The Kingdom That Never Sleeps CH 061 Being Scolded
The sky had just cleared for a day before torrential rain began pouring down from the north again.
The sound of raindrops pounded against the ground, filling the air with the earthy scent of damp soil. On the streets of Cizhou City, few pedestrians ventured out, as the heavy rain had driven the commoners indoors, keeping them off the streets. A black stallion charged out from the main gate of the governor's office, galloping through the city gates, its hooves splashing through puddles of rainwater.
Ji Zhi, the chief censor of the Cizhou Inspection Delegation, was in the main hall of the government office, handing a letter to a messenger and instructing him to deliver it swiftly to Shengjing. He then resumed discussions with the other officials about the current situation.
From the city tower, Xu Linghou, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, watched the horse and rider leave the city gate and sighed softly, his voice distant: "That was a fast horse from the governor’s office. Xie daren, it seems the censors have uncovered something."
Standing beside him was Xie Cheng, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works.
Xu Linghou and Xie Cheng were the only third-rank officials in Cizhou City, and the highest-ranking ones at that.
Upon hearing this, Xie Cheng glanced at Xu Linghou and said, "Does Xu daren have some insight? I had not imagined that someone would embezzle funds in the Jing River affair. This wasn’t actually a natural disaster; it was man-made!"
Xu Linghou turned his head to look at him. "Oh? Xie daren knows something?"
Xie Cheng chuckled. "And what does Xu daren know?"
The two men stared at each other for a long moment before exchanging smiles, though neither smile reached their eyes.
The rain poured down in torrents, with no sign of stopping.
That night, Tang Shen returned to the posthouse. He lit a candle and pulled out a blank letter paper, beginning to write down his observations from the past three days. In the dead of night, he retrieved a token personally given to him by Zhao Fu and secretly sent the letter away.
When Tang Shen returned to his room, he happened to run into Ji Zhi.
Ji daren stood in the courtyard, looking up at Tang Shen. When their eyes met, Tang Shen knew that Ji Zhi wasn’t there by coincidence—he had been waiting for him for some time. After a moment of silence, Tang Shen stepped forward. "Ji daren."
Ji Zhi asked, "Tang daren, did you just send something out?"
Tang Shen was silent for a long time before replying, "No, I just went to the kitchen to get something to eat."
Ji Zhi said, "Tang daren, by now, you must have realized that we are standing at a crucial turning point. The danger in Cizhou City is far greater than we anticipated, and the waters run deeper than we imagined. I urge you to look closely at everything and not allow petty villains to deceive His Majesty."
Tang Shen stared at Ji Zhi but didn’t speak.
The stern and rigid sixth-rank censor gave a polite bow. "Farewell."
Due to the heavy rain, the waters of the Jing River surged even more violently. The officials and craftsmen sent to investigate the river had all returned to Cizhou City. The remaining officials in the city were aware of the issues with the bridge foundation and had mostly guessed that someone had embezzled funds. In private, Ji Zhi sought out Xu Linghou, and the two of them held a secret conversation behind closed doors for four hours.
When Xu Linghou left the room, his expression was grim. He looked back at the closed door behind him, angrily flicked his sleeve, and stormed off.
In Cizhou City, life continued as usual for the commoners, but the officials were on edge.
The sky was thick with dark clouds, and whether it was psychological or not, the officials felt as though the oppressive sky was weighing on them. That day, when Tang Shen returned to the posthouse to rest, he suddenly heard a noise in the pitch-black room. Startled, he reached for the dagger beneath his pillow while opening his eyes, alert to the sounds around him.
He heard the window being gently pushed open, and then the faint sound of footsteps as someone climbed in.
In the next moment, Tang Shen was about to shout, but the intruder moved swiftly, covering his mouth and nose. The intruder’s hand was cold, still carrying the chill of the rain outside, and their palm was icy to the bone. Tang Shen widened his eyes and drew his dagger, attempting to stab the intruder. The intruder let out a surprised "huh" before swiftly striking Tang Shen’s wrist, causing him to wince in pain and drop the dagger to the ground.
"It’s me. Don’t make a sound."
Tang Shen was startled: …Su Wenyun?
"Promise me you won’t make a sound, and I’ll let go. Nod if you agree."
Tang Shen nodded.
Su Wenyun released his hand.
"Su daren?"
"En."
Tang Shen sat up in bed, grabbing a cloak to drape over his shoulders. "Su daren, sneaking into my room in the middle of the night—is something the matter?" As he spoke, Tang Shen moved toward the table, intending to light the lamp. Su Wenyun immediately stopped him. "Don’t light the lamp."
Tang Shen was surprised. "Su daren?"
Su Wenyun took out a palm-sized luminous pearl from his sleeve. He pulled Tang Shen back to the bed and carefully lowered the bed curtains. The glow of the pearl was soft and steady, not as bright as candlelight but bright enough to see clearly up close. After lowering the two layers of curtains, Tang Shen and Su Wenyun sat on the bed, the pearl’s glow illuminating their faces.
It was only then that Tang Shen noticed Su Wenyun’s face was also covered in rainwater.
His complexion was pale, his lips devoid of color, and his hair was soaked with rain, clinging to his cheeks. In the dim light of the pearl, there was an eerie yet striking beauty about him.
Tang Shen remained silent.
Su Wenyun smiled. "Someone breaks into your room in the middle of the night, pulls you onto the bed, and closes the curtains. Tang daren, don’t you find it strange? If someone barged in right now, what explanation would we have?"
Tang Shen retorted, "Why don’t you just tell me what you came here for, Su daren?"
"How boring." Su Wenyun sneered and pulled out a damp, thick ledger from his robe. When Tang Shen saw the cover of the ledger, he was shocked. He stared at Su Wenyun in disbelief. Su Wenyun said, "That’s right, it’s exactly what you think. This is the hidden double-entry ledger."
"How did you get this!"
"I risked my life to get it."
When Su Wenyun said this, his tone was calm, as if he were merely making a casual remark. However, Tang Shen’s sharp eyes noticed a bloodstain on his collar. "Su daren, you’re hurt?"
Su Wenyun pulled at his collar. "It’s not my blood. Tang daren, would you like to take a look at the ledger?"
Tang Shen hesitated for a moment before Su Wenyun handed him the ledger, which he accepted.
As Tang Shen began flipping through the pages, his expression grew increasingly serious. He quickly skimmed the ledger, finishing it in about a quarter of an hour. When he looked up, he asked, "Su daren, is this real?"
"Is it real? Tang daren, don’t you already have the answer?"
Tang Shen remained silent.
It was real!
Every transaction in the ledger was meticulously recorded, and the expenditures matched perfectly. However, if the expenses were as listed in the ledger, it wasn’t just the bridge foundation—there was embezzlement in the sand, stone, and even the craftsmen’s meals! Four months ago, the court allocated 800,000 taels of silver to the construction of the Cizhou official road, and according to the ledger, a full 250,000 had been embezzled!
Closing the ledger, Tang Shen returned it to Su Wenyun.
"Su daren, why did you bring this ledger to me? With this in hand, finding the mastermind behind the corruption is only a matter of time. If Ji daren were to get this, I’m sure he could expose the officials involved within a month."
Su Wenyun asked, "Do you trust Ji Zhi?"
Tang Shen was taken aback.
Su Wenyun laughed mockingly. "Ji Zhi seems upright and righteous, doesn’t he? Five years ago, he took a concubine. That woman came from a respectable family and was already engaged to be married, but Ji Zhi took a liking to her and forcibly brought her into his household. Her family was poor, so Ji Zhi used money to settle the matter, making her his concubine without causing a stir, and no one impeached him for it. He’s just a sixth-rank official, yet he’s never short on money."
"How do you know about this?"
"Tang daren, I am the Junior Minister of the Court of Judicial Review."
Of all the officials in the court, none could hide their dirty secrets from Su Wenyun. If anyone else uncovered them, Su Wenyun would be the first to know.
Su Wenyun said, "His Majesty sent you here to uncover the truths that Ji Zhi wouldn’t reveal. In this vast city of Cizhou, Tang daren, only you and I are truly serving His Majesty."
After he finished speaking, Su Wenyun put away the luminous pearl, and drew back the bed curtains. As he got out of the bed, he suddenly laughed and said, "If someone barged in right now, the two of us might very well end up with blood splattered all over the place."
"That won't happen."
Su Wenyun turned his head to look at Tang Shen.
Tang Shen raised his bright eyes and said calmly, "I would say that you and I share a special 'affection for the same gender.'"
Su Wenyun froze.
After a long moment, Su Wenyun curled his thin lips into a smile. "Well then, it's fortunate no one barged in."
As he was leaving, Su Wenyun said, "Please report what you saw today to His Majesty, Tang daren. I'm counting on you." With that, Su Wenyun opened the window and slipped out quietly. Tang Shen carefully closed the window behind him, but as he was about to return to bed, he suddenly recalled that when Su Wenyun had left, his chest pocket had seemed empty, as if it wasn't containing the thick ledger.
Tang Shen was shocked. He fumbled around in the dark room for a long time, but the night was too dark, and he found nothing.
Tang Shen lay awake until dawn. As soon as the light broke, he carefully searched the room again. After searching for almost half an hour, he finally found a ledger tucked in the gap between the bookcase and the wall.
"Su Wenyun!"
Tang Shen was both angry and helpless.
He never could have imagined that Su Wenyun could be so shameless. Tang Shen had no idea where Su Wenyun had found this ledger, but one thing was certain—this was a dangerous item. In all of Cizhou, there must be many people searching for it, the very item Su Wenyun had risked his life to obtain. And yet, Su Wenyun had hidden it in Tang Shen's room.
"He's... using me as a scapegoat!"
Su Wenyun, the Junior Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, was indeed a cold-blooded and ruthless character.
Meanwhile, in Shengjing, hundreds of miles away.
At the morning court session, as the officials paid their respects, Zhao Fu ascended the throne and sat down slowly.
Before the officials could rise, Zhao Fu let out a cold snort. He grabbed a memorial from the purple sandalwood tray that Ji Fu was holding and forcefully threw it to the ground. The hard paper made a loud bang as it hit the cold stone floor. The memorial bounced a few times before landing in the third row, right beside Wang Zhen's feet.
Wang Zhen, holding his jade tablet, calmly lowered his gaze and glanced at the content exposed on the memorial.
The hall was dead silent.
Zhao Fu rose from the throne, pacing back and forth on the golden platform, occasionally glancing at the officials below. Suddenly, he smiled and said in a gentle tone, "All of you present here are the pillars of our great Song dynasty, the meritorious ministers of the realm. Half a year ago, I proposed construction of the official roads. You all told me the canals wouldn't work, and that only the roads could be possible. I agreed. I sent the Minister of Works and the vice ministers to the frontlines. How many high-ranking officials of the third and fourth ranks did I send, along with numerous lower-ranking officials, to undertake this monumental task?"
"Last night, Ji Zhi's memorial arrived, telling me that among the ministers I trusted with all my heart, some have embezzled funds!"
Zhao Fu chuckled. "Yuan Mu is in Youzhou, so I can't curse him directly. I can't point at his nose from a thousand miles away and scold him, asking how he's managing his subordinates. What has Right Vice Minister Xie Cheng of the Ministry of Works been doing in Cizhou? How could there be corruption under his watch, and he knew nothing about it? But as for the Minister of Revenue, Wang daren..."
Wang Zhen stepped forward, holding his jade tablet, his head bowed in silence.
Zhao Fu looked down at the top of Wang Zhen's head and smiled. "Zi Feng, raise your head."
Wang Zhen lifted his head, his refined and elegant face showing little emotion.
Zhao Fu paused for a moment, subtly signaled to Wang Zhen with his eyes, before suddenly erupting in anger: "Wang Zifeng, tell me, how is it that among the two third-ranked officials in Cizhou, Xu Linghou failed so miserably in his duties? You are the Minister of Revenue, and he is the Left Vice Minister. How could there be corruption right under your noses!" As Zhao Fu finished, he picked up another memorial and threw it at Wang Zhen. Wang Zhen did not dodge, and the memorial grazed his cheek, leaving a red mark.
"Get yourself to Cizhou, round up all the corrupt officials, and redeem yourself with merit!"
Zichen Hall was deathly quiet.
Everyone knew how much favor Zhao Fu had shown Wang Zhen, and now, with such an outburst, it was clear the emperor was truly furious.
Among the officials, not far ahead of Wang Zhen, stood a few top-ranking figures. One of them was Wang Quan, the Right Prime Minister, who was also Wang Zhen's paternal granduncle. Despite Zhao Fu's tirade, Wang Quan remained unmoved, his eyes lowered, looking at the floor with a calm and detached expression.
In the vast hall, Wang Zhen made a bow and said, "Yes, Your Majesty."
The next day, Minister of Revenue Wang Zhen departed for Cizhou.
From Shengjing to Cizhou, it would take a day on horseback without rest, but Wang Zhen and his retinue would need two to three days to arrive.
That day, Ji Zhi once again summoned several officials from the inspection team. However, just as Tang Shen was about to rise, Ji Zhi said softly, "Tang daren, don't bother moving."
Tang Shen looked up at him.
Ji Zhi continued, "Don't get too close to Su Wenyun, Tang daren. This is my final heartfelt advice."