In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 382
Quan Yong's words shocked everyone. Although they were a bit unreasonable, no one had anything to say to refute.

"Are you really not good at it, or are you just pretending not to know it? Song Ci, come on, tell them what to do?"

Song Ci took a step forward at this time: "Master Wang, if you encounter this kind of thing, you should persuade the superior. The court has relevant laws and regulations. People coming from above are not allowed to receive or entertain."

"If Shangguan still doesn't listen, you can politely refuse. If you really don't dare, just say that you are not in good health and you are sick. You can't let yourself come."

"This is a wise way to protect yourself. Of course, there is a better way, which is to report directly to us and report the Shangguan's violation of regulations."

"Master Wang, if you had reported this in advance, not only would you have done nothing wrong, but you would also have made meritorious deeds. Maybe you would be County Magistrate Wang now."

Wang Chun's face was extremely ugly, and the noise around him suddenly stopped. Many people must have regretted it now. If they had known to report it earlier, I would have made a contribution.

Quan Yong waited for Song Ci to finish speaking, then waved his hands to everyone in disgust, telling everyone to get out.

Although such laws have been promulgated in the Song Dynasty, this is the first time that someone has implemented them below, because when everyone came, they came together. Officials and generals from the entire Yangzhou Prefecture came. Many people did not blame the public and did not They may enforce such a law, or they may think that the emperor is just joking and did not expect Quan Yong to be serious.

Seeing Quan Yong's anger, Chang Wencai and others did not dare to stay, so they turned around and left. Many people felt a shadow in their hearts, feeling that something was not good.

Chang Wencai had not gone far when he turned around and found that General Lu Zhiping, Qianhu Yan Haiguang and other generals had not left.

Qi Bing, the magistrate of Guangling County, followed quickly and said in a trembling voice: "Quan Yong is coming here with bad intentions. I'm afraid it won't be a good thing."

Chang Wencai sneered and said: "Why are you panicking? This is our territory, and we are all our people from top to bottom. He has great abilities, can he change the world?"

After saying that, a ferocious look appeared on his face: "If you don't drink a toast, you will be punished with a drink. Let's see how he behaves here."

Chang Wencai thought that Quan Yong brought people here from the capital and had no acquaintances in Yangzhou, so it was difficult for him to move forward. Why don't you rely on us locals?

At the same time, Quan Yong on the other side called the garrison general Lu Zhiping and Jin Yiwei Qianhu Yan Haiguang aside.

Both of them were young men from the Yiwang Palace and the mines, and have known Quan Yong for many years.

"Who asked you to come?" Quan Yong said angrily.

The two of them had ugly expressions and stammered. They both said that Chang Wencai sent someone to invite him. Chang Wencai said that Quan Yong was here. When they heard that they were acquaintances and old bosses, they naturally ran over.

"How much do you know about the granary?" Quan Yong asked directly.

The two of them were now sure that Quan Yong was here for the granary matter, but it had been a long time ago. It had been more than a year since what happened in August last year. The granary had been renovated, and no trace of the past could be seen at all.

Both expressed ignorance.

Quan Yong asked again the address of the granary and who usually guards it.

The granary of the Song Dynasty was under the management of the Ministry of Households, and the localities corresponded. The prefecture was Hucao, and the county was Hufang.

Usually, each granary is arranged for a local family to live in the granary for every [-] dan, and then there are prefectural and county yamen officials and archers who guard the gate in turn.

A duty list should be drawn up every month, and personnel should be assigned in rotation according to the list. The duty list should have a stub and be submitted to the superior department after the end of each month.

The county government goes to the state government, and the state government office transfers the system and purchase department to the Ministry of Household Affairs.

The granary where the accident occurred was in Guangling County, because Guazhou now belongs to Guangling County, and the imperial grain ships docked in Guazhou for transportation and storage nearby.

The Granary is less than ten miles away from Guazhou Ferry. It is very close. It is built on the side of a mountain and is surrounded by scattered villages. The people in the Granary are all residents selected by the local government. They are paid and have various benefits. People all want to live in food.

Quan Yong chatted with a few people, sent them away, and warned them repeatedly that as a general, he should train his troops and horses locally, garrison the place, and keep the place safe, and don't cause trouble.

Quan Yong then prepared to go to the place where the incident occurred to check first.

He brought a lot of people with him this time. He gathered them together first and said in a deep voice: "You are on a business trip this time. The court will provide you with subsidies. Each person will receive a copper coin per day. In addition, if you do good things, you will be rewarded, and if you make important discoveries or meritorious services, you will be rewarded." If you do, you can be promoted."

Everyone around was excited. This time there were supervisory censors, royal guards, and landlord garrison. Of course, everyone wanted to make money and perform meritorious deeds.

"I will review the discipline again."

"Except for business needs, you are not allowed to meet privately with local officials and relevant personnel, and you are not allowed to travel alone. If someone comes to give you money or gifts, you can accept them. The court will take half, and you will take half. Write down the name and position of the gift giver."

Everyone was even more happy when they heard this. It turned out that someone had given gifts and accepted them openly. Who knew who could be so unlucky as to give gifts.

It was obvious that the imperial court had brought them together to do evil.

Then Quan Yong began to assign a group of people to go to the prefecture and county offices to obtain last year's duty records.

Let a group of people go find the officials, clerks, and people in charge of this granary.

Quan Yong took a group of people directly to the granary to watch the scene, and a large number of people were left on the boat.

The first two batches of people were various combinations. Each batch of people had a supervisory censor, a royal guard and a garrison. Everyone was not familiar with them yet, but they had to work together and go in and out together.

There were ten sergeants in the first group, and they followed the supervisory censor Cao Kun to Guangling County first.

The county magistrate Qi Bing hurried forward to greet him, but when Cao Kun asked for duty records, Qi Bing frowned: "This happened a year ago. According to the requirements of the court, we only keep records for one year. Cao Yushi may Go to the magistrate's office and ask, there is our stub over there."

Cao Kun said in a deep voice: "Does County Magistrate Qi treat the imperial court's decree as child's play? If there is a major accident, the counterfeit should be kept. There is no one-year limit."

Qi Bing said calmly, the imperial decree didn't say that fire burning food was a major accident?No one was named in the law.

"." Cao Kun.

Cao Kun secretly made a note that this was a loophole in the law and could be filled later.

He didn't say much at the moment, took the duty list for the first nine months of this year, and turned to go to the prefect's Yamen.

Of course the prefect Chang Wencai was very polite. After talking about this, he immediately asked someone to get the stub.

As a result, Cao Kun got it and found that it had been rained on, and all the ink on it was scattered, making it impossible to see what was written on it.

"How is this going?"

"Ah, the yamen has been in disrepair for a long time. Last year, I applied to the court to repair the yamen. I applied for [-] guan, but the court only approved [-] guan. Many places were not repaired. It suddenly rained heavily and the warehouse was flooded."

Chang Wencai was confident and took them to see the site. The warehouse did look dilapidated.

The imperial court had a strict order prohibiting fires in local government warehouses. Fire sources must be strictly guarded, but it didn't say to guard against flooding, so Chang Wen laughed to himself.

Cao Kun looked around and asked in a deep voice: "Where did all your money go to repair it?"

"Priority is given to the prison, for fear that something might happen to the prisoner, and then the place where the officials work and the warehouse of important books. The government office of this government plans to build it last, in full compliance with the court's decree. If the money is approved next time, it will be repaired first. warehouse."

The warehouses are also divided into important and unimportant ones. The important ones such as recording fields and household registrations are in one room, while the ones that were flooded this time are considered unimportant.

At this time, Cao Kun began to compare the duty schedule for the first nine months of this year.

There are a total of 58 Guangling granaries, the largest is [-] shi, and the smallest is [-] shi. They are all dug into the ground, with less than half exposed on the ground.

There is a high wall on the outside, which is more than six miles long, surrounding all the grain.

According to the duty schedule, there are usually two doors in the granary. There are four guards at the door every day and 30 people inside the wall, divided into six groups.

During the day, there are a total of 38 people inside and outside. When it gets dark, the people outside will go home. They will rotate tomorrow. The 30 people inside the wall are thirty households living in the granary. Each household has one person, so they will always live in the granary. .

In the evenings, the shifts are usually on duty.

The court's requirement is that there are five people in each class, and they take turns to watch the night, every six days.

In practice, in many places, there are three or two people per class, and everyone will take a turn once every half month.

This is because ordinary people are secretly trying to be lazy and reduce the number of days they are on duty.

Under normal circumstances, there is generally no big problem. After all, no one dares to steal food. Food is difficult to move. Once the door is locked, it is basically impossible to move out, so even if no one is on duty, no one dares to steal official food.

If you break down the door, you will be discovered immediately.

Unless you climb over the wall, kill everyone inside, unlock the door, and move it slowly.

There are two garrisons nearby, with about 200 people, about ten miles away from the granary.

On the night of the incident, people from both cities came to help put out the fire.

Therefore, there are only eight government officials who are actually involved in guarding the granary every day.

In the afternoon of the same day, Quan Yong came to the granary and looked around. He found that the walls were relatively high. According to the court's requirements, they were more than three meters high. There had to be a backrail built on top. With the backlash, it had to be four meters high.

When you walk into the wall, you will see a one-meter-wide ditch at the foot of the wall. Water is stored in the ditch. If there is a fire, the water can be used directly to put out the fire.

Not far away is a row of granaries. The granary floor looks like a circular carved castle, with an exposed area of ​​about three or four meters. If you open any granary, you will see steps going down, all dug below the ground.

The large granary stores [-] shi, the smaller one has [-] to [-] shi, and all have iron doors and iron locks.

The distance between the granaries is more than ten meters, and there is nothing in between, and there is no ignition material, so it is not easy to burn one granary, let alone more than 50 at the same time.

Quan Yong only took one look and knew that it must be intentional. Otherwise, it would be impossible to burn dozens of granaries and 30 dan.

If you don't open the door, you can't light a fire outside.

After a while, the second group of people he sent out called some people here one after another.

Tan Qi, the director of the household in Guangling County who was in charge of the granary, and several officials from the household also arrived at the scene.

Cao Kun also came over and said he couldn't see the list clearly.

Quan Yong shook his head: "The eight guards will go home at night, no need for the list."

The fire broke out at night, and the eight guards went home at night, so it has little to do with these guards. Unless there is evidence that they climbed the wall, judging from the current situation, the main insiders are still [-] households living here. of people.

Unexpectedly, when Tan Qi arrived, he said that Qian Baoshan, the original house owner of the house, suddenly disappeared within ten days after the fire occurred within a few months of his tenure. He has not been found yet.

"..." Cao Kun and Quan Yong immediately felt that Qian Baoshan was suspicious.

"Song Ci, what do you think?" Quan Yong asked Song Ci.

Song Ci thought for a while: "The official thinks that the thirty households here are also suspicious."

Of course, Qian Baoshan may also play a connecting role, because most of the people inside were selected by the government, and it was Qian Baoshan who was responsible for selecting people.Judging from the list, Qian Baoshan's relatives were also on it.

By this time, Quan Yong and Song Ci had learned about the normal operation of the granary.

There are eight people guarding the place during the day, and the guards go back at night. When they go back, the people inside lock the door, so it has nothing to do with the guards.

Quan Yong pointed directly at the granary and asked Tan Qi: "After repair, will this granary be the same as before?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Please light a fire for me and let me see."

Tan Qi was stunned and looked around, as if he had nowhere to start.

He said decisively: "You have to open the door."

“Call out the residents, big and small, everyone.”

Quan Yong gave an order, and soon all the thirty families living in the granary, regardless of their size, were dragged out.

Everyone looked at Quan Yong with a little horror, and many people looked confused.

Quan Yong called the names from the roster and asked them one by one.

I was shocked when I asked the first one.

The first household came after the fire. The original thirty households inside also changed a lot. After the fire, six households moved away.

Quan Yong called people from the local government office again, but they all had no idea where these six households had gone.

At this time, the identity cards in the Xixia region have not yet been extended to the whole country, and there are none in Yangzhou. Local officials can say that they have no idea where the people have gone.

As for the new place they moved to, we won't know until the next census in the Song Dynasty, or when identity cards are promoted. However, in ancient times, people could change their names, so it was really difficult to check.

At this time, Tan Qi also said that we also suspected that the original person in charge, Qian Baoshan, had conspired with these six families, but the 30 stone grains were piled up like a mountain, and it was not easy to deal with them. No one had been found yet, so it was impossible to make a conclusion.

Then Quan Yong asked the people again, and soon got the news that they all slept very hard on the day of the fire, and they suspected that they had all been drugged.

However, the local prefect and county magistrate did not mention this matter during previous investigations.

Quan Yong said that this matter was easy to handle, and immediately sent Song Ci to take people to the hospitals and pharmacies in Guangling County. If nothing was found, he would go to Yangzhou Prefecture and other counties. If that didn't work, he would go to other nearby prefectures.

Because after Zhao Yurui established the Medical Department, he integrated local medical resources and established hospitals in various counties.

Medicinal materials in various places are mainly supplied by hospitals affiliated to the imperial court. Each county is only allowed to have two to five private pharmacies (depending on the population), and all doctors are also recruited by the imperial court.

Song Ci took people to several pharmacies in Guangling County to see if anyone came to dispense the drug on the day of the fire last August, or before the fire.

This drug was rare to see in ancient times, so most store clerks and shopkeepers would have memories of it.

Moreover, after Zhao Yurui's restructuring, there was a law stipulating that all pharmacies selling arsenic, laxatives, narcotics, etc. need to register and keep stubs.

As expected, Song Ci found the stub in a drugstore.

The shopkeeper remembered it very clearly, after all, very few people wanted to buy intoxicating drugs.

The ancient formula for intoxicating drugs was 2 grams of Cao Wu, 2 grams of Sichuan Wu, 2 grams of Zuixian Peach Blossom, and 2 grams of Naoyang Flower. It can usually charm one or two people.

The other party offered half a catty of each item that day. The shopkeeper was shocked, but he quickly wrote it down and asked for his name and address.

But this person does not have an ID card, and the other party’s name and address are all fake.

I only learned from the shopkeeper that the man was not tall, had a chubby face, and was relatively rich.

After I came back, I asked people at the scene and learned that Qian Baoshan was short and had a chubby face.

At this time, Qian Baoshan was considered the main suspect, but he was an official in charge of the granary and did not live here at night. There must be a mole in the thirty households, and the few households that had left were all suspects.

Quan Yong's investigation is complete now, and the clues have been cut off.

The missing people from those families couldn't be found, and the gods couldn't do anything about the fire case.

But Quan Yong didn't leave. He lived on the boat every day, sent people to investigate the case one after another, and asked everywhere, but there were no good clues.

The people in Yangzhou Prefecture were quite scared at first, but gradually they became bolder. It is estimated that Quan Yong will have to leave in despair before long.

So what if you know that thirty granaries were ordered?You have to find the person who committed the crime.

You can't find the person who committed the crime. It's useless without evidence?

Some people have learned that they are so smart that the court can do nothing to them.

After Quan Yong stayed in Yangzhou for ten days, one day suddenly he sent a large number of followers to post announcements throughout Yangzhou Prefecture. At the same time, various prefectures near Yangzhou, and even all over Jiangsu and Zhejiang, began to post announcements.

Some people were dumbfounded when they saw the announcement.

The announcement stated that the case of the Yangzhou granary in August last year was confirmed to have been deliberately set on fire. Six families escaped, and Qian Baoshan escaped. These people colluded inside and outside to steal 30 shi of imperial military rations.

These grains are worth approximately 40 guan based on current grain prices.

Surely it would take a lot of ships and a lot of manpower to transport so much grain?
Anyone who was involved in this matter and is still alive, as long as they report and surrender, the court will not only ignore it, but will also reward them heavily.

For example, if you distribute 30 guan or 15 guan to one of these six households, even if it is [-] guan, as long as you stand up and surrender to the court, the [-] guan you distributed will still be yours, and the other [-] guan will be recovered. [-] Guanli, and you will be rewarded with another [-] Guanli. (half).

Likewise, those participating ship owners and crew members who remember transporting grain to Guazhou that night should report it.

Not only will your fault not be taken into account, but you will be rewarded half of it. (20 yuan.)
Anyone who participates in official reporting will not count the money they receive for corruption. If they are promoted to one or two levels, they will be rewarded half (20 yuan).
Of course, the court only needs the first person to report. If the second person reports, it will be too late and the whole family will be killed directly.

Quan Yong believes that such a big case, transporting 30 stone grains, must not be carried out by one or two people.

As soon as this announcement came out, some people were scared to death.

Qi Bing, the magistrate of Guangling County, considered that Zhao and Rui had used the same method of reporting when they raided the landowners before. There was a tenant servant in Yangzhou who reported to his master and transformed himself into a big landowner.

Many such things happened throughout the Song Dynasty. Zhao Yurui had no credibility with Mongolia and the Jin Kingdom, but he had a good reputation domestically.

And Qi Bing has to consider whether other officials will report it first?

Qi Bing only thought about it for half an hour, and finally gritted his teeth and hurried to Quan Yong's boat parked on the shore.

But when he arrived at Guazhoudu, he saw Quan Yong getting off the boat with a large group of people.

"Master Marquis, please surrender yourself and report --" Qi Bing cried quickly.

"Hehe." Quan Yong smiled ferociously: "Magistrate Qi, you are late. Someone is one step ahead of you."

With a plop, Qi Bing saw the person behind Quan Yong sitting on the ground. He was so scared that he peed. He trembled: "You - why are you back -"

The person who came to report was none other than Qian Baoshan, the former head of the household in Guangling County.

In fact, the first person to come was a crew member from Changzhou. When the crew member came to complain to Quan Yong, Qian Baoshan also came, and Quan Yong happened to call them both in for questioning.

The crew member and his ship participated in transporting grain that night, but he did not know that it was stolen. Only later did he learn that there was a fire in the Yangzhou granary.

He is the boss's nephew. The boss gave him [-] yuan and asked him to shut up and stop talking nonsense.

Since they were powerful and had money to take, of course he didn't know about it.

But they didn't expect that as soon as their ship landed this time, they saw an announcement on the shore, offering a direct reward of 20 yuan. Is this okay?No personal influence is of any use.

Qian Baoshan also came and told the truth.

Guarding the granary was a trustworthy citizen selected by the local yamen. Not only did he receive a salary, he could also eat the grain for free, and he was exempted from military service. This was definitely a good job in the Song Dynasty.

Therefore, officials at all levels want to include their relatives among them.

Among the six missing households, there were the Yangzhou magistrate, Tongpan, and county magistrate Qi Bing, as well as four of his relatives, Qian Baoshan.

They each found a relative to live in a granary, received wages, ate royal grain, were exempted from military service, and did not have to pay taxes.

Because they don’t have to farm, they don’t need to pay taxes at all.

It's simply a pleasure.

But after a long time, it gets boring and we can’t travel far away. Every household must have someone here.

Not long after, something happened to a nephew of the prefect Chang Wencai.

This guy went to Guangling County to collect money when he was not on duty. He lost a lot in this round and round, and then he started to pay attention to the granary.

But he couldn't do this alone. He was smarter and dragged several officials' family members into the trap one after another and took them to the game to play, and everyone lost money together.

After losing like this, I had to find a way to make up for it, so I started selling food secretly.

At first they were just petty thieves. Once a month, they would line up in groups and watch at night. When others were asleep, they would open the door and transport dozens or hundreds of stones, hide them in the county and sell them to grain merchants, and no one would notice.

As a result, not long after, the imperial court inspected the grain, and the local government conducted a self-inspection first. As a result, Qian Baoshan found that the grain was missing by thousands of kilograms.

Is this still available?

These thirty families can eat in the granary, but each person cannot exceed three kilograms per day. More than three kilograms is abnormal.

Now that it is missing thousands of stones, it must have been sold.

At this time, Chang Wencai's nephew had no choice but to admit to selling grain.

Only then did Chang Wen become furious. His nephew didn't know about the imperial decree, but Chang Wen only knew that selling grain was a capital crime. Moreover, this person was recommended by him and was a relative of his. He would have to lose his official position at the very least. To be sentenced.

Several officials involved made a final discussion and decided to break the jars, join forces inside and outside, first use incense to charm the others, and then take advantage of the moonlight to empty out all the grain, and then sell it to them at a [-]% discount. He killed a businessman in Changzhou. (That is, the crew boss)

(End of this chapter)