Heirs of the Seven Swords of the Qin Dynasty

Chapter 1983 The Seven Stars of Azure Dragon (Thirty)
"Have you confirmed all this?"

Ying Zheng sat behind the desk, reacting indifferently to everything Zhao Gao said. He showed no emotion at all, and just asked again calmly.

Zhao Gao weighed his words carefully and did not dare to exaggerate. He replied truthfully, "Your Majesty, I can only confirm that the eldest prince loves the people like his own children and has indeed provided relief to the people as mentioned above."

"But it's hard to say whether the supplies we found are really the food and clothing used by the eldest son... Even if it is confirmed that the latter did come from the former, it is difficult to prove that the latter is all of the former."

"Can't you find out more?" Ying Zheng asked calmly.

Zhao Gao replied in fear and trepidation, "Your Majesty, please forgive me for my incompetence."

Even if he could find out the truth of this matter, it would be impossible for him to do so.

It's better to be vague.

If it is not clear, the emperor will be able to associate and guess, and there will be endless possibilities.

Of course, Zhao Gao really couldn't find a suitable breakthrough to find out the truth for a while - this matter involved Fusu, and it was not something he could just say. There had to be enough reliable evidence for Ying Zheng to accept it.

If he could really find out the truth behind it, he would definitely report it directly to Ying Zheng - after all, the level was so high that Ying Zheng could hardly imagine it.

"Keep investigating." Ying Zheng didn't care about Zhao Gao's 'incompetence' and said in a calm tone, "You still have a lot of time."

They are now in Taiyuan, and Fusu is in Shangjun. According to the plan of the eastern tour, there are Yanmen, Yunzhong, Jiuyuan, and parts of Xinqinzhong County (that is, Henan) in between, and then they will enter Shangjun.

Such a long journey would take at least three months.

Before the northern tour convoy left Shangjun Fushi, Zhao Gao could report any truth he found out to Ying Zheng.

Of course, if the facts are discovered later, they can be reported, and it is impossible for Ying Zheng to just let the matter go after the convoy passed Shangjun.

It’s just that Zhao Gao’s contribution may not be that great, or it may not be considered a contribution at all.

Timeliness is sometimes very important.

Zhao Gao knew it well, so he responded and left with satisfaction.

Whether he can find out anything or not is another matter. What is enough is that Ying Zheng is willing to let him continue investigating.

The trouble of quicksand is inevitable!

After Zhao Gao left, Ying Zheng buried his head in his papers, concentrating on looking at the volumes of documents on the table.

Soon, another person came into the room, a person covered in a black robe.

"What do you say?" Ying Zheng asked without raising his head.

The black-robed man nodded slightly and replied, "Zhao Gao's investigation is basically correct, but it's not comprehensive enough."

"Did you gain anything else?" Ying Zheng asked casually, seemingly nonchalant.

The black-robed man immediately replied, "I found out that not long ago, a large amount of mysterious goods from Taiyuan was sent to the Hedong area, but no one knows where it went."

"I have tried my best to trace it, and I can only roughly confirm that the supplies were sent to Dongjun or several surrounding counties further east, such as Jibei, Dangjun, and Xuejun."

"As for the specific recipient, it's hard to say because I can't confirm whether it's the final destination or a transit point."

"Besides that, there is one more thing. The military equipment of the Northern Border Army was expanded and refurbished not long ago. However, there is no problem with the military expenditure. It seems to be just a normal replacement and update."

All military equipment, including weapons and protective gear, will wear out and be consumed. They will be damaged during battle and during routine training. They all need to be replaced and replenished regularly.

The Northern Frontier Army's weapons update this time was a bit abrupt, but the scale was relatively small. It was a reasonable and compliant operation and there seemed to be no problem.

In fact, Ying Zheng knew about this matter - Meng Tian must report to the emperor if he updates the army's equipment.

Of course, this is just a small-scale equipment update, so it does not need to be approved by Ying Zheng before it can be implemented. It can be implemented first and then reported, and it is enough to inform the emperor about this matter.

In fact, Ying Zheng didn't really care about this matter before.

The man in black robe suddenly mentioned this, and he was a little surprised:

"has a problem?"

Although the man in black robe said "I don't see any problem", if there really was no problem, he would not have mentioned this matter.

"I'm still checking the details. It seems to be fine at the moment, but it feels a little too coincidental." The man in black robe replied calmly.

Coincidence is a very delicate topic for people like them.

On the one hand, anyone with a normal brain has to admit that there are many coincidences in this world, as if they are a joke of fate.

On the other hand, we have to admit that many people like to use coincidence as an excuse to do sneaky things.

For ordinary people, it is better to have less things to do than more, but for extraordinary people, it is better to have more things to do than less things to do.

Therefore, people who work in intelligence tend to doubt all coincidences.

The black-robed man's suspicion on this matter is also a professional habit.

Ying Zheng's suspicion was not serious - mainly because he was generally not afraid of anything, not afraid of rebellion, nor afraid of anyone plotting something bad - he would not doubt everything, and he did not have the professional habit of the black-robed man.

In response to his statement, Ying Zheng asked, "Apart from coincidence, is there any other reason?"

"One thing." The black-robed man nodded, "The source of this batch of new weapons and equipment replaced by General Meng Tian seems to be problematic."

Meng Tian was not very familiar with the matter of cooking the books, but he was not completely unfamiliar with it either.

As the saying goes, if the cook does not steal, the crops will not be harvested.

Every profession has its own little survival tricks, most of which are not acceptable or even illegal.

As a general, the most common thing he did was naturally to collect salaries without doing anything.

However, the laws of the empire are strict and their enforcement is quite strict, so basically no one would do something as conspicuous as drawing a salary without working.

Meng Tian would not be so despicable as to make money in this way.

But he is not a saint, and he will still take some money when it is necessary.

The main source of his money is this military equipment.

Since ancient times, managing materials has been a lucrative job with a lot to do.

Even if it does not affect the combat effectiveness of the army at all, there is still a lot of money to be made.

There was no such thing as a financial budget in the empire, or in other words, there was basically no such thing as a financial budget for the next two thousand years of the imperial system.

The various government departments of the empire spent money lavishly, and no one would pursue the issue as long as the figures roughly matched when the accounts were checked later.

This is not official corruption, it is forced by reality.

In this era, who has the ability to really calculate the funds needed for each government department and each policy?

For a project, how many people are needed to start the work, how much materials are needed to complete it, how many people need to be mobilized during the transportation process, what is the loss, how much is the material price... If you want to calculate it clearly, just wait for the calculation.

In the end, maybe the little money saved won't be enough to pay the salaries of those who do the accounting.

So it's generally acceptable, as long as the numbers are not too outrageous, and everyone works together to maintain the normal operation of the entire court, which means they are all very responsible - just like the term "fire consumption" in later generations, it is an inevitable unspoken rule.

Meng Tian was a nobleman who valued his reputation and had integrity. He always tried to control the "fire consumption" within a reasonable range, and then took the lion's share, while the people below him shared the smaller share. The officials of the empire, especially those in the central court, were basically the same in this regard.

There are many ways to make money, there is no need to lose face for it.

Of course, another important reason is that money is not very important to officials.

Money is different from money.

For example, there is a world of difference between the money of the Qin Dynasty and the money of the Qing Dynasty.

The difference is not in the money itself, but in what the money can do.

As the saying goes, money makes the world go round, but if you want to find someone to push the mill, you can use money to solve the problem, but if you want to find someone to reach the moon, money is not the solution.

The empire's commodity economy simply did not exist because the variety of goods was scarce.

It is enough to supply the daily needs of ordinary people, but it is not enough for the upper class.

What’s the point of having money if there are no attractive enough products?

Of course, sometimes, money may go beyond its usefulness as a general equivalent and can achieve purposes beyond the act of "purchasing".

But for imperial officials, such things can be accomplished more reasonably and easily by relying on their power.

Therefore, money is just a useless tool for them to buy things legally, but they often cannot buy any satisfactory products.

There is demand, but the demand is average.

Let’s get back to the topic.

Meng Tian arranged for his men to forge reasonable sources for the military equipment and supplies sent to Han Fei as much as possible, but these kinds of supplies were very sensitive, and basically, they were things that the public did not need to trade, and were not even allowed to be privately owned.

It is difficult to find a reasonable source for such a large amount of military supplies out of nowhere.

Meng Tian could only try his best to make up for it, and for the parts that he really had no choice but to conceal the source as much as possible.

As long as no one traced the matter back to Han Fei or Liusha, he would still have room to fool others even if they found out about the problem.

For such sensitive materials, it is problematic if the source cannot be clearly explained, but if it is made clear, the problem will only become more serious.

After hearing the black-robed man clearly point out the problem, Ying Zheng looked calm, but his hands paused unconsciously, and he replied with a slightly fluctuating tone:
"Then you should continue to investigate and find out what they are trying to do."

The man in black robe left the room quietly without saying a word.

Ying Zheng was the only one left in the room again.

He stopped what he was doing, raised his hand and rubbed his eyebrows, only to feel waves of pain in his head.

His migraine was showing signs of flaring up.

However, Ying Zheng had no intention of taking the medicine, but just held on.

Ying Zheng was not afraid of seeing a doctor, nor did he reject the elixirs offered by the Yin-Yang School. He rarely had any reservations when taking medicine.

But now that Gu Xun is missing, he becomes more dependent on pills and is no longer willing to take pills casually to relieve his headaches.

After a long while, Ying Zheng got used to the pain in his head and began to think carefully about the various abnormalities in the north.

Based on the current situation, no particularly clear conclusion can be drawn.

In the final analysis, it is nothing more than quicksand, or the faction of the eldest son has a large amount of material exchanges in the northern counties.

This matter is sensitive, but it is also not sensitive.

It is an indisputable fact that the development and growth of the Northland in recent years is inseparable from the full support of Liusha.

They run all kinds of businesses and industries in the north. It can be said that except for the monopoly industries that are expressly authorized to be operated and managed by the imperial court, all other businesses are like quicksand - either they dominate or they participate.

Therefore, it is normal for Liusha to transport large quantities of materials to and from various counties in the north.

The dangerous thing is that over the past year or so, the materials circulating in the northern counties seem to have been deliberately concealed or kept secret, and even their whereabouts are unclear.

This is a dangerous sign.

Ying Zheng couldn't help but hesitate about this.

He was not worried about changes in the North that were beyond his control, but he did not want this to happen.

The key point is that Gu Xun is not here now, so he cannot be sure how many secrets are hidden behind this, or in other words... how big the secret is.

Except for Gu Xun, Ying Zheng did not take the other members of Liusha seriously - it was not that he looked down on them, but as an emperor, the others were indeed not qualified to face him directly.

The only exception is Liusha's theoretical big backer, the empire's eldest prince Fusu.

As the emperor's son, he is naturally qualified to face his biological father directly.

But for Ying Zheng, he had two different attitudes and two different ways of dealing with things when facing Gu Xun and when facing Fusu.

As for Gu Xun, Ying Zheng would directly take the initiative to find him for a chat. He would not make things too clear, but would point out what needed to be said in order to observe Gu Xun's reaction and thus judge Gu Xun's attitude or thoughts.

Ying Zheng was more passive towards Fusu. He would not take the initiative to ask his son for an explanation or statement, but would just wait for the result.

Whether he is satisfied with the result or not will determine his attitude towards Fusu in the end.

From the bottom of his heart, Ying Zheng hoped that the final outcome would satisfy him - he did hate those parts of Fusu's character that were completely different from his biological father, but he also did love this eldest son.

………………

The situation in the north is gradually deteriorating in a very dangerous direction, and on the other side the farmers' rebellion plans are also encountering many twists and turns.

Previously, Chen Sheng asked Zhang Liang to tell Tian Yan that they must see the other party's sincerity, otherwise they would give up cooperation.

As for Zhang Liang, he didn't convey the message for them at all. After a while, he just gave a nonchalant reply in the name of A Yan.

It wasn't that he meant to cause trouble, but even if he conveyed the truth to A Yan, the response he would get would be similar.

He simply didn't bother to go through this anymore.

In the final analysis, it’s all about the hustle and bustle and profit.

Up to now, this matter has never crossed the line of interest cooperation and has not extended to the level of a stance issue.

Without involving their positions, it would be impossible for Chen Sheng and Wu Kuang to completely fall out with Tian Yan, and everyone still had to come to the point of "talk".

When it comes to matters of interest, the outcome can ultimately be determined by the size of the interests.

What you say verbally at the moment is not important.

Zhang Liang saved himself the trouble, but Chen Sheng and Wu Kuang were so angry about his reply that they almost died.

What makes them most frustrated is that even if they are furious, they can't do anything.

Yes, they immediately told Zhang Liang that they were going their separate ways and the cooperation came to nothing, but everyone knew whether the matter had failed or not.

Even someone with a hot temper like Chen Sheng knew that there were many things that could not be done on impulse or based on his likes and dislikes.

Their statement of terminating cooperation can only be regarded as suspension in fact, and there is always the possibility of mending the relationship and restarting cooperation.