Zhou Chennian held the letter in his hand and ran away to meet Gu Yan, who had just returned from the court.

"What happened?" Gu Yan paused and looked at Zhou Chennian with a frown.

"Look at this." Zhou Chennian handed the trust in his hand to Gu Yan.

While reading the letter, Gu Yan walked up to the upper room, walked to the door of the upper room, and said to Zhou Chennian: "Let someone invite Pan Shiyi."

Zhou Chennian agreed, waved to a boy and ordered him to go down, followed Gu Yan into the upper room.

Gu Yan had already finished reading the letter and waved his hand to Shi Gun: "You don't need to change your clothes yet. Bring some snacks and leave first."

Shi Gun agreed and left with his clothes in his arms. After a while, he gave a hot handkerchief and four or five snacks. He also made a pot of tea and retreated outside the hanging flower door with the boys.

Gu Yan handed the letter to Zhou Chennian, wiped his hands with a handkerchief, and asked while eating snacks: "Did you just receive it?"

"Yes, it was delivered an hour ago. The person who delivered the letter was a long-term attendant of Mr. He, who traveled day and night." Zhou Chennian replied.

"Uncle Pan is here." Shigun's voice came from outside the hanging flower door.

Zhou Chennian hurriedly opened the curtain and looked out, waving to Pan Shiyi.

Pan Shiyi quickly walked into the room. Gu Yan motioned Pan Shiyi to sit down and said to Zhou Chennian, "Talk to him."

"Yes." Zhou Chennian agreed, looked at Pan Shiyi and said: "Three days ago, around noon on Xinchou Day, Fan Sheng'an, the chairman of the Silk Guild of Yanguan County, died of oral poison at the gate of the Customs and Excise Department. He said he could not bear the customs. The department was heavily taxed and exploited. Huang Xianzhou, the manager of the Customs and Excise Department, believed that Fan Sheng'an was indeed exploited, but not by the Customs and Excise Department.

"Huang Guan changed Fan Sheng'an's death from suicide to murder in advance to leave room for finding out the truth."

Pan Shiyi looked at Gu Yan.

"Last time you said that after the Customs and Excise Department's wharf was prepared according to actual plans, silk shops and silk shops in various places would definitely have a difficult time. I was in a hurry and didn't have time to ask in detail. Please tell me carefully." Gu Yan gestured to Pan Shiyi.

"Yes. The prince asked me to pay close attention to the people's livelihood and government affairs on the way back. Looking along the way, I found that the prefectures and counties in the south of the Yangtze River are extremely well-staffed, and they are also very wealthy. The Great Academy is in excellent repair. All the government schools I saw provided free tea and snacks, and rice was given in exchange for silver.

"I visited three friends who work in Jiangnan along the way and asked about it. They said that the Li Yamen Academy received the care of the Silk House. I feel that it is extremely difficult to reduce this care. That's why I said that the Silk House and various Silk House is bound to have a hard time."

Zhou Chennian coughed somewhat uncomfortably and said with a dry smile: "I know more about the Xuegong Society than Zhou Dalang. After entering school, scholars from the two Zhejiang provinces will join one or two societies. During every year and festival, the academy would distribute holiday money to the scholars, which was almost enough for the scholars to support their families.

"It was only after I followed the prince that I learned that all the money came from the silk shop. In addition to the money distributed, various academic societies held meetings and invited people to give lectures. It was also a big expense. These are related to every scholar. son."

Gu Yan's face was gloomy. He already knew a lot of these details. The more he knew, the more difficult and complicated he realized that this matter was far more difficult and complicated than he expected.

"Let's talk about this first." Gu Yan clicked on the letter and dealt with it one by one.

Gu Yan looked at Pan Shiyi, and Pan Shiyi hesitated and said: "The small officials and yamen servants in various places, as well as the academic society that Mr. Zhou mentioned, have been suffering for a long time. It is best to figure it out slowly. Is it possible for the Customs and Excise Department to slow down for a while?" slow?"

"No!" Zhou Chennian shook his head in front of Gu Yan, "You can't take a step back in the case of the Customs and Excise Department. If you take a step back, everything will be lost."

Gu Yan nodded.

"It would be best for the Crown Prince to return to Jiangnan and preside over it personally." Zhou Chennian looked at Gu Yan and suggested.

Gu Yan was silent for a moment and said, "Well, let me think about it. You two should discuss this matter first."

Gu Yan handed the letter to Zhou Chennian.

Watching Zhou Chennian and Pan Shiyi exit the Chuihua Gate, Gu Yan was lost in thought for a while, then asked Jin Shigun to change his clothes, and then went out to his father, Prince Rui's study.

Prince Rui reported illness and had not attended the morning court for a while. At this moment, he and several stewards of Zongzheng Temple were pointing at the thick booklet and talking.

Seeing Gu Yan come in, several stewards hurriedly stopped talking and looked at Gu Yan.

"You continue to discuss." Gu Yan said with a smile, walked around behind Prince Rui, and stretched his head to read the brochure.

"Go on and make arrangements for these two families." Prince Rui motioned to several stewards.

"Yes." The steward who was speaking just now continued where he was interrupted.

Gu Yan stretched his head and looked at the booklet, listening attentively to the steward's words.

The steward spoke much faster than before. Prince Rui listened attentively and looked at Gu Yan, "Did you understand? What do you think of this matter?"

"This is a scoundrel act. His family should be benevolent and be expelled from the clan's register. He should no longer be named Gu." Gu Yan replied simply.

Prince Rui said 'hmm', looked at the steward and asked, "Isn't this the first time?"

"This is the third time." The steward replied with a smile.

"Well, that doesn't count as being executed without teaching. He is expelled and driven five hundred miles away. He is no longer allowed to have the surname Gu, and he is not allowed to return to Jianle City again." Prince Rui ordered.

"Yes." The steward glanced at Gu Yan subconsciously.

"Let's do this for now, and then we can continue after lunch." Prince Rui ordered.

Several stewards left the upper room, and Prince Rui turned to look at Gu Yan, "Is there really nothing wrong?"

"Are you going to go through the clan members one by one?" Gu Yan did not answer Prince Rui's words, picked up a book and flipped through it quickly.

"Well, it's time to clean it up a long time ago. If you clean it up carefully, it will be clean for ten or eight years." Prince Rui said with a smile.

"Ten or eight years?" Gu Yan threw the book onto the case.

"Ten years or eight years is already very good." Prince Rui looked at his son carefully.

Gu Yan faced his father's gaze and remained silent for a moment before saying, "The affairs of the Customs and Excise Department went more smoothly than I expected, but on the other side, there are many long-standing malpractices in Jiangnan. My son, Mr. Zhou and others thought about it and discussed it until now, but they are unable to do anything. "

Prince Rui breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, "It's good that you can do nothing."

"Very good?" Gu Yan glanced sideways at his father.

"I think when you were this old, and you are like you now, you always thought how could you do nothing? There must be a way. At that time, the late emperor thought the same way.

"There is no way. All we can do is to clean up the Gu family one by one, bit by bit. Alas, this is how it all happened." Prince Rui said with a bitter smile.

"The world is so big, how can we clean it up?" Gu Yan frowned and asked.

"Clean up slowly." Prince Rui replied, "I once asked Mr. Wu from Nanzhao, and Mr. Wu gave an analogy: Take a large kitchen. At the beginning, the kitchen was new and there were only a few people cooking and cooking.

, one can clearly see from a glance at the kitchen that everyone follows the rules. After use, the stove is wiped clean, the floor is swept clean, and the firewood is neatly placed, just like the founders of the past dynasties.

when.

"Slowly, more and more people are cooking, and those who watch the kitchen are getting tired of looking at it. The stoves are starting to accumulate dust, the floor is getting dirtier, firewood is everywhere, and the kitchen is getting more and more messy. It's almost impossible to do anything."

After using it, eventually, sparks flew out and burned the kitchen."

Gu Yan's face turned gloomy upon hearing this.

"Mr. Wu said that their big kitchen on the mountain is like this. All he can do is clean the kitchen in his free time." Prince Rui patted Gu Yan.

Gu Yan was silent for a moment and said: "Then we will start cleaning from the south of the Yangtze River. I will go to the palace to see the emperor."

"Well, go ahead. Be patient, there's nothing you can do about it." Prince Rui said slowly.
Chapter completed!