Prime Minister dare not be

Chapter 29

Others chimed in one after another: "That's right, we are all friends who grew up together, so we have to save some face."

"Hey, it seems that I still can't compare with the prime minister's face."

Wei Yizhi smiled and said nothing, even though they were provocative and persuasive, they refused to move.

We were not able to succeed, very reconciled.Someone recalled the rumors between the two of them, and deliberately said: "I heard that the Prime Minister is very masculine, I will throw myself into my arms some other day, maybe I can climb a high branch, and then Zhongqing will sell my face."

Yuan Peiling laughed and said, "Are you going to become Pei Yun's second?"

"Hahaha..." The others laughed out loud.

Holding the wine cup, Wei Yizhi asked casually: "Speaking of Pei Yun, how is he doing now?"

Yuan Peiling said: "I heard that after being dismissed from the post of Prince Sheren, he stayed at home. Recently, he has the opportunity to become an official again."

"Oh? Do you know what job he is going to do?"

"It seems to be going to Huangsha Prison to be a secretary and censor."

Wei Yizhi nodded, raised his head and said to the young master who said he wanted to throw himself into Xie Shu's arms, "If you also want to spend time at home, go throw yourself into your arms."

"Uh..." The man closed his mouth sullenly.

After the banquet was over, when he returned to the Da Sima Mansion, Wei Yizhi immediately wrote a letter to play the emperor.

Pei Yun, the former prince's family member, has poor conduct.Huangsha Prison is the place in charge of imperial punishment and punishment, and the important department of the imperial court should be in charge of someone who can distinguish right from wrong.

Put down the pen, I feel good.

Xie Shu was stopped by Pei Yun on the road the next morning.

"Prime Minister, I know I made a mistake, please hold your hand high and give me another chance."

Xie Shu watched him cry so much that Lihua Daiyu was very sad, and really didn't know what was going on.

Mubai nervously blocked the car door: "Young Master Pei, what are you doing, it won't be good if you delay the morning court."

Pei Yun wiped away her tears, and looked at Xie Shu in the car pitifully: "Prime Minister, I won't dare to harass you anymore, can you please help me and say something nice for me?"

Xie Shu didn't understand what was going on for a long time: "Please explain clearly, what do you want the truth to do for you?"

Pei Yun's tears came down again: "I don't know where I offended Da Sima, he actually participated in the next book, and lost my hard-won official position."

Xie Shu understood what was going on almost immediately, and now she believed that Wei Yizhi was really interested in her, this man is jealous.

"Is that so... um..." She hesitated for a long time before finally relaxing her brows.

Pei Yun thought there was hope, and looked at her expectantly.

"Da Sima is terrible, please don't mess with him in the future."

Mr. Pei turned his head in grief and anger, and ran down the street in tears.

Xie Shu was quite happy when Pei Yun was cheated, but he was not happy when he came to the court.

Just after seeing the ceremony, the emperor said with a straight face: "Didn't Mr. Xie say that he would fill in the shortfall in tax money? Why hasn't it been done yet?"

Xie Shu was taken aback for a moment, then turned to look at several officials in Duzhicao, all of them shook their heads at her with bitter faces.

After all, such things as corruption can't be seen in the light. The emperor is not turning a blind eye, but closing both eyes.Seeing that the end of the year is approaching, there are places where money is being used everywhere. With such a large deficit, should we go to collect taxes again?

The emperor couldn't bear it anymore: "I see that the prime minister has no law, and he is just perfunctory on purpose!"

Xie Shu lifted the hem of his clothes and knelt on the ground: "Your Majesty, please calm down. This matter is due to my negligence in supervision. Please forgive me. I promise to make up the shortfall within three days, and will not tolerate the offenders."

"Okay, okay," the emperor sneered: "The civil and military officials of the whole court have heard it. You agreed to it yourself. If you don't do it after three days, I will have to weigh myself when I see Xie Xiang."

Xie Shu bowed his head and said yes, complaining endlessly in his heart.This time the matter was serious, and all the officials believed that the Xie family had taken advantage of it. If she really couldn't do it, no one would help her.

Wei Yizhi saw something was wrong, he had covered up the matter with Xie Shu lightly and cleverly last time, he thought it would not be serious, but it seems that is not the case.

Wang Jingzhi was also surprised. In fact, everyone present had their own thoughts.

Xie Shu hurried back to the Prime Minister's Mansion, not even having time to change his court clothes, he ordered Mubai to call Xie Ran over, then called all the officials of Duzhicao, and finally ordered the guards to throw those two bastard cousins ​​directly into the prison.

People arrive quickly.Xie Shu is not Xie Mingguang. After such a major incident, the officials of Duzhicao who survived the disaster looked as usual, without any look of fear. Only one young official showed a worried expression.

Xie Shu suppressed his anger and looked at the few people: "Do you think that the whole world belongs to the Xie family? You have managed to control Duzhicao so well! The truth has already promised His Majesty to make up for the deficit, why is it so late to act?" ?”

Several people lowered their heads and remained silent, only the young official said: "Prime Minister calm down, it's not that we don't make up for it, it's that there is no money to make up for."

"What?" Xie Shu looked him up and down: "What's your name? Any job?"

"Xie Ziyuan, the next official, is the writer next to Duzhi Cao Shangshulang."

There is more than one Shangshulang in each of the six Cao tribes. Xie Shu's two cousins, one named Xie Min and the other named Xie Chun, are both Shangshulang of Duzhicao.

As for Xie Ziyuan, he could tell from his name that he was a distant relative in the clan, so it was normal for him to be a clerk.

Xie Shu asked him: "The truth is that Xie Min and Xie Chun are not ordered to hand over the dirty money? Why is there no money to make up?"

Xie Ziyuan was about to speak when someone tugged at his sleeve. He hesitated for a while, then looked at Xie Shu, and finally said: "The Prime Minister will be careful, because they can't hand it over."

Xie Shuteng stood up, his voice raised a lot: "What did you say? So much money, the two of them can use it up?"

The officials immediately knelt down.Xie Ziyuan said again: "This is serious. Although the money is considerable, they have really used it up. Now it is even more difficult to make up the shortfall."

It took Xie Shu a while to calm down, and he asked Xie Ran, "Can the Xiangfu have money to make up for it?"

Xie Ran shook his head: "The amount is huge, definitely not enough."

Xie Shu frowned and paced back and forth in the study: "Maybe they moved the money somewhere. Xie Ziyuan, take someone to the prison to interrogate Xie Min and Xie Chun, and see if they can be traced back." She was worried after thinking about it, and then Tell Xie Ran to help him.

Xie Ran said: "I am very clear about the nature of these two people. I am afraid that they will not be able to catch up. The Prime Minister promised His Majesty to fill in the shortfall within three days. If not, His Majesty will not let it go."

"You're right." Xie Shu racked his brains, and finally thought that the gold that Tuyuhun sent last time was withheld by her privately, so it should be usable.

She walked to the door, asked Mubai to count the amount of gold, and then came back, dismissed those officials who just looked but didn't speak, leaving Xie Ziyuan alone.

"Actually, you are a person who can tell right from wrong, but you may be excluded after today, so be prepared."

Xie Ziyuan bowed: "Thank you, Prime Minister, for your trust. They also kindly reminded me not to gossip. After all, Xie Min and Xie Chun are your cousins, and we are all distant relatives."

Xie Shu's stomach hurts: "I don't want this kind of cousin."

After Xie Ziyuan left, Mubai came over to remind Xie Shu to eat.

"I'm full of breath." Xie Shu wanted to smash something, lifted the inkstone to see that it was quite expensive, thought about the current situation, and put it back silently.

If I had known earlier, I wouldn't have pretended to have a hidden disease, and I would have saved up all the money to buy medicine.

"Has the gold amount been counted?"

Mubai said: "I counted it, but it's only enough for [-]% of the shortfall."

Xie Shu's heart was ashamed.

On the surface, there were no major events during this period, and it has been going smoothly. It seems that her aspect has been stabilized, but in fact, there are not many people who obey her behind the scenes.

Those who followed Xie Mingguang's suggestion to take her to the top probably hoped that she would be able to make a profit for them. Xie Min and Xie Chun had already done this. Now if she couldn't keep them, the others would be vacillating.

If you can't help them make up enough money, there will be a second time if you make up enough money once.

But the emperor said that if he didn't make up enough money, he would suffer. Neither the envious family members nor the disobedient subordinates would give up this good opportunity to trample her down.

Many people want to be the prime minister.

Xie Shu thought for a long time, and said to Mubai: "Go and send a message to Xie Ran, let him force Xie Min and Xie Chun to use the house deed and land deed as a guarantee to borrow money from other houses, and I will directly say that there is no money available."

Mubai asked: "Which one should I borrow from?"

"At present, only the Huan family can be trusted."

The Huan family is now in charge of Taiwei Huan Peisheng.It's easy for the prime minister to speak up.

Huan Ting was even more enthusiastic and wanted to come to comfort Xie Shu in person, but fortunately Xie Ran stopped him.

Xie Shu was so shy that he didn't want to see anyone now.

The three days were about to expire, she was sitting in the study with her forehead propped up, wearing a plain white wide shirt, looking extremely desolate.

Mubai walked in and reported: "My lord, please see me."

Xie Shu hadn't seen this person for a long time, so he was very surprised to visit at this time.

"Call him in."

Qi Zheng entered the study room, tall and burly and heroic, but flustered.

"Prime Minister, something is wrong."

Xie Shu now has a headache when he hears this: "What's wrong?"

"Some of the staff and the family that followed the Xie family have switched to other people's sect."

Xie Shu was taken aback: "Who did you switch to?"

"Big, big Sima."

It was Wei Yizhi who guessed with her toes. Now that she is in trouble, the Wang family has not yet matured, so naturally his place is the safest and most reliable.

"A bunch of scumbags, don't worry about it!"

Qi Zheng stroked his beard: "I will continue to follow the prime minister."

Xie Shu pretended to be touched and wanted to pull his sleeves: "As expected, you still have a conscience."

"Prime Minister is busy slowly, I still have to take a step ahead." Qi Zheng fled quickly.

Xie Shu sighed, sat for a while, and pushed things out of the door.

It was early winter, and she was walking in the busy city by car, but she was shaking a fan in her hand.

She didn't tell where she was going, Mubai thought she wanted to relax, so he ordered the driver to turn around casually, and after turning around, he arrived at Changganli.

Xie Shu smelled the aroma of wine from a distance, lifted the curtain and said, "Go to the bar for a drink."

The restaurant was still the same, Xie Shu walked to the backyard familiarly, and found that Wei Yi had already been sitting there.The weather was bleak, but he was wearing a water blue robe, looking a bit cold.

Xie Shu walked over and sat down: "Today is a coincidence."

"Yeah, how did Ruyi come?"

"Drinking booze."

Wei Yizhi held the wine cup to his lips and smiled lightly: "I'm quite happy drinking it."

Xie Shu thought of those fools, and snorted coldly.

Wei Yizhi put down the wine cup and leaned over: "You seem to be in trouble, do you want my help?"

Xie Shu looked up at him: "No need."

The money was too large, if he really needed his help, it would be credited to her in the future, and sooner or later she would have to pay it back in court affairs.

Wei Yizhi sighed: "You and I have such a relationship, why are you being polite to me?"

Xie Shu chuckled twice: "I'm afraid that with the 'wiseness' of King Wuling, I won't dare to say something indiscriminately if I ask you to pay me back next time."

Wei Yizhi pretended to be surprised: "What a great idea, I haven't thought of it yet."

Xie Shu gave him a white look.

Wei Yizhi looked at her expression carefully: "You really don't want my help?"

"No need." After Xie Shu finished speaking, he added: "Your Wei family should not have as much money as the Wang family, so you better stop being brave."

Wei Yizhi choked for a moment. Compared with the rich Wang family, the sparsely populated Wei family was naturally inferior.

"Forget it, I don't know good people."

Xie Shu pouted.

After returning, it happened that Xie Ziyuan came back to his life.

He stood in the study and sighed heavily: "Prime Minister, the tax money really can't be recovered at all."

Xie Shu stood by the wall with his hands behind his back, and in front of him was the word "和" inscribed by Xie Mingguang.

The task Xie Mingguang entrusted to her was to protect the Xie family, and the interests of any clansman came first, but this time she wanted to directly eliminate those useless guys who would only do bad things.

"Go to Yushitai, tell the truth, thoroughly investigate the case, and deal with the people involved, no matter who they are."

Xie Ziyuan looked at her in shock, and it took him a long time to say yes and leave.

After Xie Shu returned to the case, he took up a pen and wrote a memorial, asking the emperor to order Xie Min and Xie Chun to be executed as a warning to others.

In the early morning of the second day, the emperor was dumbfounded when he saw the memorial, and so were all the civil and military officials.

"Isn't Prime Minister Xie planning to make up for the shortfall?" The emperor shook the booklet, "These two are indeed worthy of punishment, but the tax money must not be reduced."

Xie Shu respectfully said: "Most of the gap has been filled, and there is still a part. Please forgive me for a few days."

The emperor finally caught the opportunity, how could he let it go: "That day you swore in front of the officials that it would only take three days, but now you are delaying, do you want me to change my mind with you?"

Xie Shu turned his head and winked, Xie Ziyuan immediately came out and reported the truth.

"Your Majesty forgive me, the prime minister has done his best."

The emperor said with a cold face: "Then give Xie Xiang a few more days, if it still can't be done this time, we will count it back together."

Xie Shu bowed his head in thanks.

Wei Yizhi looked at her, suddenly being so obedient, I'm afraid the matter is more serious than imagined.

That night, several senior members of the Xie family called Xie Ran over.

"Although the prime minister is the patriarch, he took this position because of his high official position. It is absolutely impossible for him to be ranked. Now he wants to kill his own clansman. Is this what the patriarch should do?"

"That's right, this is a taboo in the family. If something happens in the future and he doesn't protect the family members, then wouldn't the Xie family have no one left?"

"The Xie family has power and can recommend someone else to be the prime minister. If he can't do well, just replace him."

"Speaking of which, I objected to him inheriting the position of the lord at the beginning. How can he hold this treacherous court with a yellow mouth? Look, if something happens, push him out."

Xie Ran couldn't help interrupting a few people: "Dare to ask the elders, the younger generation is called to come here late at night, but to deal with the prime minister?"

Several old people were working hard to lay the groundwork and create enough reasons for this matter. When Xie Ran directly stated their plan, they all avoided their eyes.

"Aran, think about it too. The prime minister can push his two cousins ​​out today, and he can push you out tomorrow. As for those of us who are not close enough, it is even more difficult to protect ourselves."

Xie Ran said: "You elders, follow the rules and everything will be fine."

"Are the other aristocratic families following the rules? Don't they live well? Xie Shu is nothing but incompetent. If he is not the only blood of the lord, how can the lord recommend him? You are much better than him."

"That's right, I think Xie Shu is only soft-hearted to others and cruel to his people. Aran, you are unparalleled in resourcefulness, and you are the best candidate for the prime minister."

Xie Ran touched the jade pendant on his waist, looked at the dark night outside the window, and remained silent.

Xie Shu finally filled in the shortfall, but the last payment was actually sent by Xie Minghe, the elder of Xie's parents, which surprised her.

According to her seniority, she should still call Xie Minghe her uncle, but she never walked with him in her memory, and he would help out, which really made her feel the warmth of family affection in the world for the first time.

The money was replenished, and the emperor's face finally looked better in the early court, but he was a little reconciled that such a good opportunity failed to suppress Xie Shu.

Xie Min and Xie Chun were about to be killed, most of the Xie family in Duzhicao Li were also squeezed out, and this matter was about to be concluded, Yu Shi Zhongcheng suddenly came out and said: "I have this performance."

The emperor raised his hand: "Quasi."

"When Prime Minister Xie Shu connived at relatives to embezzle taxes and money first, and use military pay to make up for the shortfall later, His Majesty should punish him severely."

Xie Shu glanced over: "Is the truth wrong or the censor is wrong? When did the truth use the military salary?"

Yushi Zhongcheng was neither humble nor overbearing: "Prime Minister, the last amount you filled in is the military salary of the Xuzhou military camp."

Xie Shu was taken aback, it was sent by Xie Minghe.

The Xuzhou military camp is under Wei Yi's management. This move seems to stir up conflicts between the two, but Xie Minghe is from the Xie family, so it is impossible to do this kind of thing in private to frame his own people, right?
Xie Shu looked at Wei Yizhi, he had been looking at her for a long time, and suddenly turned his hand towards her quietly.

Before she understood the meaning, she heard Xie Ran's voice behind her saying: "I have this report. The prime minister has privately stored the gold donated by Tuyuhun. The amount is considerable. There are also various acts of corruption and perverting the law. The minister has listed it in the booklet. Please, Your Majesty." Take a look."

Xie Shu turned his head away, almost unable to believe his eyes.

Finally understood the meaning of Wei Yizhi's gesture, it was overthrow.

But how could he know first?
The emperor read Xie Ran's memorial carefully, and was furious: "Traitor! Any one of them is enough to cut your job!"

As usual, someone knelt down to intercede for Xie Shu at this time, but today less than half of Xie Shu's family knelt down, and they were all of low rank.

How could the emperor fail to see the struggle within the Xie family? He had been looking forward to such a day as early as when Xie Min and Xie Chun were about to be beheaded.

(End of this chapter)