There were a total of 247 granaries and 26 grain kilns in Pengzhou. Millet could be stored for nine years and rice for five years. It was a large granary in Guannei Road.
The kilns were cylinder-shaped with a large mouth and a small bottom. They were four feet in diameter and three feet deep. The granaries were cone-shaped with rammed earth as the walls. There was a ventilation tower on the roof and a herringbone roof with grey tiles on top. The interior had four beams and eight pillars and was very sturdy. There were no nails or rivets at the joints of the beams and the pillars. The wood was connected by Yin and Yang tenons.
Before the founding of the Tang dynasty, this was an important granary for the Great Sui. A major corruption case had occurred here. Emperor Yang of Sui sent people to investigate and the imperial envoy was very capable. He quickly solved the case. However, this imperial envoy was chasing thieves and arresting corrupt officials at the same time. He also embezzled a large portion of the stolen goods.
At that time, the Great Sui was already in a precarious situation. There were many internal factions fighting each other. The matter was quickly grasped by a rival faction and was reported to the emperor. Emperor Yang of Sui was furious and sent people to investigate him from among the officials of that faction.
In the end, when the next imperial envoy was chasing the previous imperial envoy's stolen money, he also embezzled a large amount of gold and silver from the previous imperial envoy. Not only that, he also took one of the previous imperial envoy's beautiful concubines as his own. Thus, there were people who were watching him and reported him again. In the end, the heads of the imperial envoy and his entourage hung on the walls of Pengzhou were no less than the number of corrupt local officials …
Corruption is your corruption, corruption is your corruption.
When a country was about to fall, there would be evildoers. Some people thought about rebelling and some people madly amassed wealth. Since then, there had not been such a major corruption case in Pengzhou's granaries. But now, Gu Zhuting and her three brothers were playing the role of anti-corruption righteous people.
The hooks were thrown to the top of the granary and hooked onto the roof. The four siblings quickly climbed up like agile apes. Grain piled together would produce heat and in serious cases, it could even spontaneously combust. Although the ancients did not know the principle, they knew this phenomenon. Thus, the ventilation tower built on top of the granary was connected to the granary below.
The four of them went up to the roof and saw that it was dark below. They did not dare to jump down rashly. Gu Zhuting used the rope to go down first. After walking for less than ten feet, her feet touched the grain pile. She felt relieved and said, "Come down, it's only ten feet high."
When the three brothers heard the sound, they judged the height and position of the tree and jumped down one by one. One of them took out a match and lit it, then from his bosom he took out a large butter candle and lit it. The other opened a folded white silk lampshade and placed the candle under it. The bright and soft light immediately shone out.
The light did not reach more than ten feet and they could not see the granary walls. It was still dark. The four people felt as if they were in the stomach of a. Gu Zhuting looked around and frowned. "The granary is full. It looks like there are no problems."
Gu of Gu of Of of of of of Of of of of her. Gu of of of Gu of of of of. of of of of Gu of of people of the granaries of of the granary of the granaries of.
The eldest brother of the Gu family muttered, "Dianshi Ke is only a lowly official. He doesn't know how these corrupt officials embezzled and misappropriated the provisions. He just followed along and opened the door for convenience, taking a small advantage. However, he insisted that the granaries here did not have enough grain, and there was evidence. He knows how much grain should be stored in each of these granaries, but the fact that less than half of the grain that should be stored in the granaries has already filled up the granaries is a strange thing in itself. "
The second son of the Gu clan said, "Perhaps this granary is fine? Should we check the other warehouses? "
Gu Zhuting thought for a moment and said, "You guys wait here, I'll go take a look." She pulled the rope and nimbly climbed up, disappearing in a flash. After the time it took for two incense sticks to burn, the rope swayed, and Gu Zhuting returned to the warehouse. The Gu brothers were sitting on a pile of grain, and as soon as they saw her, they immediately stood up.
Without waiting for her brothers to ask, Gu Zhuting shook her head and said, "All of them are the same, full of rations."
The eldest brother of the Gu Family said doubtfully, "Could it be that Dianshi Ke is lying?"
Gu Zhuting said, "He doesn't look like a loyal and righteous person to me!"
The third son of the Gu clan thought for a moment and said, "Every year, the Ministry of Revenue and the Imperial Censorate check the grain. If they could see the shortage at a glance, they wouldn't have been safe for so many years. There must be something strange about this, we should check this granary. "
Old Gu stared at him and said, "How?"
Old Gu pointed to the wooden shovels stuck in the grain pile and said, "Dig them down!"
Old Gu cried out, "There's so much grain, dig them down? You're really stupid … "
Before he could finish, Gu Zhuting's eyes suddenly lit up and she said happily, "This is a good idea! Sometimes, using smart people's methods to deal with smart people is not the right way. Stupid people's stupid methods are more effective against smart people. "
This was what Yang Fan had said. Gu Zhuting had an inexplicable faith in Yang Fan. Now that she repeated Ah Lang's words, her heart was filled with sweetness and she smiled like a blooming flower.
Old Gu San touched his nose and said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, "Youngest Sister, I don't even know if you're praising me or insulting me."
Gu Zhuting made a face at him.
Four wooden shovels flew up and down. Fortunately, the granary was spacious, otherwise, the grains would be loose and the grain piled up on the walls would collapse at any time, and they wouldn't be able to keep digging in the middle. However, the granary was very spacious, and the four of them were skilled in martial arts, so their digging speed was very fast.
The four of them dug to a depth of nearly ten feet. Old Gu San was secretly disappointed and was about to tell the siblings to stop when Gu Zhuting's shovel hit something hard.
The four of them stopped at the same time, looked at each other, and immediately sped up. After a while, as they cleaned up, the wooden floor gradually appeared under their feet. Gu Zhuting used her hand to knock on the floor, and there was a "clank" sound. Gu Zhuting said in a deep voice, "This is empty!"
Old Gu San said, "These corrupt officials really use all kinds of strange methods, even this kind of method exists."
Gu Zhuting said, "To do something like this in the granary, it means that they have been embezzling the grain for a long time, and there can't be just one or two people involved. Otherwise, how could they build such a big thing in the granary without anyone knowing? I'm afraid they did it from top to bottom, even the state officials and the granary officials are involved! "
Old Gu San thought for a moment and said, "The granary can be tampered with, the accounts can also be tampered with, but when the Ministry of Revenue and the Censorate inspected the grain, how could they be so perfunctory? Could it be that they bribed all the officials? The Ministry of Revenue inspection that Ah Lang gave us requires us to open the granary. There is no grain down there, how can they fool people? "
Gu Zhuting's eyes flashed, she suddenly picked up the wooden shovel and dug along the wooden floor. Very soon, she reached the edge, about ten feet away from the granary wall. From the edge, she could see that the wooden floor below was probably a round barrel.
Gu Zhuting was enlightened, "I understand now! This is a granary within a granary, a round granary filled with round columns, with grain around it and grain on top. The regulations that Ah Lang gave us said that when the Ministry of Revenue inspected the grain, they would insert a foot and a half wooden tube into the grain pile to check if the grain inside was damaged, moldy, or shoddy. This wooden tube is at least seven to eight feet away from the granary wall, there is no problem at all. "
The four of them looked at each other and smiled, Old Gu said, "They must have used more than one method, do we still need to inspect the other granaries?"
Gu Zhuting stood up gracefully, gently wiping the sweat from her forehead, she smiled lightly, "There's no need, it would be bad if people found out, this is enough evidence! Put the grain back, when Censor Hu arrives, we will expose their conspiracy to the world! "
…
Danzhou, Hukou Waterfall.
The deafening roar lasted for tens of thousands of years. Imperial Censor Shi looked at the softest water in the world fiercely smashing down the cliff, roaring, roaring, surging, splashing water mist that covered the sky and covered the earth. The rapids swirled rapidly, giving him the urge to dive in head first and be crushed into pieces by the torrent.
Provincial Governor Li stood at the side, stroking his beard, he leisurely said, "Such a magnificent sight, Censor Shi, do you have the mood to compose a poem?"
Imperial Censor Shi's face was ashen, he turned around without saying a word.
Provincial Governor Li smiled happily and said, "Miss Dian is proficient in zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, there is nothing she isn't proficient in. Her romance on the bed is even more memorable. If the Imperial Censor likes it, I will give her to you. What do you think? "
Shi Yu was so angry that his whole body was trembling, he suddenly turned around and glared at Li Junfeng, "Envoy Li, don't go too far!"
Provincial Governor Li also didn't want to ridicule him too much, it would be bad if he really provoked this person to the point that he didn't care about the consequences, so he only laughed.
After that scandal, Imperial Censor Shi could no longer put on the image of an upright and unyielding imperial censor in front of Provincial Governor Li, he didn't dare to ask about the suspicious point of the grain storage in Danzhou anymore. Right now, he could only wait for time, waiting to report to the imperial court that there was no evidence.
Every time he thought about how he couldn't control himself and fell into someone else's trap, Imperial Censor Shi felt like a knife was twisting in his heart, but he was afraid, afraid that if the scandal spread, his clean reputation would be destroyed, afraid that he would be removed from his post, making his sister-in-law who had always been proud of him sad and disappointed. Hearing the dragon-like roar of the waterfall, Imperial Censor Shi really wanted to shout, but the only thing he could do was to raise his head, tears falling like rain … …
It was raining heavily in Luoyang.
Since the Tang Dynasty, there were three capitals in the country. Xijing Chang 'an was often dry, Beijing Taiyuan was near the border, and Dongjing Luoyang was prone to floods.
Yi, Luo, Bi, Jian, Gu, and many other rivers all flowed through Luoyang, so when Luoyang and its surrounding areas received a lot of rain, Luoyang would have a flood. Luoyang would have a large-scale flood once every ten years, and the specific time would be during the summer and autumn when the monsoon was affected.
Ever since Yang Fan arrived at Luoyang, he hadn't encountered a continuous rainstorm, but this year, there was unusually much rain, something he had never encountered before. Most of the areas in Luoyang had already turned into a vast ocean. Although the water wasn't deep, it was extremely difficult to traverse, and it was inconvenient to enter and exit. Many shops in the market had closed, and the price of food and vegetables had started to gradually rise. The originally scheduled Autumn Examination had also been postponed indefinitely.
Yang Fan was in the palace, so all the news from all over the world was sent here, so he was the most aware of the severity of the water situation. This year, there was too much rain, so the embankments were being strengthened everywhere, and the water level had also increased. The river water surged, and day and night, it was like the roar of a bull. The power of heaven and earth couldn't help but change the expression of people.
A large boat had even been prepared by the moat to the north of the palace, in case something happened to the Emperor, the Crown Prince, and the others to avoid the flood. However, if the embankments really collapsed, the boat would be completely useless.
Yang Fan was worried about his family, so he stole some free time to come back, and told his family to prepare enough food and temporarily go to the Dragon's Gate to avoid the flood. But coincidentally, he hadn't even said a few words when Cui Lin of Qinghe braved the heavy rain to stop him.
…
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