As the granary door opened, a unique smell of grain came from the granary of Yongji Granary.
The granary of Yongjicang is located in a mountain. Expert craftsmen hollowed out the entire interior to serve as a granary, leaving only two warehouse doors, one in front and one in back.
The front door is responsible for the land transportation of grain and grass, while the back door leads directly to the Jinghe River and is responsible for the waterway transportation of grain in and out.
There is no other way but to guard the granary one after another. Even if there are ten thousand people, it will be difficult to break through.
After the two teams of the Longwu Army personally searched and confirmed that there were no threatening items on their bodies, Yang Qingyuan and the others entered the granary. Of course, Ye Jianhan's broken sword was not removed. After all, a broken sword could not do much.
.
Entering the grain warehouse, silos more than two feet high appeared in front of everyone.
The silo is entirely made of wood, and is wrapped by an earth wall on the outside. It is very sealed, with only a grain inlet at the top and a grain outlet at the bottom.
One silo can hold three thousand dan of grain.
There are a total of 500 such silos in the Yongjicang granary, with a total capacity of 1.5 million shi of grain.
One stone is one hundred and twenty kilograms, which is 90,000 tons of grain.
At the front door of the grain depot, there are many grain transport trucks and several large machines parked. Judging from the posture of these machines, they should be used to load grain. It is probably the work of the Mohist family.
Of the laws governing the world's institutions, Mohism has six, and Gongshu has four.
The Longwu army on the side was fetching two long iron poles, about three feet long. There was a small bucket at the head of the pole, which could be opened and closed by a mechanism at the end of the pole. This was a standard tool for the imperial court to inspect grain.
Every year when the court inspects grain, representatives from the Cabinet, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the Ministry of Household Affairs each hold a grain inspection pole. Each person randomly selects ten silos and takes the grain from them to the officials of the Agriculture Department to inspect the quality of the grain.
Master Kong, who was originally worried, slowly calmed down after entering the grain depot.
On the third day of March, the day when the imperial government inspected the grain, the officials of the Third Division did not find any errors in the granary. Could Yang Qingyuan be able to tell? Thinking of this, Kong Zhiwei even felt a glimmer of expectation in his heart.
If you fail to detect the problem with the granary in the end, let me see how you end up?!
Thinking of this, Kong Zhiwei's face put on an attentive smile again, "Your Excellency, the Yongji warehouse is full at the moment, and there are some bags of grain piled on the left side of the warehouse, totaling one hundred thousand dan."
As he spoke, Kong Zhiwei took the food inspection pole from the hands of Long Wu Army on the side, walked to Yang Qingyuan, and handed over the food inspection pole.
"Please ask Mr. Yang to select a warehouse and inspect the grain?!"
Yang Qingyuan looked at Kong Zhiwei's sudden change of expression with disdain. He probably understood this person's mentality. He just felt that the same trick he used to deceive the court grain inspector could also deceive him.
Yang Qingyuan ignored Kong Zhiwei and walked straight to a silo in the center.
"Let's take a look at this silo first!" Yang Qingyuan put his left hand on the outer wall of the earth wall, moved his true energy, and then patted the middle part.
Kong Zhiwei on the side saw Yang Qingyuan select the silo and immediately handed over the grain inspection pole in his hand.
Looking at Kong Zhiwei who was as diligent as a clown in front of him, Yang Qingyuan had a smile on his lips, and there was sarcasm hidden under the smile.
For some reason, Kong Zhiwei, who had already calmed down, felt horrified when he saw Yang Qingyuan's smile.
"I don't need this."
After Yang Qingyuan finished speaking, he took two steps back, holding his right hand behind him and pointing it like a sword.
With one move, he cut diagonally and heard the sound of frost.
The grain depot seemed to be a little colder because of Yang Qingyuan's sword energy.
The sharp sword energy cuts diagonally from the lower left to the upper right, and the upper left corner of the silo slowly slides down. The cut is flat and smooth, which shows the sharpness of the sword energy.
A corner of the silo slowly fell off and fell to the ground. The earthen outer wall stirred up a burst of smoke and dust. The two Longwu troops who didn't know what to do because of Yang Qingyuan's nonsense were standing there stupidly.
It's not because of the sharp sword energy on Yang Qingyuan's fingertips, but because the silo is empty.
The silo in Yongji Cang is two feet to seven feet high, but the silo that was originally supposed to be filled with grain was divided into three levels by wooden boards. The top level was about four feet high and filled with snow-white rice.
The bottom part, about two feet, is also filled with grain.
But there is a hollow layer in the middle, two feet high, completely separated by two wooden boards above and below, without a grain of rice in the middle.
This silo only contains slightly more than 20% of the rice, and the remaining 80% of the rice is missing.
Seeing this scene, Kong Zhiwei no longer looked happy, his face turned pale, and he fell to the ground, his two legs trembling.
"This is the full warehouse of grain stored in Yongji Warehouse? Is this how to fill the warehouse with grain?!"
Yang Qingyuan looked at the officers and soldiers present in the Yongji warehouse with a frosty face.
"Death penalty for humble duty!"
Two members of the Longwu Army immediately knelt down on one knee.
"capital offense!"
The thirty soldiers who followed him into the treasury also knelt down to apologize.
Regardless of whether they participated in the theft of grain, regardless of whether they profited from it, the crime of dereliction of duty alone for failing to protect the grain was enough to sentence them to exile.
"Now is not the time for you to apologize. Check all the silos for me immediately, and then count how many grain silos there are!?"
It seems like the warehouse is full, but in fact it has been eaten away by moths!
Yang Qingyuan began to issue instructions in an orderly manner. He had already learned about the scene in front of him when he sneaked in last night, so he was not too surprised.
"Then inform the captain of the Yongji camp that the entire army, except for the Yongji granary gate guard station, will gather in front of the grain depot!"
"I humbly accept my order!"
The two teams did not dare to disobey Yang Qingyuan's words at this moment and immediately followed the order.
Yang Qingyuan, Li Xunhuan, and Ye Jianhan did not stay in the warehouse, but walked towards the back door of the grain warehouse.
"Brother Yang, do you know that this warehouse door requires three keys to open?"
Li Xunhuan asked while walking.
"I did find three keyholes when I came last night, but how do I know where the keys are?!"
"Then how did you enter this grain depot?" Li Xunhuan was a little curious.
"Yesterday, I went up to the mountain directly above the grain depot and found a small cave leading straight into the mountain. I used my bone-shrinking magic to shrink my body and entered, and used my sword energy to penetrate the last stone wall before I came to this grain depot.
In the library."
Yang Qingyuan said in a calm voice.
But there was an inexplicable smile on Li Xunhuan's face. This was his brother Yang. He was cool and elegant in the court, but sometimes he also resorted to petty theft.
The three of them arrived at the back door and said to the five elite Longwu Army soldiers following behind them, "Open this door."
"Boom!! Creak... creak!" After a sound, the heart-wrenching sound of machine gears sounded again, and the back door of the grain depot was slowly opened.
The dazzling sunlight shines in, making it difficult to open your eyes.
"I said!? There is no grain transport fleet today! What kind of back door are you opening...who are you?!"
The hundred-man team guarding the back door was walking over. In a strange moment, they saw the three strangers Yang Qingyuan and immediately shouted a warning.
The officers of the Longwu Army who were responsible for guarding the back door also reacted immediately. The shield bearers immediately surrounded the opened back door. The crossbowmen immediately prepared their crossbows and aimed at the three Yang Qingyuan people at the back door.
"I am walking in the Wenhua Palace, Yang Qingyuan, the Prime Minister of Dali Temple. This is Li Xunhuan, the Censor of the Gyeonggi Province! You have been ordered to come, why don't you put away your weapons and retreat!?"
As he spoke, Yang Qingyuan threw his official certificate to the leader of the team.
Li Xunhuan also took out his official certificate and threw it over.
After looking at the official certificates of the two men, the team raised their hands and all the Longwu soldiers who were on guard put away their weapons.
"Zhang Yi, the humble officer of the Yongji Battalion of the Longwu Army, is here to meet you two adults!!"
Yang Qingyuan nodded. It is indeed the main battle force of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Although it is only a second-line garrison camp, it is quick in movement and strict in discipline. It is indeed a strong army.
After Yang Qingyuan signaled Zhang Yi to waive the courtesy, he walked out of the warehouse door and looked around.
The back entrance of this grain depot is located on the back side of the mountain, which is surrounded by cliffs. It is far more steep than the front mountain. There is only a small road leading to the mountain.
"Captain Zhang!" Yang Qingyuan waved to Zhang Yi.
"What are your orders, sir!?"
Yang Qingyuan pointed to the slightly rugged path on the mountain and asked, "You came here through this road, right?"
"Exactly! This is the only mountain road from Yongji Cangzhong to here. We take this road every day when changing defenses and going back and forth!"
"Oh?! How long does it take you to get to the camp from this road?"
Zhang Yi replied without thinking, "I guess it will take half an hour!"
Yang Qingyuan looked at this rugged path, which was difficult for vehicles to pass. The grain could not have been transported from here, but could only have been transported by water.
"How often do you switch defenses?"
"Your Majesty, we change our defenses once every two days! Every time we come, we will bring two days' worth of food, grass and dry firewood."
Yang Qingyuan nodded, and then turned his attention to the camp.
Although the campground is small, it has everything you need and is very neat.
Yang Qingyuan and Li Xunhuan then walked through the camp and came to the Jingshui River. Between the mountains, there happened to be a place where boats could dock.
The designer of this granary was very talented and had an advantageous location.
Yang Qingyuan observed this ferry, and the stolen grain should have been transported away from here.
Yang Qingyuan carefully investigated for a while, and after finding nothing, he and Li Xunhuan walked back to the grain depot.
"Brother Yang, have you discovered anything!?"
"There are no findings, but we have a simple speculation?!" Yang Qingyuan and Li Xunhuan continued to transmit. Ye Jianhan on the side continued to act as a backdrop. He had the self-consciousness of a thug and rarely participated in activities involving intelligence.
"Brother Yang, please speak!"
"The An family should have bribed the chief register Kong Zhiwei, the captain of the Yongji camp, and one of the ten centurions in the Yongji camp! Then he selected the time when the centurion was on duty at the back and opened the warehouse with the key.
Open the door and transport the food."
In Yang Qingyuan's view, there is nothing strange about this granary theft case. This is the simplest and most efficient method.
Yongjicang's granary is generally uninspected, and is generally opened only a handful of times a year.
It is nothing more than the imperial grain inspection on March 3rd, the storage of new grain from the autumn harvest, and the supply of grain and grass to the Longwu, Yulin, and Changlin armies. As long as these timings are grasped, the theft of the granary will not be discovered in a short time.
"So Brother Yang thinks that most people here don't know about it!?"
"Stealing national grain is a serious crime! Of course, the fewer people who know about it, the better. If you really want to bribe the entire Yongji warehouse, how can thousands of people keep it secret?!?"
While the two were chatting, the sound of soldiers and horses lining up came from outside the door.
When Yang Qingyuan and the others walked out of the granary from the front door, they saw hundreds of soldiers waiting in formation, with a row of bright crossbow arrows pointing at the three of them.