Borrow the day to change the day

Sun Chuanting was surprised when he heard this, but after a closer look, the person sitting in the hall was wearing plain clothes, but he was none other than Xing Guogong.So, he quickly led his hands and knelt down to meet him.

He had met Zhong Jinwei many times when he was in the capital, but he had been watching from among the officials, so there were situations where Zhong Jinwei had never met Sun Chuanting, but Sun Chuanting recognized Zhong Jinwei.

Zhong Jinwei looked at Sun Chuanting who was kneeling at the bottom, snorted coldly and asked, "Well, you bold Sun Chuanting, why are you greedy even for the pension money of the smuggling soldiers? There is no one in charge in such a big city office. It caused the Shibo Department to stop operating several times, is this a crime of negligence?"

Ordinary people would definitely be terrified when they were questioned like this by an imperial envoy, a famous person in the dynasty, or the Duke of Xingguo.

But Sun Chuanting didn't. He looked up at Zhong Jinwei, and said calmly, "Why did the Duke say that? Since I came to Guangzhou to take office, I have devoted myself to my duties and devoted myself to the Secretary of the Municipal Bureau. How can I neglect my duties? The lower officials will never do that kind of corruption, let alone be ashamed to be greedy for pensions!"

How could Zhong Jinwei change his opinion after a few words of explanation from Sun Chuanting, and he immediately said: "How dare you argue! Bring the plaintiff."

When Sun Chuanting heard this, he was a little surprised, and someone even sued him.When I turned my head to look, a young woman with two children came out from the side and knelt down on one side.

Sun Chuanting recognized this person when he saw him.He understood at once, it turned out that what the Duke said was such a thing.

After the woman fell to her knees, she turned sideways and faced Sun Chuanting and said, "The women of the people have come here again and again to ask for the compensation money from your husband, but you have refused to give it all the time, and you have been corrupted by this dog official."

Zhong Jinwei kept looking down, seeing Sun Chuanting's face remained calm and calm after seeing the plaintiff, he couldn't help being slightly surprised.

He thought in his heart, is it true that Sun Chuanting will not shed tears when he sees the coffin, or is there something hidden in it, and there is no greed for ink at all?

Sun Chuanting ignored the young woman, but turned around and said to Zhong Jinwei: "Duke, I understand what's going on, please allow me to explain."

"Actually speaking." Zhong Jinwei faintly felt that there must be something wrong with it, and immediately said to Sun Chuanting in a less cold tone.

"Guogong, after the next official took charge of the Shibo Department, he wanted to start operating the Shibo Department according to the imperial order, but found that there were many difficulties. One of the biggest reasons was that there was not enough silver to make the Shibo Department operate normally."

"Therefore, in order to prevent the Shibo Department from being paralyzed as much as possible, I have no choice but to temporarily withhold the payment of this woman's pension. Not only that, but the salaries of other anti-smuggling soldiers are also in arrears." Sun Chuanting said here, pointing The young woman kneeling on one side spoke humanely.

Zhong Jinwei frowned when he heard this, he didn't quite understand this, and immediately asked: "Didn't the imperial court allocate the silver taels, and there are also the silver taels originally reserved by the Shibo Department, the combination of the two should be enough for your Shibo Department?"

"My lord, let me listen to the official's detailed explanation." After Sun Chuanting finished this sentence, he began to elaborate: "My lord, after I took charge of the Shibo Department, I found that the original anti-smuggling soldiers were very cunning and cunning. An illegal act. Therefore, most of the original anti-smuggling soldiers were disbanded, and new anti-smuggling soldiers were recruited from refugees for training. This cost a lot of money, but it was a sum that had to be spent.”

"Most of the anti-smuggling soldiers recruited by the lower officials at the beginning were homeless and strong men, but they did not expect that smuggling was rampant. They could not buy the anti-smuggling soldiers, so they fought against the anti-smuggling soldiers with weapons, so that the casualties of the anti-smuggling soldiers remained high. To supplement the anti-smuggling Soldiers, the lower officials had no choice but to recruit another group of people with young families, and his family was recruited at this time. In this way, it cost a lot of money and food."

"Guanggong, smuggling is rampant, and the local government and the governor's office do not cooperate. As a result, the Shibo Department is struggling and cannot collect much tax. Various expenses, especially the establishment and training of anti-smuggling soldiers, as well as medical treatment and pensions for casualties. It was a lot of consumption. The Shibo Department quickly exhausted the silver allocated by the imperial court, and the above expenses are well documented."

"Originally, I was counting on the silver taels left by the Shibo Division, but when the next official came to the Shibo Division, I didn't see this silver tael, and it had been embezzled."

Zhong Jinwei listened all the time, seeing Sun Chuanting's eloquent speech without a single pause, and he didn't find any sign of lying, so he believed it in his heart.

When Sun Chuanting said this, he couldn't help asking: "Who misappropriated it?"

Sun Chuanting's face became a little angry at this time, and he replied to Zhong Jinwei: "The chief envoy's office and the governor's office are pushing each other, saying that it is with the other party. The officials have gone to pursue it many times, but there is no result."

"Guo Gong asked why no one in charge stayed in the Yamen of the Shibo Department. There was an urgent shortage of money, and it was impossible to keep people in the Yamen to do things. The lower officials simply brought these people and went there together to recover the money."

After Zhong Jinwei finished listening, he turned his head to look at the Guangzhou fan, and asked in a cold voice, "Is what Sun Tiju said true?"

Hearing the question from the Duke of the State of Guangzhou, the fan officer in Guangzhou quickly told him, "The matter of the bank is incompetent and has never paid attention to it. But Sun Tiju said that smuggling is rampant, and there are many deaths and injuries among the anti-smuggling soldiers. It is true."

Zhong Jinwei can also understand that Dongchang will not be omnipotent like the legend.Therefore, he did not inquire about the criminals in Guangzhou, and he got the news of rampant smuggling, which is enough to prove the authenticity of what Sun Chuanting said.

In fact, the rampant smuggling can be deduced as long as one thinks about it carefully.

The previous foreign maritime trade has not been allowed by the imperial court, and the Guangzhou Shipping Department has been in a state of herding sheep, which is just like a decoration.In addition, Guangzhou is also the largest trading point for overseas trade. Those people were used to not paying taxes, or used to smuggling, so they suddenly had to collect taxes, so naturally they would not be happy.

The Shibo Department does not have enough troops to deter smuggling. If the local government does not cooperate, it will be inevitable for this kind of thing to happen now.

Thinking of the smuggling incident, Zhong Jinwei couldn't help but cast a glance at Zheng Zhilong standing beside him, thinking that this is the biggest armed smuggling leader.If the smuggling in Fujian was strictly investigated at the beginning, it would be a ghost if he didn't fight back with arms!

Now things are almost clear, this matter is no longer a matter of corruption or not, but a matter of the imperial court's re-opening of the Shibo Department.

Therefore, it was no longer convenient for the young woman to stay here, so the hall asked her to retreat and wait for the final result.

After the young woman exited the hall, Zhong Jinwei said to the officials kneeling on the ground: "Get up."

"Xie Guogong." Whether it was Sun Chuanting or his subordinates, they couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief when they saw that the Guogong should have believed their explanations. After answering in unison, they stood up and lined up on both sides.

Zhong Jinwei turned his head and ordered Zheng Zhilong and Gu Baichuan to say, "It is said that the chief envoy of Guangdong and the governors of Guangdong and Guangxi will come to see me."

"Yes, Duke." The two agreed and left the lobby.Among them, Zheng Zhilong was a little strange, why the Duke asked him to pass the order.