Chapter 299 The hearts of the yamen are really broken
Now that he heard that the former magistrate committed suicide, it was more serious than an ordinary murder case. How could Li You dare to ignore the excuse? He must go to the scene. While he sent someone to report to the government office, he immediately summoned the official sedan honor guard and the government servants to work, and hurriedly got into the sedan chair.
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In the sedan chair, Mr. Li suddenly thought that the chief seal officer of the bank cannot personally handle everything. It is usually directly managed by the treasurer, and no one can escape the eyes of the treasurer when he enters or leaves. The former magistrate of Jiang County seemed to have something to hide and refused to tell.
The treasurer may have some clues.
So Li You came out of the sedan again and whispered to Zhang Sandao: "Take a few of your family members and Hou Yazao officials to arrest and guard the bank clerk, and seal the bank for interrogation." [..com
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Zhang San obeyed the order and left. Mr. Li got on the sedan again and headed to the county mansion not far from the county government office.
As the former magistrate of Jiangzhi County, the treatment was not bad when he temporarily lived in the county mansion, and he had a separate courtyard. His body was found in the study room on the right side.
After Li You arrived, he quickly arranged for the troops to be divided into three groups. One group went to do the autopsy, one group went to investigate the death scene, and the other group went to visit various people in the surrounding area. He himself thought that there was bad luck in the house, so he stood in the courtyard and waited for the results while chatting with Master Cui.
chat.
When the sky turned towards noon, several people came to report the inspection results. There was nothing suspicious about the body, there was nothing suspicious about the death scene, and there was nothing suspicious about the people around. All in all, it was an authentic case of suicide by hanging.
Master Li interrogated him several times and found nothing wrong. It seemed that he had indeed committed suicide and the possibility of homicide could be ruled out.
His psychological quality is too careless, Li You sighed.
Suddenly several figures emerged from the moon gate, first of all a middle-aged female general with disheveled hair.
"This is Mrs. Jiang." A yamen servant introduced Mr. Li County.
It turned out to be the widow. Li You was about to offer words of comfort when he saw Mrs. Jiang rushing in front of him from a few feet away. She scratched, scratched, kicked and hit him. She howled, "It's all your little thief."
Damn it! Give me back my husband!"
Although Mr. Li was agile and able to avoid being caught off guard, he was able to avoid being beaten by a shrew and severely disgraceful. However, he was also left in a state of embarrassment. Feeling that he could not stay here for long, he hurriedly got into the sedan chair and left under the escort of the Yamen servants.
Returning to the back hall of the county government office, Li You drank a few sips of tea to quench his thirst. Then he saw Zhang San coming in hurriedly and saying: "The bank clerk Wang has been arrested. The account books and receipts found in the warehouse are all in accordance with the master's instructions."
It has been sent to Mr. Zhou."
Then Master Zhou heard the report: "After checking again, there is still no abnormality in the bank account books, except that there is a deficit of 700 taels."
Now that a human life has been lost, it is no longer enough to just listen to a general summary... Li You then asked in detail: "How did Mr. Jiang lose seven hundred taels?"
"Last autumn, Jiangzhi County withdrew 5,000 taels of silver from the bank. There was no explanation of the use, so it could not be written off. In fact, it is common for hall officials to withdraw expenses, as long as they make up for it in time. But by the time of the handover, Jiangzhi County may offset it.
, or the repayment amount is only 4,300 taels. So the actual debt is 700 taels."
It sounds very simple, Li You thought to himself. To put it into perspective, Jiang Zhi County misappropriated 5,000 taels of public funds for unknown reasons. In the end, he was short of a shortfall of 700 taels and had no money to make up for it. As his successor, he was unwilling to bear the loss.
He was depressed and couldn't think of anything else, so he committed suicide out of anger.
It's just that the matter was a bit big. A outgoing county magistrate committed suicide before leaving the country, and it was a sensational news.
At this time, the teacher Zhuang Chengxian came in and reminded: "Proprietor! This matter must not be taken lightly. You must deal with it carefully! As far as I know, sir, your reputation is a little bit bad. On the one hand, you are righteous and outspoken, but on the other hand, you are intolerant.
Aggressive. If this matter spreads out like this, it will not be good for the official!"
What Mr. Zhuang said is right, it's a bit troublesome, Mr. Li County sighed slightly.
It doesn't seem to matter that the former magistrate committed suicide. Legally speaking, Mr. Li has no responsibility, and it can be said that no one has to bear responsibility. However, official rules and legal principles are not completely equated.
Seven hundred taels of silver is not a small amount, and Mr. Jiang's withdrawal of the silver was not legal, so it is natural that Li You refused to give in during the handover. Most officials should be like this, and others will not think anything of it.
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But after Jiang Zhixian's coward's death, Li Xianzun became irrational even if he was very reasonable. From the outside, they would only think that Mr. Li was too harsh and actually forced his predecessor to death. Such a bad reputation is still very taboo in officialdom.
, which is very detrimental to the future.
It's really unlucky. Why did he encounter such disgusting things like sudden disasters just after he took office? Has his luck run out? Mr. Li couldn't help but wonder.
The three masters got together to discuss and came up with the idea of generously subsidizing the Jiang family's widow and orphans, purchasing a good coffin to place Mr. Jiang's body, and making up for the Jiang family's shortfalls from their own pockets.
It's really a bit late to make up for it, and it's hard to say how useful it will be. It's not impossible to be regarded as hypocritical, but there seems to be no other good way.
Thinking of Mrs. Jiang's toughness, Li You had a headache. He was silent for a long time and suddenly asked: "What's the reputation of Mr. Wang who is in charge of the bank in the county government?"
Master Zhuang replied: "I am very greedy. Whether I am casting silver into the treasury or withdrawing silver, I am very demanding and have bad rules. I don't have a very good reputation."
Why bother? Mr. Li stood up and said: "Shengtang!"
Cui Zhenfei, the master in charge of punishment, quickly asked: "I wonder what the proprietor is doing here?"
"Question! How did Wang Xiaoli deceive the superiors, deceive the subordinates, make false claims, and falsely report losses during the first trial?" Li County Zun replied.
Wang may be unclean, but there should be no fictitious deficit. What nonsense is the proprietor talking about? Master Zhou didn't understand for a moment.
But after Zhuang Chengxian thought for a while, he suddenly realized that the proprietor was trying to use the magical power of grafting flowers and grafting trees.
Instead of waiting for rumors to spread that Mr. Li forced his predecessor to death, it is better to create another fact. For example, the clerk in the warehouse faked a deficit, and Mr. Jiang, a loyal gentleman, failed to investigate for a while and was unable to defend himself and committed suicide in anger. Perhaps it is also necessary to add that Mr. Li is a god.
With eyes as bright as lightning, he discerned the truth and repaid Mr. Jiang's innocence.
It not only conforms to everyone's impression of the character of subordinate officials, but also extracts the proprietor from the Jiangzhi County suicide case. Anyway, Wang Mou, a subordinate official, does not have a good reputation, and it is useless to have a reputation. It is better to use it as a substitute.
Mr. Li takes the blame for this, which is not a scapegoat.
The proprietor is wise! The masters are completely convinced. Finally they understand why Li You can go from being a subordinate to a full-time official of the sixth rank, which is highly valued by the court ministers, but they can only follow Mr. Li as the back seat.
Li You ordered as he walked: "It's difficult to just give in to the attack. Now let's give Wang a meal and threaten him. You can go and persuade him at night. As long as he is willing to admit the crime of deceiving the county magistrate and forging a deficit, I will definitely do it in the future."
I won’t treat him badly! If he has any sons, he will immediately join the county government as officials!”
"How do you ask him to confess? Please tell me from the proprietor." Cui Zhenfei asked for instructions.
"Wang can be induced to confess like this: Of the five thousand taels of silver misappropriated by Mr. Jiang, only four thousand taels were actually withdrawn by Mr. Jiang, and the remaining one thousand taels were embezzled privately by Mr. Jiang when he used the money.
He also forged two account books and falsely claimed the money in Mr. Jiang’s name. We can think that Mr. Jiang’s misappropriation of public funds without reason is an illegal act in itself, so even if he noticed it, he did not want to make it known, causing Mr. Jiang to be controlled by others.
I made a shortfall, but somehow I couldn’t pay it back.”
Fortunately for Zhuang Chengxian and Cui Zhenfei, Zhou Jiexi was dumbfounded. Master Li's confession was so lifelike that it could be mistaken for the truth.
And it's very maneuverable... Any person in charge of the warehouse can follow Mr. Li's words and follow his example, focusing on the cracked eggs to threaten the officers who are careless about the bank. I guess no officer will fight for his future.
No, why not die together with a petty official?
The only thing that is difficult to explain in the confession compiled by Li You is why Jiang Zhixian did not expose Wang Xiaoli even if he thought of committing suicide? But it is not a big problem. Jiang Zhixian is also confused sometimes.
Without further ado, it was said that County Li had been promoted to court and issued an order to bring up Wang Mou, a clerk in the county government's bank treasury.
Bang! County Master Li slapped Xingmu hard before he said, "Wang Huan! Do you know your guilt?"
When Wang Xiaoli heard this, he cried out that he was wronged and said, "I don't know what mistakes I have made that have led to an increase in crime. Please look into it!"
Li You scolded: "You faked a deficit and pretended to receive treasury silver. The county magistrate Jiang committed suicide because of you. Do you still dare to quibble? I'll beat you up!"
He just came for the killing blow, so he didn't bother to go through the "attack or not" cutscene, and just started to attack. Only by beating him until he was scared, it would be easier to persuade him to take the blame at night.
When Wang Xiaoli heard the county official listing his "crime", he was stunned. When the officials on the left and right pushed him to the ground, he suddenly shouted: "Wait, wait, wait! It's just a trick!"
Li You was also stunned, "What are you recruiting?"
Wang Xiaoli didn't hear the strangeness in the elder's words. He knelt on the ground and said with his head like garlic, "You've got it all! Last year, when I used Jiang Magistrate to misappropriate money, I secretly took a thousand taels of silver for my own use."
!At that time, two account books were forged, and the one thousand taels were listed in the name of Jiangzhi County and concealed from Jiangzhi County. During the handover two days ago, Mr. Jiang talked to the younger one about this and asked the younger one to make up the seven.
I was short of a hundred taels, but I refused. I didn’t expect Mr. Jiang to commit suicide, so I can’t blame Xiao! I am willing to make up for all the shortfalls in order to get away with it!”
This... County Master Li and Master Cui looked at each other, speechless for a moment.
Mr. Li just made up a story, but he didn't expect that the reality was so similar to the story. Wang Xiaoli's true confession was almost exactly the same as the false confession made up by Mr. Li...
The more Li You thought about it, the more he couldn't laugh or cry. The people in the yamen were so broken. He even planned to try his best to frame someone else with a crime, but he didn't expect that that's what they did. He didn't need you to frame him, so he did bad things consciously.
But that doubt arose in Mr. Li's mind again. Why didn't Magistrate Jiang expose Wang Xiaoli even if he thought of committing suicide? What did he do with the thousands of taels he paid for his own money? If it wasn't a big problem in the story, it became a big problem.