Shang Junlin's actions were indeed telling Official Feng that he knew there was something wrong with him. Otherwise, he could have done what he did in the beginning and not let anyone notice anything amiss.
Unfortunately, Official Feng was already in a panic and did not notice the deliberate nature of this matter. He had the guts to do such a thing, but he did not have the guts to bear the consequences.
Official Feng sat on the spot for a while and quietly returned to his residence. He immediately summoned his confidants for a meeting.
His confidants knew what he had done. After all, in many situations, it was not convenient for him to appear personally. At this time, it was his confidants who appeared on his behalf.
The atmosphere in the study was very tense.
"His Majesty sent someone who is clearly standing behind this official to investigate this matter. It is very likely that he knows that this matter is related to this official. He wants to use this opportunity to give this official a warning. Tell me, what should this official do?" Lord Feng sat down on the chair, his face no longer showing the initial panic.
"What Official Feng said is only a guess. These things have not been through your hands. If His Majesty wants to punish you, you can push the blame to someone else …" One of his confidants suggested.
He was not lying. Although Official Feng had instigated this matter, he was not the one who carried it out. After all, he was a powerful official in the Cabinet. He would not do these things himself.
"That's not appropriate. If His Majesty really knows something, wouldn't this be equivalent to admitting it? We have to think of another way. "
Unfortunately, after much discussion, they did not come up with a feasible method.
Lord Feng was getting impatient, but he could only suppress his temper and continue listening.
Among the officials named by Shang Junlin, there were a few who knew some inside information. In order to defect, they had also participated. Now that the Emperor wanted to investigate, it was as if their throats were being strangled. They were in a constant state of panic.
A few of them gathered in private to discuss countermeasures.
"What should we do now?"
"Does Official Feng have any orders?"
"No. Since that day, Official Feng has not received guests. I sent a few invitations, but I was not received."
"I'm afraid Official Feng can't even protect himself now."
As soon as he finished speaking, the surroundings fell into a deathly silence. It wasn't that they hadn't thought of this, it was just that they didn't want to admit it. After being in the imperial court for so many years, they had some understanding of Shang Junlin's style of doing things. This time, it was obvious that Shang Junlin was angry and wanted to investigate thoroughly.
"Perhaps His Majesty wants us to investigate this matter as a warning to us." Otherwise, with His Majesty's habit of using officials from humble backgrounds, it would be impossible for him to only give the task to the officials from the aristocratic families.
It was precisely because they had a faint bad feeling in their hearts that they were so panicked and forced themselves to do things, personally sending themselves into the abyss.
They had no choice.
Everything proceeded in an orderly manner. The Imperial Court began to select the officials to be sent to Subei. Although Subei was remote, it was not as unpopular as other remote places. On the contrary, because of the existence of the Subei Army, many people had their eyes on that place.
In the past, they didn't have the opportunity, but now that the upper echelons of the Northern Su Dynasty had almost been completely purged, quite a few people were moved.
"The recent memorials are all about selecting new officials to be sent to Subei." Shang Junlin opened one of the memorials, glanced at it, and put it down.
Shen Yu took it and looked at it. "Subei is now without a leader. It's a good opportunity to perform meritorious deeds. It's not strange that they are being watched."
"Zhen doesn't want this matter to happen again in Subei." Shang Junlin rubbed the space between his brows.
"Even if they can abide by their hearts now, it's inevitable that they won't change after a long time." Shen Yu never had high expectations of people's hearts. "Rather than placing hope on them, it's better to think of a way to cut off this possibility from the source."
"Zhen and the Prime Minister have discussed the method you mentioned at the beginning. It is feasible, but there are many problems to be faced."
Every time an official went to a place, they needed to go through a period of time to get used to each other. After getting used to each other, they would be able to do things more smoothly. This was also the reason why many officials stayed in their local areas after being sent out.
Subei's situation was more special. It was more difficult to get used to each other. If too much time was spent on getting used to each other, it would be detrimental to the development of Subei.
Shen Yu thought for a moment. He could roughly guess what Shang Junlin was worried about. He sat down across from him and rested his chin on his hands. "Methods are always thought of by people. If Your Majesty is worried, you can stagger the rotation of officials."
"Zhen will discuss this with the Prime Minister again. This matter needs to be settled as soon as possible. Fang Jun should be back soon." After dealing with Feng daren, there would be a vacant position in the Cabinet. Fang Jun had made a great contribution to the disaster relief in Subei, so he could rightfully take this position.
Fang Jun had been very busy recently, very busy.
Subei was seriously short of manpower, but the mess left behind by those people was too much. It had to be solved. He could only promote some local officials to help with the work.
Late at night, the study was brightly lit. Several stacks of documents half the height of a person were piled up. Fang Jun finished reading one and rubbed his wrist. He finally understood the Prime Minister's irritable mood.
Every day, there was an endless amount of documents to deal with. No one could stand it.
"Did His Majesty say when he will send new officials?" After holding it in for a few days, Fang Jun finally couldn't help but ask.
Not far away, a masked man wrapped in black clothes sat. The man played with the empty teacup in his hand. "Daren, don't worry. The Imperial Court is already choosing the right people."
The masked man was Gu Huai. He also wanted to go back quickly. When he came, he didn't expect that he would stay in Subei for so long. Ever since he was picked up by Imperial Physician Gu, he hadn't been separated from anyone for so long.
"There will probably be a wait." Fang Jun sighed. "This is the first time I've been separated from Madam for so long. I don't know how Madam is doing in the fu."
Because he had a special mission, he couldn't communicate with the capital. Perhaps it was because it was easy to feel emotional in the middle of the night, but he unconsciously talked about the past with Madam.
Gu Huai listened in silence, a strange emotion flashing through his eyes.
Fang Jun: "Apologies, I unconsciously said so much."
Gu Huai: "It's fine. Daren and Madam's relationship is enviable."
In the entire capital, there was almost no one who could be as affectionate as Fang Jun and his Madam for decades.
Fang Jun thought about it and still sent a memorial to the Imperial Court, hoping that they could arrange for officials to govern Subei as soon as possible.
After a few days of arguing, the first batch of officials to go to Subei was selected. They didn't have important positions in the Imperial Court. After going to Subei, they would have more room for development.
Knowing that the Imperial Court had sent people over, Fang Jun sighed in relief.
"Daren, we found this in the residence of the sinner Hou Shi." A soldier ran in.
"What is it?"
The soldier took out the item. It was a letter. "This subordinate found it in the secret room of the Hou Shi. Thinking that it must be something very important if it was placed in the secret room, I didn't dare delay and came to deliver it to daren."
After Lord Hou and the others were imprisoned, they were sentenced according to the severity of their crimes. As the mastermind, Lord Hou's sentence was the heaviest. The residence he lived in was also confiscated.
Fang Jun had borrowed some men from the Northern Su Army to help him search the place. He wanted to see if he could find anything new. A few days had passed, but all they found were the expected ones. Fang Jun had given up hope, but he didn't expect that they would find something new.
The letter had traces of being opened. Fang Jun ordered someone to open the letter. After reading the contents, his expression changed greatly.
Ever since Lord Hou and the others were imprisoned, they had been searching for the whereabouts of the stolen goods. Who would have thought that so many things would disappear into thin air without a trace? Only now did Fang Jun understand why they couldn't find the goods after searching for so long.
It was because those things were no longer in Subei!
Fang Jun trembled with anger. He thought that Lord Hou's crimes were already too numerous to write down, but he didn't expect there to be more.
"Lord, are you alright?" The soldier saw that Lord Fang's expression was not good and asked worriedly.
"I'm fine. How many more of these letters do you have? Bring them all over. No," Lord Fang put the letter back. "Where did you find these letters? Bring me there!"
He had to find out how much the former high-ranking officials of Subei colluded with those people.
This was a serious matter. Fang Jun didn't dare to delay. He immediately found the Hidden Dragon Guards who were still in Subei and asked them to send the news directly to the palace. He didn't know if only the officials of Subei were involved in this matter, or if there were other people involved. Before he was sure, he couldn't let the news leak out!
Through a special method, he passed the news to Gu Huai. Gu Huai would lead the Hidden Dragon Guards to secretly investigate this matter.
The atmosphere, which had relaxed because of the heavy rain, became tense again.
The weather gradually turned cold. After half a year of recuperation, Shen Yu was no longer as cold as before. Shang Junlin was worried that he would catch a cold, so he ordered people to make thicker clothes and send them over.
Shen Yu was growing, so the people from the Clothing Bureau came over to take his measurements.
Shang Junlin frowned and waved away the palace servant who was close to Shen Yu. He took the ruler from the servant's hand and walked over to Shen Yu.
"A Yu has grown a little taller."
Shang Junlin didn't want others to touch Shen Yu, so he let the palace servant guide him while he measured Shen Yu himself.
Shen Yu looked at the palace servant who was trying to keep calm and found it funny. "It's just a small matter. Your Majesty, why do you have to do it yourself?"
"How is A Yu's matter a small matter?" Shang Junlin followed the palace servant's instructions and measured Shen Yu's shoulder width and waist …
He definitely couldn't let the palace servant do such intimate contact.
After measuring, Shang Junlin put his hands on Shen Yu's waist and said, "A Yu should eat more. You're still so thin."
Shen Yu's waist was very thin, and it was usually wrapped in clothes. Only Shang Junlin knew how white the skin on her waist was. Every time Shang Junlin put his hands on her waist, the heat and trembling would pass through his palms to his heart, giving him a feeling of complete control.
It made people indulge in it and unable to extricate themselves.
The people from the Clothing Bureau got the measurements and didn't stay for long.
"Make the clothes and send them over as soon as possible." Shang Junlin held Shen Yu and ordered.
"Yes."
This time, in addition to the usual clothes, there were also two sets of riding clothes prepared for the autumn hunt.
Eunuch Meng was very perceptive and left with the rest of the palace servants. When the two of them were alone, they didn't like the palace servants to wait on them.
"Actually, I don't need to measure. I know A Yu's size." Shang Junlin leaned close to Shen Yu's ear and said in a low and magnetic voice, "If it weren't for the people from the Clothing Bureau watching, I actually wanted to touch it …"
A Yu was exposed in front of him without any defense.
Shen Yu moved uncomfortably as his hot breath hit her ear. "How did Your Majesty know? Did you secretly measure it? "
"I know every part of A Yu's body." Shang Junlin nibbled on the young man's red earlobe. "After all, I've felt it one by one …"
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