"Your Highness is wise. It seems that this flood disaster is not only a natural disaster, but also a man-made disaster." Qin Mubai said, "Among these layers of fog and many endings, the most puzzling ones are three points. One is It’s Zhu Chengwen’s death, the second is the food problem, and the third is where the flood went.”
"Yes." Li Ke said, "We will solve it one by one, but we can only do it secretly. Therefore, in the past few days, I will work with Cheng Songnian, Ma Kun and others to continue to fight floods and provide disaster relief to appease the victims. You can do it secretly." Investigate these things. I suspect there must be some secrets that shock us!”
"Okay, I'll check it out!"
That night, Qin Mubai secretly ordered several capable soldiers from Baiqi to find the body of County Magistrate Zhu Chengwen and examine it carefully. The theory given by Cheng Songnian and others is that Zhu Chengwen committed suicide by hanging from a beam in his home. He is from the south. He has just been the magistrate of Jishan County for less than half a year. He is working alone as an official and lives alone in the county government office. After he committed suicide by hanging from a beam, he left a suicide note in which he confessed his crime.
Qin Mubai looked at the corpse and found that there were indeed marks, bruises and fractures on the neck. On the surface, it seemed that he had committed suicide by hanging from a beam. However, the congestion on his face was not serious, and Qin Mubai discovered that there were dead blood spots between his lips and nose, and there was blood stasis in his nasal cavity.
Qin Mubai's heart brightened - apparently, Zhu Chengwen had his nose and mouth covered and suffocated to death before he could hang the beam! After his death, his body was hung on a beam to make it look like he had committed suicide by hanging from the beam.
Qin Mubai looked at the suicide note again and compared it with Zhu Chengwen's previous handwriting. It was indeed very similar. The words in the suicide note were heartbreaking, and he looked like a sinner who had committed a heinous crime and was unworthy of the emperor's kindness. However, each stroke was written extremely neatly, and it was obvious that the person who wrote it was not at all excited.
Let me ask you, a person who is about to commit suicide, knows that he can have such a stable state of mind
There is no doubt that the suicide note was forged and Zhu Chengwen was killed by him!
Who is the most suspect? Why kill Zhu Chengwen
Qin Mubai thought about this question repeatedly, and thought of what the emperor said, allocating 50 million yuan to build the Jishan dike, Ma Kun and others poured grain into the flood to build the dike, and then denied the idea of plundering the people's food - in his mind, Such an assumption and inference couldn't help but arise.
Suppose that the imperial court had previously allocated funds to build flood control levees, but part of this money was embezzled by someone who cut corners, resulting in the flood control levees not being strong enough, leading to the flood disaster in late summer and early autumn. Then, the court will definitely send someone to investigate.
The first target of this investigation is Zhu Chengwen, the magistrate of Jishan County. He must be an insider. So, he was silenced.
Then, we can only trace the whereabouts of the money. Then, everyone in Jiangzhou can use food to speak out - the food thrown into the flood is all money! From this, they can deduce that Jiangzhou is actually quite well prepared for flood prevention and fighting. The five thousand stones of food thrown into the flood were worth ten million yuan!
In addition, the lake embankment has burst, and there are no traces of previous construction. Zhu Chengwen, the magistrate of Jishan County who knew the inside story, has committed suicide in fear of crime... So, even if the court suspects someone of corruption, it can completely remove this basin of dirty water. , all poured onto the dead Zhu Chengwen!
What's more, he already had a "record" of corruption. For example, the people and the governor sued him for forcefully driving away the people, intending to take the opportunity to rob their property and food to enrich the country.
It’s so flawless that there is no proof!
Thinking of all this, Qin Mubai couldn't help but smile to himself: When people pass by, they leave their voices, and when geese pass by, they leave their traces. How could there not be any traces left behind? There is no doubt that this sudden flood frightened some corrupt officials and exposed their fox tails. So they panicked and hurriedly looked for excuses to cover up. Regardless of whether Zhu Chengwen was an honest official or a corrupt official, there was no doubt that he was murdered and silenced. Then, there must be something more to this "disappearing" flood. It must have washed away some other place, and then built a dam and poured in food. The rations lost by the army were looted from the people who were forced to migrate to fill the gap.
As time goes by, this small peak rushes to a place, the smaller the gap left by the corruption of corrupt officials and groups becomes smaller. The dams were being built over and over again, which was a waste of money and food from the people anyway, and those who endured hardships and lost their lives were just ordinary soldiers. Then, they can also report the disaster losses to the court and request funds for disaster relief to help the people rebuild their homes and so on. Again and again, those greedy people are just like loan sharks, hiding in the dark and taking advantage of compound interest to make a huge amount of inhumane national wealth. In the end, they may even be rewarded by the court for their effective disaster relief efforts!
If there really is such a person in the world... then he really deserves death!
"It seems that no matter what era it is, there are always some bureaucrats with ignorant consciences who are like beasts, drinking human blood and eating human flesh, enriching their own pockets and enriching their own money without having any descendants!" Qin Mubai became angrier as he thought about it. The group was on fire.
If my inference is correct, then this case is really a rare official scandal and shocking case in the Zhenguan Dynasty!
During the Zhenguan Dynasty, Emperor Li Shimin paid the most attention to frugality and integrity, and took the responsibility to practice thrift. The overall atmosphere in the officialdom is also very good. Although things like "the world is free of corruption" are a bit idealistic, the official atmosphere of the Zhenguan Dynasty and the officials' sense of mission and responsibility are both commendable. From the prime minister down to the ninth-rank petty official, it is very common for people like Wei Zheng, who is a highly respected minister but whose family is completely penniless, to appear everywhere. Moreover, this is by no means a simple show. Frugality and honesty have almost become the prevailing customs in the officialdom of the Zhenguan Dynasty. Just like in many other eras, the thought of someone being an official will make people think that this person is a conditioned reflex. There must be money in the family.
The current situation is that when you see an official, especially a high-ranking official, most of his family are extremely poor. It would be quite embarrassing if a certain family of officials and officials had a lot of money. Therefore, the officials of the Tang Dynasty generally looked down on businessmen, thinking that they only pursued profits and did not pay attention to honor and integrity.
But things in this world are never absolute. Although the overall atmosphere is so good, there are always some bad apples. The more Qin Mubai thought about it, the clearer it became that the floods this time had not only destroyed the dams, but also washed some giants out of the water.
It is very simple to confirm your guess. However, Qin Mubai temporarily suppressed it and did not rush to explode, because the top priority was still to fight the disaster and provide for the people, so he did not rush to tell Li Ke these inferences, because there was still no evidence at the moment, so it was best not to mislead him.
In the next few days, Qin Mubai assisted Li Ke and led Cheng Songnian, Ma Kun and others to strengthen the dam and resettle the victims. Countless money, grain, tents, cattle, sheep, livestock, seeds, mulberry and weaving materials were continuously transported from all directions under the direction of the imperial court. A group of victims who fled Jishan County have also returned, and they have settled down for the time being. Then Li Ke and others will start to help them rebuild their homes and restore farming.
At this time, Qin Mubai made a secret investigation and found another clue. After the last flood washed away the county seat of Jishan County, the peak of the flood was blocked, and a large amount of floodwater rushed into the mountains, rivers and swamps. The neighboring Jiang County immediately issued a flood warning. In an instant, the river embankment over there collapsed. Another five or six thousand stones of grain were thrown into the flood. If it is concocted, more than ten thousand stones of military rations will be gone!
At the same time, Qin Mubai went to the dike to check the grain bags used to throw floods, and found that most of them were old rice and some were even moldy. It was cheaper than the fine white rice used by the Tang army. Several times more! Just the price difference of more than 10,000 kilograms of rice is enough for many officials to make a lot of money.
Indeed it is.
Corrupt officials first embezzled funds allocated by the court for flood control, and after the incident, they used many methods to make up for the shortfall. In addition, Zhu Chengwen is dead, the embankment has been broken, and there is no evidence of his death. Even if the court wants to investigate corrupt officials, all kinds of dirty water can be poured on Zhu Chengwen, making him a scapegoat for the dead man.
How poisonous!
In the next few days, Qin Mubai dressed up and walked among the victims, secretly listening to them talk about Zhu Chengwen, an official. Disaster victims generally reported that although Zhu Chengwen took office less than a year ago and had nothing outstanding in his political achievements, he had never done any major misdeeds. He is not a very good official, but at least he is not a corrupt official. Because he came to Jishan County for half a year, he didn't even take over his wife and children, because he was afraid that his salary would not be able to support him, so he asked them to farm at home and be filial to their parents. He is usually very frugal, and when he has spare money, he only uses it to buy books, and never spends time out making friends.
Moreover, Qin Mubai also heard something mentioned by a former county government official. Just last year, Zhu Chengwen repeatedly petitioned the state government to allocate funds to build flood control embankments. The state government has been unresponsive. One day Zhu Chengwen became anxious and went to the government office in person. When he came back, he was so angry that he got drunk for the first time and locked himself in his room and cursed. Later, there were rumors that Zhu Chengwen openly contradicted Shangguan, and this official might not last long.
Zhu Chengwen was somewhat interested in book business, so he decided to resign as a scholar. The Qipin County Magistrate and the state government yamen have the power to appoint and remove personnel, and they can only be approved by the Ministry of Personnel afterwards. However, the governor's office later refused his resignation, and even sent officials to persuade him face to face, telling him to serve as an official properly and not to act out of loyalty. Regarding the construction of flood control dams, due to the huge amount of money, the governor's office was unable to allocate it, so it had already been reported to the court and was waiting for good news.
Soon afterwards, the imperial court indeed allocated funds, and the flood control dams were indeed started. But within three months, floods broke out. As soon as the flood broke out, Zhu Chengwen showed the county magistrate's list, claiming that a bigger flood peak was coming, and ordered the people in the city to flee immediately. Then he committed suicide himself.
After putting together all the things he heard and saw, Qin Mubai secretly concluded that Zhu Chengwen must have a close connection with the corrupt official group. Either he is an insider of the powerful struggle, or he is one of the participants. The people in the city were ordered to migrate just so that the army could take advantage of the chaos and seize their food and property to fill the huge vacancy left by corruption. As for whether this order was really given by him, it is still doubtful. If we can forge his suicide note, can we not forge a county magistrate's announcement
At the same time, Zhu Chengwen, a dead man, is also the best scapegoat. If the corrupt officials are really found out and have nothing to deny, they will definitely say that it was Zhu Chengwen who stole the money.
"How could this man be more ferocious and vicious than a ferocious beast?" Qin Mubai was now feeling both chilled and angry.