Yin Yuan will not be taking this blame alone. The Emperor has never been good-tempered so he directly threw the evidences at him. If you want to do bad things, sure, be smart and do it secretly and discreetly. Who else is involved with you?

Yin Yuan was stunned. After reading what His Majesty threw over, his face turned pale. His first reaction was to defend himself, saying that he had no idea.

In reality, he really didn’t know anything as he didn’t personally take care of the affairs in his farm. As for the undocumented household, it is nothing new and everyone turns a blind eye to it. He is an adopted heir and didn’t create new tricks after inheriting his title!

Yin Yuan never thought that the people below him would commit murder to prevent the stateless from gaining citizenship! What’s more unexpected is that so many at Hu County is united and uses the simplest and crudest way to put an end to this matter!

He immediately admitted that he is guilty of not managing his household affairs well and subtly stated that the farms in Hu County were all managed by Yin Kaishan’s men. Therefore he didn’t ask too many questions, for fear that they will think that he is using his title against them to show off.  Anyway, he is weak, pitiful and helpless, and really knows nothing about it.

His Majesty’s face was gloomy.

This kingdom belongs to the Li family but his imperial decree is not being implemented. Those sitting or kneeling in front of him have their own selfish motives, what more the aristocratic families outside. In times like this the Emperor feels that he needs more talent who are not related to the aristocratic families.

But you can’t rush things.

Li Er listened calmly then asked Tang Jian to send men to follow Yin Yuan to deal with the matter properly. Spit out all the fields and hidden families. Punish those who needs to be punished according to the law. If anyone opposes to it, we deal with them like criminals too.

As for whether Yin Yuan will be punished or whether the selection of the 24 heroes will change, His Majesty didn’t say anything. Li Er probably wanted to wait until everything is settled.

Yin Yuan looked bitter and could only obediently follow Tang Jian to uncover his family’s illegal activities.

His Majesty did not hide news about this incident and news about the Yin family being interrogated quickly spread throughout Chang’an. Those with better information found out that this matter is related to Li Yuanying. Less than half a month in Hu County and he uncovers an unjust case involving several lives! The main culprit was the heir of Yin Kaishan, one of the 24 heroes!

Now everyone can’t help but to think much deeper.

Is there really a coincidence? How could Li Yuanying encounter such a big incident as soon as he visit? Was it arranged by His Majesty? Thinking deeper, why did His Majesty do this? Could it be that he is targeting the 24 heroes and wants them to confess their hidden assets?

No wonder His Majesty sent Li Yuanying to the Imperial Academy and for internship. He was just waiting for him to strike!

Now that they are at it, will the Emperor sent Li Yuanying to other family villages to uncover more dirt?

Many families were discussing this behind closed doors, sharing all kinds of conspiracy theories and all thinking that they have figure the Emperor’s thoughts figured out. The heart of a ruler is deep and unpredictable! Knowing well that Li Yuanying is the type of guy that dares to even offend the heavens and then sending him out to cause havoc, isn’t this because he is attracted by Li Yuanying’s character?

It’s just that the dirty trick of sending someone to your door step to trick you can only be used once. The next time, no one will be fooled again! As for now, let’s just wipe away  bitter tears for Yin Yuan. Who told him to have a brainless steward and a brainless county magistrate?

The brainless Xu Jingzong is now an ant in a hot pan. When he went to visit Li Yuanying, he was refused. And then more bad news came: the 3 Wu members were missing!

Wu Zhiyuan’s family is in mourning. Generally speaking, they shouldn’t go anywhere. How can they disappear into thin air? There is only one explanation: Li Yuanying knows and have sent someone to pick up Wu Zhiyuan’s family!

Xu Jingzong thought with a sullen face: “always failing, never succeeding!” He did not ask the county officer to kill Wu Zhiyuan’s father and brother but to just threaten them so that they wouldn’t dare speak of what happened at the Yin family village. Who would have thought that he was so cruel to make them “accidentally fall into water”? Now even more amazingly, he can’t even keep tabs on an orphan and a widowed mother!

The chief registrar asked worriedly: “County Lord, what should we do?”

What can Xu Jingzong do? He is just hoping that Li Yuanying doesn’t care about others and just listen to the whole incident as stories. At the same time, he also hoped that His Majesty and Wei Zheng  will hear about the rumors and quickly summon him back to Chang’an so that he can’t stay here and make trouble!

Now Xu Jingzong regrets arranging the “tour of mountains and rivers”. If he made the group arrange files in the office, they might be able to do it forever!

Alas it’s too late now and Li Yuanying may have already pushed the matter further.

Xu Jingzong sat slumped in the county government office as if he were mourning.

Seeing Xu Jingzong’s behavior, the chief registrar retreated silently, preparing to sort out evidence of his corruption over the years to report him. Maybe this way, he can still save himself!

Two groups arrive at Hu County to deal with the problem and they did not give the chief registrar any chance to report anything. They detained the whole office and started confiscating all files and records. The team sent by the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Justice quickly calculated all the bad debts and put  all the blame on Xu Jingzong.

There’s so much accusation that Xu Jingzong’s head is in danger. After all, Dang Renhong merely embezzled a million dollars and was slated for execution. It was only because the Emperor himself worked hard in saving him that he was spared. Xu Jingzong is not that lucky!

After the financial were sorted out, the next portion is criminal cases. This is the Justice department’s specialty. Quickly they gathered all the witnesses and physical evidence and quickly put together Xu Jingzong’s most serious crime.

Seeing that Xu Jingzong had no chance of survival, the accompanying emissary sent by the Emperor went to see Li Yuanying in person to convey His Majesty’s decree: The Emperor wants him to take over the post of county magistrate for two or three months. Wipe your own butt clean and then the Emperor will send over capable people to take over the county affairs.

Li Yuanying had already guessed that his older brother will not spare Xu Jingzong. He was wondering what the new person in charge will be like and whether he’s someone that is easy to get along with. Suddenly the Emperor came up with such an instruction and it was unexpected but a good one. If he’s now in charged that would mean that he doesn’t have to listen to others and can make decisions on everything!

Yuanying replied immediately: “Just wait, I will reply to the Emperor’s letter right away. Send my reply back to him.”

The emissary responded with a smile.

Li Yuanying happily told his friends about the news and began writing a letter to His Majesty. Last time, he scolded His Majesty in his letter and this time he wrote praises, saying that the Emperor is wise and powerful. You make such great decisions, no wonder you are the Emperor! Among so many brothers, the Emperor is the best! He has nothing to repay such a good brother and can only find out all the most delicious things in Hu County and bring them all back to him!

Li Yuanying wrote nearly a thousand words sincerely and every sentence was flattery. He stuffed the letter into a bulging envelope and told the emissary: “Remember to ask Lord Brother to read it. Don’t just throw it away. I wrote it seriously this time!”

The emissary thought: Then in the past you just write things simply? However, he did not dare to say anything out loud. Just look at Li Yuanying’s current achievements. Xu Jingzong is nothing but just a county magistrate. But take a look at the others: Prince of Wei, Li Tai of Wei is someone the Emperor visits daily, is he not favored enough. ? Against Li Yuanying, Prince Wei lost! Yin Kaishan passed away early and was still selected as one of the 24 heroes. Isn’t the Yin family strong enough? Against Li Yuanying, the Yin family lost!

You mess with anyone, but never Prince Teng!

He could only reply obediently: “I will make sure this gets delivered into the hands of his Majesty”

Li Yuanying nodded.

After he left, Yuanying strangely told Wei Shu: “Why is he so attentive to me? I don’t recall seeing him much and I haven’t given him much reward!” Based on his life experience, if you want people to work for you, you need to reward them handsomely with money. The gold beads he used to carry with him is solely for rewarding servants in the palace!

Wei Shu also couldn’t understand. Normally those who serves the Emperor are not submissive and attentive to others. If they accidentally leaked the Emperor’s words, they would lose their heads! So for the sake of their own heads, they should abide by their duties and say no more.

“Maybe he knows that His Majesty values you, so he is more attentive.” (Wei Shu)

Li Yuanying was just a little surprised. He nodded without going into details.

Notes from the author:

Little Prince: I’m so cute, why can’t you mess with me! ! !