Chaos on the temples: You can't escape if you provoke treacherous ministers

Yan Mu brought a lot of officials this time, and drove away the guards from Li Huai's mansion, and his people guarded Wanchun Garden.

Knowing that he came to investigate Yang He's corruption case in the name of the emperor, Hongxuan gave him a big gift.

"Your Highness has not been cleared of the crime, but you can come to investigate this case. It is not suitable for the situation or the law, but the emperor still sent you here. It can be seen that His Highness is so capable, and the poor Taoist really admires it."

Yan Mu narrowed his eyes, "Stop abducting me!"

"Your Highness has the great wisdom to stabilize the country!"

"I know how much wisdom I have, and I don't accept flattery."

"What's more commendable is that His Highness can recognize himself clearly, not inflated, not complacent."

Yan Mu was speechless, the old Taoist priest wanted him to sit in that seat, to be a wise monarch, to secure the peace of the world, to devote himself to the cause, to give up his ego to achieve a great cause, just like those saints in the book who will be famous forever.

His lifelong wish is to support such a monarch, and to be a virtuous minister who can last forever.

It's a pity that he is not so righteous, let alone so selfless. Even if he becomes a monarch, he will not give up his ego.He just wants to live a life of indulgence, and he can do whatever he wants.

Seeing that Yan Mu was getting impatient, Liu Yunxiang hurriedly changed the subject: "Hurry up and take out the account books you two stole and see if it's useful."

Xue Changfeng slapped his forehead, and he was really going this way, so he hurriedly took out the account book from his pocket.Feng Zheng also took out, and the two put together a total of ten copies.

Everyone gathered around, and Liu Yunxiang asked everyone to take a copy to see if there was any problem.

She picked up a book, but saw that Yan Mu was still sitting where she was, and saw her looking at him, so she pulled her to sit beside her.

"Don't you take a look?" Liu Yunxiang asked.

Yan Mu snorted, "I don't want to see Yang He cheating me for nothing."

Liu Yunxiang laughed, "You should know that he is forced to."

"I know, but I just don't want to help him."

"Children hold grudges."

"What do you mean?"

Liu Yunxiang leaned into Yan Mu's arms, "Let's watch together."

Yan Mu put his arms around Liu Yunxiang, and secretly kissed Liu Yunxiang while the others were not paying attention, so that he was not so angry.He hugged Liu Yunxiang and looked through the account books with her.

This is a booklet for the payment of taxes and grains from various places. They first saw Qi County. Because of the severe drought last year, the imperial court exempted them from taxes and grains, so their page was empty.Turning back, other counties did not pay enough.

"Are other counties also affected?" Yan Mu asked.

Liu Yunxiang nodded, "Master Taoist and the others went to investigate. Last year, apart from Qixian County, several surrounding counties were also affected by disasters, ranging from mild to severe, so the taxes and food handed over were not enough."

However, these counties were added after last year's autumn harvest, so the word "flat" is at the end.

Yan Mu looked at the word 'Ping' and hesitated a little, "Yanzhou added [-]% more tax than other places, and it will be able to make up for it that year, unless it is a big harvest."

At this moment, Hongxuan turned his head and said: "I asked the magistrate Gu, last year's autumn harvest was also affected, and the grain output was not as good as in previous years."

Yan Mu's thoughts turned for a while, and he continued to look back. The account books recorded in this way are very detailed and clear, and it can be seen from it that the people pay taxes and grains, and the merchants pay taxes and silver in full, but the money he gave to the court The ledger was faked, and the embezzled 100 million taels was calculated in this way.

Looking back, Liu Yunxiang suddenly caught sight of a place, and hurriedly only showed it to Yan Mu: "We have been to this Changhe village. All the young and middle-aged people in the village were arrested and sent to join the army, and they all died. The young women and their children also died. After leaving, there are only old people left in the village. Although there are good fields, most of them are deserted, and only a few acres of land are planted, barely maintaining the food rations of the old people in the village. They don't have any extra food to pay taxes, and in order to avoid people calling for payment, They also played ghosts to scare them."

And the bottom of this page clearly records the amount of taxes and food paid by Changhe Village, which is after a [-]% increase, which is obviously wrong.

Liu Yunxiang asked Hongxuan and Xue Changfeng to look at other years, and soon they found them all. In the past few years since Yang He took office, Changhe Village has no record of arrears in tax and food, and has paid in full every year.

Liu Yunxiang put several account books together, and the matter became clear at once.

"There has never been this one million taels. It grew out of the account book and disappeared from the account book. It didn't go into anyone's pocket."

Hongxuan nodded, "As time goes on, the amount is getting bigger and bigger, and I can't hide it anymore. There must be someone to take the blame, so Yang He stepped forward."

Xue Changfeng scratched the back of his head, but didn't understand for a while, "The imperial court checks the accounts every year, why didn't it find out?"

Yan Mu curled his lips, "Because in the past few years when Yang He was in Yanzhou, natural disasters and man-made disasters continued, he reported to the court every year to make false accounts. If the court doesn't check it, it's a loophole. And it's a long time , the bigger the loophole, the harder it is not to be discovered.”

"In order to prevent the imperial court from holding the common people and those merchants accountable, he took himself upon himself, making the imperial court think that he was corrupt." Liu Yunxiang continued to explain.

Xue Changfeng thought for a while before he figured it out, "That's why the people of Yanzhou say he is a good man, but a good man is not necessarily a good official. A good official must protect the court and society, but he didn't do it. He only protected the people of Yanzhou."

"The year my lord first came to Yanzhou to take office, there was a severe drought and the people couldn't eat enough. He asked the court for relief, but the court not only didn't give it, but also increased the tax by [-]%. He watched the people starve to death one by one. He scolded himself for being incompetent. Later, he went to other states to borrow food, and after being rejected by those people, he finally borrowed food, and a porridge shed was set up in the city. But when he returned home, he found his old mother and his wife and daughter They all starved to death." Speaking of this, Feng Zheng's eyes turned red, "The graves in the west courtyard of Futai Mansion belong to the old lady, madam and young lady, and a few servants. My lord feels that I am deeply ashamed of them, so I put the They are buried in the west courtyard, and they have to go and see them every day."

Liu Yunxiang was very surprised when he heard this, it turned out that the relatives of Yang He were buried in those graves.

"In the past, Yanzhou was indeed full of rain and fertile land. It was the main grain-producing area of ​​Dayong. The economy and trade were prosperous and the people were rich. But for more than ten years, for some reason, Yanzhou often suffered from droughts, and the court was blinded. It seems that there will be an additional [-]% tax. The people complained incessantly, the merchants fled one after another, and Yanzhou became poor immediately. In order to change this situation, the adults began to make false accounts to hide from the court. When the weather was good, he reported that he had met Disasters, reduced grain production, and only paid half of the tax. In the years of drought, he said that he had encountered a severe drought and had no crops, and he had to ask the court for relief. If the court refused, he asked for [-]% of the tax from merchants to be used for disaster relief. , Year after year of being deceived like this, the common people have enough food and clothing, merchants have stayed, and the economy and trade have become more and more prosperous.” Feng Zheng shrugged his shoulders after finishing speaking, “This is the truth, it doesn’t matter if our adults are corrupt. , to deceive the imperial court, it is always a capital crime."

Liu Yunxiang sighed heavily, no wonder Yang He kept silent about the whereabouts of the 100 million taels, no wonder he didn't think they could save him.

So, they really couldn't save him. (end of this chapter)