"Now Xue Yi has already been beheaded, and the Zhao family has also been held accountable. Although the Wen family is not affected much on the surface, everyone knows it well. I am afraid that even the emperor knows it in his heart."

"Zhang Mingxin is just a peasant from a poor family. He is where he is today thanks to your promotion. He has no connections and can't cause any trouble."

Zhuo Dingsheng comforted An Leiting.

"Yeah." An Leiting nodded with a frown on his face.

He knew all these words and had heard a lot of them during this period of time. He even often repeated them to himself to comfort himself.

But he still felt very uneasy in his heart, always feeling that something would definitely go wrong.

And it's a big deal.

But judging from the current situation, it feels like nothing will happen.

Could it be that he was really worrying too much?
This Zhang Mingxin was just shouting before his death...

Just when An Leiting was feeling uneasy, someone came from the army.

He was the ceremonial officer sent by the emperor to convey his imperial decree.

An Leiting and the others were all shocked, not knowing why the emperor would issue an edict at this time, but they still knelt respectfully according to etiquette to welcome the imperial edict.

"Long live my emperor."

After the uniform voices, the ceremonial officer who announced the decree cleared his throat and said, "An Jingzhong, the commander of the Shenwu Army, disregarded the laws of the court and the military discipline, and took advantage of his position to embezzle and pervert the law in the matter of the medicinal materials needed by the army, and embezzled money for himself. This evil act of treating the lives of the soldiers as worthless must be severely punished in order to stabilize the morale of the army!"

"I hereby dismiss An Jingzhong from his position as the commander of the Shenwu Army to uphold military law. The commander of the wing, An Leiting, failed to discipline his troops properly and will be fined one year's salary as a punishment. I decree this!"

After the imperial edict was read, everyone's faces suddenly changed.

Especially An Leiting, his face was so gloomy that it seemed like water was dripping out of it.

In theory, the matter had been settled long ago, so why did an imperial edict come to punish An Jingzhong at this time?
Moreover, he has always claimed to the outside world that everything was done by Zhang Mingxin, and Zhang Mingxin has never publicly accused An Jingzhong, and the entire army no longer mentions An Jingzhong's involvement in the matter. Why did the emperor directly convict An Jingzhong?
After thinking for a long time without getting an answer, An Leiting bowed to the ceremonial officer and said, "Regarding the case of embezzlement of military supplies and medicines, I have already found out everything and reported the matter in detail to His Majesty. This matter has nothing to do with my son, so why does His Majesty still punish my son?"

"This humble official only brought the emperor's will. I don't know the rest of the matter." The ceremonial officer said, "But the emperor also asked me to bring some things and asked me to pass them on to the commander of the wing."

After saying that, he raised his hand.

The servant behind him immediately took out a wooden box and presented it with both hands.

An Leiting took it without knowing why.

The wooden box was not big. When it was opened, there was a thick stack of papers inside.

Looking at the pictures one by one, An Leiting's expression became uglier and uglier.

Those papers were not anything else but torn account books, which recorded in detail the detailed amounts of medicine Xue Yi supplied to the army, as well as the share of silver given to An Jingzhong, and each page was stamped with An Jingzhong's seal.

These can be said to be ironclad evidence of An Jingzhong’s corruption!

The emperor ordered people to bring these things together with the imperial edict, so that he would know the reason and be convinced?
"The imperial edict and the things have all been delivered. I will not stay any longer and will take my leave first." The ceremonial officer bowed.

"Thank you." An Leiting was very upset about An Jingzhong's matter and had no intention of entertaining them at the moment. He just asked someone to send the ceremonial officers and their entourage away.

When the ceremonial officer saw that An Leiting had no intention of retaining him, his eyelids drooped.

Although the decree they brought this time was a punishment rather than a reward, An Leiting was inevitably unhappy, but they were the emperor's people after all, and they served in the capital, and they didn't even have a welcoming banquet when they came here, which was really unreasonable. Even if he wanted to leave, An Leiting should stay.

At least you should have an attitude.

This An family is not very good at doing things!

It seems that he still has a lot to say after returning to Beijing.

The ceremonial officer snorted coldly, put his hands behind his back and left.

An Leiting returned to the tent with the imperial edict and the wooden box. After putting the things down, the first thing he did was slap An Jingzhong in the face.

The slap came so suddenly and hard that An Jingzhong saw stars and had a fishy-sweet taste in his mouth.

An Jingzhong was in great pain. With half of his face swollen and red, he looked at An Leiting with a face full of grievance. "Father, I don't know where these account books came from. I have never put my seal on them!"

"You didn't stamp it, so why are there your seals on these things?" An Leiting shouted angrily.

He is so careless and inattentive in doing things, and yet he still wants to embezzle money without even considering whether he has the skills to do it!

"This..." An Jingzhong was speechless, and then shook his head like a rattle to defend himself, "I really didn't know! Although I took money from it, I look down on merchants like Xue Yi who are only interested in profit. How could I put my own seal on such an account book?"

An Leiting was silent for a while after hearing this.

He knew his son very well and he knew that he was indeed a man with high standards.

The stamp on this account book is indeed a bit strange.

"Have you always kept this private seal to yourself and never given it to anyone else?" An Leiting asked.

Hand it over to someone else?

An Jingzhong suddenly thought of something and said hurriedly, "This chapter, Zhang Mingxin took it!"

"Why did you give the seal to him?" An Leiting frowned.

"When Zhang Mingxin learned that my father had sent people to check the military supplies of medicinal materials, he said that it would be best to make a new list of medicinal materials to be sent to the military camp to ensure that there were no mistakes. So he took my stamp and spent half a day..."

"Should I send someone to investigate the military supplies of medicinal materials?" An Leiting's brows furrowed even tighter.

He did not care about the matter at that time and let An Jingzhong handle it on his own. It was not until the end when rumors spread in the army and the morale of the army was unstable that he called An Jingzhong to his side.

Xiao Luoan arrived next. When he learned that the matter was related to the Wen family, he quickly pushed Zhang Mingxin out as a scapegoat.

He handled the matter neatly and quickly. Why did An Jingzhong say that he sent people to investigate the military supplies and medicinal materials?

Seeing An Leiting's puzzled expression, An Jingzhong also widened his eyes, "Didn't father send Lu Qiyan to investigate the matter of military supplies and medicinal materials?"

"That's not true." An Leiting denied it.

"Didn't father send Lu Qiyan to investigate the matter of military medicine?" An Jingzhong almost jumped up, "But Lu Qiyan kept saying that father sent him to inquire about the matter. It was precisely because of Lu Qiyan's words that Zhang Mingxin and I made preparations early on, ready to put the blame on the warehouse keeper and the military doctor for everything!"

An Leiting paused, then gritted his teeth and said, "Send the message to Lu Qiyan!"

He wanted to ask why Lu Qiyan lied and pretended to be someone else in this matter!
What on earth are you thinking? (End of this chapter)