Ministry of Revenue Zhaomo Office.
On the first day in office, Du Qianchuan flew into a rage and scolded the few subordinates he had, perfectly portraying the face of a loser.
Then, an unreasonable order was issued to "proofread nearly a hundred years of files and documents."
You know, original copies of documents older than ten years have been sealed in the archives. Who would be willing to do such a thankless job...
However, although the order was unreasonable, it was reasonable for Du Qianchuan to issue it.
After all, Du Qianchuan has suffered too many blows in the past year.
Several officials had no choice but to take out the sealed documents for proofreading, while hoping that Du Qianchuan would calm down soon and get over the blow.
The Zhaomo Office, which was originally extremely leisurely, suddenly became extremely busy.
And this busy process lasted for three months.
Which hundred years?
Within three months, all the documents sealed up by Teruma were turned upside down, and the earliest one was from three hundred years ago!
That day, Du Qianchuan suddenly sighed and said, "Stop everything."
The six inspectors who were busy checking were all stunned and looked up.
"I'm sorry to have troubled you during this period."
Du Qianchuan nodded to everyone, without saying anything more, then stood up and walked out.
Everyone looked at each other, and waited until Du Qianchuan walked away before they started talking in low voices.
"It's finally over..."
"Yeah, I almost forgot how happy I was."
"This Du Qianchuan is really irritable. He has been like this for three whole months... Do you think he is the chief of the Imperial Observatory and has the support of the Duke of Anguo?"
"No, I don't think it was an act of emotion."
"What's the meaning?"
"Think about it, since we started proofreading these documents, has he been nitpicking and finding faults to make things difficult for us?"
"Well, indeed not..."
"That makes sense. If he was just venting his anger, it wouldn't be so calm."
"So, I think he wants to find out something from these files."
"But these files mostly record some boring and simple numbers. What's there to check?"
"I don't know. Anyway, if you don't want to get into trouble, you should quickly seal these files back."
"That makes sense. Regardless of whether Du Qianchuan has other intentions or not, I don't want to see these things anymore..."
“…”
After some discussion, everyone began to archive the huge number of files as they were.
On the other side, Du Qianchuan had quietly come to the underground palace that was blocked by the Taoist weapon again.
Lou Youzhi is already waiting here.
"You can even predict when I will come to see you?"
Du Qianchuan approached with an expressionless face.
"How can it be so exaggerated?"
Lou Youzhi shook his head and motioned Du Qianchuan to take a seat, "I have always lived here."
"Live here?"
Du Qianchuan paused as he bent down to sit down, and couldn't help but look around.
Although this underground palace has a large space and is fully furnished, it is, after all, buried deep underground and dark. How could the Prime Minister of the Cabinet actually live in an underground palace?
Du Qianchuan sat down, "When did it start?"
"Many years."
Lou Youzhi poured Du Qianchuan a cup of tea. "Back then, I killed the Minister of Revenue who was retiring to his hometown. I learned that the one who really prevented me from providing disaster relief was Emperor Wenchang... Since then, I have lived in this underground palace."
"Drought in Bingzhou..."
Du Qianchuan's expression turned grim. "In the 41st year of Wenchang, the population of Bingzhou was over 16 million, and the total grain reserves of the 30 provinces were over 10 million shi."
"Until the end of the 42nd year of Wenchang, the population of Bingzhou was less than 8 million, and the grain reserves of the 30 provinces... were still more than 10 million shi."
“No, it’s not just the drought in Bingzhou.”
"Except for disasters such as boiling seas, earthquakes, and sky fires that can kill a large number of people in a short period of time, no matter what kind of disaster it is, it will eventually end with more than half of the people dead or injured because there is food but no use."
"Not only can the imperial court predict natural disasters, it can even deliberately leave grain unused, resulting in ineffective disaster relief. This should be what you want me to investigate, right?"
Du Qianchuan stared at Dou Tianyuan, "To be honest, I don't believe it."
"Let me start from the beginning. It's time to tell you."
Lou Youzhi's tone was slightly low, "Back then, I was ordered to provide disaster relief to Bingzhou. After begging for more food to no avail, I had no choice but to come up with the idea of ​​exchanging corn for bran and mixing it with sand as disaster relief food... After that, Jiang Zhihong was resentful and impeached me for decades."
"Why didn't you tell him earlier?"
Du Qianchuan frowned.
"Just like you, you found out so much on your own and you still don't dare to believe it, let alone when I, the number one traitor, say it directly?"
Lou Youzhi shook his head. "Besides, Jiang Zhihong is a very clean and pure person. I didn't want him to get involved in such dirty things...but I didn't expect that he would get involved anyway."
"Mr. Jiang..."
Du Qianchuan thought of Jiang Zhihong and couldn't help but sigh.
He hated Jiang Zhihong back then, and hated that Jiang Zhihong threatened his love for him and asked him to help him look up the records of natural disasters.
But later he found out that Jiang Zhihong had been helping him arrange this marriage long before this incident.
It was obvious that Jiang Zhihong was not really threatening him from the very beginning.
"After the disaster relief, I worked hard to form cliques and climb up the career ladder."
Lou Youzhi smiled faintly, "During this process, those who obstructed Bingzhou's disaster relief efforts, one by one, along with their wives and children, were all sent to the execution ground by me."
“…Are those charges true or false?”
Du Qianchuan asked.
“Does it matter?”
Lou Youzhi asked back, "Millions of people in Bingzhou became innocent souls without even being charged with any crime."
“…”
Du Qianchuan was speechless.
"The last one was the Minister of Revenue at that time."
Lou Youzhi continued, "I intercepted him on his way back home, and he told me that the one who really obstructed the disaster relief was... the late emperor."
"Emperor Wenchang?"
Du Qianchuan's face darkened.
"At the time, I was unable to verify this, so I could only use up all my family wealth and secretly build this underground palace to protect myself, and then I began to investigate the natural disaster."
Lou Youzhi continued, "First, there are the records of natural disasters in the Imperial Observatory... You should have experienced that just by reading the records of natural disasters, you can't get any useful information except that natural disasters are becoming more and more frequent."
"In addition, the Binzhou sea boil that happened not long after was nothing special at all... The sea boil came too quickly and was too fierce. In just half a month, 70% of the people in Binzhou died. The remaining 30% of the population received good relief."
"So, I can only attribute the Bingzhou incident to Emperor Wenchang's insanity."
Lou Youzhi sighed, "It was not until the news of the locust plague in Yongzhou reached the capital that I realized I was wrong. I was very wrong."
Du Qianchuan looked stunned: "Did Mr. Jiang ask for the post of Fenggu County long before the locust plague?..."
This was the first thing he noticed in Terumasho's files.
"That's right."
Lou Youzhi nodded, "At first, I didn't care when he asked for the position. After all, with his connections and qualifications, he could choose any position in the local area, let alone a county magistrate."
"When the news of the locust plague in Yongzhou reached the capital, I realized that there couldn't be such a coincidence."
"I started to investigate the reasons behind this, and finally found the clue through the Ministry of Personnel that 'official vacancies can determine where natural disasters will strike'... As for why Jiang Zhihong discovered this earlier than me, he must have gotten the clue from the Beijing Inspection Plan when Binzhou was in trouble."
The Imperial Examination? No wonder...
Du Qianchuan suddenly realized.
"I think when Jiang Zhihong guessed this, he felt the same as you. He didn't want to believe it, and he didn't dare to believe it... Even if he believed it, he would wonder if your Majesties didn't know about this method of predicting natural disasters?"
Lou Youzhi's eyes flashed coldly, "But I don't think so."
"First, I actually experienced a disaster relief being blocked, and the person who blocked it might be the emperor."
“The second reason is that before the locust plague, granaries in various places were destroyed.”
“Why was the granary destroyed right before the natural disaster?”
"Because of the disaster relief in Bingzhou, Your Majesty believes that I will definitely do my best to help Yongzhou. However, the current situation is different from the past. I can decide on the mobilization of resources from various provinces... If you want enough people to die in Yongzhou due to natural disasters, you must destroy these stored grains."
Lou Youzhi sneered, "What's funny is that I only suspected Emperor Wenchang at the beginning, and never doubted His Majesty."
“…”
Du Qianchuan took a deep breath, his voice trembling a little: "What happened next?"
"later?"
Lou Youzhi narrowed his eyes, "Later, Jiang Zhihong was willing to die without a burial place, and deployed his military power in Yongzhou in exchange for the survival of the people."
"!!!"
Du Qianchuan trembled all over and his eyes suddenly widened.
“Hehehe…”
Lou Youzhi smiled, his eyes reddening for the first time in front of others, "You know, with Jiang Zhihong here, even if the court doesn't provide disaster relief, the surviving people in Yongzhou can still survive."
"However, Mr. Jiang was soon labeled a traitor..."
Du Qianchuan's hands and feet were cold, and his throat was dry: "No, not only Elder Jiang, but the entire Jiang family, all of our ancestors were labeled as traitors..."
"Yes, traitor."
Lou Youzhi clenched his fists tightly under the table, "Can you imagine that a person who has lived his whole life for Daqing, for the royal family, is labeled a traitor?"
"He...how did he die?"
Du Qianchuan asked this question with difficulty.
"Destroy the orifices, reverse the meridians, burn the body, fight with the golden-armored Buddha until he is shattered to pieces."
Lou Youzhi uttered these words one by one, "Until his death, he was trying to find a way for those refugees to survive."
"Unfortunately, he failed."
Du Qianchuan looked sad.
"No, he succeeded."
Lou Youzhi shook his head, "It was your majesty who intervened and caused his plan to fail."
"His Majesty……"
Du Qianchuan could no longer deceive himself at this time.
Because everything proves that there is something wrong with Your Majesty.
"As for how Your Majesty did it, have you ever heard of magical powers?"
Lou Youzhi looked at Du Qianchuan, "Your Majesty has two magical powers, one can create clones, and the other can deceive people..."
Yongzhou refugees turned into wild beasts, and Lin Kuang was imprisoned in the imperial prison for twenty years...
Except for the fact that Xu Chong's existence was concealed, Lou Youzhi told the whole story of how he deduced the supernatural power.
Du Qianchuan listened quietly, his expression changing from horror to disappointment and then to anger.
In a trance, he thought of his wife who was killed by his own hands.
"Ah! Are you hurt?"
"You're lying. You've even vomited blood... It's all because of the horse. Well, I'll compensate you."
"Hey, we meet again."
"You're still keeping this horse?"
"Why don't you pay attention to me?"
"I am the granddaughter of Duke Rong. Come and curry favor with me. I will ask Grandpa to find you a good job."
"You're done. Now that I know you're working here, I'll have Grandpa arrest you!"
"What should I do, Lao Du? I think I've fallen in love with you..."
"Are you still a man? I'm not afraid of you, so what are you afraid of?"
"Listen to me, this is what we have settled."
"I will find a way to deal with Grandpa. Don't worry, I, Chen Yue, will never marry anyone but you in this life!"
“…”
No one knew that during the years that Du Qianchuan and Chen Yue had known each other, it was Chen Yue who was pestering Du Qianchuan in the first half of the time.
From acquaintance to understanding to love, it was all done by Chen Yue alone.
So, after Du Qianchuan admitted his feelings, he vowed to take care of their future.
From being kicked out again and again, to being rejected again and again, to passing tests again and again, he moved Duke Rong and the entire Duke Rong's Mansion, and was able to finally get married to Chen Yue.
However, less than a year after getting married, Chen Yue suddenly became mentally retarded... because he was demoted to the status of a craftsman!
"Who are you? Where is this place?"
"Madam? Why, aren't you ashamed? I'm only seven years old!"
"Old man, send me back to the Duke of Rong's Mansion quickly, or else if Dad finds out, you'll be dead!"
“…”
This was Chen Yue's condition before the officers and soldiers arrived at the Imperial Observatory.
If Chen Yue survived, she would be sent to a brothel, and with her young mind, she would have to endure unimaginable nightmares.
They may even be indoctrinated with ideas that match their identity, becoming a completely different person.
So Du Qianchuan killed her with his own hands.
"And all this..."
A low roar that didn't sound like a human voice came out of Du Qianchuan's throat, "Just a warning? Just a warning?"
"Yes, it was just a warning... a warning to me to be his obedient dog and help him manage Daqing. It was also a warning to me not to meddle in other people's affairs the next time a natural disaster strikes."
Lou Youzhi laughed at himself, "Now, I am also warning you, go back, pretend you know nothing, and spend your old age in peace in Zhaoma."
"Hehehehe..."
Du Qianchuan stared at Lou Youzhi with his scarlet eyes, "Don't provoke me. You led me to investigate so much and told me the truth bit by bit. Aren't you sure that I won't give up? Tell me, what are your plans?"
“It’s not really a plan.”
Lou Youzhi shook his head. "I only have a vague guess as to why Your Majesty must let the victims die. I need to verify this guess before I can truly formulate a plan."
"What's the end of this plan?"
Du Qianchuan asked.
“It’s unpredictable.”
Lou Youzhi raised his lips , "If it were me, I would probably die."
Du Qianchuan was silent for a moment, "What do you need me to do?"
"I need your life..."
Lou Youzhi spoke slowly.
Du Qianchuan's pupils gradually shrank into needle points.
Lou Youzhi did not urge him and waited quietly for Du Qianchuan to make fun of him.
After a long while, Du Qianchuan laughed, looking very happy: "To be able to stain Tianji Palace with blood, throughout the ages, I am the only one who has this honor."
"After you die, I will bury you and Chen Yue together."
Lou Youzhi looked at Du Qianchuan and said seriously.
"!!!"
Du Qianchuan raised his head suddenly, "Chen Yue's corpse..."
"Outside of town, near the north of the ranch."
Lou Youzhi nodded, "The monument has not been erected yet."
"That's enough. That's enough."
Du Qianchuan suddenly turned his back and said in a trembling voice, "She and I have no relatives alive, so why do we need a tombstone?"
"Haha, don't worry."
"My last wish has been fulfilled, so what if I can be your chess piece for once?"
…
…
After most of the systems in Daqing were improved, court meetings were divided into two types.
One is the grand court meeting, which is held once a month. All officials in Beijing above the seventh rank must attend, while those below the seventh rank can choose to attend depending on whether they have memorials to the emperor or not. It is held in the Tianji Hall or the square outside the hall.
The other is the small court meeting, which is held once every seven days and is usually attended by the chief officials of the cabinet, six ministries, five temples, two academies and one court, and is held in the Tianji Hall.
During the Yongtai period, as the emperor ignored state affairs, in addition to the various court meetings, there was another court meeting, which was held by the cabinet in the east side hall of the Tianji Palace. The cabinet was responsible for drafting, approving, and stamping the documents, and Emperor Qing no longer interfered with them.
Whether it was a big court meeting or a small court meeting, the only two purposes left were reporting and impeachment.
This grand court meeting was no exception.
Inside and outside the Tianji Hall, officials from the capital at all levels were standing there, waiting for the court meeting to end in boredom.
It took a full two hours to complete the report on all the major and minor matters handled this month.
Lou Youzhi's voice came out from Tianji Hall: "If you have anything to say, please submit it. If not, please leave the court."
This sentence was originally shouted by the eunuchs of the Imperial Household Department, but after Emperor Yongtai ignored state affairs, it was done by Lou Youzhi.
Basically, when this sentence is uttered, it means the end of the court meeting.
All the civil and military officials breathed a sigh of relief and felt cheerful.
At this moment, an extremely inappropriate voice sounded from the end of the official team, spread across the square and into the Tianji Hall.
"minister!"
"Former Director of the Imperial Observatory, Director of the Ministry of Personnel's Office of Selection and Purification, and now Director of the Ministry of Revenue's Office of Prosecutors, Du Qianchuan - I have a memorial to submit!"
Du Qianchuan stepped out and faced countless impatient gazes without fear.
"Present it to the palace."
Lou Youzhi's words came out.
Du Qianchuan started to walk.
With determination, with pride, with sadness.
While walking, he recited loudly.
"Your Highness Du Qianchuan, respectfully reports:
In the eighth year of Yongtai, the sea in Binzhou boiled.
In the ninth year of Yongtai, the Taiping Dao caused chaos in Yongzhou.
In the tenth year of Yongtai, the Left Governor of Yongzhou was assassinated by rebels, and the post of Left Governor remained vacant for more than seven months.
In the eleventh year of Yongtai, Fengyang Prefecture, Yongzhou..."
Du Qianchuan walked very slowly. He took a step forward and had said several words by the time he landed.
All the officials watched and listened in confusion, trying to figure out Du Qianchuan's intention.
"Until the 19th year of Yongtai, the number and duration of vacancies of officials in Yongzhou in Daqing were the highest among the 30 provinces!"
“And then in April, the sky was full of flying locusts!”
All the officials gradually frowned.
They could hear the hidden meaning in Du Qianchuan's words... Maybe the natural disaster was related to the shortage of officials?
Is this possible?
"In the 42nd year of Wenchang, there was a drought in Bingzhou."
"In the 43rd year of Wenchang, the prefect of Wulong Prefecture in Binzhou defected to the Taiping Dao, leaving the prefecture vacant nearly a year."
"In the forty-seventh year of Wenchang, the commander-in-chief of Binzhou died from the backlash of his inner demon..."
"The forty-nineth year of Wenchang..."
"The fifty-first year of Wenchang..."
“…”
"In the eighth year of Yongtai, the sea in Binzhou is boiling!"
The officials began to look surprised.
And Du Qianchuan continued.
"In the seventeenth year of Wenchang, Yunzhou suffered from floods."
"In the eighteenth year of Wenchang... In the forty-second year of Wenchang, there was a drought in Bingzhou!"
"In the thirty-sixth year of Jingsheng, there was an earthquake in Gunzhou."
"In the thirty-seventh year of Jingsheng... In the seventeenth year of Wenchang, Yunzhou was hit by a flood!"
“…”
Natural disasters occur time and time again, and the shortage of officials is the largest time and time again.
Every time Du Qianchuan cited a case, the eyes of the officials became brighter.
Even corrupt and evil officials were thinking about the same question at this moment.
If the place where a natural disaster will strike can be predicted, wouldn't it be possible to take precautions in the future and minimize the losses?
Thinking of this, all the officials looked at Du Qianchuan with envy and jealousy.
What good luck!
If this discovery can be confirmed, one will surely be remembered in history, and will be awarded a high position and generous salary, which can be said to be both fame and fortune!
Unfortunately, Du Qianchuan suddenly changed the subject and repeated the examples he had listed before in reverse order.
But this time, there was no information about official vacancies, but there was information about the amount of grain stored in various places and the number of population changes.
"In the 19th year of Zhengfeng, Daqing had 8.8 million shi of grain in reserve, and Leizhou had a population of 19 million."
"In the 20th year of Zhengfeng, there was a skyfire in Leizhou."
"At the end of the 20th year, the population of Leizhou will be reduced to 12 million, and Daqing's grain reserves... still have 6 million shi!"
As soon as the words fell, all the officials changed color!
Before the natural disaster, there were 8.8 million shi of grain in reserve. After the disaster, there were only 6 million shi left, while the population of Leizhou dropped sharply by 7 million...
These eight characters, 'There is food but no use, there is disaster but no relief', appeared in everyone's mind, like a loud bell, shocking them into a trance.
They instinctively wanted to doubt, but as Du Qianchuan continued speaking, they had to start believing even if they didn't want to.
"…In the 41st year of Wenchang, the population of Bingzhou was over 16 million, and the total grain reserves of the 30 provinces amounted to 14 million shi."
"In the 42nd year of Wenchang, there was a drought in Bingzhou."
"By the end of the 42nd year, the population of Bingzhou was less than 8 million, and the grain reserves of the 30 provinces... still amounted to 12.4 million shi!"
Du Qianchuan climbed up the stairs, and his voice echoed inside and outside the Tianji Palace.
"In the eighth year of Yongtai, the sea in Binzhou was boiling. In just half a month, the population dropped by 70%."
"As for the remaining 30%, almost all of them survived because of the timely disaster relief provided by the imperial court!"
"All of the above comes from the records of natural disasters by the Imperial Observatory, the appointments and dismissals of the Ministry of Personnel, and the revenue and expenditure of various places by the Ministry of Revenue. They are all well documented!"
"From this we can see that it is not that Daqing is unable to provide disaster relief, but that the previous emperors were unwilling to do so!"
Du Qianchuan stood at the entrance of Tianji Hall, held his head high and stepped inside.
"I, Du Qianchuan, impeach the previous emperors Wenchang, Jingsheng... Zhengfeng, etc. for the crime of plotting to murder the people!"
Quiet.
The entire Tianji Palace, inside and outside, fell into deathly silence.
Everyone's brain felt dizzy and their ears were buzzing.
Impeach the late emperor???
This is not the way to seek death, right?!
So what if the late emperor murdered all the people?
They are all dead, why impeach them?
Du Qianchuan, after his wife died, has he become stupid?
All the officials were doubting their lives, and Du Qianchuan's next words almost made them unable to stand.
"Your Majesty, I beg you to..."
"Remove his honorific posthumous title and expel him from the Imperial Ancestral Temple to provide peace to the souls of the millions of innocent victims!!!"