Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

“When I found out about this, they were all very scared, so they gave me a thousand strings of cash as hush money.”

Chen Dong found it hard to understand: "As an inspecting censor, a thousand strings of cash can shut you up?"

Ying Shan sighed helplessly, "I needed the money urgently at the time."

Chen Dong asked, "Your family in Guixi, the Ying family, owns mines, so how could you possibly be short of money?"

Ying Shan said, "My grandfather's generation had already divided the family property. My father was good at squandering money, and my branch of the family has become increasingly impoverished."

"The thousand strings of cash I received as hush money was actually sent back to my younger sister as part of her dowry."

"Weddings in the Liangjiang region are extravagant, especially among the gentry and prominent families."

“My father was also very generous and concerned about his reputation. He sold a lot of family property, and with the thousand strings of cash I had embezzled, he finally managed to raise three thousand strings of cash for my younger sister’s dowry.”

The officials in charge of the trial were all stunned.

Ying Shan was identified by them as the key figure in the case, and it was even possible that the Emperor's concubine's family would be implicated.

But this man's first act of embezzlement was actually to raise money for his sister's dowry...

Ying Shan continued, "That gold mine isn't big. Even if they conceal it and evade taxes, the imperial court won't lose much money."

"At least, that's what I thought at the time; I didn't feel like I had let the emperor down."

Chapter 3302 Examination Cheating Case

"You really are... ambitious!"

Chen Dong didn't know how to reprimand Ying Shan, because Ying Shan was just too bizarre.

Ying Shan looked blankly up at the roof beam: "Once you accept one payment, there will be a second, and you have no choice but to accept it."

“I applied to be transferred out of Henan and to be a better official in another place, but the Inspectorate did not agree.”

"On the contrary, because Lü Benzhong was transferred to deal with the powerful clans in Luoyang, I was also stationed in Luoyang to assist in this matter."

"Splitting up large migrating families is incredibly lucrative. Even a little bit that slips through their fingers is enough to live on for a lifetime."

"Those large clans that were dismantled, knowing that their assets were illegally seized, dared not speak out against it."

"They even thought that this was all arranged by His Majesty, and that I was making money for His Majesty."

Having said that, Ying Shan shut up and looked at Chen Dong, whose face had turned as black as ink.

Seeing Chen Dong's grotesque appearance, Pan Liangui and Wu Mao exchanged a glance, their hearts pounding with fear that something else might be involved.

After a long silence, Chen Dong asked through gritted teeth, "Was Shi Ruchang involved in embezzling the property of those powerful clans?"

Ying Shan actually grinned, a smile tinged with schadenfreude: "He made more money than me."

Shi Ruchang was promoted by Chen Dong and was Chen Dong's favorite student.

Moreover, he had heard Zhao Yuan lecture in Guizhou and followed Zhao Yuan all the way from Guangxi to Jinzhou to start an uprising.

This man is only twenty-eight years old this year, but he is already the Left Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate.

If you work diligently, you are very likely to become a minister in twenty years, achieve some political success, and even have the opportunity to enter the cabinet and become prime minister!

Chen Dong remained silent, his whole body trembling slightly with anger.

Pan Lianggui asked, "Did Lü Benzhong know about this?"

Ying Shan said, "Lu Benzhong certainly knew, but only he himself knows exactly how much he knew."

“But Lü Benzhong did not try to make money. As a member of the Lü family, he was already being criticized for investigating the Lü family. If he dared to try to make money from it, he would be courting death.”

"Shi Ruchang supervised the entire relocation of the clans, and his words carried far more weight than those of Lü Benzhong. Moreover, he was His Majesty's confidant. How could Lü Benzhong dare to utter a single word of dissent?"

Pan Liangui then asked, "Did the former left and right provincial governors of Henan, as well as the prefect of Luoyang, participate in the division of spoils?"

Ying Shan said, "The Left Provincial Governor was just transferred, but the Right Provincial Governor and the Prefect of Luoyang got the job."

"It just so happened that the Left Provincial Governor was away and the new Left Provincial Governor had not yet taken office. When the Right Provincial Governor was organizing the provincial examination, he pulled me into a partnership with him to help the candidates cheat."

"A bunch of bastards!"

Chen Dong finally broke down and stood up to give up the judge's seat:

“Shi Ruchang is my student. I need to recuse myself from this case. I will now hand it over to Vice Minister Pan for trial.”

"After I leave, the other officials of the Inspectorate are only allowed to observe and record the case; they are not allowed to interfere in the interrogation!"

After saying this, Chen Dong turned and left, eager to see His Majesty.

Pan Liangui was immediately overwhelmed with worry. This case was likely to drag on for a long time, because there were other cases within cases, and the more he investigated, the more he found.

When Shi Ruchang inspected local areas, he mostly made money off them.

Every penny you make is an act of protecting a corrupt official!

And those corrupt officials must also have many cases against them.

Wu Mao asked, "Aren't you afraid of losing your heads? Embezzling the property of a large, migrating clan is already incredibly audacious, but you even dare to steal from the provincial examinations."

Ying Shan smiled wryly: "Initially, I didn't dare to go too far. I agreed to only help one scholar cheat, as a way of repaying a favor I owed him before."

"But that foolish candidate got the exam questions in advance and actually showed them off to his classmates."

"And unable to resist his classmates' pleas, he resold the exam questions."

"They resold them one by one, and I don't know how many copies they sold."

“I was locked in the examination hall the whole time, and I was only released after the list of successful candidates was posted. I was so scared that I almost committed suicide out of fear of punishment.”

"You actually committed suicide, at least you have some shame!" Wu Mao retorted.

Ying Shan said, "I knew from that moment on that I was going to die, and I would live as long as I could."

"He wanted to enjoy himself before he died, so he took several concubines and secretly bought a house in Henan."

"Looking back now, it's really absurd. All that knowledge of the classics has gone to waste."

Pan Liangui said to Wu Mao, "The imperial examination fraud case and the embezzlement of wealthy families' property are two really big cases."

"It must be reported to the authorities for their attention, and then a separate case must be filed for detailed investigation."

Wu Mao shook his head: "The cases are interconnected, so they can only be tried together. How can they be filed as separate cases?"

Pan Liangui said, "I finally understand why they didn't kill the bartender to silence him."

"It turns out that the scandal of cheating in the imperial examinations had already been exposed, but someone had been covering it up."

"Killing a bartender won't do any good; it will only make things worse."

Wu Mao said, "I'm afraid neither of us will be able to get away for the next year. These cases probably won't be finished in a year."

The two looked at each other and smiled bitterly.

They will inevitably be promoted as a result, but they will also offend a lot of people!

Chapter 3303 A Case Within a Case

After gathering his thoughts, Pan Liangui continued his interrogation: "Was Chen Hong, the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner of Henan, also implicated for embezzling the property of a powerful family?"

Ying Shan slowly shook his head, revealing a gloating smile once again.

Seeing that smile, Pan Liangui felt a chill run down his spine: "There's another case?"

Ying Shan slowly and deliberately uttered a few words: "Fuzhou Maritime Trade Office!"

"Fuzhou Maritime Trade Office?"

Wu Mao exclaimed in surprise,

"After His Majesty inspected Shandong, didn't he also investigate all the maritime trade offices in the country?"

Ying Shan said, "There must be some who slipped through the net. The Chen family of Houguan is one of them."

"His family has evaded customs duties and bribed officials, and the scandal hasn't come to light yet, which means someone is covering for the Chen family."

"The Chen family owes such a huge favor, so Chen Hong naturally has to repay the debt of gratitude his family owes."

"Straight bitch!"

Pan Liangui couldn't help but swear.

The local maritime trade offices were investigated jointly by the Censorate and the Ministry of Revenue, with the Ministry of Justice also responsible for closing the cases.

The fact that the Chen family of Houguan managed to slip through the net means that countless officials from the Censorate, the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of Justice, who were responsible for thoroughly investigating the customs duties in Fuzhou, have already been implicated!

"Let's postpone the hearing to another day,"

Wu Mao said,

"We need to go to the palace to meet the emperor; this case has terrified me."

...

After listening to the case report, Zhao Yuan also had a headache. He rubbed his face and said, "Call Chen Dong and Xu Fuyan over as well."

Xu Fuyan was on standby around the clock, and when summoned by the emperor, he arrived faster than anyone else.

Zhao Yuan said to Pan Liangui, "Tell Minister Xu about this in detail."

Pan Liangui cupped his hands and said, "Lord Xu, the case is rather complicated, involving quite a few officials. What we've uncovered so far is just the tip of the iceberg..."

As each case was recounted, Xu Fuyan was already short of breath and slumped into a chair, speechless, before she could even finish listening.

His face was ashen as he looked at the emperor with pleading eyes, it was unclear what kind of dignity he wanted to beg for.

Before long, Wen Huanzhang and Chen Dong arrived.

After Pan Liangui finished explaining, Wen Huanzhang asked, "How do we investigate?"

Zhao Yuan's eyes were icy: "How else can we investigate? Of course, we'll investigate to the very end!"

Wen Huanzhang then asked, "Is Ying Shan involved with the Zhang family of Dexing?"

Not yet.

Pan Liangui replied,

“Ying Shan has gone mad. Every time he mentions a major case, a strange smile appears on his face. Knowing that he cannot escape punishment, he plans to implicate everyone.”

"He answered whatever was asked, and even confessed things he wasn't asked. I haven't had such a smooth interrogation in years."

Zhao Yuan said, "After the case is closed, the provinces will be notified that gentry weddings must not be extravagant or lavish."

"To prepare a dowry for his younger sister, the censor actually managed to embezzle funds."

“If any gentry couple’s weddings are too extravagant in the future, the local authorities should investigate to see if they are using embezzled funds for the weddings!”

"It's no use. Throughout history, extravagance can only be curbed temporarily."

Zhao Yuan suddenly felt very tired.

……

Tokyo.

Cai Jing's residence outside Liangmen Gate was enormous.

By order of His Majesty, it was divided into four, and walls were built between the four residences to separate alleyways. These four new residences still looked grand.

The high-ranking officials of the cabinet and the academy lived near the former Song dynasty's Ministry of Personnel.

Four years ago, four new houses were allocated from Cai Jing's residence to four officials. One of them was allocated to Shi Ruchang, and it was even the riverside one.

The Shi family of Guizhou was not a prominent family, but they were by no means some rural tycoon. Their ancestors had produced Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations), but their fortunes had gradually declined in the last two or three generations.

When Zhao Yuan was exiled to Guizhou, Shi Ruchang was often dragged by his friends to attend his lectures.

The concept of the Eight Eyes enlightened Shi Ruchang, filling him with excitement.

This young scholar from Guangxi, not yet twenty years old, followed Zhao Yuan all the way north.

Although the uprising startled him, Shi Ruchang quickly joined Chen Dong in pledging allegiance after Zhao Yuan captured Hanzhong.

He was extremely capable and stood out among the many talented young officials who had joined the imperial court, becoming one of Zhao Yuan's most valued young officials.

He is basically being groomed as a future cabinet minister, and if nothing unexpected happens, he will be sent out to serve as a civil official in two years.

Shi Ruchang himself couldn't say exactly when his mindset changed.