"Your Highness is wise. It seems that this flood disaster is not just a natural disaster, it must be. Qin Mubai said: "Among these layers of fog and many endpoints, the most incomprehensible ones are three points: one is Zhu Chengwen's death, the second is the food problem, and the third is where the flood went." ”

"Not bad." Li Ke said: "Let's solve it one by one, but we can only do it in secret." So in the next few days, I will continue to fight the flood with Cheng Songnian, Ma Kun and others, and comfort the victims, and you will go to investigate these things secretly. I suspect there must be some shocking secrets in this! ”

"Okay, I'll check!"

That night, Qin Mubai secretly ordered several capable pawns of the hundred horsemen to find the corpse of the county commander Zhu Chengwen and examine it in detail. The statement given by Cheng Songnian and others is that Zhu Chengwen committed suicide by hanging himself from a beam in his home. He is a native of the south, who has just taken office as the county magistrate of Jishan County, and has lived alone in the official office of the county government after less than half a year. After committing suicide by hanging himself, he also left a suicide note pleading guilty.

Qin Mubai checked that the corpse was indeed strangled and bruised on the neck, and the neck bone was fractured, and on the surface, it seemed that he had committed suicide by hanging the beam. However, the congestion on his face was not serious, and Qin Mubai appeared, dead blood appeared between his lips and nose, corpse spots, and there was also blood stasis in his nasal cavity.

Qin Mubai's heart lit up - obviously Zhu Chengwen had already been suffocated to death by someone covering his nose and mouth before he hung the beam! After his death, his body was hung on a beam to make the appearance of suicide by hanging the beam.

Qin Mubai looked at the suicide note again, and compared it to the handwriting left by Zhu Chengwen before, it was indeed very similar. The words of the suicide note are heartbroken, and he is ashamed of his own sins and is extremely ashamed of the sinner's character. However, every stroke of the pen is written very neatly, and it is obvious that the person who wrote it is not in the slightest emotion.

Just ask a person who is about to commit suicide and know that he may have such a stable mentality?

There is no doubt that the suicide note was forged and Zhu Chengwen was killed by him!

Who is most suspicious? Why kill Zhu Chengwen?

Qin Mubai thought about this question repeatedly, thinking of what the emperor said about allocating 50 million money to build Jishan embankments, Ma Kun and others throwing grain into the flood to build embankments, and then denying the plundering of the people's grain—he couldn't help but have such an assumption and inference in his heart.

Suppose that the imperial court allocated funds to build the flood control levee, but the money was embezzled by someone cutting corners, and part of it caused the flood control levee to be not strong enough, which led to this flood disaster in late summer and early autumn. Then the imperial court will definitely send someone to track it down.

The first object of this investigation is Zhu Chengwen, the county magistrate of Jishan County, who must be an insider. So he was killed.

Then the only way to trace the whereabouts of the money is to follow. Then the whole of Jiangzhou can use grain to talk about things - the grain that is put into the flood peak is all money! From this, they can deduce that the top and bottom of Jiangzhou are actually quite well prepared for flood control. The 5,000 stone of grain thrown into the flood is worth 10 million dollars!

In addition, the lake embankment has been broken, and there are nowhere to find the traces of construction before the embankment, and Zhu Chengwen, the county magistrate of Jishan County, who knows the inside story, has committed suicide in fear of crime...... Then, even if the imperial court suspects that someone is corrupt from it, it can completely splash this basin of dirty water on the dead Zhu Chengwen!

What's more, he already has a "criminal record" of corruption, and the people and the assassins have accused him of forcibly driving the people away, intending to take the opportunity to rob them of their property and food, and come to the country to make it difficult to make money.

It's really seamless, and there is no proof of it!

Thinking of all this, Qin Mubai couldn't help but smile secretly: Where can there be traces left by people who have left sound and geese? There is no doubt that this sudden flood frightened some corrupt officials, showing their fox tails. So they panicked and hurriedly looked for borrowings to cover up. Regardless of whether Zhu Chengwen is a clean official or a corrupt official, there is no doubt that he has been killed by others. And then this "disappearing" flood must still be a big article, and it must have washed away somewhere else, and then built a dam and then put in grain. The army's lost rations were plundered by the displaced people to fill the gaps.

As the time came and went, this small flood rushed to one place, and the smaller the vacancy left by the corruption of the corrupt official group. This embankment was built and built back and forth, and it was all a waste of the people's money and food, and it was only ordinary soldiers and soldiers who gave their lives. Then, they can also report the disaster losses to the imperial court, request funds for disaster relief, and rebuild their homes. This time and again, those greedy moths of the world are simply like usurers, hiding in the shadows and making profits, and the inhuman national disaster wealth. In the end, they may be rewarded by the imperial court for their disaster relief!

If there really is such a person in the world...... That really sin deserves death!

"It seems that no matter what era it is, there will always be some bureaucrats with ignorant consciences like animals, drinking human blood and eating human flesh to fill their own pockets!" The more Qin Mubai thought about it, the more angry he became, and a fire burned in his heart.

If his inference is correct, then this case is really a rare officialdom scandal and shocking case in the Zhenguan Dynasty!

Emperor Li Shimin of the Zhenguan Dynasty paid the most attention to thrift and honesty, and took responsibility for it and practiced economy. The overall atmosphere of officialdom is also very good, although such a thing as "there is no greed in the world" is a bit idealistic, but the officialdom atmosphere of the Zhenguan Dynasty and the sense of mission and responsibility of the officials are commendable. From the prime minister to the nine-grade officials, people like Wei Zheng who are extremely popular ministers but have no walls and are destitute abound, which is extremely common. And this is by no means a simple show, thrift and honesty have almost become the prevailing atmosphere in the officialdom of the Zhenguan Dynasty, just like many other eras, when the thought of someone being an official, people will reflexively think that this person must have money in his family.

The current situation is that when I see an official, especially a high-ranking official, most of the people in their homes are very poor. If any official family has a lot of money, it will still be a shameful thing. Therefore, the Shi clan of the Tang Dynasty generally looks down on businessmen, thinking that they only know how to pursue profits and do not respect fame.

But there is no absolute thing in the world, and although the overall atmosphere is so good, it is always inevitable that there will be some black sheep. The more Qin Mubai thought about it, the clearer it became that this time the flood disaster not only broke the embankment, but also washed some huge greed out of the water.

It's easy to confirm your guesses. But Qin Mubai pressed it down for the time being, and he didn't rush to do it, because the top priority was still to fight the disaster and help the people, so he didn't rush to tell Li Ke these inferences, because there was still no evidence at the moment, so don't mislead him.

In the next few days, Qin Mubai assisted Li Ke and led Cheng Songnian, Ma Kun and others to strengthen the embankment and settle the victims. Countless money, grain, tents, cattle, sheep, livestock, seeds, mulberry weaving and other materials were continuously transported from all directions under the allocation of the imperial court. A group of people who fled from Jishan County have also returned, and they have settled down temporarily. Then Li Ke and others will start to help them rebuild their homes and restore farming.

At this time, Qin Mubai secretly inquired, and sure enough, another clue appeared. After the last flood washed away the county seat of Jishan County, the flood peak was blocked, and a large amount of flood water washed into the mountains and rivers. In an instant, the embankment over there collapsed. Another five or six thousand stones of grain were thrown into the flood. If it is concocted, it is already more than 10,000 stones, and the military rations are gone!

At the same time, Qin Mubai went to the embankment to check the grain bags used to throw floods, and now most of them are old rice, and some of them are even moldy, which is several times cheaper than the high-grade white rice used by the Tang army! The difference in the price of more than 10,000 stone of rice alone is enough for many officials to make a lot of money.

Sure enough, it was.

The corrupt officials first embezzled the flood control funds allocated by the imperial court, and then used many methods to make up for the shortfall. In addition, Zhu Chengwen is dead, the flood embankment is broken, and there is no evidence, even if the court wants to track down the corrupt officials, any sewage and dirty water can be splashed on Zhu Chengwen's body, so that he, a dead person, will be a substitute for the dead ghost.

It's so vicious!

In the next few days, after Qin Mubai disguised himself, he walked among the victims and secretly listened to them talk about how Zhu Chengwen was doing. The victims of the disaster generally reported that although Zhu Chengwen had been in office for less than a year, he had not made any outstanding achievements in his political achievements, but he had never done anything bad. Not a very good official, but at least not a corrupt official. Because he has been in Jishan County for half a year, he has not even taken his wife and children, because he is afraid that he will not be able to support his own money, so he let them farm at home and be filial to his parents. He is usually very frugal, and occasionally he only uses spare money to buy books, and never spends his time drinking and making friends.

Moreover, Qin Mubai also heard a member of the former county government talk about something. It was last year that Zhu Chengwen repeatedly wrote to the state government to allocate funds to build flood control levees. The state capital has not responded. One day, Zhu Chengwen was in a hurry, and ran to the yamen of the state capital in person, but when he came back, he was furious, and for the first time, he was drunk and locked himself in the room, and scolded him more than once. Later, there were rumors that Zhu Chengwen openly contradicted the official, and this official may not be able to do it for a long time.

Zhu Chengwen is somewhat bookish, even if he repairs books and resigns. The Qipin County Order, the Prefecture and the Yamen have the right to appoint and dismiss personnel, and it can only be approved by the Ministry of Officials afterwards. However, the following sentence of the Assassin Mansion rejected his resignation, and the official personally persuaded him to be an official and not to act in anger. As for the construction of the flood control levee, due to the huge amount of money, the Thorn Shi Mansion was unable to allocate it, so it had already been reported to the imperial court, and it was waiting for good news.

Soon after, the imperial court did allocate funds for the flood control embankment, and the construction of the dam did start. But within three months the floods exploded. As soon as the flood broke out, Zhu Chengwen showed the county order, claiming that there was a bigger flood peak coming, forcing the people of the city to flee immediately. Then he committed suicide himself.

Combining all this he heard and saw, Qin Mubai secretly expected in his heart that Zhu Chengwen must have a great relationship with the corrupt official group. Either they are in the know of the strong protest or they are among the participants. He ordered the people of the city to move so that the army could take advantage of the chaos and plunder their food and belongings to fill the huge void left by corruption. It is doubtful whether this order was really given by him. If you can forge his suicide note, can't you forge a county order public notice?

At the same time, Zhu Chengwen, the dead man, is also the best scapegoat, if you really find out, in the end, the corrupt officials have nothing to deny, they will definitely say that the money is this, Zhu Chengwen is greedy.

"How can this man be more vicious than the beast of the flood?" Qin Mubai was both cold and angry now.