Rao Yue left the pavilion in the center of the lotus pond and walked to the bridge ten meters away to wait.
Zhou Xingyun waited for a while, but did not see the Empress Dowager speak, so he had to bite the bullet and ask: "May I ask what urgent matter the Empress Dowager has to summon your subordinates."
"The Ai family heard from people that the Minister of the Ministry of Finance abused his power by pretending to be a public servant for personal gain, which is a heinous and unforgivable crime. Zhou Fengyu has in his hands evidence of the crime of corruption and perverting the law by the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. Is this possible?"
"..." Zhou Xingyun was silent for a while. The Empress Dowager actually knew that he had evidence against the Minister of Hubu. What was going on? Is there an undercover agent in the palace? Or... the Minister of Hubu was scheming and suspected that he had Jin.
The family's leverage, deliberately letting the Queen Mother test him?
No, if the Minister of the Ministry of Finance doubts him, there is no need to make a fuss and ask the Empress Dowager to take action. Jin Run'er can just talk to him.
The possibility of a traitor in the mansion is very small. The Empress Dowager will not lower her status and order people to talk to Qin Shou and a few animals, and Xu Zhiqian and others will not betray him.
Could it be that...the Empress Dowager has been sending people to monitor him? When he went on a hunting expedition with Xuanyuan Fengxue, the Huo family was looking for Xu Zhiqian, but was discovered by the Empress Dowager's spies.
Zhou Xingyun had many doubts in his heart and was puzzled by the solution.
"The Ai family is asking Mr. Zhou. Are you hesitating, should you tell the truth to the Ai family?" Seeing that Zhou Xingyun didn't answer within three seconds, the Queen Mother naturally concluded that this boy was weighing the pros and cons, whether to admit that he did hold the possession in his hand.
Evidence of the crime of violating the law by the Minister of Household Affairs.
"No humble minister can bear the crime of deceiving the emperor. The lower official did have evidence of the crime of the Minister of Hubu taking money from the people and embezzling food money. To be precise, it was the Minister of Hubu who allowed his subordinates to oppress the people, kill innocent people indiscriminately, and conceal everything.
Report, evidence of crime protected by officials."
Zhou Xingyun really had no choice but to tell the truth to the Empress Dowager. Zhou Xingyun was able to distinguish clearly who was easy to deceive and who was not easy to deceive. The Empress Dowager was obviously an extremely difficult character to deceive. If he lied in front of her, he might be crowned.
A big hat for the crime of deceiving the emperor...
"In that case, why didn't Mr. Zhou expose the crime of the Minister of the Ministry of Finance? Now you know it and don't report it, but you are protecting the criminal?" The Queen Mother stared coldly, and her cold and stern eyes were exactly the same as when Han Qiumiao was angry.
His scalp was numb.
"Back to the Empress Dowager, the Minister of Hubu is a high-ranking official, while the lower-level officials have little power. I have never been able to find a suitable opportunity to report the Minister of Hubu." What Zhou Xingyun said is the truth. As for whether the Empress Dowager believes it or not, that is another matter.
Okay. As the saying goes, there is no need to blame others. The Empress Dowager insists on blaming Zhou Xingyun, but there is nothing he can do...
"Yes. Lord Zhou is right. The Ai family believes that you are a pillar of the country who fulfills his duties faithfully. Then, my lord, do you think that the opportunity to expose the crimes of the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue is right in front of you."
"Of course! Nothing is fairer than the Empress Dowager personally presiding over it." Zhou Xingyun's heart ached. His imagination was beautiful, but the reality was cruel. His dream of getting promoted and making a fortune may have come to nothing today.
The subtext of the Empress Dowager's words was nothing more than asking him to hand over the evidence of the Hubu Minister's crimes, so that she could uphold justice for him and expose the Hubu Minister's crimes of embezzlement and perversion of the law.
However, Zhou Xingyun could imagine that if he really handed the evidence of the crime to the Empress Dowager, she could just pretend that nothing happened. In other words, the Empress Dowager wanted to help the Minister of Revenue conceal the evidence of the crime, and Zhou Xingyun really had nothing to do with her.
What's more, this move by the Empress Dowager can control the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. When the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue learns that he is making small moves in private, it will cause a series of chain reactions. Zhou Xingyun will panic just thinking about it...
"As the saying goes, those who know the current affairs are heroes. The Ai family wants to know that Lord Fengyu is working for the Ai family."
Just when Zhou Xingyun thought that his plan was going to be in vain and he was feeling sad, the Queen Mother's unexpected words prompted him to raise his head without realizing it...
"The lower official... must be willing to... serve the Empress Dowager." Zhou Xingyun said while thinking, deliberately pausing three times on the way to let the Empress Dowager realize that he completely understood her... hint.
What is this situation? What is this situation? What is this situation? Zhou Xingyun said he understood, but in fact he did not want to understand at all. Because the current trend is developing in the direction he least wants to see, the Empress Dowager
Could it be that she is also an ambitious woman who has been weighing the court's obstacles to the crown prince's ascension to the throne and the rebellion of the sixteenth son of the emperor, so as to achieve her goal of gaining power and independence.
It is true that Zhou Xingyun has no choice now but to verbally agree to serve the Empress Dowager, otherwise he will not be able to fly today.
Furthermore, why did the Empress Dowager extend an olive branch to him at this time? What was her intention in doing so? If the Empress Dowager was simply protecting the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, she could just ask him to hand over evidence of his crime. Why expose her ambitions in this way?
way to win over him.
Zhou Xingyun is now very confused, unable to analyze calmly for a while, and his mind is flooded with all kinds of information, causing him to almost faint on the spot like Qi Li'an due to CPU overload.
"Jin Zheng Han, the Minister of Household Affairs, has been the Minister of the Ministry of Finance for many years and has made countless contributions to our dynasty. Unfortunately, he was driven by desire, ambition, and greed, and ended up being rich and unkind, and serving as an official with no integrity... Mr. Zhou, what do you think?
Yeah?"
"What the Empress Dowager said is true." Zhou Xingyun heard what the Empress Dowager meant and seemed to want to eradicate the Minister of Hubu.
But if you think about it carefully, the empress dowager's actions are very reasonable. The Minister of the Ministry of Revenue is not honest and his official position is vacillating. Don't think that this is cool and comfortable. If something goes wrong, you will be attacked from all sides...
Zhou Xingyun suddenly felt that he was a bit similar to the Minister of Hubu. The Minister of Hubu was initially a double-faced undercover agent of the Sixteenth Emperor, lurking around the Empress Dowager. He claimed that he would not help the Sixteenth Emperor or the Prince, and maintained official neutrality...
…
However, Zhou Xingyun has already said that there is no neutrality in the court, it is either black or white. Jin Zhenghan's acting skills are not good enough. Just because his daughter Jin Run'er appears in the palace of the Sixteenth Emperor, Zhou Xingyun can conclude that this guy is the Sixteenth Emperor.
People from sub-factions.
Besides, although Jin Run'er was working as an undercover agent at the First Grade Academy, Xu Zhiqian and others knew that this woman had evil intentions, but they just didn't expose her.
It is true that the reason why the Minister of Household Affairs ended up in this situation is that he lost the trust of the Sixteenth Prince of the Emperor and the support of the Empress Dowager. People from His Highness’s faction also started to be hostile to him because he revealed his impeachment of the Xuanyuan family. All of this,
All because an old dramatist jumped out of the court, who was better at pretending, more conspiratorial, better at following the wind, better at stirring up dissension, more exquisite in acting, more at the top, and more proficient in field control than he was...
The prodigal son of Jianshu Villa.
It is precisely because Zhou Xing and Yundun did things in the east and west, and caused troubles when they had nothing to do, that the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue is currently in a situation where everyone has made enemies.
If the Jin family collapses, Jin Run'er needs to know that Zhou Xingyun is secretly planning everything. The beauty will probably hate him to death and wish to eat his flesh, drink his blood, and gnaw his bones.
The sixteenth son of the emperor wanted to eliminate Jin Zhenghan, the Minister of Household Affairs, but Zhou Xingyun's scaremongering made him no longer trust Jin Zhenghan. And Jin Zhenghan and Jin Run'er did have the idea of turning to the prince...
Why did the Empress Dowager want to eradicate the Minister of Household Affairs? Zhou Xingyun speculated that there were three possibilities.
The first is that the minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs jumped from the 16th son of the emperor to the crown prince, but still maintained contact with the 16th son of the emperor. This is an unsettling factor for either party.
Jin Run'er did not turn to the prince wholeheartedly. She still left a way out and still pretended to be loyal in front of the sixteenth prince. At the last moment, she would only support the winning camp. In other words, no matter whether the sixteenth prince ascended the throne
, His Royal Highness is still on the throne, she only needs to stand up at the moment of victory, and her contribution will be indispensable.
The result of such an unclear stance is that both sides will be offended. After all, the Minister of Hubu is not Zhou Xingyun, Zhou Xingyun is just a new official, and everyone does not know him well enough. The Minister of Hubu has been an official in the court for more than ten times, how can he behave like a common man?
Not sure?
In addition, Zhou Xingyun is considered a die-hard prince faction. He only needs to deceive the sixteenth prince with all his strength, and does not need to be deceived by two factions. One of them, Xu Zhiqian, Han Feng, Xuanyuan Chongwu, Xu Zijian and others all believe in him and fully cooperate with him in acting.
Like the Minister of Household Affairs, he was suspected by both camps.
That’s why Zhou Xingyun commented that Shangshu’s acting skills were not realistic enough and he was a real wallflower...
The great thing about Zhou Xingyun is that his own people know that he must be one of their own, but his enemies believe that he is one of their own.
The failure of Jin Zhenghan and Jin Runer is that he has no one of his own at all...
In addition, there is a second possibility that the Empress Dowager wants to eliminate the Minister of Hubu. Even if the Minister of Hubu really surrenders to the Crown Prince, her intentions are seen through by her. The Empress Dowager knows that Jin Runer is plotting to control the Prince. In time, the Jin family will become the third
Two emperors and sixteen sons, when the time comes... the situation will be even more serious.
Therefore, the Empress Dowager planned to take this opportunity to eradicate the Jin family and let the power of the Minister of Household Affairs fall into the hands of the real prince faction.
The third possibility is that the Empress Dowager prevented the Minister of Household Affairs from surrendering and hindered His Royal Highness from succeeding to the throne. As for why... Zhou Xingyun had a headache and didn't want to delve into the reason.
"Since the Zhou Qing family is willing to serve the Ai family, the Ai family will hand over the important task of reporting the Minister of Household Affairs to the Zhou Qing family. What do you think of the Qing family?" the Queen Mother asked lightly.
Zhou Xingyun didn't know that the Empress Dowager was a little helpless in wooing him.
Why?
The Empress Dowager initially thought that Zhou Xingyun was only supporting the crown prince's ascension to the throne because Han Feng spoke for him again and again, but... during the hunting expedition, Zhou Xingyun not only took out the Priest Order of the Blood Dragon Tomb, but also the Phoenix Order of Fengtian City
, these two tokens forced the Empress Dowager to re-evaluate and position Zhou Xingyun.
The Phoenix Order is a sacred object of Fengtian City. Only the Saint of Fengtian City has the right to control the Phoenix Order. Zhou Xingyun holds the Phoenix Order, and that is the man recognized by the Saint of Fengtian City. According to the rules of Fengtian City...
Once the Lord of Fengtian City retires or dies, Zhou Xingyun will become the next Lord of Fengtian City.
The Empress Dowager also knew that Fengtian City was as rich as any other country, and the Phoenix Order was the key to unlocking the secret treasure of Fengtian City.
Zhou Xingyun must realize that the Phoenix Token in his hand is so valuable that he will break out in a cold sweat because he often uses the Token as a dart to hit anyone he doesn't like.