Wuyi Hall was very efficient. Not long after Emperor Jiajing gave the order, Wuyi Hall had already formed the Jingnan Investigation Team. After the team was formed, they set off south without delay.
The Jingnan Investigation Team has a total of six members. The team leader is Xu Hai, a doctor from the Ministry of Personnel's Examination and Punishment Department. The team members are Wang Meng, the head of the Ministry of Revenue, Zhang Wenbo, the head of the Ministry of Justice, Peng Cheng, the Censor of Zhejiang Province, Zhang Guyi, the Hundred Households of the East Factory, and San Ge, the Head Household of the East Factory.
Although the Jingnan Investigation Team only had six members, its composition was complex. Team leader Xu Hai was a member of Li Mo, the Minister of Personnel. It was a recognized fact that Li Mo was not in harmony with the Yan Party. Wang Meng, the head of the Ministry of Revenue, Zhang Wenbo, the head of the Ministry of Justice, and Peng Cheng, the Supervisory Censor of Zhejiang Province, were all die-hard members of the Yan Party. Zhang Guyi and Hu Sange were from the East Factory.
Of course, the Jingnan investigation team is not just composed of the six of them. In addition to them, there are several clerks who follow them to act as clerical record keepers, as well as a team of Dongchang men who are responsible for protecting their safety.
"Xu Jie did a really good job this time. He didn't place any staff there..." Wang Meng, the head of the Ministry of Revenue, and others were very satisfied with the staffing of the investigation team.
There are six people in the Jingnan Investigation Team, and half of them are from the Yan Party. What else could they be dissatisfied with
This time, we must completely take down Zhu Ping'an, the guy who is causing trouble for Lord Yan!
Wang Meng and others were confident about this. Judging from Liu Wannian's impeachment memorial and Jingnan's official document defining grain prices, it was an ironclad fact that Zhu Ping'an had colluded with grain merchants to engage in corruption. There was no chance that they would fail this time! They went there this time to further secure the evidence and to dig deep into Zhu Ping'an's evidence of guilt. In front of the East Factory, they would make the case an ironclad case! They would put Zhu Ping'an in a place of no return! They could also show off their faces in front of Lord Yan and Master Yan and gain the qualifications for promotion.
The Jingnan investigation team has two missions. One mission is naturally to investigate Zhu Ping'an's corruption in grain prices, which is also the original intention of establishing the investigation team. The other is to investigate and investigate the flood situation in the south of the Yangtze River. The south of the Yangtze River suffered a flood that occurred once in a century. Although the court was temporarily unable to rescue, it still had to take action.
The Jingnan investigation team left the capital and headed south.
After leaving the capital, I didn’t feel anything in northern Zhili, but after entering Shandong, I started to feel something.
The price of grain in Shandong has increased a lot, from 400 coins per dan to about 500 coins per dan. In addition to grain, the price of oil, meat, eggs, vegetables, fruits and other edibles has increased, and the average price has increased by about 20% compared to before. In addition, they even found some refugees who fled from Jiangnan in Jinan Prefecture. They were pale and thin, carrying the elderly and children, and looked very miserable.
The further south they went out of Shandong, the more directly the investigation team felt the flood disaster in the south of the Yangtze River.
There were countless starving people, refugees filling the fields, cries of grief and howling, and victims dying of starvation on the roadside every day...
The once picturesque Jiangnan area is now filled with misery and sadness, like a hell on earth.
"Everyone says that Jiangnan is beautiful, and tourists should only grow old in Jiangnan. The spring water is bluer than the sky, and you can sleep in a painted boat listening to the rain... Is this still the Jiangnan that everyone says is beautiful?! Alas, I didn't expect the flood disaster in Jiangnan to be so serious. The once picturesque Jiangnan is now devastated and unbearable to look at..."
Along the way, Xu Hai sighed more than once when he saw the tragic scene of the flood in the south of the Yangtze River.
Wang Meng, Peng Cheng and others also felt deeply touched.
On the way, Xu Hai and his companions wanted to show their love and share some of their surplus food with the victims. Zhang Guyi, a captain of the East Depot, tried to object but to no avail. He was even secretly ridiculed by Xu Hai and his companions, but he insisted on distributing the food to the victims.
Unexpectedly, a single cent would trigger a disaster. The hungry victims around saw this and rushed over from all directions like hungry wolves. The looting almost turned into a civil uprising. If Zhang Guyi had not decisively commanded the East Factory guards to use thunderous means to forcibly disperse the victims with sticks, Xu Hai and his men would have been robbed of everything, not even their underwear. It was not until now that Xu Hai and his men understood Zhang Guyi's good intentions.
After this disaster, Xu Hai, Peng Cheng and others felt even more deeply the severity of the flood in the south of the Yangtze River.
"People are already so miserable from hunger and cold, and Zhu Ping'an has even raised the price of grain to 2,500 coins per stone! Alas, these places haven't raised the price of grain, but they are still so miserable. Isn't Jingnan a hell on earth?!"
After Xu Hai and his party arrived in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, they saw the people suffering from hunger and cold and the widespread misery. Xu Hai could not help but feel indignant.
"The flood disaster hasn't gone away yet, and now there's Zhu Ping'an's man-made disaster. I estimate that nine out of ten houses in Jingnan are empty, and the common people are probably about to die out..." Wang Meng took over the conversation, losing no opportunity to belittle Zhu Ping'an.
"Alas, an incompetent general can tire out the entire army, and an incompetent county magistrate can tire out the entire county's people. Especially when you encounter a corrupt and incompetent county magistrate like Zhu Ping'an, the harm is even worse. The people of Jingnan suffer the most."
Zhang Wenbo nodded, cursed Zhu Ping'an, and expressed sympathy for the people of Jingnan.
"From the perspective of a multitude of experts, that may not be the case..."
Zhang Guyi, a captain of the Eastern Depot who was riding a horse nearby, curled his lips silently after hearing their criticisms.
He was no stranger to Zhu Ping'an. When Zhu Ping'an inspected Taicang, he was ordered to bring a group of subordinates to assist him. He witnessed with his own eyes how Zhu Ping'an uncovered the Taicang silver treasury deficit case by himself. Whether it was the subtle plotting of the people in Taicang, the superb accounting and accounting, or the naked inspection of Taicang, he, Zhang Guyi, was a witness.
He was deeply impressed by Zhu Ping'an's wit, strategy and courage.
He didn't know whether Zhu Ping'an was a corrupt official.
But he knew that Zhu Ping'an was a smart man, a very smart man.
How could a smart person like Zhu Ping'an, at a sensitive time like a flood, engage in corruption by raising grain prices and bribing grain merchants, which is a crude and unskilled method? ! And posting notices all over the city? ! Are they afraid that the world will not know? !
If Zhu Ping'an was corrupt, everyone should still be praising him for being as honest as water and loving the people like his own children. This is reasonable.
Therefore, there must be something fishy about Zhang Gu's sleep. Perhaps when they arrive in Jingnan, Zhu Ping'an will surprise everyone.
Saving lives is like putting out a fire!
After the Jingnan investigation team entered Jiangsu and Zhejiang, with the mentality of saving the people of Jingnan from dire straits and rescuing the people of Jingnan from distress, they went straight to Taizhou Prefecture and went straight into the Taizhou prefectural government office. They informed the Taizhou prefect Tan Lun of their purpose and ordered Tan Lun to accompany them to Jingnan to investigate Zhu Ping'an.
After all, Jingnan is a county under the jurisdiction of Taizhou Prefecture, and Tan Lun, the prefect, has to accompany him according to both reason and rules.