Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 96: If you try to take food from a rat, kill it without mercy!

Zhejiang, Hangzhou Prefecture, Qiantang County, granary.

Qiantang is not only a county under the jurisdiction of Hangzhou Prefecture, but also a suburb of Hangzhou Prefecture.

Fukuo means that the county government office is located in the seat of government in the prefectural city.

For example, Shuntian Prefecture had Wanping and Daxing counties as its subordinate boroughs, Suzhou Prefecture had Yuanhe, Changshu and Wuxian counties as its subordinate boroughs, Chengdu Prefecture had Chengdu County and Huayang County as its subordinate boroughs, and Xi'an Prefecture had Chang'an County and Xianning County as its subordinate boroughs.

Hangzhou Prefecture has Qiantang and Renhe counties as its attached areas.

Qiantang.

Located above the counties of Hangzhou.

The reason is very simple. This is one of the largest granaries in the world and also the place where the Southeast Army stores military grain.

However, such a granary could not produce a single grain except military rations when the Xin'an River burst in nine counties and diverted floodwaters to Chun'an, forcing former Zhejiang Governor Zheng Michang and Zhejiang Censor He Maocai to borrow grain from Shen Yishi, the richest businessman in Jiangnan.

But just as Hai Rui had previously submitted a memorial to the capital, everything that Shen Yishi had should belong to the emperor's treasury.

In this way, the grain debts that Zheng Michang and He Maocai had borrowed from Shen Yishi were all returned to the imperial treasury.

The Imperial Household Department has already sent people to Zhejiang to count all of Shen Yishi's property. Although the account was sent to Zhejiang, specifically, when Chun'an owed debts, no one said much, but debts are debts. If they are not settled one day, they may become a disaster that harms the people of Chun'an in the future.

One million dan of grain is worth seven hundred thousand taels of silver. If the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau demands it back after Hai Rui leaves, and the Zhejiang and Hangzhou provincial governments force Chun'an to pay it back, I'm afraid the people of Chun'an will have to pay much more silver than the principal and interest for the grain.

Eliminate the root of evil.

This was the real reason why Hai Rui went to investigate the Qiantang River granary with the Emperor's Sword to find out that there was no grain.

but.

It has been so long since the incident that it is not easy to check. The grain that was previously there has either been consumed or reported as loss, and all the accounts that need to be settled have been settled.

In order to supply Hu Zongxian's army to fight against the Japanese pirates, new food and fodder had already been continuously transported to the Qiantang River granary through the canal.

It is difficult to find old grain.

Hai Rui looked at the mountains of new grain bags in the Qiantang River. Some were pulling them out and some were pulling them in all the time. If he were to count them bag by bag, he would never be able to figure them out in his lifetime.

Under the teasing gaze of Qiantang County Magistrate Kong Lingfa, Hai Rui took out the rope he carried with him, and under Kong's curious gaze, he threw the hemp rope up, then pulled it down, repeating this process over and over again. Hai Rui calculated the number of bags of grain based on the scale on the rope.

The sacks made by the imperial court weighed exactly one dan each, and there were more than 100,000 bags of grain in a granary in Qiantang County.

There are hundreds of such granaries in Qiantang County. Qiantang contains half of the Ming Dynasty's grain.

"County Magistrate Kong, how much grain is stored in this granary so far?" Hai Rui asked.

Kong Lingfa pretended to be serious and called the treasurer over.

Hai Rui was a murderous man. He had beheaded the governors of ten prefectures in one province and his notoriety spread throughout Jiangnan. However, his eyes did not have the expected severity at this moment. He looked at Guan Ku with a sincere look.

Guan Ku quickly replied: "If you want to tell County Magistrate Hai, it should be 100,079 dan."

"Really?"

The treasurer flipped through the book again and replied, "To reply to County Magistrate Hai, it should be 100,079 dan."

"This is strange. It is said that granaries in the south of the Yangtze River are robbed and infested by rats every year. Not only has the amount of grain stored in the warehouse not decreased, but there is an increase of seven stone of rice." Hai Rui threw the inspection results in front of Kong Lingfa and Guan Ku.

The actual number verified above is "one hundred thousand and eighty-six stones".

Hai Rui looked at them intently and asked, "There are seven more stones of grain in the warehouse and on the account. Why is that?"

Food composition.

Apart from the food itself, there is only water.

During grain storage, the moisture in the grain will decrease with the air, and the grain will become drier and drier.

Naturally, the weight of grain should be light, so storing grain will only result in loss, not weight gain.

The food in the warehouse will always be less but never more.

Now that this bizarre thing happened, Kong Lingfa and Guan Ku broke into a sweat instantly.

The magistrate, who was a successful candidate in the imperial examinations, had some quick wit, and when the treasurer was about to collapse, he gave an answer, "Major Hai, our county has always attached great importance to exterminating rats and catching thieves. These seven stone of grain must have been obtained from the mouths of rats and thieves!" Seizing grain from the mouths of rats!

The thief steals the food!

"Okay! Okay!"

Hai Rui couldn't help but laugh, and his laugh was so cold, "Catch him!"

After the truth about the breach of the Xin'an River in nine counties was revealed and Hai Rui killed the prefects of ten prefectures with his sword, the protection provided to Hai Rui by the Jinyiwei Zhejiang Thousand Households was divided into two aspects: open and covert protection.

There were always eight Jinyiwei cavalrymen following Hai Rui, and in secret, there were also two teams of Jinyiwei cavalrymen following him.

The order was given.

Eight Jinyiwei cavalrymen immediately arrested Kong Lingfa and Guan Ku.

In the Ming Dynasty, the interrogation rooms in the prisons of provincial-level yamen and above all else consisted of two rooms, a bright room and a dark room.

The prisoner is interrogated in the bright room outside, and the person recording the confession is in the dark room next door.

It is said that this kind of questioning makes it easier to extract confessions, as the prisoners, seeing that no one is recording, will often inadvertently say things they were unwilling to confess.

Qiantang County was a tributary of Hangzhou Prefecture, which was the seat of Zhejiang Province. All regulations of the government offices were based on those of the provincial government.

But Hai Rui did not like this kind of conspiracy.

After entering the interrogation room, he did not sit down directly. Instead, he looked at the closed door on the side and said loudly, "Come here and record your statement in person!"

After a moment's silence, the door opened and a clerk came out like a ghost, carrying a wooden tray with a stack of papers for recording confession, an inkstone box and a pen. He closed the side door and stood there looking at Hai Rui, not knowing where to go to record his confession.

Hai Rui pointed to the important case where his chief judge was sitting, "Just sit there and take notes."

"My Lord, this is against the rules..."

"Why are there so many rules?" Hai Rui waved his hand, "Just go and record them."

"Yes."

The clerk sat down reluctantly.

Hai Rui did not interrogate Kong Lingfa, who had a family background of Duke Yansheng, but only interrogated Guan Ku. At this moment, Guan Ku was shaking so much that he could not control himself.

"I know that whether there is more or less food has nothing to do with you, but the food is gone in your hands after all.

You know that the former Zhejiang Provincial Governor Zheng Michang and Zhejiang Provincial Surveillance Commissioner He Maocai were killed along with their entire clans because of the Xin'an River incident. You also know that the prefects of ten prefectures in Hangzhou were killed by me. The grain in the Qiantang County granary was ultimately related to the Xin'an River.

It's up to you to choose whether to say nothing and be sent to the capital to be executed by the emperor's nine clans, or to confess the truth and choose to die by the emperor's sword to save your relatives.

Now let me ask you, what is going on with the grain in the granary?" Hai Rui said with both kindness and authority.

"To answer the question, Magistrate Huihai, all the grain that entered the granary was taken away by someone as soon as it was stored, and it wasn't even possible for it to be lost. The grain in the granary now was all replaced by the newly collected grain before you came to Qiantang..." the warehouse manager said in a trembling voice.

It takes time to borrow the hat and get the bottom.

Taking this granary as an example, no matter how fast the rats eat or how fast the thieves steal, they cannot empty the entire granary in one day and one night.

In order to prevent the trick from being discovered, they had to transfer grain to temporarily fill the gap.

When Guan Ku said this, Hai Rui was shocked. No matter whether it was the grain in the previous granary or the newly collected grain, it was all royal grain, the emperor's grain.

They dare to steal grain from the granary and embezzle grain from the transport. Is there anything in the world that these bastards dare not do?
"Let me ask you, did the people who took away the food give verbal orders or written letters?"

"If Huihai County Magistrate tells you so, it's a verbal order."

"Whose order?"

"Nanzhili, Duke Wei's Mansion!"

……

There were actually two dark rooms in this cell. Someone heard this and left silently.

(End of this chapter)