Catching Monsters

Chapter 170 Accepting bribes?

Yang Liunian pulled Jiang Yun aside, lowered his voice, and whispered: "This morning, the news has spread in the capital that His Majesty wants to seriously rectify the trend of corruption."

"The Sixth Prince has accepted this mission this time, and he must kill a large number of people. Otherwise, how can he rectify the atmosphere of corruption?"

Speaking of this, a bitter look emerged on Yang Liunian's face. In the entire capital, which department can be clean?

Everyone has problems.

No wonder Zhou Yi looked at Jiang Yun with a bit of blame in his eyes.

If it weren't for Jiang Yun, how could the Sixth Prince choose the Jinyiwei East Pacification Division as the first department to be investigated?

Jiang Yun was standing nearby, and he had an idea in his mind. He decided to take it one step at a time and see what Xiao Jingqi was trying to do.

It didn't matter to the brother and sister Xu Xiaogang and Xu Suwen, as they were both upright and had nothing to fear.

After all, they were born in the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion. How could they care about such a small amount of money from corruption?
However, the expressions of the other Jinyiwei were quite ugly.

In the hall, the courtyard, and the side hall, everyone was discussing the matter in low voices.

About two sticks of incense had passed before someone came to report that the Sixth Prince had arrived.

Yang Liunian and Zhou Yi hurriedly tidied their clothes and came to the gate of the East Zhenfu Division together.

A luxurious carriage slowly stopped, followed by many officials from the Censorate.

As the highest supervisory agency in the Ming Dynasty, the Censorate was responsible for impeaching officials, clearing up grievances, supervising the various regions, and serving as the emperor's eyes and ears and the discipline department.

The censors of the Censorate could impeach ministers for being treacherous, forming cliques, disrupting the government, and bureaucrats at all levels for undermining official discipline.

Of course, given the official atmosphere of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the Censorate has been virtually non-existent in recent years.

At this time, a third-rank official opened the curtain of the carriage and walked out of the carriage with Xiao Jingqi.

"Master Tong!" Yang Liunian and Zhou Yi hurriedly stepped forward and bowed to greet him.

Tong Jianhui, Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, was a third-rank official in the imperial court.

Tong Jianhui smiled and politely nodded to the two of them, then introduced them to Xiao Jingqi who got off the car behind him: "Your Highness, these two are Captain Yang and Captain Zhou of the East Pacification Division."

At this time, Xiao Jingqi was wearing casual clothes and a Yishan crown with a pattern of two dragons playing with a pearl on it.

He was wearing a yellow round-necked, narrow-sleeved robe with dragon patterns embroidered on the front, back and shoulders. He had a jade belt around his waist and leather boots on his feet.

It looks majestic.

He nodded to the two of them with a cold expression and said casually: "My father sent me to assist Master Tong to investigate the corruption in the capital."

"You, the Jinyiwei East Pacification Division, hold an important position and are the right-hand man of the emperor. You are highly valued by the emperor."

"So Lord Tong and I discussed and decided to first review the East Pacification Office, so that we can set an example for all the departments in the capital. I hope that your East Pacification Office will not disappoint us."

Yang Liunian swallowed his saliva and lowered his head: "Your Highness and Master Tong, rest assured, being honest and incorruptible is what we in the East Pacification Division have always strictly required, please!"

The two men invited Tong Jianhui and Xiao Jingqi to walk into the yamen. The censors from the Censorate followed them in, carrying one black box after another.

The Jinyiwei who had gathered in the hall gathered together, quickly made way, and opened the two upper seats in the hall for Xiao Jingqi and Tong Jianhui to sit down.

Xiao Jingqi's eyes kept searching the crowd, and finally, his eyes fell on Jiang Yun in the corner of the crowd.

He couldn't help but reveal a weird smile on his face, and no one knew what he was thinking.

Although Tong Jianhui was a third-rank official in the imperial court, he was extremely respectful to Xiao Jingqi. With a faint smile on his face, he asked in a low voice, "Your Highness, shall we begin?"

"let's start."

Then, Tong Jianhui waved his hand and said, "Bring everything up."

Many men from the Censorate carried black wooden boxes into the hall and dropped them heavily.

An imperial censor in official uniform opened it, and found it was filled with files.

After all, the duty of the Censorate is to investigate corruption among officials, and it has records and evidence of corruption of many people.

However, corruption was rife in the officialdom of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Normally, the Censorate did not want to offend anyone, and it was impossible for them to hand over these files.

Now that His Majesty wants to execute a group of corrupt officials, he will naturally take out the evidence that had been collected long ago.

The censor opened the wooden box, took out a book at random, walked up quickly, and handed it to Tong Jianhui: "Master Tong, please take a look."

Tong Jianhui slowly flipped through the file, coughed, cleared his throat, and read in a deep voice: "Suo Anze, in the 23rd year of Zhengde, was promoted to the rank of 100 households of the Eastern Pacification Division."

"In August of the 24th year of Zhengde, he accepted 300 taels of silver from the owner of Jinyi Textile and arranged for his brother-in-law to work at the East Pacification Office."

"In January of the twenty-fifth year of the Zhengde reign, he held a birthday banquet and received five hundred and thirty taels of silver as a gift."

Then, Tong Jianhui paused, because it said that in March of the 25th year of Zhengde, 500 taels of silver were given to Zhou Yiqianhu...

Tong Jianhui subconsciously glanced at Zhou Yi, skipped this item, and continued reading out Suo Anze's crimes.

Soon, a man wearing a white flying fish uniform walked out quickly from the crowd.

He was Zhou Yi's subordinate. He looked at Zhou Yi for help and said anxiously, "Master Tong, everything written here is fictitious. I am handling cases in the East Pacification Division and I have to offend many people. These people are slandering me. I hope Master Tong will investigate this matter."

Tong Jianhui was not surprised to see that Suo Anze did not admit it.

Any normal person would not easily admit these crimes. He smiled and said slowly: "Captain Suo, since I can read it out, there are enough evidences for the crime."

Suo Anze took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: "Then I would like to ask, what is the crime?"

Tong Jianhui said slowly: "Captain Suo, there is a hidden treasure cellar in the backyard of your house, right? I heard that you don't like silver bills, but real gold and silver."

"There is a bed in this cellar covered with silver. Every midnight, I will go to this bed made of silver and have a good sleep."

"The money you embezzled is evidence of your crime. Do you still want to deny it?"

Hearing this, Suo Anze trembled slightly, and panic appeared in his eyes.

He hastily opened his shirt, revealing two horrific scars on his chest. He pointed at one of them and said, "This is the wound I got when I solved the fish monster case in Xishu Province three years ago!"

"This is the wound I got last year when I solved the Heijiang Province murder fox demon case!"

"For the sake of the court and the people, I nearly lost my life twice!"

"How could I be greedy for money?"

Tong Jianhui asked coldly: "Then how do you explain the silver in your cellar?"

Suo Anze took a deep breath and said, "I always win every time I gamble."

"Everyone in the East Pacification Office has heard that I go into the casino with one tael of silver, and later I can come out with a hundred taels of silver."

Tong Jianhui retorted, "I remember that your Commander Li had already issued an order prohibiting the Jinyiwei from entering the casino."

Suo Anze spread his hands and said, "With my ability, wouldn't it be a loss if I didn't go to the casino? So I sneaked in."

After saying that, Suo Anze looked at Zhou Yi, hoping that Captain Zhou would stand up and say a few words for him.

Zhou Yi frowned deeply. How could he stand up and speak for others when he himself was not clean?

But Suo Anze has followed Zhou Yi for many years, even if we put aside their many years of friendship.

When his subordinates got into trouble, his boss said nothing.

How do you want others to see you?
Zhou Yi coughed and said slowly: "Your Highness the Sixth Prince, Master Tong, I can prove that Suo Anze is indeed a good gambler. He has won a lot of money from me."

Seeing Zhou Yi come out to speak, Tong Jianhui frowned deeply. He couldn't help but turn his head to glance at Xiao Jingqi next to him.

Xiao Jingqi just frowned slightly.

Tong Jianhui then put the file in his hand aside and said, "Catch him! Take him back to the prison of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and interrogate him slowly."

Upon hearing this, Suo Anze clenched his fists, with a look of grief and anger in his eyes.

Two imperial censors from the Censorate came forward and tied him up with ropes.

Suo Anze took a deep breath, but did not resist forcefully.

If he resists, he will really be doomed to die, otherwise, there should be room for maneuver.

I have saved so much money, if I can find a way to smooth things over, maybe I can still have a chance to survive.

Soon, it will be the next one.

Tong Jianhui, who was also a captain under Zhou Yi, listed all of Zhou Yi's crimes of corruption, even knowing exactly where he hid his money.

Unexpectedly, this person also claimed that he was the God of Gamblers, who would win every time he gambled and was invincible.

Tong Jianhui couldn't help but glance at Zhou Yi and Yang Liunian when he heard this: "Captain Zhou, Captain Yang, is this the East Pacification Division? Or a casino? Why, everyone is a gambling god?"

Zhou Yi and Yang Liunian didn't dare to respond.

Those who were called out were tied up one by one.

Among all the Jinyiwei present, there are probably not many clean ones.

The files in Tong Jianhui's alley are like the King of Hell's book of life and death. Whoever is chosen will die.

Finally, another file was delivered to Tong Jianhui. After opening it, Xiao Jingqi next to him finally became interested.

Tong Jianhui read slowly: "General Flag of the Eastern Pacification Division, where is Jiang Yun?"

Hearing this, Jiang Yun frowned and slowly walked out of the crowd.

"Master Tong, His Royal Highness the Sixth Prince." Jiang Yun had a smile on his face: "Could it be that I am guilty?"

"Of course you are guilty." Tong Jianhui said coldly, looking at the file in his hand, and read slowly:

"Jiang Yun joined the Jinyiwei in the 27th year of Zhengde."

"Before joining the Imperial Guard, he found the Nanzhou Prefecture's education commissioner, established connections, and asked him to help arrange a quota for a scholar."

"After entering the capital, he joined the East Pacification Division and accepted bribes of over a thousand taels from General Wei Huaian..."

After listening to Tong Jianhui's words, everyone present looked at Jiang Yun in disbelief, almost thinking that they had heard it wrong.

Wei Huaian bribed Jiang Yun?
Accepting bribes is nothing new in the officialdom of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

But Wei Huaian, as the commander-in-chief of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, bribed Jiang Yun, one of his own men?
This was also a very explosive thing in the officialdom of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)