Chapter 82 A wave of unsettled waves

On March 30, the weather was fine and cloudless. www.biquge.info The warm spring sun shines in every corner of Hangzhou City, which makes several soldiers guarding the gate of the Chengdong Mansion feel lazy. They leaned against the corner of the wall with their spears slung over, yawning and whispering from time to time.

But their state changed after noon, because the ambassador of the silver treasury, Xu Xian, brought people to the silver treasury. This is a short and thin official in his forties, with a lean face, and he looks particularly fluttering on his body in a cyan official robe.

But in the face of this Ambassador Xu, those five big and three rough Qiu Ba did not dare to have half a point of contempt. They had already heard that when Ambassador Xu was the ambassador of the granary in the past, if he dared to slack off, he had to suffer dozens of canes, and even the strongest man had to lie in bed for ten days and a half months.

And now, Xu Xianxin has been transferred to the ambassador of the silver treasury, and the responsibility on his shoulders is heavier, and the requirements for the people below him will naturally be more stringent. Moreover, when the new official took office three times, no one dared to hit this muzzle.

"Open the door." Seeing the energetic appearance of the gatekeeper, Xu Xian didn't say anything, but handed over a bunch of keys on his waist to an entourage and commanded.

This silver treasury is an important place, storing the tax silver taels that Zhejiang needs to hand over to the imperial court this year and the province needs to spend. As one of the richest provinces in the Ming Dynasty, Zhejiang is responsible for half of the country's tax revenue, and there are millions of taels of silver in this treasury. Therefore, not only are dozens of soldiers with guns and crossbows guarding here day and night in front of the gate, but there are also several iron locks the size of a man's head hanging at the gate. Only Xu Xian, who is the ambassador of the silver treasury, has the key to open the door in his hands, which shows the weight of the burden on his shoulders.

As several large locks were removed, the two soldiers slowly pushed open the two heavy iron-clad doors, making only a creaking sound. As soon as the door opened, a cold air rushed out, so that these soldiers, who were accustomed to the warmth of the afternoon, could not help but shudder.

In this warehouse, which covers an area of nearly one acre, there are wooden boxes neatly stacked, and in that box there is a handful of official silver that makes people red. After letting people follow him into the warehouse with a torch, Xu Xian swept every corner of the warehouse with his bright eyes to see if there were any problems.

Whether it is the pattern or the stacking of boxes, this silver warehouse is exquisite, to achieve ventilation and drying, to ensure that each silver box has a certain independent space. Otherwise, those official silver may be damp and moldy, and there will be a qualitative change, and there will be no problem with the circulation of such silver among the people, but it will not be handed over to the state treasury.

Therefore, as a silver ambassador, in addition to always paying attention to the entry and exit of the bank, we must also have a comprehensive consideration and requirements for the environmental conditions here. And I have to come to inspect twice a month in case there is any problem. Fortunately, Xu Xian used to be an official in a granary that paid more attention to these - after all, silver can still be used when it deteriorates, and grain can only be poured out when it deteriorates - I don't think it's too cumbersome.

Today is the first time Xu Xian has come here to inspect since he became the ambassador of the silver treasury. The previous ambassador of the silver treasury lost his life because he fell into the West Lake drunkenly, and he did not have time to come to this trip until after handing over all the official documents, just in time for the inspection at the end of the month.

Because it was the first time, Xu Xian didn't dare to relax in the slightest, and almost looked at everything in the warehouse with a critical gaze. However, although the former ambassador of the treasury was a bit debauched in his life, he was quite concerned about the work of the treasury, and at least he had not found any problems so far.

It's just that when his gaze fell to the ground, a trace of doubt arose. It was a slick of bluestone slabs on the ground, which was exceptionally flat and smooth, without even a pit. After Xu Xian saw it, he asked the clerk of the silver treasury who accompanied him: "The ground here has just been renovated, right?" ”

Seeing that the newly appointed adult had been gloomy and thin-faced, and did not say a word, the scribe felt quite nervous, for fear that he would be dissatisfied. Hearing the inquiry, he hurriedly accompanied him and said with a smile: "My lord has good eyesight, the floor of this warehouse has indeed just been renovated last month." The original ground has been a pothole because of the silver and boxes that have been carried for many years, and people have stepped on the boxes, so the previous road masters specially let the above approve the strips and remediate them. ”

"Well, that's good. Lord Lu can think of these details, and his heart is indeed in the treasury, which makes the official embarrassed. It was only at this time that Xu Xian showed a hint of a smile, which made the scribe also breathe a sigh of relief.

The next inspection was much easier than just now, after all, Ambassador Lu's previous arrangements were also in accordance with the rules, and Ambassador Xu was a newcomer, so it was not easy to say that the predecessor and the deceased were not, so he didn't pick his nose and eyes, but just casually asked about some small details.

It was only when he came to the row of boxes on the right that Xu Xiancai frowned slightly: "The position of the fifth box seems to be a little inappropriate. Tell someone to move in. This is obviously a bit nitpicking, if he is born in the next life, he will inevitably be ridiculed as a Virgo obsessive-compulsive person.

But the people beside him didn't dare to laugh, and as soon as they agreed, two sergeants stepped forward and moved the silver box according to Xu Xian's wishes. These silver boxes are stacked with thousands of miles of silver ingots, each weighing hundreds of catties, unless it is a natural divine power like Cai Yingyang, it really takes two sturdy sergeants to move it.

The two sergeants lifted the box with a low sigh of relief. I don't want to, but this time it seems to be too much force, so that the two of them flashed their waists at the same time, stumbled to the side, and finally stood up. This surprised the two, why did this box become so light today?

While the others were still surprised and puzzled, Xu Xian's face had changed greatly, and he rushed over with an arrow step, pushing the two sergeants away with one hand, and then reached out and tore off the seal at the mouth of the box and opened the silver box.

Suddenly, everyone in the warehouse was stunned, and then someone let out a burst of exclamation, and they could hardly believe their eyes—they saw that in the box that had originally contained thousands of taels of silver, there were only a few broken bluestone slabs, and the silver that should have been in it had long since disappeared.

"This ...... What's going on? The scribe was so frightened that his legs went limp, and he sat down on the ground, and muttered something in his mouth. But there were so many people present, but none of them could give him an answer, and everyone was stunned by the scene in front of them.

After the initial horror, Xu Xian was the first to calm down. There was a cold glint in his eyes, and he shuddered just by sweeping it in front of the people in the field. But instead of having an immediate seizure, he ordered loudly: "Quick, call all the people outside in, and open all the boxes for me!" ”

The disappearance of the silver in a chest is a big deal, but not the most terrible and worst; Xu Xian was worried about whether the other boxes here had also been tampered with!

Dozens of people moved at the same time, ignoring the seals on them, and forcibly opened the elm boxes one by one. And when all the boxes were opened, and everything inside was exposed, everyone was completely faceless, and most of them were still trembling on their legs, and they could barely stand on their feet.

Nearly 8,000,000 taels of silver, stored in nearly 2,000 wooden boxes. At this time, it seems, only five or six hundred chests contained silver ingots, and the others contained stone slabs or even empty ones. In other words, nearly five or six million taels of silver disappeared from this treasury, nay, they were stolen.

This is really surprising, this is the most heavily guarded treasury in Zhejiang Province, this is hundreds of thousands of pounds of silver, who has such a great ability to steal it unconsciously? Who has the audacity to commit such a big case?

At this time, even Xu Xian's face was already white, covered in cold sweat, and he was almost speechless. Although he is only the new ambassador of the treasury, he also has to bear a heavy responsibility after this incident, and he is afraid that it will not only be as simple as losing his official position and resigning.

"Big ...... My lord, we should ...... How...... How is it good? Someone had the audacity to ask Xu Xiandao. After all, among all the people present, he has the highest official position, so he can make this decision.

Is it possible to conceal this situation now and not report it? Xu Xianqiang stabilized his mind, took a deep breath and said, "Everyone stays here, and no one is allowed to leave." Otherwise, they will be regarded as silver thieves. This official is going to see the prefect! He said that he did not need to be followed, and he ran out of the vault.

Everyone in the library didn't dare to leave without permission at this time, so they had to cry and wait for the next thunder and anger with anxiety.

The occurrence of such a big case is not something that a prefect like Pei Xuan can afford. When he heard Xu Xian's words, he almost fainted. Why is there so much trouble this year, the murder of the White Lotus Sect has not had much eyebrows, and there is a bigger, more serious, and worse case of theft of the silver treasury here, which makes Governor Pei almost have to look through the yellow calendar.

But at this time, he obviously didn't have time to do this kind of thing, and after calming down a little, Pei Xuan went straight to the yamen of the political envoy. Soon after, he and the political envoy Cui rushed to the governor's yamen......

Before dark, the news of the theft of nearly five or six million taels of silver from the treasury had already spread among the officialdom in Hangzhou, and everyone was in danger for a while, and everything else was covered up by this case.

This case of theft of the treasury is not something that an ambassador of the treasury can withstand, or even a prefect of Hangzhou, a political envoy, or governor can be responsible for. Once the silver two cannot be chased back, the thief will be held, and what awaits the entire Hangzhou officialdom will be an unprecedented earthquake and reshuffle, and all the officials will not be able to run away if one is counted as one.

This will even affect the imperial court thousands of miles away, after all, this is the important tax place of the Ming Dynasty......