Chapter 742

"Makes sense!"

Chen Guanlou strongly agreed with the other party's statement.

He took out the official document again, "The first step to being in the same boat is to approve the slip. Without money, you can't take a single step. With so many people busy outside, if we don't prepare food, drink, and warm clothing, we won't need to wait for attacks from outside or infighting—you will be beaten to death by the crowd! At that time, I guarantee no one will seek justice for you. At most, they'll give your family a pension and be done with it."

The Ministry of Justice official looked incredulous and pointed at the other party, "Chen Jiang Yucheng, you, you, you, you are clearly threatening this official."

Chen Guanlou pulled the other party to the window and opened a crack, "Look outside, look at how heated everyone is working right now; if they don't have food, drink, or warm clothing in a while, look at how irritable they will become. These are all rough men here, not even a single woman. With so many strong men gathered together, do you know what will happen?"

"What will happen?" the Ministry of Justice official asked, terrified.

Chen Guanlou chuckled, "A small step forward is a riot, a big step forward is killing officials and rebelling. However, if a large sum of money is scattered right now, with food, drink, warm clothing, and a little meager bonus, it can turn this anger of killing officials and rebelling into a spirit of harmony, and everyone will be the court's loyal dogs. You tell me, should this slip be approved!"

"But even if I approve the slip, you won't be able to get the money." The Ministry of Justice official emphasized this point again.

Chen Guanlou's face darkened, "My lord, do you still not understand the situation? I have money! The Heavenly Prison has money! This money is just lying on the books. To use this money, there must be a legitimate reason and legal procedures. Your slip is the legal procedure! Understand? You can't let the Heavenly Prison bleed, exert effort, and spend money, right!

When doing things, you must know how to be flexible and leave room for maneuver; you can't burn all your bridges. If you do it on the first day, don't blame others for doing it on the fifteenth! If you don't approve the slip, and hundreds of rough men riot in a while, do you know what the consequences will be? At that time, you will be the culprit. To appease the fury, the palace will definitely kill you as a sacrifice to heaven, and even execute your nine generations! You better think carefully—is your life more important, or is the money more important."

"This money isn't even coming from you; it's just asking you to approve a slip and go through the procedures!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Guanlou shoved the document into the other party's hand and stopped caring.

Having said so much, anyone with a normal brain and normal IQ should know how to choose.

Chen Guanlou sat behind the desk drinking tea.

He wasn't in a hurry at all.

Now it was the Ministry of Justice official's turn to be in a hurry.

He held the document in one hand and gripped the window frame with the other, his whole body seemingly trembling.

"You, you, you... Chen Jiang Yucheng, you dare to sit by and watch that bunch of prison guards riot?"

"What do I not dare to do? I have the Marquis Prefecture behind me, but how big is the backer behind you? Can they protect you from having your nine generations executed? I am a ninth-rank warrior, what rank are you? At worst, I won't be this prison warden anymore; the world is vast, I can go anywhere. What about you? You have a family to drag along, and a clan behind you—where do you dare to go? You can't even walk out of the capital's city gate!"

Chen Guanlou smiled half-heartedly.

Approving a slip—such a small matter, and it's been repeated so many times, wasting so much saliva. It's still not approved!

This efficiency is truly worrying.

Officials these days are all cowards, with no sense of responsibility at all.

"Do they really dare to riot?"

"What do they not dare to do! Just incite them with a few words, and believe it or not, someone will rush in and slit your throat. I guarantee these people will have nothing happen to them afterwards! Because no one saw it, and no one knows who the murderer is!"

"The Six Shanmen are right outside."

"You can try it; will the people from the Six Shanmen bother with you? There is a saying: in urgent matters, act according to authority! My lord, you lack experience; have you never seen a big scene or handled an emergency? Tsk! I have handled a few emergencies. That year when the Crown Prince was deposed, the soldiers of the Three Great Camps were showing off their power outside and killing people at will. Many families suffered greatly that year. Afterwards, did the court hold the Three Great Camps responsible? Those who robbed, killed, and raped—were they held accountable? By the same logic, if a few more officials die tonight, no one will ask!"

Chen Guanlou had practically broken the logic down and chewed it up for the other party.

Having said all this, if he still doesn't understand, he'll have died in vain!

The Ministry of Justice official gritted his teeth, "Fine, I'll approve the slip! But you can't ask for too much!"

"Approve three thousand taels for me first!"

"Impossible! One thousand taels at most."

"Are you dismissing a beggar!" Chen Guanlou's fury rose instantly.

The two started arguing about how much silver again, endlessly.

Finally, both sides took a step back: two thousand taels. That's all that's approved for now. Tomorrow morning, he can take the slip to the Ministry of Justice to collect the silver.

"If you want more silver, you have to find someone higher up to approve the slip. Anyway, you know Minister Sun, just find Minister Sun to approve it directly; approving ten thousand taels at once is no problem."

Chen Guanlou rolled his eyes upon hearing this.

If Sun Daojing were that generous and could approve ten thousand taels at once, why would he be here arguing with the other party for half a day.

That miser Sun Daojing acts like approving five thousand taels at once is taking the Ministry of Justice's life. He watches the money too closely!

"My lord, don't leave tonight! I'll have someone arrange a place for you to stay! Later, when the statistics are out and the cause of the collapse is clarified, you can report directly to the Ministry of Justice tomorrow morning; you might even get a commendation."

The other party's expression darkened; he didn't count on a commendation. As long as his superior didn't pursue the matter of him approving the slip, that would be enough.

Two thousand taels!

That's two thousand taels!

It's the upper limit of the silver he is authorized to approve.

Having served in the Ministry of Justice for so many years, he had never approved so much money.

Thinking about his superior questioning this matter, he felt disheartened.

Chen Guanlou called Qian Fugui over and handed the slip to him, "Withdraw the silver according to the amount on the slip, tell the logistics people to get moving, and hurry up to prepare food, drink, and warm clothing. Tomorrow morning, don't worry about anything else; take people to the Ministry of Justice to collect the silver. If even one tael is missing, I'll hold you accountable."

Qian Fugui agreed and lowered his voice, "The brothers from the Six Shanmen are investigating the collapsed roof and said they found suspicious areas. My lord, the roof collapse might be man-made; what should be done about this?"

Chen Guanlou:...

He knew it; how could a perfectly fine prison roof collapse for no reason. He had called the Six Shanmen agents to help investigate at the first opportunity, and sure enough, he had done the right thing.

"Don't spread this matter. Tell Chen Quan and the others to seal the news. Strictly investigate the prisoners in the C-grade prison. Also, send people to count the personnel list and see if anyone is missing."

"My lord, are you suspecting?"

"A jailbreak! It must be a jailbreak!"

Jailbreaks these days have come up with new tricks.

Especially the C-grade prison, where jailbreaks happen every year.

This time it's even more excessive; they directly collapsed the roof.

If it collapsed, let it collapse; as long as it collapsed in a corner where people could crawl in and out, that would be fine.

This bunch of robbers is not refined at all; they actually collapsed the roof of the entire prison.

Are they bullying the Heavenly Prison for having no one?

Too bullying!