Golden Branch

Actually, it’s not that troublesome.

As soon as Wang Lin joined the Ministry of Works, the Minister of Works intended to let him take over the affairs of the imperial mausoleum.

Wang Lin quickly declined.

Just kidding, he is just profit-driven, not stupid.

Building an imperial mausoleum is a hot potato. If it is done well, it is the duty of the government. If it is not done well, the person may be dismissed from office at best, or exiled and have his property confiscated at worst.

If you are even more unlucky, maybe there will be a family elimination game.

Wang Lin came to the capital to get promoted and revive his family, not to be a scapegoat for others.

The task of building the imperial mausoleum was too complicated, and Wang Lin did not want to take the risk easily.

Fortunately, Shangguan didn't really want to send Wang Lin to death.

Or perhaps Wang Lin's attitude was too resolute, and the King of Qi behind him had not yet been suppressed.

The Minister of Works was still somewhat apprehensive, so he did not issue the order forcefully.

Since he didn't go to the imperial mausoleum and had no other important tasks, Wang Lin simply sat on the bench.

In name, he was the Minister of Works, the second in command.

In fact, he had neither real power nor manpower.

Every day, he would report to the yamen on time, and then drink a pot of tea until he left.

The next day, I repeated what happened the day before, doing nothing and wasting my time.

Wang Lin: ...

"No rush! No rush!"

"If I lose my patience, I'll easily fall into a trap!"

As soon as he arrived, he was assigned to the affairs of the imperial mausoleum. Although Wang Lin refused, he also felt the urgency and danger.

Even if this promotion was not framed by the Jiang family, it still posed a hidden danger.

In the capital, things are turbulent.

The Ministry of Works is not as popular as the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War, but it is not really a retirement agency.

If you want to achieve something, you have to do something.

Once you get involved in the task, you are very likely to be framed.

Less than half a month after Wang Lin arrived in the capital, he felt the oppressive feeling of impending storm.

The battle between the King of Qi and the King of Chu (the sage) was about to break out.

"You shouldn't go to Beijing at this time. If you're not careful, you'll get dragged into it!"

Wang Lin began to regret it.

But he was reluctant to resign.

The Minister of Works, the next level is the Minister of Works, one of the Nine Ministers.

The so-called aristocratic family refers to a family of nobles who have lived for generations.

Being included in the Nine Ministers indicated that the family was not in decline, but was showing signs of revival.

Wang Lin has been working hard for half his life just to get back to the top.

"Just one step! Just one step!"

If he gave up just like that, how could Wang Lin be willing to accept it?

"Let's see first! At worst, I'll keep a low profile and prefer to do nothing rather than get involved!"

Wang Lin said this to himself secretly.

Afterwards, he really managed to keep a low profile and not fight or compete.

In order to "get along" better, he did not even go to pay a visit to the King of Qi after returning to Beijing.

You know, he bears the mark of the Prince of Qi's Mansion, and his return to Beijing this time was manipulated by the Prince of Qi's Mansion.

It is reasonable and logical for Wang Lin to pay his respects to his "benefactor", express his gratitude, and accept the arrangements made by his lord.

Wang Lin: ...It’s not that I don’t know the rules, it’s just that the King of Qi’s situation is too delicate.

Wang Lin was worried that if he rushed forward rashly, he would become a target of criticism from others against the King of Qi!

Concubine Jiang & Wang Heng: ...Do you think that if you hide your head, people won’t attack you?

Although the mother and daughter had not seen each other for many years, they had the same understanding of Wang Lin:

Wang Lin is a man who wants it all.

He is ambitious, but lacks the strength and courage to match it.

He is the kind of person who dares to think but not to do, and dares to do but not to take responsibility.

But sometimes, I suddenly become bold.

After being bold, they will retreat silently!

He has a contradictory personality, his words and actions are inconsistent, he is not completely bad, but he can't be considered a good person either.

He has some cleverness but no wisdom, and is even less able to make the decisive move of killing or risking everything.

At critical moments, wait and see and retreat.

You may think you are patient and wise, but in the eyes of others, you are unreliable and irresponsible.

Such people are destined to achieve nothing great and are easily taken advantage of by others.

When he was hiding in Yizhou before, there were not so many intrigues and conspiracies. The key was that he had the protection of the Prince of Qi's Mansion, so Wang Lin was safe.

He has no ability but still insists on climbing up... People like him are simply the most suitable cannon fodder!

If others don't make plans, they will be doing a disservice to Wang Lin's stupidity and ignorance.

Wang Lin was unaware of his own shortcomings, and he decided to stay in the Ministry of Works.

However, once you become an official, you can't really do nothing.

Even if Wang Lin didn't lend a hand, someone would come forward to curry favor with him.

For example, a royal merchant who was responsible for supplying earth and stone materials to the Ministry of Works.

Upon hearing that the Ministry of Works had a new assistant minister, he took the initiative to come and curry favor with him.

They treated us to a meal, gave us some "small gifts", and then threw out the huge bait of "dry shares".

You don’t have to spend any money, just pay a little bit and you can get a 20% to 30% bonus.

In a month, there are hundreds of strings of cash.

Wang Lin was used to making money in Yizhou. When he came to Beijing, there were many powerful people around him. As a small minister of the Ministry of Works, he really didn't have many opportunities to make money.

Royal merchant?

Even if he had the word "emperor" in his title, he was just a businessman.

Wang Lin didn't dare to provoke powerful officials or nobles, so would he be afraid of a merchant?

Especially this imperial merchant, who still relies on the Ministry of Industry for his livelihood.

He is the second-in-command of the Ministry of Industry. He doesn't dare to get involved in big things, but can't he make a little money?

Of course, Wang Lin would not agree immediately, but allowed the royal merchant to request repeatedly before he reluctantly agreed to cooperate.

Then, Wang Lin enjoyed the pleasure of making a lot of money.

Chang'an is a new city. The general framework of the imperial city, inner city, and outer city has been completed, but there are still some trivial small projects.

In addition, members of the royal family, nobles, court officials, etc. who moved to Chang'an needed to build their own houses.

All of these are inseparable from building materials such as earth and stone.

The imperial merchant specialized in this business. He used various modes of transportation, including land and water, to transport a lot of stones and wood from south to north and from east to west.

With these, the imperial merchants made a fortune, and Wang Lin also got a lot of money.

In less than a month, he received dividends of nearly a thousand strings of cash.

The Emperor also showed him the account books and personally calculated the accounts for him:

According to this situation, by the end of the year, Wang Lin will be able to get no less than 10,000 strings of cash.

Ten thousand strings of cash.

The salary of Wang Lin, the Minister of Works, was 600 shi of rice per year.

The price of rice in the capital is 120 wen per stone.

In other words, Wang Lin's salary for one year as an official was 70 strings of cash.

It's just a fraction of the dividend.

Wang Lin had been plundering money in Yizhou for many years, but the only property he had saved was a few hundred thousand strings of cash.

With a crackling sound, the abacus beads in Wang Lin's mind were moving rapidly, and he quickly figured it out.

This "dry share" is good. In a few years, I can save up enough property!

No one complains about having too much money, especially someone like Wang Lin who is obsessed with profit.

He is indeed from a wealthy family and has never lacked money since he was born.

Logically, Wang Lin should not be so greedy for wealth.

But money and power are inseparable.

The so-called nobility requires money to pay for it.

Not to mention anything else, just the pens, ink, paper and inkstone cost money.

There are also various banquets and gatherings, and you can't go to them empty-handed. Even buying a small gift will cost a lot of money.

Not to mention the various luxurious enjoyments of the wealthy and powerful families, which are all just burning money.

Without money, you have no social skills and cannot communicate with others normally.

If Wang Lin wanted to continue climbing up the ladder, he had to "make friends" with his colleagues and superiors.

If you don't have a strong backer and close connections, you can only use money to pave the way!

Even if one does not seek an official position, if one commits a crime, one still has to use copper coins to redeem oneself.

Therefore, money is absolutely indispensable.

The more the better!

Wang Lin thought simply, he would not get involved in the imperial mausoleum, nor would he get involved in sensitive or important tasks. He would just quietly make some money, which should not be a problem.

But Wang Lin never expected that he would still get into trouble!

It was already July, and there were frequent thunderstorms in the capital.

Just a few days ago, due to continuous heavy rains, the imperial mausoleum under construction collapsed.

The saint was furious.

This is his mausoleum. It is not only his residence after a hundred years, but also a manifestation of God's will.

The collapse of the imperial mausoleum, could it be that God was dissatisfied with him as the founding emperor and sent down a punishment from heaven?

Of course, the ancients were not superstitious.

A sage naturally would not think that the collapse of the imperial mausoleum was related to his achievements, character, etc.

Someone must have neglected their duty, perhaps even intentionally.

check!

Must be thoroughly investigated.

The sage ordered the Minister of the Supreme Court to investigate personally and also sent the General of the Thousand Oxen Guards.

Several groups of people and several bigwigs gathered at the imperial mausoleum, and within a day they found out the reason.

It was not an accident, nor was there any dereliction of duty by officials. Instead, there was a problem with the soil, stone and wood supplied by the imperial merchants.

Passing inferior products off as good ones and passing off fake products as real ones.

The wood was not strong enough, the soil and rocks were hard on the outside and soft on the inside, and coupled with the invasion of rain, they were directly damaged and rotted, which led to landslides.

The sage became even more furious after determining that the problem was not with the officials but with the lowly merchants.

Keep checking!

How could a royal merchant have the courage to "deceive the emperor"?

This is a serious crime punishable by death of the entire clan.

Either he is completely crazy or there is someone else behind it.

Elites from several parties continued to investigate.

This is actually very easy to check. By looking at the accounts, the dividends, and the flow of money, you can determine the real "boss".

Then, as expected, Wang Lin was pulled out.

Wang Lin: ...

He instinctively cried out for justice, he was really wronged.

He had only been in Beijing for over a month, and had only been "investing" in the imperial merchant for a month.

The imperial mausoleum had been under construction for a year or two, and now it has collapsed, it must be because there was something wrong with the materials used previously.

What does this have to do with him?

However, the account books found at the Imperial Merchants showed that Wang Lin’s “cooperation” with the Imperial Merchants had begun two years ago.

The "man-made disaster" in the imperial mausoleum was the fault of Wang Lin, the master behind the scenes.

Wang Lin: ...

This time, he felt a little guilty.

Well, in order to take more dividends, Wang Lin and Huang Shang falsified the account books.

Wang Linping received two years' extra dividends for nothing, a total of 200,000 strings of cash!

At that time, Wang Lin still thought that the imperial merchants were "sensible" and knew how to please their "benefactors".

Looking back now, Wang Lin wanted to slap himself a few times: That was not a dividend at all, it was clearly poisoned bait.

Wang Lin was arrested, and it was soon revealed that he was a former subordinate of the King of Qi.

The King of Chu (the sage) took advantage of the opportunity and finally kicked off a fierce battle between the two sides.

And Wang Lin, the "fuse" that triggered the confrontation between the two sides, fell down without any surprise...