Empress: Your Majesty, please respect yourself, I don't want to be promoted

After reacting, his face couldn't help but look a little weird.

He is only a seventh-rank county magistrate, and he is also a criminal official, wearing a criminal body, while Fang Ping is a dignified second-rank high-ranking official, a veteran of three dynasties who is famous all over the world!

Such a person actually used the condescending word "ask for advice" to him?

Shaking his head, Xia Yan didn't think much. He just cupped his hands towards Fang Ping and said, "Master Fang said something serious. I don't think I should take it seriously. If you have any questions, just ask me directly. I will never hide anything."

Fang Ping smiled slightly.

"No wonder Lu Gaishi will fight for you to prove your innocence even at the risk of giving up his future. Magistrate Xia is indeed a humble, respectful and sincere gentleman..."

Hearing this, Xia Yan couldn't help but look at Lu Chen with a complicated expression, and then shook his head.

"Master Fang, you are so complimentary. I cannot trust Lu Guishi, nor can I be worthy of Master Fang's high praise."

"No, you deserve it!"

Fang Ping said decisively.

As he spoke, he suddenly raised his hand and then waved it.

Following his movements, a four or five square meter screen of light suddenly appeared in the open space among the crowd.

Everyone subconsciously looked at the light curtain, only to see some simple text messages displayed on it——

On the seventh day of April in the first year of Shenghe... Chen Yuan, the left minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, received 4000 taels of silver from Xia Yantan, the magistrate of Yongchuan County, equivalent to four thousand guan of silver...

On June 23 of the first year of Shenghe... Lu Fang, the Minister of Civil Affairs, received 5000 taels of silver from Xia Yan, the magistrate of Yongchuan County, a pair of Ruyi jade, and a Guiling Pill, which was equivalent to about [-] taels of silver...

The eighth day of the first lunar month in the second year of Shenghe...

……

"Huh? This is..."

Everyone was stunned for a moment, and then quickly came to their senses.

"The ledger found in the Demon Queen's palace?"

A censor spoke, somewhat uncertainly.

These words reminded everyone at once.

So the time, place, people, treasures, converted money and other information mentioned above, aren't they the details of Xia Yan's bribery in the account books found in the Demon Queen's palace?

Many of the people present had seen the account book that served as a reminder for many of the Queen Mother's gang members. As ministers of Dali Temple and Minister of Punishment, Zhao Bingliang and Qian Yiqian were naturally no strangers to that account book.

Lu Chen was the court official who supervised the case. He had read the transcript of this account book many times and was very familiar with the records about Xia Yan.

These records also made Xia Yan a prison inmate of many of the Queen Mother's accomplices who were once very proud but were now imprisoned in the sky prison.

Looking at the familiar messages above, Lu Chen didn't realize there was anything wrong at first, but the more he looked down, the more he felt something was wrong.

At the same time, the uneasiness deep in my heart began to grow stronger.

At this time, Qian Yiqian's expression suddenly changed.

"This...does it mean..."

Disbelief gradually appeared on his face.

Seeing that everyone's attention was focused on the light screen, Fang Ping slowly walked towards Xia Yan with his hands behind his back.

While pacing, he stimulated the spiritual power in his body.

"Xia County Magistrate."

He stared at Xia Yan with sharp eyes and said word by word: "Please explain why the total amount of illicit money you paid as bribes to the greedy Demon Queen's gang members who brought trouble to the imperial court is different from the total amount of illegal gains you made from corruption, bribery, and plunder." , will it be basically the same?”

The moment the voice fell, a line of text suddenly appeared on the light screen at the bottom of all the stolen money details:

Total stolen money: 15 taels!

It is actually almost the same as the total amount of stolen money that Xia Yan and Fang Ping checked just now, and it is even [-] more than Xia Yan's corruption gains in the past few years!

Is this normal?

Obviously very abnormal!

As soon as Fang Ping asked this question, except for Qian Yiqian and a few censors, everyone else looked confused almost at the same time.

"The amount of bribes given and received is basically the same...basically the same...basically the same..."

Lu Chen muttered it repeatedly for a while, and then his eyes suddenly widened.

"Fuck!!"

He is not stupid, he has fully reacted at this time.

'Nima!The amount of bribes received is less than the amount of bribes given. Even a fool would not engage in such a loss-making business, right?If you can do this, what kind of corrupt official is that? ! '

Thinking of this, Lu Chen felt that his extremely powerful heart was trampled by ten thousand grass and mud horses in an instant.

My heart began to ache again.

'I was stabbed in the back again? ! '

At the same time, Qian Yiqian looked at Lu Chen with an ugly face, a hint of gloom quietly flashed in his eyes, while Zhao Bingliang clenched his fists fiercely.

Neither of them looked very good-looking.

poof...

Only a soft sound was heard, but after Hu Yan reacted, he became unstable and fell directly to the ground.

At this time, how could he still have the confidence he had before?

His face was extremely pale, and there was an indescribable fear in his eyes when he looked at Xia Yan.

Finished!

Chapter 51 The place of righteousness

Not many people noticed Hu Yan's strangeness.

In other words, the people present no longer have the energy to care about a small criminal official. At this time, they were all immersed in Fang Ping's loud questioning.

Yes, why is the amount of money Xia Yan embezzled lower than the amount of bribes?

In their view, although almost every scholar despises merchants and discriminates against their behavior, who among officials is not good at calculating, and who would do business at a loss?

Corrupt officials are bound to exist.

In this Great Xia Dynasty, if an official had money, he would not only be able to enjoy a sufficient supply of materials while having the status of a master, but also have more opportunities to obtain the resources needed for cultivation and further advance his cultivation. Then you will get more opportunities to be promoted. After being promoted, you can not only further touch the general trend of the world, help improve your cultivation, but also further seize resources.

This is a virtuous circle.

Of course, a monk's cultivation is also linked to his own character, talent, and learning. It is not the only way to accumulate cultivation resources through money collection.

Moreover, monks who rely on their own talents and popularity to grow have a more solid foundation, a deeper foundation, and a higher upper limit.

For example, 700 years ago, in the Tang Empire, where "nine heavens closed the palaces and all the nations worshiped them in beautiful clothes", there was an unparalleled talent who relied on his extremely high talent to understand the world and became a sub-sage with his poetry. That was The legendary poet Li Taibai, the Immortal of Poetry, who left more than a hundred stunning works for future generations.

But after all, not every monk has the opportunity to pursue the illusory path of the Immortal Saint.

Origin, talent, opportunity, etc. cannot be equal.

Since there is a shortcut, someone will naturally take it.

But they couldn't understand Xia Yan's mysterious operation at all.

The so-called talent and learning refers to talent and knowledge. Xia Yan must not have achieved much in terms of talent. After all, I have never heard of him having any good works. He must not have any talent in poetry, calligraphy and painting, and his knowledge is mediocre. Otherwise, how could he be living in a county? Should the earth be the parent and official of hundreds of thousands of people?

As for the popularity, I don’t know about this, but this person comes from a poor family, and is not a child of a wealthy family, nor a disciple of a famous scholar, and has attracted a group of well-known local wealthy families and wealthy businessmen in Yongchuan to jointly appeal, so the popularity should not be much better. .

Therefore, it stands to reason that he should be a corrupt official.

However, after Fang Ping's reminder, everyone quickly realized that there was something fishy about the case.

No corrupt official would do business at a loss.

Bribing Shangguan is a routine operation, which is not a problem. If he does not bribe Shangguan, Xia Yan will not be the county magistrate for long, and there will not be much chance to make money.

However, the amount of money bribed to the superior is more than what one earns, which is putting the cart before the horse and contradicting itself.

Xia Yan's behavior can't be explained by using the term "corrupt officials".

Because it would do him no good at all.

If you don't do it for the benefit of being a corrupt official, then what else can you do for it?He doesn't owe Shangguan anything.

This is indeed a big doubt!

And after paying so much money in bribes, he hasn't been promoted in six years?

For a moment, everyone began to frown and think.

As the person involved, Xia Yan's expression became increasingly complicated at this time.

He reluctantly raised his head and met Fang Ping's imposing eyes. However, he did not speak immediately to answer Fang Ping's question, but hesitated for the first time.

Yes, hesitate.

When faced with the questioning of Zhao Bingliang and Qian Yiqian just now, he confessed straightforwardly and without any hesitation. However, when faced with Fang Ping's questioning, which was obviously beneficial to him, he refused to speak. , obviously hesitating.

It seemed that he did not expect that Fang Ping's focus was not on whether he had committed corruption or bribery, but on the amount of bribery.

"Why? Is this question difficult to answer?"

Seeing that Xia Yan remained silent, Fang Ping was not only not annoyed, but also showed a smile.

"Do you need me to help you answer this?"

Hearing this, Xia Yan knew that he could no longer pretend to be deaf and dumb.

He smiled bitterly and said, "Master Fang, why are you doing this? Corruption and bribery are corruption and bribery. No matter what the reason is, no matter what the secrets are, or what the reasons are, the crimes of corruption and bribing superiors for personal gain committed by me are all facts."

"As the saying goes, the law has no mercy. Since the law has been violated, the punishment must be clearly defined, so as to warn future generations not to repeat the same mistakes. Otherwise, if the guilty are impunity and the offenders are allowed to go unpunished, future generations may follow the same example. If you paralyze yourself with so-called hardships and then use it to excuse yourself after the incident, where is the national law? How can the people be safe?"

"Therefore, this case must not be opened, otherwise there will be endless troubles!"

Hearing this, Fang Ping couldn't help but be startled, and then gradually became moved.

At the same time, the smile on his face that had a chance of winning suddenly disappeared, and his gaze on Xia Yan became deeper.

It's amazing that Xia Yan can still say such words at such a time...