What happened that night was spread in Chang 'an at the fastest speed. In just a few hours, all the people in the capital knew about various versions of the news.
Even the residents outside the city knew about this matter, including the servants in Li An's residence. When they were discussing this matter, Li An, who had woken up early, happened to hear it.
"Grass, what are you talking about? Whose mansion did someone die? "
Ang Lee asked. He only understood half of what they were talking about.
"Alang, you woke up so early today. Oh, something happened in the mansions of Censor Yang and Censor Yu. But those who died were all the servants in Censor Yang's mansion."
Grass replied.
"You know what happened last night so early in the morning? That's fast! Who told you? "
Ang Lee asked with a smile.
"It was the peddler selling deep-fried dough cakes at the east side of the side gate. He went to the city to buy flour last night and saw it with his own eyes. He said it was frightening. There were bloodstains on the streets and thousands of Golden Guards sealed off many streets. He had to take a long detour to get back, so he didn't know much about the details."
Grass said.
Ang Lee nodded and said softly, "It seems to be true. But it's not as simple as it seems. There must be something bigger behind this. It's quite interesting."
After saying that, Ang Lee went to have breakfast. He had planned to go to the farm in Mount Li to inspect it, but now he thought better of it. If he went to Mount Li, he wouldn't have time to inquire about what happened last night. Ang Lee felt that this matter was quite interesting. Although he had emphasized on various occasions that he didn't want to get involved in the affairs of the imperial court, it didn't mean that he didn't care. What happened last night must have something to do with the imperial court. It couldn't have been a simple assassination.
In the palace, Yang Yuhuan didn't tell the Emperor about what happened until he finished his breakfast. She didn't want to affect his appetite.
"What? Official Yang's mansion was attacked by an assassin? Why didn't my beloved concubine tell me this earlier?"
Li Longji's tone was slightly reproachful.
Yang Yuhuan quickly said, "In the end, it's just a dozen servants who died. Cousin is unharmed. It's not a big deal. How can we disturb His Majesty's rest because of such a small matter?"
"Haha! My beloved concubine knows how to care for me. However, this matter involves beloved official Yang, so I must take care of it. "
Li Longji said.
In a side hall of the Imperial Palace, Yang Guozhong, Xianyu Zhongtong, Yu Chaoen, and many others were quietly waiting. Because they had waited for a long time, many of them were holding back their pee, but they could only endure. No one dared to leave casually, especially Yu Chaoen. He was very nervous. If he said something wrong, it would lead to very serious consequences.
After the Emperor arrived, everyone knelt down and shouted 'long live the Emperor' three times.
"What happened last night? Who can tell me the whole story from beginning to end? Official Yang, I heard that a dozen servants died in your mansion. So, you should tell me first!"
Li Longji looked at the people in the room and said.
Yang Guozhong hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, this humble subject was resting at home yesterday when a man who claimed to be the deputy station chief of Luoyang City's railway station, Chen Xiao 'er, requested to see you, saying that he had something important to report. This humble subject suddenly remembered that a few days ago, I had seen the revenue and expenditure report from the railway station and felt that there was something wrong. Thus, I did not hesitate to let him in, wanting to see what was so important about him. After that, Chen Xiao' er told this humble subject that the Luoyang Railway Branch embezzled three million strings of cash from the imperial court a year, which shocked this humble subject greatly. However, for the sake of safety, he did not hand over the account book to this humble subject, saying that he would only be at ease if he personally handed it over to Your Majesty.
Yang Guozhong reminded Chen Xiaoer.
"This humble subject greets Your Majesty. Long live the Emperor."
Chen Xiaoer first bowed respectfully, then took out the account book that he had prepared beforehand. In fact, this account book was hidden in the sewers of the street near Yang Guozhong's mansion. Because the sewers had not been repaired for many years, it was inevitable that there would be many holes on both sides. It was not a big problem to put the account book in. When they set off in the morning, Chen Xiaoer took advantage of the chaos to take out the account book and put it in his clothes.
"Three million strings of cash a year. This humble subject must take a good look."
Li Longji did not quite believe it, but since the account book was in front of him, he naturally understood after looking at it for a while. After flipping through it for a while, he angrily threw the account book on the ground.
"It really makes sense. A small Luoyang Railway Branch can actually embezzle so much money. Yu Chaoen, this is how you control it."
As he spoke, Li Longji transferred his anger to Yu Chaoen. He was so scared that Yu Chaoen kept kowtowing, shouting that he was wrong and that he had betrayed the Emperor's kindness. He begged the Emperor to punish him. However, before the ins and outs of the matter were clear, Li Longji would not easily punish him. Naturally, he had to give him a chance to defend himself. Then, he would give him a certain punishment as appropriate.
"Yu Chaoen, I heard that the assassin who assassinated Minister Yang is hiding in your mansion. Aren't you going to explain?"
Li Longji really didn't know much. The Imperial Concubine only told him the general situation in a dozen sentences. He didn't know the specific situation very well.
Yu Chaoen replied nervously, "I wouldn't dare to lie to Your Majesty. I've been indebted to Your Majesty's care over the past few years and have been in charge of the operations of the railway. I thought that I was doing well and had always been tolerant of the people under me. However, in the past year, I realized that the people under me were getting bolder and bolder, and have gradually escaped from my control, especially the Luoyang Railway Branch. Their monthly profit was only 300 strings of strings of cash, and I felt that there was a problem, so I sent a spy to check on the situation. In the end, he never returned, and it was most likely that something bad had happened to him. This worried me so much that I couldn't be at ease every night. However, just last night, the Minister Counsellor of the Luoyang Railway Branch, Wang Hu, who is also the younger brother of the Physician Wang Gui, suddenly visited me in the middle of the night. He even brought a dozen valiant people with him, and all of them were ferocious. They gave me 3,000 strings of cash and a large amount of gifts. At that time, I thought that it was because they had killed the spy.
"Humph, the benefits given to you alone are more than the annual revenue of the entire Luoyang Railway Branch. There are so many railway branches in the Tang dynasty. Yu Chaoen, is the warehouse in your mansion enough?"
Li Longji said coldly.
Yu Chao En was so scared that he hurriedly took out the account book and said in a trembling voice, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I am young, and it is not easy to manage the railway. When my subordinates give me gifts, I do not dare to not accept them, for fear of hurting their friendship. However, I do not dare to spend a single cent. All the gifts are in here, a total of 580,000 strings of cash, gold, silver, and jade are all recorded. I am an orphan, born in the palace, and no matter how much money I have, there is no one to inherit it. This money is saved for Your Majesty. Once the national treasury is short of money, I will definitely give it all to Your Majesty, to the court. My loyalty to Your Majesty can be witnessed by heaven and earth."
Li Longji turned to the first page of the account book and saw Yu Chaoen's oath. All the accounts in the account book belonged to the national treasury, and the handwriting obviously existed for a long time and was not newly written. Therefore, he believed Yu Chaoen's words.
Yu Chaoen was also shrewd enough. Many years ago, when he just started receiving gifts, he was already prepared for the day when something would go wrong. If nothing went wrong, it didn't matter if there was an extra page of handwriting in his account book. If something went wrong, his punishment could be reduced. Why not?
"You're quite loyal. What do you want to say?"
Li Longji saw that Yu Chaoen was so loyal, so he didn't blame him in his heart.
Yu Chaoen continued, "After Wang Hu and the others delivered the gifts, they didn't leave immediately, but asked to stay in my residence. Xiaonu saw that they were all fierce and vicious, so she naturally didn't dare to object and let them stay. However, she also noticed that they were panicking, and there were people coming in and out from the side door from time to time, as if they were looking for someone. Xiaonu sent someone to ask, but Wang Hu refused to say anything. Later, a little maid from Imperial Censor Yang's residence suddenly came, saying that there was an urgent matter and that she was looking for Xiaonu. Xiaonu thought that Imperial Censor Yang had something to tell her, so she quickly invited her in. However, what the little maid said was about Chen Xiao 'er stealing the account book. She said that once Chen Xiao' er presented the account book to His Majesty, those people from the Luoyang Railway Branch would be completely finished, and Xiaonu, as the head of the Railway Branch, would naturally be implicated. Xiaonu was still wondering why a little maid from Imperial Censor Yang's residence would be so considerate of Xiaonu. Unexpectedly, Wang Hu suddenly brought people in and forcefully interrogated the whereabouts of Chen Xiao 'er and the account book. After learning that Chen Xiao' er was in Imperial Censor Yang's residence, he left four people behind and then brought a group of people out. I heard that they were going to assassinate Chen Xiao 'er in Imperial Censor Yang's residence to retrieve the account book. After that, the little maid wanted to escape, but a few villains wanted to kill her in the courtyard. Xiaonu and the others went to stop them, but not only did they fail to stop them, they were even stabbed by them. They didn't seem to really want to kill Xiaonu, but purely to vent their anger. When they saw that Xiaonu was afraid, they laughed terrifyingly and arrogantly, kicking and hitting her from time to time until someone whistled outside the walls.
After saying so much in one breath, Yu Chaoen was exhausted. However, the Emperor seemed to have heard enough and had a general understanding of the matter. However, there were still some doubts in his heart, and these doubts needed to be answered by others.
"Yu Chaoen, you said that you were puzzled. Why would a little maid care about your future? Are you really puzzled? You really don't know the reason? "
Li Longji didn't quite believe these words. Moreover, he really wanted to know why Yang Guozhong's maid would think for Yu Chaoen and even send information in the middle of the night.
Yu Chaoen looked at Yang Guozhong beside him. He stuttered and didn't dare to speak.
Li Longji seemed to have noticed something. He asked coldly, "Yang Guozhong, you seem to know the reason. Why, you can't say it?"
Yang Guozhong hurriedly replied, "Your Majesty, it's this Chen Xiaoer. He did something beastly, so …"
Because this kind of thing was too disgraceful, Yang Guozhong could only mention it and couldn't be too specific.
Li Longji naturally understood when he heard this. He looked at Chen Xiaoer with an unfriendly look.
"Your Majesty, this is all a misunderstanding. At that time, the young lady was secretly smiling when she saw me eating. I felt that she liked me. Moreover, this humble one has always heard that the masters of large families would let their maids serve their guests. Therefore, this humble one … But the young lady didn't resist. She just trembled slightly. It was the same as the day my wife married me. It was a matter of mutual consent. It can't be considered a beast's act."
Chen Xiaoer explained.
"Mutual consent? Chen Xiaoer, don't you usually look in the mirror? "
Li Longji said unhappily.
He was clearly saying that Chen Xiaoer was ugly. Several unrelated officials couldn't help but chuckle. Then, they immediately tightened their faces, not daring to laugh too loudly.
Xianyu Zhongtong looked at Chen Xiaoer and reprimanded, "Imperial Censor Yang is an important official of the Imperial Court. You're just a minor ninth-rank official. How could an imperial censor offer his own maid just to curry favor with you? Are you even worthy?"
These words made Chen Xiaoer's neck turn red. He had come to render a meritorious service, but he didn't expect to be so disliked. The Emperor called him ugly in front of everyone, and the officials loudly reprimanded him, but he didn't even think about what kind of person he was to dare act so shamelessly.
"Okay, it seems that the matter is very clear. The assassin is Minister Counsellor Wang Hu of the Luoyang Railway Branch. Has this person been captured?"
Li Longji asked.
A Jinwu Guard general quickly replied, "Reporting to Your Majesty, the Jinwu Guard has already launched a city-wide search. At present, there is no trace of Wang Hu. In addition, this official has sent a group of people to Luoyang overnight. If everything goes well, Wang Hu and his accomplices should have all been captured by now."
"A small Luoyang Railway Branch can embezzle three million strings of cash a year. What about other places? How much did the Chang 'an Railway Branch embezzle? And how much did the other yamen embezzle? "
Although Li Longji was very angry, his words were not that angry. After all, as long as he thought about it in reverse, he would find that the Tang Empire was so rich that a small department could embezzle so much money. This was enough to make him proud. As long as these embezzled money were confiscated into the national treasury, he would have a large sum of money in his hands, and he would be able to boldly and decisively carry out more successful construction.
The older the Emperor was, the more eager he was to achieve great things. Although there were many railways in the current Tang Dynasty, many remote areas were still not connected to railways, especially in the southwest and the north. Even the rich east only had the most important main lines. The density of railways was far from Li Longji's expectations. Moreover, the businessmen below were crazy about making money. They were all asking the imperial court of the Tang Dynasty to build more railways through various channels. Only when railways were accessible in all directions could their business be more smooth and they could make more money. Even if they had to pay a lot of taxes, they didn't hesitate.
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