Some people may ask why Hu Weiyong waded into this muddy water.
The reason is very simple. First of all, he is the only prime minister and the master of all officials. Now that so many officials have had troubles, how can he be a coward? Does he still need his reputation? How can he be the prime minister when he stinks on the street?
Secondly, he still hopes to inherit the mantle of the Korean father. If he doesn't keep up at this time, no matter how he performs afterwards, it will be useless.
Whether you can avoid offending both sides depends on my acting skills. Hu Weiyong secretly encouraged himself.
He followed Li Shanchang to the door of the mansion, and when he was waiting to get in the car, he saw the eldest son Li Qi returning in a hurry.
"Father, I heard about it." Li Qi panted, but when he saw Hu Weiyong was there, he stopped abruptly.
"But it doesn't matter, Mr. Hu is not an outsider." Li Shanchang said in a deep voice.
Li Qi reported the situation to his father, which was very different from what Hu Weiyong said, but he also learned a little more.
"I heard that what they are looking for is blank account paper, which is an account paper with an official seal but no content. If there is such a thing in the official's belongings, they will be tied up directly..."
"Empty printed account paper?" Li Shanchang is the captain of Zhu Yuanzhang's logistics team. How could he not know the existence of this thing. He was stunned for a while: "Isn't this a common thing? What is there to make such a fuss about?"
Immediately, his expression changed, and he realized the brilliance of this move.
Li Shanchang originally thought that the emperor was arresting people for talking about numbers, which he could argue with. Because talking about numbers and talking about numbers is unsubstantiated, no one will leave evidence, so there is room for him to make excuses.
.
But no matter what, it is sinful to carry around a blank account with a stamp on it. And with the physical evidence, no one can deny it.
Even if Li Shanchang wants to defend them, he must do so on the premise of admitting that they have committed a crime.
Since a crime has been committed, it is only natural that he should be imprisoned and tried for a period of time.
Now Boss Zhu hasn't said how to convict them, so he jumps out hurriedly. In addition to confirming their charges first, he can only involve himself...
Because when officials argue with the emperor, they are naturally at a disadvantage, so they must first gain control of the situation. If they cannot gain control of the situation, then only reckless people like him can win.
He asked himself that apart from his hobbies, he had nothing in common with Cao Cao. Boss Zhu was not Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, but Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty...
Li Shanchang would not do something like this, knowing that he would lose. Otherwise, wouldn't he be seen through his pants?
~~
When the carriage was about to reach the left gate of Chang'an, Mr. Han, who had been silently meditating, suddenly said: "Turn around."
"Ah?" Hu Weiyong and Li Qi were stunned.
"Go back!" Li Shanchang said through gritted teeth.
"Yes, dad." Li Qi naturally said what he said and quickly told the driver to turn around and go home.
"Enxiang, don't you care about them?" Hu Weiyong couldn't ignore them.
"Of course we have to take care of it, but we can't take care of it now." Li Shanchang glanced at him and asked quietly: "Prime Minister Hu, why didn't you tell me that your superiors want to investigate the empty seal case?"
"My subordinates don't know." Hu Weiyong hurriedly explained: "As soon as I heard the news, I came to report it. At that time, I didn't know that the emperor wanted to investigate the empty seal case."
"Oh, that's it." Li Shanchang nodded and changed the subject: "You should return to Zhongshu immediately and let the people from the Ministry of Revenue wipe your behind."
"I'm afraid it's too late?" Hu Weiyong said.
"Wipe as much as you can." Li Shanchang said solemnly.
"Understood." Hu Weiyong nodded and got out of the car.
"Li Qi, quickly spread the news that the emperor wants to investigate the empty seal case," Li Shanchang ordered his eldest son again: "The less you pay, the more you pay."
"Yes, father." Li Qi responded and quickly got out of the car.
After there were no other people in the car, Li Shanchang took off all his disguises, closed his eyes in pain, and hit the wall of the car with the back of his head.
He once thought that he was already dead as the emperor.
Only now do I know that it was Boss Zhu who had him tricked...
What frightens Mr. Korea the most is that none of those nobles who have sworn to advance and retreat with him have come so far.
He didn't believe that those guys who were not afraid of anything could be timid. This only meant that Boss Zhu had made preparations in advance and had the army firmly under his control. He was not given a single chance to take a chance.
Li Shanchang has no doubt that if he does anything drastic tonight, Boss Zhu can kill him with a backhand.
Faced with such a founding emperor who was a brother-in-law one moment and dared to flip the table over the next moment, I actually wanted to force him to make concessions. It was really ridiculous...
It turns out that the clown is actually me.
Li Shanchang covered his burning cheeks with both hands, wishing he could disappear from this world.
~~
The sky was brightening, and the sound of New Year's firecrackers was heard all over Nanjing.
Amidst the crackling of firecrackers, government officers and soldiers gradually gathered up their troops.
Taking the physical evidence they collected, they tied the offending officials into strings with ropes and escorted them from all directions back to the pro-military captain's mansion.
Thanks to Li Qi's timely spread of the news, many local officials rushed to burn all the blank account papers before the arrival of the officers and soldiers, and managed to escape. Now mixed in with the crowd of onlookers, they looked at the dejected and undressed people with lingering fear.
Colleagues who were not in good shape were tied up and paraded through the streets, causing disgrace.
But everything has advantages and disadvantages, because the people who spread the news were so effective that the people also knew that these officials were arrested for carrying blank account papers.
When people heard this, their first reaction was, "Officials from government offices at all levels across the country are holding a pile of blank accounting papers and discussing how to fill in this year's national taxes"?
They all lived through the dark period at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and they immediately thought of free money, exorbitant taxes, corruption and bribery... this string of words that most people hate.
It was the Chinese New Year, and every household was awash with domestic waste, so they treated these damn corrupt officials with rotten vegetable leaves, rotten eggs, and swill.
If it were not for the protection of the officers and soldiers of the pro-military Duwei Mansion, these prisoners would have been beaten to death by the angry people...
~~
After many hardships, the officers and soldiers of the government finally escorted all the prisoners back to the Yamen.
Liu Ying asked people to take the prisoners into custody, and at the same time summarized the gains of various people and reported them to the emperor as soon as possible.
In the Wuying Palace.
Boss Zhu asked Liu Ying and Eunuch Wu to spread all the empty account papers on the ground, and then he would count them himself.
"Three hundred and thirty-five, three hundred and thirty-six, three hundred and thirty-seven..." Zhu Yuanzhang stood on the golden platform, looking at the empty account papers covering the hall, and slowly said to the prince:
"A total of three hundred and thirty-seven copies."
"Yes." The prince nodded.
"There are twelve provinces, one hundred and thirty prefectures, and one thousand three hundred counties in the country." Zhu Yuanzhang made some calculations and said: "There is only one in four. Is it okay for those three?"
"There are too many officials, and they live in scattered places. It's impossible to catch them all at once. There must be many fish that slipped through the net." Liu Ying hurriedly knelt down and explained: "The news got out in the middle of the night, and more people got through by chance.
"
"A quarter is already a lot." The prince whispered, "Do you really want to serve it all in one pot?"
"Humph..." Zhu Yuanzhang snorted and said nothing more.