"Do you dare to say that you confiscated Crown Prince Gaochang's gold and silver?!"
An angry shout echoed in the Liangyi Hall.
Li Mu's eyes wandered wildly, observing everyone's expressions.
The Wang Jingze who said this was still not good at acting. His performance was very realistic, but deep in his eyes, there was still a hint of timidity. He glanced at Li Shimin and Changsun Wuji again from the corner of his eye. Li Shimin had a look of displeasure on his face, and Li Mu felt in his heart.
He also understood that firstly, it was because Wang Jingze disrupted his plan, so that the drama of a wise king and a wise minister could not be played out. And secondly, because he did not inform him in advance about accepting bribes. Of course, this is not the point. The point is
Wang Jingze, a fool, made this clear in public. If he was punished, he would feel guilty. If he was not punished, he would not be able to stop the civil and military officials in the court from talking, so he was in trouble. Changsun Wuji's expression was relatively simple, and he became angry from shame.
He originally thought that by stealing his excuse, he could show off in front of His Majesty, but he did not expect that he actually received the bribe first and he took advantage of it.
Others had different expressions. Some were angry, some were watching the fun, some were gloating, and some were uneasy. Li Mu specifically took a look at those uneasy people, most of whom were doctors, waiters, etc. of powerful yamen, and used his feet to
Finger thought and knew that they must have accepted bribes from Ju Zhisheng and were worried that the incident would be exposed.
After collecting the information, Li Mu suddenly laughed three times before Li Shimin could speak!
"Hahaha!"
With three sneers, the whole person's momentum soared. Everyone's heart froze, and they secretly thought, here he comes, here he comes! He is coming with the trolls! Who knows, Zhuluhou laughed three times and was about to start trolling, but Wang Jingze was
After choking several times, he finally became anxious and couldn't bear it anymore!
The eyes of the people in the court who had nothing to do with this matter lit up. The life of a civil servant in the Tang Dynasty was also very boring. Who wouldn't be happy if there was a free show to watch? Even if you don't get anything, you can still talk about it for a few days when you go back!
"That's right! I've been embezzled, I've been bribed! Yesterday, Crown Prince Gaochang gave me money. There were two big boxes full of silver ingots, each box weighing a thousand kilograms. What's wrong?"
Wang Jingze looked at Li Mu's momentum and almost fell to the ground. It was Li Mu who winked at him, so he managed to keep his posture steady, took a deep breath, and said angrily: "Just admit it, each box is a thousand kilograms, a total of two
Big box, that’s 20,000 taels of silver, 20,000 guan of money! You accepted such a huge bribe and worked for the Crown Prince of Gaochang, so you didn’t make a false accusation this time! Zhuluhou, plead guilty!"
Wang Jingze turned to look at Li Shimin and said: "Your Majesty, Zhuluhou has admitted his crime. Please make a clear decision!"
There was silence in Liangyi Hall.
Wang Jingze raised his head and glanced, and saw that Li Shimin's expression was also very strange. Looking at the officials around him, most of them had the same expression.
Wang Jingze said loudly again: "Your Majesty, the facts are all there, how can you bend the law for personal gain!!"
Li Shimin frowned and said nothing. At this time, Cheng Yaojin stood up, looking like he couldn't laugh or cry, and said: "Well, boy, you just said, how much did Li Mu take in bribes?"
Wang Jingze said loudly: "Mr. Su Guo, didn't you hear clearly? Twenty thousand guan! A full 20,000 guan!"
Cheng Yaojin laughed: "Oh, that's ridiculous to me... If you say it's 200,000 guan, I might still be able to believe you. 20,000 guan... With Li Mu's wealth and ability, he will take it seriously.
What? If the gap between his fingers is bigger and he doesn’t even know it’s missing, you’d be too petty to say a big number, just 20,000 yuan.”
Some other neutral officials also agreed, saying that with this small amount of money, Li Mu would not be greedy.
Wang Jingze saw that the voices to help Li Mu were getting louder and louder. He was dizzy and said to Li Shimin quickly: "Your Majesty, Zhulu Hou just admitted that he received 20,000 guan! 20,000 guan is a lot of money. How can it be used?
The word 'mere' can be used to describe it? Your Majesty, please be aware of it, be aware of it!"
Li Shimin pondered for a while, looked at the anxious Wang Jingze, and then at the angry Li Mu. He thought that the money collection was probably true, but 20,000 yuan was really nothing to Li Mu. After thinking about it, he still thought
Deciding to put things aside and suppress the matter, he said: "Wang Aiqing, you don't know much about Li Mu. He has such a big business, 20,000 yuan, he really can't be greedy..."
"Your Majesty does not need to excuse me, I have indeed accepted it!"
Li Mu suddenly spoke up, interrupting Li Shimin's words. Li Shimin's expression froze, and he glared at Li Mu fiercely! Do you think this is embarrassing or not? As an emperor, he went out of his way to excuse his ministers, but the ministers didn't appreciate it! Li Shimin
He also got angry and said: "Li Mu, are you looking for death? Taking a bribe of 20,000 yuan is a crime of confiscating your home and being exiled at the least. Do you want to confiscate your home and be exiled?"
"Ha!" Li Mu chuckled, with an indescribable air of freedom and ease surging around his body. He stepped up to Li Shimin, lifted up his court clothes, and knelt in the center of the Liangyi Hall. Li Shimin was really surprised when he saw his confession.
He became anxious, gritted his teeth and whispered: "What do you want to do, why don't you get up?"
"Your Majesty, I have so many grievances in my heart that I must make it clear today!"
Wang Jingze stood next to him and said, "Your Majesty, I have been a censor for some years, and this is the first time I heard that someone was bribed and felt aggrieved. If this can make sense, wouldn't the world be upside down?"
Li Mu ignored him and continued: "Your Majesty, gentlemen, please listen to what Li Mu has to say. Your Majesty and the princes can freely decide what is right and wrong. If both your majesty and the princes think that Li Mu is guilty, Li Mu will be willing to die without any complaints.
"
When Li Shimin heard this, he was filled with hatred. He didn't hate others, he hated Li Mu. He originally thought that he had not been in trouble for a while, and this kid had finally calmed down a bit. But now it seems that he still smells like shit! I can't tell, to be honest.
When there is no solution, I can only stand up and take the blame. Li Shimin made up his mind, glanced at Li Mu, and said angrily: "Tell me, tell me!"
"Your Majesty, I have received 20,000 yuan from the Crown Prince of Gaochang. This is a fact. I have no excuse. Just now, Duke Su Guo spoke for me. I am grateful, but I have to say that he said it was short of money. He said that I am not short of money.
, there is no shortage of 20,000 guan. This is right or wrong. In the past, I didn’t care at all, let alone 20,000 guan, or 100,000 guan. It cost more than 100,000 guan to repair the craftsman’s workshop, and another 100,000 guan to repair the lanes of Chang’an.
.This is not counting some miscellaneous small money, it adds up to tens of thousands. When did I mention it?"
Hearing Li Mu recount old scores, Li Shimin lost a lot of his anger and said, "I know all your hard work, but why did you accept bribes from Prince Gaochang?"
"Your Majesty, please listen to what I have to say." Li Mu took a deep breath and continued: "I just said that I didn't care before, but since I became the Minister of Internal Affairs, I care about it now. I am short of money, indeed I am short of money, everywhere.
lack!"
Li Mu said sadly and angrily: "Your Majesty only sees that the cooperation between the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the merchants is in full swing, but does your Majesty know the details behind it? Do you all know?"
Li Shimin was suffocated and said: "I have never asked about the affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, how do I know?"
Li Mu looked at the civil and military officials, and everyone shook their heads.
Li Mu spoke again and said: "Let me tell you for myself. In business, there is no such thing as money falling from the sky. You have to invest first, then produce, and then sell things, and then you can get returns. Take the Zhenguan plow as an example. Now the Ministry of Industry
The factory in Zhenguan is producing plowshares for Zhenguan plows, and is cooperating with merchants to produce other parts. The order is too large, and the merchants' workshops are too small to meet the demand. What to do? The only way is for the Ministry of Internal Affairs to invest money first, expand the workshops, and then produce parts.
, sold to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Ministry of Internal Affairs will settle the payment for the workshop, and then divide the accounts according to the shareholding. But the prerequisite is that the investment must be made first!"
"Besides, it seems that there is no need to invest. The factory is your own, but to produce the plowshare, you need iron ore, right? There must be a furnace, molds, and craftsmen to work, right? Craftsmen are not slaves, they need to be paid!
Not a single Zhenguan plow has been sold yet. I would like to ask Your Majesty and all the gentlemen, where does this money come from?! Can't I wait until next spring and sell the Zhenguan plows before I can have money back?
Before this, it was kept in the warehouse, is that money?!"
Li Mu was so angry that he asked again: "Maybe some people will say, then stop producing! Is it okay not to produce Zhenguan plows? Is it okay? There are not enough cattle for farming! If you think so, people who don't have cattle should just stop farming.
Now, how about we all starve to death together?!"
Seeing that everyone was silent, Li Mu felt very happy and continued: "Zhenguan Plow is just a business of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. There are many others, so I won't list them one by one. In short, it's not time to make money yet, and now it's all
Put money in it. The money from the treasury is not allowed to be touched. You know better than me how much money there is. To be honest, the business of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is all supported by my wine shop. I will not say the amount involved.
Yes, I’m afraid I’ll scare you all if I say it!”
"In addition to the need for money for the business of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, there are also places that need money. I don't know if you have heard of the Salesian Bureau. If you haven't, I can also tell you. There are thousands of beggars wandering on the streets of Chang'an City.
No one cared about it, no one asked about it. By chance, I met some beggars. I took pity on them and wanted to give them a bite to eat. There happened to be many empty houses in the East City that were uninhabited, so I asked the craftsmen to repair them, and we have what we have today.
The prototype of the Salesian Bureau. But at that time, I did not expect that there were thousands of orphans! But what can be done? Do you want to save one person and kill another? There is no other way, but to send the older children to the factory to work as apprentices, and the younger ones
We still need to keep them, this is it! There are more than two hundred of them!"
"Doesn't it cost money to eat? Doesn't it cost money to dress? Even if it's just a simple meal or linen clothes, isn't it still money? Your Majesty is so kind that he gave the name of the Salesian Bureau, but where does this money come from? Does it come from the national treasury? No! No!
How can I get it? I don’t have any money! I can take it all by myself? I also have a wife and children, and I have to support my family! Do you want me not to eat or drink? I am not a clay Buddha statue. I can fill myself up by putting some incense on it! That’s right!
At this time, someone came to give money, why not? If you don’t take it, you can’t take it! After receiving these two boxes of silver, they were not warmed up yet, so I sent one box to the Salesian Bureau! If you don’t believe it, you can go to the Salesian Bureau now.