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Chapter 137 Chen Yu is brought back from the dead! Where did the tax money go?

three days later.

After what happened that night, no one paid any attention to Shen Ci, the imperial envoy.

Zeng Yue remained completely still, as if he truly didn't care about the house burning down.

Shen Ci had collected the account books from various government offices over the past few days and examined them carefully, but found nothing unusual.

The accounts are meticulously recorded, and everything is kept clear.

However, Zeng Yue's report on the tax matter was somewhat unusual, but unfortunately, there were too few clues to proceed.

One day, while strolling on the street, Shen Yan saw a familiar figure.

A disheveled beggar on the street, covered in filth, seemed to bear some resemblance to Chen Yu.

Chen Yu also met Shen Yan, who had been hiding from Zeng Yue's pursuit for the past few days.

Zeng Yue only relaxed his investigation after Shen Yan and his group arrived in Jiangnan Prefecture.

Although he knew it was Shen Ci who had come, he dared not approach her rashly.

To avoid being discovered by Zeng Yue and bringing trouble upon himself.

Upon seeing Shen Yan, Chen Yu was overjoyed.

He remained expressionless until they reached a secluded corner.

Shen Yancai sighed and said, "I thought you had already met with an accident and were no longer alive, but I never expected that you would still be alive."

"If I hadn't been alert, they would have found me long ago."

Chen Yu spoke with great emotion, saying that he had been hiding and disguising himself as a beggar to escape with his life these past few days.

After talking for a long time, Shen Yan realized that Chen Yu had already learned about the situation in Jiangnan Prefecture.

They used the disaster to reduce the number of households and population, thus reducing the population by millions out of thin air.

They also cited the year of great disaster and the suffering of the people as reasons to reduce taxes significantly.

In fact, the money that should have been collected was collected in full, and the people were all furious, but there was nothing they could do.

He kept cursing Emperor Xuanwu, showing no concern for the people's plight, which caused widespread resentment.

These silver coins were hidden in the granaries of various counties, but the granaries had long been empty of grain.

The grain that should have been used for disaster relief was taken out by Zeng Yue and his men and exchanged for the people's farmland.

Now the granaries are full of silver, which was originally tax silver that was to be handed over to the national treasury.

Shen Yan was shocked upon hearing this, never expecting it to be like this.

No wonder they couldn't find any trace of the silver even after searching all over Jiangnan Prefecture.

He couldn't help but think to himself, "No wonder he was in such a hurry to kill Chen Yu to silence him."

Upon receiving the news, Shen Yan dared not delay and immediately brought Chen Yu to the prefectural government office.

Without alerting anyone along the way, they brought Chen Yu to Shen Ci.

He recounted his ordeal to Shen Ci again.

Upon hearing this, Shen Ci's face lit up with joy. The most important thing about his trip to Jiangnan Prefecture was to recover the tax silver.

Now that the tax payment is secured, I'm naturally overjoyed.

Chen Yu was indignant at the great calamity he had suffered and wanted to do his part.

So he asked to join Shen Ci's group, disguised as a bodyguard.

Shen Ci led his guards out of the city and headed towards Jiande County.

Jiande County was the area most severely affected by the floods two years ago, and also the area with the most serious land consolidation.

The people had almost no way to survive. Along the way, Shen Yan often encountered disaster victims begging or digging for wild vegetables and tree roots by the roadside.

Upon seeing Shen Ci in his official robes, these people's eyes were filled with hatred.

But more than anything, it was fear.

Shen Ci felt uneasy seeing this; in the eyes of the common people, officials represented the imperial court.

These people hate officials and will naturally not be friendly to the imperial court.

They traveled at a brisk pace and arrived in Jiande County.

The magistrate of Jiande County was also a newly appointed official, named Zhang Qi.

The largest grain merchant in Jiangnan Prefecture was surnamed Zhang, and Zhang Qi was naturally a member of the Zhang clan.

Upon hearing of the imperial envoy's arrival, Zhang Qi's expression changed drastically, wondering if Shen Ci had received any information.

He went out to greet him, and bumped right into Shen Ci.

"Your Excellency, what brings you here?"

"It's nothing. I heard that Jiande County suffered a severe disaster two years ago. Before I left the capital, His Majesty instructed me to make sure I checked on the disaster relief efforts!"

Shen Ci spoke calmly and casually:

Zhang Qi was originally just a poor scholar, though he was not related by blood.

However, he was more ambitious than Shen Yan and passed the imperial examination, becoming a Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial-level imperial examinations) and gaining official rank.

Coincidentally, the magistrate of Jiande County was beheaded for his poor disaster relief efforts.

Zhang Qi got a free lunch.

Facing Shen Ci at this moment, he was sweating profusely and extremely nervous.

Shen Ci did not say why he came to Jiande County; he simply seemed to be wandering around aimlessly.

Zhang Qi followed behind Shen Ci and the others, constantly wiping the fine sweat from his forehead.

He kept praying that Shen Ci and the others would leave as soon as possible.

As Shen Ci and the others continued walking towards the granary, Zhang Qi's eyes showed a hint of fear.

He thought to himself, "Could this imperial envoy know something?! Why hasn't that son of a bitch shown up yet?"

When Shen Ci and his group arrived in Jiande County, he had already sent someone to deliver a message.

Shen Ci said calmly, "Lord Zhang, I see that there are many disaster victims in Jiande County, but the granaries are empty, leaving no resources for disaster relief?"

"This—this—Sir, there are many people affected by the disaster, and the grain in the granaries is indeed not much. Now we are just hoping for the return of the grain-buying ships."

"Oh?! Then let's go check out the granary. My Shen family has quite a few businesses involved, so perhaps we can be of some help."

As soon as Shen Ci said that, Zhang Qi's heart started pounding.

"No—no need, Lord Shen, the grain-buying ship will return soon."

Shen Ci's expression changed, and he said in a deep voice, "Lord Zhang, you have repeatedly dissuaded me. Could there be something illicit in the granary?"

Seeing Zhang Qi's performance, Shen Yan chuckled to himself, "Sure enough, if you want to be a good official, you have to know how to play dumb."

Zhang Qi was startled and jumped back. He tried to stop them, but Shen Ci was already walking quickly toward the granary.

They didn't listen to his nonsense at all.

He thought to himself, "This is bad! Something's going to happen!"

The soldiers of the Imperial Guard, who were guarding the granary, saw that Shen Ci and his group were coming in a menacing manner.

The county magistrate behind them had a timid expression on his face, but he knew perfectly well that Shen Ci and the others were of noble status.

Zhang Qi dared not stop them and could only watch helplessly as they entered the granary.

Upon entering the granary, the outside was piled high with new rice, while further inside were brown rice and glutinous rice.

When they were halfway through the journey, the bag was full of sand and gravel, and there wasn't a single grain of rice in sight.

Soon, a pile of boxes appeared in front of Shen Yan and his group, partially covered by bags of grain.

Seeing this, Shen Rong cleared away the clutter, revealing the box underneath.

I opened one at random, and it was full of copper coins.

Shen Rong's eyes were full of surprise, and he casually opened a few more.

It contained not only copper coins but also silver coins.

Shen Ci's face twitched slightly; there were dozens of boxes in front of him.

It was filled with either silver or copper coins, which added up to at least three or four million taels.

It was more than the total tax revenue paid by the entire Jiangnan Prefecture.

Shen Yan couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement.

He thought to himself, "No wonder the Jiangnan Prefecture was willing to offer a million taels of silver last year for Emperor Xuanwu's birthday; they really are rich!"

"If all nine counties in Jiangnan Prefecture were the same, wouldn't that mean the annual tax revenue would exceed twenty million taels of silver?"

.

He thought to himself, "If Emperor Xuanwu knew this, I wonder what he would think."

These people are really bold; they're unwilling to hand over even a tenth of their share.

Zhang Qi did not follow them in; he had already left hastily after seeing Shen Ci enter the granary.

It was already dark, but Shen Ci did not want to give up. He wanted to take advantage of the night to go to Chun'an County to check again.

Just as they reached the city gate, a sudden change occurred.