I

  Chapter 678 675 [The fire dragon burns the warehouse? 】

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

  The person in charge of leading the team to investigate the case was a fifth-rank inspector named Wu Wendu.

   "Where's Xiao Liu?" Wu Wendu asked.

Wei Gan said: "Haven't come back yet. He sent a letter through the post office, saying that he had gone to Shaanxi, and in Shaanxi, it has been confirmed that there are grain merchants who sell grain illegally. Lintao, Taozhou, Ningxia, and Yulin, the inspectors of these four places The Procuratorate must conduct an investigation. Strictly speaking, the armed police of the Inspection Division belong to the army, and we, the Procuratorate, cannot intervene. This matter must be reported to the Ministry of War and the Governor's Mansion."

  Being related to the military, Wu Wendu's head suddenly became dizzy, and he said depressedly: "I'll write a letter, don't be afraid. Report to Huang Xiantai (Xiaohong) first, and Huang Xiantai will contact Nanjing."

These people are stepping up their investigation in Shanzhou, but Li Dayong, the magistrate of Lingbao County next door, is getting angry at the chief of the commercial department: "How many times have I said to stabilize grain prices? Ask, his mother’s wheat is 25 renminbi a catty. Although it is understandable that the price of food has risen due to the disaster this year, it’s just the beginning of autumn now! At this time, the wheat family is 25 renminbi. How much should the mother raise it?"

   Wang Ze, head of the commercial department, said with a bitter face: "The official price has been set, and the maximum price for a catty of wheat is 15 yuan. But this official price can only be guided, not forced."

  The official guide price is really only a guide.

  Directly use administrative power to interfere with the market, if you don't pay attention, you will screw up, and the lightest will cause grain merchants to hoard grain and not sell it. When Zhao Han rebelled back then, of course he could copy the houses of grain merchants. Now that the new dynasty is established, it is impossible to give local officials the power to search homes at will.

  At least, the county magistrate can't ransack the house at will, otherwise the government will be easily corrupted, and I don't know how many innocent people have suffered.

  Businessmen sold grain at too high prices, and the county government imposed administrative fines at most, or simply revoked their grain store licenses.

  Li Dayong said: "Contact Datong Bank and transfer a batch of wheat from the Changping warehouse. First, let's lower the grain price in the county."

  Wang Ze hesitated to speak, but finally couldn't hold back. He looked around the house, blinked at Li Dayong, and signaled the magistrate to back away first.

  Li Dayong is a rough guy, born as a domestic slave in Anhui. Although he could read some words, his brain was really not good enough. He was promoted to the magistrate purely by his qualifications and hard work. He didn't know what kind of trouble Wang Ze had at all. He even asked, "Is there something wrong with your eyes?"

  Wang Ze almost fell down, so he changed to Nuzui.

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

  Wang Ze quickly said: "The lower officials are also anxious."

  The two came to the toilet of the county government office, and after careful inspection, there was no one there, so Li Dayong asked, "What exactly do you want to say?"

  Wang Ze said in a low voice: "Master Xian, I'm afraid there is not much food left in Changping's warehouse."

   "Why is there no food in the Changping warehouse?" Li Dayong asked strangely.

  The grain in the Changping warehouse is the land tax handed in by the farmers, and a batch is stored for emergency every year. If the farmers all pay money, the government will give money to the bank and ask the bank to transfer a batch of grain into the warehouse.

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

  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 complained every year that there was no food, but in fact it had been slowed down a long time ago, and the grain reserves in some counties were full. It's just that these grain reserves do not belong to the central government, but are preserved by the local government itself.

  Compared to Ming Dynasty, when Xinzhi County took office, the county government treasury was so poor that mice would starve to death. Even if there is a financial balance, when the previous magistrate leaves, he will try his best to evacuate it. The treasury is the county magistrate's private treasury, which can easily fill his private pockets.

  Now, all the money and food of the local finance are kept by Datong Bank, and it is easy to be discovered if the magistrate wants to embezzle it privately.

  Similarly, if Datong Bank was swallowed up privately, the county magistrate would be so eager to kill 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, a businessman from Shaanxi came to buy grain. The price was higher than the market price, and he didn't have to transport it himself. The Shaanxi businessman would be responsible for transporting it away. The appetite of Shaanxi businessmen was not enough, so they put their ideas on the Changping warehouse. Anyway, it was just embezzlement, and they would make up for it in the next year. But for three years in a row, Shaanxi businessmen came to Lingbao to collect grain at high prices. Food has never been replenished."

  Li Dayong said doubtfully: "Last year, the county inspected the granary in person, and found nothing wrong."

  Wang Ze said: "The granaries outside are full, and the granaries inside are all emptied. There is only a layer of wheat on the surface. The county lord just came to the scene in person, and did not personally inspect..."

  Li Dayong's blood pressure rose instantly: "You mean, the county has been fooled? Why didn't you **** say it earlier?"

  Wang Ze said: "There have always been rumors about this matter, but no one can confirm it, and ordinary people have no right to check the Changping warehouse. The officials also recently discovered that something was wrong, so they were sure that they had emptied the Changping warehouse."

   "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 a high price during the disaster year, but also sent people to Hubei to buy grain. What is the rush to fill a hole?"

   "Fuck it!"

  Li Dayong was furious: "This is a matter of losing his head. I don't want to die. Quickly call Dian Shi to handle the matter, and call more police officers to follow!"

   When Dian Shi brought the police over, Li Dayong also rushed out with a knife.

  The magistrate is a rough embryo. When Fei Ruhe led troops to attack Tongling, he followed his young master to seize the city with a sword. He killed the magistrate and dedicated Tongling to the Datong army.

  Li Dayong didn't say where he was going, but only ordered the history of the classics: "Take people to follow!"

   A group of people rushed to the grain station outside the city, and the treasurer of the grain station hurriedly stopped him: "Xianzun, you must at least say hello first when you inspect the Changping warehouse."

   "Hi!"

Li Dayong roared: "Okay, I've greeted you, let me get out of the way quickly. I can't manage other warehouses, they are from your bank's grain station. But the grain in the Changping warehouse is from the county government. If anyone dares to make fun of my head, I will cut off his head first!"

  What else did the treasurer want to say, Li Dayong has already commanded the police to forcibly detain the staff of the grain station.

  The guy went straight to Chang Ping warehouse with a knife, and ordered: "Open the warehouse to inspect the grain!"

  Dian Shi led the police to do it, and was very rough, opening the gate and releasing all the grain on the ground.

  The first granary has grain.

  The second one is food.

   The third one is food.

   Until the fifth one, the wheat was released at the beginning, and the sand began to be released after standing. The next granary is filled with sand!

Li Dayong yelled angrily: "Arrest people, arrest people, everyone at the grain station has been arrested!" He pointed to Dian Shi and said, "Immediately send someone to inform the county's Lianzheng Yamen, and ask them to report the matter to the government. Province. I'm in his mother's house. Fortunately, I came to investigate today, and I won't be able to keep my head if I drag it on!"

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

  The news that the Changping warehouse in Lingbao County was embezzled spread throughout the county that day. The common people were already dissatisfied with the sharp rise in grain prices. After hearing about this incident, they were filled with righteous indignation and rushed to the grain stores in the county one after another, forcing grain retailers to sell grain at a lower price.

  Whoever dared to close their doors or continue to sell at a high price was immediately beaten by the angry crowd, and then sent to the government to report that the family had stolen food.

  Three days later, before the magistrate of Yanxiang County next door could react, the Changping warehouse in Yanxiang County suddenly caught fire.

  The county magistrate of Yan Township is called Sheng Huairu, this old 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 ninth-rank miscellaneous official, but after a few years, he became a seventh-rank county magistrate.

   "The fire dragon is burning the warehouse, I actually met it," Sheng Huairu sighed, and then couldn't laugh or cry, "I just took office at the beginning of this year, and my **** hasn't warmed up yet."

  Han Mingchen, the county magistrate, cried and said, "Master, I came to Yan Township two months later than you. How should I deal with such a big event?"

Sheng Huairu said: "What are you afraid of? Although the Changping warehouse is owned by the county government, it has been stored in the grain station for a long time, and it has also been charged for storage loss. Even if it burns out, it is still a problem with the bank. We have to make up for the amount of grain we need. Come back." Suddenly, Sheng Huairu sighed, "It's a pity that there is a lot of food. Let's say something heartless, it would be better to burn it, and the responsibility lies with the bank. It is the relationship with lax supervision.”

   "Yes!" Han Mingchen finally came to his senses.

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

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

  For the sake of his life and future, he dare not be greedy. I have been used to rich clothes and fine food since I was a child, and I don't bother to be greedy for petty things. After the two phases, you will become an upright official, and you will be proud of your innocence, and you really hate this kind of corruption.

  …

  The fire dragon burning the warehouse is of a bad nature, and the crime even surpasses the misappropriation of the normal warehouse.

  Wu Wendu originally wanted to investigate secretly for a while, but who knew that there was such a big commotion, so he could only investigate in the open. He summoned the county magistrates and Dianshi of the three counties, mobilized the police force, detained grain merchants and bank officials and interrogated them severely.

   Half a month later, the first batch of confessions was 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 hard to be sure, because they did not embezzle grain, but embezzled grain and mortgaged it to grain merchants. The bank. The two parties have agreed that after the next year’s harvest, 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 embezzlement of public grain? Is it favoritism? Or is it corruption?”

Xiaohong sneered: "The grain in the Changping warehouse can only be kept by the bank's grain station. It needs the official document stamped by the county magistrate to have the right to retrieve it. Even if it is dealing with the old grain in the Changping warehouse, it is also known that the county seals it. Who cares?" The charge of moving the Changping warehouse, none of the principal culprits can keep their heads!"

Wu Wendu added: "Even those grain merchants were 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. The rest were all guesses. It was sold to Xihai (Qinghai), some said that the grain was sold to Hetao, and some said that the grain was sold to Hami."

Xiaohong said: "No matter where it is sold, let's go to Huayin County first, and arrest the grain merchants there for trial! As for the inspection department on the border of Shaanxi, they will handle it themselves when they wait for the Ministry of War and the Governor's Mansion to come. , we all just need to cooperate with the procuratorate."

  (end of this chapter)