Royal Gold Medal County Magistrate

“Esteemed elders and friends, please disperse! Everyone, return to your homes. Give this official some time, and I will certainly rectify the official corruption.”

“This is my promise to you!”

Liu Xun's impassioned speech moved many simple folk to tears, and they stood rooted to the spot, unwilling to leave for a long time.

Fang Zheng was already growing impatient.

He had originally intended to glean more information from Liu Xun along the way.

He hadn't expected this dog to disgust him halfway.

Wanting to inspect the granary as soon as possible, Fang Zheng walked up to Liu Xun: “Disperse, everyone. Lord Liu still has official duties to attend to.”

The crowd heard another voice and couldn't help but turn to look.

Seeing a young man with gold rings on every finger and dressed in luxurious clothes, they couldn't help but reveal looks of disdain.

What kind of corrupt official is this? Look at Lord Liu's patched clothing!

“............”

Fang Zheng immediately realized his mistake upon seeing the crowd's expressions.

Damn it, he had actually made such a rookie mistake!

Liu Xun looked at Fang Zheng with a smile. Young people were too young after all. He had jumped out to be a scapegoat for the old man.

Looking at the still reluctant people, Liu Xun put on a stern face: “Disperse, disperse! This official does indeed have official duties to attend to.”

With this order, the surrounding people began to scatter sparsely.

“Lord Liu is truly a caring official, making this subordinate ashamed,” Fang Zheng said with a faint sarcasm.

Liu Xun was not ashamed but stroked his beard and laughed: “Haha, it's nothing, just the way of being an official.”

“Let's go, we'll go to the granary.”

For the rest of the journey, the two rode in silence directly to the granary.

The granary chief was still counting the newly arrived grain in the yard. When he saw Liu Xun arriving, he immediately knelt down.

“Greetings, Lord Liu! Forgive me for not welcoming you properly. Why didn't you inform this subordinate of your arrival?”

Liu Xun said: “This time, this official is accompanying the newly appointed Vice Prefect, Fang Zheng, on this trip.”

“Perfect timing, this is also your first time meeting him.”

“Greetings, Lord Fang.”

Fang Zheng nodded, walked to a pile of rice sacks, and asked: “When was this rice delivered?”

The granary chief hurriedly replied: “This is the grain that was sent from the capital a few days ago.”

“The capital? It's been several days, and you're still counting it?”

The granary chief looked at Fang Zheng, then at Liu Xun. Seeing Liu Xun give him a look, he replied: “Reporting to Milord... we are short-handed, so the counting has been a bit slow.”

Fang Zheng didn't say anything and began to wander around.

Jianjiang City's granary was located above ground. The overall structure looked like a huge courtyard house, with grain packed in sacks neatly stacked together.

After wandering around, Fang Zheng saw a rice sampler. He quickly stepped forward, picked it up, and walked back to the granary chief, inserting it into a rice sack.

This rice sampler was similar to a soil probe, except it was longer than a screwdriver, with a groove running from beginning to end.

One insertion and one pull could bring out the rice from the sack.

Fang Zheng carefully examined the rice.

The quality was good, no problem.

Liu Xun approached and asked: “How does it look?”

“Not bad, but not careful enough.” Saying that, Fang Zheng walked towards the grain pile that had already been counted in the granary.

Then he inserted the rice sampler into several more sacks, all without problems.

Liu Xun craned his neck behind him, unable to resist revealing a smile.

But before he could smile for long, he saw Fang Zheng climb to the top of the rice pile, hunching over as he walked inward.

Liu Xun frowned: “Lord Fang, it's dangerous inside, be careful!”

“It's fine!” Fang Zheng's voice came from inside.

Reaching the deepest part, the rice sampler still showed no problems when inserted.

Fang Zheng frowned. It seemed this old fox was still wary of him.

Before he arrived, Bai Rui had just casually inspected it and found a lot of moldy and stale rice. Now it was hidden so deeply.

But no matter how deeply it was hidden, it was useless. Those fake and inferior goods must still be inside the granary.

Otherwise, a person with ulterior motives could check the outside and find the shortage.

Fang Zheng began to move the top layer of rice sacks, probing downwards, sack by sack.

After moving only three sacks, the rice brought out by the rice sampler changed color!

The dark brown rice had a strange smell. He had found it!

The corners of Fang Zheng's mouth turned up. He grabbed a handful, turned around, and slowly walked out.

Hearing the sound coming from inside, Liu Xun stood below with a gloomy expression, waiting. The granary chief swallowed nervously beside him.

Although he was already on the same side as Fang Zheng, he was still uneasy and didn't dare to fully reveal everything.

This kid was so greedy. If he found a problem with the granary, wouldn't he extort him again?

He had previously thought that he was just a pampered young master who never lifted a finger, but he didn't expect him to be able to drill in and dig so deep!

Fang Zheng had already poked his head out at this time, but instead of rushing down, he sat directly on the rice pile.

Looking at Liu Xun, he stretched out his right hand and slowly opened his five fingers.

The moldy rice slid down his palm and onto the ground....

Liu Xun didn't panic, but the granary chief did, quietly tugging at Liu Xun's sleeve twice.

Liu Xun waved his hand: “Go, tell everyone to leave, I have something to say to Lord Fang.”

The granary chief breathed a sigh of relief and ran away in a puff of smoke.

Fang Zheng sat on top and sighed: “Lord Liu, you don't consider this subordinate a friend.”

“This subordinate can turn a blind eye to the private collection of grain from the people, since it's not recorded.”

“But... when it comes to the official granary, this official can't turn a blind eye.”

“If the starving people outside the city riot and break into the granary and discover the situation here, this subordinate wouldn't be able to keep his head even if he had ten of them.”

Hearing this, Liu Xun laughed instead: “Lord Fang, what are you saying? Come down first, it's dangerous up there.”

Fang Zheng jumped straight down, walked to Liu Xun, and looked directly at him: “Lord Liu, explain, how should this be resolved?”

Liu Xun asked: “Then what does Lord Fang think?”

Fang Zheng smiled slightly and said in a low voice: “More money! Give me enough to make up fifty thousand taels, but we have an agreement beforehand, the matter in the granary can't be discovered by outsiders. If there are any accidents, no amount of money will help this subordinate.”

“I wonder... how does Lord Liu want to resolve the fake goods in this granary in the end?”

Hearing Fang Zheng increase the price to fifty thousand taels, a fierce glint flashed in Liu Xun's eyes.

“Heh, fifty thousand taels... Lord Fang is really asking for the moon, but this official agrees!”

“As for the moldy rice in the granary, you don't have to worry. Today, you and I are truly being open and honest. I might as well tell you everything.”

Saying that, Liu Xun looked around, leaned into Fang Zheng's ear.

“The day after tomorrow, the Free Sect and the Ironclad Sect will have a brawl outside the city, with some disaster victims participating. The government soldiers will come forward to suppress the rebels, and the Ironclad Sect rebels will take the opportunity to set fire to the granary....”

“At that time... Lord Fang can lead the soldiers, suppress the remaining bandits, and achieve a great feat! This prefecture will report the truth!”

“With your relationship with the Crown Prince, at least a lateral transfer back to the capital won't be a problem!”

“At that time, Lord Fang can take fifty thousand taels of silver back to the capital and return to the Crown Prince's side. Wouldn't that be like a fish in water? What do you think?”

Fang Zheng frowned: “How can you control the conflict between the two sects? Moreover, if a large-scale brawl really occurs, how will the Jianjiang garrison general be involved?”

“Could it be that the general is also one of us?”

Liu Xun smiled wryly: “You are often in the capital, don't you even understand this? In all matters under heaven, His Majesty can ignore everything, but he will never relax his grip on military power!”

“His Majesty's ability is beyond your imagination. The garrison generals in various places are all firmly controlled by His Majesty, and it can be said that they are all confidants who have walked out of a sea of corpses and blood with His Majesty.”

“If the garrison general knows about the granary, we will be the first to lose our heads!”

“But you don't have to worry, we will prepare in advance, and our speed will be much faster than them!”

“After the granary is burned down, we can say whatever we want!”

“As for those sects, this official has his own arrangements, you don't have to think too much about it.”

Hearing him say this, Fang Zheng's heart also settled down.

In this way, he would have no more worries about taking action himself. If there was a conflict with those generals, it would be really troublesome.

Everyone on his side was talented, and he couldn't let them be lost on this kind of thing.

Then Fang Zheng continued to ask: “Lord Liu, such a major event, is it just the two of us....”

“Of course not!” Liu Xun's smile became even brighter.

“Now that you are one of us, this prefecture will call the people involved in this matter to Yongqing Tower not far from the government office tomorrow to discuss important matters. At that time, I will assign some people to you to leave the city to suppress the bandits and gain merit! That way.... you should be relieved, right!”

Fang Zheng immediately became excited, stepped forward and grabbed Liu Xun's hand.

“My parents gave me life, but Lord Liu understands me!”

Damn!

Liu Xun looked at his hand being held and suddenly shuddered, then quickly broke free.

He gave a sheepish smile: “Does Lord Fang want to take another look?”

“No! No more looking! Today, I will trouble Lord Liu to accompany me, then let's go back first.”

..........

That night, Liu Xun was in his study, with Wei Shan standing beside him with a somewhat serious expression.

In the end, he couldn't help but ask: “Master... could it be that those silvers are really going to be given directly to Fang Zheng? That's fifty thousand taels!”

Liu Xun sneered, the candlelight flickered uncertainly, shining on his face, making the atmosphere seem somewhat mysterious.

“Heh, let him have it. How long can he keep those silvers?”

“A mere male favorite of the Crown Prince, he wants too much and knows too much. In any case, this person cannot be allowed to return to the capital.”

“However, although this person is a villain, he also has some subtlety in his mind. I'm afraid that he will be uneasy and have other thoughts, so I will take him to meet our own people tomorrow.”

“The day after tomorrow, you will stay by his side and kill him in the chaos. At that time, there will be no evidence, and the silvers will still be ours.”

“Master is wise......”

..........

Inside the Clear Lake pleasure boat, Fang Zheng recounted the events of the day to everyone, his mood extremely cheerful.

With a face full of smugness, he said, "Listen up, all of you. Tomorrow, Bai Rui will lead the way with a group of capable men. Seize Yongqing Restaurant for me, but keep the commotion down."

"Zhang Biao, Zhou Tie, and the like will all go!"

"When I, your master, give the signal by smashing a cup, barge directly into the room and tie up that bunch of dogs for me!"

"As for the leader, Liu Xun, break his limbs! Don't give him any chance to escape! If anyone dares to resist, break both their legs directly. No need to discuss it. This operation is only allowed to succeed, not to fail! Do you all understand?"

"Understood!!!"