In the Municipal Office, Kang Kejing, who had just finished a war meeting with the Privy Council, returned to the room slightly tired and let out a long breath.
After a while, a message came from outside the door. The person who came was Lu Ensheng, the minister of the Municipal Department, asking to see Kang Kejing.
The latter said: "Come in."
Lu Ensheng walked in and bowed to Kang Kejing with a solemn expression on his face.
Kang Kejing saw this and asked with a smile: "Chang Sun Yan, Zhai Zhuo and those people, have they embarrassed you again?"
Hearing the names of those two people, Lu Ensheng's teeth itched with hatred, and he said in a deep voice: "The city department has objected to the previous overseas list several times, but Chang Sun Yan and his group still insist on going their own way... Now, they have gone too far.
The city officials’ requests for consultation were ignored.”
Kang Kejing: "If they don't want to meet with people from the city department, then they won't meet... This may not be a bad thing, but a good thing."
Lu En asked anxiously: "Shang Shu, are you just going to let them do whatever they want?"
Kang Kejing: "As for the maritime trade document, I have already written a memorial and submitted it to the Holy One... As for the rest, don't be impatient and wait for now."
Lu Ensheng didn't know why. When he was wondering, a municipal official suddenly came outside and said at the door: "Kang Shangshu, something big has happened!"
Kang Kejing and Lu Ensheng looked towards the door together.
The clerk walked into the room, saluted first, and then said: "Today's Royal Court Council, Doctor Cen, who has not been in court for a long time, suddenly came to the meeting place... I heard that he was entrusted by the merchant bank to carry the Shumian Sheng to verify the document.
There must be corruption."
When Lu Ensheng heard this, he was so shocked that he couldn't open his mouth from ear to ear.
As if nothing happened, Kang Kejing said to the clerk: "Go down and notify the various departments. I'm afraid it won't be long before Jin Yiwei comes to the city headquarters to let everyone prepare."
The civil servant bowed and said yes.
Seeing that Lu Ensheng was still stunned, Kang Kejing smiled at first, and then lowered his voice and said: "If my prediction is correct, this errand of sending a letter to the sea was set up by His Majesty from beginning to end."
Lu Ensheng was puzzled: "How does the minister know?"
Kang Kejing: "Earlier in the court hall, I observed your words and found that His Majesty was deeply thoughtful. I realized that there might be another mystery to the document, so I stopped you."
Lu Ensheng: "So, if Kang Shangshu has allowed us to endure the humiliation in front of Chang Sun Yan and others these days and collect evidence, it is also because His Majesty intends to use the ultimatum case to investigate corruption?"
Kang Kejing nodded.
Lu Ensheng: "But I still don't understand something. Since His Majesty intends to investigate the crimes of his ministers, then when Chang Sun Yan and others announce the list of documents, the palace can issue an order to start investigating the case. Why do we have to wait until the Royal Council and the Chamber of Commerce propose it themselves?
What about the request to come out to investigate the case?"
Kang Kejing: "You asked a good question. To be honest, I can't figure it out either."
After a moment of silence, Kang Kejing continued: "There is no need to speculate on why His Majesty did this. In short, the key is that the city department does not get involved in this storm."
In the following period, Beizhen Fusi sent a large number of Jin Yiwei to enter the household department, city department, Chang'an Mansion, Yushitai and other departments to search documents and investigate the situation.
Hundreds of officials were imprisoned by Jin Yiwei, tortured, and forced to interrogate the facts.
Ten days later, Wang Hong, the governor of Fusi in Beizhen, entered the palace with a thick file and asked for an interview.
Zhou Jun was discussing with Kong You how to deal with Tibet. When he heard Wang Hong coming, he let him in.
After Wang Hong entered the palace, he quickly walked two steps, knelt down in front of the throne, and did not get up for a long time.
Zhou Jun looked at Wang Hong and asked, "Has anything been found out about the customs clearance case?"
Wang Hong gritted his teeth and said, "We already have a clue."
Zhou Jun smiled and nodded: "Tell me about it."
Wang Hong hesitated for a moment and then said: "Twenty-seven of the first batch of thirty-three trading firms that were granted customs clearance documents were newly established trading firms. These newly established trading firms were all registered and registered in Chang'an Mansion.
, the members of the trading company, their origins, past, properties, etc., are all forged, and according to the results of the interrogation, Chang'an Prefecture Shaoyin Zhai Zhuo is responsible for them all."
Zhou Jun: "What else?"
Wang Hong: "These newly established trading houses appear to be doing normal business on the surface, but in fact the owners behind them are controlled by many dignitaries, and many ministers of the DPRK and China are involved..."
Zhou Jun: "Whoever is there, come and listen."
Wang Hong: "Servant Liu of the Ministry of Household Affairs, Minister Mo of the Ministry of Justice, and stone members of the Ministry of Rites..."
Listening to the long list reported by Wang Hong, Zhou Jun's face became more and more solemn.
After waiting for the former to finish speaking, Zhou Jun asked coldly: "There must be a leader among these people."
Wang Hong lowered his head: "I dare not say anything."
Zhou Jun was stunned, and after looking at Kong You, he shouted: "Just come here!"
Wang Hong calmed down and said: "No matter how the Jinyi Guards tortured the criminals, those people refused to recruit the people behind the scenes. Later, when we checked the account transactions, we found that among the many accounting entries, there were large sums of money.
The money was given to a person named "Chuan Cha". Based on this clue, we rummaged through dozens of commercial bank bank vaults and finally found a vault seal with the words "Chuan Cha" on it. Although the seal was empty
Yes, but maybe the person handling it was careless and forgot a repair bag used to store gold and silver."
Zhou Jun: “What kind of repair bag?”
Wang Hong: "The repair bag, regardless of pattern or material, is not an ordinary item that can be bought on the market, but a tribute that can only be found in the palace."
Hearing this, Zhou Jun's face turned gloomy, his hands unconsciously clenched the chair tightly, and he said in a deep voice: "Continue talking."
Wang Hong: "Jinyiwei then went to the inner chamberlain and asked eunuch Shangyi to help compare, and finally determined the source of the repair bag..."
Zhou Jun: "Where?"
Wang Hong glanced at the emperor carefully and said in a trembling voice: "According to the records of the chamberlain, this repair bag should come from the East Palace."
After hearing this answer, Zhou Jun's face turned pale, his body unconsciously leaned back, and he fell silent.
The prince was involved in the official document corruption case, which was indeed beyond Zhou Jun's expectation.
In Zhou Jun's view, Zhou Xiao is his eldest son and the first son born at the most critical moment in his life.
Unlike the emperors of Li and Tang who regarded their sons as enemies, Zhou Jun felt regretful that he could not accompany his eldest son and watch him grow up, but more importantly, he felt indebted.
When the turmoil broke out in the Anbei Protectorate, Zhou Jun generally knew how incompetent Zhou Xiao was.
The reason why Zhou Jun did not abolish the prince, but took Zhou Xiao with him and taught him how to govern the country, was that he could not bear to let go of the child.
For three years, Zhou Xiao followed Zhou Jun with a respectful attitude and diligence in political affairs. The latter originally thought that his son had changed his past and gradually became enlightened, but unexpectedly he ended up being the person behind the corruption case.
Zhou Jun, filled with grief and anger, wanted to stand up from the chair. Unexpectedly, he tried several times but failed.
Right Prime Minister Kong You quickly came to Zhou Jun's side and carefully helped the emperor up.
After stabilizing his body, Zhou Jun took off Kong You's hand, walked up to Wang Hong, took the case report, and left the hall.
