such as Yue Linyuan

When Hubu Shangshu Shi Huai was brought to see Si Yuanting and Chu Yuezhi, he was so calm that no one could see that he was going to be interrogated.

In the interrogation room, Si Yuanting and Chu Yuezhi sat on chairs, and Wei Yunxiao stood behind Chu Yuezhi.

Chu Yuezhi was playing with a pair of walnuts made of pure gold, while Si Yuanting was holding a cup of hot tea that was better brewed.

Hearing the sound of Shi Huai being brought in, Chu Yuezhi raised his eyes and looked over, and said with a half-smile: "Shi Shangshu, the treasures in your house are really dazzling, even if this king grew up in the palace, they are still For the first time, I saw a walnut made of pure gold."

Shi Huai knelt down, and before he could answer Chu Yuezhi's words, Si Yuanting had already put down his teacup and said, "I have never seen such a good thing before, and Shi Shangshu must have spent a lot of money to find such a treasure." effort."

With one sentence from this person, Shi Huai didn't even need to defend himself.

Being able to arrest him and bring him to the East Factory is conclusive evidence.

Shi Huai is nearly 60 years old, and there are more than [-] people in the Shi family. This time, because of sitting together, the death penalty can be avoided and the living penalty cannot be escaped; maybe others have not discovered it, but he can clearly see that Prince An and Mr. Si I'm afraid it's a discord between the heart and the face, those verbal swords are just listening to fierce people fighting, and this person is probably already in the same boat as he, the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Industry have secretly colluded with each other over the years.

When Fang Benhe lost his beloved son, he and the Minister of the Ministry of Industry hadn't noticed anything wrong. When Fang Ben and several other officials from the Ministry of Rites were "invited" to the East Factory, the Ministry of Industry also felt that Lin Bohan and Huangfu Liang were in trouble. When Zhen's reason was exposed, he realized that the emperor's most trusted confidant had probably betrayed the emperor.

So he knew that it was a matter of time before the household department was involved.Therefore, during this period of time, he has been trying to find a way out for himself.

He has an impression of Huangfu Liangzhen.After all, when Huangfu's family was asked to be executed, he had a share of the credit.

The officialdom is a bloodless battlefield. If you want to rise to the top, you have to step on other people's bones to climb up.

The Huangfu family, like the Si family, followed the founding of the Daheng Kingdom all the way, but Huangfu Liangzhen's father, Huangfu Langshu, decided to abandon literature and pursue martial arts when he was young.This seemed unbelievable to many people at the time.The Huangfu family has been civil servants in all dynasties, but Huangfu Langshu actually wanted to be a general, and the Daheng Kingdom was stable at that time. Although the frontier was occasionally invaded by foreigners, Emperor Renzong took back the military power more than a hundred years ago and reformed the military system. In order to consolidate the ruling power, the courtiers since then have a consensus that the focus of the Daheng Kingdom is on political economy and culture rather than military affairs.In such a situation where martial arts are favored, it is definitely not a wise decision for Huangfu Langshu to abandon literature and follow martial arts.

But later, Si Laoshangshu repeatedly proposed to the first emperor that the Daheng Kingdom should be governed by culture and martial arts, instead of continuing to ignore military development.

Huangfu Langshu supported Si Laoshangshu's point of view.At that time, in order to balance the power in the court, and because Huangfu's family had been good ministers who assisted the king in the past, the first emperor broke the rules and made Huangfu Langshu a first-rank military marquis.But, it was just a false name, in fact, Huangfu Langshu didn't have any real power in his hands.It's just that Huangfu Langshu, like Si Laoshangshu, had noticed the drawbacks of too concentrated imperial power a long time ago.

Half of the army is stationed in the capital, and the other half are stationed in various places, and all soldiers will take turns to guard other places or borders. The right to dispatch troops and the right to lead troops are separated. Soldiers have no prestige among soldiers, no prestige and no military spirit to speak of, and military power is completely subservient to imperial power.

The economy and culture of Daheng Kingdom have indeed developed rapidly in the past few years, but the situation of redundant officials and soldiers has become increasingly serious, and it is impossible to find a job in their positions. Poverty and backwardness, if left unchecked for a long time, will become poor and weak, and the country will decline.

After the fall of the Si family, the officials in the court became more and more cautious in their words and deeds. The relationship between the court and the court was a complicated net. The civil servants of the old Shangshu, however, the Si family had a tragic ending, and the party of Hanlin scholars grew stronger afterwards; on the surface, the Hanlin scholars belonged to the princeling party at that time, and the rest of the ministers belonged to the party of the second prince and the fourth prince. They don't take the initiative to please, they only look at the situation, and they have a hand in everything to prepare for themselves. There are not a few such people; as for the rest, most of them have been with Si Laoshangshu has contacts, from the beginning to the end, he has not joined the party struggle to maintain a neutral civil servant, or a general who has no room to speak in the court.

At that time, the late emperor was not too afraid of the Huangfu family, but Huangfu Langshu's repeated remonstrances about Wenzhi and martial arts made the late emperor very unhappy.Shi Huai was only in his thirties at the time, so he was naturally not as high as a Shangshu, but the Shi family was actually attached to the Huangfu family at that time.

The Shi family's foundation is too shallow, counting as only two generations of officials, it is natural to find a deep foundation to rely on.Shi Huai's father was a good minister, he was honest and upright, so he fell into the eyes of Huangfu Langshu's father, and the two families were considered to have contacts.However, Shi Huai's ambition is far greater than that of his father, and he doesn't want to be an official in the court without a breeze, so after entering the court, he has been silently looking for opportunities and finding other party members to cling to.However, the Shi family was attached to the Huangfu family, and everyone in the court knew that even if Shi Huai wanted to surrender, it would be difficult for him to be accepted.

When the foreign envoy incident happened, Huangfu Langshu had spoken to the Si family on behalf of the old minister many times. The late emperor was extremely dissatisfied with Huangfu Langshu at that time, but the Si family had just collapsed, so he couldn't move the Huangfu family again immediately, otherwise the old minister would inevitably be disappointed. Therefore, the first emperor only verbally reprimanded Huangfu Langshu, but did not punish him.

But Shi Huai didn't want to spend any more time. At that time, the Huangfu family had a younger but hot-tempered son. Shi Huai got a tip at the time, and the princelings found out that the real identity of Hua Dan, an opera troupe, was actually a spy. When the disciples of the Huangfu family went to drink and listen to music, Shi Huai deliberately caused people to fight with him. In the confusion, Huadan was killed, but it was finally found out that the disciples of the Huangfu family had accidentally killed him.This was of course framed, but the situation was chaotic at the time, and the Huangfu disciple drank alcohol, so he couldn't remember clearly, let alone explain.At that time, the Dongchang guards were sent to pick up people, but they even found a forged military amulet in Huangfu's mansion.At the same time, in the early court, Huangfu Langshu once again insulted the late emperor, and repeatedly mentioned the Si family and Si Laoshangshu. The late emperor was furious, and when he heard about the murder of Huangfu's children and the forgery of military amulets, he immediately ordered them to be imprisoned and punished. .

Shi Huai surrendered to the princelings because of this matter, and although his father was so angry that he couldn't get sick because of this matter, he got what he wanted, and since then he has been promoted step by step until Chu Yuelei ascended the throne. Minister of the household department.

He originally thought that the Huangfu family, like the Si family, had already collapsed. Even though Si Yuanting was the eunuch of the palm seal and the admiral of the East Factory, if an eunuch could not stay for the Si family, there would be no revival. There may be orphans.

However, it never occurred to him that Huangfu Liangzhen was still alive and became Si Yuanting's minion.

Si Yuanting and Huangfu Liangzhen, Si family and Huangfu family, he understood it almost instantly. I'm afraid that these two people have endured humiliation for so many years, waiting to take revenge on those who framed Zhonglie.

Shi Huai knelt upright on the ground, and seeing Si Yuanting and Chu Yuezhi, there was no trace of panic or fear on their faces, instead they looked calm and composed, and said: "The old minister always likes to collect rare treasures, and this pair of pure gold walnuts is also the same. Got it not long ago."

"Shi Shangshu, why you were invited to Dongchang, I think I know it well. I am just curious. I don't know how many people's blood, tears and even human lives have been stained with the ill-gotten gains you got. When you sleep at night, really Don't you have a conscience?" Chu Yuezhi also didn't expect that Shi Huai could answer such shameless words in front of him and Si Yuanting.

"Uneasy conscience? Prince An is probably joking. Although the old ministers are indeed greedy, don't forget, Prince An. During the years when Prince An fought in the frontier, there was never a shortage of military supplies and food." Shi Huai laughed. He smiled, showing no guilt at all, "The old minister shouldn't be greedy, but he wasn't greedy at all. Prince An was able to conquer the frontier, and my household department has a lot of credit."

In addition to household registration, salary, and financial revenue and expenditure, the Ministry of Household Affairs also managed land, taxes, military supplies, and food and salaries across the country. Without the strong support of the Ministry of Household Affairs, the frontier war might not have been so smooth.

"What Shi Shangshu means is that he wants to offset his merits and demerits?" Chu Yuezhi really had never seen such a brazen person as Shi Huai, kneeling on the ground at this moment and threatening him with his past achievements.The corners of his eyes and brows were filled with a chill, Chu Yuezhi said: "Shangshu Shi forgot, as the Minister of the Ministry of Households, it is what you should do to ensure military supplies and food and salaries."

Shi Huai shook his head, and said: "Although it is something that should be done, it may not be done well, and it varies from person to person. The veteran does not want to offset his merits and demerits, but just wants to save his life. Collusion with the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Rites , the veteran pleaded guilty, but Prince An, think about it carefully, even if the veteran is not greedy for the embankment repair project, and the Ministry of Industry implements it, will the officials below not be greedy? As for the change of household registration, did the human trafficking start from the veteran? "

"So Shi Shangshu thinks that he is not at fault?" Si Yuanting asked.

"Right and wrong is not the old official's final say. It's just that these things never started from the old official. Another person would still make the same choice as the old official. At least the old official did not delay when he was greedy." Business. Dare I ask, how can Prince An and Mr. Si guarantee that the next person to sit on the household secretary will not be as greedy as the old minister, but also have the ability of the old minister? It is the matter of human trafficking , has been around for a long time, could it be that killing the old officials will end the human trafficking?" Shi Huai argued sophistically, speaking outrightly and without remorse.

Chu Yuezhi stared at this half-century old man who had been an official for decades, listened to his absurd words, squeezed the pure gold walnut in his hand, and laughed angrily.