The three had never seen such a scene before! They trembled all over with fear!
Heavens!
Did they just see the Emperor? Would they be beheaded?
"Speak up, tell us everything you know honestly!"
Cao Dewang spoke first, kneeling on both knees and saying tremblingly, "This humble one's surname is Cao, and I am the town lord of Qingshui Town! Over the years, the tax collected from the common people was one hundred taels, which was also done under the arrangement of people above!"
Qin Yun smiled. "Who is this person above?"
Cao Dewang trembled, "That person is called Steward Wei, from the capital, and should be from the residence of some official!"
The words of Su Daqian and Wang Sanxi were the same!
All three stated that the person who came to collect the tax money was Steward Wei, an official from the capital!
So, who was Steward Wei, and whose official was he working for!
When Fu Jinsong heard the three mention Steward Wei, his hands began to tremble!
His legs also trembled uncontrollably!
Qin Yun had long noticed Fu Jinsong's change!
She was very satisfied with this reaction!
"Lord Fu, do you know who the Steward Wei they mentioned is?" Qin Yun asked, narrowing her eyes.
Fu Jinsong shook his head. "This old man does not know!"
Qin Yun was not annoyed; Fu Jinsong's feigned ignorance was within her expectations!
"If you don't know, it's fine. Let's first calculate how much silver has been embezzled from these three small towns over the years!"
Qin Yun raised both hands and clapped three times!
Servants outside the hall carried a wooden chest in!
After placing the chest down, they turned and left!
All actions were done in one go, without any hesitation!
Qin Yun was very satisfied with this efficiency!
At this time, everyone's attention turned to the wooden chest!
The officials began to discuss!
"What's in here! Why is Scholar Qin being so mysterious today!"
"Who knows! Perhaps Lord Fu really embezzled!"
"I couldn't tell! Lord Fu always seemed like an honest person, how could he do such a thing?"
Qin Yun walked to the wooden chest and said respectfully to Xie Qianmo, "Your Majesty, these are all tax account books! All the accounting records are here!"
In fact, the originals in the chest were only from Qingshui Town and Suyun Town!
Since Su Daqian did not keep account books, his jurisdiction, Furong Town, had no account books!
However, Qin Yun made a rough calculation based on the population of Furong Town!
The tax amount was similar to that of Qingshui Town and Suyun Town, so she created a compromise account book!
"Bring them up, let朕 see!"
Fang Jing walked with small steps to Qin Yun, who smiled and opened the wooden chest, casually picking up two account books and handing them to Fang Jing!
After Fang Jing returned, he walked with a stoop, his head bowed, and presented the account books to Xie Qianmo!
Xie Qianmo took them with one hand and carefully flipped through them!
He looked extremely serious!
Qin Yun frowned slightly!
These account books had been with him all along, hadn't he seen them before!
He was putting on quite a show today!
He didn't expect the scoundrel's acting skills to be so good! Impressive!
After Xie Qianmo finished looking at the account books, he angrily threw them at Fu Jinsong. One of them, whether intentionally or not, hit Su Tai!
Su Tai pretended to be indifferent and picked up the account book, placing it back into Qin Yun's chest!
He acted as if he had nothing to do with it!
Qin Yun twitched her lips!
That scoundrel really knew how to stir up trouble!
However, Su Tai's composure was indeed remarkable! He looked calm, showing no sign of panic!
"Speak, what is going on?" Xie Qianmo said this to Fu Jinsong!
Facing the terrifying Xie Qianmo, Fu Jinsong quickly knelt down!
"Your Majesty, this humble official does not know if these account books are true or false, nor does he know about the Steward Wei they mentioned! This humble official is wronged!"
"Are you saying that Qin Yun has wronged you?" Xie Qianmo's voice lowered a little!
"Your Majesty, this humble official often clashes with Scholar Qin in court, but she cannot falsely accuse me of embezzlement! She is clearly targeting me and cannot stand to see me do well!"
"Qin Yun, do you have any other evidence?"
Qin Yun knelt on both knees and said sincerely, "Your Majesty, this humble subject did not target Lord Fu! Nor did I wrong him! That Steward Wei, named Wei Qing, is precisely someone under Lord Fu!"
"Nonsense, Qin Yun, why are you trying to harm me!" Fu Jinsong was very agitated! More than that, he was afraid!
"Lord Fu, you will know whether I am harming you or not soon enough!"
Qin Yun looked calm and confident!
The more she acted like this, the more Fu Jinsong became afraid!
Even Su Tai admired Qin Yun's courage in the great hall, realizing this person was indeed his stumbling block!
"What else do you want?" Fu Jinsong was so angry he wanted to kill!
Seeing Qin Yun's calm demeanor!
He had a rough idea that his downfall was imminent!
"Bring the prisoner, Wei Qing, into the hall!" Qin Yun's voice was not loud, but for Su Tai and Fu Jinsong, it was a fatal blow!
Once Wei Qing appeared, the matter would be truly exposed, with no room for salvage!
The next second!
The moment Qin Yun finished speaking!
A weathered middle-aged man entered the hall and knelt down!
"This humble one, Wei Qing, pays his respects to Your Majesty!"
At this moment, Wei Qing's hands were bound by rope, but other than that, he could move freely!
This was a special permission granted by Qin Yun!
"Wei Qing, are you the Steward Wei everyone is talking about?"
"This humble one is!"
Xie Qianmo glanced at Cao Dewang, Su Daqian, and Wang Sanxi, and asked softly, "Do you recognize the three people before you!"
Wei Qing turned his gaze, looked at the three, and then nodded. "I do! These three are the town lords of Qingshui Town, Furong Town, and Suyun Town!"
"Let me ask you again, is the annual per capita tax of these three small towns, one hundred taels, going into your pocket?"
"Your Majesty, this humble one was only acting on behalf of others. This humble one did not pocket any of the tax silver!"
Xie Qianmo smiled. "Look at the officials present, which one is your master?"
This question was very clear: whoever Wei Qing's master was, that person was the embezzler!
Wei Qing scanned the hall!
Finally, his gaze fixed on Fu Jinsong!
"Your Majesty, the one who instructed this humble one to do so was none other than that scoundrel Fu Jinsong!"
"Seeing that the matter was about to be exposed, he even captured this humble one and wanted to silence me, to kill me!" Wei Qing glared fiercely at Fu Jinsong!
"Who instructed you to frame this old man! You are indeed someone from my household, but this old man has not embezzled. Did you perhaps accept silver from someone else and then deliberately frame this old man in court?"
Qin Yun cast a sideways glance at Fu Jinsong!
As expected of an old fox, he still wanted to turn the tables!
"You scoundrel, I have been loyal to you all these years, yet you want to kill me to silence me! And now you want to quibble? Do you think it's possible? You and I are both beyond redemption!" Wei Qing hated Fu Jinsong to the core!
Thinking of his efforts becoming worthless now, he had nothing left to fear!
"You traitor, still trying to slander this old man, watch me slice you!" Fu Jinsong also became aggressive, only wanting Wei Qing to shut up quickly!
He went to the guards and was about to draw his sword when he was fiercely pushed by a guard and fell to the ground!
"How dare you push this old man? Do you not want to live?"
At this moment, Fu Jinsong was like a cornered dog, his composure completely shattered!
Perhaps he himself didn't know what he was doing!
"Fu Jinsong, if you dare to make a fuss in the hall again, you will be immediately dragged out and beheaded!" Xie Qianmo said coldly!
As his words fell, the hall quickly quieted down!
Seeing everyone behaving themselves! Qin Yun continued, "Wei Qing, we must speak with evidence. Since you have identified Fu Jinsong as your master, do you know where the tax silver from the three small towns is kept?"