Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 842 Feudalists Suffer from Insufficient Income

On April 12th, in Haizhou City, Shi Ju left and then returned.

This caused the Haizhou officials, who had just calmed down, to have their hearts leap into their throats again.

Many people became quite angry.

Is this never going to end?

Must we only stop when we've ravaged Haizhou to the point of scattering merchants and leaving the people destitute?

However, Shi Ju did not make a show of being an inspector like last time, nor did he have anyone greet him. Instead, he went directly to the Haizhou Guard Commandery to find Zheng Yun, the Haizhou Military Governor and Commander of the Haizhou Guard.

No one stopped Shi Ju. Whether it was the deputy commander, assistant commander, captain, or colonel of Haizhou Guard, or the local county magistrate, or even ordinary soldiers and armored men, it seemed that they had all received some kind of notification and allowed Shi Ju to enter the inner hall of the Commandery.

In this bright hall, Shi Ju unsurprisingly encountered Shen Longzi, who was on par with Zheng Yun.

The two sat facing each other, drinking tea without exchanging words, while the head seat was empty, seemingly reserved specifically for Shi Ju.

Shi Ju, however, did not adopt his previous arrogant attitude. Instead of taking the seat of honor, he went to the seat below Shen Longzi, looked at Zheng Yun with a complicated expression, and sighed, "Commander Zheng, why is this?"

After drinking a cup of tea, Zheng Yun smiled and said, "When did Imperial Censor Shi begin to suspect me?"

Shi Ju shook his head and said, "I never had any doubts from beginning to end, because the eldest son did not allow me to interfere in the affairs of the garrison, so my investigation of the garrison was always superficial."

"If I pose no threat to you, then Commander Zheng would surely not interfere with my plans."

Zheng Yun still smiled warmly: "When we attacked Sun Huaidu's wife and children that time, the soldier who was captured accidentally identified me in front of Imperial Censor Shi. Didn't Imperial Censor Shi have any doubts?"

After hesitating for a moment, Shi Ju nodded slightly: "Indeed, because those two people behaved too strangely."

Throughout history, no one has been able to withstand torture, but no matter how they were forced, the two men could only come up with one explanation: that Zheng, the military commander, was the culprit.

At this point, Shi Ju sighed: "I should have thought back then that it was possible that it really was Zheng Qianxia who did it?"
But then Zhang Bo, the deputy salt transport commissioner, diverted my attention.

Later, I went astray, thinking that if someone or some force could really make the salt transport commissioner and deputy commissioner die and confess their crimes, it would be normal to keep a few assassins who would never speak up even in the face of death.

Zheng Yun drank another cup of tea before saying, "Imperial Censor Shi truly deserves the talent of a prime minister; I admire him greatly."

Shi Ju waved his hand irritably: "The talent of a prime minister my ass. I've been wondering what kind of power or figure could have forced Sun Huaidu to his death on the spot."

Actually, He Zizhen already provided the answer when he turned himself in, but I turned a blind eye. I'm truly old and incompetent.

Zheng Yun's smile deepened as he looked into Shi Ju's eyes and said, "Oh? Imperial Censor Shi, why don't you tell me what the answer is?"

Shi Ju remained silent for a long time before solemnly saying, "The answer is that sentence: 'If I examine myself and find myself weak, I will go even if there are thousands of people against me.'"

When a person firmly believes in their own principles, no matter what dire consequences may lie ahead, no matter how many people try to obstruct them, they will forge ahead without ever retreating.

Shi Ju looked into Zheng Yun's eyes and said, word by word, "The reason why Sun Huaidu committed suicide, Zhang Bo confessed, and He Zizhen turned himself in was because they all believed that they were doing the right thing."

“Sun Huaidu’s statement that his loyalty to the King of Han was as clear as day and that he would lay his heart out to show the King of Han was definitely not an empty boast.”

Hearing this, Zheng Yun finally burst into laughter, pointed at Shi Ju and said, "Imperial Censor Shi, if you weren't a Jin defector, an enemy of our Kaishan Zhao Righteous Army, and not too old, I would have to be your sworn brother just for these few words!"

Shi Ju simply shook his head and sighed, then looked at the expressionless Shen Longzi: "Commander Shen, when did you finally find out about this?"

Shen Longzi said coldly, "A little earlier, but not that early. It's just a step ahead of Master Shi."

Shi Ju said solemnly, "It was a dereliction of duty of Commander Shen not to discover it two years ago and to suppress it when the situation was at its smallest."

Shen Longzi's cheeks twitched a few times, and he said in a muffled voice, "I will apologize to Prince Han himself."

Zheng Yun interjected with a smile, "Don't blame Commander Shen. People's hearts are like this. He doesn't have a thousand hands and a thousand eyes. What can he do?"

"Imperial Censor Shi, now that you've uncovered the truth, why not go all the way and tell me everything? If there's anything I've overlooked, I can add to it."

Shi Ju, with his hands clasped, said, "These are all things that can be easily exposed, so what's there to say? After I discovered that Zhang Guang, the Commandant of Haizhou Guard, had unusually large wealth, I went directly to question him. When Zhang Guang saw the appointment document from the Jiedushi Prefecture that I presented, he didn't dare to be negligent and immediately explained the source of his wealth: part of it came from his salary and rewards, and the majority came from the regular allowances issued by Haizhou Guard."

I did a rough calculation, and if the officials of Haizhou Guard had distributed the money according to Zhang Guang's standard rate, they would have received about 300,000 strings of cash over the past few years.

If we include all the garrisons in Shandong and Hebei, the total would be over nine million strings of cash, only a little over one million strings short of the amount supplied by the Haizhou saltworks.

Zheng Yun shook his head: "It's not that much. In fact, over the years, Old Sun has allocated a total of more than 12 million strings of cash. Of these, 8 million strings went to the local garrisons, while more than 4 million strings were used to clean up He Zizhen's mess."

"Ha, the issues Old He confessed to are indeed real. Otherwise, why would a shipping admiral like He Zizhen confess so readily?"

After a long silence, Shi Ju finally asked, "Did the money you embezzled reach the soldiers in the garrison? Or was it only the garrison officials who embezzled it?"

Zheng Yun laughed and said, "Isn't Imperial Censor Shi supposed to be wise and knowledgeable about the world? Why do you still need to ask me?"

Shi Ju replied seriously, "I really want to hear what you're thinking. Is it really because the salary and rewards are too meager?"

Zheng Yun shook his head, a hint of dejection finally appearing on his face: "It's not that we asked for too little, but that we wanted more."

"Imperial Censor Shi, you came here from the Jin Kingdom, do you know what the Jin Kingdom's foundation was?"

Shi Ju nodded in agreement: "Naturally, it is Meng Anmoukezhi."

“This name is too difficult to pronounce. It’s actually the system of a thousand households and a hundred households.” Zheng Yun sipped his tea and sighed repeatedly. “Below the thousand households are the hundred households, below the hundred households are the fifty household leaders, and below that are the ten household leaders. Below the military households are the farmers, the artisans, and so on. It’s one layer after another. Once you reach the position of a hundred households, it’s like securing a secure job for your descendants.”

"But what has become of our army now? Captains, colonels, and brigade commanders are all real military positions, and there is no way to pass them down to one's descendants. How can these people who could have been in charge of a thousand, a hundred, or a fifty-household unit be at peace with this?"

“Imperial Censor Shi, we are all northerners. Not counting the Liao Kingdom, we have lived under the rule of the Jin Kingdom for several decades, two generations. Although we are Han Chinese, we have long been influenced by the barbarian culture.”

Those officers knew the prestige of the Meng'an-Muke and wanted to become Meng'an-Muke themselves. They wanted more than just money and land; they wanted power above others, and power that could be passed down to their descendants. What could I do?

Shi Ju sighed and shook his head: "Why don't you tell the eldest son? There's still the secret document system now. Telling him privately would at least give him a heads-up, wouldn't it?"

Zheng Yun shook his head and smiled bitterly: "What can I say? Should I tell the King of Han that although he is not married now, his men all want to take ten concubines?"
Should we tell the King of Han that although he only lives in a three-courtyard house, the officers of the garrison all want a ten-acre mansion?
Are we going to tell the King of Han that after driving out the Tartars and stopping them from oppressing the Han people, we want to take their place and continue to oppress the people?

The King of Han was a born sage, but how few sages are there in the world? We...we are ultimately just ordinary people.

After a long silence, Shi Ju finally said, "So you came up with a plan to use money to appease those captains, colonels, and brigade commanders?"

Zheng Yun downed the tea in his cup in one gulp, as if drinking wine: "Indeed, three years ago, when the Haizhou Saltworks was just beginning to take shape, I found Sun Huaidu and told him the whole story. I also withheld a portion of the saltworks' profits and distributed it to them in the name of Haizhou Guard as a kind of allowance."

"Later... as the King of Han waged wars in the south and north, his territory grew larger and larger, and the number of garrisons increased. Even the garrisons in the Shandong East Road, which had already been stabilized, encountered the same problem. I could only offer the same solution, and the amount of money embezzled and misappropriated increased. We could only sink deeper and deeper into this mess."

"Imperial Censor Shi, what did you just ask? Oh, did this money and grain reach the ordinary soldiers? How could that be?"

This money was originally intended to appease the officials of the garrison, so why was it being given to ordinary soldiers?

At this point, Zheng Yun chuckled, and finally laughed wildly, as if he were going mad.

Shen Longzi's face turned ashen, while Shi Ju rarely showed a look of bewilderment.

In the brightly lit hall, Shi Ju felt a deep chill, as if boundless malice was surging from all directions, causing this former prime minister of the Jin Kingdom, who had experienced many things, to tremble all over.

For a moment, he couldn't tell whether Zheng Yun was right or wrong, and a hint of doubt about Liu Huai arose in his mind.

A moment later, seeing that Zheng Yun was bleeding from his mouth and nose but still laughing uncontrollably, Shi Ju shook his head: "Zheng Yun embezzled money and committed suicide by poison out of fear of punishment. How about we write it like that?"

Shen Longzi was about to answer when he heard Zheng Yun cough up blood and say, "Open...open charges, anything...anything is acceptable."

But you must tell him privately... tell the Prince of Han... that my loyalty is as clear as day and night! As clear as day and night!
"You, you can all cut out my heart and show it to the King of Han!"

After shouting his last words with all his might, Zheng Yun seemed to have used up his last bit of strength. He collapsed onto the chair, bleeding from all seven orifices, staring at the roof beam, his eyes wide open in death.

(End of this chapter)