First-rank palace maid Su Jixiang

Chapter 502: Get Up

Officials from all over the country came to the capital to celebrate the Empress Dowager's birthday, so most of the gifts they brought were tributes to the Empress Dowager. Of course, these local officials also did not forget the Emperor and other important officials in the court. In other words, from the Empress Dowager to the Emperor and the high officials in the capital, everyone was polite, and no one was left behind.

However, the local officials were afraid of stealing the limelight from the Empress Dowager’s birthday, so the gifts they gave to the Emperor were not as glamorous as those they gave to the Empress Dowager.

Emperor Longchang himself was aware of this, and local officials also wanted to express their integrity, so most of the gifts they brought were local specialties. When the gift list was presented, the emperor asked the inner court to accept them.

This was the first time that Xie Yingfeng presented it personally.

Cui Yushan couldn't help but frown. You are such a good guy, Xie Yingfeng. You usually pretend to be incorruptible and noble, but now you can't avoid doing those vulgar things in this imperial study, right?

"Present it." Emperor Longchang looked at Xie Yingfeng for a long time, then said.

It sounded so nice, but it was just some specialties from the north. He didn't have much interest in looking at the gifts Xie Yingfeng brought him. He wanted to scold him, but finally responded.

Li Dequan hurried over and took the box from Xie Yingfeng's hand, and carefully placed it on the desk in the imperial study.

Emperor Longchang did not look at the contents of the box, but was just preparing to summon someone from the Ministry of Revenue to look at the account books.

But then he thought, he had already asked Wei Ling to investigate the collusion between the Ministry of Revenue and the Wu Guogong Mansion. These officials in the Ministry of Revenue also knew about Wei Ling's relationship with Xie Yingfeng. What if he was trying to cover up for Xie Yingfeng...

"Let the accountant of the inner court come over, and bring more people!" Emperor Longchang said to Li Dequan after thinking about it.

The inner court employed his own people, and there were a lot of eunuchs in charge of accounting, and they were all in the palace, so Emperor Longchang felt that the people from the inner court were more reliable.

Even if he had to stay awake tonight, he would get to the bottom of all the mess that had happened in the North in recent years.

Emperor Longchang was holding his breath.

Wei Ling was a slippery fellow and he didn't hold back, so he didn't give him any leverage.

He clearly suspected that Wei Ling had abducted the deposed emperor from the Jinwu Guards and beheaded him by slow slicing, but he couldn't find any evidence, so he could only suffer in silence. He didn't know whether Wei Ling had learned about the royal treasure from the deposed emperor, but all signs indicated that Wei Ling had not tampered with the treasure. Even if he had found the so-called treasure himself, it would be empty. There was almost no real gold or silver he wanted, only some ancient music books, calligraphy and paintings, and it was not known whether these things were worthless.

But these things were far from what he expected!

When he was digging for treasure, Wei Ling never left Mangcheng and Linchuan.

Emperor Longchang felt that the name Mangcheng was a bit unpleasant because Mangcheng was close to Mang Mountain, so he wanted to change Mangcheng to Linchuan.

It’s just that everyone is used to calling it Mangcheng, and it’s hard to change it in a short time.

Furthermore, there was no consensus on whether Mangcheng was a county or a prefecture. During the Fei Emperor's time, Mangcheng was governed by a prefect, so it should be considered a prefecture. However, after Wei Ling overthrew the prefect, he expanded the scope of Mangcheng and gave himself the title of county governor. Later, after Emperor Longchang ascended the throne, Mangcheng was also under the jurisdiction of Wei Ling, who gave the prefectural seal to Xie Yingfeng. Therefore, the title is a mess, sometimes county governor, sometimes prefectural governor. Logically speaking, given the current size of Mangcheng and the area it governs, it should be a county!

Therefore, Emperor Longchang wanted to change the name of Mangcheng to Linchuan, and also wanted to set up a county governor's office in Linchuan. However, Linchuan was still in the hands of Wei Ling and was actually vacant. If he admitted that this was a county, wouldn't it be giving Wei Ling a free advantage? This made Emperor Longchang hesitant, so the imperial edict to change the name of Mangcheng to Linchuan was never issued.

However, he first changed the foundry where Cui Yushan worked to Linchuan foundry!

So this is why Cui Yushan was determined to become the governor or prefect of Linchuan County.

He always felt that if he could overthrow Xie Yingfeng and the imperial edict changed the name of Mangcheng to Linchuan, he would be the governor of Linchuan without any shirking of his responsibilities. Or if Linchuan was designated as a county by Emperor Longchang, he would be promoted to the position of county governor!

Although His Majesty had previously promised to grant him the title of Marquis of Changle if he performed his duties well, the title had now fallen to another member of the Cui family. He, a member of the Cui family's collateral branch, could no longer count on the title of Marquis of Changle. Even if he did, it was an empty title. Compared to a marquis like Wei Ling, who had actual military achievements, his was just a title, meaningless. However, being able to become the prefect or even the governor of Mangcheng was a different matter.

Everything in Mangcheng now is real wealth!

The eunuchs from the inner court soon came to the imperial study. Li Dequan was a reliable person. When he saw the two large boxes of account books, he knew that sorting them out would not be an easy task, and it seemed that Emperor Longchang was waiting to see the results.

So he called in all the eunuchs in the inner court who could write and count, a total of more than twenty young eunuchs.

These twenty or so people scattered in the study, each receiving a stack of accounts to check, which really means there is strength in numbers.

For a moment, no one spoke in the study, only the sound of flipping papers in the account book and the clacking of the abacus could be heard.

Emperor Longchang also took the memorials piled on the table and began to read them. Cui Yushan stood aside with his hands hanging down, dreaming, and only Xie Yingfeng was still kneeling on the ground.

Time passed by bit by bit, Xie Yingfeng's body tilted and he knelt on the ground.

The sound he made alarmed Emperor Longchang.

Emperor Longchang glanced up at him, and Cui Yushan quickly said, "Xie Yingfeng, you are so rude in front of His Majesty, what is your punishment?"

Xie Yingfeng ignored Cui Yushan, treating him like a piece of air. He used his hands to support himself, righted himself, and bowed to Emperor Longchang with a wry smile, saying, "Your Majesty, please forgive me for my rudeness. My legs have been frozen since I followed Your Majesty to conquer the country. I can't hold on any longer."

The list he mentioned did not sound particularly miserable, but it reminded Emperor Longchang of the time when Xie Yingfeng carried him on his back and walked with crutches for two days and one night in the heavy snow. At that time, Xie Yingfeng covered Emperor Longchang with everything he could to keep warm, and he himself gritted his teeth and endured.

Later, when he met Wei Ling, Emperor Longchang's high fever had basically subsided, but Xie Yingfeng was in a coma for several days before waking up.

"Get up." Emperor Longchang couldn't help but sigh in his heart. He asked Li Dequan to help Xie Yingfeng get up and gave him a seat.