Qin Xiao's expression was also extremely stern, and he said softly: "Brother, why do you think there are such a batch of unusable weapons in the warehouse?"
"Have these weapons never been allocated to outsiders?" Gu Baiyi asked.
Qin Xiao nodded and said: "According to the official's statement, these weapons were deposited by the former Qiu Lingli. Qiu Lingli was related to the former right minister of the Ministry of War, but he also had a close relationship with Han Zhou, the head of the Treasury Department.
Well, this time the Minister Fang was also taken to the vegetable market and beheaded. Although Lingli Qiu was also implicated, he was not removed from his official position, but was transferred to Bingzhou. Han Zhou should have saved him."
"I heard that except for the dozen or so officials who were executed together with Fan Wenzheng, all the officials who were purged by the Ministry of War were either dismissed from their posts and no longer employed. Those who were able to stay as officials in time were mostly transferred to the poor.
Land." Gu Baiyi said slowly: "Although Bingzhou is not as wealthy as the capital and the Central Plains, it is also an important land in the north. It is not a grievance to serve as an official there."
Qin Xiao put down his chopsticks and said: "Qiu Lingli piled these useless weapons in the corner of the warehouse, and there are people who receive the weapons. None of these weapons will be released to the outside world."
Gu Baiyi smiled lightly and said: "In this way, things will become clear." He looked at Qin Xiao and asked: "Do you know how much silver a Mo Dao officially costs?"
Qin Xiao shook his head, and Gu Baiyi stretched out two hands with his fingers spread out: "To achieve the quality stipulated by the imperial court, from collecting ore and other materials, to forging, to packing and shipping to Wudefang, ten taels of silver are needed
about."
Qin Xiao said in astonishment: "So expensive?"
Buying a house in Kushui Lane, although it is simple, is in Kyoto after all, and only costs about ten taels of silver. Qin Xiao did not expect that the price of a sword would be so expensive.
"This is just the normal price." Gu Baiyi said: "In addition, losses must be taken into account. For example, the Ministry of War gave the Ministry of Industry 10,000 swords of silver, which cost one hundred thousand taels, but in the end, the ones forged and delivered to the Ministry of War could have seven
Eight thousand is already pretty good, but with such damage, one sword will cost far more than ten taels of silver."
Qin Xiao frowned and said: "So the pile of useless weapons in the armory cost at least one hundred thousand taels of silver?"
"You are now an officer of the Ministry of War, a seventh-grade official. Do you know how much your annual salary is?" Gu Baiyi asked.
Qin Xiao was startled. He really hadn't thought about this problem. After all, he had a huge sum of money and never worried about running out of money.
"Under the imperial court's system, a seventh-grade official's annual salary is twenty-five taels of silver, and another two hundred and thirty shi of grain. In the early years, one tael of silver could buy twenty shi of rice, but now the Mi family
It's much more expensive, but one tael of silver can still buy twelve shi of rice. So in total, your seventh-grade official price will not get you more than fifty taels of silver a year." Gu Baiyi chuckled and said, "I am eight-year-old.
Pinwenlang can get more than thirty taels of silver a year, and with our annual salary, we can buy eight swords in total."
After hearing what Gu Baiyi said, Qin Xiao realized that he had three hundred thousand taels of silver, which was really an astronomical figure.
He knew that Gu Baiyi's sudden mention of officials' salaries had a great purpose, so he looked at Gu Baiyi without saying much.
"A sixth-grade chief actually only earns about ten taels more than you in a year." Gu Baiyi said calmly: "Brother Qin, do you know those useless people?
How will the weapons used be disposed of in the end?"
Qin Xiao nodded and said: "Xu Lang... is the clerk in charge of the warehouse. He told me that when the weapons are accumulated in large quantities, they will be sent to the forge for recasting."
Gu Baiyi also nodded: "That's it. A batch of weapons that can't be used are created from the forge, but they are sent to the warehouse as normal weapons. There is no problem with the number. In the document, there are indeed 10,000 weapons stored in it.
The weapons were then piled up there. No one could get close to the weapons except your Treasury Department. After some time, they were sent back to the forge on the grounds of damage. During this period, they were just stored in the warehouse.
No one in the warehouse knows the true value of these weapons."
Qin Xiao nodded slightly and understood. He lowered his voice and said, "Brother Gu, do you think someone is using these weapons to corrupt the law?"
"Obviously." Gu Baiyi pointed to the fragment and said: "I have also done some research on Tang Dao. If a real war sword costs ten taels of silver, a war sword made with such inferior materials and craftsmanship cannot cost more than two taels of silver.
In other words, they only needed the silver of 2,000 swords to make ten thousand such swords, and the remaining silver of 8,000 swords disappeared silently."
Qin Xiao clenched his fists and sneered: "I don't want to hide it from brother Gu. In fact, I think so too. They don't dare to allocate such inferior swords to the soldiers. After all, once these inferior swords are distributed to the hands of the soldiers, they will be able to use them immediately."
See the flaw." He looked at Gu Baiyi and whispered word by word: "There is serious corruption in the Ministry of War. Even if the top officials of the Ministry of War are not involved, at least the Treasury Department is completely involved."
"After the saint ascended the throne, three states and seven counties rebelled, and the imperial court deployed troops, which caused countless losses in money and food." Gu Baiyi looked solemn: "There are many taxes in various places, and natural disasters have continued in recent years. Droughts and floods in various places have made the people miserable, and the four towns in the north have collapsed.
Forget it, in order to prevent the Southern Xinjiang Army from rebelling again, the imperial court deployed 60,000 to 70,000 troops and horses on the southern front line. However, during the time of the late emperor, these troops and horses did not actually exist, so the current military expenditures to maintain this army are higher than
The military expenditure during the former emperor’s period was doubled.”
Qin Xiao only knew that the Xiling family tried their best to plunder the people, but he did not expect that the customs would still be taxed heavily.
"Every sword in the warehouse is made by the people." Gu Baiyi sighed: "In order to resist foreign enemies and even banditry within the empire, it is naturally necessary to maintain armaments, but those people dare not even spend such money.
Greed is truly insane."
Qin Xiaowei pondered for a moment and then said: "Brother Gu, this matter did not happen in a day or two. If my estimate is correct, it started very early. But the imperial court knew nothing about this, otherwise it would never be possible to condone the people in the Ministry of War.
Such embezzlement of military funds.”
"Of course the court doesn't know." Gu Baiyi said: "Otherwise, these people would have been killed long ago."
"Do I need to make a statement to the court and report this matter to the court?" Qin Xiao asked softly: "The soldiers in the front are dying, and the people in the rear are suffering. Since I know that they are doing such dirty things in private, I will
We must never turn a blind eye.”
Gu Baiyi pondered for a moment, shook his head and said: "Don't act rashly." With a solemn expression, he said softly: "The former Qiu Lingli must be involved in this matter, but this matter is definitely not something that a small official can do, at least the Treasury Department
Director Han of the department must have been involved in this matter. In the case of Fan Wenzheng, Qiu Lingli was not dismissed from office, but Han Zhou
The reason why he was transferred to Bingzhou was naturally because the two had conflicts of interest before. Whether Han Zhou really wanted to help his subordinate who was also rich and noble in times of crisis, or Qiu Lingli threatened Han Zhou with this matter,
Since Han Zhou had to protect him, we can conclude that these two people must be involved."
"If they weren't involved, they would really have seen a ghost." Qin Xiao sneered.
"But even if Han Zhou is involved, there is no way that a head of the Treasury Department and an official from the Treasury can cover up such a major event." Gu Baiyi said slowly: "The forging of these weapons is not the responsibility of the Ministry of War, but the Ministry of War.
The Arms Department of the Ministry of Industry is responsible, so people from the Ministry of Industry must also be involved in this matter, otherwise these weapons would not be cast at all. In addition, after the weapons are cast and delivered to the Ministry of War, not only the people from the Ministry of War will check the number, but also the Ministry of Household Affairs
People will also be sent to check the amount. The money is allocated from the Ministry of Household Affairs. Although it is given to the Ministry of War for use, of course they have to understand where the money is used, so it is essential to check the amount and enter it into the account."
When Gu Baiyi explained this, Qin Xiao looked horrified and said in surprise: "Brother Gu, so this matter is not only related to the Ministry of War, but also to the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Household Affairs?"
"Nearly 10,000 low-quality war knives have been put into storage, and the various procedures from beginning to end cannot be handled by just three or five people." Gu Baiyi frowned slightly: "Now we only know that at least people from these three yamen are involved, but who are they?
We have no way of knowing which level we are at. In addition, we have no idea who led this corruption case and who planned it in detail. Moreover, you are a seventh-grade official and I am an eighth-grade official. We have no clue at all.
Zhongshu Sheng and even a saint have the qualifications to submit zhezi. In Datang Law, if you submit zhezi to Zhongshu Sheng, you must be at least a sixth-grade official. If you directly submit zhezi to a saint, you must at least have a third-grade official rank."
Qin Xiao also frowned, and suddenly understood that even if he discovered such a major corruption case, it would not be easy for the court to know about it.
"Although I know a few Shangguan, but there is no real evidence for such a thing, how can I tell them?" Gu Baiyi sat upright and said calmly: "And even if there are honest people among them who have not seen the inferior swords in the armory with their own eyes,
They don't dare to take this trick. Only people from the Treasury Department of the Ministry of War can enter the Wudefang armory. Officials from other yamen have no chance to enter and inspect. Even if they can enter and inspect, this case will be implicated.
There are quite a few people there, and these people have sharp eyes and ears. Once they discover something is wrong, they will quickly be prepared to deal with it. It is not easy to seize their evidence."
"Brother Gu is right." Qin Xiao has already felt the difficulty of this matter: "The matter is not clear and there is no real evidence. No one dares to fall for this trick easily."
Gu Baiyi said sternly: "Also, this matter must not be alarmed. The person who was in charge of Jia Ziku was Qiu Lingli. Qiu Lingli was a group of them and they made a fortune together. Naturally, they don't have to worry about problems with Qiu Lingli.
.But when your new official takes office, you are not one of their own. Once they know that you have noticed the clues, they will not only cover it up immediately, but they may also kill people and silence you, causing you to die."
"Han Zhou sent me to take care of the armory. He probably didn't expect me to check in the armory on the first day I went to the armory, and he didn't expect me to open the box." Qin Xiao sneered, "But this time I was arranged by Dou Wei.
The fact that he came to the Treasury Department and succeeded Qiu Lingli as the Jiazi Ku Lingli proves that Dou Wei probably knew nothing about this matter, otherwise he would not have sent an outsider to take charge of such a sensitive place."