Chapter 1575: The True Culprit

Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“I just happened to do some business before I suddenly prospered. If it wasn’t for the fact that I have some money now, I really wouldn’t be able to pay such heavy taxes. I’m hoping the Emperor will end this high-tax movement. My family is also looking forward to reducing taxes, but don’t count on it. It’s good enough that the taxes aren’t increasing as much as before.” The waiter said.

“What do you mean?” Xue Yan pretended not to understand.

Jiang Yue listened quietly the entire time, eating a mouthful of snacks from time to time.

“Just now, when the Zhen family’s young master and a group of young masters came, they were talking about their father’s tax as they went upstairs into the private room.” The waiter whispered. “They are usually very close to the county magistrate’s son and have been secretly filial to the county magistrate. The county magistrate usually takes good care of them, but they always have to pay the tax. It can be seen that there is no other way than to pay the taxes. The Emperor issued such an edict, so they could only be taught the same. Otherwise, the tax that is not paid will have to be paid by the county magistrate and handed over to the national treasury. Let’s not talk about whether the county magistrate has that much money, the county magistrate is not that st*pid to give away his own money.”

It seemed that this man deceived his superiors and subordinates…

However, it was hard to say. Perhaps those young masters knew the inside story and were paying less than the people… It was very possible.

After all, even the officers knew the inside story. There was no reason why the wealthy families were out of the loop. The wealthy families must have had some connections, some of those wealthy families had officials as well.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

When they returned from Min An Restaurant and returned to the inn, Jiang Yue and Xue Yan asked the innkeeper some questions as well. The innkeeper did not know as much as the waiter of Min An Restaurant, but they generally said that the people with high status and power were Prime Minister Dou, Great General Qiu, and Prince Che. It seemed that the waiter of Min An Restaurant did not lie to them.

“The previous prime minister and imperial censor must have been killed by Shi Yuan because they were acting in a two-faced manner.” Jiang Yue concluded. “There are some differences from what that man said, but the consensus is the same. Dazhu heard from others that people can be cunning foxes sometimes. Context of topics change as they spread. In short, the previous Prime Minister did not wholeheartedly serve the people, and the previous Imperial Censor was not a good official who spoke bluntly. Many of the officials who were killed at that time were related to the incident at that time, and they were not good officials.”

“From what we know, Shi Yuan is, for now, not a tyrant,” said Xue Yan.

Then, he analyzed the situation just like her. “As for Prime Minister Dou, Great General Qiu, and Prince Che, they are not in Dianhe County. General Qiu is the commander of the army, so he should be in the barracks. Prime Minister Dou is the head of the officials, and Prince Che is in charge of the national treasury. If I’m not mistaken, these two should be in the capital. But no matter where they are, they are separated from the county magistrate by distance and power. Even if the county magistrate has some evidence, he should not have directly contacted the people at the top. We have insufficient evidence of who is covering the county magistrate. Naturally, we can’t make them plead guilty and be executed if we do not have the right information. Who knows, the people in power might even push out a scapegoat to get rid of all their crimes through them. Therefore, we can’t rashly blame the county magistrate. Just like what you said yesterday, if we want to wipe out the whole place, we have to find out who the main mastermind is and get substantial evidence that he is the culprit. Only then can we solve it once and for all.”