Chapter 1047

In the Imperial Study.

Qian Dafu, with a nervous look, delivered a telegram to Xiao Ming.

“Your Majesty, this matter has escalated. Fei Tong actually wounded someone with a knife. The person we arranged is now being treated at the hospital, and their life is in an unknown state.”

“What! How audacious!” Xiao Ming stood up from his chair in anger. This young man was someone he had arranged to stir up this matter so he could have an excuse to deal with a group of people who were corrupting the education system.

But he had not expected such an accident to happen. Fei Tong was so audacious that he dared to kill someone in the classroom.

Qian Dafu consoled, “Your Majesty doesn’t have to worry too much. This old servant took the liberty of asking Elder Huang to personally go and treat him. Moreover, this young man is from the secret guards’ training camp, so his physical fitness is superior to an ordinary person’s. At least, according to the news this old servant received, this young man’s life is not in danger yet.”

Upon hearing this, Xiao Ming let out a sigh of relief. “This puts my mind at ease. By the way, what are the Fei family’s movements now?”

“Fei Tong’s father, Fei Yuhe, has sent people to take care of things everywhere, wanting to suppress this matter. At the same time, Fei Tong’s grandfather has also gone to see Elder Fei.”

Xiao Ming nodded slightly. “Continue to pretend that you know nothing. In secret, have the secret guards collect evidence. I want to see how many people want to hide things from me, and how many people want to abet evil.”

Qian Dafu shook his head lightly. He said, “Your Majesty, there are too many injustices in this world, big and small, all sorts of things. If Your Majesty spends your energy on this, the affairs of the state will be delayed. In my opinion, it is better to hand this matter over to Chief Grand Secretary Pang. He will handle it cleanly and efficiently.”

“Affairs of the state? This is an affair of the state. To me, they are indeed just one among millions of my people. But to the students in the schools, this is everything. If we cannot crush the arrogance of these people, the children of the poor will have no future. Most importantly, I want to use this matter to let the people of the world understand that before the national law, there is no distinction between the noble and the common.”

Seeing that Xiao Ming was a little angry, Qian Dafu immediately shrank his head and did not dare to say any more.

Xiao Ming understood that Qian Dafu was worried that he was too tired. After all, the Empire’s territory was so vast, and the population was so large. There were injustices everywhere, and it was impossible for him to personally handle every single one of them. It was precisely for this reason that he needed officials, big and small, to govern for him.

However, some officials were incompetent, allowing these things to happen, or even abetting evil, which caused conflicts among the people to accumulate. The competent officials, on the other hand, would act according to his government decrees, making the places they governed peaceful and harmonious.

All these years, he had been focusing on defending against foreign enemies and developing industry and commerce, and rarely paid attention to these trivial matters.

Most importantly, the civil and military officials in the court also rarely reported these matters to him. In their eyes, this was nothing but a minor issue among minor issues.

And because of this reason, he seemed to have become a canary in a cage. He could only rely on officials to relay information, and sometimes he was kept in the dark without knowing it.

Thinking of this, he sighed softly. “Ever since Fan Zeng retired, the newspaper agency seems to have changed its flavor. Apart from singing praises, there is little coverage of the people’s suffering. It’s truly a case of reporting only good news, not bad news.”

“Yes. Fan Zeng was a man of integrity. When he was around, the newspaper agency would often report on injustices among the people, which had a good deterrent effect on the powerful and officials. Now, the newspaper agency is still the newspaper agency, but it seems there are some differences,” Qian Dafu said with some regret.

Xiao Ming gave a wry smile. When the government affairs were not yet standardized, he personally managed the newspaper agency. But with the improvement of the government system, the newspaper agency was handed over to the newly established Ministry of News.

“In that case, let’s use this matter to handle everything at once,” Xiao Ming said coldly. “Have Li San dispatch a group of secret guards to keep an eye on this matter, and also keep an eye on the supervisory bureau. I want to see how corrupt the officialdom has become.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” With a response, Qian Dafu turned and left.

Ministry of News.

Li Ran, with a fawning smile, welcomed Fei Yuhe’s butler into the newspaper agency. After sitting down in his office, Li Ran asked, “What brings Butler Zhang personally to the Ministry of News?”

Zhang Zhi smiled faintly and said, “I have a very important matter that I need to ask Director Li to help with this time.”

While speaking, Zhang Zhi took out a stack of paper money from his pocket and placed it in front of Li Ran. They were all banknotes with a face value of one thousand gold dragons.

Li Ran’s heart was startled. This stack of banknotes contained at least a hundred bills, adding up to a total of one hundred thousand gold dragons. This was a huge sum.

“What is the matter, Butler Zhang? If I can help, I will definitely help.” Li Ran left himself a way out of the situation. In his opinion, a matter that required the Fei family to pay one hundred thousand gold dragons to settle must be a very big deal.

“It’s nothing, really. My young master got into a conflict with a poor student in the school, and in his anger, he stabbed the student. My master is worried that this matter will harm the Fei family’s reputation if it is published in the newspaper. So he hopes that Director Li can inform the newspaper agencies below not to pay attention to this matter,” Zhang Zhi said calmly.

Li Ran let out a slight sigh of relief. He said, “I see. It’s easy, easy. I will tell the newspaper agencies below to ignore this matter. As for these dragon coins, please take them back, Butler Zhang. Just remember that I, Li, have done you a favor.”

“That will not do. My master has instructed that this money must be accepted. As for Director Li’s transfer, my master will also help to arrange it.”

Li Ran was overjoyed when he heard this. The Ministry of News was a thankless job for him. He had long wanted to leave this place.

“Thank you, thank you. Please rest assured, Butler Zhang. I will send people to deliver the news to all the newspaper agencies now.”

Zhang Zhi nodded with satisfaction.

Fei’s Mansion.

Fei Ji’s face was very unpleasant. Sitting in front of him were his younger brother Fei Pei and his nephew Fei Yuhe. The two had just told him what Fei Tong had done in school.

“Did you already send people to take care of things?” Fei Ji asked sternly.

Fei Yuhe nodded. “Great-uncle, to prevent the Fei family’s reputation from being harmed, your nephew has already made preparations in advance. Please do not worry, Great-uncle.”

Fei Ji was so angry that he almost spat out a mouthful of blood. He was clearly interrogating them, but Fei Yuhe thought he was asking him to make preparations in advance.

Taking a deep breath, Fei Ji said, “Did you not consider that there is something fishy about this matter? Fei Tong’s reputation in the school has always been bad, so why would a poor student actively provoke him?”

“That’s what should have happened, but this student just transferred from another province. He might not have known about this,” Fei Pei said.

Fei Ji frowned. “Then that’s even more suspicious. A newcomer would always be cautious. Moreover, this person is from a poor background. In my opinion, something is not right about this matter. I am afraid that someone deliberately set a trap for Fei Tong to fall into.”