Chapter 760

Secluded Prefecture

His Majesty toured Yang River and Ning'an to his heart's content, and finally news came from Long Peace: Fang Jun Guan could finally be toppled!

The Interior Secretary read out Fang Jun Guan's litany of charges; according to Northern Border law, he could be executed. But His Majesty, after ascending the throne, had not announced that the whole of Great Jin would continue to follow the Northern Border's statutes, so the Interior Secretary thought this Fang might possibly struggle a bit—it all depended on His Majesty's mood.

"I'll just say it, the way the family behaves—its very family style is crooked; as soon as you want to investigate, they'll be toppled in a minute."

As soon as he spoke, the officials below fell silent as chickens—this is hardly not a naked threat?

No one pleaded for the Housing Equal Official, and nobody even thought to say a word, for fear the king would turn his gun.

It's fine if they don't speak; the king will speak himself.

"That Yuan clan, on the small side they forcibly seized the people's farmland; on the large side they threaten the foundation of the Great Jin. At such a crucial juncture for Great Jin, in this time of national peril, she still undermines my foundations from behind—her crime is unforgivable! She also lets her slaves run riot, beating the son of the Grand Marshal, extremely arrogant, with a vile influence. This time we must punish her severely!"

Dong Fu: ……?

When the king boasted shamelessly, he accidentally offended the Grand Marshal, and immediately felt guilty and moved away.

Fang Qian is to be exiled to Cheshi Commandery!

The king, in one go, sent the person to the foot of the Tian Shan; he hesitated about confiscating the property and didn't say it out loud. Do you think he's gone vegetarian, just to give the aristocracy face?

It's absolutely impossible.

The king had the words on his lips, but upon thinking, he felt that the Fang family's residence in Youzhou probably had nothing worth confiscating. This guy, though he had taken not a little while in office, is still far from the threshold where the king would kill a chicken to scare the monkeys. After all, this guy isn't even a main branch; the couple are still young, their family wealth definitely isn't much, at the very least it can't satisfy the king's original intention.

The king paused a moment, then spoke again very calmly: "Originally, according to our northern border law, Fang Qian's guilt and the Yuan clan's guilt of seizing the people's farmland are enough for their family to be confiscated and exiled hand in hand."

Your Highness, the officials all felt uneasy; hearing his "hand in hand" they almost lost their composure. Damn, hand in hand!

"This matter also arose because of Lady Yuan; I consider that the Yuan clan of Luohou have had three dukes across four generations, with merit to Great Jin, so I intend to let one side slide. Change it to exile only Yuan Qian alone, and confiscation to a fine, how about that?"

Liang Bing, the Grand Commandant standing at the gate of the reverent hall, almost choked on his own saliva! Heaven knows the previous emperor never even heard of the Luohou Yuan clan, and now you're giving them such great face… there must be a trick!

Having said that, the king pointedly gazed at the most penniless—Minister of Revenue Zhang. Coincidentally, this Fang also falls under the Revenue Ministry's purview.

Upon hearing about the fine, Minister of Revenue Zhang was extremely excited. He felt that the big promise the king had given him was finally going to be fulfilled.

Before, they had teased him saying they'd borrow a bit from the Guangling envoy, but then the king had a change of heart midway and decided to appease Guangling, so his money flew away again. Now that there's such a good thing, of course he wholeheartedly supports it!

Old Zhang was the first to step forward, shouting, "Your Majesty, your mercy! Replacing punishment with a fine is truly a merciful good idea!"

Officials: ……

The king, pleased, said: "Just a mere Equalization Official, in a short time he uncovered ten years of embezzlement amounting to eighty thousand taels of silver. Eighty thousand taels—I don't even have that much!"

Officials: ……

Someone glanced up at the resplendent Qianyuan Hall, and through the open window could see a corner of the towering ancient tree… "Just like that, just like that— you don't have eighty thousand taels of silver?!"

The king, solemn, said: "If that's the case, then let it be so; we should also let the world know the new dynasty's rules. Fang Qian's and the Yuan clan's guilt combined, the fine is eighty thousand taels of silver, to be paid to the Revenue Ministry within three months."

Upon saying that, someone in the hall showed a look of surprise. "This person is too rich— does he have no concept of money?"

The king immediately singled out an unlucky person with a strange look: "Attendant Minister Zhou, do you also think it's too little? Eighty thousand taels is only ten times the amount of embezzlement Fang Qian uncovered. Don't worry— next time anyone who falls into my hands definitely won't get such a good deal! This time I said it, I'm doing this for the sake of the Luohou Yuan clan's face."

The officials were at a loss for words.

Xie Yuan: …… Do the Luohou Yuan clan even realize they have such great face?!

Heaven's conscience, the upright Attendant Minister Zhou certainly didn't think it was too little. He was thinking, officials like us who can attend court earn how much salary a year? Even relying on ancestral inheritance, we don't have tens of hundreds of thousands just lying around. He certainly didn't think Fang Qian had that much silver; otherwise he wouldn't have dirtied his hands for eighty thousand taels.

"Your servant, I think Fang Qian probably can't come up with that fine."

The king sighed, "He doesn't have it— does the Jingzhao Fang clan have any either? They didn't educate their clan's youngsters with any responsibility. Failing that, the Yuan clan marrying such an arrogant woman into the Fang clan, causing such a disaster, should at least make some amends!"

Liang Bing almost burst out laughing at the gate; after court he plans to go find Young Master Dong to share this.

They really didn't suffer in vain this time; eighty thousand taels could let the treasury catch its breath. He had no doubt the king could extract that exact amount of silver from the Fang and Yuan households.