Chapter 474 I Am Very Unhappy

After the two stewards brought the bad news, they planned to say goodbye and leave.

The two of them came here today mainly to inform the three little ones that they don't have to go to the yamen in the capital for the time being.

King Zheng's attempt to pull the trigger this time has temporarily made it impossible to continue preparations for war.

Unable to solve the problem of the treasury being drained, even if we continue to forcibly promote the process of preparing for war, it will only enrich King Zheng's belly.

If he is asked to do this a few more times, not only will the current treasury be emptied by him, but Daxing's tax revenue in the next few years will probably be embezzled by him.

Until this problem is solved, the mission of the three little ones can only be temporarily shelved.

But before leaving, the two stewards borrowed Li Xuan from Princess Ankang and said they needed his help with some things.

Princess Ankang naturally had no reason to refuse.

…

Early the next morning.

Li Xuan came to the House of Internal Affairs to report early, and found that all the eunuchs here were walking in a hurry, and no one had time to stop.

As soon as he entered the hall, Zhao Feng was assigning tasks to several people. When he saw half of Li Xuan's head exposed at the door, he immediately dismissed everyone.

"Just come in when you're here. What are you doing sneaking around at the door?"

Zhao Feng shook his head helplessly.

It can be seen that he is in a much better mood today than yesterday.

"This morning, the court has discussed the imposition of temporary war taxes. All the officials involved have been arrested and brought to justice. At the same time, special envoys have been sent to affected prefectures and counties around the front line to stop the collection of temporary war taxes."

"But how could those officials be willing to admit their guilt easily? Each one of them made a nice statement and served the country and the people."

"No one knows what the plan is behind the scenes!"

Speaking of these civil servants, Zhao Feng felt itching with hatred.

After all this back and forth, I don't know how many people's wealth and wealth are going to fall into the pockets of these bastards, but Emperor Yongyuan has to bear this bad reputation. How do you think this is reasonable?

"Axuan, you go out with Xu Lang later. He will tell you exactly what you want to do."

Zhao Feng hurriedly confessed and went out to do some work.

Li Xuan walked out of the house and found Xu Lang waiting outside.

After one person and one cat said hello, they headed straight outside the imperial city.

They did not take Princess Ankang's carriage today. After all, the carriage was too conspicuous and would not be convenient for their next actions.

Xu Lang summoned a horse as soon as he left the imperial city, and then took Li Xuan to each destination.

Li Xuan's mission was simple. He just went to the homes of the officials involved in the matter to look for evidence of guilt.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs had done a good job of checking out the locations in advance, and Xu Lang informed Li Xuan of the rooms he needed to search and the documents he needed to find.

In just one night, the Ministry of Internal Affairs found so many clues, which was incredibly efficient.

However, no matter how good the performance is now, it is just making up for it.

Zhao Feng's failure to discover this in advance was his biggest dereliction of duty.

If the impact of this matter cannot be minimized, it may be difficult for Zhao Feng to gain the same trust as before.

Li Xuan is a cat, and he is most suitable for these spy jobs.

Even if he easily climbed over the wall to get in, or even was caught red-handed while searching for documents, there is a high probability that he would just be driven away.

The animal spy thing is really exciting, but it's not easy to find an orc with high intelligence and strong cultivation like Li Xuan.

Although there are no orcs in the world who meet this characteristic, most of the orcs who meet the requirements do not have the harmless and cute appearance of Li Xuan.

Therefore, Li Xuan has unique conditions for being a spy.

Li Xuan and Xu Lang acted together and successively searched the required documents from the homes of several officials.

The contents of the document are not enough to prove the evil intentions of these people, but it is enough to prove that they participated in promoting the collection of temporary war taxes.

This matter, at best, is the result of the officials below making their own decisions; at worst, it is false propaganda of the imperial edict and deceiving the emperor.

In the morning meeting today, when faced with the questioning of Emperor Yongyuan, several ministers and ministers from the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of War were all ignorant. They put all the blame on the actions of their subordinates and acted indignantly. , also advocated severe punishment as a warning to others, and even mentioned the nine tribes that punished these officials.

After listening to Zhao Feng's description of this, Li Xuan didn't know whether these officials were retreating in order to advance, or whether they were really ready to sacrifice these low-level officials.

If it's the latter, these guys are really ruthless.

After spending a whole day, Li Xuan and Xu Lang found evidence that more than a dozen officials were involved in this matter.

Although these officials do not have high official positions, they are positions of real power in various departments.

This time, these people all contributed "indispensable contributions" to the successful collection of the temporary war tax.

And now, it’s time to “reward them based on their merits.”

At night, Li Xuan and Xu Lang were riding towards the imperial city.

"Is that all?"

Li Xuan waved his tail and asked Xu Lang.

Xu Lang rode his horse and whispered to Li Xuan in front of him:

"Lord Axuan, we have completed all the tasks assigned by the manager today."

"But according to our investigation, many officials from various places also cooperated."

"Otherwise, how could such a big thing not be revealed until now?"

"Imposing a temporary war tax is a big deal..."

"But the concerns of local officials are understandable."

Xu Lang suddenly changed his tone.

Li Xuan looked back with a puzzled look.

"I am just guessing. Not all local officials should be actively cooperating. There are always people who doubt this matter."

"It's just that their voices didn't reach your majesty in time."

When Xu Lang said this, Li Xuan understood what he meant.

Officials' reports were also passed through one level at a time. No one could bypass all the superiors in the middle and contact Emperor Yongyuan directly.

"Deceiving the emperor?"

Li Xuan had only seen this kind of thing in history books.

These four simple words, until he witnessed it himself, he felt the horror of it.

Although Emperor Yongyuan was the emperor of Daxing, he basically lived in the palace.

Even in the imperial city, Emperor Yongyuan further improved his control not long ago.

In the capital outside the imperial city, there were many things that Emperor Yongyuan could not see or hear.

And outside the capital, let alone the places.

As long as the officials below are willing, they can completely portray a completely false world to Emperor Yongyuan and deceive him for his whole life.

In history, there are so many tyrants who lost their country. Even when the whole country was in rebellion, they still enjoyed themselves in the palace, which was extremely absurd. It was because they had no objective understanding of the facts of the outside world.

The world they knew was the false world portrayed to them by those treacherous officials.

The current situation of Emperor Yongyuan is that although he is willing to see and hear, his eyesight and hearing are far from enough, making the world he sees chaotic.

If it were not for the loyal Ministry of Internal Affairs, I am afraid that Emperor Yongyuan would also become a blind tyrant living in a false world.

...

In the next few days, Li Xuan would occasionally be called by Zhao Feng to help.

As the impact of this incident was expanded, it caused a storm in the city, and everyone in the capital knew about it.

It was just that in terms of public opinion, it was very divided.

The mainstream opinion is that Emperor Yongyuan started a war to try to cause a dispute between Daxing and the desert, to launch a war, and to force officials to complete preparations and conquer the desert in the shortest possible time.

However, the process of preparing for war was too costly, which aroused the dissatisfaction of Emperor Yongyuan, so he began to blame the officials, causing panic in the court and the country.

The cleverness of this public opinion is that it is almost all true, but it conceals the good deeds of King Zheng.

The people already hate war, and they heard that they had to pay more taxes to fill the hole in the treasury, which caused great resentment.

There are also some opinions that explain the origin of the temporary war tax and the real charges for those officials being arrested.

However, these opinions are always drowned out as soon as they emerge, and few people know about it. Even if someone hears it, they believe the previous opinions more, that Emperor Yongyuan is making trouble.

After all, it is much more satisfying to scold the emperor than to scold a few unknown officials.

With the thorough investigation of the matter, the preparations for the conquest of the desert can only be temporarily shelved, after all, many officials who worked on it have been locked up.

Moreover, because of the trick played by Prince Zheng, although there is still money in the treasury, if the war preparations continue, the money will be consumed quickly, and even insufficient.

And if the war preparations are completely stopped and the expedition to the desert is left unfinished, I am afraid that Emperor Yongyuan's prestige in the court will be severely damaged in the future.

Originally, there was Prince Zheng enough to bother Emperor Yongyuan. If this matter is not resolved well, I am afraid that Emperor Yongyuan will have more and more things to bother him in the future.

At this time, the three little ones were sitting in a private room of a teahouse in the West Market of the capital, looking at the endless stream of people outside, with a frown on their faces.

"Ah Xuan, what do you think we should do?"

Princess Ankang held her chin with both hands, listening to the dissatisfaction with the court from time to time on the street, and her little face was about to wrinkle into a bitter gourd.

Li Xuan was helpless.

The chess game between Emperor Yongyuan and Prince Zheng was the entire Daxing and the entire court.

The territory and people of the dynasty were all chess pieces they used to decide who was better.

Li Xuan is just a cat, and he can barely manage the small piece of land in front of him. He has no good solution for such a big problem.

Today, the three little ones went to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to find the two general managers to inquire about the situation, but they didn't even find anyone.

According to the flowery eunuchs in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the two general managers have been busy these days, and it is difficult for them to see each other.

Seeing that there is really nothing to do in the palace, the three little ones went out of the palace to relieve their boredom and see how the people comment on this matter.

But they sat in the teahouse for a while, and so far, they haven't met anyone who says good things about Emperor Yongyuan.

"My father has done nothing wrong, why are they all scolding him?"

Princess Ankang said a little indignantly.

Because someone in the teahouse is talking nonsense again, criticizing Emperor Yongyuan.

Nowadays, Princess Ankang's ears are also very sharp. Although it is far less outrageous than Li Xuan, it is also far beyond ordinary people.

Li Xuan is very clear about this situation. After all, in his previous life, hiring water army to control speech has become a mature industry.

In Daxing, where the news is not as "informed" as in the Internet era, the effect of the water army is even more significant. People who don't know the truth quickly attributed all the problems to Emperor Yongyuan.

To some extent, Emperor Yongyuan's lack of strength is also one of the reasons for this situation.

But he should never be blamed for this temporary war tax.

In the past, Li Xuan didn't know much about Prince Zheng. He only knew about this ambitious uncle of the emperor through other people's mouths.

How powerful King Zheng is, and how charming he is...

It's not like Li Xuan never thought that this man might be a better emperor.

But judging from what happened this time, Li Xuan was pretty sure that he didn't like the way King Zheng acted.

Perhaps for a politician, this temporary war tax was a perfect strategy. While recovering his own disadvantage, he also gave Emperor Yongyuan an army.

But what King Zheng gained from his corruption this time was the support of the people on the front lines.

This made Li Xuan very unhappy.

"When you big men fight against your big men, you have to involve the common people. If you don't want to be greedy for so much money in the treasury, you have to be greedy for the common people."

In Li Xuan's view, a good emperor is one who can make people's lives better and better.

But this is good for King Zheng. Before he became emperor, he started cutting leeks from the people.

If this kind of person becomes the emperor in the future, will the common people be able to live well in the future?

Li Xuan rubbed his head against the distressed Princess Ankang, and then comforted:

"Don't be upset. Let's do what we can and leave the rest to the adults."

"Yes." Princess Ankang nodded obediently.

At this moment, Yu'er asked from the side: "Your Highness, A Xuan. Can that person really help?"

"After all, I have to give it a try. Since it was Ah Xuan's idea, I think it's okay." Princess Ankang replied with a smile.

At this moment, there was a knock on the door outside the private room.

Yu'er went to open the door to greet him and invite the person in.

"Your Highness, I haven't seen you for a long time, but your style remains the same."

Chen Tan smiled and saluted, looking in a good mood.

"Gang Leader Chen seems to be in a good mood today."

"Is there something good going on?"

Princess Ankang asked him to sit down and asked curiously.

"Haha, I have to thank His Highness for this." Chen Tan explained with a smile: "Thanks to His Highness taking over those industries, the old guys in the gang who used to dislike me now have even greater opinions on me."

The corners of the three little ones' mouths all twitched.

"Uh, is that a good thing?"

Princess Ankang asked puzzledly.

"For Chen, it's a good thing."

After Chen Tan said this, he stopped explaining and asked Princess Ankang:

"By the way, I wonder why Your Highness is looking for me?"

This straightforward conversation also saved Princess Ankang a lot of effort.

At the moment, she didn't make too many detours and asked directly: "Gang Leader Chen, I heard you said that the Money Gang started as a chamber of commerce. I wonder if it still has business dealings with Da Mo now?"

"Of course there is. Cross-border business has always been very profitable, and it is also the main source of legal income for money gangs today."

"Well, the slave trade is not among the properties transferred this time. Please forgive me, Your Highness."

"The underground industry that does not belong to the capital city belongs to the transnational underground industry."

Chen Tan thought it was Princess Ankang who found out that the property she took over was missing a few properties and came to investigate.

A speechless look flashed across Princess Ankang's face, and then her smile returned.

"Gang Leader Chen misunderstood. I want to ask Gang Leader Chen to do a favor and pay attention to some things on the border between Daxing and Damo."

"This..." Chen Tan suddenly showed hesitation.

Naturally, he had heard of the recent uproar in the capital.

"It's not our Money Gang's turn to interfere in this kind of thing, right?"

Chen Tan's refusal was obvious.

"Gang Leader Chen, please listen to what I have to say. It's not too late to make a decision."

"I just want to ask for money to help me keep an eye on some goods exchanges in the border area between the two countries."

"Who knows? Maybe I will also be involved in the Chamber of Commerce's business in the future."

"I heard that the Money Gang has power all over the country and has countless branches. I think this matter is not difficult for Gang Leader Chen."

Hearing this, Chen Tan turned to smile and said to Princess Ankang: "Since His Highness knows the Money Gang so well, he should also know that the cost for us to come forward to solve the problem is not low, right?"

Seeing Chen Tan relent, the smile on Princess Ankang's face became even stronger:

"Gang Leader Chen, you should know how huge the treasure I want to pay attention to is, right?"

"How about this? The reward I give to the Money Gang is related to the amount of property you can track. In short, the more you find, the greater the reward."

Princess Ankang is now becoming more and more skilled at writing bad checks, but as the leader of a gang, Chen Tan may not be so easy to fool.

But contrary to the expectations of the three little ones, Chen Tan actually accepted this promise-like reward.

"Then Your Highness, we have made an agreement!"

…

On the way back, Princess Ankang became more and more strange as she thought about it.

"It feels like Gang Leader Chen's agreement was a little too hasty. He didn't just talk and then didn't take action, right?"

Both Li Xuan and Yu'er can understand Princess Ankang's concerns.

But there is nothing they can do about it.

After all, they couldn't get any decent remuneration.

I heard before that hiring the Money Gang is expensive. Although the three little ones are not as miserable as before, haha, they still have some money in their pockets, but it is not enough to satisfy the appetite of the Money Gang.

After all, what they entrusted money to help with was no small matter.

Since King Zheng has been greedy for so much people's fat and money, he always has to transfer it into his own pocket and control it.

With so many things, it is impossible that there will be no movement when they are transferred.

Therefore, Li Xuan decided to give it a try and let the Money Gang investigate the matter.

Although he knew that the Ministry of Internal Affairs would not let go of this clue, more people investigating would provide more guarantees and more or less help.

But when the three children returned to Jingyang Palace, they heard another unexpected news.

"Is there going to be a competition in the Imperial Garden tomorrow?"

The three children stared at each other, wondering if Emperor Yongyuan had lost his temper.

Although they counted the days, it was the competition day of the month again.

But at this time, Emperor Yongyuan actually still had the mind to organize the competition in the Imperial Garden.