Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 409 There May Be a Mole Within
Yuwen Rong's outburst drew considerable attention, while Zhang Dai's reply was resounding. The provincial officials, equally curious, crowded around, eager to see if the conflict between the two would escalate further.

Yuwen Rong's expression was cold and stern. He glanced at the request letter Zhang Dai was holding in his hand, remained silent for a few moments, then pointed at Zhang Dai and said in a deep voice, "Boy, stop being so glib. There are things that are beyond your ability to accomplish. If you ruin my plans, I will never forgive you!"

After saying this, he turned and left.

The onlookers were both surprised and disappointed by what they saw. They couldn't understand why Yuwen Rong was so blustering and cowardly. He had just uttered a few harsh words and left without doing anything. It was all bark and no bite.

Zhang Dai was also somewhat surprised. He had been prepared to have a good verbal battle with Yuwen Rong, but he didn't expect that after piquing his interest, the guy would turn around and run away, not even giving him time to prepare an attack.

Watching Yuwen Rong's departing figure, his mind was racing. Just now, the other party had come with a fierce aura, looking extremely indignant, which probably wasn't intentional. However, after shouting a few trash words, he quickly withdrew, perhaps because he had some reservations.

Was he worried about attracting his grandfather and getting a double beating from him and his grandfather here? That was obviously impossible. After all, Yuwen Rong had his own confidants and relatives in the capital province, and there were also guards on duty here. No matter how intense the conflict was, it would be difficult for them to actually fight.

Moreover, I didn't just arrive today, so why is Yuwen Rong only now showing such a resistant reaction?
After a moment's thought, Zhang Dai quickly realized that the problem might lie in his own request for instructions. Some of the content in the request must have angered Yuwen Rong, which caused him to suddenly erupt. Perhaps fearing that the relevant information would be leaked during the argument, he left hastily after issuing a warning.

So what exactly was the request that angered Yuwen Rong? The first was to expand the scope of the document review. This was not specifically aimed at Yuwen Rong, and since he had not yet served in the Ministry of Personnel before the tenth year of the Kaiyuan era, there was no hidden weakness in those old documents.

That was clearly the second request: to obtain the list of those who had captured the money and to interrogate them. It was very likely that his own ideas had clashed with Yuwen Rong's plans, and he was worried that his actions would interfere with Yuwen Rong's plans, which was why Yuwen Rong suddenly became so agitated.

But what is Yuwen Rong's plan? Why is he so sensitive and nervous about this matter? Is he going to protect those money-catching officials, or is he also targeting them as his next move, hoping they will be intercepted by others?

After Yuwen Rong left the capital province, several people quickly followed him and hurriedly returned to the Ministry of Revenue, including Li Linfu.

Li Linfu was eager to advance his career, and since the Court of State Ceremonial didn't have any important matters to attend to day and night, he spent most of his time working with Yuwen Rong, hoping to gain Yuwen Rong's continued attention and have important matters entrusted to him.

"May I ask, Your Excellency, what sinister plot is that scoundrel Zhang Dai brewing that has aroused such indignation in you?"

As Yuwen Rong entered the main hall, Li Linfu saw that he still looked angry and quickly stepped forward to ask him carefully.

Yuwen Rong did not answer, but casually tossed Zhang Dai's request to the ground. The paper was crumpled into a ball and rolled several feet after hitting the ground.

Li Linfu chased the paper ball for several feet like a little dog before catching up, bending down to pick it up, smoothing out the wrinkles, and examining it closely.

Upon reading the contents of the paper, his expression immediately changed, and he exclaimed in surprise, "Someone has leaked our plan? Who is so bold!"

The reason why the two men reacted so excitedly was that they actually shared the same idea as Zhang Dai, which was to start by investigating the various malpractices in the operation of the government's capital by examining these money-collecting officials.

With national expenditures surging but revenues insufficient, obtaining substantial fiscal revenue in the short term is extremely difficult for Yuwen Rong. He had even considered purchasing land from monks and Taoist priests, but abandoned the idea after being advised against it by Li Linfu.

He plans to vigorously promote the revival of public funds after he takes office, a plan that has successful precedents.

Last year, when he served as the governor of Bianzhou, he used the money paid by the people for land transportation as capital. He made a lot of money by lending money and directly participating in commercial activities, which greatly improved the efficiency of disaster relief and transportation.

Yuwen Rong was not a pedantic person; in his view, any action or method that helped solve the problem was worth trying. Whether in its past management or in his actual operations, the government's capital had been remarkably effective in increasing revenue.

However, it is clear that not everyone in the court agrees with his proposal, and a considerable amount of capital is needed to restart the government.

Given the current financial difficulties of the country, how easy is it to raise cash to revive a policy that is already highly controversial?
Therefore, Yuwen Rong took a different approach, intending to investigate the accumulated problems of the past public office capital, extract a sum of money from it to use as new public office capital, and at the same time establish the authority of the law by cracking down on those previous officials who embezzled public office capital, so as to warn those who followed suit.

However, these things were to be implemented after Yuwen Rong became prime minister, because those officials who had been in charge of collecting money in the early years had already been granted official positions and were scattered in various places in the court or prefectures and counties.

Given Yuwen Rong's current position of power, he naturally couldn't enforce the law across such a wide range of departments and regions. Moreover, only by pushing this matter forward after he became prime minister could he protect the achievement and prevent other prime ministers from reaping the benefits. Therefore, when he saw that Zhang Dai had the same idea as him, was eyeing the same group of fat sheep, and was preparing to take action now, Yuwen Rong was both nervous and angry, worried that Zhang Dai would mess things up and directly ruin his subsequent plans.

The reason Li Linfu was so nervous was quite simple. Once Yuwen Rong became prime minister, these matters would naturally need someone to take charge. His obsequious and eager performance before Yuwen Rong was clearly an attempt to secure his entrustment of these tasks.

Once he is in charge of investigating these embezzled assets, his power will naturally increase significantly, and the enormous debt that has caused him so much trouble will no longer be a problem!

Li Linfu had served in various government departments for many years and was very skilled in all kinds of government operations. He was naturally confident that he could get what he wanted in the process of dealing with such a huge and complicated financial matter!
"Minister, we cannot allow that scoundrel Zhang Dai to cause trouble any longer! This fellow is audacious and ruthless. If he strikes first, we will inevitably be put on the defensive, and it will be much more difficult for us to fight back!"

Li Linfu stared at Yuwen Rong with wide eyes and a nervous expression.

If Zhang Dai continues down this path, Yuwen Rong might have other ways to demonstrate his abilities, but he can't find any better way to make a fortune in the short term. Moreover, he has many suggestions on this matter, so he is naturally unwilling to let Zhang Dai take it away.

Upon hearing this, Yuwen Rong snorted coldly. He understood this principle, and knew that he either had to do nothing or go all out to control people and things before the old officials could react.

Once the enemy is alerted, these people, who are as cunning as rats and scattered both inside and outside the area, will inevitably have their own means of escape, which will not only increase the difficulty of recovering the stolen goods, but will also greatly reduce the final amount obtained.

With such a large-scale attack, let alone Zhang Dai, even he himself would find it difficult to guarantee that this group of followers could be wiped out in one fell swoop. He would need to gain greater power to devise such a plan.

Just then, Wei Heng hurriedly arrived. Yuwen Rong hadn't paid much attention to what Wei Heng had said before, but now he was eager to get rid of Zhang Dai, so he quickly asked, "How did your discussion with Zhang Dai and the Dou family go?"

“These two disciples are extremely arrogant. Zhang Dai did not come forward to negotiate, and Dou E was very arrogant, trying his best to lower the price without any sincerity. I hate their arrogance and did not discuss it further with them.”

Upon hearing this, Wei Heng shook his head and said, then added in a deep voice, "These two are greedy, despicable, and insatiable. If we let them have their way so easily, they will become even more rampant and difficult to control!"

He would certainly be willing to complete the transaction at a relatively fair price and settle the matter amicably, but now the other party is clearly trying to extort him, which greatly goes against his expectations.

"Go and negotiate again, but don't focus on the price. As long as we can reach an agreement, it's okay to lower the price. If you suffer any losses as a result, I will compensate you later when the opportunity arises."

Upon hearing this, Yuwen Rong's eyes turned cold, and then he spoke in a deep voice.

"The loss of money and silk is secondary; we could even give it away for free. But I'm afraid that once they get their hands on the estate, they won't be satisfied..."

Wei Heng was surprised that his cousin, who had not cared much about the matter, suddenly changed his attitude and became so anxious. He immediately asked, "Has that scoundrel Zhang Dai done something again?"

Yuwen Rong didn't say much about this, but added, "Go and negotiate again. Don't worry about the price being low, just be careful he doesn't take it. You only need to complete this transaction; you don't need to worry about anything else. I'll discuss the rest with Zhang Yan Gong myself!"

When Wei Heng heard Yuwen Rong say this, although he was still somewhat unwilling, he could only nod in agreement.

Seeing that Yuwen Rong was willing to back down, making a proper resolution possible, Li Linfu breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, he felt even more annoyed by Zhang Dai. Even someone as powerful as Yuwen Rong could be manipulated by this young man due to a moment of carelessness. In the future, Li Linfu would have to be doubly cautious when opposing him!

"You all must remember this: whatever you discuss in the future, do not speak of it to others!"

Yuwen Rong also suspected that there might be a traitor in his team, otherwise why would Zhang Dai seize this opportunity to launch an attack when he had been making frequent moves recently?

However, given that this was a critical moment, he couldn't easily stop the investigation to find an internal traitor, lest he throw the situation into disarray. So he could only issue a stern warning first.

(End of this chapter)