No one would be able to find anything from the few granaries that had been burned. Regardless of what mechanisms were in place or how much food was missing, all the crimes had been buried in the ashes by the fire.
However, it was also possible that the hands and feet in those granaries were the easiest to find, so they were set on fire. However, if there was a large hamster in this Feng Zhou granary, then the food that he had touched might not be limited to the few granaries that had been burned.
Although they had arrived a step late, they had played a great role in controlling the fire. Many of the granaries that should have been burned were still intact. Since this was the case, they might as well pretend that there were no problems with the four granaries that had been burned. They would investigate the other granaries one by one. If there were any gaps, they would still be able to find clues.
Although this was only one possibility, they had no other choice. Pei Jun Ma obeyed Advisor Mu's words and immediately ordered a regiment of soldiers to guard the Feng Zhou granary. They were to seal all the account books, detain all the officials in the granary, and stop all the activities of entering and leaving the granary.
In reality, this was already an act of shedding all pretense of cordiality in the officialdom. In a situation where there was no concrete evidence, this was an act of complete distrust towards the officials in Feng Zhou. If they still couldn't find anything, it would be equivalent to completely breaking off relations with the local officials. No official would make such a decision easily.
However, it just so happened that these two officials had special statuses. One of them was an imperial censor from the capital. Even if he wasn't well-liked here, he could just go back to the capital. The other was a relative of the emperor. If he didn't become an official, his family would still be a junma. If he became an official, he would still have to return to the capital to become a junma after a few years.
In addition, Pei Jun Ma came from a wealthy family and hadn't gone through any hardships since he was young. To put it nicely, he had a clear personality and was determined to forge ahead. To put it bluntly, he was a rash person who didn't care about his future. As a result, the Provincial Governor and the Imperial Censor hit it off well.
Besides, the most serious measure he had taken was to detain all the officials in Pengzhou's granary. But even if these officials were not corrupt, causing such a big fire would still be considered dereliction of duty. If they were detained, there would not be any serious consequences.
It was also Mu You's idea to use the regiments to guard the Pang Province Granary. In his view, the fact that the Pang Province Granary had been discovered so quickly meant that there were corrupt officials' spies in the Provincial Governor's Manor. Moreover, the regiments were usually useless, so these corrupt officials would most likely not try to make friends with them. Even if there were spies among them, as long as the entire battalion was not filled with corrupt officials, there would not be any major mistakes if they were to supervise each other.
Pei Junma did not have any ideas, so naturally he would do whatever he was told to do. He immediately gave the order for three groups of bailiffs to arrest the people, including the First Cang Ling, Second Cang Cheng, Fourth Cang Fu, Eighth Cang Shi, Fifth Supervisor, Fourth Dianshi, and Sixth Zhang Gu.
Actually, according to the regulations of the Pang Province Granary, there should be five Dianshi Dianshi. It was just that Dianshi Dianshi, Ke Zhao, had already 'fled to avoid debts' and escaped this calamity.
Soon after, Pei Junma exercised his authority as the Provincial Governor and ordered the regiments to be stationed at the Pang Province Granary. Everyone, including the night watchmen, night watchmen, and the minor officials in charge of daily affairs, were all expelled from the Pang Province Granary. Before the investigation of the case was completed, not a single person was allowed to enter. Only this Lord Pei Junma, who treated being an official as a holiday, could have such boldness.
Inside the inn, Li Hao could not sleep at all. All kinds of information flowed in like a stream. Hearing about the various measures taken by Pei Junma, Provincial Governor Li was secretly shocked. He did not expect that the seemingly inexperienced Pei Junma would actually have such ruthless and meticulous methods. Seeing Ah Lang's restless appearance, Steward Liu said, "Ah Lang need not worry. The granaries have already been burned. What else can they find out?"
Li Hao shook his head lightly and said, "The tricky thing is, we do not know how much of the food deficit is. In total, only four granaries were burned. If they were to become ruthless and investigate all the granaries, there would still be a large amount of food deficit that could not be matched. In the end, they would not be able to solve the problem. However, this Ceng Youtian was arrested and sent to prison … … "
Ceng Youtian was the granary commander of Pang Province, a Secondary class, Rank 7 official. An ordinary county official would only be a Rank 7 official. If it was not for the fact that he was in charge of such a large granary base, his official position would not be so high. From this, one could see the importance of Pang Province's granaries. Steward Liu thought for a moment and said, "How about this lowly one go and make some inquiries?"
Li Hao remained silent. Steward Liu said, "Ah Lang need not worry. Which part of Pang Province doesn't have our men? That Imperial Censor Hu cannot interfere in the affairs of the prefecture, and Pei Junma is a newcomer. We can only keep an eye on them. They won't be able to discover us! "
Provincial Governor Li finally nodded and said, "Be careful, don't give yourself away!"
Steward Liu said, "This lowly one understands!" After he finished speaking, he quickly retreated.
Provincial Governor Li sat down dejectedly. After feeling melancholic for a long time, he let out a long sigh.
Actually, there was no need for him to make inquiries. He also knew that the food deficit was definitely not small. Pang Province's granaries were built during the Sui Dynasty. When the Sui Dynasty was destroyed and the dynasty changed, the granaries that were full of food didn't even have time to be used. After the Tang dynasty was founded, Pang Province's granaries continued to be used as a strategic reserve for the imperial court.
However, ever since the founding of the country, this granaries had never been used, not even during the great drought in Guanzhong. That was because although the distance from here to Guanzhong was relatively short, transporting food from here to Guanzhong could only be done by land. It might not even be as efficient as transporting food from the Central Plains.
On one hand, the granaries stored here were used to guard against disasters in the local area and the surrounding areas. On the other hand, the granaries were used as rations for the border army. When the granaries reached the upper limit of their storage period, they would report it to the imperial court and sell it at a low price. Then, they would buy new grain at the market price and continue to store it. This cycle would gradually breed their greed.
If they waited until the grain reached the upper limit of their storage period before selling it, then the price wouldn't be high. But what if they sold it earlier? What if they sold it at 80% of the new grain?
In any case, the imperial court never had any use for the reserves here. They could sell the new grain in advance and wait until the storage period was up before reporting to the imperial court to ask for it to be sold. In reality, the grain would have been sold by then. They would only need to go through the accounts and they would be able to make a lot of money from the price difference. Thus, they reached out to Pang Province's granaries, conspiring from top to bottom to corrupt the entire province!
Unexpectedly, they would meet a tiger after climbing the mountain …
Li Hao suddenly thought of the Guanzhong grain merchant surnamed Shen and couldn't help but shiver inwardly. Perhaps because there were more and more people participating and more and more grain being sold, this matter gradually became less of a secret. At the end of the autumn of the year before last, the merchant surnamed Shen suddenly came to his door and threatened him with conclusive evidence to borrow grain.
If this matter was leaked, it would be a crime of beheading. Due to the laws of the imperial court, Li Hao had no choice but to comply. He could only take a hundred and fifty thousand dan from the granaries that were already in great deficit and lend it to the grain merchant surnamed Shen. The grain merchant surnamed Shen had said that he would repay the loan in full the next year, but he kept delaying it until today.
He had thought that it would be the autumn harvest soon this year and this deficit could be made up. Who knew that the imperial court would suddenly send someone to check the accounts. Looking at their posture, it was clear that they were suspicious of Pang Province's granaries. The more Li Hao thought, the more afraid he became. "Could it be … my luck has come to an end?"
…
In the Feng Prefecture's prison, the lights were as small as a bean. The dim prison cell was already packed with people.
The prison door opened with a bang. A person walked in with a large wooden bucket. He used a rice ladle to knock on the edge of the bucket and said, "Time to eat, time to eat."
The person carried the wooden bucket and scooped out rice porridge like he was pouring pig feed. He walked to the innermost cell. When the short and fat middle-aged man with a mustache walked weakly to the bars, the person giving out porridge suddenly raised his head and called out in a low voice, "Ceng Cang Ling."
This distressed middle-aged man was the Pang Province's Ceng Youtian. When he saw the face of the person giving out porridge outside, Ceng Cang Ling's body trembled. He cried out involuntarily, "Steward Liu …"
Liu Yuhuan put a finger to his lips. Ceng Youtian immediately closed his mouth in alarm. He lowered his voice and said anxiously, "We've already lit the fire according to the Prefect's orders. Now that we're all locked up in prison, what should we do?"
Steward Liu said in a low voice, "Fire due to negligence. At most, you'll be exiled for three thousand li. Don't worry, as long as our Ah Lang is here, how can we not think of a way to save you? Once the sentence is out, you'll be sent to wherever you go. With a letter from our Ah Lang, who won't give you face? You just need to grit your teeth. "
Ceng Cang Ling also knew what was more important. He could only grit his teeth and nod heavily. He asked, "Then what are you doing here?"
Steward Liu said, "Can these four warehouses cover up all the deficits? It looks like Pei Junma is going to check every warehouse. If there's still a deficit that can't be covered up, we'll have to think of another way. Otherwise, they'll have something on us. "
Ceng Cang Ling said with a bitter expression, "How can those four warehouses cover up all the deficits? We'll have to burn one warehouse and two warehouses. I was going to be ruthless and light ten warehouses at once. Who knew they'd come so quickly and cut off the source of the fire."
Steward Liu said impatiently, "You only said how much is left?"
Ceng Cang Ling rolled his eyes and estimated for a while. He said dejectedly, "My mind is in a mess right now. I can't think of anything right now." He grabbed the wooden fence and looked left and right. He lowered his voice and said to Steward Liu, "There's an account book hidden in my house. There's an exact number on it. Go to my house and tell my concubine, Dou 'er. Ask her to bring it to you."
Steward Liu nodded and filled a bowl with porridge for him. Then, he took the bucket and slowly left.
Ceng Cang Ling's house wasn't far from Peng Prefecture's granary. Although he was a Secondary seventh-rank official, his house wasn't very big, but it was very exquisite. In the spring of the year before last, Ceng Cang Ling's wife died of illness. After that, he didn't remarry. He only bought a maid from Peng Chun Brothel to serve him as a concubine.
The news that all the officials in Peng Prefecture's granary had been captured in one fell swoop naturally reached the Ceng family. Everyone in the Ceng family was alarmed when they heard it. Madam Ru cried loudly as if the sky had collapsed. The family tossed and turned until late at night. Just then, Steward Liu quietly came to visit.
Madam Ru knew everything about her Langjun. When she heard that the former Prefect Li's steward had come to visit, she quickly asked someone to invite him into the study. She wiped her tears and rushed to the study to meet him. When she saw Steward Liu in the study, Madam Ru's tears, which had just stopped, couldn't help but flow down again. She pleaded, "Steward Liu, my Langjun has always worked hard for Prefect Li and is willing to be his dog. Now that he's in trouble, please put in a good word for him in front of the prefect. You must save him!"
…
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