Chapter 169 3/3

The businesses under his control were instructed to purchase grain and sell it at high prices in Yuxi Prefecture. He selected trusted subordinates to act as special envoys and secretly manipulate the situation… King Jin made many arrangements.

Then… some of the relief funds went missing.

This was definitely embezzled by local officials! And at that time, the special envoy found some evidence, suspecting that the County Magistrate of Yu County had embezzled the funds.

Afterwards, they couldn’t find the money, and they thought they might have made a mistake, but the people were already executed…

As King Jin’s men listened to him, they were stunned.

They had always thought that the missing relief funds were taken by King Jin, but it turned out they weren’t?

King Jin said, “Back then, I didn’t take as much of the relief funds as was lost! If Zhang Zhiru wants trouble, he should go find the person who took the money!”

With this in mind, King Jin began cursing the person who had stolen his money.

The people: But these are relief funds, how did they become King Jin’s money?

King Jin actually had the audacity to believe the money was his!

The people were dumbfounded and puzzled – who was the other person who took the money?

—

King Yan’s Mansion.

The King Yan had already obtained “The Record of Escaping Disaster.” After reading it, he frowned, “The people of Yuxi Prefecture are really like this? Teacher, were we a bit too much back then?”

The King Yan’s teacher replied calmly, “Great men are not bound by trivialities.”

“That’s true.” The King Yan put down the book in his hand. “It’s just a pity about Li Zhao. If we had known earlier, we would have chosen someone else.”

If Li Zhao were still alive… when he ascended the throne, he should have been able to make use of him.

The disappearance of relief funds in Yuxi Prefecture six years ago was actually related to the King Yan.

After the late emperor ordered the burial of the imperial consort, he handed over some of his power to loyal individuals and had them protect the King Yan and raise him.

The King Yan had quite a few people under his control.

Six years ago, some of the people under the King Yan’s command were involved in the disappearance of the relief funds. On one hand, the King Yan was growing up and needed money for various expenses, and they were short of funds.

On the other hand, they wanted to use this to frame King Jin.

They had people take away the money and leave clues pointing to the County Magistrate of Yu County. They intended to magnify the matter after King Jin’s men killed the County Magistrate of Yu County, to defend the County Magistrate’s innocence and undermine King Jin’s reputation, while promoting the King Yan to the throne.

But what they didn’t expect was that the Emperor suddenly fell seriously ill.

At that time, their power was still weak, while King Jin was at the height of his power, and almost all the officials in the court were flattering him.

At that time, if they had caused trouble, not only would they have been unable to harm King Jin, they might have been targeted by King Jin!

In the end, they did nothing.

As for now… even if they didn’t have this book by the reclusive writer, they had already decided to bring this matter to light.

However, they had originally planned to wait until next year, when the Emperor’s health deteriorated further, to make a big deal out of it, forcing the Emperor to choose them. But they didn’t expect Lü Qingxi to make a move first!

But this was also a good thing, as they could continue to lie low and bide their time.

Of course, they could stir up more trouble, at least to completely alienate King Jin from the people. In that case… apart from the King Yan, who else could the Emperor choose after something happened to that infant in the palace?

The King Yan’s teacher spoke, “Your Highness, don’t regret Li Zhao. Speaking of which… this reclusive writer is truly a sharp blade in Lü Qingxi’s hand!”

“Teacher, what do you mean?” the King Yan asked.

The King Yan’s teacher said, “Li Zhao was indeed a good official, and he had always been working on water management, but it’s not certain whether he wrote ‘Strategies for Water Management.'”

They had investigated Li Zhao at the time, and Li Zhao didn’t have that kind of talent.

But they had planned to use Li Zhao to bring down King Jin, and the current situation was just right.

While the King Yan and his teacher were talking, someone came to report that the Shopkeeper Qian had arrived.

The King Yan’s teacher immediately let the person in.

This Shopkeeper Qian had some connection to Li Zhao.

When they investigated Li Zhao at the time, Li Zhao’s wife’s maiden name was Qian, and she was a merchant with considerable wealth.

After Li Zhao’s incident, they found the Qian family and frightened them by saying that King Jin might wipe them out completely, then persuaded them to join the King Yan and start working for him.

At that time, the King Yan was still young and disliked by the Emperor, so he was in great need of money. Later, with the help of the Qian family, the King Yan’s mansion became prosperous, and they had the money to do various things and build their own power – the people left behind by the late Emperor were now old after twenty years!

Today, the King Yan was no longer as weak as he was six years ago, and he no longer cared to solicit merchants like the Qian family.

But the Qian family had been with them for six years, and they knew quite a lot of things, and had also made a lot of money for them… they couldn’t ignore Shopkeeper Qian.

Shopkeeper Qian hurriedly entered and paid his respects to the King Yan before inquiring about “The Record of Escaping Disaster”: “Your Highness, is this reclusive writer perhaps one of yours?”

This Shopkeeper Qian was Li Zhao’s brother-in-law.

He wasn’t very satisfied with Li Zhao, especially after his brother-in-law implicated his sister and his nephews and nieces died.

But even so, he still wanted to help Li Zhao clear his name.

Some time ago, the King Yan had approached him, saying that he now had the ability to help Li Zhao seek justice… he had been waiting, so when he saw “The Record of Escaping Disaster,” he wondered if the King Yan had taken action.

The King Yan was inclined to acknowledge it, but his teacher said, “That reclusive writer is not His Highness’s person. This time, it should be Lü Qingxi trying to deal with King Jin, so he concocted such a book! But this is a good opportunity, and our people will take action next, to help Li Zhao clear his name.”

Shopkeeper Qian was extremely grateful and knelt down to express his thanks.

The King Yan personally stepped forward to help him up.

This Shopkeeper Qian was quite skilled in business. Although he was no longer short of money now, he still intended to keep this person close.

After Shopkeeper Qian paid his respects to the King Yan, he left the King Yan’s mansion with great excitement

.

His damn brother-in-law could finally clear his name!

His sister and his nephews and nieces, under the nine springs, should be very happy.

Shopkeeper Qian had a wife and concubines, but he had never had children.

Apart from his sister, he also had a younger brother, who only had one sickly son.

Because of this, Shopkeeper Qian was extremely fond of his sister’s children. After his sister gave birth, she sent her children to his house, which was also encouraged by him.

He even thought about adopting his sister’s second son, Li Zhi, as his own son.

That child Li Zhi was extremely clever and suitable for business!

But later, his brother-in-law went to serve as an official elsewhere, so it was not convenient to mention this matter, and then… his sister’s whole family was gone.

Shopkeeper Qian hated King Jin so much that his teeth itched. He had been working hard to make money all these years just to seek justice for his poor nephews and nieces, and also for the “son” he valued!

His sister and his nephews and nieces were too miserable! Their family was also very unfortunate – in recent years, they were afraid that King Jin would cause trouble for their family, so they dared not return to their hometown or show off, for fear of being targeted by someone.