The night of pouring rain, it seems that even the water of Poyang Lake has risen a little, there is also a lot of waterlogging in Hongdu City, Qi Tai and Ru Yu, who have been busy for most of the night, do not even bother to eat breakfast and go to the treasury to check, if it is flooded when they are inspecting, it will be embarrassing, maybe they will have to re-settle the accounts.

Fortunately, the treasury was built on a high ground in the middle of the city, and the ditches in it were not flooded. Why are there ditches? The granaries of ancient times were very different from those of later generations, not that they built a large empty house and poured grain into it, but that there were small granaries in a large courtyard.

The lower part of this granary is cylindrical, usually made of masonry, earth, straw or wood, and the top is a conical shape, usually made of straw woven and covered with oilcloth.

The treasury of Hongdu is naturally made of the best bricks and stones, and the outside is plastered with cement, and only a small amount is made of mud mixed with crushed wheat straw, like a small house standing in a large courtyard, which is very magnificent at a glance.

Qi Tai climbed up the ladder to the top of the warehouse, opened a wooden cork on it, rolled up his sleeves and put his arm in, uncovered the tarpaulin, grabbed a handful of rice out, took out one and put it in his mouth to bite.

The ambassador who was in charge of managing the warehouse below said with a smile: "Don't worry, Qincha, we have built a ditch to drain the water on the high ground here, and the granary is also well repaired, so the grain will not be damaged." ”

"Well, it's clean and dry, and it's really not badly preserved. When the official returns to Yingtian to ask for merit for you, maybe you can be promoted to the next level. ”

Ambassador Cang smiled, "This is the duty of the lower officials, it is not a merit, the lower officials can barely read a few words, and they have no talents to be able to eat well, so they don't dare to be delusional." ”

Ru Yu smiled, "There are not many officials as modest and diligent as Ambassador Wang, who can be called a model for my generation!" ”

"Don't dare, don't dare, young talents like these two are the pillars of the imperial court. Xiaguan is old, and he doesn't dare to think about leaving his hometown, he just thinks about spending the rest of his life with his old wife. ”

Qi Tai personally inspected four or five granaries without any problems, "The grain here is well stored, there is no problem." It's just that the granaries of these earthen ramparts were replaced with bricks and stones as soon as possible, and the rain in the south is not durable, and you can see that there are already potholes on it. ”

Ambassador Cang smiled helplessly, "Xiaguan also thinks, but it costs a lot of money to build bricks and stones, and Xiaguan is a clever woman who can't cook without rice!" ”

"This is not difficult, when the official returns to Ying Tianyu Sheng, he will allocate some silver taels down."

"Then the next official will have to thank Qin Cha! The hour is not early, please ask the two officials to move to Fenglai Building, and let the officials talk about the scriptures. ”

Feng Lailou was not a serious place when he heard it, Qi Tai hurriedly declined: "There is no need to be so troublesome, the official has to go back to sort out the account books, and he can leave for Beijing tomorrow after finishing today." ”

"This ...... Then the subordinate will not force it. ”

Qi Tai said to Ru Yu: "Liangyu, let's go back to the official post and check the account books in our hands while the weather is cool." ”

The two had just walked not far away, when they suddenly heard a muffled bang behind them, and they couldn't help but look back, only to see a granary of an earthen ram collapsing.

Ru Yu said with a smile: "Brother Shangli is really prescient, it must have been washed away by yesterday's heavy rain." ”

Qi Tai was about to go over to check, but the ambassador of the warehouse suddenly stopped in front of Qi Tai, "It's better to go back to the official post to rest, here is at the disposal of the lower officials, and go back to check the granaries one by one to see if they have been damaged by the rain." ”

Qi Tai nodded, "Okay, the official is back." ”

Watching Qi Tai and Ru Yu walk away, Ambassador Cang let out a long breath, "Old lady, my heart is beating to my throat." ”

He walked quickly to the collapsed granary, and saw the rice mixed with the soil scattered all over the ground, but where did the pile of yellow sand come from?

That's right! It's yellow sand! The top of the dumped granary was golden rice, and the bottom was yellow sand.

Ambassador Cang whispered to those miscellaneous envoys, "What are you fools still doing in a daze, don't you clean up quickly, you can't run away from the basket." ”

Suddenly, a cold voice sounded behind him, "I'm afraid you won't be able to run away even if it's Ambassador Wang!" ”

Ambassador Cang hurriedly turned around, only to see that Qi Tai was standing behind him, and Ru Yu was directing the messengers with knives to surround them.

Ambassador Cang's face immediately turned pale, but his mouth was still arguing, "I didn't know that this sand was used to prevent moisture!" ”

"Huh...... This official is too lazy to listen to your nonsense, and arrest them all! Check the granaries one by one, and I want to see how much public money these moths have stolen! ”

Although Qi Tai was not a big officer, he was also ordered to run errands, and he had a hundred and ten errand servants under his command, so it was naturally not a problem to deal with a group of miscellaneous servants, and he soon tied them up one by one and threw them at the base of the wall to dry.

Then he inspected the granaries one by one, this inspection made Qi Tai break out in a cold sweat, more than half of the granaries were only three feet thick on the top of the granary, and all the below were yellow sand.

He only made a rough calculation in his heart, at least nearly one million stone of grain was missing, which was one hundred thousand taels of silver, and it was definitely a big case that shocked the government and the opposition.

Qi Tai was extremely happy in his heart, fortunately he found out this time, if he was fooled by these people, he would not be able to implicate himself in the case in the future.

He glared at Ambassador Cang viciously, "You are such a big dog, you are greedy for so much food, no wonder you don't want to be promoted with such a fat difference." ”

Ambassador Cang was not afraid, and replied with a smile: "Xiaguan advises you to just don't see it, and don't make a noise when you return to Beijing, although Xiaguan is humble, you can't afford to offend the people behind it." ”

"Dare to be so arrogant after committing a capital crime!" Qi Tai was furious and kicked Ambassador Cang in the stomach, and Ambassador Cang screamed in pain, curled up on the ground and moaned.

Ru Yu instructed: "Lock them up one by one, turn around and go to the hall to interrogate them one by one!" ”

As soon as he finished speaking, a group of officials rushed in and stood guard on both sides of the storehouse, and then an official entered. This person Qi Tai recognized that it was Jiang Youwen, the prefect of Hongdu, who was about forty years old, tall and tall, and had a heroic face.

Jiang Youwen looked around, and then walked up to Qi Tai, "What happened?" ”

Qi Tai said angrily: "The Jiang Governor's Mansion doesn't know, there are moths in the Hongdu treasury, and I am afraid that there will be more than one million stones for greedy grain, but fortunately it was discovered by the official, otherwise I don't know how much the court will lose in the future." ”

Jiang Youwen looked at the ambassador Cang who fell to the ground and said angrily: "It's really bold, someone came to escort them to the prefect's prison for good care, and the official will interrogate them personally!" ”

Qi Tai hurriedly stopped, "Slow! Although the Jiang Governor's Mansion and them are in Hongdu, they can be said to be all members of the household department, even if they violate the law, they should be transferred to Yingtian or interrogated by me, the Qin Mission. You, overstepped. ”

"Oh, hahaha...... Indeed, it is true that it exceeded its authority. The official was also anxious and lost his words for a while. Jiang Youwen groaned and whispered: "Actually, this official has been paying attention to the Hongdu treasury for a long time, and he knows a little bit of the inside story, so he must be interested." ”

"Oh, that's great, if you can get the help of Governor Jiang's government to handle the case, you will definitely be able to get twice the result with half the effort."

Jiang Youwen replied with a smile: "It's just that this is not the place to talk, please follow me to a quiet place, and I will take you to meet a few people." ”

Qi Tai took Ru Yu and followed Jiang Youwen out of the Hongdu Treasury, and when he got out of the car, he realized that the quiet place Jiang Youwen took them to was actually a Qinglou, but it was indeed very quiet in broad daylight.

Jiang Youwen seemed to be a frequent visitor here, and the old bustard was very courteous to lead them to the private room upstairs, and three more people came after just sitting down.

Jiang Youwen introduced to Qi Tai one by one, "This is Liang Shenzheng of the Political Envoy Division, this is Lu Yanshi who commands the Envoy Division, and this Deputy Envoy Zhang of the Envoy Division. ”

After listening to Jiang Youwen's introduction, Qi Tai felt a little comforted in his heart, and the corruption cases in the treasury could be handled much easier with the assistance of the three local divisions.

"The three of them also know about the fraud of the Hongdu treasury? Please tell me in detail, Ru Yu remember to write it down on paper. ”

The three of them laughed and said nothing, but Jiang Youwen said with a smile: "Don't worry, it's not too late to eat wine and eat first." He beckoned the wine and food to be served, and Jiang Youwen and the other three local officials complimented Qi Tai and persuaded him to drink.

Thinking that he still needed the assistance of these people to go back to handle the case, Qi Tai did not refuse to come from the shelf, and after three rounds of wine and five flavors, Qi Tai already felt a little dizzy, so he said: "Please forgive this official for not being able to drink anymore, and please tell me what you know and listen to this official." ”

Jiang Youwen clapped his hands, and someone brought up two boxes and put them directly on the dining table, the boxes did not fall on the table but could shake the table trembling, Jiang Youwen opened it casually, only to see that the golden light inside was full of gold bricks, he said a little proudly: "The emperor of the Ming and Qing dynasties has worked very hard to check the treasury of Hongdu, and I have seen it in my eyes. ”

At this time, if Qi Tai still didn't understand what was going on, he could wipe his neck, and his heart was shocked and angry. It was surprising that the local three divisions were also involved in the embezzlement of the treasury, no wonder that the small warehouse ambassador was fearless; The reason for the anger is also this, the three divisions, who were supposed to supervise and restrain each other, were able to collude, and they were also fearless, nakedly demonstrating and bribing themselves.

They looked at themselves with a smile one by one, their faces full of confidence, as if it was against heaven for them not to accept these two boxes of gold. It's no wonder that they are confident, compared to the meager money that can barely support his family, he is afraid that he will not be able to earn these two boxes of gold in his life.

But they were looking at the wrong person, and the more confident their smile became, the more disgusting Qi Tai felt in his heart, and just as he put his right hand on his lap and secretly clenched his fist to lift the table, a hand stretched out next to him and pressed his fist.