coobybook Chapter 114 The sick prince is pampered on his bed 28
Chapter 114 The sick prince is pampered on his bed 28
Fu Mingchen held up the medicine bowl while holding the knife in his eyes that was almost solidified by Sui Lin.
After the two tortured each other with a bowl of poison-like concoction, they finally reluctantly let go.
Fu Mingchen stared at his red lips, his eyes darkened, and he slowly touched them with his rough fingertips.
Seeing that the atmosphere was about to become ambiguous again, Suilin stopped in time and turned to talk about work.
Spring hunting took up half a month, and in a few days, there would be the palace examination. Fu Mingchen was busy preparing for the palace examination recently.
When Sui Lin first joined the Household Department, he was really worried. He gave some instructions for a long time before finally letting Sui Lin leave. As a result, Sui Lin was almost late when he went to work in the Household Department on his first day.
Even after staying in ancient times for so long, Suilin still couldn't get used to getting up so early. He yawned as soon as he stepped into the threshold of the household department.
Everyone in the room turned around and looked at him.
Sui Lin calmly raised his hands and said with a smile: "I will be working with you adults from now on. Please give me your advice."
Everyone laughed and said, "The third prince makes a serious statement, and I dare not take it seriously."
Sui Lin pretended that he didn't see the resistance in everyone's eyes and went directly to the Minister of Household Affairs to ask if there was anyone who needed his help.
The minister chuckled and said, "I don't have any urgent errands these days. The third prince can just do whatever he wants."
Sui Lin was surprised: "Where is the military pay at the border? This matter was only mentioned in court yesterday. Don't you, Master Shangshu, check it out?"
The Minister lowered his face and said, "The Accounts Department has to clean up the previous month's account books every month. It was just checked half a month ago. There can be no mistakes. Does the Third Prince suspect that someone in the Accounts Department is lining his own pockets?"
Sui Lin: "Why should Lord Shangshu be so excited? It's just that there has to be an explanation for this matter, right?"
The expression on Shangshu's face softened, but it was impossible for him to have a good expression towards Sui Lin. He smiled softly and said: "What the third prince said is that there is an explanation, but I have to trouble the third prince to wait a little longer." when."
"Ok?"
"The Third Prince doesn't know that the wages at the border are approved before the end of the new year. If we check, we have to check it in the next few months after the new year, so it will naturally be slower."
Sui Lin suddenly realized: "I see, your Highness is ignorant. However, this is the first time I know that the efficiency of the Ministry of Household Affairs is so low."
The corner of the eye of the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue twitched: "If the Third Prince doesn't understand, you better not talk nonsense. The Ministry of Revenue has a lot of daily records, and the number of account books accumulated day after day is even more impressive. It's understandable that you can't find what you want for a while. Can be forgiven."
Suilin was surprised: "Huh? Is it possible that the income and expenditure of the household department are all recorded in one book? Are they not registered in separate books?"
"By the way, Master Shangshu just said that there is nothing important lately, why are you so busy every day?"
Shangshu Hube's brain was short-circuited, his old face was scrunched up, and he hesitated for a long time without coming up with an excuse.
Sui Lin sneered: "It seems that there are still a lot of things to do recently, and Lord Shangshu is too busy. In this case, I won't rush you, and Lord Shangshu, please don't keep me waiting."
Shangshu wiped the sweat from his head and smiled quickly: "It must be true."
After the others left, he sat back in his Taishi chair as if exhausted. After a while, he became more and more angry as he thought about it. He shouted at the door: "What dare you threaten me?"
While cursing, he picked up a pen and hurriedly started writing on the paper, and soon he filled a whole page.
If you look closely, you can see that they are all the conversations he had with Sui Lin just now, and there was a lot of exaggeration in them.
*
As soon as he left Shangshu's place, a figure knelt down in front of Sui Lin in a panic.
Sui Lin narrowed his eyes and looked at the person in front of him. This person looked young and good-looking. In addition to panic, the eyes looking at him also showed some unstoppable fatigue.
And a dash of crystal clear silliness.
Sui Lin raised his eyebrows: "Who are you?"
"Go back to your highness, young one. I work in the Household Department doing miscellaneous things."
Suilin didn't care why he was here, and instead asked him: "Do you know where the past allocation records from the Ministry of Household Affairs are?"
The young man didn't seem to expect that he would ask this question. He was stunned for a while, and then quickly answered: "I know, Your Highness, please come with me."
Soon, the young man led Suilin into a room filled with files.
The room was not big, with dozens of rows of wooden shelves lined with books, filling up the space.
As soon as the door of the room opened, the dust that had accumulated for an unknown period of time fell down with the vibration, making Suilin choke and cough several times.
The young man looked horrified. Hearing that His Highness was in poor health, could something happen?
Fortunately, Sui Lin only coughed a few times and walked straight into the house without any intention of asking for accountability.
After getting closer, the time marked on the wooden frame was revealed. Suilin looked along the time rows. The earliest records here were ten years ago. The further in, the closer the time is.
The most recent records were recorded three years ago.
If you look carefully, household registration, spring and autumn taxes and funds for large-scale projects are all here.
Very strange.
There is only no military pay record at the border.
"Your Highness, what are you looking for? Do you need my help?"
Sui Lin paused for a moment, without turning around, and asked casually: "When did you join the household department?"
"It has been three years since I returned to Your Highness."
Sui Lin nodded: "It's been three years and you're still just a handyman?"
It seems very marginalized.
The young man's face turned red, and then he smiled bitterly: "To be honest with you, Your Highness, I only found out that my ability is really limited when I entered the court. Now, it's pretty good. At least I can get a salary, and I won't starve to death."
【grown ups! ! ! 】Xiao Hei suddenly exclaimed.
Sui Lin was shocked and frowned, "What's wrong?" 】
[This man, he was the third most beautiful girl three years ago, how could he be in such a state of decline? 】
【oh? ] Sui Lin expressed doubts on his lips, but his expression didn't seem too surprised.
It turns out to be Tanhua, no wonder she looks so good-looking.
"What's your name? Are you married?" Sui Lin asked curiously.
"Ah?" The young man was astonished, "I, I and your husband know Jane, and you are not married."
I think so. With his status as a prostitute, if he gets married, there must be someone powerful behind it. How could he get to this point?
Just like this year's flower test, the Prime Minister's Office has already taken a fancy to her before the imperial examination has even started, and she has the potential to fly into the sky.
And in the end, he did live up to the Prime Minister's trust and got the title of Tanhua.
As long as things don't change for people like this, their future official career will be smooth.
However, Sui Lin was determined to add some traffic jams on their way.
"Zhuang Zhijian," Sui Lin repeated, "it's a good name. Your Highness would like to know where the records of military pay at the border are in the past?"
Zhuang Zhijian's face turned pale, and he lowered his head so that no one could see the expression on his face clearly, "I don't know, sir."
"Huh?" Sui Lin laughed, but he was quite wary, "Isn't this what Mr. Zhuang does? It seems that he often fishes in troubled waters."
Zhuang Zhijian took a deep breath and knelt on the ground as if he was dead: "I am guilty, please punish me, Your Highness."
Sui Lin took the initiative to step forward and help him up: "Master Zhuang, why did you say this? After three years in the Ministry of Husbandry, you should understand that some things are not unwillingness but inability. Am I an unreasonable person?"
"Your Highness?" Zhuang Zhijian raised his head in surprise, trying to see something from Sui Lin's expression.
The Third Prince in front of him looked worried, and the sincerity in his eyes did not seem to be fake. It was not clear whether he really saw something that made him worried, or whether he was just putting on a show to gain his trust.
But His Highness is a prince, is it necessary to act in front of him?
"Don't worry, no secret in this world can be hidden forever. The truth will be revealed one day. In this world, the world will finally be clear."
The soft words penetrated his ears. Zhuang Zhijian seemed to be fascinated by the words. He looked at Sui Lin blankly and nodded slowly: "Your Highness is right."
After a moment, he lowered his head and his eyes regained clarity: "Your Highness, can I believe you?"
"Yes, but besides trusting me, do you have any other choice? You have worked with the second brother, do you want to trust him?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhuang Zhijian seemed to frown in disgust, and his emotions flashed away.
"Okay." Zhuang Zhijian raised his head, his previous hesitation gone, and his eyes became much firmer, "Your Highness must mean what he says."
"I really don't know where the military pay records are, but the people in the Ministry of Revenue have something up their sleeves, and I can clearly see it."
Sui Lin flipped through the account book in his hand: "Tell me carefully."
"When I first entered the Ministry of Household Affairs, Lord Shangshu made some remarks to the ministers intentionally or unintentionally, and told me to keep my mouth shut if I saw something I shouldn't see."
"Oh? Did you see something you shouldn't have seen?"
"I saw His Highness the Second Highness and Mr. Shen, Minister of War, going to Fengming Pavilion, but before entering, the two of them made eye contact. I originally thought it was a mistake, but I saw him several times later. The two of them always appear in the same place with their front and rear feet by coincidence. If there are too many coincidences, it is no longer a coincidence."
Fengming Pavilion is the largest brothel in Beijing.
Sui Lin thought thoughtfully: "When was the earliest time? How did you bump into me?"
"When I first entered the Household Department, I was buying some snacks on the street, and I happened to meet His Highness the Second Highness. Although His Highness had put on some disguise at the time, the first thing I learned in the Household Department was to recognize His Highness. appearance, so as not to offend His Highness."
Sui Lin narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment, then suddenly joked: "Don't you know that my second brother is in love with the young lady in Master Shen's house?"
"Ah?" Zhuang Zhijian was dumbfounded, "I am stupid and I really don't know this. Could it be that the Second Prince and Master Shen are discussing marriage?"
"No, why do you go to a brothel to discuss marriage?"
Sui Lin sneered: "I'm afraid only the two of them will know about this matter."
"Your Highness, the payment of funds at the border requires the Ministry of War to operate." Zhuang Zhi simply pointed out.
Sui Lin nodded: "Besides these, what else do you know?"
"When I first joined the Ministry of Household Affairs, I was still exposed to some serious errands. In the summer and autumn, the tax ministers, household registration, household registration, etc. were all exposed to it. Although the finance minister of the Ministry of Works did not personally do it, he had seen it, except for the border officer. I have never seen the account books."
"I wanted to test it out and asked someone else, but the person told me not to inquire about things that should not be my own business."
"I understand." Sui Lin put away the account book in his hand, "The person who warned you that day is still in the household department. How is your relationship with him? Can you find a way to ask him something?"
Zhuang Zhijian hesitated for a moment, and finally gritted his teeth: "I can do it."
"Okay, I won't rush you. You can find a suitable time by yourself, and remember to take care of yourself."
"I accept your order." Zhuang Zhijian said with red eyes, "Thank you, Your Highness."
After the people left, Sui Lin swayed a little exhausted and hurriedly held on to the wooden frame beside him.
[Xiao Hei, how do you see it? 】
[Sir, I have finished scanning everything and made a summary table for you to take a look at. 】
【Um. ] Sui Lin responded, and a transparent screen appeared in front of his eyes the next second.
The data on dozens of rows of wooden shelves were all scanned and compiled into tables by Xiao Hei. At a glance, they were all densely packed with numbers, which made Sui Lin dizzy.
【never mind. ] He rubbed his eyes and said, [Tell me what's unusual. 】
[Sir, what is considered abnormal? 】
Sui Lin sighed lightly: [Then summarize the summary table and express it in your own language. 】
[Oh, okay, sir. 】
[Sir, taxes, taxes are so high. They are rising every year. It seems that the money received is not enough for expenses. 】
【anything else? 】
[Also, let me take a look. In the past ten years, all the construction projects built by the Ministry of Industry were civil projects. There was only one palace for the enjoyment of the royal family, but it cost a lot of money. 】
No surprise at the end of the year.
Daxia's tax system was good at the beginning, but officials at the bottom were greedy and took part of the tax revenue in order to make money. After layer upon layer of exploitation, the upper class naturally received less. The central government had no money to spend, so of course it had to increase taxation.
It's simply a vicious cycle.
As for the expenditures of the Ministry of Industry, they are also for the purpose of making money, but it is more convenient for them to make money. They can get the money just by talking.
By cutting corners and cutting materials during construction projects, a lot of money can be gained, which is a step up from the local governments' greed for taxes.
And they hid the account books at the border, so there must be a bigger secret in them.
This is the consequence of Sui Yunjing's inaction.
Before taking office, he was ambitious, but after sitting on the throne, he became timid, cowardly, and worried about gains and losses.
Although he was in a high position, he never thought about the suffering of the people. He only cared about whether his power could last long, so he was submissive but deeply suspicious.
In his previous life, he seemed to have died of illness due to suspicion.
Then in this life, it is not impossible for him to suffer more because of his suspicion.
[Let’s go and meet my good second brother. 】
[Sir, what are you going to do? 】
[Xiao Hei, didn’t you say yesterday that you wanted me to kill the Dog Emperor? 】
[Yes, sir, but what is the use of looking for the second prince? 】
【You will know if you go there. 】
Suiheng was assigned to go on duty at the Ministry of Etiquette. After being upset all day long, he still couldn't take it in his throat this morning, so he took sick leave and rested at home.
Shen Qingman learned the news from Shen Hanzhang and came directly to inquire. Suiheng was already upset, but when he heard her accusation, he became angry and slapped Shen Qingman.
Shen Qingman couldn't believe it. She originally made an appointment with the eldest son of the Yongning Marquis Mansion, but now because Suiheng had no choice but to push her aside, he actually dared to hit her?
She had helped him so much, otherwise how could a loser get the support of more than half of the DPRK.
Since he wants to burn bridges across rivers, don't blame her for being unjust.
Shen Qingman's eyes were brewing with overwhelming hatred. At this moment, the servant reported that he was coming to visit at the end of the year.