After traveling through time, I led the whole village to become rich!

Marquis Jing'an and Wang Changming didn't comment, so Hong Jinhai had no choice but to take charge and said, "Then let's return to the capital first and report our current situation to the emperor."

The others had no objections, and the group immediately set off for the capital.

A few days later, in the capital, the imperial palace.

Emperor Yongxing looked through the information recorded by Hong Jinhai and the other two during this period, his face gloomy.

Hong Jinhai reported from below: "Your Majesty, according to the visits of the three of us during this period, some places have distributed pension silver every year, but the amount is incorrect.

Some only received 50% of what should have been distributed, and some only 30%.

In some places, it is only issued once every one or two years, and the number varies greatly.

In some places, some people received it and some did not.

Also, some people on the Ministry of War’s list don’t exist at all.

There are also cases where the person is already dead, but the list still exists..."

Emperor Yongxing tried his best to suppress the anger in his heart. He still believed that under his rule, the country was peaceful and the people were well-fed and well-clothed.

All officials in the court and across the country performed their duties diligently and conscientiously to serve the court and the emperor.

It turns out that everything is an illusion...

Everyone is fooling him...

This is just the pension for disabled veterans, but what about other places? Is it the same?

Emperor Yongxing was silent for a long time before he spoke slowly, his voice icy cold: "I have treated my ministers well, bestowing them with high positions and generous salaries. I thought they would be grateful, share my worries, and work for the welfare of the people..."

Emperor Yongxing's voice suddenly rose, "Is this how they share my worries and work for the welfare of the people?"

Everyone in the imperial study knelt down and shouted in unison, "Your Majesty, calm down..."

"Calm down? How can you expect me to calm down?"

Emperor Yongxing's chest heaved violently, but he quickly suppressed his anger and said in a deep voice, "Go and call Lord Wang, Duke Wei, Prime Minister Qin, Minister Wu, and Minister Yan."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The head eunuch immediately went outside the imperial study and asked the younger eunuch to pass someone over, "Hurry up, there's no time to lose. No matter what the masters are busy with, have them come over immediately."

"Yes." The young eunuch quickly responded and went downstairs to pass the message.

All the people who were summoned arrived in less than half a quarter of an hour, and they were all breathing heavily when they entered the imperial study.

As soon as they entered the imperial study, they saw that Emperor Yongxing looked very bad. They all knelt down, held their breath, and dared not make a sound.

Among those who came later, only Lord Wang and Minister Wu knew what was going on, but they did not say anything.

Emperor Yongxing looked at the people below.

Except for Lord Wang, Marquis Jing'an and Duke Wei, the rest were promoted by him personally and were his most trusted ministers in the court.

Emperor Yongxing pointed to the information collected by Hong Jinhai and others on the dragon case and said, "My dear ministers, please take a look at this."

Then he asked Hong Jinhai to give a brief account of what they had found to the next few people.

After everyone finished watching and listening, Duke Wei was the first to get angry. "Damn it, these bastards! If I find out who did this, I'll kill them myself..."

Emperor Yongxing had a dark face.

The other ministers acted as if they didn't hear anyone swearing in front of the emperor.

Who said Duke Wei was the father-in-law of Emperor Yongxing?

Duke Wei is the father of Concubine Ye, the favorite concubine of Emperor Yongxing, and also the biological father of Ye Hongyun.

Duke Wei raised his voice again, "Damn it! Why are these people so greedy for so much money? Are they planning a rebellion?"

Your Majesty, if you send me a message, I will immediately lead the troops to quell the rebellion."

Emperor Yongxing felt a little regretful for calling Duke Wei.

But when Prime Minister Qin Bingrong heard what Duke Wei said, he began to think deeply.

Qin Bingrong then said, "Your Majesty, what Duke Wei said may not be without reason."

Everyone looked at Qin Bingrong.

Emperor Yongxing narrowed his eyes, "What do you mean?"

Qin Bingrong said, "Your Majesty, judging from the current accounts, over one million taels of silver are allocated annually, but how much is actually distributed to various regions? I estimate it will be reduced by half.

How much money would this cost over more than ten years?

This is just one type of payment, namely pension. What if the same is true for other grants?

How much silver does that add up to?

With so much money, would anyone dare to be so greedy?"

Qin Bingrong continued, "The disaster relief funds allocated every year, as well as the funds for water conservancy construction in various places, are used to build dams, dredge rivers, repair water diversion channels, and so on.

The imperial court allocates several million taels of silver every year. Has all of this money been put to good use?

If, I mean if, if it was also misappropriated or transferred, the court would lose nearly two million taels of silver that year.

If this money is used to support the army...how many soldiers can be supported?"

Duke Wei immediately responded, "We have nearly 100,000 infantry, and we can also support 10,000 to 20,000 cavalry..."

When everyone heard this number, their hair stood on end.

There was a dangerous glint in the eyes of Lord Wang and Lord Jing'an.

Emperor Yongxing looked straight at Qin Bingrong. Qin Bingrong bowed and said, "Your Majesty, this is just my assumption. I am used to thinking of the worst, so..."

Emperor Yongxing said, "Without long-term considerations, there will be immediate worries. Qin Aiqing's hypothesis is not groundless."

Emperor Yongxing closed his eyes and pondered for a moment, then asked, "Lord Qin, what do you think the probability of this happening is?"

Qin Bingrong replied: "Based on the current information, about 50%.

The main reason is that the amount of silver is huge and the time is too long.

If corruption occurs only occasionally, it can be said that someone is greedy and blinded by money.

But with this relationship lasting over a decade, it's hard to say it wasn't premeditated."

The expressions of the others became extremely serious.

That’s true. There are corrupt officials at all times, but they are just individuals.

The current situation is indeed too abnormal.

Emperor Yongxing then asked, "Then, my dear ministers, who do you think has this potential?"

No one dared to answer this question.

Qin Bingrong said: "Your Majesty, the most urgent thing now is to find out where this money went.

Or should we wait until we have clarified the matter before making any conclusion? What if I am just worrying too much?"

Emperor Yongxing nodded and said, "Then, my dear ministers, what should we do next?"

Everyone looked at the Minister of Justice Yan Xiongxin again.

Solving this case is the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice, so of course the Minister of Justice has to have the say.

Yan Xiongxin complained bitterly, "How can we investigate this? Where should we even begin?"

If it is really as Qin Bingrong said, the other party will definitely retreat at the slightest sign of trouble.

At most, they will push some small fish and shrimps out to take the blame.

The worst thing is that if you alert the enemy, you might end up forcing them into a corner, and that would cause a big mess.