The next day, Zhao Feng went directly to the treasury and took office.
Since Liu Cang had been managing the treasury before, almost everyone knew the Liu family's status in this city.
Therefore, the treasury has completely become Liu Cang's talking point. Even if those people knew that Liu Cang secretly took money from the treasury, they did not dare to tell it.
At this time, Zhao Feng came to the treasury. After seeing the situation in the treasury, he almost stared out of his eyes.
"This Yu Ruhai also lied to me and said that he was a fat man. Where is the fat? The mouse is almost dead!"
Zhao Feng sighed. The area of this treasury is still quite large. Originally, there should be a lot of grain and silver piled in it, but now there is only dust on the ground.
The shelves where the silver was originally placed were already decayed. There was a small box on the corner, which contained some broken silver and some copper plates.
When Zhao Feng saw the miserable state of the treasury, he couldn't help but feel a little sad.
This is the treasury of a government. The food and taxes collected from various counties are put into this treasury. This treasury is even responsible for paying wages and food to the government officials and soldiers.
But the treasury is now empty. How can we get the money and food to pay the government servants and officers and soldiers?
When Zhao Feng was sighing like this, those who were in charge of the treasury before came over with trepidation and said to Zhao Feng with their hands raised.
"Is it Mr. Zhao?"
Zhao Feng turned around and saw that one of them was an old man over fifty years old, and the remaining two were men in their 30s, looking dull and honest.
Zhao Feng nodded quickly and said to them.
"You don't need to call me sir. Although I am a treasury official, from now on we are all colleagues and we have to manage this treasury together."
The old man waved his hand quickly, his eyes were very evasive, but his expression was very respectful to Zhao Feng.
"Master Zhao is joking, you are our immediate superior, how can we not respect you?"
"This is tea that the three of us pooled our money together to buy. Please accept it, Mr. Zhao!"
The old man said this and quickly handed over a bag of tea. Zhao Feng frowned, looked at them, and then shook his head.
"On my first day here, do you want me to take bribes?"
"Take this tea back and return it. Why don't you three keep it and drink it?"
"Bring the account book here, let me see what is left in the warehouse!"
The old man's expression suddenly stiffened. He originally thought that Liu Cang was difficult enough to serve, but he didn't expect that Zhao Feng was even more difficult to serve than Liu Cang.
Although Liu Cang often stole some money from the warehouse, as long as they helped hide it or turned a blind eye to the matter, it would be nothing.
What they fear most is not people like Liu Cang who are greedy for money, but people like Zhao Feng who are not greedy for money at all.
A person will always be greedy for something throughout his life. If he is not greedy for money, then greed for money will definitely be more terrifying than money!
But the old man still sighed and took out the account book tremblingly. Zhao Feng sat at the table and looked through the account book carefully.
Seeing Zhao Feng's serious look, the old man turned his head and looked at the two middle-aged men, and all three of them were sweating.
After Zhao Feng looked at it for a while, he couldn't help but laugh. He slowly closed the ledger and asked the three of them.
"What are your three names?"
The old man introduced him quickly.
"Master Zhao, my surname is Wang Ping, this is Sun Peng, and this is Zhou Fei."
Wang Ping said this, Zhao Feng nodded slightly at first, and then suddenly said very sternly.
"Okay, you Wang Ping, Liu Cang has just been arrested, do you want to follow in his footsteps?"
"There are clearly three taels of silver missing from the account. Where did this money go?"
Wang Ping was so frightened that his legs went weak and he knelt down directly in front of Zhao Feng, kowtowing and begging for mercy.
"Sir, please spare my life!"
"We did take this money, but we took it to buy tea to honor your lord!"
"Besides, these three taels of silver are not a big amount, so why bother..."
Zhao Feng was so angry that he stood up directly and scolded Wang Ping and Sun Peng, Zhou Fei said.
"You three are so brave. From today on, even if it is a copper plate in the treasury, you cannot use it privately!"
"I will make two copies of this account, one of which will be kept here with me, and the remaining one will be placed in this treasury. If I find that the two accounts are inconsistent, you are the only one I will ask!"
Wang Ping's face suddenly became a little bitter, thinking that Zhao Feng had just arrived here. Could it be that he was the new official's first ignition?
Zhao Feng knew that from Zhou Cang to the people who managed the treasury, they had already developed the habit of petty theft. They might think that a few taels of silver or dozens of pennies were nothing, but they definitely meant hoarding money here. Less becomes more.
They steal a few taels of silver today, and a few hundred pennies tomorrow. If a little adds up, the account will be in a big deficit in a year.
Moreover, when he first came here, he had to set rules for them. If these rules were broken by them from the beginning, then it would undoubtedly be a fantasy for him to manage this treasury in the future.
After Zhao Feng said this, seeing that they had not agreed yet, he asked with a cold face.
"What? Don't my words work? If my words don't work, then you all should leave, and I'll replace a few people to manage this treasury!"
Wang Ping and the others quickly knelt on the ground and kowtowed.
"Sir, we understand, and we will never use the money in this treasury privately again!"
After hearing their agreement, Zhao Feng nodded and asked them to stand up.
"I usually don't have anything else for you to do. First of all, every expenditure in the treasury needs to be remembered clearly, and an inventory must be carried out every month."
"The second thing is, if someone transfers money here, if I am not here, let them register it, and be sure to indicate where the money is going. It's like an officer or soldier who wants to give away a few taels of silver to invite brothers to drink. It cannot be used as a valid reason!”
Zhao Feng said this very sternly, and Wang Ping and Sun Peng Zhou Fei had cold sweat on their faces. They thought that if they really did this, they would probably offend everyone in the government office!
Zhao Feng knew very well that this treasury was responsible for the entire government's expenses, and even the taxation of the entire state. If they continued to be money-splitting boys as before, even if they sold themselves, they would not be able to let this government go. The library is full!
