allendalepharm Chapter 792: Secret Death, House Arrest
Chapter 792: Secret Death, House Arrest
"Please look, sir. This is the most authentic account book of each shipment at the salt field. They use a yin-yang account book. The weight of each shipment is written down, and the salt warehouse also records the quantity in this way. No one knows where the extra quantity goes."
Zheng Quanhai took out the other two volumes and said, "These are the files sent back from the salt warehouses in Xiuzhou, Yuezhou, and Lin'an Prefecture. The quantities on them do not match the real account book."
Jiang Youzhen pondered, and after flipping through the documents, he saw that there was indeed a huge difference. The returned documents were actually receipts. The salt field had to weigh the documents again, and then record and stamp them. One copy was kept by the salt field, and the other was returned to the salt field.
"But how can Mr. Zheng guarantee that your account book is real?" Li Dongsheng felt that what Zheng Quanhai said might be false! Whether this man is trustworthy or not still needs to be verified.
"Humph! I have been in Xiuzhou Salt Field for three years. I have already figured out how much work is done and how much is produced every day. The amount of salt sent out is far from that. There must be more surplus in the salt field's warehouse.
In order to balance their accounts, they fiddled with the daily output, and I discovered it and punished them severely. "
Zheng Quanhai snorted coldly, "It's a pity that they are so powerful. Although I am the Imperial Inspector of Salt, I still have to be a little cautious. After that, I often kept an eye on them and kept accounts. Although they pretended to obey, they didn't dare to go too far."
"Lord Zheng is upright and honest in his service to the country and the people!"
Jiang Youzhen bowed to him. As the Imperial Censor of Salt, he actually had quite a lot of power.
Those people will definitely use threats and inducements, and those who can resist this temptation are not ordinary people, at least they have a strong will.
"I was born in a poor family. Before I entered the officialdom, my parents taught me not to be corrupt and not to exploit the people. Money is something outside of our body. We cannot bring it with us when we are born and we cannot take it with us when we die. Why should we cling to it?" Zheng Quanhai waved his hand.
He was so honest that Jiang Youzhen was embarrassed to ask the next question.
"It's not that I don't trust Mr. Zheng, but how did you get this account book? It should be confidential, right?"
"That's because I obtained it from an ambassador at the salt field after a secret investigation. This person is not a close confidant of the other side, and his power has been stripped away. He found a way to copy it from the deputy ambassador."
"Aren't the Salt Transport Commissioners responsible for transportation? Why didn't their people notice anything unusual? They should also have the quantity of each transport in their hands." Li Dongsheng wondered.
In order to prevent the salt fields and salt warehouses from colluding, the Salt Transport Commissioner was responsible for escorting the salt. The quantity had to be checked before escorting, and after escorting, the quantity had to be checked again when it was handed over to the salt warehouse.
"Before I left the capital, I sent someone to the Salt Transport Commissioner's Office to ask for the account books for the past two years. I believe they should be back soon."
If one wants to prove that the quantity in the salt warehouses does not match, the account books of the Salt Transport Commissioner's Office will be very important.
But if the Salt Transport Commissioner had found anything unusual during the transportation, they would have reported it to the court long ago. Why has there been no movement in the past two years? Needless to say, someone must have been in cahoots with them.
Suddenly Qing Lang ran in with a serious look on his face.
"Sir, Jiang Lin and Jiang Feng who went to the Capital Salt Transport Commissioner's Office have returned, but Jiang Lin was seriously injured and has fallen into a coma."
"What? Call a doctor!"
Jiang Youzhen followed Qinglang to the front yard and found Jiang Lin and the other man covered in blood. Jiang Lin had fallen to the ground and although Jiang Feng was injured, he was still conscious.
"Quick! Carry the man to the wing room and ask the doctor to come over."
Jiang Youzhen personally followed him to the side room, and while no one was paying attention, he fed Jiang Lin some spiritual spring water and also put some in Jiang Feng's tea.
Jiang Youzhen was filled with anger. These people had completely disrespected the court.
At this time, Jiang Feng's wounds had been bandaged. Fortunately, they were only superficial injuries and nothing serious.
Jiang Lin was unconscious because he had suffered serious internal injuries. Jiang Youzhen gave him some internal energy and a lot of spiritual spring water, hoping that he would recover soon.
"What happened? Didn't you two go to the Salt Transport Office to ask for the account books? Why were you seriously injured?"
"Ahem! I and Jiang Lin went to the Salt Transport Commissioner's Office and asked to see the Transport Commissioner, Lord Lu. Lord Lu said that the account books had always been looked after by Lord Liao, the co-governor, and the officials who were sent to look after the salt fields had always been appointed by Lord Liao. He knew the whole matter best.
But two days later, someone said that Lord Liao was seriously ill and gave us the account books directly. We have followed Lord Liao's instructions before. Didn't he say that the account books should be kept in the open? We have to investigate secretly, and it would be best if we could meet Lord Liao in person. "
Jiang Feng paused. For some reason, he felt much better than before.
Then he continued, "I have discussed this with Jiang Lin. Since the situation here is urgent, we can't wait any longer.
It would be better to sneak into Lord Liao's house, find Lord Liao, and explain the whole story. I believe Lord Liao will understand. Unexpectedly, when we went to Lord Liao's house, we found something unusual. "
"What's the matter?" Li Dongsheng who followed was very confused.
"We didn't know where Lord Liao's house was, so we wandered around, but the house was very strange. No master was there, only a few servants. We couldn't find anyone in the front yard, so we went to the back yard.
I wanted to find someone to ask, but I didn't want to hear the two women locked in the room say that Lord Liao had passed away and they were also under house arrest. "
"What?" Li Dongsheng and Jiang Youzhen were shocked at the same time.
"Then why didn't anyone hear any news? Why didn't the Liao family report it to the court? When did he die?" Li Dongsheng and Jiang Youzhen were full of questions, but Li Dongsheng had already started asking anxiously.
“It turned out that the two women were Lord Liao’s daughter and her eldest maid. I asked them and found out what happened.
It was said that Lord Liao had passed away after the government closed its doors before the New Year, but a group of people suddenly broke into their mansion and took control of the entire Liao mansion, keeping Lord Liao’s death a secret and concealing it until now.”
Li Dongsheng and Jiang Youzhen were shocked again. They felt that after coming to Lin'an Prefecture, all the previous cases were nothing compared to them.
"It's been so long, how did they find excuses to the outside world? The government office will be open on the eighth day of the first lunar month, are they going to keep claiming to be sick?"
Jiang Youzhen thought this was simply impossible. Even if he claimed to be sick, someone would definitely come to visit him. How could he hide it?
"They kidnapped Lord Liao's son and threatened Mrs. Liao, saying that as long as she cooperated and announced to the public that Lord Liao was seriously ill, they could delay the disease for a while."
"Have you seen Mrs. Liao?" Jiang Youzhen asked hurriedly.
"Yes! Miss Liao showed us the way, and Mrs. Liao said that we must find a concubine named Zhao in the mansion.
Her parents' home is in Lin'an Prefecture. A few years ago, she received Lord Liao's permission to visit her parents, but she has not returned yet. She said that the things should be in Zhao's hands. "