My heart, originally at peace,
Upon seeing the first page of the ledger, Su Tai found the handwriting and content intimately familiar!
How could this be?
Su Tai lost his former confidence!
That arrogant old face instantly turned into a bitter gourd!
"Su Tai, until when will you continue to quibble?" Jie Qianmo's tone was extremely cold, striking fear into the hearts of all present officials!
"Your Majesty, how can you condemn this prime minister based on a single ledger?"
"If my memory serves me correctly, the handwriting in this ledger is your genuine script! Every single entry of income was filled out by you personally! This includes the five hundred and eighty thousand taels embezzled from San Xiao Town!"
Upon hearing this, the perception of Su Tai among the crowd plummeted!
They all began to inwardly scorn Su Tai's corrupt behavior!
"Your Majesty, handwriting can be imitated; this must be someone framing me!"
Qin Yun smiled. "Isn't it easy to tell if it's imitated handwriting? We just need everyone present to take a look!"
"Prime Minister Su, why don't you show it!" Qin Yun urged with a smile!
Su Tai would naturally not do that!
The consequence of doing so would undoubtedly be like lifting a stone to smash his own foot!
"Didn't you say someone imitated your handwriting? Let everyone see how alike the imitation is!"
Qin Yun's move was like kicking a man when he's down, catching Su Tai completely off guard!
Su Tai snorted coldly. "What's there to see!"
"You're afraid to show it, aren't you? But it's fine, as long as Your Majesty sees it!"
Qin Yun's words implicitly told Su Tai that whether others saw it or not was irrelevant; as long as the one on the dragon throne saw it, it counted!
After all, the one who controlled this fate was the Emperor!
Su Tai knelt on the ground and said, "Your Majesty, this is someone framing and slandering me! The handwriting on it is clearly an imitation, not my true handwriting!"
Qin Yun shook her head and smiled!
She had seen thick-skinned people,
But Su Tai's thickness was truly shameless!
Jie Qianmo said coldly, "Whether it is your genuine script or not, we will know when the witness takes the stand!"
Fang Jing, standing nearby, immediately understood!
He called out towards the main hall's entrance, "Summon the witness!"
Outside the hall, Qingshan, dragging his hostage, walked into the hall!
As soon as they reached the entrance!
Everyone's gaze fell upon the hostage!
At this moment, the hostage's head was covered with a black cloth, making his appearance unclear! This piqued everyone's curiosity!
They all wondered inwardly: Who is this person? Why is he so mysterious!
The two arrived in the center of the hall, and Qingshan kicked the hostage. The person reflexively knelt on both knees!
Qingshan also knelt on the ground. "Your Majesty, I am Qingshan, a servant from the Zhuangyuan Residence. The person beside me is one of the key witnesses in this matter!"
Jie Qianmo nodded. "This person is...?"
"This person is precisely Master Kongtian of Taifo Temple!" Qingshan said, then removed the black cloth from Kongtian's head!
The moment the black cloth was removed!
Everyone in the hall looked at this scene in disbelief!
"Master Kongtian has always been compassionate; how is he involved in the court's embezzlement incident?"
"Monks nowadays have grown quite audacious, extending their reach to court tax silver!"
"Could Master Kongtian be connected to the Right Prime Minister...?"
All the officials became curious again!
Seeing Master Kongtian, Qin Yun felt no surprise!
She had heard Jie Qianmo mention this matter before! She hadn't expected it to be this person!
Su Tai, kneeling on the ground, felt his body tremble!
How did this matter get traced to Taifo Temple?
Now that Master Kongtian was being investigated, he was completely finished!
Su Tai knelt on the ground, head bowed, no longer daring to speak!
"If my memory serves me correctly! Isn't this the compassionate Master Kongtian? Do those present recognize him?"
The crowd nodded repeatedly. "Recognize, recognize!"
Qin Yun walked closer to Su Tai and asked curiously, "Does Prime Minister Su recognize him?"
Su Tai clenched his fists by his side, his expression calm. "I have heard of Master Kongtian's name to some extent!"
"Is that so!" Qin Yun touched her chin, then walked over to Master Kongtian!
"Are you Master Kongtian?"
The man nodded. "Indeed!"
Qin Yun walked around the man. "Do you recognize the person in front of you?" Qin Yun pointed boldly at Su Tai with her index finger!
The current Su Tai was like a prisoner of war, and Qin Yun no longer showed him any respect!
The man glanced at Su Tai!
With that glance, Su Tai's hands and feet turned cold!
"I do!"
Qin Yun smiled. "Master Kongtian, will you confess honestly, or will I ask and you answer?"
Kongtian naturally understood Qin Yun's words!
He now had no room to turn back!
If he didn't confess the truth, his entire family would die!
He didn't know why, but this matter had been confusingly traced back to him!
"This humble one and Prime Minister Su are old acquaintances. Over the years, Prime Minister Su has hidden the silver he embezzled in the cellars of Taifo Temple!"
"You are talking nonsense! I am not familiar with you; who told you to frame me!" Su Tai, unable to contain his anger, stepped forward, trying to grab Kongtian's collar!
But he was apprehended by the guards beside him!
"Your Majesty, this humble one is not talking nonsense! This humble one has known Prime Minister Su since childhood; we were from the same village when we were young! At that time, Su Tai passed the imperial examinations and became an official in the capital, while this humble one failed and eventually became a monk at Taifo Temple by chance!"
Hearing this, Qin Yun interrupted. "Became a monk? Are you sure you are truly a monk?"
Kongtian frowned, his expression difficult. "This humble one... everything this humble one did at Taifo Temple was a facade; this humble one has a family!" As he said this, Kongtian lowered his head even further!
He was merely following the instructions of that person and repeating what he had confessed earlier in the hall!
Master Kongtian has a family?
This statement once again refreshed the understanding of the officials in the hall!
Now even monks were married; what kind of world was this!
"Continue!" Qin Yun prompted coldly!
"Ten years ago, Su Tai accompanied his wife to Taifo Temple. He recognized this humble one immediately. It was then that he secretly discovered this humble one was married, and used this as a reason to begin threatening me!"
"How did he threaten you?" Qin Yun asked, crossing her arms!
"Su Tai demanded that this humble one hide silver for him! Because Taifo Temple's incense offerings were abundant each year, Su Tai took this opportunity to stash all the embezzled silver in Taifo Temple!"
"There are also several monks within the temple who are informants planted by Su Tai!"
Qin Yun squatted down, looking at Kongtian earnestly. "How much silver did Su Tai hide in Taifo Temple!"
"Approximately three million taels!"
Three million taels?
Everyone's eyes widened. This was silver they couldn't earn in several lifetimes, yet Su Tai had embezzled so much!
Apart from the fifty-eight thousand taels in taxes, where did the remaining over two million taels come from?
This aroused further suspicion among the crowd!
"You just mentioned the abundance of Taifo Temple's incense offerings. I imagine a portion of the remaining two million taels is incense money embezzled by Su Tai?" Qin Yun spoke directly, exposing all of Su Tai's secrets!
As for where her confidence came from!
It was given by Jie Qianmo!