Ji Qingling listened curiously and asked, "Why is there an endless stream of businessmen coming and going since the beginning of the month?" Could it be that it will not work? ”

According to what the woman said, there is no rest of the property in Yongqiu County, and it is not yet the autumn harvest at this time, so it is necessary to come to collect grain, and it will not arrive so early.

The other party replied: "It wasn't a day, but I don't know how, suddenly there were a lot of caravans, all with labor, some came from the south, some came from the Bianhe, and the time of staying in the hotel was not long, but it couldn't stand the crowd, and now the days of doing business in Yongqiu County are better." ”

The more Ji Qingling listened, the more strange she became, she knew that she couldn't ask anything, she pondered in her heart, and then asked with a smile: "So many guests?" Isn't the inn full at this time? ”

The woman smiled and said: "It's okay in our stack, there are fewer people who work hard, and more people with some identities are good to come in, so it's not crowded, if the lady is not at ease, and wants to see it with her own eyes, you might as well go to the small door shop to find it - just go to the north gate, and the crowd is full of hard work." ”

She saw that Ji Qingling was young and spoke politely, and what she asked was not important, so there was nothing to hide when she answered.

Ji Qinglingfu asked a few more questions, then thanked him, sent the people back, and sure enough, he sent three or two to the north gate to visit.

In the evening, when Gu Yanzhang came back, he had to talk to her about what he had seen and heard during the day, and praised Chen Ducai a lot in his words, and said: "Looking at the previous cases, there are very few misjudgments in the county, and several complicated cases are also cleverly judged. ”

Ji Qingling asked, "Didn't you check the treasury today?" ”

Gu Yanzhang explained the reason, and said: "It makes sense, and it is also right." ”

Ji Qingling pursed his lips, hesitated in his heart, and said: "Because when I came to talk about this place, it is most important to close the position, I thought that the fifth brother went to the county government today, and when there was no spare manager, I asked people to go out and ask once, but I didn't hear it, only a few strange things......"

It turned out that Ji Qingling arranged to go out to visit several small people in the evening came back, and they came back to tell what they had heard.

Unlike the rest of the country, although Yongqiu County is under the jurisdiction of Gyeonggi, the price of copper coins is not the same as that of the surrounding counties and towns.

At this time, the official has always been to exchange money for one or two silver, but the official is an official, private is private, and the folk one or two silver can be exchanged for eight hundred and fifty or sixty Wen, which is already good, and Gyeonggi uses Beijing to mint money, which is already very expensive, and one or two silver can almost only be exchanged for eight hundred and thirty or forty hundred Wen, but in this Yongqiu County, for some reason, the copper money of the people is even more expensive than in the capital.

Don't look at the small difference between these eight or nine texts, but if you enlarge the total, it will be an extremely terrible difference.

In fact, this truth is unjustifiable.

The price of copper coins in the capital is expensive because there are many merchants, and many times, when doing small transactions, silver is not in circulation, and copper coins need to be traded, and copper coins are in great demand.

The supply has never exceeded demand, the price will rise, the local copper money is not enough, the natural price is high, and the copper money that can be exchanged for one or two silver is less.

However, Yongqiu County is not a large county with thriving commerce, and in the past ten years, the most frequent time for merchants to come and go is to collect grain in autumn.

Ji Qingling asked people to ask about the price of copper coins in recent years, which used to be not much different from the capital, but this year, it is very strange, first not long after the Shangyuan Festival, the price of copper coins in the county fell, at that time, one or two silver in the capital could be exchanged for 842 Wen, and in this Yongqiu County, it was enough to exchange for 850 Wen.

This price lasted for more than half a month, and then gradually rose again, and the price of the capital was similar again, but it didn't take long, at the beginning of this month, the price of copper coins in Yongqiu County was inexplicably soaring, and the capital was still one or two silver to exchange for eight hundred and forty wen, but this and one place, it has already become one or two silver to exchange for eight hundred and twenty wen.

This only shows that since the beginning of the month, some people have collected a large number of copper coins on the market in a very short period of time.

Yongqiu County is not a closed, remote place, although the trade is not prosperous, but it is Gyeonggi belonging, the waterway can be the same as the south, the land route can be through the north, Mo said that there is only one or two days away from the neighboring counties and towns, that is, to go to the capital, if the horse is fast, one person and three horses along the way to change horses, set off in the morning, and can arrive at night. That being the case, it shows that it is not difficult to circulate both commercial goods and silver money here, so why does the price of copper coins change so much?

Ji Qingling said his question, and said again: "There is another incident, that is, the number of people coming and going here is really a bit strange, it is not a big solar term at the moment, nor is it a positive day, there are so many businessmen here, and there is no business to do, just stay here, and leave quietly after two days - although they only say that they are passing by here, but this behavior is not very reasonable no matter how you look at it." ”

Gu Yanzhang heard her analysis here, and suddenly asked, "But can you find out what happened in the county at the beginning of the year?" ”

Ji Qingling shook her head and replied, "The locals only say that everything is normal...... she paused, and then said, "If there is anything different from the past...... That was to say, when the Changping warehouse was built, and at that time the grain from all over the country could be transported, and there were a lot of brocade and silver. ”

Although the locals do not know the number of positions, they can be found in the Criminal Division, Gu Yanzhang came to check the various government affairs in the county and town, and if he wants to do a good job, he must first sharpen his tools, and he will take the transcripts of the various files with him, Ji Qingling has found out that the time when the position is closed is exactly the same as the time when the price of copper coins in Yongqiu County fell sharply, and it is not too many days.

Gu Yanzhang was silent for a moment, and said, "In two days, I will go to the treasury and close the position as usual." ”

No matter how clean the accounts are, as long as they are things that have been manipulated, they will definitely be able to find the problems.

It's just a matter of seeing how big the problem is.

***

It's all a habitual thing, Gu Yanzhang asked someone to send an official document early, and asked the county government to prepare, and at this time, he checked according to the list, and after three or four days, he cleaned up the spot check.

Yang Kai couldn't help but say to Gu Yanzhang: "I have been in the Criminal Division for five or six years, and it is really the first time I have seen such a capable magistrate." ”

Gu Yanzhang only smiled, noncommittal.

Because Chen Ducai gave all the files, account books, and vouchers, even if the position was often closed later, and the treasury dragged on for two days before the things were prepared, the criminal department did not urge him much, and because he came out to accompany him every day, he remembered to apologize, Yang Kai also took the initiative to appease, but said that it was okay to do nothing.

Finally, on this day, Chen Du sorted out the relevant account books, documents, and vouchers, took people to the treasury and Chang Closing Warehouse, opened the warehouse door, and asked a cadre of people to wait for them to enter and count.

Although Yongqiu County is a big county, there are not too many things in it, but the Changping position here is a few large warehouses in the vicinity gathered together, covering a huge area, so I pushed the door open, and there was an old musty smell of grain that had been piled up for a long time.

Chen Ducai led the way in front, his face did not change, he saw that many officials in the Criminal Division who followed behind couldn't help but cover his nose, and said: "Our county is different from the rest of the place, this place has been closed since the beginning of the year after the Shangyuan Festival, and it began to close the warehouse, because it has not been ordered by the DPRK, it has not been activated, but there are people guarding outside every day, regularly patrolling, stacking this half a year, it is the old grain of last year, it is inevitable that there is some taste ......"

Everyone walked all the way forward, and all the way they saw that there were high piles of grain on both sides, almost reaching into the air, and the top was covered with oiled paper, like a small mountain, looking up at it, as far as the eye could see.

——Such a large amount of grains, compared with the rest of the small permanent liquidation, is really more than ten times larger, the current time is so short, the errand is also heavy, want to quickly check clearly, how easy is it?