Becoming a widow for the sake of good fortune? The short-lived prince lived a hundred years

The Third Prince's eyes were a little confused, but then they cleared up again: "Father, the evildoer must be severely punished! He must not affect the Spring Examination!"

"Don't you have anything else to say?" Emperor Yongxi narrowed his eyes.

The Third Prince was startled for a moment, then tentatively asked, "Could it be that someone wants to disrupt the Spring Examination?"

"I'll leave this matter to you to investigate. Can you do it?"

Upon hearing this, the Third Prince's face was filled with embarrassment and confusion. "Father, you know me well. You can ask me to recite poetry, paint, play the zither, or play chess, and I can do it. But investigating a case is something I simply cannot do!"

Emperor Yongxi's eyes darkened. "Do you want to just chant to the wind and moon, play the zither and compose poetry forever?"

The Third Prince smiled, his eyes filled with longing. "Father, this is wonderful. I have no ambition, know nothing about government affairs, and am even more clueless about investigating crimes. How many people dream of living like this but cannot? Because I am in the royal family, I have this convenience and can live a carefree life. This is the life I long for."

Emperor Yongxi snorted, "Since you want to live this kind of life, I won't force you! I will hand this matter over to someone else. You may withdraw!"

When the third prince was leaving, he heard the eunuch reporting that the imperial physician Qi was waiting to be summoned.

"Xuan!"

The Third Prince met the oncoming Imperial Physician Qi, who bowed slightly.

The two passed each other.

Emperor Yongxi asked in a deep voice, "Has the fifth brother woke up?"

Imperial Physician Qi stepped forward and replied respectfully, "Your Majesty, His Highness Prince An is in critical condition. He was still unconscious when I left! Fortunately, with the thousand-year-old ginseng and purple-beaded heart-clearing grass, His Highness's life is safe! However, His Highness was already weak, and this injury has damaged his fundamental health. He will require a long period of recuperation."

"How is the situation at Prince An's Mansion?"

Imperial Physician Qi's face was somewhat heavy. "Your Majesty, when I went to Prince An's Mansion, Princess An's eyes were swollen and bloodshot from crying. The servants in Prince An's Mansion were all very worried. The whole palace was filled with a gloomy and listless atmosphere!"

A gloomy look flashed across Emperor Yongxi's eyes: "Go and have a look again in a few days!"

"Yes!"

"Yushu, please find some more rare medicinal herbs from my private storehouse and send them to Prince An's mansion!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Three days later, Ling Yan, the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, discovered a suspicious person and followed him quietly. Finally, the person disappeared in an abandoned mansion in Xicheng.

Ling Yan did not mobilize the yamen runners of the Dali Temple, but directly borrowed the officers and soldiers from the Jingji Guard Station, and surrounded the mansion with lightning speed.

When the door opened, a musty smell hit him. It was a stale, decayed smell that went straight into his nostrils, making him wrinkle his nose. There was silence all around, as if it had been abandoned for a long time.

Ling Yan took in the dilapidated surroundings, the signs of no one having lived there, and frowned slightly. Everywhere he looked, the walls were mottled like scars of time, the paint peeling off, revealing the gray bricks and stones underneath, and thick spider webs in the corners.

Ever since he received the secret order, he has been investigating secretly.

He had secretly interrogated the leader of the Tiger Gang and had also read the account books. After discovering the clues, he conducted a thorough investigation. This line was the point that all the clues pointed to, and there was no way he could be wrong.

My eyes extended into the hall, and the dust on the ground showed that no one had been here before.

He turned his head and looked around.

In the front right, the grass is different than elsewhere.

It had been stepped on by someone.

He took slow steps, observing as he walked forward.

But there was no house in front. As we walked, we got further and further away, and finally we could only see a well in front of us, with weeds and vines growing around it, and a mottled courtyard wall.

Looking at the wall, Ling Yan was a little distracted. He hadn't chased the wrong person, but was this just a springboard for those people to hide? Did they escape through this wall?

So why bother with this?

Ling Yan thought of something and walked quickly to the well.

Then he narrowed his eyes and waved behind him.

The captain in charge came over quickly with his men.

Ling Yan moved around the well curb, groping and searching.

There was a protruding bump in an unnoticed place on the right side of the well fence. He reached out and pressed it, and a hanging ladder appeared in the well.

A rare smile appeared on Ling Yan's handsome face.

After going down the ladder and reaching the bottom of the well, I found another secret passage.

The road under my feet was cold and damp, and the torches on the wall flickered. The flickering flames reflected strange shadows on the wall, as if ghosts were dancing.

Finally, a basement appeared in front of us.

The basement door was half-open, letting in a faint light. I leaned in closer and listened. I could hear someone inside, and the sound of shuffling papers.

He exchanged a glance with the captain, who kicked the door open and rushed in with his men.

This basement is over 200 square meters. Some wooden boxes are piled on the ground. There is a table in the front right. Three people are looking through something at the table. In the flickering oil lamp, their faces are surprised and frightened because of the intrusion of outsiders.

"Take it!"

The three reacted quickly and wanted to run away immediately, but at Ling Yan's command, the captain and his men pinned the three to the ground, unable to move.

Ling Yan went over to take a look, and the smile on his face became even wider.

He found what he was looking for.

In the next few days, Ling Yan was extremely busy, arresting and interrogating people, all of which were done in secret.

Soon, a file was delivered to Emperor Yongxi's desk.

Emperor Yongxi looked at the thick file with a gloomy expression.

The suffering of countless people and the shady conspiracies behind the court suddenly appeared before their eyes.

The government allocated 500,000 taels of silver annually for the Xihe River water conservancy project, yet it continued to flood year after year. It turned out that individuals were enriching themselves, turning the water conservancy project into a tool for profit. The officials in charge of the project colluded with unscrupulous merchants, cutting corners and falsifying the accounts.

The stones that should have been used to build embankments and prevent floods were replaced with inferior products, which are vulnerable to floods.

The river channel that should have been deepened and widened was only done superficially, preventing the river water from flowing smoothly.

They forced local people to dig canals and only paid them a meager wage. If anyone refused to comply, they would be beaten to death.

The people on both sides of the river had nowhere to turn to, and those who came to the capital to file complaints were intercepted halfway.

And those who were intercepted eventually disappeared.

The files reveal that Wang Tianquan, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works, exploited his power to plant his cronies throughout the project, siphoning off the vast sums of money allocated by the imperial court. These individuals not only tampered with construction materials but also withheld wages from the workers, leading to widespread complaints from the workers and a deteriorating quality of the project.

And where that money went, here, in these piles of account books, formed a complete chain of interests, and at the top of the chain was...

Lawless, lawless!

Emperor Yongxi's face was as gloomy as the sky before a rainstorm. He slammed the imperial desk and shouted, "Come here!"

Yushu stood aside and watched quietly. Looking at the emperor's furious expression, he understood that this purge would completely change the situation in the court.

However, he was just the chief eunuch and just had to do his job well.

Isn’t the structure of the court constantly changing?

But that person, after years of hard work, ended up with nothing!