Qing Yao

Chapter 247 A truly honest person fears being unknown to others.

What is an advanced individual?

The person involved was confused, and Zheng Tongpan, who accompanied him on the inspection, was also completely baffled.

Zhao An offered no further explanation, but instead carefully examined Cheng Dade kneeling before him. He gestured for Cheng to rise and asked with a touch of friendliness, "How many years have you been wearing this official robe?"

Cheng Dade hurriedly replied, "Reporting to you, sir, I have been wearing this uniform for ten years."

Zhao An asked in surprise, "Your clothes are so worn out, why don't you get a new set? Is it possible that your salary from the imperial court isn't even enough to buy you a new set?"

"My salary is enough to buy a new set of clothes. However, I come from a poor family and have been used to living a poor life since I was a child. Whether it is clothes or anything else, I will continue to use what I can. It would be a pity to throw them away."

At this point, Cheng Dade was a little embarrassed, "To be honest, even my wife laughs at me for being stingy."

"That's rare,"

Zhao An nodded appreciatively, then turned to Zheng Tongpan and said, "Our Great Qing Dynasty is prosperous and powerful, and Jiangning is the most prosperous place in this dynasty. Serving in such a place with such abundant material life is truly admirable, Comrade Cheng Dade."
Ambassador Cheng wore a patched-up official robe for ten years—what kind of spirit is this? This is the rare and precious simplicity of an official; such a small detail reveals great virtue!

"What you say is quite right, sir. This Cheng Dade has worked at the Jiangning Warehouse for over ten years, performing his duties diligently and without error, earning the deep respect of several successive circuit intendants."

Prefect Zheng naturally echoed with a string of compliments. As the Grain Prefect, he was the direct superior of the Grand Coordinator of each granary. It was an honor for him, as the superior, to have his subordinate praised by the Grand Coordinator.

Zhao An had already walked to Cheng Dade's desk. While stroking the surface that had been polished for countless years, he sighed and said, "We should vigorously promote honest officials like Cheng Dade. From now on, all promotions and appointments of officials under my Grain Transport Office must follow one principle: those who are honest will be given priority. We must never promote those with problems. Whoever promotes a corrupt official will have to pack their bags and get out!"

The words were quite harsh, and Zheng Tongpan's eyelids twitched for no apparent reason.

"Such a simple guardhouse—if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, it would be hard to believe that this is the office of Ambassador Yiku."

Looking at the guardhouse, which was even inferior to the village chief's office, Zhao An admired it more and more. But admiration aside, it is said that the eyes of the masses are discerning, and Zhao An's eyes are just as discerning. He would certainly not be deceived by Cheng Dade's appearance. Whether he could really be named an advanced individual this year would depend on the actual grain storage situation of the Jiangning Warehouse, which covers an area several middle schools in size.

If someone is a villain disguised as a loyal subject, Zhao Anke will have to take them to the designated place.

The purpose of this surprise attack was to catch the Jiangning warehouse off guard and prevent a fire from burning down the warehouse.

This thing was quite popular during the Qianlong and Jiaqing periods. Later statistics show that there were as many as 127 accidental fires in granaries across the country during the Jiaqing reign alone, 121 of which occurred before the court audited the accounts.

In other words, as long as the imperial court sends people to inspect the granaries, the granaries will most likely catch fire.

However, very few officials were punished afterward, which suggests that Jiaqing's temple name "Renzong" was related to the ineffective anti-corruption efforts.

When everyone is in harmony, who will be kind if you're not?
Suddenly turning around, he shouted at Cheng Dade, "Cheng Dade, I ask you, can this Jiangning Treasury withstand an investigation?"

Cheng Dade reacted quickly, his face full of confidence: "Don't worry, sir. The accounts of this warehouse are clear, and not a single grain is missing. No matter how you investigate, sir, this humble servant can withstand the scrutiny!"

"Okay, then let's check the inventory!"

Zhao An acted swiftly and decisively, immediately ordering Cheng Dade to notify all on-duty personnel in the warehouse to assemble.

"Whoo!"

Cheng Dade dared not delay and quickly went out to order someone to ring the bell.

Upon hearing the bell, all the staff of Jiangning Warehouse rushed to assemble.

Apart from the 150 soldiers guarding the warehouse, the Jiangning Warehouse has a total of 360 staff members, of whom only a dozen or so are officially employed, and the rest are all temporary workers.

There are more than 170 people on duty today.

Zhao An didn't waste any words and directly ordered the warehouse to be opened for inspection.

Normally, database verification is done by random selection, but Zhao An insisted on verifying each database one by one.

The method of inspection is very simple: dig down one or two meters from the top to see if what's piled up underneath is grain, sand, or something else. After digging down the top, use a grain depot-specific grain inspection tool to insert into the bottom and pull it out to check if it's rice.

The inspection of more than 30 large warehouses took half a day, and the result was that all of them were full, with no evidence of cheating by empty warehouses.

The accounts matched up; apart from the 15,000 shi deficit left by the previous owner during the handover, all the other figures were correct, which relieved Zhao An.

The total amount of the deficit handed over to his predecessor was more than 30,000 taels, which Zhao An accepted. However, if the actual deficit was more than 30,000 taels, he could not accept being taken advantage of for nothing.

The fact that the largest grain depot, Jiangning, had no problems reassured Zhao An, and that even if other grain depots had issues, they wouldn't be too serious.

Overjoyed, he looked at the simple and honest Cheng Dade with increasing delight and couldn't help but think of promoting him. He wanted to make him a model in the grain system and then use this model to launch a strong anti-corruption campaign in the Anhui grain system, thereby portraying himself as an incorruptible official with strong anti-corruption power, forcing Zhu Gui not to touch him.

Before that, he suggested visiting the Cheng family.

Upon hearing that the Daotai wanted to visit his home, Cheng Dade hurriedly said, "My home is too simple; I'm afraid I won't be able to provide adequate hospitality."

"What kind of hospitality do you want? Whatever you two eat, I will eat too."

Zhao An was determined to visit the Cheng family, lest the old man pretend to be poor in front of him while actually living in a luxurious villa.

If we promote Cheng Dade without thoroughly understanding his background, he will become a laughing stock in the grain system if problems arise.

Judge Zheng laughed and said, "If the lord wants to visit your home, you can lead the way. After all, you are a high-ranking official; surely you can't be so poor that you can't even scoop out a few bowls of rice from your rice jar."

Since Magistrate Zheng had said so, Cheng Dade dared not linger any longer and hurriedly invited the officials to sit at his house.

It's not far away; it's only a short walk.

It was a self-built house by farmers located in the "urban-rural fringe area," with a small courtyard. The surrounding residents were either laborers unloading cargo at the docks or fishermen fishing on the river.

Upon entering the courtyard, one sees an old woman drying fish; she is Zhang, Cheng Dade's wife.

When her husband, who was at work, suddenly returned home with two adults, Zhang became very nervous, unsure of what to do while holding the winnowing basket used for drying fish.

"Lord Zhao and Lord Zheng are having a casual meal at my house. Don't just stand there like an idiot, hurry up and prepare a few dishes."

As he spoke, Zheng Dade took out a few copper coins and handed them to his wife.

"No need to go out to buy. Just eat whatever you have at home. I think this dried fish looks pretty good. Tell your wife to get some and steam it in a pot. Lord Zheng and I will just have a couple of bites."

Zhao An walked into the Cheng family's mansion with a smile. The furnishings inside were simple, but the house was exceptionally clean, showing that Zhang was a diligent woman.

I also observed the bedroom of Cheng Dade and his wife. It was simple and there was nothing unusual about it.

He glanced at Magistrate Zheng and nodded slightly, saying, "It seems that Cheng Dade is indeed an honest and capable official."

"I might have doubts about others, but I never doubt that Cheng Dade is dishonest."

Judge Zheng highly praised his subordinates.

"An honest official's honesty is outward, while a corrupt official's greed is inward; a false honest official fears being known, while a truly honest official fears being unknown."

Watching Cheng Dade picking vegetables with his wife in the yard, Zhao An sincerely said, "This Cheng Dade can withstand scrutiny. We leaders and superiors can't let him down. I'll submit a memorial recommending him. Furthermore, we can't just talk about integrity without taking concrete action, nor can we focus on major issues while ignoring minor ones."

When the mood struck, he had an in-depth discussion with Magistrate Zheng about anti-corruption efforts within the grain transport system, hoping to gain the strong support of this deputy. Magistrate Zheng's attitude was also very firm; he would follow the magistrate's instructions wherever they pleased.

Zhao An was very satisfied with what he heard. Meanwhile, Cheng Dade and his wife had already prepared the meal.

simple.

One bowl of white rice, one bowl of steamed dried fish, and one bowl of boiled cabbage.

Surprisingly, Zhao An found the simple meal quite delicious.

Having completed his investigation, Zhao An prepared to return to the city. However, as he stood up, he felt an urgent need to urinate and asked Cheng Dade where the outhouse was.

After Cheng Dade finished speaking, Zhao An smiled and went over. When he returned, he casually asked Cheng Dade, who was waiting for him, "How many years have you lived in this house?"

"Reporting to you, sir, I have lived here for ten years."

"ten years?"

Zhao An's smiling face suddenly darkened, and he shouted, "You've lived here for ten years, yet your outhouse looks like it hasn't been used in ages, and there's not much excrement in the pit!"

"what?!"

Cheng Dade was stunned, and his wife Zhang, who was tidying up inside the house, was also taken aback.

Judge Zheng was also stunned, not understanding what the latrine had to do with how long the Cheng family had lived there.

"Cheng Dade, I ask you, did you live in this house for ten years or just three or five days? If you don't tell the truth, I will take you back for further questioning!"

As soon as Zhao An finished speaking, a group of armed guards rushed into the courtyard. After glancing at Baili Yunlong, who was in charge, Zhao An ordered, "Take a few men and ask the locals if this courtyard belongs to the Cheng family."

"Whoo!"

Baili Yunlong hurriedly led a few people out to inquire.

Looking again, Cheng Dade was completely pale, and his wife, Zhang, was so frightened that she collapsed to the ground.

"Are you saying this house doesn't belong to the Cheng family?"

Judge Zheng's expression shifted between anger and uncertainty. Suddenly, he stepped forward and slapped Cheng Dade hard across the face. "Tell me, does this house belong to your family or not?"

Although Cheng Dade felt guilty, he gritted his teeth and said nothing.

Zhao An wasn't in a hurry to ask, and turned around to go back into the house and sit down.

Before long, Baili Yunlong reported the information he had gathered: the courtyard had been uninhabited for several years and had just been rented by Cheng Dade and his wife a few days ago.

"Now that things have come to this, do you have anything to say to me? Even if you don't speak, I still have ways of finding out what you've done. Don't blame me for not giving you a chance then."

Zhao An was a little annoyed. If he hadn't grown up in the countryside and knew the details of the outhouse, he would have definitely been fooled by that old rascal Cheng Dade today.

Cheng Dade still refused to speak, seemingly determined to shoulder the burden alone.

Realizing there was definitely something wrong with the Jiangning warehouse, Zhao An immediately stood up and ordered his men, "Inspect the warehouse again. Take out all the grain in the warehouse and let me see if there is anything wrong with the Jiangning warehouse!"

Upon hearing that the warehouse needed to be inspected again, Magistrate Zheng's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly said, "Sir, it's getting dark. Can we postpone the inspection until tomorrow?"

"tomorrow?"

Zhao An sneered, "I'm afraid someone will come and tamper with it tonight."

Zheng Tongpan had no choice but to agree, but then he heard Cheng Dade's voice: "There's no need to re-inspect the warehouse. Whatever Your Excellency wants to know, I will tell you the truth."

"So best."

Zhao An sat down again and told Cheng Dade to tell the truth.

The result was shocking: the Jiangning granary was actually severely depleted. The accounts showed a grain reserve of over 360,000 shi, but the actual grain reserve was only 270,000 shi, a shortfall of nearly 100,000 shi.

Even at the lowest market price in Jiangning, 100,000 shi of grain would be worth 120,000 taels of silver!
This deficit is more than four times the amount that Zhao An tacitly acknowledged during the handover.

How did Cheng Dade manage to evade Zhao An's inspection? It's simple: he used a double-layered storage compartment.

The so-called "double-layered warehouse" is a grain warehouse with a wooden partition in the middle, which is solid on all sides, but the middle is actually empty.

Unless the entire granary is dug up, it will be impossible to find.

A granary holds hundreds of thousands or even millions of kilograms of grain. Who would be so bored as to actually empty the granary and inspect it?
This warehouse within a warehouse was extremely well-made, with two to three meters of solidity on all sides, so even if Zhao An kept poking and probing around the warehouse, he couldn't discover its secrets.

"What a clever warehouse within a warehouse!"

Zhao An was furious. He had never expected these guys to create a warehouse within a warehouse, which almost caused him to capsize in a ditch.

However, Cheng Dade's next words stunned Zhao An. The other party said, "This humble servant admits that 100,000 shi of grain are missing from the granary, but it would be best if you, sir, did not investigate."

"Why?"

Zhao An's expression was unpredictable, shifting between light and dark.

"Half of these 100,000 shi of grain ended up in Lord Zhang's pocket. Lord Zhang has now been promoted to Jiangxi. Even if you report this matter to the court and request a thorough investigation, it will take several months to get any results. But if you take responsibility for this 100,000 shi deficit, with my help, we can completely cover the shortfall when the grain is stored this year. Then you will benefit from it just like Lord Zhang. Why not do it?"

According to Cheng Dade, if Zhao An didn't acknowledge it, firstly, he wouldn't get a share of the lucrative grain transport quota, and secondly, he would break the rules and gain a reputation for being unreasonable in official circles. How would he survive in the future?

If you accept it, you don't need to show your face; your subordinates will take care of everything for you. You'll get the money and the benefits, and then you can hand it over to the next person in charge.

One administration after another, and no one pointed it out, because that's how the game is played.

Zhao An remained noncommittal, only curiously asking Cheng Dade how he knew to rent a house in advance to deceive him.

Cheng Dade honestly replied, "Since you took office, Your Excellency has been talking about integrity and prohibitions on this and that. How could I not have foreseen that Your Excellency would come to inspect? Would I not have catered to Your Excellency's desire for integrity?"

"."

Zhao An was speechless, and then asked, "Surely the guardhouse in Jiangning Warehouse wasn't also made to look like that beforehand?"

No, that's not true, because the guardhouse of Jiangning Warehouse has always been dilapidated.

The reason is that everyone in the warehouse is busy stealing grain to sell for money, and nobody cares about the condition of your office.

"Let alone my Jiangning granary, all the other granaries, including the officials in the government offices, who doesn't embezzle money from this granary's grain? If you want to punish someone, punish everyone. What's the use of punishing just me?"

Anyway, now that the incident has happened, Cheng Dade is going all out. "Forgive my bluntness, but if you really want to be an honest official, we, your subordinates, will help you become one. However, if you don't give us a way to make a living, then even if you are an honest official, you won't be able to hold the position of Circuit Intendant for long."

(End of this chapter)