Yang, ah, I alone at this court understand you! You put yourself in the game and challenged Heaven, using your life as a piece to eke out victory by half a move…”
“How much can half a move mean, and yet how little! With that half-move settled, ten thousand lives shall rise anew!”
He swept his sleeve aside as tears streamed down his face, his grief utterly convincing. “The law is plain, and you cannot escape your crime. Minister Yang, you sacrificed yourself for Jian’an’s glory. I mourn you beyond words; my heart is torn with anguish! I shall carry on your noble purpose, and on the anniversary of your death next year, I will proclaim your painstaking devotion to all the people under heaven!”
“Minister Yang – ! When I join you in the Nine Springs one day, we shall drink, play chess, and speak freely of the splendor of generations to come!” Xie Chengze cried out as though his heart were breaking.
At the side, Xie Zimiao finally broke. He lifted a hand and let out a snort of laughter.
Yang Qinghui: …
For fuck’s sake –
No one stop me! I’m going to kill that idiot Second Prince!
He had actually believed the man’s wicked nonsense and thought him a master of sophistry!
Yang Qinghui knew he was doomed to die, but he refused to die for nothing. He lunged toward Xie Chengze. “Your Highness! Your Highness! You cannot abandon this old minister! Everything I did was on your instructions! Did the ten thousand taels you donated to Yizhou not return to your own hands as well? This old minister has served you faithfully for years. Please beg His Majesty to spare my life!”
An uproar swept the entire court. Every official stared at the Second Prince in shock.
The ten thousand taels had returned to the Second Prince?
No wonder the Second Prince had defended Yang Qinghui all this time. So they were accomplices?
Seeing Yang Qinghui rush at him, Xie Chengze’s body went rigid. He instinctively looked toward Shen Yuan. Shen Yuan had just started to move when Crown Prince Xie Jinyu suddenly strode forward and kicked Yang Qinghui in the stomach, sending him flying nearly ten feet.
Yang Qinghui collapsed to the floor in agony.
Xie Chengze relaxed slightly and poked his head out from behind Xie Jinyu. “What ten thousand taels?” he asked innocently. “What are you talking about, Minister Yang?”
“In Zhuolu County! This old minister sent someone to meet Your Highness and return all ten thousand taels to you! The County Magistrate of Zhuolu County knows about it too!” Yang Qinghui shouted.
Xie Chengze frowned. “Minister Yang, do not speak nonsense. The County Magistrate of Zhuolu County is a model of clean and capable governance. Out of pity for Yizhou’s suffering people, he donated his entire family fortune. Everyone in the county yamen knows this.”
“Are my ten thousand taels not sitting in Lord Yang’s private vault, reserved as relief silver for next year?” Xie Chengze shook his head. “I trust Censor Chen will remember to enter that sum in the records. I would hate for my silver to vanish without explanation.”
Yang Qinghui had never imagined that Xie Chengze could be shameless enough to make the Ministry of Revenue replace those ten thousand taels. He spat out a mouthful of blood in fury and fainted on the spot!