Picked up a copy of Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 660 Grain Stolen
Hearing the emperor's question, Yuan Shang frowned and looked at Man Chong who was beside him. Man Chong lowered his head and closed his eyes tightly. It seemed that he was unwilling to speak. Yuan Shang raised his head and looked at Liu Xi, Liu Xi Xi could see the blankness in his eyes, Yuan Shang still said: "Your Majesty, this morning, I learned from the letter from the Embroidered Emissary that someone had exchanged the food in the temple's subsidized place and replaced it with sand, which was ordered by Sikong. see"

"The lost food and grass are countless, and only Sikong knows the exact amount. Before this, I have never heard any relevant information, Your Majesty..." Yuan Shang's words trembled, and it was obvious that he was very worried. Your Majesty will doubt his loyalty, Liu Xi smiled and said: "Xianfu, you don't have to be like this, I suspect that no one will doubt you. You were promoted to this position by myself."

Yuan Shang felt relieved, but his face was still a little ashamed, and he cupped his hands and said: "I hope your Majesty will punish you severely for your ineffective investigation."

"Forget it, forget about Manjun, what progress have you made?" Liu Xi asked again, but Man Chong glanced at Yuan Shang beside him, and did not speak. Liu Xi sighed and said, "Manchu, Xianfu and Jun are both born in the Eastern Palace, why is this so?"

Man Chong obviously couldn't trust Yuan Shang, and he refused to speak in front of Yuan Shang. Yuan Shang seemed to have suffered a great humiliation, his face turned red, he stood up, and wanted to say something to Man Chong, but he couldn't say it. Gritting his teeth, the veins on his forehead were jumping, he said: "Your Majesty, it's okay, the minister is waiting outside the door!" After speaking, he turned and left. Before Liu Xi even had time to persuade him, Yuan Shang had already walked out of Houde temple.

Seeing him leave, Liu Xi looked at Man Chong helplessly, waiting for his explanation.

"Your Majesty, it's not that I can't trust him, it's just that this matter has a great connection with the Yuan family, so it's like this. I hope Your Majesty will forgive me." Man Chong said, with an extremely solemn expression, he said: "The person in charge of escorting the supplies , including those who mobilized materials, and those who sorted out documents, all of them were arrested by the ministers, including Yuan Tan, the eldest son of Sikong, Yuan Mai, the concubine, Gao Gan, the nephew, Cao Zhi, the son of Duke Situ, and Lu Meng, the master of military science."

"I have been examining it for a long time. Lu Meng really didn't know about it. He just learned yesterday that he was going to deliver supplies, and this was ordered by General Gongsun Zan and Sikong. In other words, what happened to Lu Meng was sent by His Majesty, and there is also His Majesty's edict, so this person only found out about it yesterday, and within one night, he absolutely cannot do these things."

"The armaments he is in charge of are also the most complete among these people, and there is little greed for food and grass."

Man Chong said again: "However, Your Majesty, Lu Mengyan, he learned yesterday that he went to the carriage early this morning and watched it personally. From this, it can be seen that the supplies were probably replaced before yesterday. Before that, all the food and grass were there. Sikong Mansion"

Hearing Man Chong's analysis, Liu Xi nodded and asked, "So, you think this matter is related to Sikong?"

"No. If Sikong has this intention, why would he expose his plan?? He can do it without anyone noticing it. What's more, after investigating these days, I found that most of the food and grass were funded by Yuan Sikong himself. The national treasury is not enough to implement various government orders, so Sikong sold some cultivated land and family property in exchange for enough food and grass to be used in various places, and in his capacity as Sikong, he made an IOU to the Yuan family."

"These are Sikong's own food. If he wants to take it back, why does he use such means?"

Man Chong asked back.

Liu Xi was a little surprised, he asked: "These are all funded by Sikong?? Why didn't I know??"

Man Chong said: "Your Majesty may not know that during the Xiping period, Emperor Xiaoxian made an expedition to Guishuang. At that time, the treasury was in crisis and there was no money. Emperor Xiaoxian asked Sikong to find a way by himself. From then on, Yuan Sikong began to use his own The family property was used for administrative purposes. It has continued until now. It was only because Sikong was afraid that this move would cause jealousy among the officials, so he did not spread it to the outside world. I only discovered this when I checked the Sikong Mansion's information today."

"In addition, I also found evidence of Sikong's corruption. Sikong wooed local officials and embezzled a lot of money." Man Chong said, Liu Xi was even more surprised, his eyes widened, Yuan Shao still needs to embezzle? ?His family is so rich! !Man Chong said: "Your Majesty, don't be surprised, his money is also used for state affairs."

At this moment, Liu Xi didn't know what to say. He rubbed his forehead and said, "Let's not mention things like Sikong, but when it comes to food and grass, who is the most suspicious?"

Man Chong said: "Your Majesty, there are two people that I suspect. One is Sikong's concubine Yuan Mai. He likes to gamble, so he is the most suspicious, maybe he learned about the transportation of grain and grass from Sikong in advance, so when the grain was piled up in Sikong's mansion, he took the opportunity to replace the grain."

"The other person is a high-ranking cadre. Yuan Sikong entrusted him with the responsibility of mobilizing the material transportation. The food delivered now has passed through his hands. Therefore, he is the most powerful person. finish these."

Hearing Man Chong's words, Liu Xi nodded and said, "So you haven't found the real culprit yet."

Man Chong shook his head and said: "The minister is just pretending to know about it, the purpose is to make the thief's accomplice show up."

"Okay. I understand. You go out and continue the investigation. You can arrest him, but you are not allowed to kill anyone without my order."

"Please!"

Man Chong walked out, but Yuan Shang walked in.

Facing Yuan Shang, Liu Xi was relatively more casual, let Yuan Shang sit in front of him, Liu Xi looked at him seriously, and said: "Xianfu, Mr. Man thinks that these are the work of the Yuan family, so I don't want to be with you. Say more, don't think too much, I trust you anyway, I believe that all of this has nothing to do with you."

When Yuan Shang heard this, he said helplessly: "Your Majesty, my Yuan family is not poor, so why do you need to steal those grains?? Why does Manjun think that it is my Yuan family's work?" Liu Xi smiled and said: "Xianfu, how much do you know about your younger brother Yuan Mai?"

"Yuan Mai???", Yuan Shang was taken aback. He frowned and thought for a long time before he said: "Mr. Man suspects him?? My younger brother is indeed incompetent, but His Majesty doesn't know something , he is timid by nature, and he can't even say anything to us. My father is very disappointed in him. No matter how I teach him, he still looks like that. How could he have the courage to do such a thing? ?”

"Oh? Then does he feel resentful towards you guys, including Yuan Sikong?"

"Your Majesty, even though he is resentful, he is the one with the lowest status in the family. He has no ability to do such a thing at all. No one will listen to his orders, including the servants in the family. how can that be possible?"

Liu Xi didn't ask any more questions, just nodded, and said just now: "Xianfu, you need to investigate this matter carefully. If you have any news, remember to report to me."

Yuan Shang quickly agreed and left Houde Hall.

After the two of them left, Liu Xifang frowned. This news was like thunder to him. He never thought that there would be such a bold person in Luoyang who would dare to act like this. Not taking him seriously at all, Liu Xi was very angry, but he still had to hold back his anger. Anger is of no help to the current situation. I can only hope that these two can make some progress.
After Man Chong left Houde Hall, he rushed directly to Zhijinwu camp.

When he saw Lu Bu, he didn't talk nonsense, he directly took out the emperor's order, and asked General Lu Bu to help him investigate the case, mainly to search for the whereabouts of the food in the city. The food must still be in the hands of the traitor, and it is more appropriate for Lu Bu to do such a search. Lu Bu, who did not know about it before, was extremely angry when he heard Man Chong's narration.

He frowned and said: "Your Majesty is my beloved son-in-law, the traitor bullies him when he is young, and he doesn't know the power of my sword!!"

Immediately, the Zhijinwu camp was mobilized, first blocking Luoyang, and then starting a door-to-door search. There are a large number of household registrations in Luoyang, and it is not easy to search them out. Fortunately, there are counties Ling, as well as Du Wei, Sili Xiaowei and other officials to help, Lv Bu commanded these people to search everywhere in Luoyang. There was a lot of noise, but nothing was gained.

Yuan Shang was different. He directly mobilized embroidered clothes envoys from all over the country and asked them to find out who had transported sand to Luoyang, and who had sold grain in large quantities.

Both of them are acting, but they haven't found much evidence, and they still have no way to find out who did it, but the time left for them is running out, because all parties have already begun to urge them, and because of The supplies that were set out were left in Luoyang due to such incidents. The Northern Army had already arrived in Chaisang, but there was no supply to continue replenishing. They could only use local supplies. Local granaries could not support the Northern Army for too long. of.

Man Chong walked into Tingwei's prison, waved his hands, and said, "Let Lu Meng and Cao Zhi go." Hearing his words, the soldiers immediately acted. Not long after, Lu Meng and Cao Zhi had appeared In front of him, Man Chong frowned, looked at them, waved his hand, and said, "Get out of here quickly, don't tell anyone what happened here, otherwise, you will come back"

Lu Meng and Cao Zhi didn't dare to say anything, and left here quickly. Lu Meng felt that he was wronged, and Cao Zhi also felt the same way. On that day, he had just left Tingwei with Yuan Shao, and within an hour, he was taken away again. After arriving here, he became a prisoner. During this period, Cao Pi came six times, but Man Chong didn't let them meet. He heard his brother's violent roar in the prison.

He obviously had a big fight with Man Chong, and he almost did it.

When the two walked out of Tingwei's prison, they saw Cao Pi from a long distance. Behind Cao Pi, Cao Zhang, Yuan Xi, and Liu Yi were standing indifferently. Behind Cao Pi, seeing Cao Zhi and Lu Meng coming out, Cao Pi said nothing, but the other three hurried forward. Obviously, Lu Meng and Cao Zhang knew each other, and they exchanged greetings. Cao Zhi walked to Cao Pi's side, Cao Pi looked Looking at Tingwei Mansion in the distance, he said, "Follow me back."

Cao Zhi nodded, and the group walked towards the mansion.

But Yuan Xi still followed Cao Zhi, and wanted to ask about the members of the Yuan family, Cao Zhi just shook his head slightly, and he couldn't say more, Yuan Xi sighed helplessly.

(End of this chapter)