Sure enough, as soon as he reported this number, Li Chenggang didn't react yet, and Li Chengjin couldn't help but complain: "What? Five hundred stones? Do you think that all the food falls from the sky? Where are we going to find you 500 stone of grain to fill this hole? ”

"Third child, don't be impatient. Pen ~ Fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info" Li Chenggang glanced at his brother and stopped his complaints. In fact, he also understood that what Jiang Chong said was true, and he knew better than Jiang Chong what the situation was in Chang Ping. But when he was asked to take out this lot of food, he also felt a little embarrassed: "Five hundred stone is not a small number. Although our Li family has a lot of land in various townships in Zhuji, after all, the output is limited, and some of it has to be handed over to the county government ......"

"Xia Guan naturally understands that it is not easy to gather five hundred stone of grain, but there is really no other way."

"I could have paid a sum of money to buy food, but in this way, it will inevitably attract attention, but it will not be beautiful." After thinking about it carefully, Li Chenggang proposed a compromise solution: "In this way, our Li family will prepare 300 stone of grain for you, and you will find a way to do the rest." ”

"This ......" Jiang Chong could see that this was the limit of what the other party could do, and if he wanted to ask for more, he was afraid that he might not even be able to get the three hundred stone grain, so he had to nod his head a little uneasily: "Then the lower official will thank you for the foreign help." ”

"Go back first, and in these two days, I will have the food brought there."

After Jiang Chong left, Li Chengjin looked at his brother disapprehantly: "Big brother, is it a bit worth the loss to do this?" Is it necessary for us to give this much food for the sake of such a master's book? Are you afraid that he will be convicted by the government for this matter and implicate us? ”

Li Chenggang looked at his brother with some hatred and said, "Third child, when can you learn to take a long-term view?" Now in the entire Zhuji County, who doesn't know that he Jiang Chong is our person? Even if we are not implicated, if Jiang Chong falls, the status and momentum of our Li family in the county will inevitably plummet. You have also seen the situation of the Xuan family these days, on the surface, it doesn't seem to have much impact, but in fact, their business has deteriorated a lot. This is the consequence of Xuanchuang being taken down by the Nayang County Order. Haven't you learned anything from this? ”

"This ......" Li Chengjin stammered for a while, speechless.

"And you don't have to rush to make money, the way to make money is to make money. It's nothing to put some food on now, and we will have a way to get it back in the future. ”

Although he didn't understand Li Chenggang's words, Li Chengjin still nodded yes, and didn't dare to say anything against it.

Just as Jiang Chong was worried before, a few days later, after checking the account books of the county government and understanding it, Yang Chen put forward a request to take a look at the usual liquidation.

In fact, as a county magistrate, he has the power to control a county's money and grain, prison, education, and so on, and it is natural for him to go to the warehouse to have a look, and he doesn't even need to ask his subordinates for advice. Some officials will do it when they are newly appointed and use it to burn the three fires, but Yang Chen, the Zhuji County Order, obviously cannot act as usual, and he did not make this request until half a year after he became an official.

In this regard, Jiang Chong, who was weak in his heart and had already prepared, naturally did not dare to object. So on the morning of mid-October, the county magistrate Yang Chen, accompanied by Jiang Chong and others, went to Chang Ping, which was located in the southeast corner of the county. As his most trusted brother, Yang Zhen is naturally among them.

When Yang Chen walked out of the sedan chair and looked at this warehouse, which looked really old and looked very dilapidated, his two eyebrows couldn't help but twist together: "Master Jiang, this warehouse should not have been repaired for decades, right?" ”

"Uh...... Indeed, as the adults say. However, the county's finances are tight, and there is no way to do it. ”

Yang Chen sighed: "And the geographical location here is not suitable, it is adjacent to the Puyang River, not only do you have to worry that flooding into the city will affect this Changping position, but the grain here is also susceptible to moisture." ”

Unexpectedly, Yang Chen saw these many problems after only one stop in front of the warehouse, and Jiang Chong's heart was even more nervous. only nodded with a smile and said, "My lord is really like a torch and has far-reaching vision." But ......"

Yang Chen waved his hand and interrupted him: "This official knows, it's no wonder that Master Jiang is in charge of you, after all, this warehouse has been built here for many years, and you are just Xiao Gui Cao's follow." ”

Jiang Chong breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly stretched out his hand: "My lord, please go into the warehouse to check." ”

Yang Chen glanced at Jiang Chong thoughtfully, and then raised his feet and walked forward. At this moment, the three officials and five guards in the warehouse also greeted them under the leadership of Tian Zhong, the ambassador of the grain depot.

When the two sides met, it was another set of etiquette, and Yang Chen was able to walk into the big warehouse that seemed a little deep.

This often closed position occupies five or six acres of land, of course, not only for storing grain, but also for storing so much grain in the county. Except for half of the warehouses where there are mountains of grain, there are a lot of wood, stones and other materials in the other warehouses. Once the county wants to do any project, such as building water conservancy, or building bridges and paving roads, the county will also spend some materials from the regular liquidation.

Since Yang Chen had entered the warehouse, of course, it was impossible to just look at the grain and not look at anything else, so he checked the materials first under the guidance of Ambassador Natian. These materials have obviously been stacked in the warehouse for some years, but they look like they are well kept, at least there will be no problems when they are used, so Yang Chen happily praised Tian Zhong a few words.

Tian Zhong looked flattered and happy on the surface, but he couldn't hide the nervousness in his eyes. Yang Chen may not have noticed this, but Yang Zhen, who was following behind, saw his expression in his eyes.

After wandering around those warehouses, Yang Chen and the others finally came to the grain storage warehouse surrounded by a wooden fence and covered with a roof. His gaze only swept over the mountains of rice for a few moments, and he couldn't help but frown.

Seeing him like this, Jiang Chong, who had been carefully observing his expression, couldn't help but tighten his heart for a while, and asked, "My lord, but do you see something wrong?" ”

"Ambassador Tian, how much grain is in this warehouse? Could you possibly give me an exact number? Yang Chen ignored Jiang Chong and turned his gaze to Tian Zhong.

Although Tian Zhong had been prepared, he was inevitably nervous at the moment, and after hesitating for a while, he replied: "Xia Guan has just counted the grain in the warehouse in the past two days, and it should be about four hundred and twenty stones." ”

"Oh?" Yang Chen's brows furrowed even tighter, and he looked at Jiang Chong and said, "If this official is not mistaken, the account books in the county government are clearly remembered, and to this day, there should be more than 600 stones of grain in the Changping warehouse." How can it be that it is close to two hundred stones out of thin air? As he spoke, he stared at Tian Zhong again: "Ambassador Tian, can you explain this?" ”

"This ......" Tian Zhong's expression was even tighter, and he felt that his mouth was dry for a while, and he couldn't speak for a while. He is just a warehouse ambassador, both courage and ability are limited, in front of the county magistrate, being asked by him like this, even if he is prepared, it is difficult to defend at this moment.

Jiang Chong knew that Tian Zhong was panicked at a glance, and hurriedly explained: "Your Excellency, there is a reason for the shortage of food in the warehouse. ”

"Oh? But what is the reason? Was it borrowed? Yang Chen looked at Jiang Chong with a smile: "But why doesn't this official know anything?" Also, only when the green and yellow crops are not harvested, will anyone borrow grain from the government, but now is the autumn harvest. ”

Jiang Chong naturally heard the sarcasm and distrust in Yang Chen's words, but he still stubbornly said, "Of course it's not what adults think. In fact, this is also the disadvantage caused by the local climate in Zhuji. As Lord Shicai said, there are many disadvantages to setting up a granary here, and this dampness is one of them.

"Your lord also knows that the grain in this regular closing warehouse is a three-year reserve. Three-year-old grain stored in such a humid environment is naturally prone to mildew, which in turn affects the storage of other grains. Therefore, there has always been a rule in the warehouse, every half a month, the grain will be checked. Once moldy grain is found, it is cleaned out.

Therefore, although the county government account book records more than 600 stone of grain, the actual figure is far less than that. In fact, the three-year reserve should only be two years. ”

"Is there such a thing as that?" Yang Chen glanced at Tian Zhong: "Is this true?" ”

"Yes...... Yes. It's just that the lower officials are afraid that the adults will blame them, so they didn't report it truthfully, and I hope that the county lord will forgive them! Tian Zhong knelt down as he spoke.

Although Yang Chen felt that things were not so simple, after the other party gave such a seemingly reasonable reason, he couldn't find fault with it, so he had to say, "You can get up." In the future, such mistakes must not be made again, and no matter what, they must be reported to me in detail. ”

"Yes, the lower official wrote it down." Tian Zhong hurriedly agreed, only to feel that his whole body had no strength. If it weren't for someone around to help me, I'm afraid it would be difficult to even get up.

After figuring this out, Yang Chen came to the rice piles and looked at them carefully. Yang Zhen, who understood his thoughts, stepped forward and inserted a hollow tube into the pile of rice, stirred it vigorously and pulled it out, and then brought out a tube of white rice for him to inspect.

Yang Chen looked at the texture of the white rice, and then showed a satisfied smile: "This rice is not bad." Ambassador Tian seems to be quite concerned. ”

"Your Excellency praised it. This is what the lower officials should do. Tian Zhong hurriedly said humbly.

Seeing this, Jiang Chong finally breathed a sigh of relief, and it seemed that this hurdle had been successfully passed. But he didn't notice that Yang Zhen was carefully looking at the white rice at the moment, with two sword eyebrows slightly, as if he had found something wrong.