My father ordered me to kill the emperor, but His Majesty bestowed a princess upon me instead.

Four hundred and twelve people.

Once this number was revealed, Sun Jing calmed down.

He knelt before the old warehouse, the arrow still in his wrist, but a smile returned to his face.

"Lord Shen."

"The three prefectures north of the Yangtze River have suffered from disasters for years."

"Thousands have died from the epidemic."

"What does it prove that several booklets have similar formats?"

"We can't just say that everyone who died from the epidemic is still alive."

That makes sense.

At least it's better than just "oversight".

I asked, "What about the food for 412 people?"

Sun Jingdao said, "The relief grain has already been distributed."

"To whom should it be sent?"

"Family members"

"Do you have a receipt?"

"have."

He answered very quickly.

Bai Zhi carried out three tent boxes from the back storeroom.

"Yes, there is."

Sun Jing's expression relaxed slightly.

Bai Zhi continued, "That's why it's even more troublesome."

The grain purchase receipts are complete.

The handprints are complete.

The village head provided full guarantees.

The families of the 412 deceased all received burial provisions, pensions, and subsidies for those affected by the epidemic.

It looks like there is no problem.

The problem is that seventy-two of them had just come out of the underground warehouse.

Some of their family members had received grain rations.

Some people have never even seen grain.

Zhou Guiniang's son was summoned to the table.

Bai Zhi asked, "Did you receive your mother's funeral provisions last year?"

"no."

"Your handprint is in the book."

The man glanced at it twice.

"It's not mine."

"How can you recognize words if you can't read?"

"I'm missing half of my left thumb."

He raised his hand.

The fingerprints on the book are complete.

Sun Jingdao said, "Perhaps another relative will collect it on their behalf."

"Who?"

"Muramasa."

Liuxi Village is being brought to Cangqian.

Around fifty years old.

My legs kept shaking.

He first confirmed that the grain had indeed been distributed.

Bai Zhi asked who it was sent to.

He said he couldn't remember.

They then asked why a complete fingerprint was used to impersonate a missing finger.

He then began to talk about how there were many people at the time.

When asked again who delivered the grain carts, he finally knelt down.

"It was ordered to be done by the county."

"Who in the county?"

"The clerk of Registrar Sun".

"Where's the grain?"

"Only to the village entrance."

"How many?"

"The register says 500 shi (a unit of dry measure)."

"What about in reality?"

"Eighty stones."

The remaining 420 shi disappeared at the village entrance.

The village chief sealed the mouth with five stones.

The disaster victims were given eighty bushels of grain.

The account book, however, stated that all 500 shi (a unit of dry measure) would be distributed to the families of those who

Bai Zhi opened the general ledger of Yong'an Granary.

"This is the first book."

"Relief grain account".

The Yong'an granary has a book value of 10,000 shi (a unit of dry measure).

Four thousand shi of grain were used to write relief grain for those affected by the epidemic.

The names of the deceased are listed.

There are family members' fingerprints.

Guaranteed by Muramasa.

All procedures are complete.

The actual amount issued was less than 800 shi (a unit of dry measure).

I asked, "What about the second one?"

She opened the Ministry of War's grain allocation register.

"The 3,000-stone rations were prepared for the southwestern border troops as they passed through the area."

"The grain has not left the granary."

"The Ministry of War has already issued a receipt."

The person who signed the document was a former subordinate of Cao Heng.

Among the soldiers collecting grain, six had already died in the battle reports written in advance on the northern post road.

Ah Liu stood aside and watched.

"The dead received relief grain, then went on to collect grain for the border troops?"

Bai Zhi said, "I'm very busy."

"The third book."

The Register of Merit and Grain for Ciji Temple.

Three thousand piculs of grain.

It was used to provide water and land offerings, porridge distribution, and burial services for those who died from the epidemic.

There are donation plaques in the temple.

There is a list of names for reciting scriptures.

There are records of rituals performed for the deceased.

The only thing missing was three thousand bushels of grain.

The same Yong'an warehouse.

Ten thousand shi of grain for the tent.

It was divided into four thousand units of relief grain, three thousand units of military grain, and three thousand units of merit grain.

Every book has a place to go.

Every single one of them was signed.

The granary could be opened, and only 1,860 shi remained.

There were also 200 shi of moldy grain.

This is not a case of selling grain three times.

It's a case of one grain supply leading to three deaths.

The same batch of grain was sacrificed first, in place of the disaster victims.

I will die for the border troops once more.

Finally, I went to the temple to perform a ritual for the deceased.

The grain didn't go very far.

The silver flowed into the same place through the three ledgers.

Yongfeng Water Account.

Bai Zhi drew three silver paths on the wooden board.

The relief grain was converted into silver, which was collected by grain merchants in Yong'an County.

The cost of military rations was advanced by Luo's Grain Store.

The offerings of food and incense were transferred through Ciji Temple.

The last three transactions were all deposited into Yongfeng Bank's Jiangbei branch.

The closing marks are consistent.

The "water" in the Five Knots of Broken Orchids.

The onlookers couldn't understand the complex silver road.

But I can understand one thing.

There were less than two thousand shi in the granary.

However, 10,000 bushels of grain died in the account.

Someone shouted from the crowd:

"Where did those eight thousand shi go?"

Bai Zhi said, "There is no eight thousand shi."

Everyone was taken aback.

"From the beginning, it was probably only two thousand koku."

"The so-called 10,000 shi is a figure written down by combining the three accounts."

"They didn't steal the grain from the barn."

"They first create grain on paper, then replace the non-existent grain with silver."

This is less effort than stealing grain.

They even need a cart to steal grain.

All it takes to produce grain is printing.

Lin Huan closed his eyes.

"When I inspected the granaries in my first year in office, there were indeed more than 6,000 shi (a unit of dry measure) left in the books."

"In the second year after Sun Jing took office, he continuously allocated grain for epidemic prevention, military purposes, and temple purposes."

"They always say the paperwork is complete."

"I request the Ministry of Revenue to review it."

The Ministry of Revenue only replied that they would discuss it further.

"Later I wanted to seal it away."

"Sun Jing then seized the seal."

Sun Jing said coldly, "Lord Lin."

"You smashed the official seal of the imperial court and kept half of it for yourself; according to the law, you are guilty of the same crime."

Lin Huan nodded.

"have."

"This humble official acknowledges it."

Sun Jing was taken aback.

Lin Huan continued, "Destroying the county seal without authorization is a crime."

"Failure to protect the people is also a crime."

"Once this case is thoroughly investigated, I will go to the capital to accept my punishment."

"But you committed murder with a forged seal, and my guilt does not absolve me of my guilt."

I think Lin Huan's statement is very good.

The most troublesome thing for a guilty person is not confessing.

It is because they are unwilling to let others use their sins to evade their debts.

I picked up the half of the genuine seal.

"Sun Jing".

"You say only the complete one is the true seal."

"Then let's test it."

Bai Zhi has already transferred twenty official documents issued by Lin Huan in his first year in office.

There are tiny sand dots below each character "安".

Thirty official documents from the two months following Sun Jing's appointment as the seal-bearer were also transferred to him.

None at all.

More importantly, there is a crack on the right edge of the Zhenxian seal.

The night Lin Huan smashed the seal, all three clerks on duty in the county government office heard the noise.

One of them thought the magistrate was angry and smashed his inkstone.

He was transferred from the county government the following day.

The person has now been found.

It was confirmed in public that there had been copper shavings on the floor of Lin Huan's study.

The complete seal in Sun Jing's possession was cast in no more than two months.

"Even the county seal will die."

I said.

"After the real seal was broken, the fake seal continued to be used to stamp seals while still retaining its identity."

"Same as Jiao Wu's dead man's urgent card."

"Same as Chen Ping's status as a dead man."

"The accounting committee's greatest strength has never been falsification."

"Let the real stuff die first."

Sun Jing's face turned pale.

He was still gritting his teeth.

Even if it's printed as a counterfeit.

"This only proves that the lower-ranking officials forged official seals privately."

"The underground famine victims were detained by the former granary official."

"The three grain ledgers were handled by different government departments."

"Your humble servant is merely responsible for the use of the county seal."

He finally started cutting it into sections.

The county only stamps the document.

Grain merchants only transport grain.

Temples only perform meritorious deeds.

The Ministry of War only issued transfer orders.

Each person is only responsible for one thing.

In the end, no one locked up the person themselves.

No one ate the food themselves.

I looked at him.

"you're right."

Sun Jing's eyes flickered.

"Therefore, let's not ask about the four hundred and twelve people today."

"I'll only ask about the seventy-three people from Yong'an you handled."

I asked Bai Zhi to fetch the daily ration book from the underground granary.

Seventy-three people eat two meals of thin porridge every day.

Each person consumes less than three ounces of grain per day.

According to the county government's records, each person was required to pay two catties per day.

Over the course of a year, the seventy-three people actually consumed less than eighty shi (a unit of dry measure).

The accounts show a grain reserve of over 500 shi (a unit of dry measure).

The extra four hundred shi (a unit of dry measure) were put into Yongfeng Yigui (another type of cabinet).

You said no one was locked up.

"The order to deliver porridge daily is your seal."

"The Dream-Locking Medicine was transferred from the Yanghe Pharmacy; your clerk received it."

"The guard in the underground warehouse is on your warrant."

"Tian Cheng was taken back to Yong'an in your official car."

"The Southwest Army uniform you wore on the day the warehouses opened is hidden in your back storage."

I laid out the evidence piece by piece in front of him.

"Sun Jing".

"You don't have to be responsible for all the sections."

"This is enough for you to die many times over."

Sun Jing's lips finally began to tremble.

Someone in the crowd shouted "Kill!"

Someone picked up a stone.

Gu Xingzhi ordered the guards to stand in front.

It's not about protecting Sun Jing.

It is to protect testimonies.

Dead people don't recant their confessions.

They also won't tell us where the other 339 people went.

I had someone take Sun Jing back to the warehouse and keep him under separate guard.

County government officials were not allowed to approach.

No one is allowed to bring them food or medicine.

Physician Song glanced at me.

"The food still needs to be delivered."

"You test it."

"I am a medical officer."

"It can detect poison."

"So you deserve to do everything?"

"Those who are capable should do more."

The physician, Song, left cursing.

Bai Zhi continued to verify the death toll from the epidemic in the three counties.

She picked out all the entries with the same "quiet" ending.

Of the 412 people, 73 from Yong'an have been identified.

The other 339 people are distributed in six villages in Qingfeng, Qingzhou South County, and along the river.

But what's really strange isn't the number of people.

It is the date of death.

These people die in batches every three months.

Each batch consists of thirty to forty people.

The date coincides perfectly with the departure date of Luo's Grain Company from Qingxia.

"It's not something you can just write down randomly."

Bai Zhi said.

"It was written truckload by truckload."

I looked at her.

"The person was taken away?"

"Very likely."

She flipped to the last batch.

Thirty-six people.

Three days ago, I wrote about dying from the epidemic.

However, the families of nine of them confirmed that they had been taken by county police to a "medical facility" two days prior.

The location is the Ciji Hospital in Qingfeng County.

I looked in the direction outside Yong'an City.

Seventy-two people were left behind to serve as corpses for the rebels when the warehouse was opened.

The other 339 may have become porters, river workers, miners, or even another group of rebels who are about to be written out of the story.

Yong'an Warehouse is not the end.

It's just an entry point to erase living people from the household registration system.