"I am wronged, I am really wronged!"

Emperor Jiajing looked at Zhang Shijie coldly and said nothing. Zhang Shijie lay on the ground, crying while shouting for injustice. However, as time passed, he could not get the slightest response from Emperor Jiajing, and his shouts gradually disappeared, leaving only crying. Then the crying became smaller and smaller, and eventually turned into sobs. In the end, the sobs disappeared, and he lay on the ground like a dead person.

"Are you finished crying?" Emperor Jiajing's voice was so steady that there was no fluctuation at all.

Zhang Shijie's body shook and he struggled and said, "I am wronged..."

"Are you wronged?" Emperor Jiajing's voice was cold as ice: "I handed over a good Maritime Warehouse to you. This is my trust in you, but you failed my trust. Your half-year income was one-third less than when Luo Xin was alive. Zhang Shijie, are you and your master's appetite too big?"

"I... I'm wronged!" Zhang Shijie could not admit it until the end, let alone Emperor Jiajing pointed out his master?

Who is his master?

Xu Jie!

"Your Majesty, since I arrived in Hangzhou, I have worked hard, worked diligently, and worked hard, just like walking on thin ice..."

"Speak human words!" Emperor Jiajing said coldly.

Zhang Shijie's body shook: "I... I... I have let down Your Majesty's trust, but... But... this is not my disloyalty to Your Majesty, nor is it my greed. But... it is..."

“But what?”

Zhang Shijie swallowed and spitted, "Your Majesty, before I left the capital, I knew that I had been an official in the capital, and I had no experience as a local official, nor had I had the experience of operating the Maritime Bureau. In order to do a good job that Your Majesty gave me, I went to visit Luo Xin as soon as I arrived in Hangzhou. Ask Lord Luo to ask Lord Luo how to manage the Maritime Bureau well. Lord Luo told me that everything in Maritime Bureau has been formal, as long as I follow the original rules and use the original people.

I believe it!

However, those people... those people... bullied me and didn't understand these things, and I believed Lord Luo and trusted them. So I took advantage of the loopholes, colluded with internal and external forces, and even under the banner of my ministers. Until now, I realized that they dared to smuggle. I was only a little confused and misled His Majesty's trust. Please punish Your Majesty."

"Swish..." Emperor Jiajing sneered: "Clever words make people look good."

"I dare not!" Zhang Shijie said tremblingly.

"Don't dare? Where did my money go?"

"My...My..." Zhang Shijie suddenly burst into tears again and said, "Your Majesty! I only realized how difficult it was after I arrived in Hangzhou. Hangzhou was already controlled by Lord Luo as a piece of iron. My government orders could not be out of the yamen at all, and no one listened to me. Those people colluded to obscene me, how to do whatever I wanted, smuggled, and harmed the public and benefited private. Originally, I thought so, first gave up my interests for a period of time, rectified the administration, and waited to remove those worms, and then seized the management of the Maritime Bureau. Even the money given to Your Majesty was all obtained by me through hardships."

Emperor Jiajing raised his eyebrows, and a thought emerged in his mind. Could it be that Luo Xin's people left Hangzhou, but the Maritime Bureau was still in Luo Xin's hands? But he still did not give Zhang Shijie a good face.

"Luo Xin encountered more difficulties than you in Hangzhou. Luo Xin could overcome them, why couldn't you overcome them?"

"Your Majesty! Lord Luo had Qi Jiguang's army at the beginning, but I had nothing! Without an army, those yamen runners have not yet subdued them. I... I... I'm so miserable..."

"Then why don't you report?"

Zhang Shijie didn't think of the reason for the moment, so he lowered his head and lay there silently.

"answer!"

Looking at Zhang Shijie's appearance and thinking of the money he lost, Emperor Jiajing felt an unknown fire surged into his heart. With his loud shout, his mind buzzed, and his whole head felt a wave of opening and shrinking, as if it was about to explode.

Emperor Jiajing, who had been calm all the time, suddenly shouted like this, which made Zhang Shijie tremble and never dared to remain silent again. He immediately spoke:

"Your Majesty, Hangzhou officials and businessmen are colluding with each other, officials and bandits are colluding with each other, and merchants and bandits are complicated. Before we figure out these joints, I dare not submit a rash memorial. Once Your Majesty makes a decision because of my memorial, and the content of this memorial is not sure of the accuracy. It will harm the country and the people, and I cannot afford it!"

"Of course you can't afford it. You are a small magistrate of Hangzhou and a magistrate of the Maritime Bureau. It's not your turn to mislead the country and the people. That's the matter of the cabinet."

Emperor Jiajing's expression began to turn pale, his mind felt dizzy, and his heart began to become irritable.

"Xu Jie recommended you to become the governor of Hangzhou and the Maritime Commander. Within half a year, the merchants of the vassal state doubled, but the tariffs were one-third less than before. You actually owed more than four million taels. Xu Jie recommended it well, and you are worthy of Xu Jie. But, are you worthy of me? Do you only have Xu Jie in your eyes, but not me?"

Zhang Shijie's heart beat violently, and the anxiety in his heart was expanding.

What does this mean?

Is this your Majesty want to punish Xu Jie?

no!

This definitely won't work!

I'm done, as long as there is Xu Jie, I will make a comeback. But if Xu Jie is finished, I'm really done. Zhang Shijie made up his mind and suddenly looked up and said:

"Your Majesty, I am not greedy, and Master Xu is not greedy. Both Master Xu and Master Xu are wronged."

Emperor Jiajing's breathing became heavy, and he looked at Zhang Shijie's figure a little blurred, but he felt a fire burning in his heart. It became difficult to speak.

"Your Majesty, although the war in the north is now pacified, Huang Taiji invaded the Ming Dynasty, causing the Ming Dynasty to be barren for thousands of miles, and the people were living in poverty, and the disaster was everywhere. Now, Japanese pirates appeared in the southeast. The Japanese pirates had occupied Ryukyu, and they would invade the Ming Dynasty at some point. The chieftains of Bashu were in chaos, and the south was drought and flooded in the north. These things were all done by Mr. Xu. How could such a loyal Mr. Xu be greedy?"

"Before I left the capital, Mr. Xu called me to me and told me to remember not to stretch out my hand, and I would be caught if I reached out. I warn me not to be greedy and to work diligently for His Majesty."

"Bang!" Jiajing slapped the table and said, "You are not greedy, and Xu Jie is not greedy either. Did my money run away by myself?"

"It's all my fault that I didn't do the job well, did not control the Maritime Bureau, and gave the people below the opportunity."

The re-report of Zhang Shijie's old story made Emperor Jiajing think of Luo Xin again, and an idea emerged uncontrollably.

Could it be that Luo Xin really held the Maritime Bureau and refused to let go?

Although he has been transferred back to the capital, he is still the controller behind the Maritime Bureau?

What is he going to do?

*r
Chapter completed!