Chapter 438: Gao Qiu is Finished

Gao Qiu was finished, finished thoroughly.

In just three days, after finding out some of the things Gao Qiu was involved in, he was directly removed from office and imprisoned. The Kaifeng Prefecture cooperated with the Dali Temple to begin a comprehensive investigation into everything Gao Qiu had been involved in over the years.

Gao Qiu hadn't done few dirty things over the years. Embezzling public funds, reselling public property, and encroaching on land were all essential for a corrupt official. Although he was very careful, as one of the three dukes of the Great Song with overwhelming power, how careful could he be? There were always traces to be found.

The criminal investigation personnel of this era were also very capable. It could only be said that the criminal investigation methods were a bit poor, without many high-tech aids, but their brains were no worse than anyone else's. With Zhao Ji's tacit approval, the clean officials responsible for investigating this matter frantically expanded the scope of the strike, having a sense of returning a clear sky to the Great Song. But they were all striking at people favored by Zhao Ji, as well as some hostile political enemies. Without a doubt, those they were hostile to were Zhao Ji's people.

But to tell the truth, there was nothing wrong with their striking; these people were all big corrupt officials. Relying on making money for Zhao Ji, they wantonly suppressed dissidents in the court and harmed the commoners in the provinces.

Zhao Ji wasn't a fool; how could he tolerate it? He quickly called for a stop; otherwise, where would his people be in the court? Still the same thing: did he not know what these people were doing? Did he not know that the commoners below were living quite miserably? He knew it all. It was just that he didn't know that these people had swallowed so much money in the middle, causing the commoners below to live even more miserably—this was what made him unhappy. But if he killed them all, he naturally wouldn't do it.

People who fawned on their superiors were always more likable than those who stuck to the rules. Being able to cater to his wishes and being comfortable to use was much better than those so-called good officials. And as an emperor, one always had to balance subordinates. He couldn't balance a court full of clean officials, so he could only let the loyal and the treacherous coexist.

So in the end, he only handled some people below and didn't strike horizontally anymore. However, the officials in charge also followed the vine to find the melon, informing Zhao Ji of some small connections between Gao Qiu and Tong Guan, Cai Jing, and others, clearly intending to disgust them.

After nearly half a year, Gao Qiu's case was concluded. One million two hundred thousand strings of cash in farmland and family assets were confiscated—one percent of the Great Song's annual income. All the civil and military officials, including Zhao Ji, the Emperor, were stunned. The difference was that the former were acting, while the latter was truly ignorant.

Zhao Ji knew his good officials were all embezzling a little, but he never imagined they were embezzling so much. This figure was much higher than the hundreds of thousands of strings of cash Wang Yan had mentioned before.

Wang Yan didn't know the specific figure either; he had just said it casually. After all, Gao Qiu was a close minister who had followed Zhao Ji since his time in the residence, and he wasn't an honest person. Over these nearly twenty years, having hundreds of thousands of strings of cash was normal. Even with one million two hundred thousand strings of cash now, he wasn't surprised, and even looked down on it a bit. After all, having been in the position of Taiwei for so long, the amount confiscated now, averaged over the years, was only sixty or seventy thousand strings of cash a year, which was still a bit lacking.

Of course, this figure meant nothing to him, but it meant something different to Zhao Ji. Zhao Ji didn't just have one Gao Qiu; he also had Cai Jing, Tong Guan, and Liang Shichen, and so on. These people were all good officials he trusted. Gao Qiu had one million two hundred thousand strings of cash; how could the others be any worse? Zhao Ji had successfully opened the door to a new world...

Gao Qiu's end wasn't good. A bunch of relatives who bullied others were beheaded, not to mention a batch of merchants were involved, and a lot of money was found. He himself was tattooed and exiled to Cangzhou, becoming a small soldier in the regional army. Cangzhou belonged to Hebei, which was the front line against the Liao. In peacetime, they performed their duties as regional soldiers; in wartime, they had to go to the battlefield. The meaning was very clear: they wanted him to die.

Gao Qiu understood this meaning very well. He also knew how many people he had offended over the years, and once he really arrived at the local level, those small soldiers wouldn't be polite to him either. After all, he had been a big shot in the past, and now that he was in trouble, people enjoyed messing with such people. Not to mention, even if he really wanted to go, whether he could arrive smoothly was a question.

So Gao Qiu died, saying he knew his sins were heavy and he had failed the Emperor's grace, and committed suicide in prison.

With Gao Qiu's death, many were implicated, and the major event that caused turmoil in the court and provinces was considered thoroughly completed. But next, it was Master Wang's turn.

Although everyone knew Gao Qiu died because he lost imperial favor, Wang Yan's lack of martial ethics in inciting Song Jiang to file a complaint in the court was indeed the cause. They couldn't handle Zhao Ji, but they wanted to disgust Wang Yan. So some officials from Hebei and Shandong impeached Wang Yan for causing chaos in the provinces, and martial officers kicked out of the Fu Bei Army impeached Wang Yan for eliminating dissidents and wanting to train a private army.

These things were all small troubles for Wang Yan, and there was no problem at all. People, after all, made mistakes. Even tigers had times when they dozed off. Master Wang had also been pulled down by Song Jiang. However, these were all small matters. Only when the value exceeded those small flaws could one have an unbreakable golden body. Unless someone else could offer over a million strings of cash to Zhao Ji's inner treasury every year, perhaps they could mess with Master Wang, but that was obviously impossible.

So Zhao Ji just summoned him to the palace to chat, chatting about how to spend the last wealth left to him by his good official, which had just arrived in his hands. As for the impeachment and impeachment, Zhao Ji didn't even mention it.

Those people naturally knew it was useless, but they still wouldn't give up. If there was nothing to do, they had to impeach. This was a matter of impression. One person, two people, one day, two days—it was all fine. But if the time was stretched out, it would be different. Who knew when Zhao Ji wouldn't like this good son-in-law anymore? When that time came, those impeachments would all be reasons to find fault, and he could be handled easily.

Thinking this way wasn't wrong, but the day they were thinking of would never come in this life. And Wang Yan had also made a list, recording who had impeached him...

His heart was open, but his eyes weren't big, and he also held grudges.

Moreover, the players participating in impeaching him at this time were all bad people. After all, he, Master Wang, was a loyal official of the Great Song, leading the commoners to prosperity, seizing foreign money for his own use, and a capable official who greatly eased internal contradictions. As long as they weren't fools, anyone with eyes could understand. Whoever couldn't stand him wasn't a good person—it was that simple.

Song Jiang, who was leading troops to fight Tian Hu in Hebei, had also received the news long ago. He was naturally happy, taking all the credit for himself and brushing his presence in front of Lin Chong. Lin Chong didn't know the joints, and although he hadn't been able to avenge his great hatred personally, now that his big brother had avenged it for him, he was also grateful, and his illness seemed to have healed all at once. To repay his good brother's great kindness, his combat effectiveness exploded, and he contributed a lot.

The other big and small leaders on Liang Shan, and the common soldiers who had suffered cowardice, were also happy, with morale like a rainbow, and Song Jiang's prestige rose another level. However, in three months, they killed Tian Hu, destroyed the mountain stronghold, and were now marching south to Huaixi...

Casually burning Song Jiang's thank-you letter, Wang Yan shook his head. A person who died faster the further south he went, what was there to be close to him about?

He had said it very clearly before: only with value was there a reason to live. The further south Song Jiang went, the less value he had. Now it seemed that Song Jiang didn't realize the seriousness of the problem. Or rather, he realized it, but didn't believe the Zhao Song would treat meritorious officials like that. Perhaps there was also the fact that Zhao Ji had killed Gao Qiu this time, giving Song Jiang a glimpse of a wise monarch's aura, and he wanted to be loyal to the end.

Of course, even if Song Jiang was a genius and broke this dead end, there would be another one next time. Zhao Ji wouldn't let Song Jiang go, and neither would he. Death was Liang Shan's mission.

No longer paying attention to Song Jiang's affairs, Wang Yan rose and left the study to go to the newly built house in the back courtyard.

"Master." In the room as warm as spring, Zhao Yupan, who was sitting on the bed looking at the child, greeted him in a low voice.

Wang Yan nodded in response, walked over slowly, and looked at the little son sleeping soundly on the bed. He had been born less than a month ago, and he, the biological father, named him Qinghan. The children of this generation all had two-character names—Qingfeng, Qingbai, Qinglian, Qingbo, and so on, all with "Qing" in the middle. As for the next generation, he didn't care; the children could play as they pleased. He was tired.

"How do you feel these two days?"

"Much better." Having given birth, Zhao Yupan, who clearly added a touch of maternal radiance to her nobility, combed her broken hair behind her ears and smiled very gently: "The medicinal diet Master made is so good, and your medical skills are also very exquisite. Why have I never heard of it before?"

"Medicine and martial arts are not separate. It's not strange that I know some medical skills. As for the reputation not spreading far, I only occasionally see patients for the villagers of this manor and have never seen patients from other villages, so how could it spread so far? Even seeing patients in the county, it's all in the medical clinic I opened. The doctors sitting there also have means, so how could I have a reputation? Besides, I am the God of Wealth. Under this title, no matter how many skills I have, they are all covered by money."

"That's true. The world only knows that Master is good at creating new things and can make money, but no one has seen that Master is skilled in both literature and martial arts." Zhao Yupan shook her head and smiled: "Father said he would take the child to the capital next year to see him."

"Um, it's time to go back and see. You have been away from Bianjing for more than a year; by next year, it will be nearly two years. You must miss those brothers and sisters, right?"

"It's alright. The infighting in the palace, Master isn't unaware. My sisters are also fine, but my brothers, Master knows, they are all fighting over our house. Going back is just to see the Empress; I don't want to deal with those brothers of mine."

Wang Yan naturally knew the situation. Now Zhao Ji's sons were all grown up, seventeen or eighteen-year-old young men. They understood what they should understand; who didn't want to be the emperor?

Zhao Heng was the crown prince, but Zhao Ji, the father, liked his third son, Zhao Kai. Last year, he even passed the imperial examination as a top scholar, and he had quite a talent for poetry, calligraphy, and painting. Zhao Ji said, "This child is like me," and had him take charge of the Imperial City Department.

With such favor, he naturally had some different thoughts. Could Zhao Heng be the crown prince, but not him, Zhao Kai?

As the reincarnation of the God of Wealth, the richest man in the Great Song, and the close minister Zhao Ji trusted most, he was naturally competed for. This was the case even before Zhao Yupan married him. Now that Zhao Yupan had married him, Zhao Heng, who was born to the same mother, was naturally happy and almost went crazy with joy. But Zhao Kai hadn't given up yet and always wanted to win him over from time to time. Because Wang Yan had never expressed his stance and had never had any communication with them, he felt there was still hope. Coming from the royal family, although the means were immature, it was actually not bad.

It was just that Wang Yan didn't want to deal with them. A few little brats, still wanting to buy his heart—how idle would he have to be to have the leisure to play with the little brats? If he had that time, he would take the children and engage in parent-child activities; wasn't that more comfortable?

"When are we going back to the capital next year?"

"Wait until next spring. It's not cold or hot, just right. Traveling slowly is not easy to get sick. We'll stay there for a few months and then come back."

Just as they were talking, the little one pursed his lips, and visibly wet his diaper. Then he opened his eyes, looked, and opened his big mouth to howl. The little palace maid on the side quickly came over to wipe his body with warm water, then wiped him dry with a dry cotton cloth, and the crying stopped. Then he was held by Zhao Yupan to nurse. His three wives all had plenty of milk, and having given birth to so many children, they had all nursed them themselves and had never used a wet nurse.

Watching the little one suck hard, Wang Yan reached out and patted the little thing's butt, said a word to Zhao Yupan, and left. He went to the next room to sit for a while in Jinlian's room, where she was listening to the maid read and making clothes and shoes, until the old steward came to find him, and only then did he leave.

As for Hu San Niang, she was someone who couldn't stay idle. Now that the heavy snow had sealed the mountains, she had taken a group of children and a pile of guards to hunt in the mountains. Every day, she was the one who played the most lively.

"Master, Zide and Li Tu are drinking tea in the front hall." Wang Fusheng said very happily; his most successful eldest son had returned, so he was happy.

"Let's go, let's go see them." Wang Yan shook his head and smiled, walking through his main room first and going to the front hall.

In the front hall, two people were drinking tea quietly. One was thin, and the other was big and thick. The two of them looked particularly funny together.

Seeing Wang Yan enter, the two who were drinking tea and eating cakes quickly put down their teacups, swallowed the small cakes in their mouths, rose, and bowed.

"Zide has seen the Master."

"Student Mingyuan has seen the General."

Wang Yan smiled and stepped forward to help the two sit down: "Ange, Mingyuan, we are all our own people; why all this formality? Sit, sit."

Zide was Wang Fusheng's son, named Wang Mingan. "Zide" was his courtesy name. Naturally, it wasn't the "self-satisfied" of the meaning, but taken from Mencius's meaning of a gentleman's deep study. He was four years older than him, and with his financial support, he had smoothly passed the imperial examination, serving as a capital official and county official, and was now about to be transferred to be the prefect of Cangzhou, the first line against the Liao. He was granted three months of home leave before taking office, bringing his wife and children home for the New Year.

As for the other big and thick one named Mingyuan, he was Li Tu, who had previously engaged in restoration. He had rendered meritorious service after a trip to the battlefield, and Zhao Ji had originally promised him a county lieutenant position, which he refused. And he opened an academic society opposite the Yingtian Academy, once again issuing his own voice. Restoration should first restore physique and spirit, and he began to debate the meaning of the classics with the professors of Yingtian Academy.

This time on the battlefield, although he had protection, how could he really be safe? Dozens of people went, and more than ten died. Perhaps it was because of this experience of life and death that the kid had opened his mind.

In the end, it was Confucianism, and he had to talk about the meaning of the classics. But he wasn't a master of classics, and people didn't recognize the meaning of the classics he talked about. So he thought of a good way: debate with those masters of classics, and in the process, re-sort out the meaning of the classics he wanted. He didn't need to win the debate against all the masters; as long as he didn't lose to half of the masters, he would be qualified to open a sect.

Now this kid could also be considered a small figure, teaching disciples martial arts and swordsmanship, studying the meaning of the classics with like-minded people every day, and every time he went out, there were many followers, quite a bit of atmosphere. If he really succeeded, his position would be no less than Cheng and Zhu.

After saying a few words to Wang Mingan, Wang Yan turned to talk to Li Tu.

The main purpose of this time was to see Li Tu; it was a special meeting. Because Li Tu had opened his mind and done better than he thought, this was no longer a pawn that could be discarded at any time, but a confidant that should be cultivated with resources.

He naturally couldn't let Zhao Ji know that the restoration faction that shook the foundation was supported by him behind the scenes. So this time, it was just taking advantage of Wang Mingan's home leave, and Li Tu came along under the name of visiting a friend, taking the opportunity to meet. After the fact, if Zhao Ji asked, he could also clear his name.

What he wanted to say to Li Tu wasn't anything else, but the Confucianism of Master Wang. It was the fundamental purpose he had compiled after knowing what Li Tu had done. It could be said that it was covered with a layer of Confucian skin, but it could indeed be explained. The core was one point: the people. Restoring martial arts was just a disguise, but martial arts also had to be restored. After all, he had always supported everyone having combat effectiveness. He hoped Li Tu would absorb it and get his own things, rather than moving his things. Spread it out from there and open a sect.

He had this much breadth of mind; where in the world was there a family name? If his descendants were really not good, it wouldn't matter if they were replaced by someone who was; he had never thought of a thousand-year dynasty.

If they relied solely on Li Tu and others to improve it themselves, they would be lucky to do it in this life. Because the current learning was the learning of being an official, and they hadn't been officials, hadn't been high-ranking officials, so they couldn't be high-minded—this was what they lacked. At the same time, it was also to tear down the things they served the monarch and change it to serving the people, don't go the wrong way.

As for the imperial examination, let it be; don't force it. It was only a few years anyway, and there would always be a place for them to use their skills.

The most important thing was to spread the learning and get more disciples. According to what he knew, those in their thirties or those with family gates disdained restoration. Many who could see clearly knew they were hard to last long and even harder to grow, and they had always sneered at the restoration faction.

So the disciples gathered now were mostly poor families without vision, as well as children from poor families, and some children from merchant families. These people were mostly in their twenties.

The disciples' training food was not lacking. The few merchants Wang Yan brought out supported it. Those with medium or above performance were provided with food, drink, and martial arts training, and brush, ink, paper, and inkstone were all supplied. This was the key to those poor families and children from poor families joining. Of course, it didn't exclude those who were truly passionate young people; this was also normal.

Li Tu was a capable person and also a person with a brain. Perhaps the reason he didn't pass the imperial examination before was because he hadn't opened his mind like he was now. Anyway, he listened to Wang Yan's speech with glowing eyes, wishing he could spread it immediately.

He talked from noon until evening, left him for a meal, and then sent the book he had compiled to Li Tu, letting him absorb it himself and then burn it, and carry out his great cause of restoration.

Even if it couldn't succeed, throwing a stone into the water would still cause ripples... ===== CHAPTER 439 =====