After Yu Ruhai heard Liu Cang's accusation, he was immediately furious.
Yu Ruhai thought to himself that there is not much tax revenue in the treasury. Am I not clear about it?
You are anxious, I am more anxious than you!
After all, you are just a treasurer, and when the tax revenue is insufficient, the court will punish me, the prefect, for my crimes!
But he didn't expect that before he said anything, Liu Cang came directly to his door and questioned him angrily. How audacious!
Yu Ruhai frowned immediately. Before he could speak, Zhao Feng, who was sitting in the back, heard the voice in front, opened the door curtain and walked out.
"Guan Liu Ku is such a powerful official. If I didn't know better, I thought it was Zhou Mu who came here!"
"You are just a small treasurer, but you still dare to question the prefect. Do you know how the four words "contradicting the superior" are written in the Dazhou Code?"
After Zhao Feng came out, he asked Liu Cang directly. Liu Cang turned his head and glanced at Zhao Feng, sneered and said.
"Even if I am a small treasurer, I still have a higher rank than you, a master!"
"I'm discussing things with the prefect, when will it be the turn for a master like you to intervene?"
Zhao Feng smiled slightly, cupped his hands towards Yu Ruhai, and indicated with his eyes that Yu Ruhai didn't need to speak, he just needed to let himself handle this matter.
Yu Ruhai also wanted to see what Zhao Feng was capable of and how he could subdue the lawless Liu Cang.
Afterwards, Zhao Feng shook his head and said to Liu Cang.
"What Mr. Liu Kuang was discussing just now was nothing more than the issue of insufficient tax revenue from the money and food in the treasury. Since I am the master of the prefect, I naturally have the right to intervene in the affairs of this government."
"And I want to give advice to the prefect. Now I want to ask you, there is a surplus in this treasury every year, but where do all the money and food go?"
Liu Cang frowned, snorted coldly, and said.
"Where do you see that there is a surplus of money and food in the treasury?"
Zhao Feng laughed and said directly to Liu Cang.
"According to my understanding, the total annual salt output of your Liu family's salt mountain and Li's family's salt mountain is about one hundred thousand shi. According to the ratio of one-fifth of the salt tax of the Great Zhou court, you have to pay every year The tax revenue is equivalent to the revenue of 20,000 rock salt.”
"According to the market price of the salt, it is about 8,000 taels of silver per year, but the imperial court's annual tax revenue for this mansion is only 9,000 taels."
"And the population of this mansion plus taxes has already exceeded 3,000 taels, right? But there is no surplus every year. Is it because your Liu family has evaded taxes? Or is it that you, the treasurer, are lining your own pockets?"
Hearing what Zhao Feng said, Liu Cang was frightened and took two steps back, looking at Zhao Feng in shock.
Although there are some deviations in the figures mentioned by Zhao Feng, they are generally similar. If he had not known about this account book, he would have thought that Zhao Feng was looking at this account book and talking to him, except that he had read it himself!
Zhao Feng was able to deduce the specific amount of the silver from some things. Liu Cang never expected that someone could guess how much profit they made every year based on the market price of the salt and their output!
Thinking of this, Liu Cang quickly defended himself.
"Don't talk nonsense here. Our Liu family has never evaded taxes, and it is impossible for me to do things like using money and food from the government treasury!"
"Aren't there other expenses every year in the government office?"
"Anyway, the details have been written in this account book. If you have the ability, just read it yourself!"
Liu Cang said this and pointed directly at the thick account book on the table. Zhao Feng smiled slightly, cupped his hands and said.
"Since Official Liu asked me to take a look, I'll take a look."
Liu Cang nodded slightly and watched Zhao Feng pick up the account book with a disdainful sneer on his face.
Although he did not compile this account book very accurately, there are many false accounts in it, and it is precisely because the government's annual expenditures are too much. Even if each item only has a little bit, it cannot cover the expenses. Many projects.
Under such circumstances, trying to figure out this account is simply a fantasy, because even he can't sort out all the accounts over the years!
Zhao Feng opened the account book and looked at it. He found that all the amounts on it were written in Chinese characters, and they were simply written down. There was no record of surplus at all. He guessed that Liu Cang definitely wanted to use it. This vast account was used to cover up the fact that he had misappropriated money from the treasury.
These things are indeed difficult for people of this era to calculate, because although Confucianism also requires learning some arithmetic, it is not the mainstream after all, and there are not many people who can learn arithmetic.
But for Zhao Feng, these things are not difficult to calculate at all.
So Zhao Feng squatted directly on the ground, took a wooden stick on the ground and began to calculate quickly.
Seeing Zhao Feng calculating there, Liu Cang couldn't help but sneered. Even if Zhao Feng was given a few days and nights, it would be impossible for him to figure these things out clearly!
But at this moment, Zhao Feng simply gave it up. After a while, he directly raised his head, looked at Liu Cang and said.
"In March this year, a group of merchants were missing 20 taels of silver in their tax payments. Where did the 20 taels of silver go?"
Liu Cang's eyes suddenly widened and he looked at Zhao Feng in disbelief.
He still remembered that in March of this year, a group of merchants did turn in some taxes, and he saw that these taxes were handed over individually by each merchant, so he took 20 taels of silver directly, but he didn't It is not recorded in the ledger.
The 20 taels of silver were just enough for him to sleep in the best brothel in the city for one night, but he didn't expect that Zhao Feng would calculate it in such a short time!
Liu Cang suddenly became speechless, while Zhao Feng continued to calculate and spoke out one by one.
"Not only that, in mid-April, there was a sum of 50 taels of silver that didn't match the number."
"In May, a sum of one hundred taels of silver disappeared."
"In June, a full two hundred taels of silver were missing from the accounts!"
As Zhao Feng said this, he couldn't help but stood up and sighed, flipping through the thick account book, and said to Liu Cang.
"I'm talking to Mr. Liu Kuan. This is just the first half of the year and there is a deficit of 370 taels. If I calculate all the accounts from last year and the year before last, how much money should be missing?"
"Unless this money is in the treasury now, in some inconspicuous corner, and was forgotten by you before, otherwise, we need to investigate this matter carefully!"
Liu Cang suddenly took a breath of cold air and took a few steps back, looking at Zhao Feng as if he had seen a ghost.
