Zhao Defang's road to the virtuous king

Tong Dezheng was furious when he heard this, and threw him to the ground, "Tie me up!"

The deputy general stepped forward and tied Zhang Mingyun up. Tong Dezheng looked around the room and found a plate of fallen silver taels on the table in the corner. Tong Dezheng went over to pick it up and saw that it was official silver. The two people who were sitting next to Zhang Mingyun just now The man was about to run away, but was caught by soldiers. There were two boxes on the table. Tong Dezheng went over to open them, and found that they were full of gold bars, and there were some account books, which recorded the supply quantity and date of military supplies and weapons. , This surprised him very much. According to this amount and amount, the imperial government only used less than 4% of the appropriation, but Zhang Mingfeng once told himself that there was not much left in the appropriation, so where did the extra 6% of the taels go? Tong Dezheng looked at the official bank in the corner, and he already knew it in his mind, but for such a serious crime, he still needed to find out how many people were involved in the case, so he ordered the three of them to be escorted to Zhang Mingfeng's mansion.

The three knelt on the ground, Zhang Mingfeng was startled, and asked, "General Tong, what's going on?"

"The general now suspects that these three people have embezzled the official money of the court. Master Zhang, is this name cloud your younger brother?"

Zhang Mingfeng looked at the drunk and unconscious Zhang Mingyun, "He is the younger brother of the family, but embezzling official money is a felony. Does the general have evidence?"

"Evidence? The official silver piled up in his room, as well as the gold and military account books held by these two people, can't prove it? Master Zhang, you once told me that there is not much official silver left in the court, but those gold and silver account books What is it?" Tong Dezheng said sternly

"General Tong, this matter is very important. My younger brother is a quartermaster appointed by the Ministry of War. He also reported this account to me. Now that something like this has happened, we should find out."

"Okay! Then I will go to see the prince right now, tell him everything, and wait for the prince to make a decision." Tong Dezheng turned to leave.

Zhang Mingfeng stepped forward to stop Tong Dezheng, "General Tong, I am the magistrate of a city. Please leave this matter to my government. My government assures the general that I will never play favoritism. I will give my government five days to submit the trial results. How about the prince and the general decide the time?"

Tong Dezheng looked at Zhang Mingfeng, "Okay, Master Zhang will try it. To be on the safe side, people can stay, but the official bank and account books will not be handed over to Master Zhang. If necessary, Master Zhang can come to Ben Jiang's mansion to check. After a few days, if Mr. Zhang can't come up with the result of the trial, he will definitely report to the Ming Dynasty and report to the imperial court!" Tong Dezheng turned and left.

Zhang Mingfeng ordered the three of them to be lifted up and stayed in the mansion temporarily. He called his master to discuss, "Tong Dezheng got the account book in his hands, and sooner or later he will find out about our affairs. What should we do?"

The master said, "My lord, it's too late to do anything now. The account book is in General Tong's hands, and it's impossible to get it back. If the prince finds out again, it will be troublesome. The only people who know about it are Tong Dezheng and his deputy general." , why not..." the master gestured

Zhang Mingfeng waved his hand, "No, he is a general, no one can defeat him, and if he fails, it will be a catastrophe. Let the government think again." Zhang Mingfeng discussed with the master all night to no avail.

That night, when Defang and Nangongwen returned to the mansion, Nangongwen took out several stacks of accounts. After reading it, Defang was surprised, "This is?!"

"Yes, my lord, all the account books are here, as long as you see these, I am not afraid that they will not plead guilty."

"How did you get it?" Defang asked

"The villain traced Zhang Mingfeng's private house and found more than one place. In the past few months, it has been gradually sorted out. One place is a smoking place. One or two women will be sent in in about a month, and then one person will send a box to him. To Zhang Mingfeng's place, there is another place where military officers from the Quartermaster Department often come and go, and they often move in large and small boxes, which seem to be valuables, and there is a more secret place, which is located in the back room of a teahouse. The villain found Zhang Mingfeng His master often came in and out through the back door, holding some account books, and felt that this was the key point, so he discussed with Jiajun and entered secretly. Because Zhang Mingfeng sent someone to monitor the prince, Jiajun finally found a chance to come out alone, and he followed him that night. The master entered the teahouse only to find that there was a secret passage in the teahouse. He showed how to enter the teahouse. After the master went out, he entered and drew a picture for the villain. The villain spent a month copying the account book by hand. The date and number on it, The names are very clear."

Defang looked at these account books, "It seems that one of the private houses is to store the treasures that Zhang Mingfeng plundered, but I didn't expect that he would be so bold as to hide tributes, deduct military pay, and even dare to take the official money of the court as his own. It's really audacious. !"