novelSusiti Chapter 104: Why Not Report It?
Chapter 104: Why Not Report It?
"Your Majesty, we, your humble servants, pay our respects..."
After a brief exchange with Ximen Jixuan and the others outside the hall, Li Deyu and his companions, each with their own thoughts, were soon led into the inner hall by the eunuch.
"Rise."
Li Ang remained calm at this moment. He waved his hand and had someone offer them seats, then said...
"I have summoned you all here at this hour because I have just received a secret report."
After saying that, Li Ang reached out his hand, and Qi Baozhen, who was standing next to him, handed the abridged version of the Eastern Depot's secret report that he had just transcribed to everyone.
The group exchanged glances and immediately became alert. Li Deyu took the secret report, glanced through it briefly, and his eyes immediately sharpened.
He then passed the secret report around to the others, and after everyone had read it, Li Ang asked a question.
"Minister Xue, this investigation into private loans within the military is being spearheaded by the Jingzhao Prefecture. Have you heard of the case mentioned in the secret report?"
The secret report presented to everyone mainly omitted the parts related to Empress Dowager Guo and the palace eunuchs, but the various crimes committed by Guo Zhongwen were still retained.
Those present naturally knew Guo Zhongwen's identity, which is why they all fell silent.
Xue Yuanshang was called upon, so he naturally couldn't refuse to answer. He stood up, cupped his hands, and replied.
"Your Majesty, there are numerous cases of private lending within the army. The Jingzhao Prefecture is conducting a thorough investigation. However, some cases involve many people and are quite complex, requiring a great deal of time and effort. Therefore, the Jingzhao Prefecture can only investigate those cases with clear facts first. As for some cases, we have not yet been able to investigate them clearly. This is due to my incompetence, and I beg Your Majesty to punish me."
These words were spoken very sincerely, but they were clearly an attempt to evade the issue.
Li Ang's expression immediately darkened, and he said, "What I'm asking you is whether the Jingzhao Prefecture knew about Guo Zhongwen's case of embezzlement and private lending. Xue Yuanshang, how dare you use such platitudes to evade me? Where is your imperial dignity and decorum?"
Tonight, a series of bad news came one after another, and Li Ang was already suppressing his anger.
Xue Yuanshang's attitude now clearly makes him even more dissatisfied.
Seeing this, Li Deyu, who was standing nearby, also noticed that something was wrong and quickly stepped forward to speak.
"Your Majesty, please calm down. The case of Guo Zhongwen was mentioned in the official documents submitted by the Jingzhao Prefecture. However, at that time, I felt that the case involved the Empress Dowager's maternal family and there was no concrete evidence. Therefore, I asked the Jingzhao Prefecture to put it aside for the time being and deal with this case after the other cases were resolved."
It must be said that Li Deyu is a responsible person.
Faced with the emperor, who was clearly enraged, he did not shift the blame to Xue Yuanshang, the person in charge, but stepped forward himself.
His status was different from Xue Yuanshang's. As a high-ranking official, Li Ang still had to show him some respect.
But that doesn't mean this matter can be easily let go.
"Since the Jingzhao Prefecture has submitted a memorial, why hasn't this matter been mentioned in any of the official documents sent to the palace these past few days?"
This is what Li Ang cares about most.
If he had known beforehand that Guo Zhongwen was involved, he would have made arrangements with Xingqing Palace much earlier, and wouldn't have only now discovered that there were people secretly exchanging favors within the Eastern Depot.
This investigation into private lending was personally overseen by Li Deyu, with the Jingzhao Prefecture responsible for the specific handling of the case. Therefore, while the question appeared to be directed at the Jingzhao Prefecture, it was actually a questioning of Li Deyu.
"Your Majesty is wise. This case has not yet been investigated, and there are other cases to be investigated. Therefore, in order to avoid troubling Your Majesty, I have temporarily ordered the Council of State Affairs to retain the official documents. This is my fault, and I beg Your Majesty to punish me."
Li Deyu stood up, bowed deeply, and appeared to be apologizing.
However, there was no hint of remorse in his tone.
However, this cannot be blamed on him. The system in the Tang Dynasty was different from that in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and the prime minister had a lot of power.
Apart from some major political affairs, most routine political affairs could be implemented by having the prime minister sign the edict and then ordering the imperial scribes to draft it.
During this process, many official documents did not even need to be sent to the palace; they could simply be kept on file afterward.
As Li Deyu said, the case of Guo Zhongwen has not yet been investigated, so it naturally does not involve any substantive handling such as drafting an imperial edict. Therefore, he skipped all other steps and simply issued a document to suppress the matter.
Seeing Li Deyu's matter-of-fact attitude, Li Ang felt a surge of dissatisfaction, but he suppressed it and asked again.
"And what about you two? Do you know about this?"
The question was naturally directed at Liu Hongyi and Yang Qinyi.
Upon hearing this, Liu Hongyi shook his head first and said, "Your Majesty, I have not heard of such a thing."
In contrast, Yang Qinyi's expression was much more unpleasant.
It should be noted that Liu Hongyi was the Left Army Commander, so he could completely deny it and simply say that he didn't know anything.
However, he was in charge of the Right Army, so he couldn't escape even if he wanted to.
If Guo Zhongwen were a mid- to low-ranking general, it wouldn't matter, but unfortunately, he was the Right Shence General.
It should be noted that the entire Shence Army, below the rank of Lieutenant-General, has one Grand General, two Commanders, and four Generals, making them a clearly high-ranking military force.
If Yang Qinyi, as the newly appointed Right Army Commander, didn't even know what Guo Zhongwen had done, then he was seriously derelict in his duty.
"Governor Yang, and what about you?"
Li Ang's scrutinizing gaze made Yang Qinyi break out in a cold sweat.
In this situation, the sage is clearly genuinely angry. If he gives the wrong answer, the responsibility might actually fall on his own shoulders.
Fortunately, Yang Qinyi was also a decisive person.
Seeing the sage's face darken, he had a sudden thought and gritted his teeth.
"Your Majesty, I understand."
"Since you knew, why didn't you report it?"
Li Ang's voice grew increasingly cold, clearly indicating that he was extremely dissatisfied.
It should be noted that although Liu Hongyi and Yang Qinyi are now considered to be officials outside the capital, they are still somewhat different from true officials outside the capital.
At least in terms of their relationship with the emperor, they were closer to him than the other ministers.
As prime minister, Li Deyu could have suppressed the matter by considering all aspects of the relationship, but it was somewhat unreasonable that Yang Qinyi, as the head of the Right Army, did not report it.
Moreover, there is now a major problem: Prime Minister Li Deyu and Commander-in-Chief Yang Qinyi both know about this, but the Emperor is the only one unaware.
Although both sides held confidential positions and had received imperial orders, holding confidential positions was one thing, but colluding to deceive the emperor was another.
Given the special nature of the Shence Military Governor's Office, if it is classified as the latter, then the matter will be truly serious.
Therefore, the situation did not allow Yang Qinyi to continue to hesitate. He bowed again and said solemnly.
"Your Majesty, it's not that I didn't want to report it, but rather that I hadn't had the chance to report it yet..."
He then straightened up and continued, "Since His Majesty ordered me, together with Commander Liu, to reorganize the Shence Military Command and cooperate with the Jingzhao Prefecture to investigate cases of private lending in the army, in addition to doing our best to cooperate with the Jingzhao Prefecture, we also ordered the military commanders to conduct a thorough investigation of the army's accounts."
"Currently, 127 cases of unauthorized lending have been discovered in the Right Army. Among them, 23 people are involved, including deputy generals and above. 72 people are involved, including officers such as the Central Guard, the Accounting Officer, and the Judge. Two Shence Generals are involved, including Guo Zhongwen."
"Because Guo Zhongwen has a special status as a member of the Empress Dowager's maternal family, I was afraid of making a mistake, so I did not dare to report it without authorization. However, all the case files have been kept in the Governor's Office. If Your Majesty wishes to thoroughly investigate this case, I will immediately order someone to bring the case files here for Your Majesty's review."