Outside the county seat, Yang Yuanqing and five hundred soldiers were waiting for the news of Cheng Biting Jin, several old men looked depressed, they went to see the Yicang Granary, as Xu County Order said, the Yicang Granary was empty.

In addition, they also looked at the ledger, it was indeed in January of this year, tens of thousands of Shiyi warehouses were taken away by Dou Jiande's army, with a specific date and quantity, and the handprints and signatures of the people who handled them.

Since there is no hope, they can only go back to the village in frustration, Qiao Cun is stepping forward to give Yang Yuanqing a deep salute, "Thank you Your Highness for being the master of the small people, where you neglected Your Highness last night, we can only allow us to make up for it to Your Highness next time, we will leave first." ”

Yang Yuanqing can feel the helplessness in their hearts, and he can also understand the distress in the hearts of these villagers, the grain he has worked hard to grow is stored in Yicang, but in the end it is gone, just like the money stored in the bank in the future generations is gone.

This is actually a kind of bankruptcy of national credit, the officials are still those officials, the people are still those people, if you don't recognize the accounts of the previous dynasty, who will still believe in Yicang, who will be willing to store grain in Yicang.

This is not a special case of the house county, I believe that all other places will have this problem, as the actual head of a country, he must take a stand on this matter, not just to this few old farmers.

Yang Yuanqing thought about this matter all night last night, and he already had an idea in his heart, greed is greed, but the Sui Dynasty must admit the grain of the Yicang in the previous dynasty.

"Qiao Cunzheng can rest assured! Whether it is Qingmiao Liqian or Yicang Grain, I will give you a saying, please be patient, there will be news. ”

Qiao Cun was overjoyed, and if the king of Chu was willing to say such a thing, then there would be hope for their food, so he hurriedly saluted again, "We won't make trouble." I will definitely wait for news from His Highness. ”

Several old farmers left. Yang Yuanqing said to the county order Xu Shouxin again: "The county order will go back!" In the future, you must make it clear to the villagers about everything, and you are not allowed to deal with it perfunctorily, I hope you can learn the lesson of this time. ”

The county magistrate Xu Shouxin and several county officials were nervous. Now only after the King of Chu is gone, and then find a way to deal with this matter, Xu Shouxin hurriedly bowed down and said, "I understand my humble duties." As for the green seedlings and profits, the interest is still borne by the government, and we must find a way to raise it, and we must not break the rules of the court and affect the credibility of the court. ”

Xu Shou knew in his confidence that if he didn't spit out the Lizi money, the king of Chu would not spare them, and as for the Yicang grain, they did it seamlessly. Even if the imperial history came to check, he couldn't find the problem, and there was indeed a grain adjustment at that time, but it was the official warehouse grain. Yicang, which was next to the official warehouse, did not move. The signatures and handprints were genuine, and the county government thought that the grain had been transferred. So Xu Shouxin is not worried, this matter will definitely be closed in the end.

Yang Yuanqing nodded, "There will be a saying in the Yicang Grain Court, you guys go!" ”

"Humble resignation!"

Xu Shouxin took a few officials to say goodbye and returned to the city, and after a while, a personal soldier who followed Cheng Yanjin galloped out of the city on horseback, whispering a few words in Yang Yuanqing's ear, Yang Yuanqing was stunned, and immediately ordered: "Lead the way ahead!" ”

He turned his horse's head and ran southeast with his own soldiers, and the large group of personal guards disappeared into the field like a gust of wind.

Above the city, the county commander Xu Shouxin looked at them far away, and he was extremely worried in his heart, when the king of Chu returned to Taiyuan, he should go in the northwest direction, how did he go in the opposite southeast direction, could it be that they found something? ……

Yang Yuanqing led his own soldiers to gallop all the way for more than ten miles, came to a village, and saw another personal soldier at the intersection of the village, he stepped forward to report, "Your Highness, I have found it." ”

"Take me to see it!"

The soldiers took Yang Yuanqing to a big house in the village, the door of the house had been opened, Yang Yuanqing led hundreds of soldiers into the house, only to see Cheng Yanjin and a man in his early thirties standing in the courtyard, with a frightened face, his legs trembling, and he looked extremely frightened.

Cheng Biting Jin grabbed the person's neck and pulled him in front of Yang Yuanqing, the man was so frightened that he knelt down and kowtowed, "King Chu spares his life, spare the villain's life!" ”

"Who is this?"

Cheng Yanjin hurriedly said: "This person is the Guangchu master of Fang County, surnamed Chen, who used to be Xu Gouguan's scholar, who has been with him for 20 years, and is Xu Gouguan's henchman, and he knows the old bottom of Xu Gouguan." ”

Speaking of this, Cheng Yanjin kicked Master Chen, "What I said to Lao Tzu just now, I will repeat it to His Highness." ”

"Yes! Be! I say. ”

Chen Zhubo didn't dare to hide it in front of Yang Yuanqing, "Your Highness, it is the idea of the county Cheng to collect the money from the green seedlings, and the county Cheng family has a Di shop, so he borrowed money from the Di shop, and then released it to the peasants, and finally collected a few hundred hanging profits, but the county order did not ask for this money, and it was given to the county Cheng, so that when they divided the grain in the Yi warehouse, they reached a three-seven account, the county Cheng wanted thirty percent, and the county order was seventy percent. ”

Yang Yuanqing said coldly: "So, the grain in Yicang was indeed not taken away by Dou Jiande, is that so?" ”

Master Chen timidly pointed to the room, and said in a trembling voice, "Your Highness...... Your Highness, you will find out when you enter the house. ”

Yang Yuanqing walked into the house quickly, only to see that the room was full of bags of grain, the windows were closed, and the other rooms were also full of grain, at least five or six thousand stones.

Chen Zhubo said in a low voice behind him: "These grains are Yicang grain, a total of 6,000 stones, which are hired by Xu County Commander from other places to carry it, and this house is also the property of Xu County Order, and he is going to sell the grain to Henan Province." ”

Rao is Yang Yuanqing was calm, he was still angered by the situation in front of him, a small county order dared to embezzle six thousand stone of grain, especially when the food was so tight, his heart burst out with murderous intentions, and turned back to Cheng to bite the Jin Ling and said: "Arrest the county order and the county Cheng for me, go immediately!" ”

"Obey!"

Cheng Biting Jin led a hundred personal soldiers to gallop towards the county seat, less than half an hour, the door of the mansion sounded a rush of footsteps, Cheng Biting Jin carried the county commander Xu Shouxin in like a chicken, and threw it in front of Yang Yuanqing, and the county Cheng was also escorted behind.

"Xu County Order, I didn't expect us to meet again so soon, you can explain to me, what's going on with these grains?" Yang Yuanqing said coldly.

Xu Shouxin was already paralyzed with fright, and he trembled and said a word, Yang Yuanqing whipped him in the face and scolded: "You are so daring, you dare to embezzle 6,000 stone of grain, you are not sorry to die!" ”

"Someone!" Yang Yuanqing shouted loudly, and dozens of guards stepped forward.

Yang Yuanqing pointed at the two of them with a horsewhip and said: "Behead the whole family of these two dog officials, show their heads at the gate of the city, peel off the skin of the dog officials, fill them with straw, and order Ziwei Pavilion to be sent to all counties and counties for inspection, and those who dare to embezzle the grain of Yicang will set an example!" ”

"Goo-dong!" With a bang, the county order and the county Cheng fainted to death in fright at the same time......

In the Great Sui Dynasty, officials who committed crimes needed to be impeached by the imperial history, detained and interrogated in Dali Temple, convicted by the Criminal Department, tried in the first instance of Ziwei Pavilion, and finally approved by the regent, and there was a very strict system.

If it weren't for the heinous crimes of the family, they wouldn't have been beheaded all over the house, at most, the men were exiled to the border, and their wives and daughters were put into the palace or confiscated into the church, and there was no torture such as skinning and filling the grass.

Although Yang Yuanqing did not want to violate this system that he had personally finalized, in his anger, he still failed to restrain his murderous intentions.

A small county order dares to embezzle 6,000 stone of grain, and if torture is not imposed, then more people will follow suit, which is a warning.

This big case that happened in Fang County was like a gust of wind, and it spread all over Hebei and Taiyuan within three or four days, and when Yang Yuanqing was about to arrive in Taiyuan, Ziwei Pavilion held an emergency discussion for this case.

According to the regulations of Ziwei Pavilion, the ruling pen is a round of ten days, and whoever governs the pen will become the prime minister on duty, in charge of Ziwei Pavilion, and has great power.

This system is also to prevent the emergence of a situation of deceiving superiors and subordinates and holding power alone, and if someone dares to deceive superiors and subordinates, then they will be discovered after 10 days, which can be regarded as a relatively democratic practice of checking and balancing power.

Today's on-duty prime minister happened to be Su Wei, and when he got the news from the house county, he immediately ordered someone to summon the other six ministers to come and discuss the matter urgently.

In the Ziwei Pavilion, most of the Xiangguo were extremely dissatisfied with the handling of the case by the King of Chu Yue and the unauthorized handling of the case, Yang Shidao angrily said to everyone: "The disposal of officials is not a march to fight, kill whoever you want, and you can't kill the whole family without asking, in order to express my dissatisfaction, I decided to resign from the position of Xiangguo, I would rather go home and cultivate the land, and I can't tolerate the existence of this kind of tyranny." ”

Yang Shidao's statement was supported by Lu Yu and Cui Hongyuan, Lu Yu said: "The country cannot be established, the common people have the laws of the common people, the officials have the rules of the officials, and the embezzlement of ten thousand stones of grain should indeed be killed, but without trial, without conviction, kill them casually, how can they serve the public?" Cui Xiang and I also decided to resign from the post of Xiangguo, and we can't afford to serve such a superior person. ”

Du Ruhui sneered and remained silent on the side, he knew in his heart that Yang Shidao's dissatisfaction was indeed because the King of Chu did not respect the system, and he really wanted to resign and leave.

And Lu Chu and Cui Hongyuan's dissatisfaction is just an excuse to play and want to use this matter to gain a little of their own interests, so they will not really resign.

Su Wei was the convener of this Ziwei Pavilion meeting, and his original intention was to discuss with everyone how to ensure the safety of Yicang Grain and how to learn the lessons of the house county, but unexpectedly, the topic of the discussion turned into dissatisfaction with the unauthorized murder of the King of Chu, and there were even three Xiangguo who wanted to resign.

This really made Su Wei anxious, and he hurriedly said: "Everyone, there are two things here, one is that the King of Chu disposes of the officials and the other is the problem of the Yicang Granary, we should discuss it separately, the top priority is the issue of the Yicang Granary, and then we will discuss the issue of His Royal Highness the King of Chu violating the system, everyone must not be rash." ”

At this time, Du Ruhui also said slowly: "Su Ge Lao is right, we have to understand the anger of His Royal Highness the King of Chu, a small county order dares to embezzle thousands of stone Yicang grain, especially at the moment when the food is so tight, I believe that His Royal Highness the King of Chu is also angry for a while, everyone should be able to understand, the key now is that His Royal Highness the King of Chu just passed by the house county, and found out about the embezzlement of Yicang grain, so what about other counties?" Ladies and gentlemen, this is actually our responsibility! ”