As Pei Yan's words disappeared, Wu Mei couldn't help but sigh in her heart. Pei Yan was really smart and confused for a moment. At this moment, he should restrain himself and sit back and watch the court officials argue. Why haven't you watched it yet? To understand the situation clearly, why do you have to stand up and speak out
Does he really think that with his words from Zhongshu Ling, he can get other officials in the court to follow him and impeach the prince together
As soon as Zhongshu Ling spoke, the officials on both sides of the debate, including Fang Xianzhong, looked at him involuntarily, but Li Hong slowly walked to his chair and sat down.
"Your Majesty, I believe that the reason why the Ministry of Industry under the control of Fang Shangshu is short of silver coins should be largely responsible for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's private misappropriation of the Ministry of Industry's silver coins, so that Fang Shangshu followed the instructions and misappropriated the original silver coins elsewhere. In addition, As far as I know, Fang Shangshu is now in a deficit at the Ministry of Works. It is not that Fang Shangshu himself embezzled the money, but that he used it for other purposes. Fang Shangshu’s integrity has always been well-known in the court, and I have always known it. I admire him so much." Pei Yan glanced at Li Hong, who was sitting on the chair and looked at him, and said righteously.
Di Renjie rolled his eyes and said in surprise: "Oh? Then please Sir Pei please give justice to the Minister of Housing. Where did the other silver expenses of the Ministry of Industry go?"
Hearing Di Renjie's question, Pei Yan felt as if he had found a confidant, because if no one asked, he would not be able to continue. The reason why he paused and looked at the people in the court was that he hoped to be able to Draw everyone's thoughts to this point.
Pei Yan gave Di Renjie a knowing smile and said loudly: "Since Mr. Di asked, I should tell the truth, but let me declare first that I am not trying to excuse Fang Shangshu, so I impeached His Highness the Crown Prince. But all of this has conclusive evidence. As a minister of the Tang Dynasty, I have been deeply favored by the late emperor and His Majesty for two generations. I have always regarded the stability of the Tang Dynasty as my own responsibility. Therefore, I have always believed that no matter who it is, I should not do it. Anyone who violates the laws of the Tang Dynasty, even His Royal Highness, should be punished as 'a prince who breaks the law is guilty of the same crime as the common people'."
"That sounds nice, but what if you, Mr. Pei, can't provide any evidence? What if you are falsely accusing the Crown Prince? Is His Highness's reputation something that we and other ministers can slander at will?" Zhang Jianzhi looked at Pei Yan without giving in. hummed.
"What Zhang Shangshu said is absolutely true. Neither I nor other colleagues in the palace have the right to speak out. But what if colleagues at the Yushitai impeached His Highness the Crown Prince and found relevant evidence? I am sure Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the late emperor has always treated the censor with great courtesy. It has always been the censor's responsibility to report the truth and supervise the court. His Royal Highness, the prince, is the minister of the province, so he is also the censor. Only those under supervision should be included." Pei Yan looked at Zhang Jianzhi, who had replaced Dai Zhide at a young age and assumed the post of Minister of Etiquette. He had been going smoothly over the years and had never taken himself seriously.
"Pei Yan, let the censor present the evidence in his hand to the father-in-law and the queen." Li Hong lowered his head and said with a relaxed expression.
In Li Hong's view, it is no wonder that the people Pei Yan can use at the Censorship Station are Xue Yuanchao and Gao Zhizhou. One is the Censor and the other is a former Censor.
Historically, Pei Yan, Xue Yuanchao, and Gao Zhizhou were the masterminds who framed Li Xian for rebellion and went to the East Palace to interrogate the then crown prince Li Xian. The three of them found hundreds of armors from the East Palace, so Li Xian was deposed as a commoner. .
As Li Hong expected, the two people who walked out from among the ministers were Xue Yuanchao and Gao Zhizhou. They saluted like Li Zhi and Wu Mei, and then accused them of secretly investigating the Crown Prince's misappropriation of silver, but what happened To ensure the stability of the Tang Dynasty and the rule of law, the two of them had no choice but to do this.
The investigation and confessions made by the two people were naturally not shown to Li Hong, but were presented to Li Zhi and Wu Mei. The two casually flipped through the thick book and couldn't help but smile. .
It did record some things about Quanzhou Shipyard, but the two of them did not understand the issue of the incoming and outgoing silver coins at all. The accounts made by Li Chunfeng and the dozen students were so confused that the two of them had no choice but to copy the accounts. I made a copy and brought it back.
"What do you want to explain about the accounts you copied here?" Li Zhi asked, closing the book with a smile.
Wu Mei had stopped reading a long time ago. These things could be clearly understood by any student in Chongwen Hall, but to Xue Yuanchao and Gao Zhizhou, they seemed strange and mysterious.
"I request your majesty to order the Ministry of Accounts to check this account book, rather than His Highness the Crown Prince ordering someone to check it." Pei Yan took a step forward and said.
"Then you can't trust the Ministry of Household Affairs? Can't you trust the people appointed by the Ministry of Household Affairs?" Li Zhi asked with interest.
"Back to Your Majesty, to tell you the truth, since His Highness the Crown Prince has taken charge of the Six Ministries, the Ministry of Husbandry and the Ministry of Rites have all been promoted by His Highness himself. I am afraid of them..."
"Before Jinghui, Prince Li Hong held the post of Minister of Household Affairs, so who do you think is suitable to check the accounts?" Li Zhi frowned and glanced at Wu Mei dissatisfied.
Naturally, he knew very well that Pei Yan was the person Wu Mei had used more conveniently over the years, but he was so aggressive today, shouldn't she say a few words
But Wu Mei obviously didn't take his gaze seriously. She still closed her eyes slightly to rest and had no reaction at all about Pei Yan's words.
Seeing that Wu Mei didn't respond, Li Zhi had no choice but to look at the person involved, Li Hong, and saw someone like his mother, who was also sitting on a chair with his eyes closed and resting. He didn't show any regard for Pei Yan's impeachment and forcefulness against him. Take it to heart.
However, Pei Yan was obviously prepared. Hearing Li Zhi ask him this question, he glanced at him and ignored him. The queen and the prince, who were closing their eyes to rest, said coldly: "Ouyang Tong, the Minister of Civil Affairs, is responsible for checking the accounts." "
"Why him? If it's him, how can the prince trust him? What if you join forces with him to escape?" Di Renjie suddenly turned against him.
"Don't worry, Master Di. I have only heard of this person. I don't even know where he lives or how old he is. How can I communicate with him? What's more, this matter is related to the reputation of His Highness the Crown Prince. I just act impartially. Son, it would be best if His Royal Highness did not secretly covet money and money."
"No need to check. There is nothing wrong with those accounts. Thirteen million silver. Every penny has its origins and can be recorded correctly. And among all the account books, the most suspicious ones are the expensive hulls and hulls. The price of each frame, especially the keel, can even build a five-tooth battleship, and this is why the ship His Royal Highness ordered Li Chunfeng to build was expensive if Yushi Xue and Yushi Gao presented it to His Majesty and the Queen. If the account books are true, then there is no such thing as the Crown Prince's private corruption." Ouyang Tong, the Minister of Civil Affairs, squeezed out from behind the ministers, straightened his back and said succinctly.
"Then why is the keel and hull of this ship so much more expensive than the Five-Tooth Battleship? How to explain this? Could it be that the price is not falsely quoted..."
"That's because the giant ship built by His Highness the Prince is unprecedented. Not only can it sail across the ocean, it can also withstand severe weather at sea such as typhoons. The strength of its hull, as well as its keel, keel, ribs, bow pillars, stern pillars, etc. are all outstanding It adopts a structure that has never been seen in our Datang before, and such a structure requires a lot of practice, and practice is where the most money is spent. In addition, the materials are all made of high-quality materials, so the cost is high. It’s reasonable to be high.”
"Impossible, what kind of material can be so expensive?" Pei Yan looked at Ouyang Tong. He was in his thirties and less than forty years old, but he was well-organized and stood in the court without being humble or silent. His answers were fluent. All the doubts were explained systematically at once.
"This is completely possible, because the emergence of new things is like a businessman starting business for the first time. He needs to invest a lot of money in the initial stage before he can recover his costs in the future. Just like The wealthy merchants, like the luxurious flower shops and restaurants in Chang'an City, their initial investment costs are directly proportional to the luxurious flower shops and restaurants they built. A restaurant with ten taels of silver invested is as much as a hundred taels or a thousand taels. The restaurants where the money is invested are all restaurants, but the difference, I think Mr. Pei should understand, right?" When Ouyang Tong said this, he couldn't help but cause the ministers, including Li Zhi, to chuckle, and Pei Yan His face turned red.
Although Ouyang Tong's metaphor is not very appropriate, its truth is easy to understand. All the ministers, including Li Zhi, suddenly understood why the ships built by Li Hong were so expensive.
"So, the ship built by His Royal Highness is like a ship built with 10,000 or 100,000 taels of silver, and the return benefits that a five-ship ship can give, as expected, will be completed within five years. You can get it back tenfold!" Ouyang Tong finally concluded after the laughter of the officials disappeared.
"I don't believe it. It's impossible. I don't believe that there is a ship that can cost more than one million taels!" Pei Yan looked at Xue Yuanchao and Gao Zhizhou. The two people had promised themselves that as long as they got the As long as we find someone who can understand these account books, we can prove His Highness the Crown Prince's crime of embezzling money.
The two of them even swore that even a random student from Chongwen Hall would be able to check out these accounts and find out His Royal Highness the Prince's dirty tricks in Quanzhou.
"Whether you believe it or not, this is the fact. The fact is that after His Royal Highness the Prince built these five usable boats, the fishermen in Quanzhou almost treated Li Chunfeng as their savior." Ouyang Tong answered again. Pei Yan said.
"Why is this?" Li Zhi, who was addicted to listening to stories, blurted out.
"Your Majesty, every time when fishermen go to sea to catch fish, the fishermen of Tang Dynasty do not dare to go to the deep sea. They only dare to fish in nearby sea areas. If they go far away, they often encounter Japanese people or ships from other countries. Robbery, but since the first giant ship of the Tang Dynasty was launched into the sea, the Japanese people have shrunk. "
"Where did you know this?" Li Zhi couldn't help but grasp the armrest of the chair and asked. Even Wu Mei next to him had his eyes turned, looking at Ouyang Tong intently.
"I was still serving as the Secretary of the Zhongshu Province three months ago. I saw it from the memorial sent by Quanzhou." Ouyang Tong said loudly, ignoring Pei Yan's flushed face.
(End of chapter)