When Xie Ji returned to the Prime Minister's Mansion, he immediately asked someone to close the door and write down what he saw and heard today.

Then he copied a few more copies and handed a copy to the emperor.

These are all vampires, this is not a matter of replacing officials.

It's okay to replace one official, but the next person will be the same.

Everyone is pursuing profit, not to mention that the atmosphere in this society is a bit impetuous, and some people will do whatever it takes to pursue profit.

This requires systemic changes so that those who want to corrupt cannot do so. The system must change.

This time Xie Ji didn't arrest people from the beginning, he just wanted to catch them all. As long as there is corruption, his name will be on the list.

As for those people, a lot of them died. He could order their rescue, but he would alert others, so he didn't make any changes.

Three days later, what was discussed in the court was this incident - the road construction incident in Chang'an.

Xie Ji ordered some officials to first raise the matter, and then said that someone was trying to commit corruption.

This caused everyone to talk about it. Corruption must be stopped. Although they didn't think so in their hearts, they could only say so on the surface.

Yu Ce, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, recently went to deal with the road planning outside the city. He had not paid any attention to this matter. Anyway, he was not involved in this matter. Xie Ji was looking after it.

He was looking for death and jumped into the trap set by Xie Ji. As for what was underneath, he also kindly reminded him. Everyone who had made friends with him had warned him one by one. If he still didn't understand, it would be none of his business.

.

"I heard that the people eat porridge mixed with sand. Is this a problem?"

The emperor asked indifferently.

The official below didn't make a sound, because not answering was the best answer.

"Everyone of them pretended to be dumb when I asked you questions." The emperor slapped the table with his big hand, startling those people.

Some officials were sweating profusely, even on their heads. Apparently they did not expect that the emperor would be so angry.

But according to his past experience, as long as he doesn't say anything, the matter will just go away.

"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Industry is solely responsible for this matter." Officials from other departments immediately said that this matter is none of their business.

"Shut up, I didn't ask you anything." The emperor was a little impatient. He didn't ask you anything. What did you say? Did you think it was too late or did you feel guilty?

The official was startled by the emperor's voice and immediately shut up. He did not dare to say anything more.

However, the emperor's words made him feel at ease, because this matter had nothing to do with him, and he thought the emperor wanted to use it as an excuse.

Many officials in the Manchu Dynasty breathed a sigh of relief, but people in the Ministry of Industry were even more nervous.

Yu Ce saw that the emperor was targeting the Ministry of Industry this time. Although he was not responsible for the road construction this time, he had planned the route and materials.

So he said: "Your Majesty, if you want to know, send someone to investigate."

"Shut up, too. I ask who knows that people eat porridge mixed with sand. If you don't know, just shut up." The emperor also scolded me when he heard this. When did I ask you, what did you interrupt?

Shut up if you don’t know?

As soon as this sentence came out, I didn't dare to speak anymore.

Those who knew also kept silent, and once they did, they would have nothing to do with it.

"No one knows, right? If we find out who knew it later and refuse to report it, it will be the crime of deceiving the emperor."

The emperor's words caused some officials to put them on the fire.

The crime of deceiving the emperor is punishable by beheading.

This makes some people break out in a cold sweat.

Did the emperor know who knew, or he didn't know, or maybe the emperor just came to scare them.

What will be the outcome and what does the emperor want to do?

He looked at Xie Ji, but he didn't make any move, so he was troubled in his heart.

Especially those officials responsible for this incident were suffering from the bottom of their hearts.

"You don't even know, do you?" The emperor was obviously a little angry?

The ministers looked at each other, how could we know?

If you know, you will be accused, if you don't know, you will be guilty of deceiving the emperor. This is a dilemma.

Some people couldn't resist the pressure, and they couldn't figure out what the emperor was going to do, so they stood up and said, "I know."

"Do you know why you didn't say anything just now? Are you being dumb?" The emperor finally saw a person standing up, so he yelled at him.

The people around were frightened again, and the man who stood up had weak legs. If he hadn't been in the court, he might have been paralyzed immediately.

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty. Your Majesty... Your Majesty... Your Majesty..."

The man was arrogant and didn't know how to defend himself, so he stuttered and couldn't even utter a complete sentence.

"You can't speak anymore, can you?"

The official was so frightened that he knelt down and almost peed, but luckily he held it in.

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty, those people did eat porridge mixed with... mixed with sand, but this is not my responsibility, I am only responsible..."

"That's enough." The emperor's words made him stop. His next words made him even more nervous.

"Where are the others? Do you need me to point them out one by one?"

The emperor's words pushed this matter to a climax. The officials from the Ministry of Industry felt their legs and feet numb and their faces were pale. They didn't know what the emperor meant.

There was no warning, and no one informed me that the emperor would be like this today.

Is the emperor deceiving them, or does he know what is going on?

However, after the emperor's words, seven or eight officials came forward, and some others thought that the emperor might just deceive them, so they still stood still. It would be fine when the news of this time passed.

"Is there no more?" the emperor's face softened and he asked.

This time no one stood up again, and this time the final result was final.

"Mr. Zhao, are you completely unaware of this matter?" the emperor said to Mr. Zhao, who was still standing where he was, slightly raising his voice.

Chief Zhao was sweating profusely and stood up stiffly, keeping calm so as not to expose any flaws. He said calmly: "Your Majesty, I don't know."

The emperor chuckled after hearing this.

"Ha ha ha ha……"

No one dared to express their anger, and some simply lowered their heads and looked at their feet.

"Don't you think it's ridiculous? After passing through your hands, only 80,000 yuan was left from the 100,000 taels, and you actually said you didn't know." The emperor's smile was obviously a bit wanton, which made everyone present want to avoid the question.

"Ah haha, you don't know. That's right, it was all done by the people below. As long as you sit down and accept the benefits, other things will naturally have nothing to do with you." The emperor continued to laugh.

Mr. Zhao was confused. How did the emperor know?

No one else knew about him. Looking around, he found that everyone had expressionless faces and said nothing. He knew that he was finished.

With a pop, Director Zhao knelt down and said: "Your Majesty, I didn't do it on purpose. I really don't know about this. I don't know why I am missing twenty thousand taels."

"If it's not intentional, then it's intentional." The emperor put away his smile, and then said with a serious look on his face.

"Come here, show the evidence to Director Zhao." Then a person came in and handed Director Zhao a piece of information.

Others wanted to see what the evidence was. Some of them had not come out just now, or officials were kneeling on the ground. They did not know what they should face next, and they just hoped that they would not be implicated.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty..." Director Zhao's face had turned very pale.

"This is what Dr. Chen forced me to do, I..."

"You can eat food indiscriminately, but you can't talk nonsense." As soon as Mr. Chen saw that Mr. Zhao actually said it to him, when did he give Mr. Zhao an order, he stood up and said, "Your Majesty, can I still use my sword to attack him?"

Are you going to grab Chief Zhao by the neck and make him do something illegal?"

When Mr. Zhao saw it, he realized that it was over. Heaven knows, earth knows, you know, and I know what Ming Ming said.

"Your Majesty, I am so confused. Your Majesty, spare your life, spare your life..." Chief Zhao expressed his last hope in the emperor.

The emperor took a deep look at Dr. Chen and found that the sweat on his face had almost dripped to the floor. He understood in his heart.

"Drag Chief Zhao out, counselor, I'll leave this person to you. The crime of deceiving the emperor and embezzling public funds, I don't want to see this kind of behavior again." The emperor said, and Chief Zhao was dragged out.

When everyone saw this scene, they felt very uneasy.

The crime of deceiving the emperor is a capital crime. The emperor emphasized this obviously because he did not want him to live.

"As for those involved in this matter, they will all be punished with misappropriation of public funds and corruption. Those who do not come forward will be punished with an additional penalty."

The emperor said, and the courtiers were shocked. Are you involved in this matter?

There were more than a hundred officials involved in this matter, as well as some ordinary people who were in charge of the affairs. Those people had no official positions, and the total number was two to three hundred people.

"Advisor, you are responsible for handling this matter. Don't let anyone go. The list is with the Prime Minister."

After the emperor finished speaking, everyone looked at Xie Ji. Unexpectedly, it was Xie Ji who was causing trouble this time.

"Your Majesty, there are hundreds of people involved this time..."

"Shut up, are you trying to acquit me of corruption?"
To be continued...