In the national dynasty, human life and robbers were serious crimes, and whenever a report was received, the county magistrate generally had to visit the inquest in person.

Now that he heard that the former magistrate committed suicide, this is more serious than an ordinary murder, how dare Li You ignore it, he must go to the scene. On the one hand, he sent people to report to the government office, and on the other hand, he immediately summoned the official sedan chair honor guard and the official servants, and hurriedly got on the sedan chair.

In the sedan chair, Lord Li suddenly thought that it was impossible to bow down to the official of the silver treasury, and it was generally directly managed by the treasurer, and he could not escape the eyes of the treasurer when he entered and exited. The predecessor Jiang Zhixian seems to have something unspeakable and unwilling to say, and the treasurer may know some clues.

So Li You came out of the sedan chair again and whispered to Zhang Sandao: "You take a few family members and the Hou Ya Soap Li, go and arrest the silver treasury officials, and seal the silver treasury for interrogation." ”

Zhang San went as ordered, and Master Li got back into the sedan chair and went to the county mansion not far from the county office.

Jiang Zhi County, as the former governor of the county, was naturally treated well when he temporarily lived in the county mansion, and he had a separate courtyard. His body was found in the right wing study.

After Li You arrived, Ma Li arranged to send troops to three routes. One way to the autopsy, all the way to investigate the scene of the death, the other to search for all kinds of people in the surrounding area, etc. He himself was disgusted with the bad luck in the house, and stood in the courtyard while waiting for the results while chatting with Master Cui.

When it was close to noon, several people came to report the inspection results. There is nothing suspicious about the corpse, nothing suspicious at the scene of death, and nothing suspicious about the idlers around. All in all, it is an authentic case of self-hanging, which can no longer be authentic.

Master Li interrogated several times, but did not find anything wrong, it seems that it was indeed a suicide, and the possibility of his killing can be ruled out.

His psychological quality is too casual, Li You sighed.

Suddenly, several figures flashed out of the moon gate, and at first it was a middle-aged female general with a disheveled head.

"This is Mrs. Jiang." A servant introduced Li Xianzun.

It turned out to be a widow, and Li You was about to speak out to appease. But I saw Mrs. Jiang rushing in front of her from a few arrows from three zhang away, scratching, kicking and beating him, and howling in her mouth: "It's all forced by you little thief!" Return my husband! ”

Although Master Li is agile, he can also dodge the general when he is caught off guard, avoiding being beaten by shrews and losing his official body. But he was also embarrassed, and felt that he couldn't stay here for a long time, so he hurriedly got into the sedan chair and left under the escort of the officials.

Back in the back hall of the county ya, Li You poured a few sips of tea to quench his thirst, and saw Zhang San hurriedly come in and said: "Wang Mou, the little official of the silver treasury, has been captured, and the account books and tickets found in the treasury have been sent to Mr. Zhou according to the master's instructions." ”

He also passed on Master Zhou, and heard the report: "After surveying again, there is still no abnormality in the account books of the silver treasury, but there is only a deficit of seven hundred taels." ”

Now that there is a human life, it is not enough to just listen to the summary... Li You asked carefully: "How did Lord Jiang lose seven hundred taels?" ”

"In the autumn of last year, Jiangzhi County paid 5,000 taels of silver from the silver treasury, but there was no explanation of its use, so it could not be written off. In fact, it is also common for the court officials to withdraw the amount, as long as they make up for it in time. However, as of the time of the handover, Jiangzhi County had either offset or repaid only 4,300 taels, so it was actually a deficit of 700 taels. ”

Sounds like a simple thing, Li You thought to himself. To restore the original situation, Jiang Zhixian embezzled 5,000 taels of public funds for some reason, and in the end, there was no money to make up for the deficit of 700 taels, and he was unwilling to bear the loss. He couldn't think about it in his heart, so he committed suicide in a hurry.

It's just that the matter is a bit big, a departing magistrate committed suicide before leaving the country, and it was also a sensational news when it came out.

At this time, the teacher Zhuang Chengxian came in and reminded: "The proprietor! This matter must not be taken lightly, and it must be dealt with carefully! As far as I know, my lord, your reputation is a bit like that, on the one hand, you are righteous and outspoken, and on the other hand, you are intolerant and aggressive. If this matter is spread like this, Yu Guan's reputation is very unbeautiful! ”

What Master Zhuang said is right, it's a bit troublesome, Li Xianzun sighed slightly.

It seems that it doesn't matter if the former Zhixian committed suicide, and from the legal point of view, Lord Li has no responsibility, and it can be said that no one has to be held responsible. However, the rules of officialdom and the principles of law are not exactly equated.

Seven hundred taels of silver is not a small amount, and it was not very legal for Lord Jiang to withdraw the silver at the beginning, so it was natural for Li You to refuse to give in when he handed it over. Most officials should be like this, and others will not have a opinion.

But Jiang Zhixian died, and Li Xianzun became unreasonable even if he was very reasonable. Outsiders will only think that Master Li is too harsh and actually forced his predecessor to death. This kind of bad reputation is still very taboo in officialdom, which is greatly detrimental to the future.

It's really unlucky, why did you encounter such a disgusting thing like a flying disaster when you took office, is it that your luck is exhausted? Master Li couldn't help but think suspiciously.

The three masters got together to discuss and put forward the idea of lavishing the widows and orphans of the Jiang family, purchasing a good coffin to place the body of the Jiang family, and paying out of their own pockets to make up for the deficit for the Jiang family.

It's a bit late to make amends, it's hard to say how useful it is, and it's not impossible to be seen as fake, but there seems to be no other good way.

Thinking about Mrs. Jiang's toughness, Li You had a headache. He was silent for a long time, and suddenly asked, "What is the reputation of Wang Xiaoguan, who is in charge of the silver treasury, in the county government?" ”

Master Zhuang replied: "I am very greedy, whether it is minting silver into the warehouse or withdrawing silver, it is very powerful to ask for bad rules, and my reputation is not very good. ”

What a bother, Master Li got up and said, "Ascension!" ”

Cui Zhenfei, the master in charge of the punishment, hurriedly asked: "I don't know what the proprietor did when he ascended to the hall?" ”

"Ask the case! In the first trial, how Wang Xiaoguan deceived his superiors and subordinates, deceived his superiors, and falsely reported his shortcomings. Li Xianzun replied.

Wang may not be clean, but there should be no fictitious deficit, what nonsense is the proprietor talking about? Master Zhou didn't understand for a while.

But Zhuang Chengxian thought about it for a while, and suddenly realized that the proprietor was going to use the magic power of transferring flowers and trees.

Rather than waiting for the rumors that Lord Li was forcing his predecessor to die, it is better to create another fact. For example, the small officials in the treasury faked the deficit, and the loyal gentleman Lord Jiang committed suicide without checking for a while, and it was difficult to defend himself in anger, and perhaps it was necessary to add that Lord Li's eyes were like lightning, and he could identify the truth and return Lord Jiang's innocent statement.

It not only conforms to everyone's impression and cognition of the character of the officials, but also extracts the proprietor from the suicide case in Jiangzhi County. Anyway, a man like Wang doesn't have a good reputation, and it's useless to have a reputation, so it's better to use it to carry this black pot that is not a black pot for Lord Li.

The proprietor is wise! The masters were completely convinced. finally understood why Li You was able to do the real job of being valued by the ministers of the imperial court, and they could only follow Lord Li as a curtain seat.

Li You instructed as he walked: "It's a bit difficult to just bend into a move, and now let's beat Wang and intimidate him first." At night, if you go and persuade him with good words, as long as he is willing to admit the crime of deceiving the magistrate and forging a deficit, the official will definitely not treat him badly! If there is a son, immediately fill all the county officials as officials! ”

"How do you tell him to confess? Please let the proprietor show me. Cui Zhenfei asked.

"It can induce Wang to confess like this: it is said that of the 5,000 taels of silver embezzled by Lord Jiang, only 4,000 taels were actually withdrawn by Lord Jiang, and the remaining 1,000 taels were taken advantage of the time when Lord Jiang used the silver, privately embezzled and forged two account books, and also falsely identified the silver in the name of Lord Jiang. And we can think that the misappropriation of public funds by Mr. Jiang without reason is itself a violation of the law, so even if he is aware of it, he is reluctant to speak out, resulting in Mr. Jiang being controlled by others to admit the deficit, and as a result, he can't afford to pay it back for some reason. ”

Zhuang Chengxian and Cui Zhenfei are okay, Zhou Jiexi was dumbfounded when he heard it, and Master Li's confession was so vivid that it could be said to be true.

And the surname is very strong... Any person in charge of the treasury who hears this sentence of Master Li can follow the same example, focusing on the seamed egg, and threatening the chief who is not careful about the treasury. Presumably, no chief will fight for the future, and die with a small official?

In Li You's confession, the only thing that is difficult to explain is why Jiang Zhixian didn't poke Wang Xiaoyan out even if he thought of committing suicide? But it's not a big problem, Jiang Zhixian is also confused.

didn't mention it, but said that Li Xianzun was promoted to the court, and issued an order to bring up Wang Mou, the treasurer of the county government and the treasury.

Bang! Li Xianzun slapped Xingmu hard before he spoke: "Wang Huan! You are guilty! ”

When Wang Xiaoyi heard this, he shouted grievances, "I don't know what mistakes the little one has made to add to the crime, please ask the master to find out!" ”

Li You reprimanded: "You faked the deficit and fraudulently received the treasury silver, and Jiang Zhixian committed suicide because of you, so dare to quibble?" Hit the official left and right! ”

He just came to kill the stick, so he was too lazy to go through the "trick or not" cutscene, and he had to do it directly. Only when he is frightened can it be easier to persuade him to confess at night.

When Wang Xiaoyan heard the county honorable list his "crimes", he froze. When the left and right officials pressed him to the ground, he suddenly shouted, "Slow down! Small tricks! ”

Li You was also stunned, "What are you recruiting?" ”

Wang Xiaoyan didn't hear the strangeness in the old man's words, knelt on the ground and said, "The little one has all the tricks!" Last year, when the small one did take advantage of Jiang Zhixian to embezzle silver, he took 1,000 taels of silver for his own use! At that time, two account books were forged, and the thousand taels were hung in the name of Jiangzhi County and concealed from Jiangzhi County. During the handover of the first two days, Lord Jiang once talked to the small one about this matter and asked the small one to make up the deficit of seven hundred taels, but the small one refused. The little one didn't expect that Master Jiang would commit suicide, this can't be blamed on the little one! The little ones are willing to make up for the shortfall in order to get away with it! ”

This... Li Xianzun and Master Cui looked at each other and were speechless for a while.

Master Li made up a story, but he didn't expect the reality to be so similar to the story. Wang Xiaoyi's true confession is almost exactly the same as the fake confession made up by Master Li... The more Li You thought about it, the more he couldn't cry or laugh, the hearts of the people in the yamen were really broken. He also planned to go through the trouble of framing others for a crime, but he didn't expect that people would have done that in the first place, and he didn't need you to frame him, and he consciously did bad things.

But that suspicion resurfaced in Li Xianzun's heart, why didn't Jiang Zhixian poke Wang Xiaoyan out even if he thought of committing suicide? What did he do with a white slip and embezzle a few thousand taels? If it's not a big problem in the story, but it's a big problem in reality.

(To be continued)