THE CUNNING VIGILANTE

25. Restless

Delun thought that all the ministers were present in the meeting. It turns out that only few selected ministers were present in the round table. The Emperor along with his royal guard on his back, Chen Guang, Zhang Wei and him were the only ones present in the meeting. As the meeting proceeds, Chang Bao excuses himself saying that his eyes felt like it had been stung by a bee all of the sudden. Chang Bao then looked at Delun irritatingly and glanced at Chen Guang agonizingly. This day had been the worst day in his entire history so Chang Bao went outside the room for the sake of his temper.

"So, Zhen has been hearing complaints with the people near the border. The tax keeps getting higher which made the people gained doubts towards the Imperial Palace. As you see, Zhen never increased the bills this month because there hasn't been any trouble in the Capital. If this continues, many people will rebel against the palace's orders and it could severe the connections in the Imperial palace." Wang Yong said hastily as he eyed the Qin map lying on the table. It is indeed a big crisis in the Imperial palace since the people outside started to doubt the palace's management. If this continues, it may lead to a huge catastrophe in the the future.

"Your highness, it was indeed a big problem for us. The inside and outside of the palace had its own ears and eyes so I could not act to my own accord. But, I had been pondering lately. One of my people that I stationed inside the Liu manor, there was a basement in one of the mansion's critters that attracted the servant's eyes. So, he sneakily went inside of the basement and saw something peculiar." Chen Guang said, rubbing his chin. There was a hidden secret there that he himself couldn't believe. At first, he thought that the servant was just making excuses. It turns out that his predicament is true.

"What is in that basement?" Delun said as he calmly sip his tea. Chen Guang doesn't show that he didn't like Delun and only smiled at him and said.

"It turns out that all of the treasures that supposed to be in the palace were all in there. From medicine, to the sacks of rice and to the bunch of gold had been stocked inside."

The people inside were shocked. It was Minister Liu's job to ensure that the taxes from the people would be secured completely for the palace's emergency uses. As for the rise of suspicion because of the sudden increase of taxes outside without telling His Majesty makes it even contemptible.

The three out of four people didn't know the motive of Liu's plan but one of them just made a guess.

Zhang Wei, the minister of education had said, "It's just a hunch but I can't sure this must be it."

The three looked at Zhang Wei as he flipped his fan and swayed it in the air.

"If my guess is correct, Minister Liu had a foreign connection on the outside. If my predicament is true, he may be selling the goods from foreigners. I saw some of his men secretly, pushing a cart on the outskirts of the town previously, but I just couldn't believe my own judgement because I don't have evidence yet." The Emperor nearly fall off from his chair after he heard those words that came from Zhang Wei's mouth. He already knew the Minister's true colors, but he didn't know that it was much to this extent. He silently gritted his teeth and clenched his fist as he slammed it into the table.

All these years, he never encountered a person as scum as Minister Liu. Him, as the Emperor of Qin was deeply humiliated by the minister's actions.

As for Chen Guang, he really did his job as a chief censor so Delun was at ease with him. But, he still can't trust him fully because this man has too many secrets. One of the reason is that this man was his former friend and his wife's father.

"The reason why I called you here because you all are the only ones trusted in the palace. Find a perfect time to sort out his schemes and if you do, don't hesitate to corner him on the spot. Find evidences that could truly hinder him down as well as his other transactions from all the goods he had sold. I cannot bear with this. Sooner or later, the country's treasures will be soon devoured by that person's belly."