When checking public money, people can’t help but think of public money.
This was a political attack against Fan Zhongyan and other officials who supported the New Deal during the Qingli New Deal.
Officials generally have two classes of money, one is envoy money and the other is public money.
People who don't understand often confuse the second class.
In short, official money can be put into the official's own pocket, but public money is the funds allocated by the court to officials, which can be used for officials' banquets, gifts, etc., but cannot be used for private purposes.
This money is somewhat similar to public consumption, and officials generally have problems with the use of this money.
During the Qingli New Government, the anti-reform faction used this to attack Zhang Kang and Teng Zongliang, both of whom were Fan Zhongyan's confidants.
Finally, under investigation, Zhang Kang admitted that he used the public money privately to trade with other people, to lend interest, and even gave the shared money to some of his friends. As for Teng Zongliang, he was the most ruthless, burning all the account books of the shared money.
Already.
So it can be seen that both Zhang Kang and Teng Zongliang have problems with the use of public money.
If you really want to take this matter against an official, it can be said that you can check it out accurately.
Hearing that the officials wanted to use public money to investigate Zhang Yue, Ouyang Xiu couldn't help but think of the incident between Teng Zongliang and Zhang Kang.
When Emperor Renzong sent Sheng Du to investigate Teng Zongliang and Zhang Kang, Ouyang Xiu, who was an admonisher at the time, clearly opposed it.
Now that he heard that the officials wanted to investigate Zhang Yue, Ouyang Xiu stood up again and said: "Guans, the court officials can't help but waste public money now, just like Teng Zongliang and Zhang Kang were both Shangqi people, and they treated their friends like
He likes to give away wealth and gives too generous gifts."
"There is nothing wrong with excessive use of public money. As long as today's officials do not infringe on provincial official money, they are considered upright officials."
The official still respected Ouyang Xiu very much. He said to Ouyang Xiu: "Ou Qing, Teng Zongliang was severely fined not because he abused public money, but because he burned his account books."
"Of course I want to punish Zhang Yue because he beat up a court official, not because he misused public money. I have already decided on this matter, and there is no need to persuade Mr. Ou!"
Ouyang Xiu sighed, he had never seen such an official family. At this moment, Zhang Mao and the palace guards were already surrounding Jiaoyin Prison.
As for Zhang Yue, after beating Han Zhi yesterday, he returned to the Yamen and lived in the official residence of Jiaoyin Prison.
The house I had finally bought in Bianjing was destroyed by the flood. Now mother and son are living in the Wu Mansion. I didn't discuss this matter with Qi Niang, so I bought two bottles of wine and returned to Jiaoyin Prison.
Afterwards, I drank by myself all night to relieve the emotions in my heart.
When Zhang Maoze arrived, Zhang Yue had just been awakened by Cai Jing and learned that Zhang Maoze had led the palace guards to surround the exchange office, saying that he wanted to hand over the public money account book.
Zhang Yue did not panic at all, and immediately took off the warehouse key tied around his waist, and asked Zhang Mao to open the account to check, while he continued to sleep under the quilt.
Cai Jing said yes and immediately went out to meet Zhang Maoze.
At this moment, all the officials and writers in Jiaoyin Prison stood on the porch and looked at them in surprise. Zhang Mao asked Cai Jing, "Do these officials receive ministerial money every month?"
Cai Jing reported back: "Yes, each person's monthly food allowance is five guan, three small banquets every month, and one big banquet every two months..."
"Can we invite a female musician?"
Cai Jing said: "I didn't invite you. In the words of the prison sentence, it's just an extra meal. These are used as three guan. Every three months, you will be rewarded with five guan."
When Zhang Mao heard this, he thought, Zhang Yue actually used all the public money for the welfare of government officials. How could there be such an honest official?
Zhang Maoze said: "Ask them to go home immediately and bring them their vouchers for the past few months. Our family will verify them one by one!"
Cai Jing asked: "I dare to ask, do you know that you need branches and vines to chase after you?"
Zhang Maoze said: "Yes, if something happens, no one from the Exchange will be able to escape."
When Cai Jing heard this, without saying a word, he immediately stopped all the affairs of the Exchange today, including the salt banknote transaction in the front office, and asked all officials, including those on leave, to come to the Exchange.
In just a few words, Zhang Mao was deeply impressed by Cai Jing's shrewdness and ability.
Then Cai Jing opened the accounting room and took out rolls of dusty account books.
Zhang Mao waved his hand and said, "Just check the public money account book."
Zhang Mao carefully looked at the entries and exits in the public money account book.
First, the public money paid to the prisoner was not used for personal use; second, no money was borrowed to collect interest; third, banquets and banquets were refrained; fourth, there was no excessive eating and drinking; fourth, there was no private giving or receiving of gifts to others; fifth, there was no personal enrichment.
Zhang Mao was surprised. At that time, all the government officials had public money problems, but none of them were handed over to the prison.
Are there really such officials in the world?
Soon all the officials in Jiaoyin Prison came from home with receipts.
Cai Jing first sent someone home to get his receipt and showed it to Zhang Maoze. Zhang Maoze saw that it was exactly the same as what was recorded in the account book, and there were no discrepancies.
The same was true when other officials arrived from home.
Zhang Mao, on the other hand, was worried about leaving this matter to others, so he went through it one by one himself. When he saw the officials handing the notes to him, they had calm anger on their faces.
Zhang Mao then personally approached someone and asked, "Is it possible that there is no false claim at the exchange office?"
The other party raised his hand and said, "No, the monthly salary paid by the Citation Office is sufficient. The judge will also subsidize us with public funds. Since the imperial court treats me as a national scholar, I will repay you as a national scholar."
Zhang Maoze thought to himself, if this is really the case, then the so-called national supporter is nothing more than this.
Zhang Maoze asked again: "If you tell a lie, do you know what will happen?"
The other party said: "I am a scholar and will not lie."
After saying that, the other party left.
Zhang Mao found out after half of the investigation that Bai had come. He asked Cai Jing, "Where is Zhang Taichang?"
Cai Jing said: "I am resting in the house."
"Let's go meet him."
Zhang Mao opened the door and left, but he smelled the smell of alcohol. Zhang Yue was lying down with his clothes on, not worried about what was going on outside.
"Zhang Taichang!" Zhang Mao said politely.
Zhang Yue woke up and looked at Zhang Maoze with a sleepy face and said, "Is there anything wrong?"
Zhang Mao smiled and said: "Not really."
"That's good," Zhang Yue said, "If you're not busy, we can leave after dinner."
Zhang Maoze said: "Don't dare to disturb us. Our family has to go back to the palace to report to His Majesty."
Zhang Mao did not rush to the palace as soon as possible. Instead, he went to the kitchen of the Exchange Office to pack a meal for ordinary officials before rushing back to the palace.
Han Qi, Zeng Gongliang, and Ouyang Xiu haven't left yet.
Zhang Mao explained the ins and outs of the matter to the officials and the three prime ministers.
Not to mention the official himself, even Han Qi, Zeng Gongliang, and Ouyang Xiu had expressions of disbelief on their faces.
Then Zhang Mao handed the meal packed from Jiaoyin Prison to the officials and governors for inspection, and said that it was eaten by an ordinary clerk in Jiaoyin Prison.
Everyone looked around and saw that there were fish, meat, vegetables, and some wine. The staple food was polished rice shipped from Huaisi.
Such meals are better than those of ordinary officials.
Han Qi, Ouyang Xiu, and Zeng Gongliang even tasted the chopsticks themselves, and the food tasted quite good.