So what if I traveled through time? I'll continue to roll in another place

On the day when the results of the joint trial by the three courts were reported to the emperor for judgment, Zhou Yao also went to court as the first prosecutor.

It was said to be the judgment of His Majesty, but the Emperor was still young, so the decision had to be made jointly by the regent ministers.

Zhang Songchan, the Minister of Justice, reported the results of the joint trial of the three courts, saying, "In this case in Jiangzhou, the upper and lower levels colluded to embezzle the treasury and extort tens of thousands of yuan from the people, causing great suffering to the people and causing public resentment. This is an unprecedented case of corruption and extravagance.

According to the memorial, the leaders, Xie Wenchang, the prefect of Huainan Prefecture, Lu Yu, the doctor of the Huainan Qingli Division of the Ministry of Revenue, and Pan Xu, the prefect of Jiangzhou, were sentenced to beheading; Shen Xin, the director of the Huainan Qingli Division of the Ministry of Revenue, Duan Pengjing, the censor of Xijiang Province, and Luo Jun, the censor, were hanged; and Zhu Hong, the left assistant censor, was given the death penalty.

Twenty-nine major criminals who embezzled more than 1,000 taels of silver were beheaded, and seventy-six criminals who embezzled less than 1,000 taels of silver were dismissed from their posts, caned, or exiled.

All the property of the officials involved in the case will be confiscated, and their wives, concubines, and children will be exiled to Changqi Prefecture and Shenzhou to serve as slaves. All the criminals involved in the case are guilty of crimes that cannot be forgiven and must be severely punished. "

The Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate Que Yan and the Minister of the Dali Temple Ji Shu seconded the motion.

At the morning court, all the ministers looked at Song Pu, who was in the lead. He said solemnly, "Corrupt officials have betrayed the emperor's grace and committed heinous crimes. We cannot tolerate them just because the punishment is not enough for everyone. We must impose the ultimate punishment to correct the court's laws. Approve the request of the three officials."

After saying this, he took off his black gauze hat, knelt down to the emperor on the golden platform and said: "The Prime Minister assists the emperor in regulating yin and yang, following the four seasons, and making all things suitable. Now yin and yang are out of order, floods and droughts are not timely, it is because I am the leader of the yang but not in harmony, I am weak but my position is high, I am willing to resign and return home to repay the punishment from heaven!"

He knelt three times and kowtowed nine times towards the Golden Platform, "Now I take off my hat and impeach myself, and step down to avoid disaster. I beg you to relieve me of my duties and select more talented people to study the causes of natural disasters such as floods and waterlogging, and seek tools for the country, so that all people will rely on you and all crops will be harvested.

The guilty minister Song Pu neglected to teach his brother, causing him to be corrupt and corrupt, causing chaos in the government. I now resign from the position of Prime Minister and return to my hometown to study and reflect on myself in order to repay the emperor! "

He spoke earnestly and knocked his head hard, even his injured left shoulder was bleeding.

The ministers, led by Zhao Lingji, all advised: "Prime Minister, you can't do that." Even the little emperor on the golden platform said crisply: "Prime Minister, you can't do that."

Chu Yuanming came over to help Song Pu: "Mr. Prime Minister, the flood is now raging and people's livelihood is in decline. Now is the time to use people, and we must focus on working together to deal with the disaster. Think about the excuses of the late emperor, and now the Holy Lord is young, how can the Prime Minister just walk away?"

"I, a humble subject, am deeply grateful and would like to die a thousand times to repay the late emperor and Your Majesty." After saying this, Song Pu kowtowed three times before leaning against Chu Yuanming and standing up.

Zhou Yao watched them coldly in the team as they put on a show in front of them, his inner complaints floating across the screen like barrages of comments.

After some discussion, the Minister of Rites Huo Qian reported that "Deng Wenkai, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was loyal to his country and sacrificed his life for the country. His family was also killed. We propose to confer the title of prefect of Huainan Prefecture on him posthumously and give him sacrificial silver according to the rules for officials of the fifth rank to conduct sacrificial ceremonies.

In gratitude for the loyalty and chastity of Deng's wife, You, he granted her the title of Anren, a sixth-rank official, and ordered their joint burial. A cemetery was built for You and Deng, and a stele with an imperial poem was built in front of the tomb to praise their loyalty.

Tao Jian, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel, reported, "In the Jiangzhou corruption case, Zhou Yao, the censor of Xijiang Province, risked his life to plead for the people. He was loyal and never regretted his actions. He is to be promoted and appointed to another position after another request for imperial decree. The rest of the meritorious officials will also be rewarded."

The reports submitted by the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel were also approved by the Cabinet, and the sensational Jiangzhou corruption case came to an end.

When the court was dismissed, Zhou Yao remained silent all the way, and Xiao Zheng didn't know what to say, so he just gave him some time to digest it.

After returning home, seeing that Zhou Yao was still unhappy, Xiao Yueshan suggested going to Ji Shu's place to relax.

Unexpectedly, when they arrived at Ji's house, Ji Shu was also depressed and drinking at home. Xiao Yueshan immediately regretted her suggestion. Originally, she only wanted to comfort one person, but now she didn't expect to comfort two.

"You're here!" Ji Shu sat up straight and greeted them. It was rare for him to drink, and he even drank a lot in broad daylight without any scruples.

"Hello, great uncle." Xiao Yueshan and Zhou Yao bowed, then sat beside the table and started drinking with him.

"The case is closed, and all the corrupt officials in Jiangzhou have been punished, but I still feel upset, and I can't tell why." Zhou Yao said to Ji Shu.

Ji Shu couldn't express his doubts about Song Pu directly. After all, they were all adults, especially he was the Minister of Dali Temple. He had to be responsible for what he said and couldn't just say whatever he wanted. He just said "drink, drink".

"I always feel that Lu Yu's confession came too readily. The evidence I collected was not preserved, and the accounts copied by Deng Wenkai on his official uniform were also incomplete. I could only listen to Lu Yu's family and let him say whatever he wanted." He angrily drank the wine in the glass.

"Although what Lu Yu confessed was shocking enough, I always felt that he was holding back, as if he was just trying to end the case."

"In a corruption case that lasted nearly ten years, involved twenty-seven counties, and more than a hundred people, Lu Yu's accounts were very accurate and complete, without a single mistake or omission. Isn't this strange?" He was really confused, and there were no computers or modern communication equipment here.

When I think about the fact that we have video conferencing, Excel, DingTalk and other auxiliary software at work, there are still stupid colleagues who can't even fill in the numbers correctly, let alone the ancient times when everything depended on manpower.

He swallowed the last few words and only conveyed them to Xiao Yueshan with his eyes.

Xiao Yueshan understood, "I do have an idea, but I just lack some evidence, so I'll tell you first for your uncle's reference. My husband came back and told me the situation in the court in detail. When I went to the court to file a complaint, Lord Que of the Censorate said, 'Silver is a good thing, and it naturally has its place.' I agree with this statement.

Now that the accounts left by Mr. Deng are incomplete and the corruption accounts have become a mess, it is possible that the money went to a place that we have never thought of, and the people behind the scenes do not want us to think of it, so they quickly pushed Lu Yu out to surrender and make the accounts accurate to avoid finding more problems. "

Seeing that she had directly pointed out the doubts in his heart, Ji Shu did not hide it any more. "Of course I am suspicious, but I have no evidence at the moment. Hundreds of officials have been punished in the Jiangzhou case, and even the prime minister came out to apologize in person. The civil and military officials in the court must think that such a conclusion of the case is enough to calm the public anger. If I insist on suing without any evidence, I am afraid that the people in the court will panic and I will be the target of public criticism, which will not help the investigation of the case."

He took another sip of wine and sighed, "For now, we can only accept this 'victory' and let them relax their vigilance and take action again. Only then will we have a chance to continue our investigation."

After hearing Ji Shu's words, Zhou Yao and Xiao Yueshan could only sigh together and accept this victory that was not really a victory.