Shipin Dalizheng

It was certainly a tragic night. Minister Liang and his family were surrounded by hundreds of officers and soldiers without knowing it. Before Prince Rui had the chance to enter the palace to inquire about the situation, hundreds of members of the family, young and old, were arrested and thrown into the prison of the Ministry of Justice.

Upon hearing the news, Concubine Shu rushed to Qifeng Palace to plead for mercy. Emperor Xuanning had just retired to bed, and naturally, he was deeply annoyed by the interruption. He ignored everything else and immediately demanded to know who had passed on the news. This interrogation not only resulted in the execution of several of Concubine Shu's closest associates, but also exposed Prince Rui's inner circle of influence.

Prince Rui had of course defended the Liang family to the death before entering the palace, but some crimes could not be saved even with desperate defense. Emperor Xuanning was so poor, the treasury was empty, and all palace banquets were simple. He was just an assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and the part of the corruption he had been found to have amounted to over 6 million taels. How could Prince Rui defend them?

Prince Rui refused to believe that someone had really investigated the Ministry of Revenue's bad accounts. He had clearly asked his uncle, and all the accounts handled by him were fine and no one could tell.

He was unconvinced, "Father, please investigate. Minister Liang of the Ministry of Revenue has always been honest and has never done anything corrupt..."

Emperor Xuanning threw the memorial in his face. "Integrity! Integrity? Look, this is the price of rice in the capital two years ago, as found by others. The best and most expensive rice was 192 wen per dou, which is equivalent to 16 wen per catty. Where did Liang Bizheng buy it at 22 wen per catty and 264 wen per dou? Even during the worst years of famine, it wasn't that expensive. I tell you, just by making this false report, he embezzled 360,000 taels, enough to kill him. If it's discovered that he was passing off inferior goods as good ones and colluding with lower-level officials to resell grain, I think his family will have enough heads to pay for it."

Prince Rui felt a chill in his heart. Even without mentioning anything else, the inflated grain prices alone were enough to put his uncle in a difficult position. And the rest… the rest…

"Father, for Mother's sake..."

Emperor Xuanning was furious. "She asked me to give Concubine Shu face? What face does she have? Is it because she gave birth to you? Why didn't Liang Bizheng give her face? Stop bullying my country! Do you know how many people died in the severe drought in the northwest two years ago? They haven't recovered yet! Do you know how many people there are in Dai Viet? How many times is it worth him bullying me like this? I've said it before, you brothers can compete for the throne. Whoever has the ability can sit on this dragon throne. But a prince who disregards the lives of the people is not worthy of it."

When Prince Rui heard this, he felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar. His plea for Minister Liang instantly turned into an excuse for himself.

"Your Majesty, I truly am unaware of these matters. Perhaps my uncle was deceived and bought rice that was above market price. As a third-rank minister and a court official, it's understandable that he doesn't know the price of rice..."

"Get out of the palace and remember to clean up your mess. Don't lose face for me. Also, don't blame me for not reminding you. Just save yourself and don't try to save the Liang family."

The gap of six million taels is not one hundred thousand taels, but sixty thousand taels.

Emperor Xuanning closed his eyes, the national treasury was short of silver.

Prince Rui returned to the palace in disgrace and immediately tried to pass the message to Liang Bizheng, telling him that no matter how big the incident was, he must not be implicated.

Minister Liang knew that Prince Rui must not be implicated under any circumstances, but his coming to warn him always made people feel very uncomfortable, so he gritted his teeth and said to the visitor, "Whoever leaked this rumor, I want that person's body to be utterly destroyed."

His accounting was so perfect, it had evaded repeated scrutiny, but it just so happened that it capsized here. With this clue, if we continue to investigate along this line of thought, all the accounts he handled would not stand up to scrutiny. The figure would be terrifying, and the thought of it makes me shudder.

This night was a nightmare for the Liang family, and for other families, some were happy while others were sad.

At the court meeting the next day, memorials impeaching Minister Liang came in like snowflakes, and all kinds of issues that had never been raised before came up one after another.

The backlog of accusations in Jingzhao Prefecture and Dali Temple came to light again, and the ministers learned that local officials in the southwest had reported that disaster relief grain was being passed off as inferior quality grain the year before, and some of the sacks were not even grain, but mud and sand.

Several officials involved in this matter were killed at the time, but because there was no problem with Liang Bizheng's accounts, he was not ultimately found guilty.

This is like a hole in a dam that can no longer be blocked.

A joint investigation by the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice finally revealed the grain problem from the previous year. It turned out to be a fake grain shop run by the brother of one of Liang Bizheng's concubines. They routinely bought up rotten and moldy grains and stored them, waiting for the Ministry of Revenue to purchase disaster relief grain. While frequent disasters in a particular area weren't a major problem, for Dai Viet as a whole, one or two disasters occurred annually, so business was brisk. As long as they could disguise some good grain and avoid inspection, they could generate huge profits.

Following this line of thought, it was found that not only food, medicine, cotton clothes, and military supplies, but everything that Liang Bizhen handled was skimmed off, and very little actually reached the hands of the victims and the army.

The case has not been thoroughly investigated yet, but the total amount exceeds eight million taels.

Over there, they counted the gold, silver, jewelry, land, shops, and deeds of slaves that were seized from the Liang family. A dozen pawnshop clerks appraised the value, and a dozen accountants took inventory day and night. After three days, they estimated that there were 220,000 taels of silver in cash, 190,000 taels of gold ingots, and jewelry and antiques worth more than 300,000 taels. There were also 32 farms, 188 shops, 70,000 acres of land, and more than 1,700 slaves, with a total value of 5.5 million taels.

Let’s not talk about how angry Emperor Xuan Ning was, let’s talk about Rong Tang first.

In fact, he did not get involved in what happened later. The day after the soldiers surrounded the Liang family, he left Shangjing and lived in Fuxinzhuang. He announced to the outside world that he had been working in Fuxinzhuang for more than ten days.

Before going to check the accounts, he had instructed Rong Wanli to wear his clothes and ride in his carriage back and forth through the South City Gate from time to time. Rong Wanli was familiar with this and had made several trips back and forth during his audit, so even if Prince Rui became suspicious later, he would have an alibi.

The only trouble is that Tang Tiantian's identity is exposed, but she is not the only one. Master Xie personally announced that three girls were sent in. This matter is his responsibility, and Rong Tang cannot be away for the time being.

While he was in the capital investigating the Liang family case, he used the intercepted gray sugar to filter and purify it again, and made better quality cane sugar.

At that time, the so-called better quality was compared with the original form and taste. Now this sugar is red, and if it happens to be boiled for a long time, it will turn black. It can only be called brown sugar or black sugar.

Moreover, this candy, whether red or black, is the same as other candies on the market, with irregular shapes in pieces, rather than the translucent crystals commonly seen in previous lives.

As for snow-white sugar, don't joke, it can't be made, it really can't be made.

Even this made Rong Xian and Wei Wu very happy, as it meant that their brothers had more work to do.

Wei Wu even said, "Prince Rong, if possible, we can form a caravan of our own, travel north and south, transport wine to the south, and bring back sugar. Wouldn't that allow us to monopolize this business?"

Rong Tang's eyes flashed slightly. Traveling between the north and the south is a little difficult now, but it will be soon. He must lay a solid foundation and strengthen his strength in the shortest time possible, and wait for Wu Ji to go north to fight together for a career that belongs to a big woman.

"It's not possible to transport the wine by long-distance drivers. If there's a slight delay on the way, the wine will be lost. If possible, building a new winery in the south would be a better option. Then we can assign uncles and brothers to it, and everyone will have work. As for sugar, I've agreed with the southern merchants, and they'll try to send another batch before the New Year. Speaking of which, the cost of transporting sugarcane from the south is still too high. If possible, there is another crop in the north that can be used to make sugar."