Wind rises time and space gate

Chapter 481 A glimpse
Except for Zhang Zhi, the other people who flew over to check all reported nothing unusual.

Zhao Guangyuan checked along the river embankment for a while, but found no abnormalities. The project has been completed and the embankment has been built. Whether corners were cut or not, only those who know the inside story can know.

I only listened to the statements of the villagers of Zashui Village. This was a project that involved the labor of their entire village and the young people of the villages along the coast. It took a full three months to complete the project.

He has good words in his mouth.

"Perhaps the Luocheng County Magistrate is someone who knows and loves the people, and is not as collusive as the secret report said."

Zhang Zhi and others still believe that there are still many officials in the world who cherish their feathers. As long as you pay attention to official reputation, you won't go too far.

"But it has been deducted layer by layer and dropped everywhere. For a project as big as Zhashui Village, I'm afraid it won't be enough. We can't use the county government's money or the county magistrate to pay for it out of his own pocket." Wei Zuo and others were doubtful.

Zhao Guangyuan said nothing and stood by the river for a long time, checking along the way until the night wind blew out the torches. Then he returned to the village under the persuasion of everyone.

At dawn, he got up and went to the dam alone, jumped on the dam and took a closer look.

The gurgling water flows farther away through the holes under the dam. Occasionally, the water splashes against the dam and falls to the river surface, disappearing in an instant.

After having breakfast at Liu Dachuan's house, Zhao Guangyuan and his party prepared to leave with the dry food prepared by Liu Dachuan's wife.

Liu Dachuan asked his eldest son Liu Fengshui to lead a group of people to fetch the horses.

Before leaving, Zhao Guangyuan asked someone to stuff a purse into Liu Fengshui, "There is a business in your county called Yongchang Hao. If you have anything to do, such as about the dam, you can go there to find me. My surname is Jiang."

Liu Fengshui was stunned when a purse was stuffed into him. He wanted to refuse, but the other party stuffed it directly into his arms.

He didn't think he had anything to do with this group of noble people. It was just a chance encounter. What about the dykes?

Why should I go to them about the dam myself? Shouldn't I go to the county government?

He stared blankly at the group of nobles riding away on their horses.

When he returned home and told his biological father about this, Liu Dachuan was stunned. I asked my son to take the purse and look at it. He poured it into his hand and found it was heavy. There were ten taels! Seeing this, I was dumbfounded again.

The meal money given by the nobleman yesterday was enough, and this morning I also gave him three taels of silver for a simple farm breakfast. Now you gave me another ten taels?

"Dad, what does this mean?" Liu Fengshui scratched his head, "And why do you say that you can go to the county's commercial firm to find them about the dam?"

Liu Fengshui's three-year-old son was listening to his father and grandfather talking with his head raised. When he saw his grandfather taking out the money and looking at it, he took his father's hand and said, "Dad, hug me, I want to look at the money too!"

Liu Feng pulled his son away and said, "Go, your grandfather and I are talking about something."

Liu Dachuan glanced at his grandson, smiled and touched his head, and asked his daughter-in-law to take him away.

His wife suddenly said at the side, "Dad, do you think those nobles are the inspectors of the Eight Prefectures mentioned in the play? They came down from Beijing to inspect? Are they here to check the construction status of dams in various places?"

Liu Dachuan and his sons were stunned when they heard this.

A senior official in Beijing?
"Dad!" Liu Fengshui was a little excited, "Dad, I think the noble man in the lead looks majestic. Dad, don't you think he looks noble? Maybe he is really a high-ranking official from Beijing!"

Liu Dachuan's wife expressed her doubts. When her son said this, she slapped her thigh and said, "It must be! I just said that those noble people are not simple. I have seen a lot of rich businessmen, but none of them have that noble person." That aura!”

It's what everyone calls official talk. An official accent that only the county magistrate has!

That noble man must be an official!
More powerful than the magistrate of their county! He must be a high-ranking official from Beijing.

"Yes, dad, I guess he is still a big official! I think those dozen people all listen to the noble leader. He also said that his surname is Jiang, so those people must be Mr. Jiang's servants!"

Liu Dachuan thought for a while and interrupted everyone's chattering speculations.

"Okay, since they are hiding their identity, we just pretend we don't know. We also keep it a secret from the outside world. Anyone who asks will just say that a group of businessmen are passing by and coming to rest. Don't cause trouble for the family."

"It's dad."

As for Zhao Guangyuan and his party, they left Zashui Village and only reined in their horses and slowed down until no one was around.

"Master, should we go to various county offices to inquire, or should we go along the river to inquire?"

After exploring all the way along the river, I am afraid that I will still encounter a situation like the one in Nashui Village. Many people do not know the inside story, and if the project is completed, they will not see anything. We still have to go deep into various county offices to inquire.

It would be great if we could get the account books of various county governments building embankments and dams.

Zhang Zhi was eager to try, "Master, I will go to the county government office to investigate at night and see if I can find the account books."

Zhao Guangyuan was noncommittal.

After thinking about it for a while, he said, "Let's wait for the secret team to get back the information from the Yongchang." But their time was tight and the task was heavy, so several preparations were necessary.

Therefore, the opinions raised by Zhang Zhi and others were not denied.

The group of people discussed it and continued to explore along the river with their identities concealed. He also inquired from local people about the situation of county government offices, county magistrates and other officials...

Within a few days, various news reached Zhao Guangyuan, and several account books were obtained.

After turning it over, nothing unusual was found. "The Luocheng County Magistrate seems to be a good official. It records that the state government allocated 450,000 taels of silver to the county government. I remember clearly where it was used and how many taels it was used. There is no trace of it. Oh no, the remaining fifteen taels of silver are said to be used to repair the county government sewers."

"Luocheng County built a total of three dykes, so each one cost 150,000 taels."

One hundred and fifty thousand taels?

"Isn't 150,000 taels not enough for a project as big as the construction of Zashui Village?"

The narrow water village section is fifty miles long, the dam is more than two feet wide and more than one foot high, and it only cost 150,000 taels?

"These are all forced labor. There are more than 20 nearby villages, and almost all the young and adult male laborers in each village are working. If this is calculated as labor, how much does it cost? There is also a stone mountain nearby, and the stones are probably free."

"Then if you calculate it this way, one hundred and fifty thousand taels is too much?"

"I didn't say that. Building such a big dam requires more than just stones." The account book has been written down, how much it costs, and where it is spent. The account can't be evener.

Zhao Guangyuan listened to the discussions of his subordinates and thought to himself, when building such a large dam, there are ways to build it if there is money available, and there are ways to build it if there is no money.

One hundred and fifty thousand taels? Enough or not enough?

Only Luocheng County has allocated 450,000 taels, and the counties in the southwest are estimated to add up to 4 to 5 million taels. There are also four southeastern counties.

Did the prince count all the four million taels withheld in various county offices?

Otherwise, how can we justify ourselves?

Flipping through the few account books at hand, "I asked someone to copy a copy overnight, and these were sent back quickly. After copying, I asked the accountant of Yongchang Bank to help me see if there are any problems. There are also the sources of the materials written on them, The brick shop has people going to check it secretly."

"Yes."

"In addition, send a message to various places and ask them to find a way to get the accounts of dams and embankments in the remaining counties."

"Yes."

After checking for a few more days, Zhao Guangyuan had calculated the whereabouts of 8 million taels from various accounts. The prince shared the four million taels he had gained from corruption among various water conservancy project funds.

"But that's not right. Originally, my subordinates thought that the prince would use the four million taels for other purposes and would not put them into the water conservancy fund. But now, after calculation, the eight million taels are exactly the same."

It is tantamount to saying that the dams everywhere are falsely claiming twice as much money.

Even if the account can be balanced and one tael of stone is quoted at 20 taels, "but the money that the state government has stolen from each county is obvious to all. You can't just take 100,000 taels and record 200,000 taels in the account." ?”

Besides, from the prefect to the county magistrates, to the chief ministers, to the yamen servants, are they all the prince's people? Are they all hiding it together?

There are also various purchasing offices, all helping to hide the prices of materials?

How else could it be done?
"Master, do we still have to send people to the masonry and other materials workshops to get the account books of their transactions with the county government?"

The money allocated from the state government to the county government can be easily concealed from those who handle it without insider knowledge. As for the various workshops, the prices quoted are exaggeratedly high, and there are excuses for the price being inconsistent with other workshops in the county. The county magistrate only said that the materials used were good. Then there's no problem.

Moreover, one hundred thousand cubic meters of stone was used, or two hundred thousand cubic meters of stone. No one except the person who handled it could know one or two of them.

Zhao Guangyuan nodded, "Let me search everywhere and get the best one I can. In addition, let me ask people to inquire from insiders in various county governments."

"Yes."

Zhao Guangyuan gave some instructions, then thought about the news he had heard these days, and said: "Except for the two counties in Luocheng where the dams have been built, the construction has not been completed elsewhere. Let's set off for Linzhao tomorrow."

Everyone should be.

At dawn the next day, a group of people left the inn and headed for Linzhao.

Linzhao is also located in the southwest, adjacent to Luocheng. During the wet season every year, several counties are often hit by floods. The dam was repaired every year, and the corvee was collected and sent to the dam every year.

On this day, a group of people turned from the official road into a mountain road and were roasting the game they had caught on the hillside, resting for lunch.

Then I heard movement in the forest.

"I'll go take a look!" Zhang Zhi stuffed the meat into his mouth, gave the meat-cutting dagger to the people around him, and jumped into the forest to explore.

In the mountain forest, a middle-aged man was heading into the forest in a panic, followed by several thugs who were slowly approaching.

After a while, a man leaped over and blocked the man's way.

"Run, run, let me see where you can go."

He was so angry that he chased him all the way. He quickly stopped breathing, stepped forward and kicked the man hard, knocking him to the ground. He stepped forward and stepped on his back.

"You have a strong bone, and you are not afraid that our adults will kill your family!" He stretched out his hand and said, "Hand it over!"

"What are you paying for? I don't know what you said." The man was also tough.

"Hey, are you pretending to be stupid, or are you not going to shed tears even if you see the coffin? Do you really want the lives of your family?" He took out the saber on his body and was about to stab him, "It depends on whether you are tougher with your words or my knife! "