Outside the county town, Yang Yuanqing and five hundred soldiers were waiting for news about Cheng Yaojin. Several old men looked depressed. They went to see the Yicang grain depot. As Magistrate Xu said, the Yicang grain depot was empty.
In addition, they also looked at the account and found that it was indeed in January this year that tens of thousands of stones of grain were taken away by Dou Jiande's army. There was a specific date and quantity, as well as the fingerprints and signatures of the people who handled it.
Since there was no hope, they could only go back to the village with their heads down. Qiao Cun stepped forward and bowed deeply to Yang Yuanqing, "Thank you, Your Highness, for making the decision for the common people. The neglect of Your Highness last night will only allow us to pay tribute to Your Highness next time."
Make up for it, let’s take our leave now.”
Yang Yuanqing could feel the helplessness in their hearts, and he could also understand the distress in the hearts of these villagers. The food they had worked so hard to grow was stored in the charity warehouse, but in the end it was gone. This is like the money stored in the bank in later generations is gone.
This is actually a kind of bankruptcy of the country's credit. The officials are still those officials, and the people are still the same people. If they don't recognize the accounts of the previous dynasty, who will trust the free warehouses and who will be willing to store grain in the free warehouses.
This is not a special case in Fangfang County. I believe this problem will occur in other places. As the de facto leader of a country, he must express his stance on this matter, not just to these few old farmers.
Yang Yuanqing thought about this matter all night last night. He already had an idea in his mind. Corruption was corruption, but the Sui Dynasty had to acknowledge the previous dynasty's free warehouse grain.
"Don't worry, Qiao Cunzheng! Whether it's money from young crops or grain from charity warehouses, I will give you an explanation. Please wait patiently. There will definitely be news."
Qiao Cunzheng was overjoyed. If the King of Chu was willing to say such a thing, then there would be hope for their food supply. He hurriedly bowed again, "We will not cause trouble. We will definitely wait for news from His Highness."
Several old farmers left. Yang Yuanqing said to the county magistrate Xu Shouxin again: "The county magistrate will go back! In the future, you must explain everything clearly to the villagers. You are not allowed to deal with it perfunctorily. I hope you can learn from this lesson."
The county magistrate Xu Shouxin and several county officials were uneasy. Now they can only wait for the King of Chu to leave before they can think of a way to deal with this matter. Xu Shouxin hurriedly bowed and said: "I understand the humble position. Regarding the profit from young crops, the interest is still paid by the government.
We must find ways to raise the burden, and we must not break the court's rules or affect the court's credibility."
Xu Shouxin understood that if he did not spit out the profit money, the King of Chu would not spare them. As for the grain in the warehouse, they did it flawlessly. Even if the censor came to check, no problem could be found. There was indeed a grain adjustment at that time, but there was no adjustment.
The grain was from the official warehouse. The free warehouse next to the official warehouse was not moved. The signatures and fingerprints were all authentic. At that time, everyone in the county government thought that the grain had been transferred away. So Xu Shouxin was not worried. This matter must have happened in the end.
Let it go.
Yang Yuanqing nodded, "The Yicang Grain Court will have an explanation, you go!"
"Farewell to my humble post!"
Xu Shouxin took his leave with several officials and returned to the city. Not long after, a soldier following Cheng Yaojin galloped out of the city on horseback and whispered a few words in Yang Yuanqing's ear. Yang Yuanqing was startled and immediately ordered: "Front
lead the way!"
He turned his horse's head and followed the guards in the southeast direction. The large group of guards' cavalry disappeared across the field like a gust of wind.
On top of the city, County Magistrate Xu Shouxin watched them go away, worried to the extreme. King Chu should have gone northwest when returning to Taiyuan, but why did he go in the opposite southeast direction? Could it be that they discovered something?
...
Yang Yuanqing led his soldiers for more than ten miles and came to a village. At the intersection of the village, he saw another soldier. He stepped forward and reported, "Your Highness, we have found him."
"Take me to see it!"
The soldiers led Yang Yuanqing to a large house in the village. The door of the house was already opened. Yang Yuanqing led hundreds of soldiers into the house. They saw Cheng Yaojin and a man in his early thirties standing in the yard.
His face was frightened, his legs were shaking, and he looked extremely frightened.
Cheng Yaojin grabbed the man's neck and pulled him in front of Yang Yuanqing. The man was so frightened that he knelt down and kowtowed, "King Chu, spare your life, spare this villain's life!"
"Who is this?"
Cheng Yaojin said quickly: "This person is Guangchu Zhu Bo of Fangfang County. His surname is Chen. He used to be Xu Gouguan's book boy. He has been with him for twenty years. He is Xu Gouguan's confidant and Xu Gouguan's boss."
Everyone knows."
Speaking of this, Cheng Yaojin kicked Master Chen and said, "What you just said to me, I will say it again to His Highness."
"Yes! Yes! I said."
Master Chen didn't dare to hide anything in front of Yang Yuanqing, "Your Highness, it was the county magistrate's idea to collect money from young crops. The county magistrate's family owned a di shop, so he borrowed money from the di shop and gave it to the farmers. In the end, he collected a few
It was a hundred percent of interest, but the county magistrate did not ask for the money and gave it all to the county magistrate. In this way, when dividing the grain in the warehouse, they reached a 30-70 split, with the county magistrate taking 30% and the county magistrate 70%."
Yang Yuanqing said coldly: "So it is true that Dou Jiande did not take away the food from the Yicang, is that right?"
Master Chen pointed timidly at the house and said in a trembling voice: "Your Highness... Your Highness, you will know once you enter the house."
Yang Yuanqing walked into the house quickly and saw that the room was filled with bags of grain, and the windows were closed. The other rooms were also filled with grain, at least five or six thousand shi.
Master Chen Bo whispered behind him: "These grains are charity grain, six thousand stones in total. Magistrate Xu hired men from other places to carry it. This house is also Magistrate Xu's property. He plans to sell the grain to Henan Province."
go."
Although Yang Yuanqing was calm, he was still irritated by the situation in front of him. A small county magistrate dared to embezzle six thousand shi of grain. Especially when the food was so tight, murderous intent burst out in his heart. He turned around and said to Cheng Yaojin: "
Get the county magistrate and the county magistrate and go immediately!"
"Follow the order!"
Cheng Yaojin led a hundred soldiers and galloped towards the county seat. Less than half an hour later, there was a rush of footsteps at the door of the mansion. Cheng Yaojin carried the county magistrate Xu Shouxin in like a chicken and threw it in front of Yang Yuanqing.
The county magistrate was also taken into custody.
"Magistrate Xu, I didn't expect that we would meet again so soon. Could you please explain to me what happened to these grains?" Yang Yuanqing said coldly.
Xu Shouxin was so frightened that he couldn't even speak a word. Yang Yuanqing whipped him in the face and cursed: "You are such a courageous dog. You dare to embezzle six thousand shi of food. You will die."
Not a pity!"
"Come here!" Yang Yuanqing shouted sharply, and dozens of guards stepped forward.
Yang Yuanqing pointed at the two men with a horse whip and said: "Behead the entire family of these two dog officials. Their heads will be displayed at the gate of the city. The dog officials' human skin will be peeled off and stuffed with straw. Ziweige will be sent to all counties for inspection. Anyone who dares to commit corruption will be ordered."
Those who donate food to warehouses should use this as a warning!"
"Gudong!" With a sound, the county magistrate and the county magistrate were so frightened that they fainted.
...
In the Sui Dynasty, officials who committed crimes needed to be impeached by the censor, detained in Dali Temple for interrogation, convicted by the Ministry of Punishment, initially tried by Ziwei Pavilion, and finally approved by the regent. There was a very strict system.
If the family's crimes were not extremely heinous, the whole family would not be executed. At most, the men would be exiled to guard the border, and the wives and daughters would be sent to the Yeting Palace or banished to the teachings. There would be no such torture as skinning and stuffing.
Although Yang Yuanqing did not want to violate this system that he had personally finalized, he was still unable to restrain his murderous intention in his rage.
A small county magistrate dares to embezzle six thousand shi of grain. If he is not tortured, more people will follow suit. This is a warning.
This major case that happened in Fangfang County spread like a gust of wind throughout Hebei and also to Taiyuan within three or four days. When Yang Yuanqing was about to arrive in Taiyuan, Ziwei Pavilion held a special meeting for this case.
Urgent discussion.
According to the regulations of Ziwei Pavilion, the ruling period is ten days. Whoever is in charge of the affairs will become the prime minister on duty, be in charge of Ziwei Pavilion, and have great power.
This system is also to prevent the situation of deceiving the superiors and concealing the power from the subordinates. If someone dares to deceive the superiors and conceal the inferiors, he will be discovered after ten days. It can be regarded as a relatively ministic approach to check and balance power.
The prime minister on duty today happened to be Su Wei. After receiving the news from Fangfang County, he immediately summoned the other six prime ministers to come to discuss the matter urgently.
In the Ziwei Pavilion, most of the prime ministers were extremely dissatisfied with the King of Chu for overstepping his authority and handling the case without authorization. Yang Shidao angrily said to everyone: "Dealing with officials is not a march to war. You can kill whoever you want. You can't kill an entire family without asking questions."
, in order to express my dissatisfaction, I decided to resign from the position of prime minister. I would rather go home and cultivate the land than tolerate such tyranny."
Yang Shidao's statement was supported by Lu Yu and Cui Hongyuan. Lu Yu said: "The country has no choice but to stand up. The common people have their own laws, and the officials have their own rules. If you embezzle tens of thousands of stones of food, you should indeed be killed, but without trial,
How can we serve the public by killing people without conviction? Prime Minister Cui and I have also decided to resign from our posts as prime ministers. We cannot afford to serve such a superior person."
Du Ruhui, on the other hand, sneered silently. He knew in his heart that Yang Shidao's dissatisfaction was indeed because King Chu did not respect the system, and he really wanted to resign and leave.
The dissatisfaction of Lu Chu and Cui Hongyuan is just an excuse to use the matter to gain some benefits for themselves. They will not really resign.
Su Wei was the convener of this Ziwei Pavilion meeting. His original intention was to discuss with everyone how to ensure the safety of Yi Cang's grain and how to learn from Fangfang County's experience. Unexpectedly, the topic of the discussion turned into the criticism of King Chu's unauthorized suicide.
Dissatisfied, there are still three prime ministers who want to resign.
This really made Su Wei anxious, and he quickly said: "Everyone, there are two things here. One is whether the King of Chu's handling of officials is in compliance with the system, and the other is the issue of the Yicang grain depot. We should discuss it separately. The top priority is
This is an issue with the Yicang Grain Depot, and then we will discuss the issue of His Royal Highness King Chu's violation of the system. We must not act out of emotion."
At this time, Du Ruhui also said slowly: "Mr. Su Ge is right, we must understand the anger of His Highness the King of Chu. A small county magistrate dares to embezzle thousands of stones of grain from the warehouse, especially now when food is so tight.
I believe His Highness the King of Chu was also furious for a moment. Everyone should understand that the key now is that His Highness the King of Chu discovered the embezzlement of grain from Fangfang County just by passing through Fangfang County. What about other counties? Everyone, this is actually ours.