I

Neither Xiao Hong nor Zhan Wenfeng came over. The two female officials were too conspicuous.

The person responsible for leading the team to investigate the case was a fifth-grade inspector named Wu Wendu.

"Where's Xiaoliu?" Wu Wendu asked.

Wei Gan said: "I haven't come back yet. He sent a letter through the post office, saying that he went to Shaanxi, and that there were grain merchants in Shaanxi who were selling grain in violation of the ban. Lintao, Taozhou, Ningxia, and Yulin, the patrols in these four places The Procuratorate must conduct a thorough investigation. Strictly speaking, the armed policemen of the Inspection Department belong to the military, and our Metropolitan Procuratorate cannot intervene. This matter must be reported to the Ministry of War and the Governor's Office."

After getting involved with the military, Wu Wendu suddenly felt very dizzy and said depressedly: "I'm writing a letter, don't be afraid. Report it to Huang Xiantai (Xiaohong) first, and Huang Xiantai will contact Nanjing."

These people are stepping up the investigation in Shaanzhou, but Li Dayong, the magistrate of Lingbao County next door, is getting angry at the commercial section chief: "I have told you many times to stabilize the price of grain, stabilize the price of grain. Yesterday, this county paid a private visit incognito, and went to the grain store. Ask, a pound of wheat in his mother’s house costs 25 cents. Although this year’s disaster has caused an increase in food prices, it’s understandable, but it’s just autumn now! At this time, the wheat family’s income is 25 cents. When next year’s harvest is gone, the price of food will increase. How much the hell should it go up to?"

Wang Ze, chief of the business department, said with a grimace: "The official price has been set. A pound of wheat can be sold for up to 15 cents. But the official price can only be guided, not forced."

The official guide price is really only a guide.

Directly using administrative capabilities to interfere with the market will cause things to go wrong if you are not careful. At the very least, it will cause grain merchants to hoard grain without selling it. When Zhao Han rebelled, he could certainly raid the homes of grain merchants. Now that the new dynasty has been established, it is impossible to give local officials the power to raid homes at will.

At the very least, county magistrates cannot raid homes at will, otherwise the administration of officials will be easily corrupted and many innocent people will suffer.

If merchants sell grain at too high a price, the county government may impose administrative fines or simply revoke their grain store licenses.

Li Dayong said: "Contact Datong Bank and transfer a batch of wheat from Changpingcang. We will first lower the price of grain in the county."

Wang Ze hesitated to speak, but finally couldn't hold it back. He looked around the room, winked at Li Dayong, and signaled the county magistrate to step aside first.

But Li Dayong was a rough guy, born as a domestic slave in Anhui. Although he knew some words, his brain was really not very good. He was promoted to the county magistrate purely based on his qualifications and hard work. He had no idea what Wang Ze was having, and he even asked, "Is there something wrong with your eyes?"

Wang Ze was so distraught that he changed to Nuzui.

Li Dayong reacted for a long time, but finally he was not stupid enough and said: "I'll go to the latrine, you wait."

Wang Ze said quickly: "This official is also worried."

The two came to the county government toilet and carefully checked to see that no one was inside. Only then did Li Dayong ask: "What do you want to say?"

Wang Ze whispered: "My lord, I'm afraid there is not much food in Changping Granary."

"How come there is no food in Changping Granary?" Li Dayong asked curiously.

The grain in the Changping warehouse is the land tax handed over by the farmers, and a batch is saved every year for emergencies. If the farmers all pay money, the government will give the bank money and let the bank transfer a batch of grain to the warehouse.

After the warehouse is full, the old grain will be cleaned regularly and sold to private grain merchants at a fair price to prevent the grain from mold and rot after being stored for too long.

Li Dayong remembers that when he first took office three years ago, the Changping warehouse in Lingbao County was full.

This is the country under the rule of Zhao Han. The court complains about lack of food every year, but in fact it has long been relieved. The food reserves in some states and counties are full. However, these grain reserves do not belong to the central government, but are saved by local governments themselves.

Compared with the Ming Dynasty, when Xinzhi County took office, the county government treasury was so poor that a mouse could starve to death. Even if there is a financial balance, when the previous magistrate leaves, he will find ways to empty it out. The treasury is the county magistrate's private treasury, and he can easily line his own pockets.

But now, all local finance money and food are kept by Datong Bank, and it is easy for the magistrate to be discovered if he wants to embezzle it.

Similarly, if Datong Bank is embezzled, the county magistrate will be so anxious that he will kill him with a knife.

At this moment, Li Dayong wanted to kill someone.

Wang Ze said: "Three years ago, not long after the county magistrate took office, Shaanxi businessmen came to buy grain. The price was higher than the market price, and there was no need to transport it yourself. Shaanxi businessmen would be responsible for transporting it away. The surplus grain in the hands of local grain merchants was enough to satisfy Unable to satisfy the appetite of Shaanxi businessmen, they set their sights on the Changping warehouse. Anyway, it was just misappropriation and they would make up for it next year. But for three consecutive years, Shaanxi businessmen came to Lingbao to collect grain at high prices. The food supply has never been replenished.”

Li Dayong said doubtfully: "Last year, the county personally inspected the granary and found no problems."

Wang Ze said: "The warehouses outside are full, and the granary inside has been emptied. There is only a layer of wheat on the surface. The county magistrate only came to the scene in person, and did not inspect it personally..."

Li Dayong's blood pressure rose instantly: "You mean, this county has been fooled? Why the hell didn't you tell me earlier?"

Wang Ze said: "There have been rumors about this matter, but no one can confirm it, and ordinary people have no right to inspect Changpingcang. It was only recently that the official discovered that something was wrong, so he was sure that they vacated Changpingcang."

"What's wrong?" Li Dayong asked.

Wang Ze said: "Several grain merchants in the county not only went to the countryside to collect grain at high prices during the disaster years, but I heard they also sent people to Hubei to buy grain. What is the purpose of being so hasty and anxious, but not to fill holes?"

"Fuck you!"

Li Dayong was furious: "This is a matter of losing my head. I don't want to die. Call Dian Shi to do the work quickly and ask a few more police officers to follow!"

When Dianshi came with the police, Li Dayong also raised a knife and fought out.

This magistrate was a rough guy. When Fei Ruhe led troops to attack Tongling, he followed his young master to seize the city with a sword. At that time, he killed the magistrate and dedicated Tongling to the Datong army.

Li Dayong didn't say where he was going, and only told Dian Shi: "Take someone to follow!"

A group of people went to the grain station outside the city in a hurry. The treasurer of the grain station stopped him quickly and said, "Your Majesty, you must at least say hello first when you inspect Chang Ping Granary."

"call!"

Li Dayong yelled: "Okay, I'm saying hello, please get out of my way. I can't control other warehouses. They belong to your bank grain station. But the grain in the Changping warehouse belongs to the county." Inventory. Whoever dares to joke with my head, I will chop off his head first!"

What else did the treasurer want to say? Li Dayong had already ordered the police to forcibly detain the grain depot personnel.

This guy picked up the knife and went straight to Changping Granary and ordered: "Open the warehouse and inspect the grain!"

Dianshi led the police to take action, and they were very violent. They opened the warehouse gate and released all the food and piled it on the ground.

The first granary contains grain.

Second, there is food.

The third one has food.

Until the fifth time, wheat was released at the beginning, and sand began to come out as it was left. The next granary has sand mixed in it!

Li Dayong was so angry that he shouted: "Arrest people, arrest people, all the people at the grain station!" He pointed at Dian Shi and said, "Send someone immediately to notify the county's anti-corruption yamen and ask them to report the matter to the government. The province. Damn it, luckily I came to check today, I won’t be able to save my head if I delay it any longer!”

After securing the grain station here, Li Dayong took people to another place.

The news that the Changping warehouse in Lingbao County had been embezzled spread throughout the county that day. The common people were dissatisfied with the sharp rise in food prices. After hearing about this incident, they were even more indignant. They rushed to the county's grain stores and forced grain retailers to sell grain at a fair price.

Anyone who dared to close down the business or continue to sell at high prices would be immediately beaten by the angry crowd and then sent to the government to report that they had stolen food.

Three days later, before the magistrate of Nexiang County next door could react, Changpingcang in Nexiang County suddenly caught fire.

The county magistrate of Ranxiang is called Sheng Huairu, and this man is very young. He is the first graduate of Jinling University. Although he is a self-funded student, he did get a diploma.

When he was first released, he could only be a miscellaneous official of the ninth rank, but after a few years he became a county magistrate of the seventh rank.

"Fire dragon burning the warehouse, I unexpectedly met him," Sheng Huairu sighed, and then he couldn't laugh or cry, "I only took office at the beginning of this year, and my buttocks are not yet hot."

The county magistrate, Han Mingchen, said with a mournful face: "Your Majesty, I came to Quexiang two months later than you. What should I do about such a big matter?"

Sheng Huairu said: "What are you afraid of? Although Changping warehouse belongs to the county government, it has been deposited in the grain station a long time ago, and the storage loss and loss expenses have been paid. Even if it is burned down, it is still a problem of the bank. How much grain must be replenished for us? Come back." Suddenly, Sheng Huairu sighed, "It's a pity that a lot of food is lost. To be honest, it would be better to burn it. The responsibility lies entirely with the bank. If we don't burn it and it is found that the Changping warehouse is in deficit, we It’s because of lax supervision.”

"Yes!" Han Mingchen finally reacted.

Sheng Huairu said: "Report it. Such a big case is not something you and I can handle. It would be best if all these rats lost their heads."

Being able to attend Jinling University at his own expense shows that Sheng Huairu's family is wealthy.

For the sake of his life and future, he did not dare to be greedy for big things. I have been accustomed to fine clothes and fine food since I was a child, and I don't bother to be greedy for small things. After the two phases, he becomes an upright official, and he is proud of being honest. He really hates this kind of corruption.

…

Burning a warehouse with a fire dragon is of a bad nature, and the crime even exceeds the misappropriation of Changping warehouse.

Wu Wendu originally wanted to investigate secretly for a while, but he didn't expect such a big commotion, so he could only investigate it openly. He called the magistrates and historians from the three counties, mobilized the police force, detained grain merchants and bank officials for rigorous interrogation.

Half a month later, the first batch of confessions were placed in front of Xiaohong.

Wu Wenduhui reported: "Most of the main officials of the Datong Bank in the three counties were involved. But it is difficult to determine, because they did not embezzle grain, but misappropriated grain and mortgaged it to grain merchants, who gave the money as a pledge at the price. Bank. The two parties have agreed that after the harvest next year, the grain merchants will collect grain from the private sector to make up for it, and the bank will return the mortgaged money. Is this misappropriation of public grain? Or is it malpractice for personal gain? Or is it corruption and bribery? "

Xiao Hong sneered: "The grain in the Changping warehouse can only be kept by the bank grain station. Only official documents stamped by the magistrate and the county can be retrieved. Even when dealing with the old grain in the Changping warehouse, the county seal is required. Who cares? The crime has touched Chang Pingcang, and no one of the main culprits can save their heads!"

Wu Wendu added: "Even the grain merchants are not sure where the grain was finally sold. They all said that merchants came from Huayin County, Shaanxi Province, and bought the grain at a high price and shipped it away. The rest are all speculation. Some said that the grain was sold to It was sold to Xihai (Qinghai), some said the grain was sold to Hetao, and some said the grain was sold to Hami."

Xiaohong said: "No matter where they are sold, let's go to Huayin County first, arrest the grain merchants there and interrogate them slowly! As for the inspection department at the Shaanxi border, they will wait for people from the Ministry of War and the Governor's Office to handle it themselves. , our procuratorate just needs to cooperate."