Emperor Hongwen said sternly: "Li Yi, someone impeached you earlier to build the summer palace in Beiwudang, and you were full of your personal pockets and embezzled and accepted bribes. I finally covered it up for you. What's going on?"

"Your Majesty, I am never corruption. When the construction of the summer palace was built, it was not a loss of the national treasury, but according to the order of the Queen Mother, I paid wages to the construction workers and used materials when purchasing materials. Before, we were all free-for-money slaves of Han people, forcing them to collect corvee labor and materials, so we would save silver. However, the Queen Mother said that if the northern country wants to grow, we cannot bully our people too much, so we have to pay wages..."

"Li Yi, you still dare to argue?"

"The criminal is not a quibbling, but a criminal is to uphold the will of the empress dowager and not compete with the people for profit. If the country is prosperous and strong, the people must benefit..."

"You obviously took the money from the country and established a reputation for yourself. You want the people of the northern country to thank you! What do you think?"

With such a big hat on his back, Li Yi no longer dared to quibble. He just knelt on the ground, but instead said nothing. Emperor Hongwen knew all of these, and suddenly found an excuse. It was clearly because of the mandarin duck fan. How could he not know? So how could he quibble?

Emperor Hongwen said coldly: "Li Yi, after all, I will not pursue the matter when I am an old friend. Today, I will remove you from the position of Minister of Works and demoted to the Secretary-General of Taiyuan Prefecture. Didn't you take charge of the empress dowager's fiefdom in the past? You can go to the empress dowager's fiefdom and set out tomorrow, and you must not stay at all!"

Li Yi had no discernment, just stepped down speechlessly.

Emperor Hongwen watched him go out, and his heart was turbulent, not knowing what it felt.

After all, it was involved in Fangfei, and Emperor Hongwen was also worried.

On this day, he came to Cining Palace again on the grounds of visiting his son.
Chapter completed!