"Injustice! Injustice! Your Majesty, please redress my grievances! Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I have been wronged!"
The officials of Songzhou were furious that someone had trespassed into this place, and they ordered their soldiers to...
"Who dares to be so bold as to disturb the Emperor and Empress? Immediately order them to be thrown out. If they cause any more trouble, arrest them and take them to their residence."
"Yes, sir."
Soldiers went to disperse the crowd, but the woman knew some martial arts, so she ended up fighting with the soldiers who tried to stop her. The commotion finally alerted Ye Lingfeng and Hai Ling, who were on this side. Ye Lingfeng held the blueprints in his hand, raised his long, narrow eyebrows, and asked in a deep voice, "What is going on? Who is crying out for justice outside?"
The officials of Songzhou turned pale with fright and hurriedly came to report: "Your Majesty, it must be some audacious troublemaker causing trouble. Your Majesty, please calm down. I will go and drive her away."
Ye Lingfeng remained noncommittal; his main focus was on the blueprints in his hand, and he paid no attention to anything else.
Hai Ling, however, found the cries of injustice outside to be very sorrowful and did not seem like deliberate disturbances, so she summoned the officials of Songzhou.
"Bring her here. I want to ask her what grievance she has that led her to come here to cry out for justice."
"Yes, yes, Your Majesty."
The officials of Songzhou began to wipe their sweat. They had almost lost their heads earlier, and now someone had come to plead for justice. Was today going to be their dark day? However, since the Empress had spoken, they naturally dared not stop her. They immediately obeyed the order and went out to command the soldiers to bring the person who had pleaded for justice over.
The two maids, Shi Mei and Shi Lan, stood vigilantly behind Hai Ling to prevent anyone from harming their mistress.
The person who had cried out for justice was brought over, knelt down with a thud, and cried out in sorrow and grief.
"This humble woman greets Your Majesty the Empress and kowtows to Your Majesty the Empress."
"Raise your head and let me see you."
Hai Ling spoke, and even though the woman was heartbroken, her voice was still very pleasant, suggesting she was a young woman. Upon hearing Hai Ling's words, the woman looked up, revealing a delicate face streaked with tears. Before she even spoke, her eyes were already moist, giving her a pitiful and delicate appearance that evoked a protective instinct. Looking at this woman, Hai Ling's first thought was of characters like Bai Yinshuang and Xinyue from Qiong Yao's novels, all of whom attracted men's protective instincts with their fragility. The woman before her also possessed this gentleness, looking pitiful, like an unwanted cat or dog.
Hailin asked calmly, "What's your name?"
"Your Majesty, I am Shui Linglong."
Unexpectedly, her name also contained the character for water, and she seemed even more like someone made of water. Hai Ling nodded, then asked Shui Linglong, "Were you the one who was protesting your innocence just now?"
"It is I, the commoner, beg Your Majesty the Empress to do justice for me!" Shui Linglong cried again after saying this, and prostrated herself on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly. Fortunately, it was muddy ground; if it had been slabs of stone, her forehead would probably have bled.
"Who does Miss Water want to sue?"
As Hai Ling asked her questions, Ye Lingfeng was finally alerted. He raised an eyebrow, then tossed the blueprints in his hand to the adults for discussion. He then led his men over, and his deep, magnetic voice rang out.
"What happened?"
Hai Ling looked up at Ye Lingfeng with a smile and said calmly, "This Miss Shui Linglong has a grievance to redress. I am just asking her who she is accusing?"
Upon hearing that magnetic and deep voice, Shui Linglong couldn't help but steal a glance out of curiosity. The moment she saw him, she was struck dumb, quickly lowering her head and daring not to look again. Her heart was pounding wildly. This must be the legendary, stunningly handsome emperor. He was so incredibly beautiful, yet he lacked any feminine airs. Instead, he possessed the domineering and dignified aura of an emperor, making him all the more attractive.
Although Shui Linglong's heart pounded for a moment, she remembered the situation and that she had come to complain, so she suppressed her heartbeat and knelt down without moving to reply.
"Your Majesty, I am filing a complaint against Zhao Baiyang, the Prefect of Songzhou. My father is still Shui Qi, the Commandant of Songzhou, in charge of miscellaneous affairs within the Songzhou Prefecture. Prefect Zhao Baiyang is extremely corrupt. Every year, the imperial court allocates silver to reinforce the river dams and provide relief to the people, but when it reaches Songzhou, Zhao Baiyang embezzles more than half of it. My father recently discovered this and wrote an account book. Zhao Baiyang found out about this and ordered my father to be poisoned. I beg Your Majesty to do justice for me."
Ye Lingfeng and Hai Ling's expressions suddenly turned grim. Although Ye Lingfeng had only recently taken office, he had checked the Ministry of Revenue's records and found that Songzhou Prefecture had indeed received funding frequently in recent years, but it had not had much practical effect. Because no one had complained, the capital had let the matter drop. Now that Shui Linglong had filed a complaint, bringing up past issues was indeed suspicious. Silver was allocated every year, but the people were still very poor. It turned out that this was because of the corrupt official Zhao Baiyang.
"Shui Linglong, do you have any evidence to support your lawsuit against an official of the imperial court?"
Hai Ling asked coldly. One of the officials from Songzhou stepped back, seemingly wanting to go out and report the news. Hai Ling gave him a look, and Shi Mei stepped forward to block the official's movement. She stared at the official who wanted to report the news with a sinister look. The official trembled when Shi Mei glared at him and dared not have any more thoughts. He stood obediently.
Shi Mei kept a close watch on several officials from Songzhou, as well as soldiers from nearby Songzhou.
Ye Lingfeng was furious. Without waiting for Shui Linglong to continue, he ordered Wen Bin, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War.
"Lord Wen, immediately lead your troops to the Songzhou residence and bring Zhao Baiyang to me."
"Yes, Your Majesty, I will take care of it immediately."
Since becoming the Vice Minister of War, Wenbin has been devoted to his duties and deeply impressed by the Emperor's ruthless methods and love for the people.
At this moment, as soon as Ye Lingfeng gave the order, Wen Bin took the command and led his men to the mansion to arrest Zhao Baiyang.
Hai Ling stared at Shui Linglong, wondering if she had any evidence. If she didn't, she could sue the prefect of Songzhou, and Shui Linglong would be in for a world of trouble.
Shui Linglong looked up, glanced quickly at the Emperor, then looked at the Empress, presented her with a yellow booklet, and said sadly, "This is the account book my father left to me in fear of being killed. It records the amount of money Zhao Baiyang embezzled, and it also involves other people."
As soon as Shui Linglong finished speaking, the faces of the officials from Songzhou changed drastically. They dared not move and their hands and feet went weak.
They had been searching for this account book, but they never expected it to be in Shui Linglong's hands. Shui Linglong was Shui Qi's youngest daughter, and she had been sent elsewhere to learn her craft since she was a child, so she was not in the Shui family. Therefore, they had been careless and had not thought that Shui Qi would put the account book on Shui Linglong. As for the other members of the Shui family, they had also eliminated them. The Shui mansion had been searched thoroughly, but they still could not find this account book. Now, this account book had appeared and was presented to the emperor. They wondered how many people were recorded in this account book.
The officials of Songzhou were so terrified that their bodies went weak. They had almost lost their heads before, and now they were sure to lose them.
Hai Ling took the account book and flipped through it. She quickly saw that the person behind Zhao Baiyang was none other than the current Prime Minister Zhongli. It turned out that Zhao Baiyang had become a disciple of Prime Minister Zhongli. Zhongli was a veteran of three reigns and deeply trusted by the previous emperor. Therefore, every year Zhongli would speak to the previous emperor, saying that Songzhou was a low-lying area and the people were suffering terribly, and that funds should be allocated for relief. Then there were other projects such as reinforcing the river dams, and a sum of money should be allocated every year. Since Ye Lingfeng ascended the throne, he did not value Zhongli, so Zhongli dared not mention such things anymore. Therefore, these things were not discovered for a time. Zhongli also kept his own affairs clean. Unexpectedly, the southern tour not only benefited the local people, but also uncovered a corrupt official like Zhongli. This is really great.
Hai Ling glanced through the ledger and handed it to Ye Lingfeng. She quickly saw Ye Lingfeng's face darken, a sinister smile curling at the corner of his mouth. He asked Shui Linglong with a bloodthirsty look, "Has anyone else seen this ledger?"
"Your Majesty, no."
Upon hearing the Emperor's majestic and magnetic words, Shui Linglong couldn't help but tremble, and then quickly lowered her head to reply.
“Alright,” Ye Lingfeng said coldly. While dealing with Shui Linglong’s matter, several officials who were well-versed in water conservancy had also revised the blueprints and had a preliminary plan for the route of the canal. So they came over and said respectfully.
"Your Majesty, we have made all the changes."
"Then let's go back to the inn first."
At Ye Lingfeng's command, everyone moved and left the manor for the post station. On the way, Shi Mei kept a close eye on the officials of Songzhou, forbidding anyone from reporting the news.
Inside the post station, Ye Lingfeng and his group returned, and Zhao Baiyang, the prefect of Songzhou, was also captured.