"I am wronged."
"I am wronged."
As soon as Yan Song finished speaking, the former officials of Taicang, the censors who inspected the treasury, as well as the treasury soldiers, accountants, cooks and others who were kneeling on the ground in the hall all shouted that they were innocent.
"Unfair?! You still have the nerve to cry out for injustice! This really piss me off! According to the Taicang ledger, the Taicang silver treasury should have 2,127,200 taels of silver and 720,000 taels of gold in stock. Why was there only 1,237,250 taels of silver and 316,500 taels of gold in stock when we counted the treasury yesterday? How come the silver and gold don't match the ledger? Where did the 889,950 taels of silver and 400,000 taels of gold go?! If it wasn't you, could it be that they grew legs and ran away on their own?!"
Yan Song's face turned ashen and his expression was stern. He glared at the officials in the hall. He looked even more majestic and his voice was chillingly cold. Every word he said seemed to turn into a flying knife that pierced the hearts of the people being tried in the hall.
"It was Zhu Ping'an who deliberately took away the gold and silver to frame us." Doctor Zhao of Taicang said with his neck stiff.
"Your Excellency, it is clear that it was Zhu Ping'an who framed us." Several people in the hall echoed.
"How dare you!" Yan Song was furious when he heard this. He pointed at Doctor Zhao and the others and shouted angrily, "You still want to quibble even after this! You really don't know how to live or die! At that time, the inspector Zhu Ping'an was accompanied by not only your Taicang officials but also people from the East Factory to inspect the warehouse. Every box of gold and silver was verified and recorded. When the final statistics were made, your Taicang accountant also participated in the statistics. How can you lie about the facts!"
"Please calm down, Lord."
Doctor Zhao and others fell to their knees on the ground and kowtowed as if they heard thunder.
"Please calm down, sir. There may be some hidden secrets in this inventory. Please give me a day. I will immediately have someone check again. I believe we can find the reason." Zhang Guanku, the warehouse manager of Taicang, lifted the hem of his official uniform and knelt on the ground, bowing and requesting.
"What were you doing so far?! We have already checked the inventory yesterday, and there is solid evidence of the deficit. There is no need for you to take off your pants and fart." Yan Song glanced at Zhang, the warehouse manager, and sneered sarcastically.
"Your humble servant is terrified." Zhang Guanku and others lowered their heads and said.
"Panic?! Oh, you should be panic, you can't escape the blame! Think about how difficult it has been for our Great Ming over the years. Natural disasters and man-made calamities are endless. Today there are floods in the south, tomorrow there are droughts in the north, the day after tomorrow the barbarians from the north are invading our borders, and the day after tomorrow the Japanese pirates from the southeast are jumping up and attacking again. All these things, disaster relief, resisting the barbarians, and exterminating the Japanese pirates, all of them cost money! Our Great Ming has not had any major income in these years. We have long been stretched to the limit and unable to make ends meet. We rely on the family fortune accumulated in Taicang over the years. As a result, you have squandered the family fortune that saved our Great Ming! Even if you have ten heads, you won't have enough to chop off!!!" Yan Song pointed at Zhang Guanku and others in the hall and said angrily with gnashing teeth.
Zhang Guanku and others knelt on the ground with their heads down, not saying a word.
"Not only that, among the gold and silver still in Taicang, 903,800 taels of silver are not pure silver, and 125,500 taels of gold are not pure gold. I have asked the craftsmen of the silver shop to take out 1,000 taels of silver and 1,000 taels of gold for inspection. It is less than 90% silver and gold, and the remaining 10% is either lead or copper. By this calculation, nearly 100,000 taels of silver and 10,000 taels of gold are missing! You are really bold!" Yan Song was so angry that he was shaking all over.
"Please calm down, sir!"
Zhang Guanku and others knelt on the ground and bowed their heads.
"How can I calm down!" Yan Song almost spat in their faces. He pointed at Censor Liu in the hall and asked, "Censor Liu, the inspection of the Taicang silver vault is conducted every year. Last year, I remember that you were in charge of the inspection of Taicang. Why? Didn't you inspect it? Why didn't you find the shortage of silver vault?"
Censor Liu knelt on the ground and looked up at Yan Song, as if he was trying to gauge his expression. However, he did not see what he wanted on Yan Song's face, but only anger and accountability. So he quickly lowered his head and replied, "My Lord, when I counted the treasury, I actually found a deficit."
"What nonsense! Since you have discovered the deficit, why don't you report it to the court?" Yan Song asked.
"Yes... it's like this. Although I discovered the deficit, it's not big, just a small loss. Moreover, Zhang Guanku has been looking for the reason. It's because of me that I didn't report it." Censor Liu lowered his head and replied.
"Haha, a small loss? In just one year, a small loss has turned into a huge loss? In addition, how do you explain the deficit and false accounts in Taicang's account? This has been going on for not just one or two years, but for three years, every year!" Yan Song slammed the table and questioned loudly.
Censor Liu was kneeling on the ground, his head almost hanging down to the ground.
"As a censor, your crime is even more serious! Our Ming Dynasty has a law that 'any censor who commits a crime will be punished three times more severely, and if there is corruption, the punishment will be more severe.' Censor Liu, you should know this law, right?" Yan Song looked directly at Censor Liu and asked in a cold voice.
"I understand." Censor Liu bowed his head to the ground.
"Hmph, it's good to understand. You too. "Shangshu·Kang Hao": There are serious crimes, but they are not punished with death, but only with green disasters. Just like this, since the crime has been brought to an extreme, it is not appropriate to kill. Our "Da Ming Law" - "Ming Li Law" also stipulates that "anyone who surrenders himself before committing a crime shall be exempted from punishment. If he sends someone to surrender on his behalf, he can cover up the crime according to the law. The person who is the first to surrender and the person who reports the crime shall be treated as the criminal who surrenders himself. If treason, rebellion, or rebellion has not been committed, if a relative reports it first or arrests and sends it to the officials, the original criminal shall be punished as well." "If you surrender yourself, you will be pardoned. If you are guilty, you will not be pardoned. If you are guilty, you will be pardoned.' Now that things have come to this, you should surrender yourself and return the gold and silver you have embezzled. I will also ask the emperor to give you a lighter sentence." Yan Song snorted coldly, his eyes wandered over the people in the hall, and then he sighed, as if he had aged dozens of years in an instant, "As the prime minister, I did not discover the problem in time... I am also responsible... I am ashamed of the emperor. After this case, I will resign from the position of prime minister to the emperor."
"No, sir."
"Your Excellency cannot do that."
As soon as Yan Song finished speaking, many civil and military officials who were listening stood up one after another and tried to persuade him.
Xu Jie, who was standing beside Yan Song, was even more "excited" and pulled Yan Song's sleeve, saying earnestly and earnestly, "Master Yan, why are you doing this? This is not your fault. If any of the six ministries, six departments, the Censorate, the Imperial Academy, and the local governments of our Ming Dynasty do not do well, do you have to take the responsibility? In our Ming Dynasty, only you can help His Majesty to support the government. If you resign, won't it only add to His Majesty's troubles?"
After hearing Yan Song's resignation, Li Mo, who was sitting in the main judge's seat, glanced at Yan Song with sarcasm, glanced at Xu Jie with contempt, and then glanced at the many officials who stood up to listen to the trial with disdain, and snorted with disdain.