"Is this the seventeenth local official to plead with Governor Cai in two days?" After hearing Xu Chong's report, Yuan Wang put down his pen temporarily and asked with a smile: "You said Sun Tu gave him Such a situation has arisen, what choice will our Governor Cai make? Should he continue to support the stupid young man who has made all the officials in the city panic, or should he immediately stop and continue to investigate the matter in the granary? "
Xu Chong lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then shook his head and said, "It's really hard for me to judge this, because no matter what choice you make, there will be consequences. Those local officials were all managed to win over by Grand Administrator Cai in the past year. Naturally, I don’t want anything to happen to them; but Sun Tuanlian is the key to his ability to intervene in Jiangzhou’s military affairs, so he won’t give up easily.”
"Yes, but the more he is undecided, the worse the result will be. That Sun Tu is really capable. He was asked to find out some clues from the iron-clad granary. Presumably all the officials related to him are now I'm worried that I'll be implicated." Yuan Wang said with a gloating smile: "To be honest, I appreciate him more and more. If he is willing to change his family, I can help him."
"Don't do it, my boss." Xu Chong immediately admonished: "This case is very involved, and it will definitely offend officials all over the city. Even Prefect Cai doesn't dare to bear the consequences, let alone let us fall into it. And once your boss comes out, If we use our hands, it will make Governor Cai make up his mind, and then we will be passive."
Yuan Wang nodded: "Of course I understand the seriousness of this, and it's just talk. It's a pity for such a courageous and capable official. I'm afraid it won't be long before Sun Tu is counterattacked and killed." After saying this, he turned his head proudly and glanced in the direction of the Zhizhou Official Office on his left, as if waiting for Cai Dezhang to make his final decision.
In the past two days, Cai Dezhang looked really embarrassed. Several officials under his command came to Guan like a revolving door to talk to him, and there was only one topic, which was to hope that he would quickly stop the new regiment commander Sun Tu's investigation of the military grain warehouse. In order to avoid making people uneasy and even causing the morale of the Xiang army to waver.
Because not long after he sent people to the granary to check the accounts, Sun Tu discovered many problems from the records of the scribes, such as the amount of grain entering and leaving the granary did not match the number, such as a large amount of grain that should have been cleared early in the morning. The grain was stored in the warehouse for several months, until one time when food and wages were distributed to the rural soldiers, it suddenly disappeared...
These problems were actually hidden among the dazzling layers of accounts, but it took only two days for Sun Tu to see the flaws and point them out in front of Qi Kun. This really made them panic, and they could only ask the co-conspirators behind the scenes to come forward to intercede with Cai Dezhang. Otherwise, if they dug deeper, there would be even more unlucky officials.
It was only then that the officials in Jiangzhou City truly understood the power of this young military attaché from Tokyo, and no longer dared to look down upon him as before.
Among the many officials, the one who felt most uneasy was of course Qi Kun. After all, other officials still had room for change, but as a granary management official, once he was really found guilty, he would probably be dead. . So when he received an order from Cai Dezhang to come see him, he didn't even dare to delay and hurried over.
When he came to Cai Dezhang, Qi Kun was even more rare.
He knelt down and kowtowed, and at the same time took out a scroll from his arms and raised it high above his head. He said to Cai Jiu, who was looking at him: "Prefect, this is a scroll of immortals painted by Wu Daozi of the previous dynasty that I got by chance recently. It is also I don’t know if it’s true or not. I heard that the prefect has a good family background and is very good at distinguishing the authenticity of calligraphy and painting. Please take the time to help taste it.” After saying that, he took a few steps and put the scroll on the desk.
Poor God, Qi Kun had spent a lot of effort to obtain this authentic painting of Wu Daozi, but now in order to save his official life, he could only give it to him with both hands, and he was even worried that the other party would not accept it.
However, to his expectation, after hearing this, Cai Dezhang actually opened the ancient scroll with great interest, looked at it carefully for a moment, and then nodded and said: "At first glance, this painting does have the charm of a painting saint. However, it will take some time to determine its authenticity, so let’s leave it here for now.”
This response naturally made Qi Kun overjoyed. He hurriedly claimed that it was the case, and then carefully raised his head and asked, "I wonder why the prefect summoned the officials so urgently today?"
"Why did you think I would call you here? At this time, you don't have to pretend to be dumbfounded in front of me anymore!" Cai Dezhang's face suddenly darkened, and he stared at the other person and said, "I don't think I ever had to do that. How much does the officer trust you to entrust you with such an important errand, but how do you repay me? Not only are you greedy, but you are also stupid. You only embezzled money and food from the army, but you actually left so much You also left the flaws in the ledger, are you afraid that no one will find out about these flaws?"
Although his words were not too serious, they were so frightening that Qi Kun's face turned pale and he was sweating profusely. He hesitated for a moment before he said: "I... I am guilty. But intercepting military rations has long been a common problem for state officials in the world. It’s only natural that some people were already doing it before Xiaguan, and even after Xiaguan took over, he didn’t dare not to do it... "
"Huh, even so, you should restrain yourself a little. It's good now. How can I deal with such a big trouble? Even if I want to protect you, do you think Sun Tu has the evidence in hand? Will you be spared lightly?" Cai Jiu continued to reprimand with a serious expression.
But when these words came to Qi Kun's ears, they made him feel a little calmer, because he had already heard another layer of meaning hidden in the prefect's rebuke. In fact, corruption of military pay was never a problem. The key was that there was No evidence was left behind, and someone caught him. And now, as long as he can find a way to eliminate the evidence of the crime, Cai Taishou will naturally not let Sun Tu investigate the matter in depth. After all, such frauds are extremely involved, and Cai Taishou himself is also a beneficiary.
However, Qi Kun still had doubts in his heart, so he boldly asked: "I wonder how I can make up for my mistakes..."
"It depends on what you think about it. In addition to paintings, I am also very interested in articles, especially "The Story of Yueyang Tower" written by Fan Wenzhenggong of this dynasty. If you have time, you can read it carefully. Maybe we can make some progress.”
The sudden gossip immediately made Qi Kun stunned. He was a miscellaneous official who did not rely on the imperial examination, so he was really unfamiliar with classics and meanings. However, he did know the article "Yueyang Tower", but he only knew this. But I can’t guess the deeper meaning from the article.
But Cai Dezhang had no intention of raising any further questions and had already taken the case.
He lowered his head to review an official document. It was obvious that if Qi Gong Gou could not figure out the secret, he would have to pay the price for his previous corruption. After struggling for a moment, he still didn't dare to say anything more. He could only kowtow again and then retreat angrily.
After waiting for him to retreat, Cai Jiucai frowned slightly and thought to himself: "I don't know if he will understand my reminder. But in order not to get myself involved, I can only say so much. This Sun Tu Tu is a bit anxious, and he actually came up with such a compensation strategy for me. As long as it is done, this corruption case will be put to rest."
Unlike Prefect Cai who was calm and calm, Qi Kun left the Yamen with full of anxiety and suspicion, and then walked all the way, constantly guessing the true meaning of the prefect's words, but still had no clue.
When he returned to his home, he quickly asked his servants to call the teacher he had invited for his son. This is a scholar who also failed in the imperial examination and can only rely on educating the children of officials. When he saw his boss, he was naturally extremely polite: "I wonder what my boss has ordered? The young master has been reading the Analects for the past two days. In half a month, Then you can read the book of Zhongyong.”
"Put aside these trivial matters, let me ask you, have you read Fan Wenzheng's "Yueyang Tower"?" Qi Kun asked urgently without talking nonsense to him.
The scholar was slightly startled, but he still nodded and said: "Of course I read this in my early years. This article by Fan Wenzheng is truly unparalleled in ancient times and modern times. Now that I think about it, I still praise it, especially the line about innate worries. Worry, you will be happy after the world is happy, which makes people respect you. Could it be that my boss wants me to teach the young master to read this article first?"
"Then do you know what other hidden meanings are hidden in this article?" Qi Kun ignored his question and continued to ask.
"Well... apart from the scenery of Yueyang Tower and the use of scenery to express aspirations, this article should not have any other profound meaning." As he spoke, this person recited the article quickly in his mind, but still had no clue.
"Why don't you have a clue? Obviously the prefect used this article to remind me. Tell me, what's the allusion here?"
"This... this article uses a lot of allusions, the most profound ones, so let me tell you one by one." The scholar did not dare to neglect, and immediately told all the allusions he knew in the article, but even if he could No matter how clear he is, he still can't give the answer Qi Kun wants.
"That's all? Is there anything else missing?"
Faced with constant questioning from his boss, this man also thought hard for a while, and finally could only tell the origin of Yueyang Tower: "This Yueyang Tower was built by Teng Zijing of this dynasty when he was the magistrate of Yuezhou, and asked Fan Wenzhenggong to write it. I wrote this magnificent article... and this Tengguan man was considered a popular figure in the court at that time... "
Thanks to the fact that this scholar has learned a lot in his daily life, even just one piece of "Yueyang Tower" can make him say a lot of things, and he can even cover some things in Teng Zijing's life.
After listening to him talk a lot, Qi Kun suddenly realized when he suddenly clicked on one of the anecdotes: "So this is what the prefect was talking about... These scholars just like to talk in circles!" At the same time, he was already thinking in his heart. I have an idea and know what to do to cover up the crime.