Idle courtiers

Chapter 405 A Small Case

It turned out that although the host of the Luming Banquet was the Lord of Shuntian Prefecture who was the landlord, he was just the one who paid the money, and the host was Gu Yan.

This banquet is said to be a celebration, but it has strong political and cultural significance. It means that you two hundred people are the elites of our province, the future gentry ruling class, and rookies in the cultural world. It is an official collective certification .

Zhou Nan couldn't understand what Gu Yan was thinking, he just didn't want to accept Zhou Nan as his student.Anyway, the apprenticeship ceremony is only two days away, and it will be over after a while.

Just imagine, at the Luming Banquet, everyone present was a student of Master Gu, but Zhou Nan was a maverick, don't you think it's strange?In the officialdom, everyone in the civil service system has a teacher.No one wants you Zhou Nan, you are just a different kind.

Moreover, Zhou Nan was not afraid to speculate on Gu Yan with the greatest malice.

He would definitely send people to spread rumors that Zhou Nan deliberately delayed his apprenticeship because of Wang Shizhen and because he was a close minister of the emperor.

Three people become tigers, just imagine, in the future, when the Jinshi department is held, the examiners will still admit Zhou Nan, a crazy student who is so arrogant that he doesn't even recognize his teacher?

In any era, heterogeneous people will be excluded, not to mention that this matter has already touched the general ethics of the king, relative and teacher of heaven and earth.

Let things go on, Mr. Zhou's reputation will be bad, and his future will be limited.

You can explain it to the world, but this matter can't be explained clearly, and it may become darker and darker.

No matter how you deal with it, Zhou Nan will definitely suffer.

"There is still one more day tomorrow, so I have to let Gu Yan accept me as a beginner. But, with the relationship between my teacher and him, will Old Man Gu be willing?"

Thinking of this, Zhou Nan felt like a haze shrouded his head.

He was in a bad mood, and he didn't have the energy to ask Shi Wenjiang why he asked someone to invite him back to the yamen. Could this matter be worse than my master's apprenticeship?

"Congratulations to Sizheng High School. With this fame in hand, your official position is justifiable. I wish you the best in the next spring." Because of the special relationship between his father and Zhou Nan, Shi Wenjiang In front of Zhou Nan, he still had that grinning and indecent look.

Seeing his relaxed face, Zhou Nan felt that Si Li's affairs should not be serious.He said: "Wen Jiang, why are you asking people to find me in such a hurry? I have been too busy these days, and the examination in the locked hall is a rare holiday. Can you wait for me to recuperate for a while?"

Hearing Zhou Nan's question, Shi Wenjiang's face turned pale and he said: "This matter is really not small. If we don't care about it, if the censor finds out, we'll have nothing to eat. The thing is, the deacon of Lu Zudian's room is greedy for ink, and the amount is huge. "

"Corruption?" Zhou Nan was stunned: "Taoist temples still have the theory of corruption. The sesame oil money given by pilgrims is the Taoist priests themselves. If they want to do it, who can control it. Even if the deacons below steal the money, how much money can they have The temple master has dealt with it himself, so why not make a fuss in the yamen?" For this kind of thing, just grab the deacon and beat him up, refund the money, and drive him out.

Lu Zudian is a relatively large Taoist temple in the capital. Zhou Nan has been there twice to give alms, and he is also familiar with the Taoist priest and the supervisor.

In a Taoist temple, the head of the Taoist temple is equivalent to the director Zhang.The supervisor is his deputy, equivalent to the general manager.

Under these two, there are eight deacons, equivalent to the middle-level cadres of Lu Zudian Company.

The room deacon who committed the crime was mainly responsible for arranging for the traveling Taoist to place orders for food and lodging in the temple.

"That's right, that's what I replied when Lu Zudian reported the case." Shi Wenjiang smiled wryly: "But the amount of money embezzled by this person is really too large, and he is determined not to return the stolen goods, so the matter is serious."

Zhou Nan: "How much?"

Shi Wenjiang: "About 1 taels of silver."

Zhou Nan was taken aback. He had known that men were rich, but unexpectedly they became so rich. What is the concept of 1 taels, which is equivalent to the annual savings of thousands of ordinary households.

It's a big case, we have to take care of it.

After the matter is over, Lu Zudian has to consider some case handling funds for us anyway, and the administrative expenses of the Daolu Department will be settled in the second half of this year.

Like the local government, the central government of the Ming Dynasty was not responsible for the expenses of the department. Zhou Nan had to pay for all the expenses in the yamen. The central government only gave him a policy to ask for his own expenses.

"How could there be so much money in the Taoist temple... No, how can he take away so much money by himself? Isn't this too loud?" Zhou Nan asked again.

Shi Wenjiang: "Sizheng, you forgot that His Majesty will donate to all the avenues in the capital to watch every time there is a funeral. There are hundreds of them, and dozens of them, although not many. But there are so many festivals in a year, and His Majesty has been in power for decades. , can it be less? Also, as far as I know, all the idle money in Lu Zudian's house is put into Xu Xiang's house for interest. This deacon only needs to take the relevant contract and complete the procedures, and then he can take the money away without anyone noticing. .”

He whispered again: "Si Zheng is the son-in-law of the Xu family. This time the deacon took away 1 taels of silver from Xu Xiang. I always feel that something is wrong. The wind started at the end of Qingping I'm afraid that someone with a heart will use this to make a fuss, so I asked someone to invite you back."

If we talk about the number one richest man in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty today, maybe someone will count Yan Song.After all, Lao Yan's reputation for being greedy for ink is too loud.

In fact, the real richest person is Xu Jie.

The Xu family is the most wealthy family in Songjiang Prefecture. His family has 24 mu of fertile land in the local area, and almost monopolizes the Songjiang cloth business.

Xu Jie's business is all over the world, and his family's business names are found in every major city, even Beijing is no exception.

Although Xu's business empire is large, who would think that he has a lot of cash on hand?When the turnover is not working well, Xu's firm will borrow money privately, although the interest it gives is not as good as usury.Ke Sheng is in insurance, and he is not afraid that he will steal the money and run away.

Therefore, rich families who have spare money and want to earn interest will deposit a sum of money in Xu's firm.

Xu's business name has been placed in the meaning of the Qing Dynasty bank, but in the real history, Xu Jie failed in the political struggle and returned to his hometown in Shanghai in desperation.

Zhou Nan nodded: "Wen Jiang, you really need to be more careful in matters in the officialdom, and don't give others an opportunity. In your opinion, how should we deal with this matter?"

Shi Wenjiang: "The most important thing now is to recover the silver as soon as possible and return it to Lu Zudian."

Zhou Nan: "That's right, it has to be solved quickly. Have you asked Xu Xiang's company about the case, and has anyone been interrogated? Where are they being held now?"

Shi Wenjiang: "I went to Xu Xiang's firm and asked. They said that the deacon brought a lot of people over on the day he picked up the silver, and found that there was a full truckload of silver. , I can’t find out why. As for the deacon who was greedy for money, he is now locked up in Lu Zu’s palace, and they are guarding him. This man is stubborn, no matter how interrogated, he will not open his mouth. Seeing Zhou Sizheng, ask Master Qingtian to make the decision for him."

When it comes to the words "Master Qingtian", Shi Wenjiang has a funny look on his face, is Mr. Zhou Qingtian?
Zhou Nan: "Why don't you bring the criminals to the Daolu Department?"

Shi Wenjiang: "The deacon has a degree. Moreover, he still has the status of an official of the eighth rank, so he cannot be beaten. But without punishment, he cannot be pried open. I have nothing to do, so I invite Si Zheng to come back."

Zhou Nan immediately understood the meaning of Shi Shiye's words. Emperor Jiajing believed in Taoism, and when he was happy, he became a Taoist official.Like Zhang Tianshi of Longhushan, he was even directly named the first rank, and there are countless Taoists below the seventh rank.Even the six priests of the Guangfu Palace next door have a seventh-rank official status.

Since it is an official, it cannot be beaten.If you can't fight, how can you ask questions?

Zhou Nan laughed: "Even a little thing can stump you, let's go to Luzu Hall and see what I can do."

As a modern person, I have never eaten mutton and seen sheep running.In a society ruled by law, judicial personnel cannot use punishment on suspects.Therefore, they summed up a whole set of criminal investigation experience, borrowed any of them at will, and told those corrupt criminals to speak up.

From Zhou Nan's point of view, this is a small case. Apart from the huge amount, it is actually very simple to solve.

(End of this chapter)