Yan Mu brought many official officials this time to drive away the guards at Li Huai's residence, and his people guarded Wanchun Garden.

Knowing that he came to investigate Yang He's corruption case in the name of the emperor, Hongxuan gave him a big salute.

"His Highness has not been cleared of his guilt, but he is here to investigate this case. It is not appropriate for the situation or the law, but the Emperor still sent you here. It shows that His Highness is very capable, and I really admire him."

Yan Mu narrowed his eyes, "Stop kidnapping me!"

"Your Highness has great wisdom that can stabilize the country!"

"I know how much wisdom I have, and I don't accept flattery."

"What is even more valuable is that His Highness can recognize himself clearly and not be arrogant or complacent."

Yan Mu was speechless. The old Taoist priest wanted him to sit on that throne and be a wise monarch, to bring peace to the world and the country, to dedicate himself to his life, to sacrifice his own ego to achieve a great cause, just like those saints in the book who would leave their names for eternity.

His lifelong wish was to support such a monarch and become a wise minister who would be famous throughout the ages.

It's a pity that he is not so righteous, let alone selfless. Even if he becomes a monarch, he will not give up his ego. He just wants to live as indulgently as he can and be as happy as he wants.

Seeing that Yan Mu was already a little impatient, Liu Yunxiang quickly changed the subject: "Quickly take out the account books you two stole and see if they are of any use."

Xue Changfeng slapped his forehead and realized that he was really going to this point, so he quickly took out the account books from his arms. Feng Zheng also took them out, and the two of them put them together, there were about ten books in total.

Everyone gathered around, and Liu Yunxiang asked everyone to take a copy to see if there were any problems.

She picked up a book and saw Yan Mu still sitting in his original position. When he saw her looking at him, he pulled her to sit next to him.

"Don't you want to take a look?" Liu Yunxiang asked.

Yan Mu snorted, "I don't want to see it when I think of Yang He tricking me for nothing."

Liu Yunxiang was amused, "You should know that he had no choice but to do it."

"I know, but I just don't want to help him."

"Only children hold grudges."

"What do you mean?"

Liu Yunxiang leaned into Yan Mu's arms, "Let's watch together."

Yan Mu hugged Liu Yunxiang and kissed her secretly when others were not paying attention. Then he was no longer so angry. He hugged Liu Yunxiang and looked through the account books with her.

This is a booklet for paying taxes and grains from various places. They first saw Qixian County. Because of the severe drought last year, the court exempted them from paying taxes and grains, so their page was empty. When they turned back, they found that other counties had not paid enough.

.

"Are other counties also affected by the disaster?" Yan Mu asked.

Liu Yunxiang nodded, "The Taoist priest and the others went to investigate. Last year, in addition to Qixian County, several surrounding counties were also affected by disasters, ranging from mild to severe, so the taxes and grain paid were insufficient."

However, these counties were all replenished after last year’s autumn harvest, so in the end it was “flat”.

Yan Mu looked at the word 'ping' and hesitated slightly, "Yanzhou has increased taxes by 30% more than other places. It will be able to make up for the level that year, unless there is a big harvest."

At this time, Hongxuan turned around and said, "I asked the county magistrate, last year's autumn harvest was also affected, and the grain output was not as good as in previous years."

Yan Mu thought for a while and continued to look back. The account books were very detailed and clear, and it could be seen from them that the taxes paid by the people and the taxes and silver paid by the merchants were all in full, but what he paid to the court was

The account books were falsified, and the embezzled one million taels was calculated in this way.

Looking further back, Liu Yunxiang suddenly took a look at something and hurriedly showed it to Yan Mu: "We have been to this Changhe Village. All the young and middle-aged people in the village were taken to join the army and died, and the young women and their children were also killed.

After leaving, only the old people were left in the village. Although there was fertile land, most of it was left uncultivated, with only a few acres of land being cultivated, barely maintaining the food rations of the old people in the village. They had no extra food to pay taxes, and in order to evade those who called for payment,

They even pretended to be ghosts to scare them."

However, at the bottom of this page, the amount of tax paid by Changhe Village is clearly recorded, which is after the 30% increase. This is obviously wrong.

Liu Yunxiang asked Hongxuan and Xue Changfeng to look at those from other years, and they quickly found them all. In the past few years since Yang He took office, Changhe Village had no record of tax arrears, and had paid them in full every year.

Liu Yunxiang put several account books together, and things became clear at once.

"There was never a million taels. It appeared in the account books and then disappeared from the account books. It did not go into anyone's pocket."

Hongxuan nodded, "As time goes by, the amount gets bigger and bigger, and I can no longer hide it. Someone has to take the blame, so Yang He stepped forward."

Xue Changfeng scratched the back of his head and didn't understand for a moment, "The imperial court checks the accounts every year, how could it not be found out?"

Yan Mu curled his lips, "Because there have been constant natural and man-made disasters in the past few years that Yang He has been in Yanzhou, he has made false accounts every year when reporting to the court. If the court doesn't check it, it will be a loophole. And it's a long time.

, the bigger the vulnerability, the harder it is not to be discovered.”

"In order to prevent the court from holding the people and businessmen accountable, he took it upon himself to make the court think that he had embezzled." Liu Yunxiang continued to explain.

Xue Changfeng thought for a while before he figured it out, "So the people of Yanzhou say that he is a good person, but a good person is not necessarily a good official. A good official wants to protect the imperial court and the country, but he failed to do so and only protected the people of Yanzhou."

"The year your Excellency first came to Yanzhou and took office, there was a severe drought and the people were starving. He asked the court for relief, but the court not only did not provide it, but also imposed an additional 30% tax. He watched the people starve to death one by one and could only

He scolded himself for being incompetent. Later, he went to other states to borrow food, but was rejected many times. He even knelt down to those people. Finally, he borrowed food and set up a porridge shed in the city. But when he returned home, he found his wife and daughter.

They all starved to death." When he said this, Feng Zheng's eyes turned red, "The graves in the west courtyard of Futai Mansion belong to the old lady, madam and young lady, as well as several servants. Your Excellency felt that he was deeply ashamed of them, so he buried them.

They are buried in the west courtyard, and I go there every day to see them."

Liu Yunxiang was shocked when he heard this. It turned out that those buried in those graves were Yang He's relatives.

"In the past, Yanzhou did have abundant rainfall and fertile land. It was the main grain-producing area of ​​Darong. The economy and trade were prosperous and the people were prosperous. But in the past ten years or so, for some reason, droughts often occurred in Yanzhou, and the imperial court was blind.

The people were complaining, and the merchants fled one after another, and Yanzhou suddenly became poor. In order to change this situation, the adults began to make false accounts to hide the government. In the good years, he reported the encounter.

Disasters reduced food production, so he could only pay half of the tax. In drought years, he said he had encountered a severe drought and had no harvest, and asked the court for relief. If the court refused, he asked for 30% of the merchant tax to be used for disaster relief.

, After such deception year after year, the people have enough food and clothing, the merchants also stay, and the economy and trade become more and more prosperous." Feng Zheng shrugged after finishing speaking, "This is the truth, it doesn't matter whether we adults are corrupt.

, deceiving the imperial court is always a capital crime."

Liu Yunxiang sighed deeply. No wonder Yang He never told the whereabouts of the one million taels. No wonder he didn't think they could save him.
Chapter completed!