Eagle-eyed and wolf-watching

Chapter 1730 Untitled
Watching the old man walk away, Ye Mingsheng fell silent. After a long while, he shook his head, losing interest in traveling incognito. He knew he had to end this game of deceiving each other as soon as possible, a game in which the common people would ultimately bear the consequences.

Having made his decision, Ye Mingsheng immediately issued orders. Two hours later, Zhang Hu and Wang Changfu led their troops to Ande County. Ye Mingsheng received Wang Changfu and Hu Wenzhong, the magistrate of Ande County, at the county government office.

In front of these dozens of officials, Ye Mingsheng exposed their clumsy tricks, his cold gaze sweeping over the group of local magistrates as he asked without a trace of emotion:

"Whose idea was this whole show today?"

These words made the already heavy atmosphere in the county government office even more suffocating. Even the magistrate of Ande County, Hu Wenzhong, trembled slightly. However, despite his fear, he had no choice but to quickly think and step forward to speak:
"Your Majesty, this was all my idea! I beg Your Majesty to punish me!"

After saying this, Hu Wenzhong also knelt down in despair. Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng glanced at Wang Changfu and said:

"Tell me why you did this!"

Having already decided to plead guilty, Hu Wenzhong no longer harbored any illusions and spoke directly:
"Your Majesty, our Ande County is not a wealthy region in Qilu. In previous years, even without disasters or calamities, after paying all the taxes and fees to the higher authorities, the people of the county were barely able to afford to eat!"

"However, this year's drought has severely affected our Ande County, one of the hardest-hit areas. Grain production this year is less than a third of what it used to be, with many fields yielding no harvest at all. Nearly half the population of the county is starving. Although I implemented some relief work programs as arranged by the Provincial Administration Commission and borrowed grain from wealthy households in the county on behalf of the government, the results have been minimal. If the Provincial Administration Commission hadn't sent a batch of relief grain, Ande County would likely be filled with starving corpses this year..."

"Even so, the prices of grain and other supplies in our Ande County are soaring. Fortunately, we have relief grain from the Provincial Administration Commission, so we can still eat for now. But the people are still not satisfied and keep making trouble."

"Your Majesty, your visit this time is to show your concern for the people and to appease them. I was truly afraid that these ignorant people would offend Your Majesty, so I wanted to make some minor renovations so that I could better showcase the local customs and culture of Ande County to Your Majesty!"

Listening to Magistrate Hu's high-sounding words, Ye Mingsheng clapped his hands and said with a cold smile:

"What a silver tongue you have! So you're actually doing this for my own good?"

Although he really wanted to say that was the gist of it, Hu Wenzhong could also sense the chill in Ye Mingsheng's words. He swallowed nervously, his eyes glancing intentionally or unintentionally at the Deputy Provincial Governor Wang Changfu beside him. Seeing that the other party remained unmoved, he gave up any hope and said with a mournful face:
"Your Majesty, I deserve to die!"

Hearing Hu Wenzhong say this, Ye Mingsheng snorted coldly and looked at the group of Shandong Party members in front of him, saying:
"I knew about your habits before I came, so I specifically issued an imperial edict telling you not to engage in any deception or arrange any superficial activities..."

“I said I wanted to see the most truthful situation. I’m not an unreasonable person. Even if the truth is terrible, as long as you’ve tried your best, things are understandable, and I can understand you and won’t punish you. But now some of you are ignoring my words and fabricating lies here, making the people of the whole county play along with you bastards!”

After speaking, Ye Mingsheng's gaze intentionally or unintentionally fell on Wang Changfu, the Deputy Provincial Governor of Qilu. Feeling the Emperor's gaze, Wang Changfu felt a chill in his heart.

Before Wang Changfu could think any further, he heard Ye Mingsheng's voice.

"Wang Chengfu, you are the Deputy Provincial Treasurer, tell me what should be done about this!"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng ask for his opinion, Wang Changfu was momentarily unsure of His Majesty's meaning. After quickly thinking for a moment, he spoke up:
"Your Majesty, Hu Wenzhong has committed the crime of deceiving the Emperor and should be handed over to the Provincial Surveillance Commission for investigation. Let's see if he has committed any other crimes!"

Upon hearing this, Hu Wenzhong looked at Wang Changfu in disbelief. He wanted to say something, but after hesitating for a moment, he chose to remain silent.

Seeing the changes in the expressions of the two men, Ye Mingsheng calmly gave the following instructions:

"Then let's do it this way!"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng so easily adopt his plan, Wang Changfu silently breathed a sigh of relief. He knew he could exert influence within the Qilu Provincial Surveillance Commission. He had genuinely wanted to say that Hu Wenzhong's situation was understandable, but considering Ye Mingsheng's attitude, and fearing he might anger him, he swallowed his words…
After dealing with Hu Wenzhong's case, Ye Mingsheng knew that without changing the fundamentals, it wouldn't have much effect. However, he still couldn't help but give these Shandong Party members a few words of advice. Ye Mingsheng hoped that they could understand that their actions could not deceive him. Only by truly focusing their efforts on the people would they get what they wanted.

After admonishing these obsequious Shandong Party members, Ye Mingsheng felt somewhat weary and sent them back to their posts. He himself returned to the inn to rest, as he had been walking all day and was quite tired.

Back at the inn, Ye Mingsheng received a report from Yijing. The report, from the Ministry of Justice, mainly discussed two matters. First, according to the Ministry's current investigation, it was confirmed that Zhang Zhiwen, the Provincial Governor of Youyan, knew that Wang Chong, the Magistrate of Zhuoxian County, had forcibly seized farmland from local people and that Wang Chong, in collusion with factory owners, exploited the people. However, there was currently no evidence to suggest that Zhang Zhiwen knew that Wang Chong had killed those who attempted to file complaints. Carefully reading the Ministry of Justice's report, Ye Mingsheng found it quite intriguing.

If you know, you know; if you don't know, you don't know. What do you mean by "there is no evidence to prove it"?
Does this mean Zhang Zhiwen knew, or Zhang Zhiwen didn't know, or that the Ministry of Justice was intentionally obscuring the truth?
Thinking about this, Ye Mingsheng fell into thought. Although somewhat dissatisfied with the Ministry of Justice's ambiguous answer, he knew that at his request, the Ministry of Justice was very particular about evidence when investigating cases. Therefore, even if they had some subjective suspicions, without supporting evidence, they found it difficult to make a judgment...

Ye Mingsheng guessed that the Ministry of Justice probably thought that Zhang Zhiwen knew that Wang Chong had killed someone, but they were short of evidence. Therefore, under the principle of adhering to evidence in the trial, they could not directly say that Zhang Zhiwen knew that Wang Chong had killed someone. So they could only use the method of "no evidence to prove it" to pass the buck to him and let him make the final decision!

To be honest, Ye Mingsheng is not a god, and he cannot accurately judge between the two. In Ye Mingsheng's view, it is fifty to fifty. Since that is the case, according to the principle of presumption of innocence, Ye Mingsheng is more inclined to believe that Zhang Zhiwen does not know. In his experience in the gambling industry, he also felt that Wang Chong would most likely not tell Zhang Zhiwen such a thing, but would try to keep the matter low-key.

As for the specifics of how to deal with Zhang Zhiwen, Ye Mingsheng still wanted to see how well he handled the aftermath in Zhuoxian. However, regardless of the outcome, Ye Mingsheng felt that with such a major incident in Youyan, he, as the Provincial Governor, had an inescapable responsibility and should take action. Although he had this idea, Ye Mingsheng hadn't yet decided where to transfer Zhang Zhiwen...

With this in mind, Ye Mingsheng looked at the second item in the report.

The second story concerns Wanfu Bank in Jiangnan. Previously, Zhao Dahai, the second manager of Wanfu Bank, wanted to report the head manager, Sun Wenheng, for accepting bribes and misappropriating bank assets, causing the bank to lose millions of taels of silver. He even came to Yijing in person to report the matter. However, before he could deliver the letter to the Left Censor-in-Chief Xuan Yifeng, he was killed by an unidentified assassin. Although the cabinet immediately blocked the news after receiving it due to its importance, the incident still caused a great shock in Yijing.

Upon receiving the news, Ye Mingsheng also gave instructions on the matter, ordering the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, and the Court of Judicial Review to form a special investigation team to go to Jiangnan to investigate the truth of the matter. However, just as the investigation team was formed and set off for Jiangnan, the Governor of Jianghuai, Murong Yuliang, sent a memorial to Yijing.

In his essay, Murong Yuliang admitted that Sun Wenheng, the manager he recommended, had indeed engaged in improper conduct at Wanfu Bank, causing huge losses to the bank. Currently, Sun Wenheng has fled to Southeast Asia with his family. According to Murong Yuliang's investigation, Wanfu Bank did indeed have a deficit of 300,000 taels of silver. However, through his unremitting efforts, he discovered that Sun Wenheng had not taken the 300,000 taels of silver with him, and he has now successfully recovered it.

Besides recovering the losses, Murong Yuliang also discovered that Liu Yufeng, the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner of Jiangnan, and Wei Gaojie, the Provincial Administration Commissioner of Huainan, had accepted bribes from Sun Wenheng and acted as his cronies, making them one of the main culprits behind the Wanfu Bank's losses. Therefore, Murong Yuliang requested Ye Mingsheng to order the arrest of these two men and send them to Yijing for joint trial by the Three Judicial Offices. He also requested the court to dispatch an imperial envoy to Jiangnan to oversee the subsequent investigation…

Because Sun Wenheng, Liu Yufeng, and Wei Gaojie were all recommended by Murong Yuliang back then, and their direct superior was also Murong Yuliang, the governor of Jianghuai. Such a big incident as Wanfu Bank also occurred in Jiangnan. Therefore, at the very end of the memorial, Murong Yuliang did not shirk responsibility and directly requested Ye Mingsheng to punish him, and took the initiative to resign as governor of Jianghuai!

Seeing Murong Yuliang's statement, Ye Mingsheng fell into deep thought.

In fact, when Ye Mingsheng first heard the news, he had some doubts about the figure of one million taels of silver deficit. After all, the figure was too huge, equivalent to 20-30% of the annual tax revenue of the Daqian Dynasty. Many banks in Daqian did not have such a large annual turnover.

Moreover, the report submitted to Ye Mingsheng at the time also stated that a very important reason why Zhao Dahai reported Sun Wenheng was that the two had friction in their daily work at Wanfu Piaohao. Sun Wenheng had dealt with Zhao Dahai, and Zhao Dahai held a grudge. Therefore, after discovering the evidence of Sun Wenheng's crimes, he wanted to bring Sun Wenheng down completely.

Therefore, Ye Mingsheng also had a preconceived notion that Zhao Dahai's description of his efforts to bring down Sun Wenheng at Wanfu Bank was somewhat exaggerated.

Ye Mingsheng felt there was definitely a deficit, but it shouldn't be as much as one million taels of silver. However, he didn't know the truth; these were all just his speculations. Determined to uncover the truth, he immediately arranged for the Censorate, the Ministry of Justice, and the Court of Judicial Review to jointly dispatch personnel to Jiangnan to investigate the matter. Besides these overt investigations, Ye Mingsheng also instructed the Joint Investigation Department and the Imperial Guard to conduct a covert investigation…
By launching this three-pronged attack, Ye Mingsheng wanted to see what the truth of the matter really was.

Originally, because Jiangnan was far from Youyan, and the round trip would take several months, Ye Mingsheng thought it might take half a year to find out the truth of the matter, plus the time required for investigation.

However, to my surprise, only a few days later, Murong Yuliang had investigated the truth of the matter and brought it to me, which shows that he acted very quickly.

The investigation results show that the matter is quite logical. Sun Wenheng caused a deficit of 300,000 taels of silver and was forced to flee to Southeast Asia after the incident. Because it was inconvenient to carry such a large amount of silver, Sun Wenheng did not take it all with him. Murong Yuliang recovered the silver. At the same time, the investigation also revealed that a provincial judge and a provincial governor were Sun Wenheng's backers.

It can be said that, apart from Sun Wenheng not being apprehended, the case has been basically solved.

Murong Yuliang himself showed a good attitude in admitting his guilt and accepting punishment. He took the initiative to admit his mistakes and asked the court to send someone to investigate. In the end, he took the initiative to resign as the governor of Jianghuai.

Although everything seemed reasonable, Ye Mingsheng still sensed something was amiss!

Although he didn't know exactly what was going on, as Ye Mingsheng looked at Murong Yuliang's memorial, he pondered it carefully and increasingly felt that the old fox Zhong Yuliang was hiding something.

In his memorial, Murong Yuliang only admitted that he was responsible for his oversight and apologized to Ye Mingsheng for it. Although he did not say it directly in the memorial, the implication was that he had neither discovered nor participated in the matter before it occurred!