Chapter 162: A huge corruption case
After the troops of the Taozhou Guards left, Zhang Hu, who was no longer a threat, felt like he was in an uninhabited territory in Shaanxi Province, plundering all directions. Currently, only a limited number of city strongholds are still in the hands of the imperial court. However, a large number of thieves were killing people and setting fires under their noses. Gansu Governor Xi Junyu was not only not anxious, but also very happy inside. I even feel a little lucky for Zhang Hu's arrival - I have made a lot of money in the past few years, and after repeated deliberation, the various names and rhetoric can be almost perfect, but no matter how good the reason is, it is not as good as "the entry of thieves". So convincing! Burned on fire and robbed all at once, is there anything more permanent than this?
If it were any other place, the governor of a province would just sit back and watch the thieves run rampant. No matter what background you have, at least Wu Shamao will definitely not be saved. It is not unusual for those who are less lucky to lose their lives because of it. However, things are different here. Shaanxi Xingdusi is a military management area. The governor of Gansu is only responsible for civil affairs. Defeating thieves is of course a military operation. That is the matter of Xingdusi government! The governor is a civil servant, so as long as he doesn't lose his land, that is, the city of "Gansu Town" (today's Zhangye) under his feet, he can sit back and relax! When the thief has robbed enough and left, he can write a gorgeous and heroic poem, such as "hair is loose and sword is in hand", "eyes are wide open and shouting to kill the thief", "several wounds caused bleeding profusely"... this The money earned over the past few years has fallen into the pocket safely, and he can be commended again!
As for whether Gansu Town would be breached by thieves, Governor Xi was not worried at all. Not to mention the high walls and deep trenches, the important thing is that the Shaanxi Xingdusi Mansion is also here! what does that mean? Assume that the Xingdusi Mansion has reported 100,000 troops to the Ministry of War. Among them, the total number of servants and personal guards of generals at all levels who can really fight is only 5,000 - at least 3,000 of them are in this city! Is that thief crazy when he leaves the fat sheep all over the fields to be slaughtered and doesn't rush them here to hit the city wall? The report to the court is even simpler. Who would know what the governor would tell the emperor? Can you see the memorial? The Xingdusi Mansion has already communicated with them. As soon as the thief Zhang leaves, the Ministry of War will receive the military report of the "great victory". The thief has been suppressed by the brave and invincible Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers, running and crying. Shouting "I dare not come again"!
These days, what really makes Governor Xi feel a little troubled is the "merit list" that is being drawn up - how many of his own people should be accounted for, how many people of the Xingdu Si Mansion should be accounted for, how many times they have fought, and how many "heads" there are. "First merit", "First merit", "Second merit"... these all have to be negotiated and made up!
In the back hall of Fu Yamen, Xi Junyu felt a little tired. He put down his pen and leaned back in the chair. Mei Ji, who was sitting beside the bed and serving him, came forward and gently rubbed his shoulders. Mr. Xi was very proud: Since the official position is governor, if you want to educate the local area, you must have subordinate officials. If you have subordinate officials, you must have the administrative framework of the prefecture and county. In this way, your official position can be considered to be complete in name and in real terms, not the kind of empty talk. furnishings. In the past few years, after Mr. Xi's careful arrangements, especially the "donation of tribute" trick, it is really wonderful: he has quickly cultivated his own power. Although there is no official name for this prefecture and that county, the entire Shaanxi Xingdu Division has passed This move brought the chessboard to life - how could the military leaders, big and small, be qualified to approve tribute students if they didn't know a few Chinese characters? As a result, the prototype of various prefectures and counties in Shaanxi Province was quietly formed! The best thing is that it is real but has no name: it not only achieves real benefits, but also does not need to bear the responsibility of the thieves who invaded and lost their land!
However, despite his wishful thinking, Governor Xi still missed one point: the people from Dongchang have arrived!
In this era, many places are still uninhabited and barren mountains. No matter how powerful Zhang Hu's momentum is, he can only rely on the old Chinese army camp as the core, with all the battalions advancing and retreating around him. At this time, Zhang Hu had been beaten violently by Sun Jie and Yan Minwang not long ago, and his psychological shadow was still very big. He had to rely on Having more people emboldens you; on the other hand, there are only a few trustworthy generals such as Niu Youtian and Fang Ge, and their abilities are limited to slashing people with knives. At present, the ability to lead troops alone is really not acceptable. Don't worry, so there is no way to achieve a strategic layout such as dividing the troops into several groups.
This trip to Gansu was directly ordered by the Emperor Sheng. Of course, the few sent by Dongchang were all powerful characters. They encountered Zhang Hu's miscellaneous soldiers more than once on the way. The large group naturally avoided them early, and occasionally a few Anyone who accidentally bumped into them was quietly killed on the spot, and there was no danger.
The leader, Chu Jingwu, is the leader of several people. He, the foreman, Tong Jinsheng, and the two fans are all members of Jinyiwei. The vast majority of people in the Dongchang are not eunuchs, because many of them come from the Jinyiwei - the top leader of the Dongchang is the eunuch who is the trusted eunuch of the Holy Emperor, and the Jinyiwei is known as the emperor's personal army, so they can all be regarded as his own people, the only difference is that While the eunuchs are in the palace, Jin Yiwei is in charge of the outer palace.
The current leader of Dongchang* was Eunuch Li Shizhong, whose full official title was "Imperial Envoy Governor Dongchang Official School Service Eunuch", or simply the Admiral Eunuch. Maybe the word "eunuch" is not elegant, so many people flatter him and call him "factory master", but they are outsiders. They call Eunuch Li "supervisor" internally.
On this long trip, I and the others have a heavy responsibility. The governor, Eunuch Li, has personally explained time and time again: The mission comes directly from the Holy Emperor himself! Every time he thought of this, Chu Jingwu would get excited and secretly made up his mind: Even if he went through fire and water, he would never let down the expectations of the Holy Emperor and the trust of Eunuch Li!
However, finding out the information was much easier than expected. When we first arrived at Nianbosuo (today's Ledu, Qinghai), everyone had not changed into casual clothes. They were either wearing the red shirt and flying fish suit of Tiqi from Jinyiwei*, or the brown shirt with round cap and soap boots from Dongchang. Wearing a uniform and grabbing anyone to question, who dares not to ask questions honestly? Before setting off, Eunuch Li had briefly stated the reason, but upon closer inspection, the truth really surprised everyone! In order to confirm the authenticity of the news, several people even tied up two minor officials at night to "question" them.
Of course you won't bring torture tools with you when you go on a business trip, but is there anything that a good factory guard can't ask? Torture is not just about questioning. The credibility of such a confession is very low - the victim will not only tell nonsense if he cannot survive the torture, but will also understand your purpose through your questions, and may even ambush you! This is a science.
Tong Jinsheng was born as a prisoner, so his method was very unique: without asking any questions, he broke off the fingers one by one as soon as he came up. After breaking off one hand and replacing it with the other, the spirit of the interrogator was already gone. Broken down: I have no idea what you want to do! At this time, as long as you give a hint at the beginning, he will tell you everything he knows! What’s even more amazing is that while the trainee is confessing, Tong Baihu’s hands will not stop. He will take out a folding knife and start cutting the flesh on your body where the pain-sensitive nerves are densest. When you really can't stand it and can't speak, you will slow down your hands...and then continue. Under the huge and continuous pain, it is impossible for anyone to have a chance to think. The only thing they can hope for is to tell everything they know and let all this end quickly.
Death is a luxury.
The two clerks were arrested in different places, sixty or seventy miles apart, and their confessions were exactly the same. When Baihu finally touched his throat with a knife and the interrogation came to an end, everyone knew that what they told was the truth.
Everyone was sure that Xi Junyu was corrupt when they set out, but his methods were so clever that they even made people find it incredible: first of all, what he reported in the memorial was to pay a hundred stones of wheat and beans, but in practice he changed the trick - refused to Instead of receiving the wheat beans in kind, they would convert them into one hundred and twenty taels of cash, and then add office silver, horse materials, miscellaneous fees and other messy items. All in all, one prison student's place was sold for one hundred and eighty taels! These are actually nothing, and they are not beyond the expectations of these experts, but the next step is amazing: predetermining disaster!
Wealthy households from all over the country have purchased the qualifications to supervise children. In theory, they should distribute relief food to "disaster areas", right? These tasks will be responsible for the corresponding officials. With this high-sounding reason, the gangsters of this guy justifiably defined the Shaanxi Xingdu Division into their own large and small areas, and an administrative framework was set up that did not have the name of a prefecture but had the reality of a prefecture. Next, these damn guys will make predictions about the disaster based on the money collected: How many victims will be reported in your state, how many people will be affected in that prefecture, and how many people will be affected in several counties... Then Xi Junyu will formally write a document and allocate food in a serious manner. , of course the amount will be slightly less, and then ask the court for the difference! If you just look at the official documents exchanged between them, they are absolutely watertight! In fact, less than one percent of the food actually operates in this system! All the money was pocketed by these guys! The most unscrupulous people, in addition to his own party members, were also dragged into the trap by Xi Junyu. Those important guard posts always had farmers with civilian citizenship under their control, and these senior officers took care of them. When it comes to "civil affairs", Xi Junyu has even asked the staff to write all kinds of documents for you. You just seal the seal and wait to receive the money!
At this point, Chu Jingwu only had the only problem left: the Holy Emperor had sent a censor, and the Ministry of Household Affairs had also sent two groups of special personnel to investigate. It would be a bit far-fetched to say that all the people who came were dragged into the water by Xi Junyu. Then... why did they all report seeing the warehouse full of grain with their own eyes?
It is not difficult to unravel the mystery here: just ask Xi Junyu's direct descendants and you will know. However, Gansu Town closed its city gates tightly as if facing a formidable enemy, and no one could get in without revealing their identities. If they revealed their identities, the four of them would fall into a trap, and they would definitely disappear from the world. No one would have anything to say: the bandit is gone. It is normal for more than 100,000 people to say "I'm afraid they will be killed by thieves" as an excuse!
Unexpectedly, the answer to this question is also ready-made. Zhang Hu once confronted Yan Minwang at Shandanwei for a while, and now the whole army has left to the northwest. When Chu Jingwu and his party came over, they only saw a few deserters huddled in the corner. This is also one of the places where disaster relief food is distributed, and there is an official warehouse. A few people walked to the official warehouse and took a brief look inside, and immediately understood the mystery.
I don't know whether it was rebel soldiers or hungry people who ran back and had already torn apart most of the granary in search of food. The structure inside was clearly visible: each conical official granary had a huge cylindrical liner inside it! Unless you dismantle the entire warehouse, if you use a grain probe to insert it from all directions and anywhere, what you will pull out will be the thin layer of grain on the outside!
*Generally speaking, the leader of Dongchang is the eunuch Bingbi who ranks second among the ceremonial officials, and the eunuch Zhangyin who ranks first. However, the position of eunuch holding the seal is always vacant, and eunuch Bingbi is the head of each eunuch most of the time.
The subordinate officials of Dongchang include one person in charge of punishment for Qianhu and one person in charge of punishment for Baihu. They are served by Jinyiwei Qianhu and Baihu respectively, and they are called post punishment officials. In addition, more than 40 managers and subordinates at all levels, including the foreman, foreman, and housekeeper, are all assigned by Jinyiwei.
*Feiyu suit. The so-called "flying fish" is actually a four-clawed dragon shape with a fish tail, made of silk, gauze, Luo, etc., with a dragon head and claws on the chest, the dragon body wraps around the shoulders, and the dragon tail swings behind the back.
Feiyu suit comes in three colors. Black, worn by the general flag officer (seventh-grade military officer), silver-white, worn by hundreds of households of sixth-grade, red, worn by thousands of households of fifth-grade.
They were ordered by the emperor to handle the case, but the journey was too long. In order to get full assistance from the officials along the way such as changing horses and guides, Chu Jingwu and others all wore formal official uniforms until the trip to Shaanxi Xingdusi.
