The few people kneeling on the ground were so frightened that their faces turned pale. The stick was a "major punishment" used by the county government to torture murderers or criminal thieves. Even if you are a tough guy, you have to confess even if you pull two strings.
.And people who have used clamp sticks will be left with disabilities in their legs and feet.
It is common for subordinate officials in the county government to be criticized by the boss, ranging from the head of the book office to the ordinary clerk. However, since the subordinate officials are colleagues and usually share the same views, the clerk's criticism is just a mean thing, most of the time
The tip of the stick touches the ground, and it is rare for it to have flesh. Now the Australian chief minister is about to clamp down on the stick when he opens his mouth, how can he withstand it?
Several people immediately kowtowed and begged: "Master, spare my life!"
"Stop knocking," You Guotuan said, "Tell me, how much have you freed from the county treasury?"
"You guys, how dare you--" The following people desperately cried out for injustice.
At this time, the four remaining yamen servants in the Zaoban were called in. As soon as they entered the door, they knelt down and kowtowed together.
"There's no need to kowtow, get ready to work." You Guotuan ordered, "Have you brought everything?"
"I'll tell you, sir, I've brought them all," the yamen servant glanced at the people kneeling on the ground. Seeing that they were all treasury officials, he knew that the Australians were going to deal with these "fat pigs".
"Come on, give each person twenty boards first." You Guotuan ordered directly.
"Master, please spare my life. I am rich and wealthy, so I am willing to honor my master..."
"It's a bit late now." You Guotuan waved his hand, "Do it!"
These few Zaoli were known to be "proficient in business". When they saw others being sent out of the city to unknown destinations, they still stayed in the county government office. They felt very frightened. I didn't know whether it was a blessing or a curse.
Now I heard that they wanted them to be tortured. This was a real thing, so I just took it out. They all worked hard and dragged the people over and washed them clean.
The scribe who had been neatly dressed just now was suddenly stripped naked, like a naked pig. Several scribes were really good at killing him. They ignored his wailing and struggling and pinned him to the ground. The two of them picked up bamboo boards and immediately waved them.
stand up.
The first sound of bamboo cutting meat caused a shrill scream, but there was no bleeding on Bai Huahua's buttocks. You Guotuan knew that these slaves did not dare to fake it. If they wanted to fool him, the first blow
The skin on the buttocks will be pulled apart, and it will look bloody, but in fact the injury is not serious. Such a dull beating without any blood is not only extremely painful, but also the trauma is much more serious.
In the last few boards, the slaves broke the skin and bled according to the rules, so as to prevent these people from bleeding and dying.
After finishing the beating, several treasurers lay on the ground unable to move.
"Okay, tell me carefully, how many benefits did you get from the county treasury? Where are they stored?" You Guotuan asked, "How many people in the county government received your benefits? Give them all to me one by one.
Come on!" He asked people to put down the pen and paper, "Write it in your own hand and write it neatly."
... After a long period of commotion, these guys all handed in their first "homework". They frowned to identify these traditional Chinese characters and compared them one by one. It was really a chore. Fortunately, there was no need to read it.
You have to be very careful - of course other professionals will handle this, just see if they answer the questions honestly.
These treasurers were beaten hard and wrote a long confession. They had already lost their strength and lay on the ground groaning one by one. Some of them were young and strong, but some were older and usually too lazy to exercise.
He simply fainted.
"Okay, give them fingerprints first." You Guotuan instructed the servants, "Take these few down first and give them medicine, and let them take care of them. I will ask them again after a few days after they have been taken care of!"
Suddenly there was a cry of wailing: "Master, please be merciful, the little one can say anything..."
"Take it down," You Guotuan waved his hand impatiently. It seemed that the matter was not difficult, but he started talking after a while. The modern equipment he brought specially seemed to be of no use.
The confession was immediately sent to Zhang Youfu's house, where it was transcribed and copied by people from the Chinese language team and distributed to the relevant persons in charge. This list also reached the hands of the person Xiong Buyou was about to introduce to Wu Mingjin.
"Now Wu Mingjin is in our hands." Zhou Botao looked at the materials sent and patted the table.
"What's the matter?" Wu De was also studying this material.
"According to the statement of the treasurer of the salt warehouse, Wu Mingjin's close family members have borrowed salt from the salt warehouse many times."
"Oh?" Wu De and the people around the table were all interested.
"Look," Zhou Botao pointed to the document, "on the fourth page, the clerk of the salt warehouse said that the Wu family has several servants, and they borrow a certain amount of salt from the salt warehouse every year. They will pay it back at the end of autumn."
"This is not surprising. Don't forget that a large part of the private salt produced after we took control of Ma Niao Salt Farm was distributed through his hands."
"It's of a different nature. That's pure private salt. This is turning the public into private," Dong Weiwei said after reading it. In fact, this is also a cheating method, borrowing the salt from the county treasury and selling it directly to private parties.
Salt dealers will fill the holes by floating salt from the salt farm in autumn when the production of sun-salted salt increases greatly.
Table salt is easy to deliquesce and loses a lot, so the salt collection also has floating costs. It is also a big burden for salt collectors.
The salt collected by the government at a low price is sold out at a high price, and then the floating collection is used to fill the gap. It is simply a business without capital!
"Why doesn't he engage in private salt production directly from the salt farm?"
"At that time, Ma Niao Salt Farm was controlled by the Gou family. If he intervened directly, he would have to collude with the Gou family - the Gou family's reputation is too bad. This is probably something he was unwilling to do."
"No wonder Wang Zhaomin hit it off immediately when we proposed a partnership to sell illegal salt when we came out for negotiations last year. It turns out they have been doing it for a long time!"
"Otherwise, why have so many people throughout the ages struggled to become officials?" Wu De said with a smile, "Yan Ruyu, golden house, is not just talk."
"Does our cleaning up the county treasury mean that we have touched his cake?" Xiong Buyou was very concerned about this issue.
"He has already received the income from the salt from us, so cleaning up the county treasury will have little impact on his gray income - the treasurer's account book is very clear: starting from last year, such borrowing behavior has completely stopped
――We are involved.”
In the afternoon, Xiong Buyou brought a "thief" whom Wu Mingjin and others had never seen before to ask for an audience. This person was none other than Yan Ming, the president of Delong Grain Company.
Although Yan Ming is not yet at the level of People's Commissar in the official position list of the Cross Group, Delong has vaguely intended to serve as the central bank of the Cross Group, and the importance of his position is self-evident. His position is both important and in control.
He has complex financial knowledge, so he rarely leaves Bairen City on weekdays. Except for a few trips to Bopu and Dongmen City when inspecting work, he never sets foot in places outside the Green Zone.
This time he actually appeared in the county government office in order to sell his agency county treasury plan to the county magistrate - of course, it was essentially forced. Whether Wu Mingjin was willing or not, Delong's agency county treasury system was still
To be implemented, this is also an important measure to refresh the county government. And this measure has a great relationship with the reform of the taxation system.
According to the estimates of the leading group, under the dual effects of Tiandihui's agricultural technology promotion and the new collection system, Lingao's tax revenue will increase on a large scale in the next five years.
However, this kind of growth is not to contribute to the consolidation of Ming's rule. The right to use this increased income must fall into the hands of the Chuanchuan Group. Just as the executive committee is constantly strengthening the financial control of various departments under the system
, Lingao County’s Financial Power Executive Committee also needs to control it.
The method of control is to bypass the county government. This is the agency county treasury business.
The business of acting as an agent for the county treasury existed in the late Qing Dynasty. The emerging bank accounts and banks at that time not only acted as agents for the county treasury, government treasury, but even for the vassal treasury. Local tax payments and administrative allocations were carried out through these financial institutions.
Not only did it eliminate the need for treasury storage at the county and government levels, but fund transfers were also more convenient than cash withdrawals and transportation in the past. Yan Ming just wanted to advance this system to the end of the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, this reform will affect the interests of a group of people, and theoretically Wu Mingjin is one of them. However, judging from the confessions of the treasury officials and the seized account books, Wu Mingjin, in addition to collecting the "regular regulations" given to him by the treasury every year,
Except for "making money" and smuggling some salt from the food bank, he generally does not directly reach out to the county treasury. In this regard, this person can be regarded as quite honest among local officials. As for other petty officials and minor officials,
There are many so-called "borrowings", which are "borrowing" in name, but in fact they are used to distribute money and water to the treasury officials.
Now since Wu Mingjin himself does not have much selfish desire for the county treasury, and the benefits he received from the crossing group are not small, the matter of acting for the county treasury will not encounter much resistance.
As for whether other people objected or not, Wu De didn't care. Of course, if Wu Mingjin really opposed it, he would have a way to make him submit. Although Wu Mingjin's black material is not enough, the weight is not small.
"Acting for the county treasury?!" Wu Mingjin was a little confused when he heard Yan Ming's request, but his first reaction was extremely ridiculous - the county treasury is the country's warehouse, how can he ask a grain bank to act as his agent?
After thinking about it, this was just a tactic used by thieves to rob the county treasury. Thinking of this, Wu Mingjin showed an angry look on his face, and a bit of his scholar's backbone emerged. He was a dignified Ming Lingao County magistrate selected by the imperial court.
Zhengtang! If you can't even save the county treasury, why should you be an official?
"I'm sorry that I can't obey my order in this matter." Wu Mingjin said coldly, "Although the county treasury is small, it is also an important place for the government. How can we let businessmen take care of it?"
"Mr. Wu, you misunderstood." Yan Ming expected his reaction and said patiently, "Delong's acting county treasury actually handles the collection and payment business. The biggest benefit to the county is that it saves money.
To avoid the encroachment of subordinate officials."