The officials in Quzhou never imagined that it took only a few days for King An to come to Quzhou, and they had found out so much.
There is a lot of water in Quzhou. Every year, a lot of money is spent to repair the dam. There are dams blocking it. There has been nothing in Quzhou for many years. Many losses, and many civilian casualties.
If nothing happened, everyone would be happy, no one would mention it, but it was fine in previous years, but something went wrong this year.
Since the outbreak of the flood in Quzhou, a knife was hanging in everyone's heart, shaky, as if it would fall at any time. When King An came to Quzhou, they breathed a sigh of relief. I have always heard that this prince has achieved nothing and has done a lot of wrong errands, and he is still a confused prince.
But such a confused prince, how did he find out about the dam within a few days of coming to Quzhou
Everyone looked at each other in dismay, not knowing what to do.
What did An Wangfang say? Someone secretly put this ledger at the door of his house.
Whether this is true or not, everyone has different thoughts. Looking at their colleagues, they have different thoughts in their hearts.
How did they know that King An standing in front of them was not only a confused prince, but also a prophet. The flood disaster in Quzhou had already been experienced in a previous life. This ledger was not sent to King An by anyone, but was stolen by King An's subordinates.
But how do they know
Many complicated thoughts flashed through everyone's minds, but when they landed in front of King An, everyone was trembling, bowing their heads, pretending that they didn't know anything, and even the official who had been pushed out earlier retreated. , said nothing.
Chu Fei's eyes swept across the crowd, and he slowly put down the jingle in his hand, and said softly: "I don't have to ask now, the accounts of the Quzhou Dam do not match up, and there must be some adults present. Not sure, right?"
Everyone nodded quickly.
Chu Fei asked again, "Who is responsible for the repair of the Quzhou Dam?"
Everyone looked at each other, and one person was pushed out, sweating in cold sweat: "Yes... it's the lower official who is in charge..."
Chu Fei responded and asked again, "Who is in charge of purchasing these building materials?"
Everyone glanced at each other again, and the other stood up, and cold sweat climbed up his back: "Yes, it's a lower official..."
"There is a problem with this account, do you know?"
"I don't know." The two shook their heads in unison.
"You don't know? Why don't you know? How many materials are used to build dams every year, this is all recorded in the account, and how many materials are used, you can see when you go to the dam. If you don't know, are you repairing the dam? This matter has not passed through your hands?" Chu Fei's tone was still light: "Then I have to ask, how should I be punished for this negligence of duty?"
The people below were speechless.
They knew in their hearts, how much effort went from purchasing to building the dam, only two people would be involved. If they were investigated, none of the people present would be able to escape. Since King An has already checked the ledger, he will also check soon. When it comes to them, as long as King An has the heart to pursue them, soon... No, perhaps now, their official career will be over.
There was despair in the hearts of the people.
At this moment, Chu Fei suddenly heard Chu Fei say: "This king does not mean to embarrass you. It is just that the emperor sent this king to Quzhou to investigate the cause of the flood in Quzhou. If you do not give this king an explanation, It is not easy for this king to explain to the emperor."
Everyone was stunned for a moment, then their eyes lit up, and they raised their heads to look at Chu Fei.
Chu Fei closed the account book and stood up. He asked Wang Quan to put the account book away and gave everyone a meaningful look: "I think all the adults understand what this king means."
mean? What's the meaning
Everyone was stunned, but King An had already walked out without leaving a word, only leaving them here, Zhang Er was puzzled. Everyone looked at each other and saw doubts in the eyes of others.
…
at night.
Chu Fei held the brush and pondered on the white paper for a long time, leaving one ink dot after another on the paper, but he couldn't figure out how to write the first word.
Chu Fei scratched his ears and scratched his cheeks, "Wang Quan, you come to give this king an idea, what should this king write so that A Nuan can forgive this king?"
Wang Quan looked ahead, looked at the door, looked at his nose and heart, and was unmoved. "How could the servant know what the princess is thinking? The prince has done something wrong. Please apologize to the princess. Maybe the princess will forgive the prince."
"What you said is good." Chu Fei snorted: "Anuan is getting angry. If this king says something wrong, it will add fuel to the fire. The palace won't let me come near, what can I do then?"
Wang Quan said without squinting: "The lord doesn't know, let alone the servant."
Chu Fei was so angry that he wanted to hit someone.
He just picked up the paper and wanted to throw it at Wang Quan, when he suddenly heard someone knocking on the house, and heard a voice from outside: "Is King An there?"
Chu Fei moved for a while, put down the paper ball, raised his chin and motioned Wang Quan to open the door.
Wang Quan opened the door, and a familiar Quzhou official walked in, holding a box in his arms, saw Chu Fei, bowed first, raised his head, and smiled at him flatteringly: "My lord. "
Chu Fei suddenly had a toothache. He took a sip of the tea cup and asked, "It's so late, what is the reason for Lord Zhao to come to see this king?" He paused, put down the tea cup, and asked again: "Could it be because of the flood in Quzhou, is there anything Mr. Zhao wants to tell this king?"
"Yes, but let the lord guess." Master Zhao put down the box in his hand and pushed it in front of him: "What the lord wants to know is here."
"Oh?" Chu Fei raised his eyebrows.
Wang Quan came over and opened the box for him. The jewels inside were lit by candlelight on the table, which almost caught Chu Fei's eyes. He narrowed his eyes and looked intently. He saw that there were neat rows of gold in the box, with a lot of weight. There was also a thick stack of silver bills under the gold. Just looking at the thickness, he knew that it was not a small amount. .
Chu Fei quietly closed the box and pushed it back.
Master Zhao suddenly panicked: "My lord, this..."
"Master Zhao, what does this mean?" Chu Fei said in a feigned anger, "Master Zhao said that he had some clues to tell this king, but he took a box of these things. Could it be that he was afraid that the matter would be exposed and wanted to bribe this king? "
Master Zhao quickly knelt down: "Xiaguan dare not, it's just, it's just..."
"Just what?"
Master Zhao had a bitter face, and couldn't say anything to explain for a while. Isn't that what King An said about 'meaning' today
"Get out!"
Master Zhao picked up the box and hurriedly rolled away.
After the others ran away, Chu Fei spread out a piece of white paper again, dipped the pen tip with ink, and pondered hard on the white paper again.
"I think the lord has taken a break from this thought today." Wang Quan gave him a new cup of tea: "The lord said that in the court today, I am afraid that tonight will not be able to live in peace, and a Master Zhao has come, and the people who will come later must be Quite a few."
Chu Fei snorted and said, "It's all idiots."
At this juncture, you still want to pull him into the water, thinking that some gold and silver can bribe him? He hasn't seen any good things before, so could he still be fooled by these things? Or is it the news from the capital that he is still greedy for money
Chu Fei touched his chin, the tip of the pen paused, and left another dot of ink on the paper.
"Tell me, when this king talks about this in the letter, will A Nuan feel that this king is upright and has an outstanding character, so he doesn't care about the previous things?"
Wang Quan said coolly: "In the eyes of the princess, the prince may have become a man who goes back on his word and does not believe in his words. Even if the prince tells the matter, the princess may still feel that the prince is caring about him and does not dare to bear it. fault."
Chu Fei choked, and suddenly froze again.
He sighed deeply, threw away the ink-spotted paper, and spread out the white paper again to write.
He thought about it all night, thought about midnight, and finally came up with the first sentence. Chu Fei rubbed the ink eagerly, dipped the tip of the pen, and just after writing the first word, suddenly his ears moved, he stopped the pen and looked up at the roof.
There is someone on the roof.
Chu Fei lowered his head and saw that a new dot of ink appeared on the paper. He took a deep breath and spit it out again, then threw the pen and stood up.
"My lord?"
"Blow out the lamp, this king is going to rest." Chu Fei urged: "Hide the ledger, put it in the drawer and lock it, don't lose it."
Wang Quan responded, and went out to get hot water, waited for him to lie down, and then blew the lamp and went out.
The room was quiet and very dark, and I don't know how long it took before someone in night clothes on the roof walked in quietly. He glanced nervously in the direction of the bedroom, making sure that the person lying on the bed was asleep, and then he walked over to the table with his hands pinched.
Pulling out every drawer, I finally found the one that was locked. The man in the night clothes lit up, and when he let go, he was about to look for the key. Suddenly the doors and windows opened, and several people jumped in from outside, holding lanterns. The torch slammed, the sound of the weapon being unsheathed, Ye Xingyi hurriedly turned around, and was actually surrounded.
Chu Fei lifted the quilt and got out of bed with a look of disbelief on his face: "You guys are so courageous, how dare you actually send someone to assassinate this king
Ye Xingyi's eyes widened and he looked at him in disbelief, as if he couldn't believe he was still awake.
Chu Fei said speechlessly: "I know you are stupid, but I didn't expect you to be so stupid. I am the prince of the dynasty, and you dare to assassinate me. If I die, the emperor will investigate the Quzhou flood. What can be left?"
The dark guard picked up the black cloth on the face of the night clothes, and it was a faceless person.
"Tell me, who sent you here?" Chu Fei reported the names of several Quzhou officials. "Or is it everyone's idea?"