Chapter 536
~ ONE JUMPED IN, TWO JUMPED IN ~
Hearing that the silver ingot in his hand was official silver, the aura around the Emperor immediately turned cold. “How could it be official silver?” Shen Binghuai knelt on the ground. Even though he had always been an upright person, at this moment, he couldn’t help but sweat a little on his forehead, “Reporting to Your Majesty, this humble subject led men to search the bodies of beggars and found that there were roughly 9000 taels of silver ingots. When we caught those victims and interrogated them, we found that they were very tight-lipped. Moreover, in the face of official inquiries, they behaved extremely calmly, unlike ordinary commoners.”
“They’re not commoners. Could they be someone who pretended?” The Emperor suddenly narrowed his eyes and thought of the missing tax silver in Jiangnan.
According to the investigation report sent by Yu Wang, more than three million taels of silver in Jiangnan had been lost and replaced with a lump of clay mixed with iron and sand, while the genuine tax had disappeared without a trace. And now, a large amount of silver suspected of being official silver has suddenly been found in the Capital. How could this be such a coincidence?
The Grand Princess Yi De raised a hand and rubbed her forehead. “I’ve been out for a long time and feel very tired. Emperor, I’m thinking of returning first. Emperor, I’m thinking of returning first. You should return to the Palace as soon as possible. If this matter were of great importance, it would be better to start the investigation early so we could have more opportunities to find out the truth.
“Imperial Elder Sister, I’ll come and play with you another day.” With so much official silver involved, the Emperor no longer had the mood to wander around.
“Alright, come back when the Emperor has time.”
The Emperor hurriedly led his men away, while Grand Princess Yi De also stood up. “Yao’er, let’s go back.”
“Yes, Grandmother.”
Mu Yunyao accompanied Grand Princess Yi De back to the Qinfang Garden. Xu Yanhan accompanied her to have a conversation and then went down to prepare something to eat for dinner.
Grand Princess Yi De smiled and asked, “What would Yao’er like to eat for dinner?”
Mu Yunyao stood up, walked up to Grand Princess Yi De, and knelt. “Grandmother, what happened today was all planned by Yao’er. She took advantage of your birthday to uncover the truth about the tax case. I hope Grandmother will forgive me.”
The smile on Grand Princess Yi De’s face didn’t change. “Get up. This matter isn’t a big concern. Why would a family need to care so much about it?”
However, Mu Yunyao shook her head. “If it was anyone else, I could use them without holding back and not putting them in my heart. Because Grandmother is a relative of mine, I feel uncomfortable using Grandmother.”
Grand Princess Yi De bent over, helped Mu Yunyao up, and said, “Don’t worry about these things. Moreover, you are only making use of the convenience of my birthday, and your actions did not harm me. Don’t be so considerate. Tell me in detail what happened.”
“Grandmother, this is a long story. In the beginning, His Royal Highness Yue Wang and I suspected that Jin Wang’s silver taels were not coming from the right way, so we started an investigation and found out that Su Jin’s husband from the Su family, Yang Lian, was involved with Jin Wang. We used him to bribe officials and change the evaluation level of the assessment. Therefore, we used the excuse of bribing officials and changing the charge of appraisal and performance appraisal to put him in jail. After interrogation, we found out that he and Jiangnan’s salt merchant were closely related, and he had secretly used the salt merchant as a bridge to pave the way for the Capital. Moreover, his backer was His Royal Highness Jin Wang.”
Grand Princess Yi De suddenly said, “Ling Wang got the news. It should have been intentionally sent over by you and Yue Wang, right?”
“Yes, Yue Wang did not have enough power on his side. If he wanted to fight Jin Wang alone, it would be hard for him to accomplish anything. Therefore, Yue Wang told Ling Wang the news to let him and the Li family spread the word and make things bigger. I did not expect the Emperor to send Yue Wang to Jiangnan to investigate the salt tax case. I also did not expect the battle between Ling Wang and Jin Wang to be so big that it even blew up the riverbank, affecting so many innocent people.”
“What happened to the silver?”
“It was only later that Yue Wang and I realized that the salt merchants had not paid the taxes. Instead, they converted the silver into banknotes and secretly sent it into the hands of Jin Wang in the Capital. Moreover, the accounts and silver on the salt tax in Jiangnan were all fake. With the protection of Jin Wang, the salt merchants in Jiangnan thought they could imitate the old example of the salt tax case in Yangzhou. They directly made the official ship loaded with salt tax silver sink on the Linjiang River and let the counterfeit silver sink into the water. Thus, they will be safe when the officials can’t find evidence. It’s just that His Royal Highness Yue Wang’s investigation in Jiangnan caused Jin Wang and the salt merchants to panic. Coupled with Ling Wang’s covetous eyes on the side, several combinations caused the explosion of the river bank. His Royal Highness Yue Wang wanted to stop it, but his abilities were limited, and he had failed, so he could only try his best to find evidence. He found the mold of fake tax silver and some counterfeit silver. He also saved a salt merchant and pieced together the actual truth from his mouth.”
Grand Princess Yi De creased her eyebrows. “Jin Wang went too far.” The human heart is the most dangerous thing in this world.
“His Royal Highness Yue Wang was able to discover a large number of silver banknotes left behind by Imperial Concubine Zhen’s brothers and could secretly hide them, thanks to Grandmother’s intervention in this matter for stirring up Imperial Concubine Zhen and having the Li family take the opportunity to destroy her family’s home. The silver the Emperor found on the beggars today only has the same appearance as the official silver. A portion of it has been intentionally cut off to confuse the public.”
After thinking about it for a while, Grand Princess Yi De understood, “The salt merchants sent banknotes to the Capital, and they were secretly hidden by Yue Wang. So today’s silvers were intentionally prepared by the two of you?”
“Yes, Grandmother. I was not reconciled to the fact that Jin Wang escaped punishment so easily, so I secretly prepared some silver banknotes and released a fake message to His Royal Highness Ling Wang. In fact, the patrolling officer that caught the beggar with silver in his body today was arranged by Ling Wang. After that, everything that was found out had nothing to do with me and Yue Wang.”
Mu Yunyao also didn’t know why she could be so frank with her grandmother about everything. She was afraid that her grandmother would think she had a complicated mind. But when facing her grandmother, she didn’t have such worries.
The matters of the younger generation will naturally be settled by you. If you lack the temperament and aptitude, your actions will ultimately cause more harm than good. There have always been many disputes in the Royal Family. Brothers, husbands, wives, and sisters are rarely able to go all the way to the end. No matter how you and Yue Wang use strategies and plans, you must be honest with each other. When using other people, you must also clearly distinguish if there is any truth behind it, and you should not do anything that you regret.”
“Yes, please rest assured, Grandmother. I will definitely be able to take control of the situation.” With the Old Madam of the Su family as a reference, she would not allow herself to walk the path of no return. Living in this world for a lifetime, one must have some vitality. If a person lives for a lifetime, she will always have some liveliness. If anyone takes advantage of it, she will eventually become a pawn of others’ calculations.
Grand Princess Yi De looked at Mu Yunyao, her eyes filled with satisfaction. “Yao’er, keep walking forward. You will definitely be able to walk farther than your grandmother.”
Mu Yunyao’s heart tightened after hearing this, and she suddenly opened her mouth to ask, “Grandmother, what percentage do you think His Highness Yue Wang’s success rate is if he wants to compete for the throne?”
“As long as Yue Wang is willing, that seat will be his.”
Grand Princess Yi De’s tone was firm, “What’s more, now that you and Yue Wang are together, Grandmother will spare no effort to help you if you choose him.”