Do you know the long song of laughter?

Chapter 502 Interrogation
Minglan had no other choice now. If Yu Yanran hadn't kept Man Niang, it would have been fine.

Now Yu Yanran has kept the person here. If she drives him away again, it will be troublesome if Man Niang threatens to commit suicide.

If she didn't agree, it would be useless even if Man Niang threatened to die. Now that she agreed, if Man Niang died in Gu Tingye's house, it would be related to Yu Yanran.

But her confinement period has not yet ended, so she cannot go to Yu Yanran to help her. She can only give her some advice.

"Do you have enough guards over there?" Minglan asked.

"It's enough. The master recruited some people before. They are big and strong. I am scared just by looking at them." Yu Yanran said.

"That's even better. When you go back, don't see that Man Niang again." Minglan warned.

"Yeah." Yu Yanran nodded repeatedly.

…………

After leaving Li's house, Yu Yanran returned home.

He found Shi Tou and asked him to bring people to guard the yard where he lived and not let Man Niang get close.

Just as everything was arranged, Man Niang arrived but was stopped outside the door by Shi Tou.

Shitou had never liked Man Niang, and no matter how much she made a fuss, he wouldn't let her in.

Man Niang made a fuss for a while, but seeing that Yu Yanran didn't come out and Shi Tou was adamant, she had no choice but to leave.

Find Xiao Qinshi's people in Orange Garden and ask them to pass the message to Xiao Qinshi on her behalf.

…………

Ningyuan Marquis Mansion, Buddhist temple in the backyard.

Xiao Qin was worshiping Buddha when Mother Chu walked in.

"Madam, that Man Niang sent someone to deliver a letter." Mother Chu said.

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Qin stood up and took Mother Chu out of the Buddhist hall. After sitting down, she asked, "What did she say?"

"Man Niang said that the people next door are guarding the main courtyard, but they don't see her. Now she can't even see anyone, so she asked the old lady to think of a solution." Mother Chu said.

Xiao Qin sneered when she heard this, "Erlang's wife went to the Li family today, and she became smarter when she came back. It must be that Madam Sheng taught her something. Erlang's wife is gentle and easy to deal with. But Madam Sheng is a bit of a hindrance."

"Madam, what's Man Niang's response?" asked Mother Chu.

"What to reply?" Xiao Qin sneered, "Tell her there's nothing I can do, let her figure it out on her own. Do you think I don't know her little tricks?
I hinted at her to get rid of Erlang's child, but she kept shirking her responsibility. Isn't it because she saw that Erlang's wife was weak in character, and wanted to trick her into marrying her before making her plans?"

She was overjoyed when Man Niang and Bai Erye contacted her.

It was her who instructed Mr. Bai Er to go and beat the drum to make a big deal out of the matter.

It is simply impossible to use this incident against Gu Tingye.

Xiao Qinshi was also aware of this, and she had never thought of using this incident to kill Gu Tingye with one blow.

However, when the government conducted a thorough investigation into the salt business, problems arose on Gu Tingye's side, causing great trouble for the government.

It will definitely displease the officials.

Mr. Bai filed a complaint just to make the emperor hate Gu Tingye.

Man Niang is her real sword.

If Man Niang killed Gu Tingye's son, Gu Tingye would definitely go crazy.

The first person to be killed was Man Niang.

However, Man Niang is of good origin. As long as there is no evidence, Gu Tingye will kill her. It is impossible for her to pay with her life, and she will definitely lose the title.

However, Man Niang is not stupid. She still wants to become Gu Tingye's concubine and enjoy wealth and glory. She is not here for revenge.

Killing Gu Tingye's child or Yu Yanran would not benefit her in any way.

On the contrary, Yu Yanran has a weak temper and she is happier.

Gu Tingye would definitely not agree to let her in, but if Yu Yanran agreed, she would have already entered the house before Gu Tingye came back, and Gu Tingye would have no choice but to accept it.

In Man Niang's opinion, although there were misunderstandings between her and Gu Tingye, they had been together for so many years, and she thought she had figured out Gu Tingye's personality and temper.

As long as she comes in, Gu Tingye will naturally accept her after a while.

Yu Yanran is so gentle and simple-minded, so it is not easy to deal with her.

Xiao Qin knew that Man Niang would not agree, but she still helped Man Niang because she knew that Gu Tingye would never accept Man Niang.

She originally thought that Man Niang's move would only work after Gu Tingye returned.

But I didn't expect Minglan to give Yu Yanran an idea, and now it seems that it will soon come into play.

This is better. Now that Gu Tingye is not around, it is more convenient for Man Niang to do things.

According to her guess, if Mr. Bai sued Gu Tingye, the emperor would definitely summon Gu Tingye back.

By then, Man Niang might not have the chance to take action.

But if you want Man Niang to be willing to be a knife, you have to wait until she is desperate.

Only then will Man Niang know that only by listening to her can she have a chance.

So now she doesn't plan to pay attention to Man Niang and will expose her first.

"That Madam Sheng is a trouble." Xiao Qin frowned.

If this problem is not resolved, something unexpected may happen at a critical moment.

Xiao Qin thought for a long time and said, "Go and invite that Kang Wang to me."

"Yes!" Mother Chu responded and walked out.

…………

Li An didn't know what happened in Bian Jing, but he received a letter from home.

When he saw that Minglan and her son were safe, Ang Lee finally relaxed.

He now wished he could return to Bian Jing immediately to be with Minglan and see his son.

But he knew this was impossible, so he could only suppress his impulse and write a reply letter.

Although he couldn't go back, Li Ang was still very happy to know that Minglan and her son were safe and that he had a son.

Unconsciously, the corners of his mouth turned up and he smiled.

Anyone who saw it could tell that he was in a good mood.

"Zi Qian, I see you laughing from time to time. Is there any good news?" Zhao Ceying asked.

"Your Highness, I received a letter from home saying that my wife gave birth to a son." Li An said with a smile.

"It is indeed worth being happy about the addition of a new baby to the country. If possible, I would like to allow you a few days off to go back and have a look. However, the thorough investigation of the salt business is progressing slowly, and we are in need of people, so I cannot let you go back." Zhao Ceying said.

"I understand. I feel relieved to know that the mother and child are safe." Li An said with a smile.

"I hope there will be progress in this interrogation." Zhao Ceying said.

After several days of interrogation, there was no progress. Although he sent people to the salt field to investigate, it was still unknown when evidence would be found. "Your Highness, I will try to interrogate him today," Li An said.

"Oh?" Zhao Ceying asked in surprise, "Do you have a solution?"

The interrogation has been going on for several days, but there has been no progress. Li An never mentioned interrogation before. Could it be that he has come up with a solution?
"I don't have any good ideas, but I do have a stupid idea." Li An said, "They have been captured for several days, and they are guarded by the imperial guards. No one is allowed to visit them. Now they don't know anything about the outside world, so maybe we can trick them."

Zhao Ceying was a little disappointed when he heard this and said, "I have tried this method before, but it didn't work."

"Your Highness, please let me try it. Maybe it will work." Li An said.

"Okay, then let you try it, and I'll listen from behind." Zhao Ceying said.

There has been no progress in the interrogation for so many days, so it’s okay to let Li Ang give it a try.

As they were talking, they arrived at the Yancheng County Government Office.

All the arrested officials were imprisoned in the jail of Yancheng County Government.

For this purpose, the county jail cells were specially cleared out, and the prisoners with minor crimes were released, while those with serious crimes were transferred away first.

The cells were also taken over by the Imperial Guards.

The magistrate of Yancheng County and a group of officials were waiting at the door.

Zhao Ceying dealt with the man casually and sent him away, then took Li An to a public housing unit.

He ordered someone to bring a detained official over, and he himself went behind the screen.

After a while, the imperial guards came in with an official.

Li An was happy to see the person who was brought here. This person was Yang Zengqin, the chief officer of the first salt field they visited.

"Lord Yang looks good and seems to be living a good life." Li An said with a smile.

Although Yang Zengqin is now a prisoner, his clothes are neat and clean and he looks good.

One can tell at a glance that apart from the restrictions on freedom, there are also delicious food and drinks provided.

It would be strange if you could get anything out of this question.

"Greetings, Lord Li. I have said everything I should say. Lord Li, please don't waste your words." Yang Zengqin said calmly.

"That's not necessarily true." Li An smiled and said, "You all said that the number of rainy days is different from the record, so you remembered it wrong, but all the salt fields are wrong, which is a problem."

"Lord Li has only recently entered the officialdom and does not understand many things about it. The account books must be copied and sent to Bian Jing for sealing at regular intervals. If they are different, wouldn't there be a problem?" Yang Zengqin said calmly.

"Lord Yang, do you mean that the reason they are all the same is because you have all checked and made special modifications?" Li An asked.

"That's right." Yang Zengqin said, "Each government office has its own rules for handling certain matters. For example, local government offices, after collecting taxes every year, have to transport them to Bianjing and hand them over to the national treasury.

However, money and grain would be consumed during transportation. If the quantity was filled in on the document, but after arriving in Bianliang, the quantity did not match the document, the Ministry of Revenue would not accept it.

Therefore, officials from all over the country issued blank documents. After the goods arrived in Bianliang, they would fill in the quantity after verification by the Ministry of Revenue and complete the storage.

Normally, this kind of thing is not allowed, but there is no other way. You can't go back and reissue the documents, right? Not to mention where to put the money and grain that have been transported, just going back and forth will take a lot of time.

Therefore, officials of the Ministry of Revenue, including the government, knew about this situation and turned a blind eye to it.

The same is true for the salt fields. Sometimes it is normal for the number of rainy days to differ. Although they are not far apart, sometimes it rains here and not there. The Salt and Iron Bureau will also check the accounts. If they don’t match, there must be a problem. The officials of the Salt and Iron Bureau are also aware of this practice.”

"Lord Yang is really eloquent, but I can still understand what you said about the local government's empty seal documents. However, I find it hard to understand why the number of rainy days in the salt field account book is the same. The two situations are different and cannot be generalized." Li An shook his head.

What Yang Zengqin said about the empty seal documents in the local area does exist.

The Empty Seal Case, one of the four major cases in early Ming Dynasty history, broke out because of this.

There were certain injustices in the four major cases in the early Ming Dynasty, but the other three major cases all had certain political purposes.

For example, the Hu Weiyong case was a move by Zhu Yuanzhang to dismiss the prime minister, abolish the prime minister system, and strengthen the emperor's power.

The Lan Yu case was intended to help Zhu Yunwen take office and eliminate unstable factors.

Therefore, it is difficult to judge whether it is unjust or not.

But the Kongyin case was truly an injustice.

It is very normal to have fire consumption in the transportation of money and grain. The weighing tools of the local and the Ministry of Revenue are different. Even if there is no fire consumption, the numbers cannot be exactly the same.

However, transportation was inconvenient in ancient times. If you filled in the quantity before departure and handed it over to the Ministry of Revenue for storage, but the weight was wrong and the goods were rejected, it would be difficult to go back and make changes.

Thus, documents with blank seals came into being, and it can be said that this was basically the practice in all dynasties.

As for whether the people who transport the goods will take advantage of this to embezzle, it definitely exists.

However, the fire consumption during transportation is reasonable and there is also a rough estimate.

For example, if out of a hundred kilograms of grain, after being transported to Bianliang, only about ninety kilograms would remain, which is within a reasonable range.

But if only half is left, it would definitely be abnormal.

After the goods are put into storage, the Ministry of Revenue will also receive a receipt, which the officials will check when they return.

Therefore, even if corruption exists, the amount is very small and acceptable in comparison.

This situation was not a secret, but Lao Zhu was just a peasant, so how would he know this?

When I learned that money and grain sent to the capital from all over the country were given blank documents, they would fill them out after being weighed.

He felt that he had been fooled, flew into a rage, and killed all the officials involved.

It is hard to say whether the killed official had committed corruption in other places, but he was definitely killed unjustly in the Kongyin case.

However, this incident is completely different from the salt field's unified recording of the number of rainy days.

The emperor knew and acknowledged that transporting grain would cost a lot of money.

Even though there are loopholes in the practice of printing documents in blank form, it is still within an acceptable range.

Because the proportion of fire consumption is regulated, even if blank documents are not used, there will be no accountability as long as the fire consumption is within a reasonable range.

Simply put, whether there is a blank document or not, the transporter should be just as greedy.

"Lord Yang said that the salt fields will have different rainy days. If this happens, the amount of salt produced in each salt pond will naturally be different. But according to my investigation in the past few days, not only do the rainy days at each salt field are the same, the number of salt produced by the salt ponds in that month is also the same. So where did the extra salt from some salt fields go?" Li An looked at Yang Zengqin with a smile.

The reason why we say salt pond instead of salt field is because salt fields come in different sizes and their outputs are naturally different.

But salt ponds are different. The size of salt-drying ponds is the same, and the salt production of each pond is almost the same, with little difference.

For example, a salt pond produces 100 kilograms of salt every day, which is 3,000 kilograms per month. The amount of reduction in salt production based on how many days it rains in that month is the output of the pond.

If the number of rainy days is the same, then the output of a single salt pond will be the same.

Yang Zengqin said that it was to facilitate checking the accounts, so everyone unified the record of the number of rainy days.

Then there must be some salt fields with fewer rainy days than actually recorded, which will produce more salt.

However, the salt production recorded in their account books is consistent with the salt production minus the number of rainy days.

Yang Zengqin's face changed when he heard this, but he pretended to be calm and said, "Of course it's different. We take the middle number, so that some salt fields will have more rainy days than recorded, and the salt production will be less. Those salt fields with fewer rainy days will make up for it."

"This explanation is really far-fetched." Li An sneered, "Is it just such a coincidence that it happens every time? Lord Yang, do you think we really haven't found anything in the past few days?"

(End of this chapter)