The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 892 I am the son of a poor man

In the white horse warehouse, Yin Hongzhi, whose face was black and white, looked at several granaries that were still billowing with smoke, his face was livid.

Fortunately, he brought a thousand soldiers, and under the desperate efforts of these people, they pulled up the buildings above the grain cave and caused heavy rain to pour down. However, the fire in the grain cave is really not easy to extinguish. At the same time, most of the open flames were extinguished, but the dark fire under the grain cave was still burning. The only way was to pour water down.

Before he could speak, he heard someone shouting in the distance: "The county magistrate is here!"

The entire Cangcheng fell silent for an instant.

Not long after, he saw Xue Wanbei and a hundred knights guarding a carriage rushing over. He rode forward and saluted, "Young Minister Yin, the county magistrate caught wind and cold at that time, and was bedridden after returning home from the river embankment."

Yin Hongzhi was taken aback, Shi Yu was actually sick?

He also knew that Shi Yu had indeed fought on the embankment a few days ago, and it was fair to say that he was drenched in a serious illness.They are already too sick to move, you can't force them to go to the river embankment and wait to die in the rain, right?
It's just that Yin Hongzhi felt that everything was too coincidental, so he said calmly, "Where's the person?"

Xue Wanbei pointed at the carriage and said in admiration: "In the carriage, when the general just arrived at the government office, he happened to meet this carriage. He heard from Fa Cao that the county magistrate planned to take the carriage to guard the embankment, vowing to live and die with the embankment. "

Hearing this, Yin Hongzhi stared blankly.

In this way, the county magistrate not only did not fear difficulties and dangers, and neglected his duties, but the court wanted to reward him instead.After all, the other party went into battle with an illness. If the court doesn't reward them, how can they convince the officials and the common people?
He walked towards the carriage, opened the curtain, and found that there was an old mattress in the carriage, and a man in Confucian clothes was reclining on it, covered with two thick old quilts, his complexion was an abnormal crimson red.

"Yin Servant!" Shi Yu said feebly: "I accidentally contracted a cold in a lowly position, my whole body is weak, and where I don't know how to behave, I still look at Haihan...cough cough cough."

A burst of breathless coughing made the redness on his face deeper, as if he was about to die.

Seeing that he didn't seem to be pretending to be ill, Yin Hongzhi frowned and said, "Why is Shi County Magistrate so seriously ill?"

Shi Yu calmed down, and said weakly: "It rains continuously these days, and the embankment is in danger of being washed away at any time. I don't dare to leave the embankment without authorization, for fear of something unexpected happening. But I got sick in the end. Not long after waking up, I wanted to take a ride to the river embankment, but General Xue said that the embankment was safe, so I came to Cangcheng to meet up... I never expected that the heavy rain did not stop, and Cangcheng caught fire again..."

He is not pretending to be sick, but really sick, with a high fever!
Originally, after a few days of rain, my body became very weak, and I hid in the ice kiln and slept with ice for a night or two. Could it be possible not to have a high fever?
Yin Hongzhi had no choice but to say: "General Xie Yingdeng led an army to protect and repair the embankment. The fire in Cangcheng has also been brought under control. Since the county magistrate is seriously ill at that time, let's go back to recuperate..."

"It's okay, it's okay!" Shi Yu struggled to get up, and the butler who followed him hurriedly stepped forward to help him by the shoulders, making him sit up slightly, stuffed a pillow on his back, and leaned against the wall of the car like this.

The cool wind from the car door blew in, and Shi Yu shivered tremblingly, coughed a few more times, and said solemnly: "At this critical time, as a humble magistrate of Baima County, how can he put the whole county down because of his own minor illness?" , Disregarding the safety of the land of Huanghuai? Even with this sick body, I will work with the soldiers and civilians to keep the flood away from the embankment! Cough, cough..."

The housekeeper hurriedly patted his junior, giving him comfort...

"At that time, the county magistrate was lingering on the sick bed, but he was proud and dedicated to serving the country. I, Yin Hongzhi, admired him very much. When I returned to court, I would definitely report to the Holy Majesty and ask for credit for the county magistrate. Strive for a speedy recovery and serve the country as soon as possible!"

"Yin Servant, this won't work..."

"Status matters, there's nothing wrong with it, this is an order!" Yin Hongzhi put down the curtain of the car, pulled Wang Sen aside, and ordered in a low voice: "County Wang, the county magistrate at that time can no longer be affected by wind and rain, and must take care of himself. Please escort him to the Canadian mansion, and take good care of him, and never let him go to the levee to get wet in the rain. Such good people are the people who are most valued by the Holy One. If the condition worsens and you make mistakes, the Holy Majesty will never forgive you. "

"Follow your orders!" Seeing that Yin Hongzhi cared so much about these local officials, Wang Sen was very moved, and escorted Shi Yu away with a few county soldiers.

"It's really a blessing for the people to have such good people in the locality." Xue Wanbei said with deep emotion as he looked at the carriage going away.

"Yeah..." Li Zhi nodded fiercely: "He is really a role model for my generation."

"I wish he was."

"Eh? What do you mean by that?"

Seeing that he was surrounded by his own people, Yin Hongzhi no longer suppressed his talent, and sneered, "Have you heard of 'A traitor seems loyal'?"

Xue Wanbei was dumbfounded: "Yin servant is saying that his illness is faking?"

"The illness should be real, because he didn't dare to pretend. Once we find out, the charges of bullying the king and dereliction of duty can make him go to the end. If the levee falls because of this, it is not unreasonable to cut off his head. Possibly." Yin Hongzhi said: "Maybe I think of human nature in a dark way, but how can there be so many coincidences in the world? The more coincidences, the more ghosts there are."

Yin Hongzhi is different from Xue Wanbei and Li Zhi who have dealt with rough men for a long time. He has been the prefect for so many years, and he has seen many local gentry who are rich in gold and jade and in ruins.

"Master, we rescued in time, and there was heavy rain again, and most of the superstructures were burned." Li Zhi analyzed calmly: "The Baima warehouse, like the Luokou warehouse, adopted the method of storing grain in the granary. The layers are superimposed, very tight, and it will not burn to the bottom in a short while. The fire can only burn the superstructure and grain at most. As long as the upper layer is pulled out, the grain below is still edible. Now that the grain is damp, it must not be stored. It happens that the soldiers and civilians will eat it, so just take the five warehouses of grain and eat it. Take out as much as you want, and use the ashes to estimate the rest."

"I don't quite agree with General Li's words." Xue Wanbei shook his head and said, "The White Horse Warehouse has 800 million shi, and it would not take a day or two to move them out one by one. We are only taking food temporarily, which makes people nervous. Xi’s arson shows that the amount of grain stolen is by no means small. I’m afraid that he was trying to scare the snake on purpose, but in reality he was making a fuss. Let us use these five grain cellars. There is a problem with the grain cellar. After all, we are here to fight the flood, so we don’t have time to delay in Baimacang. If the imperial court sends officials to investigate, maybe they have already replenished the grain.”

Li Zhi changed color and said: "General Xue said that the five cellars of grain are all right?"

Xue Wanbei nodded and said, "Exactly."

Li Zhi's expression tightened, and he said, "Then we can only be led by him?"

"It's too late to replenish the food in the warehouse is the biggest loophole. Now that we have encountered it, we cannot allow criminals to escape."

"Then what should we do?"

"The five granaries that were burnt down definitely can't find anything. No matter what shady secrets there are or how much food is in short supply, all the crimes are buried in the ashes. But the five granaries may also be The place where the evidence is most likely to be seized was set on fire. If the county magistrate Shi Yu was really a big rat, then the food he moved was limited to these few rations. Grab clues and evidence." Yin Hongzhi resolutely said: "Bring me the White Horse Cang Order."

"Here!"

The soldier responded, and brought over a man with disheveled hair and an anxious expression. This man was covered in mud and water, his hair and eyebrows were scorched, and his head was bald after being washed by the heavy rain. He looked like a monk.

"The humble Baima Cang Ling once again met with the Yin servant!" Cang Ling stepped forward and saluted.

"Tell me, how much food have you stolen!" Yin Hongzhi was too lazy to talk nonsense, with a hint of killing and blood in his tone, and a chilling aura in his calm words.

"Stealing food?" Zeng Zhong was dumbfounded, his expression stunned, "What kind of food am I stealing?"

Yin Hongzhi was furious: "It looks pretty good... Since you don't steal grain, then open the granaries one by one and show me."

Zeng Zhong said: "Servant Yin, this may not be appropriate."

"Shut up!" Before he finished speaking, Yin Hongzhi interrupted him and took out a gold medal from his pocket, "Everything in Xingyang, Dongjun, and Dongping is now under the jurisdiction of the 'Flood Fighting and Rescue Emergency Administration'! What do you think now?"

"No, not anymore..." Zeng Zhong smiled wryly, and led a group of people to a nearby granary.

Although Cangcheng is a whole, the thousand-mouth grain cellars inside are far apart, and they are all self-contained. A conical building is built above it to keep out the wind and rain. This building is made of rammed earth for the wall. Gray tiles are laid on the font roof.There are four beams and eight pillars inside, which are very strong, and it is fortunate that they are separated in this way, otherwise it may not be as simple as five people who suffer today.

When Zeng reopened a granary, a group of people walked in. The ground was covered with a layer of blue bricks. What appeared in front of everyone was a huge "circular well". The well wall was two feet above the ground. In the center, three drainage ditches were built outside.

There is also a ruler on the inner side of the well wall.

Zeng Zhong brought Yin Hongzhi and others to a place, then took out a large wooden spoon, pulled out the grain in the well, and revealed a clear red line, and said: "The red line is the standard for the grain cellar. It means that it is full of eight thousand stones."

Xue Wanbei bent down to pick up a handful of rice, and slowly spread it out, saying: "It's very clean, not mixed with gravel and weeds."

Yin Hongzhi snorted coldly and said, "Go and see other granaries."

"Here."

Everyone looked at more than a hundred ration cellars in a row, but they were all piled up to the brim.

"Do you still want to watch it?" Zeng Zhong smiled and said, "I am the son of a poor family. I was persecuted by corrupt officials, lost my beautiful home, and became a refugee. If it weren't for the great grace of the emperor, I would have been hungry." Died in Luoyang. What I hate the most are corrupt officials. From the day I was hired, I determined to be the most loyal and honest official in the Sui Dynasty. How could I steal the country’s food?”

Yin Hongzhi took a deep look at him, pointed to more than a dozen wooden shovels leaning against the wall, and said, "Turn down for me!"

Xue Wanbei smiled wryly: "How can we find so much food?"

Yin Hongzhi shook his head and said: "Using smart people's methods to deal with smart people sometimes fails. Using stupid and stupid methods to deal with some smart people has miraculous results. Let's do it together."

"Here!"

At that moment, the soldiers each took a wooden shovel and began to fly up and down. Thanks to the wide grain cellar, otherwise the grain piled on the walls would collapse at any time, and they would not be able to keep digging.However, this grain cellar is extremely spacious, and the man who did it is extremely strong, so the digging speed is extremely fast.

Everyone dug to a depth of nearly ten feet, and there was no problem. Yin Hongzhi was very disappointed and was about to tell everyone to stop when Xue Wanbei went down with a shovel when he heard a "dong".

Everyone stopped at the same time.

They all looked at Xue Wanbei in unison.

Xue Wanbei went down with the shovel again and again, only to hear a loud 'dong', and he said, "I touched something hard."

"continue!"

"Here."

The crowd immediately sped up their movements again. After a while, as they cleaned up, the wooden floor was gradually exposed. Xue Wanbei jumped in cautiously, tapped with the scabbard, and made a sound of "嗵嗵", and said quickly: "This sound is obvious. It is empty, if there is food below, it should not be such a sound."

At this moment, Zeng Zhong, who boasted that he was "the most loyal official and the most honest official in the Sui Dynasty", looked ashamed, as if his bones had been pulled out, and he collapsed on the ground.

"The most loyal official in the Sui Dynasty, and the most honest official, what do you say now?" Yin Hongzhi raised the corner of his mouth and looked at Zeng Zhong with a mocking expression.

"I, I don't know!"

The pale Zeng Zhong suddenly stood up and yelled furiously: "Who, who is it, who put the planks in the middle of the grain cellar?"

"Ha ha……"

Yin Hongzhi laughed angrily: "The Zengcang order said that the planks were laid in the middle of the grain cellar. General Xue, did you hear that?"

"I'm still worried that it won't be strong, so I'll fall!" Xue Wanbei chuckled, "Thanks to Zeng Cang's order for reminding me!"

As he spoke, he stepped on it with confidence, picked up the wooden shovel and piled up the grain, revealing a layer of rags, with wooden boards underneath, and then piled along the wooden boards to one side, and soon reached the edge, and found that the wooden boards were deeply inserted. When they reached the well wall, they piled up along the well wall, both sides.

Xue Wanbei suddenly said: "I understand. After they stole the grain, they laid a wooden plank and put grain on it, but the bottom of the wooden plank was empty. This layer of plank was about ten feet and three feet away from the entrance. The secretary who came to check the grain The officials of the farm temple are not like us jumping down to check, they see that the grain is full and the grain cellar is full, so naturally they can’t check any problems.”

"Such a big move in the grain cellar shows that they have been stealing grain for a long time, and there are not only one or two people involved. Otherwise, how can such a large project be built in Cangcheng without being known? I'm afraid Baima County All officials, big and small, have a share!"

Yin Hongzhi looked at Zeng Zhong who almost fainted, with a look of contempt on his face.

After all, the White Horse Warehouse is a military warehouse. There is still a war going on in the south. If the food supply of the army is insufficient and the turnover is inconvenient, the grain in the White Horse Warehouse will be transported to the south at any time. If you dare to steal the food here, it means that you are all daring.

This kind of person, after being noticed, should be tough for a while, right?

But the guy was fine, slumped to the ground like a dead dog.

Yin Hongzhi is sure that no matter what he asks now, this guy will answer honestly.

"The family seeks the country, and the villain seeks wealth" is a sentence Yang Tong once said. Yin Hongzhi had an inexplicable belief in Yang Tong, and in retrospect, he deeply believed it.

Isn't this guy just a cowardly man who wants to make money?
"Tell me, how much did you steal?"

"This, this is really not much..." Although Zeng Zhong also knew that the guilt was inevitable, he still had a little luck.

"It's okay if you don't want to say it!" Yin Hongzhi has met countless "good gentry", how can he be deceived by him?He sneered at the moment and said, "It's just a thousand rations grain cellar. I'll have someone investigate them one by one, and the truth will come out soon."

"..." Zeng Zhong lowered his head and remained silent.

"It's already at this time, are you still lucky? Now the eyes of the government and the public are all in the counties downstream of the Yellow River. Don't say that you are just a warehouse order, so what can you do even if you are the king of heaven? Listen to my advice, feel free Telling all the things can be regarded as avoiding the pain of flesh and blood. I don't have the right to hear the case, but if I report this matter back to the capital, the Holy One will definitely hand it over to the Second Department of Criminal Justice... You should know that the last time I complained During the anti-corruption campaign, those guys killed hundreds of thousands of corrupt officials and their family members, and I heard that they were all executed one by one by Ling Chi..." Yin Hongzhi said lightly: "Usually it starts with the lifeblood of a man. , cut it piece by piece, and stuffed it for the prisoners to eat..."

"Actually, there is a criminal law in the military, which I think is particularly suitable for Zeng Cangling." Xue Wanbei held back a big smile and said, "First make a wooden board full of nails, then strip Zeng Cangling's clothes, and then Use this comb-like wooden board to scrape off the flesh of Zeng Cangling's body one by one, just like a bloody strip of cloth, comb it all the way to the bone..."

Xue Wanbei's voice had a strange and chilling sense of devotion, "Imagine Zeng Cangling, it should be comfortable..."

"Don't say it! Don't say it..." Zeng Zhong couldn't bear that kind of fear, he had never been so afraid, and asked in a voice: "I just say it."

"Then tell me!" Yin Hongzhi looked at Zeng Zhong who had completely collapsed.

"Yin servant..." Zeng Zhong suppressed the fear in his heart, straightened his upper body and stared at Yin Hongzhi's face, tremblingly said: "There are a lot of stolen food. As far as I know, the total is no less than 200 million shi!"

Yin Hongzhi's heart was beating violently, and he lost his voice: "How much did you say?"

Zeng Zhong resolutely said: "No less than 200 million stones!"

Yin Hongzhi was horrified, knowing that this was a terrific and shocking case, and too many people should not know about it, so he quickly sent the soldiers out to watch out, only him, Xue Wanbei, and Li Zhi were left in the warehouse, and asked again: " How did you steal so much food? Aren't you afraid of being discovered?"

"There is a tunnel from Cangcheng to the hill twenty miles away. The hill is full of trees, and the Yellow River is on the other side of the hill. After the grain reaches the hill, it is transported by water."

"So that's the case!"

Yin Hongzhi knew that the location of Dacang was very important, and at least two prerequisites had to be met: firstly, a place with dry soil and deep soil layer, otherwise the grain would be moldy;Once these two items are satisfied, then there is the issue of safety.

Baimacang naturally had these two conditions, but Yin Hongzhi never expected that such conditions also gave criminals the convenience of stealing food.Now that they have the convenience of authenticity, it is no wonder that they stole so much food without any surprise.

Yin Hongzhi felt a little worried. He felt that all big warehouses were not safe. He had to take this place as a model and let the court investigate thoroughly, and he couldn't disclose it to the outside world. Otherwise, a large number of rats would be taught!

Asked: "Who is the mastermind?"

"County Magistrate Shi Yu and his subordinate officers!"

"Did the county magistrate, county lieutenant, county magistrate, and county magistrate participate?"

"These four chief officials don't know. Not long after they took office, all government affairs in Baima County were handled by the county magistrate."

"Understood!" Yin Hongzhi nodded slightly. Although the official system of the imperial court was clear, the imperial court was short of manpower due to the rapid expansion of the territory. The main officer is responsible for military affairs, people's livelihood, and finance.It was also in the past two years that Yang Tong focused on governance and perfecting the official system, and this predicament gradually improved.

he asked again. "Where is the buyer, who is the buyer?"

Zeng Zhong said honestly: "I heard that it was sold to the puppet Tang and Li Mi!"

"Is this true?" Yin Hongzhi didn't quite believe it. Before Li Mi's death, his territory was criss-crossed with Da Sui, so it was no problem to secretly sell it to him.However, the puppet Tang Dynasty shrank in Yizhou, and there were only a few ways to get in and out. Although Yizhou was easy to defend and difficult to attack, it was also strictly blocked by the Sui Dynasty. Nowadays, whether it is a caravan or a ship, it must be strictly inspected by the military and the Ministry of Commerce. , It is as difficult as heaven to sneak across the past.

Seeing that Yin Hongzhi didn't quite believe it again, Zeng became anxious: "Servant Yin, this matter is absolutely true. The buyers are the fake Tang and the dead Li Mi. But it was the remnants of the Zheng family in Xingyang who came forward to make a fuss..."

"Xingyang Zheng family?"

Yin Hongzhi's eyes lit up...

He is now an important minister of the Sui Dynasty, and he has gradually come into contact with many core secrets that he had never known before. Seeing the slightest opportunity, they would be broken into parts, turned from bright to dark, and some people continued to act on the surface; Take control, weave into a web step by step, and accumulate strength for a comeback.

The Holy Majesty knew that the aristocratic families were doing this, but suffered from the fact that the aristocratic families were flourishing and there was no way to find out. If Shi Yu was caught, there would be a breakthrough.

And the clans of aristocratic families are often connected with each other, sharing weal and woe, and there must be a connection in the hidden matter. As long as the court controls the Zheng faction, it will be able to find out the hidden chess pieces of other families one by one.

"Exactly!" Zeng nodded and said: "I didn't know at first, but once when they came to steal grain, I overheard Shi Yu and the gang that stole grain had a conflict, and only then did I know that Shi Yu was also a member of the Zheng family. , if the servant doesn't believe it, he can order someone to take him into custody, and he will find out if he asks..."

"Remember what they were arguing about?"

"I don't remember what they said exactly, but the content of their dispute seems to be that Shi Yu had a falling out with the visitor... It's just that the evidence is in the hands of others, and in the end they let the other party take the food."

"What about you, how did you get on the road of crime?"

"Humble job is easy to gamble!" Zeng Zhong said with a look of remorse: "I lost my eyes and lost my daughter-in-law. In this way, step by step, I embarked on the road of crime."

"Shameless You!"

Yin Hongzhi snorted coldly and said, "Do you want to take the blame and make meritorious service?"

Zeng Zhong nodded hurriedly: "I think, I think!"

"Okay, then from today onwards, you will act as if nothing happened. Then cooperate with the court... As long as you make great contributions, the court will arrange for your family to live in a place that no one else knows... Then you don't have to be afraid of these things People took revenge. But if you betray the court again, you should know what will happen to you."

"I understand, I understand... I will definitely correct my mistakes and try to make up for my crimes."

(End of this chapter)