"How did the locusts come out as horse feed?" Li Tao asked.

The shopkeeper Zeng whispered: "This is the rumor let out by the big shopkeeper, he said that how can anyone in the world be willing to lose money in business?" If the business collects locusts for no reason, the common people will definitely not believe it. If you make up such a nonsense, the common people will not believe it. ”

Li Tao laughed: "You Fan Da shopkeeper is too knowledgeable!" ”

The shopkeeper Zeng also accompanied Li Taoxiao.

"What do you do with locusts?"

"They were all quietly pulled out and buried in the middle of the night!"

"Well done!" Li Tao patted the shopkeeper's shoulder with satisfaction: "Before the locust plague is over, the collection of locusts cannot be stopped for a moment, don't be afraid to spend money!" ”

"I know, the big shopkeeper specially explained it before I came!" Shopkeeper Zeng nodded.

Leaving Fan's semicolon, on the way back to the city, Yang Xuangui couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "The method of spending money on disaster relief like Lantian King is really unheard of!" How much does it cost? I'm afraid that even the imperial court can't afford it. ”

Li Tao smiled: "Compared with human life, what is money?" ”

……

Just as Li Tao was inspecting around, Ni Ruoshui suddenly sent someone to ask Li Tao to return to Bianzhou City quickly, and something big happened in Bianzhou City. Li Tao read the urgent letter sent by Ni Ruoshui, and hurried back to Bianzhou without saying a word.

As soon as Li Tao returned to Bianzhou City, he came to the Thorn History Mansion, and when he saw Ni Ruoshui, he frowned and asked, "Ni Thorn History, what's going on?" ”

Ni Ruoshui told Li Tao about what happened with a panicked face.

It turned out that the locust plague in Bianzhou was getting worse and worse. In order to provide disaster relief, Ni Ruoshui urgently reported to the imperial court and asked for the money from the state treasury for emergency purposes. Wait for the disaster relief money from the imperial court to arrive. After Yao Chong received Ni Ruoshui's recital, the special affairs office approved his request.

On the day that Yao Chong's book arrived in Bianzhou, Ni Ruoshui and the head catcher came to the Bianzhou treasury. The treasury was guarded by the treasurer Zhao Cheng, and there were twenty guards patrolling the inside and outside day and night, making it one of the safest places in the entire Changzhou Prefecture.

Zhao Cheng is old and steady, and he is a famous filial son in Bianzhou, and Ni Ruoshui has always respected him.

After Zhao Cheng saluted Ni Ruoshui. led the two to the main hall, stretched out his hand and pressed a mechanism on the wall, and saw the ground crack automatically. Reveal a deep tunnel.

Zhao Cheng lit the lantern and led the two down the steps.

The treasury is more than ten feet deep underground, and is made of huge stones, except for a few ventilation holes that are as thick as a bowl on the ground. Almost isolated from the world.

When you come to the gate made of cast iron. Ni Ruoshui and Zhao Cheng each took out a key, combined the two into one, inserted the lock cylinder, and the door opened.

Subsequently, Zhao Cheng lit the oil lamps in the silver vault, and rows of boxes containing copper coins were presented in front of the two.

Ni Ruoshui said to He Zhi: "He Zhutou, you and Zhao Treasury officials counted the official silver and recorded it." ”

"Yes."

Don't stop nodding. stepped forward to open a cash box, but suddenly let out a strange scream.

Ni Ruoshui and Zhao Cheng hurriedly stepped forward to check. He also screamed. There was not half a penny in the box, but a corpse was curled up inside. The three of them came back to their senses and opened all the other cash boxes one after another, and found that half of the money in the vault was missing, and a total of 100,000 yuan was missing.

After a while, Ni Ruoshui settled down and took the oil lamp to inspect the corpse.

The deceased was about fifty years old, with a painful expression, because a large amount of charcoal and lime were piled up in the treasury, and the body showed no signs of decomposition, but it was difficult to judge how long it had been dead, and because the body was curled up in the box and had stiffened, it was impossible to check whether there were any wounds on the body for a while.

Ni Ruoshui ordered He Zhi to go to the post-mortem for an autopsy, and then he said to Zhao Cheng: "Treasurer Zhao, I have a few words to ask you." ”

Zhao Cheng was already stunned, and when he heard Ni Ruoshui calling him, he suddenly let out a strange scream, followed by a few steps, hit his head against the wall, and fell to the ground without snorting. Ni Ruoshui and He Zhi were taken aback, and before they could react, Zhao Cheng, who was lying on the ground, suddenly staggered up again.

He didn't rush up and hold him up, shouting: "Treasurer Zhao, you ......"

Zhao Cheng looked at him stunned, and said with a smile: "Why are you holding me?" ”

As he spoke, he wanted to push it away, but where could he push it away, Zhao Cheng grinned and cried loudly.

Ni Ruoshui stepped forward to check, and saw that Zhao Cheng's eyes were dull and his pulse was chaotic, could it be that the collision just now caused him to have a problem in his brain?

Ni Ruoshui ordered him to take him up and ask Lang Zhong to treat him. Soon, the results of Lang Zhong's diagnosis and treatment came out, and Zhao Cheng was indeed mentally disturbed due to a severe cranial contribution.

Not to mention judging that the theft of the treasury money must have been stolen by Zhao Cheng's guards, and as for his desire to commit suicide by hitting the wall, of course he wanted to escape responsibility.

Ni Ruoshui felt that it was not so simple, the county government sent the official money to the state government on the fifteenth of each month, and the state government sent the official money to Chang'an every March, and the last time Bianzhou sent away the official money was in February, and the money treasury was empty that month, and the official money from all over the country was sent in March, that is to say, the theft of the treasury should have occurred in March or April. The Bianzhou treasury was heavily guarded, and the key was kept by him and Zhao Cheng separately, and it was only handed over to Zhao Cheng on the 15th, and the key would be taken back after the official money was put into the treasury. Zhao Chengyi, a scholar, how could he hide the eyes of so many people and steal an average of 50,000 yuan per month? Besides, if you want to steal, why do you want to keep half of it?

Ni Ruoshui knew that the case of the theft of official money was very important, so he quickly sent someone to ask Qin to send Li Tao back to discuss the aftermath.

After hearing this, Li Tao pondered for a moment and said: "The extermination of locusts is the most urgent matter at present, you continue to coordinate the extermination of locusts in various counties, you must not be slack in the slightest, and the case of the theft of treasury money will be handed over to me, so you don't have to worry about it." ”

With Li Tao's words, Ni Ruoshui can be regarded as a reassuring pill, if he is asked to solve the case, he really doesn't know where to start!

Li Tao first called all the twenty guards for questioning, but the result was frustrating, and no one saw anything unusual about Zhao Cheng.

According to common sense, digging tunnels is the best way to steal money from the treasury, however, Li Tao led people to search the ground of the treasury almost all over, and there was no trace of tunnels.

This bizarre case soon spread all over Bianzhou City, and rumors spread for a while.

The autopsy report was sent: the deceased was about fifty years old, seven feet tall, with strong muscles, and his hands were covered with calluses, as if he was engaged in manual labor, but his underwear was a Panjin Tuanhua Hangzhou silk fabric that only rich and noble families could afford; There were no fatal injuries, and it is inferred from the sawdust in the fingernails of the deceased and the scratches in the box that the deceased starved to death. As for the time of death, he can only make a vague inference of "months".

Li Tao immediately sent people to investigate the disappearance of the wealthy family, and sent Pei Yue and He Zhi to investigate Zhao Kuguan. (To be continued......)