At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

A hundred pawns broke into the official office of the Ministry of Civil Affairs with weapons, scaring the officials of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, large and small.

The status of pawns is officials, but they can wear swords in and out of Luoyang City, use force, enforce the law, and run rampant. Even high-ranking officials and dignitaries cannot stop the actions of pawns.

This is a qualification that most officials in Luoyang City do not have. On the contrary, the officials will be targeted by pawns.

Therefore, when facing pawns, other officials always have a natural fear, and their calves tremble when facing pawns.

The French pawns came to the door aggressively, and the defense line of the Ministry of Civil Affairs collapsed in an instant.

Cheng Yu, who had white beard and hair, walked in the middle holding a [Dharma Saber] bestowed upon him by the Supreme Emperor Guo Peng. Even those who were higher than him had to be humble in front of the Dharma Saber, and could not overwhelm others with power.

So even if Zaoyi's level is higher than Cheng Yu's, facing Cheng Yu who is holding a dharma knife, he has nothing to do and is powerless to resist.

In a sense, Cheng Yu and Zaozhi are old acquaintances, and even when Cheng Yu was serving as Minister, Zaozhi was still his old subordinate.

Although Zaoyi's level is higher than Cheng Yu's now, for Cheng Yu, an old superior, this old thief with white beard and hair, Zaoyi is completely unable to hold the shelf of a minister.

He could only salute.

"Lieutenant Cheng, long time no see."

"It's been a long time, Zaobutang."

Cheng Yu's complexion did not change.

"I don't know what's important for Cheng Xiaowei to come here? Why do you make such a big fuss? This seems to be against the rules? After all, the Ministry of Civil Affairs is an imperial government office, and the pawns are rampant, isn't it good?"

"Cheng received a report that someone in the Ministry of Civil Affairs embezzled a huge amount of public funds for private use, which is very involved. Now Cheng wants to take away the private accounts of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and go back for review. This is to ensure the innocence of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Zaobutang You should also know that His Majesty hates corrupt officials the most."

Cheng Yu looked at Zaoyi indifferently, and raised the dharma knife in his hand: "Zaobutang should recognize this dharma sword given to Cheng by the Supreme Emperor, so, is Zaabitang actively cooperating with Cheng, or is it Cheng? Did someone take the initiative to "invite" Zaobutang to assist in the investigation?"

Cheng Yu's words were polite, but every civil affairs official could feel the bitter chill.

The magic knife seemed to have magical powers, making any officials dare not look directly at it, and they all lowered their heads.

Zaozhi was naturally one of them. Hearing that this was what the emperor meant, Zaozhi understood the situation better, so he took a deep breath.

"Tzuyu."

Zhuge Jin beside Zaoyi stood up.

"Subordinates are here."

"Lead Cheng Xiaowei to get the accounts kept by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and hand over a lot of books to Cheng Xiaowei. Don't hide anything, otherwise, I won't help you if things happen."

"Subordinates obey."

Zhuge Jin bowed his hands to promise, walked towards Cheng Yu, moved away from his body and stretched out his hand to guide: "Lieutenant Cheng, please."

"Ah."

Cheng Yu nodded, took a look at Zaozhi, and then led the team to the file room of the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

After that, there was another rampage.

About half an hour later, Cheng Yu swaggered away from the Ministry of Civil Affairs with three carts, leaving a mess everywhere.

Zhuge Jin stood beside Zaoyi.

"Ministry, they took away everything that should be taken away, and some that were not within the scope, they also took away. The Ministry of Civil Affairs has nothing to hide at all."

Zaozhi was silent for a while.

"There shouldn't be anything to hide...Ziyu, do you know why everyone is afraid of Cheng Zhongde?"

"Because he is the captain of Sili, and he has [-] armed pawns under his command. He can take anyone at will, including powerful and high-ranking officials. No one can and dare not resist."

"Then why is this? How can a captain of Sili, who is more than two thousand stones, take down any powerful and high-ranking official? Why is everyone afraid of him? Could it be because of his own power?"

Zao only looked at Zhuge Jin.

Zhuge Jin bowed her body and lowered her eyes.

"Because the emperor ordered it directly, no one can stop it."

Zao only sighed.

"So, Ziyu, I'm afraid that this minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs has made it to the top."

Zhuge Jin shivered.

"Butang, you are serious. You have been a minister since the establishment of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. No one knows Wei Minzheng better than you."

"That's right, since the establishment of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, I have been the Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. It has been... 15 years. It's been too long. It's been so long that the emperor can't bear me anymore."

Zaoyi sighed again, and shook his head: "But, the reason why I oppose the Northwest business, is it for my own sake? The battle between Loumo and Anxi turned into a huge crisis that swept the Northwest in an instant, and the commercial harm is so great. Great, can't the Son of Heaven see it?

How did I not know that business can make money, business can bring a lot of money, and can do things that farming can't do, but the harm of doing business is far more than dozens of times that of farming!The prosperity of commerce depends entirely on agriculture!Without agricultural production, how can there be commercial trade?

Who is the base and who is the end, does the emperor really not understand?Do the ancients who lived thousands of years ago really not understand?Why do they emphasize agriculture and suppress business?why?Who doesn't like money?Who wants to have trouble with money?But why did Shang Yang insist on emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business? "

Speaking of this, Zaozhi is in pain.

Zhuge Jin lowered her eyes and did not change her posture.

"This is something that everyone in the world knows, agriculture is the foundation of the country."

"Yes, everyone in the world knows that we can't put the cart before the horse, but why doesn't the emperor know? The Supreme Emperor is like this, and today's emperor is also like this! How can they not know the harm caused by such a thing?

It's just that they don't want to think about it. Once the trend of private business arises, the people's morals will be corrupted.Is this what we have worked so hard to pursue? "

Zaoyi let out a long sigh, looked up at the sky, and said, "All that we have done with painstaking efforts for 20 years, maybe, it will come to an end..."

After finishing speaking, Zaozhi lowered his head, sighed repeatedly and walked into the room.

Zhuge Jin followed closely behind.

While walking like this, Zaozhi suddenly stopped.

"Ziyu, including you, if you have done something that I don't know about, if you have done something that violated the law and discipline, it is not limited to you, but also your family members and clan members. If you have done it, you'd better directly Go find Cheng Zhongde."

Zhuge Jin stopped, and looked at Zaoyi with some surprise.

"The emperor wants to kill me, but he knows that he can't do me directly. He can only start with people around me. I have been in the Ministry of Civil Affairs for 15 years and have a solid foundation. This is not a bad thing at all, but once I disagree with the emperor, people around me People will inevitably be dragged down by me.

Naturally, this is not something I want you to do. You broke the law and were caught by Cheng Zhongde. Even I can’t say anything. Therefore, if you can surrender, you can surrender. If you are lucky, you may be able to escape. . "

Zaozhi waved his hand and said, "Those who don't care about the problem, just put the problem on me and say it's all my fault. I'm old and have a high official position. I can handle such things. If the Son of Heaven If the goal is achieved, it may be possible to end this catastrophe early.”

Zhuge Jin was shocked.

He changed his expression and looked at Zaoyi in surprise.

"Butang, this... this..."

"I am old, and time is running out, but you are still young. You have followed me for a long time, and you know how much I care about farming. Even if I am gone, if you are here, you can still stabilize the farming of Wei Guo. Remember, farming , is the lifeblood of Wei!"

Zaoyi clenched Zhugejin's hand and stared into his eyes: "Never let anyone destroy the farmland! Absolutely! If there is one, death will not let it succeed!"

Zhuge Jin was stunned for a while, unable to say a word.

He didn't even know how he left Zaozhi's office and walked outside.

Leaving Zaozhi's office, standing outside, looking up at the sky, Zhuge Jin saw that thick dark clouds had already gathered in the sky, dark and overwhelming, with a terrifying momentum and faint thunder.

The wind also blew, stronger and stronger one after another, and the trees in the courtyard were bent over and couldn't stand upright, even Zhuge Jin couldn't open his eyes.

Then, there was a sudden thunderstorm, and a thunderstorm and heavy rain came as expected, pouring down.

One day later, on the fifth day of June in the second year of Xingyuan, the rain stopped, the wind stopped, and the sun showed its face.

The scorching sun covered the ground and evaporated all the rainwater accumulated in the compound of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The thick water vapor made every official of the Ministry of Civil Affairs sticky, and it was very uncomfortable to sweat profusely after walking a few steps.

Another day later, on the sixth day of June in the second year of Xingyuan, it was sunny and the temperature rose. The officials drank cold water while doing business, but they still couldn't calm down the heat in their bodies.

Then Cheng Yu came, accompanied by two hundred armed pawns and a thick stack of arrest warrants.

When the dust settles and there is nothing more to argue about, that's how it is.

Chapter 1575 One thousand four hundred and ninety five dates suddenly a little envious of Cheng Yu

The arrival of the pawns, like a gust of cold wind in winter, instantly quelled the heat in the officials' bodies.

The person whose name was called was like being poured with a bucket of ice water from head to toe, instantly transitioning from the scorching summer to the severe winter, saving the imperial court a lot of summer ice expenses.

congratulations.

The assistant officials around Cheng Yu read the names according to the arrest warrant, and every time they read one, two pawns would step forward, drag the official out, put on iron chains, and escort him back to "assist in the investigation".

Cheng Yu stood aside leaning on a dagger, his cold eyes swept over every official of the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

That look was like a knife, as if it was going to bleed when it was touched, it was so sharp that people couldn't help avoiding it, they dared not look at it, for fear that there would be some ominous sparks when they collided with it.

It's hard to imagine that a 76-year-old man still has such a murderous aura on his body.

While everyone was trembling, they also had doubts—what did this old thief eat to grow up?

Officials were called and taken away by name one after another. They either collapsed on the ground with terrified faces, or looked calm as if they had seen the mysteries of the universe, or evaded with shaking heads in disbelief, just not wanting to be taken away.

But how can that be?

The pawns were sharp and agile, and what was even more frightening was that they were holding weapons. Someone was in a hurry to hide, and the pawn pulled out the ring-sword and pointed it at the official, and the official immediately turned pale and dared not move.

Throughout the whole process, Zaoyi seemed very calm.

He moved a chair and sat in front of the official office, as if trying to prevent Cheng Yu and the pawns from entering the official office, but it was useless.

Cheng Yu ignored him at all, and the pawns seemed as if they hadn't seen him, and followed Cheng Yu with big strides past Zaozhi who was sitting at the door, and entered the yamen of the Ministry of Civil Affairs to fetch people.

Then everyone who was taken away was crying and begging Zaoyi for help, to give them a hand, save them, and not let them be taken to prison to suffer.

Crying, even grabbing Zaozhi's sleeve and unwilling to leave, but it was useless.

Zaozhi didn't respond, just looked at them, and the pawns didn't seem to care about the officials' request for help, so they pretended they didn't see Zaozhi, dragged them away, and locked them in the prison for interrogation.

In about an hour, Cheng Yu and his pawns took away 23 officials from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, leaving the rest of the officials in a mess and trembling, and flaunted their way away.

Before leaving, Cheng Yu stood beside Zaoyi who was sitting at the door.

"Does it look good?"

Cheng Yu asked.

"What Lieutenant Cheng asked was about the way my subordinates cried when they were taken away?"

Zaozhi turned his head to look at Cheng Yu, who had white beard and hair: "Cheng Zhongde, you are so old, and you still have such elegance? I really didn't expect it!"

Hearing Zaoyi's unbearable anger, Cheng Yu raised the corner of his mouth.

"Your current emotion is the emotion in the heart of the person offended by you."

Zaoyi was taken aback for a moment, and then realized what Cheng Yu was talking about.

"What do you want to say?"

"I don't want to say anything. I'm just a murder knife. I'm only responsible for killing people. I don't care about anything else."

"Cheng Zhongde!"

Zaozhi slapped the armrest, stood up, pointed at Cheng Yu, and said angrily, "How can there be such a shameless person like you in the world!"

"Shameless? What is shameless? Arresting corrupt officials is also shameless?"

Cheng Yu asked Zaoyi back, but couldn't say a word of Zaoyi's question.

After finally calming down, Zaozhi took a deep breath and said, "Cheng Zhongde, I am not as qualified as you. Your status and power were far higher than mine. I remember that you were not like this at that time. What happened to you?" How could you be willing to be a knife in someone's hand?"

"What's wrong with having a knife in your hand?"

Cheng Yu asked Zaoyi back.

"Do you have no dignity at all? Don't you have strength of character? Don't you know what the most important thing to do as a courtier?"

Zaozhi asked three consecutive questions in pain.

Cheng Yu was not touched in the slightest.

"Zaobutang, you were born in a noble family, and people have made you famous since you were a child. In your 20s, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu both wanted you. You have a keen eye for heroes, and you chose the Supreme Emperor to follow. Your journey has been smooth without any twists and turns.

If you persuade Nongsang, the common people will remember your achievements, but what about me?I just came from an ordinary and powerful background, and I was underestimated by others. I was favored by the Supreme Emperor at the age of 44. I was summoned by him and embarked on an official career. Do you know how I got here in those 44 years? "

Cheng Yu asked Zaoyi back, but Zaoyi didn't know how to answer.