When Zhao Junchen looked through these account books, after just a few glances, he was completely sure that all the account books given to him by Peng Ji were fake accounts, and most of the contents in the accounts were also forged!
Zhao Junchen himself was the ancestor of false accounts, so he knew these false accounts at a glance.
What's more, the flaws in these false accounts are too obvious.
As we all know, there are three main sources of income for Liaodong Town. One is the Liao salary allocated by the imperial court, the second is the assessment and levy on the people in Liaodong, and the third is the smuggling trade in Liaoyang City.
As for the accounts provided by Peng Ji, although they clearly recorded the income and expenditure of Liao's salaries allocated by the imperial court over the years, they clearly avoided the important and minimized the assessments and taxes in Liaodong, and the figures recorded in the accounts were far lower than the actual figures.
, As for the smuggling trade in Liaoyang City, Liaodong Town has always declared to the outside world that it "cannot exist", and it is even less likely to be recorded in the account books.
But Zhao Junchen still studied these false accounts carefully.
As the ancestor of fake accounts, Zhao Junchen can also dig out a lot of things through these fake accounts.
At the same time, even among these fake accounts, there are still some statistics that are slightly reliable, such as material reserves, money and food balances, expenditure items, etc. The relevant information can easily be verified to be true or false.
When Zhao Junchen worked all night and carefully read and analyzed these false accounts, Zhao Junchen finally came to a preliminary conclusion.
After coming to this conclusion, even though Zhao Junchen had already seen the dirty things in this world and was mentally prepared for it, he still couldn't help being shocked.
After the shock, an unprecedented anger spread in my heart!
*
"Take all the baht and use it like sand! He Yu deserves to die! Peng Ji deserves to die! All the high-ranking military attachés in Liaodong Town deserve to die! Regarding He Yu's unexpected death, I was originally a little upset and regretful, but now... I
I can only say that it is not a pity for him to die!
And those high-level officials of Liaodong Town who are collaborating with others are not good people! The entire Liaodong Town is just a cesspit! Maggots will only breed in the cesspool, and the maggots will only turn into flies, and they will never become flies.
Something else!
Even Ximen Sheng is no exception! He is like maggots and flies! I originally had illusions about him, thinking that he at least understood the overall situation and had the ability to resist the Jianzhou Jurchens, so I always wanted to push him
He rose to the top, but looking back now, he is just a scumbag after all. He should not be counted on at all!"
After seeing Zhao Junchen so angry, everyone in the room was frightened.
But they are not afraid of Zhao Junchen's anger, but they are worried that if Zhao Junchen's remarks spread, it will lead to uncontrollable consequences.
Niu Fude quickly opened the door and looked outside. After finding that no one was listening near the room, only Linghu Guang was guarding outside. He finally breathed a sigh of relief.
At the same time, Li Chuanwen, Wang Shizhen, Huang Ke and others all ran to Zhao Junchen and tried to persuade him.
"I hope Zhao Gechen can calm down. We are still in the Jinzhou camp, and some remarks must not be spread out!"
"Zhao Gechen, please speak softly! Be gentle!"
Despite the urgent remonstrances of several people, Zhao Junchen was still furious and gritted his teeth and said: "How much effort has this pavilion expended in order to alleviate the hidden worries of the food shortage in our country? Every time when we allocate Liao's salary, in order to collect
How much energy does it take to have enough money and food?
If Liaodong Town can properly use this money and food, I will not complain. After all, it is a major matter of border defense. But how does Liaodong Town use Liao's salary? It is all used to bribe military attachés and support private soldiers! Support a group of people.
The cost of one mid-level military attache is enough to support thirty elite soldiers like the Liaodong Cavalry, and the cost of supporting one Liaodong Cavalry is enough to support thirty ordinary border troops... As for the high-level military attachés in Liaodong Town, that's even more.
I’ve said it! This is the situation after whitewashing it with false accounts. The actual situation must be even more shocking, just the tip of the iceberg!
Hey! Before I left the capital, I managed to increase the national grain inventory by 800,000 shi! The 800,000 shi of grain was just a drop in the bucket, but it still gave me some comfort. But what about Liaodong Town? It’s just a drop in the bucket.
The unexplained food consumption per month is as high as 280,000 dan! Not to mention the huge amount they smuggled with the enemy! My painstaking efforts are not enough to fill this hole. Thinking of this situation,
How can I not hate you!"
After speaking, Zhao Junchen grabbed a few account books at hand and threw them to the ground.
Wang Shizhen once again spoke out to persuade: "I also understand Zhao Gechen's anger, but please calm down a little. As the saying goes, a strong dragon cannot suppress a local snake. We can't break up with Liaodong Town yet."
Zhao Junchen took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a long time in silence. When he opened his eyes again, he finally calmed down a little and said coldly: "Call Jinzhou Guard Peng Ji, I have something to ask him...
Don't worry, I have calmed down and won't force him to turn over the table."
After hearing Zhao Junchen's instructions, several people in the room were still hesitant, but Linghu Guang outside the room was already obeying the order.
Peng Ji seemed to be well prepared, and quickly rushed to Zhao Junchen. After bowing respectfully, he lowered his hands and waited for Zhao Junchen's instructions.
Zhao Junchen had also regained his composure at this time. After quietly sizing up Peng Ji for a moment, he said slowly: "I have gone through the accounts of Jinzhou Camp and found many strange things. I hope Peng Shoubei can explain it to me.
one time."
Peng Ji's attitude was still that of humility and sincerity, and he immediately replied: "Please ask Cabinet Minister Zhao to inquire."
Under the nervous attention of Wang Shizhen, Li Chuanwen and others, Zhao Junchen flipped through the account books and asked softly: "According to the statistics of this pavilion, the stocks of grain and grass in Jinzhou Camp, including all kinds of grains, are only one
One and a half million stones! It can only support the entire army for high-intensity combat for a month at most, is that true?"
Peng Ji nodded and said: "That's right!"
Zhao Junchen asked again: "But as far as I know, in the past year, the imperial court has allocated an extremely large amount of military rations to Liaodong Town. The amount of corn alone is as high as three million dan! It is still only the end of spring.
Why is there only this little left?"
Peng Ji also looked confused, shook his head and said: "Although I am in charge of the military depot, I only obey orders. But where the food stored in the military depot went, I am afraid that only General He knows the specific situation. It's a pity...
"
Halfway through his words, Peng Ji remained silent, but his implication was also obvious - He Yu was dead, so there was no evidence of his death.
Peng Ji also knew that Zhao Junchen would not be satisfied with such an answer, and added: "However, I believe that this situation is excusable. All the frontier soldiers in Liaodong Town add up to more than 100,000 horses, and everyone eats horses."
Naturally, the consumption was huge, and Mr. He also sent part of the food and grass to the military depots in various defense areas during his lifetime, so there was not much food and grass left in the Jinzhou camp...
It is a pity that the current war situation is urgent and there is no time to transport food and grass from the military depots in various defense areas. We can only escort the logistics from Jinzhou Camp. Therefore, once the military stocks of Jinzhou Camp are gradually exhausted, the frontline war will be delayed.
If it ends, we can only count on the imperial center to provide support."
Obviously, Peng Ji also wanted to take advantage of this war to get another amount of food and grass from the treasury.
This approach is also the practice in Liaodong Town. Once a war breaks out, the central government will be forced to allocate more food and salary again.
Zhao Junchen couldn't help but a trace of anger flashed through his expression, but he still forced it to endure and asked again: "We will talk about these things later, but I also discovered another strange thing... Jinzhou Camp
In the army's depot, the quantities of grain, grass, armor, ordnance and other necessary supplies for combat are far less than expected. However, there are also several other supplies whose stocks are far beyond imagination, such as ginseng, mink, etc.
Skin, velvet antlers, and...gold! The gold inventory in Jinzhou Daying is as high as more than 87,000 taels! And it's all red gold! But I don't know where Liaodong Town collected so much gold?
"
These more than 87,000 taels of gold are just the numbers recorded in the fake accounts. They will definitely not be the entire savings of Liaodong Town, but it is astonishing enough.
As for where the gold came from, it is not difficult to guess that it must have come from Jianzhou Jurchen!
In later generations, three of the five most concentrated gold producing areas in the country are now within the Jianzhou Jurchen's sphere of influence, namely Jilin, Chifeng, and Chaoyang.
In this era, the most suitable place for gold mining was Heilongjiang, which was also within the Jurchen's sphere of influence in Jianzhou. The gold mines there were not only shallow, but also easy to extract.
Therefore, only Jianzhou Jurchen has the ability to provide such an amount of gold to Liaodong Town!
At the same time, ginseng, mink skin, deer antlers and other products are also abundant in Jianzhou Jurchen.
Zhao Junchen suddenly mentioned this matter at this time, and his intention was very obvious. He suspected that Liaodong Town had secretly sold a large amount of grain and grass to Jianzhou Jurchen, so that the Jinzhou camp had such a large amount of gold and
Jianzhou specialty!
At the same time, as Zhao Junchen finished speaking, Peng Ji's eyes suddenly flashed.
Peng Ji had known for a long time that when Zhao Junchen looked through these false accounts, he would definitely raise questions when he saw such an astonishing amount of gold, but he had no choice. In order to make the revenue and expenditure figures of the military treasury equal, he had to release part of the gold.
into the accounts, otherwise there are many military expenditures that cannot be explained clearly.
But Peng Ji also prepared the reason in advance and said with a grimace: "Oh! I have known for a long time that with Zhao Gechen's eyes, many things cannot be hidden. Since you, Zhao Gechen, have noticed something fishy, then I will
Tell the truth!
In fact, the reason why the Jinzhou Camp’s military inventory suffered huge losses and had such a large amount of money was all because General He had misjudged the situation..."
Hearing this, Zhao Junchen couldn't help but sneer in his heart. He only felt that He Yu still made "huge contributions" to Liaodong Town after his death. Many things could be blamed on He Yu, a dead man.
Peng Ji continued: "Since the Jianzhou Jurchens paid tribute to His Majesty, Mr. He made a judgment that the Liaodong border will be peaceful in the past two years, but the Jianzhou Jurchens are ultimately ambitious.
After a year or two of patience, you will be unable to resist raising troops to invade again. In this case, Liaodong Town does not need to hoard too much military rations. Instead, it needs to seize the time to increase the cavalry's combat power as soon as possible!
Therefore, Mr. He sold part of the military grain without authorization in Shanhaiguan, and then exchanged all the silver from selling the grain into gold, and prepared to send people to Mongolia with the gold to buy war horses... Zhao Gechen, you also know that silver is always
It continues to depreciate, but gold has been a hard currency throughout the ages and is more easily accepted by those Mongolian tribes.
Who would have thought that Mr. He made a mistake in his judgment. The Jianzhou Jurchens did not have the patience to wait for a year or two, but they turned against each other completely so quickly and attacked again. However, as a result, the army's food inventory was also in short supply.
Got it!"
Hearing this explanation, Zhao Junchen sneered again in his heart.
If Liaodong Town transported a large amount of grain to Shanhaiguan for sale, it would inevitably cause fluctuations in grain prices. How could Zhao Junchen not know the news? It was obviously sold to Jianzhou Jurchens!
However, Zhao Junchen did not expose Peng Ji directly, but asked coldly: "Since Liaodong Town has exchanged a large amount of grain allocated by the imperial court for gold, I am not willing to investigate whether this matter is in compliance with the rules at this time.
But now that Liaodong Town has lost money in its grain reserves due to this incident, and wants to request the central government to allocate grain and grass again to provide support, then it is not too much for me to return this gold to the treasury, right?"
Hearing Zhao Junchen's statement, Peng Ji's expression immediately changed. He didn't expect that Zhao Junchen was even more shameless than himself!