Jinyiwei North Town Fusi was imprisoned.
Mr. Su has already received a severe punishment.
Chang Feng asked him a question, and he answered honestly.
Chang Feng asked: "How much financial resources does Runde Grain Store have? How much grain has it harvested since last autumn?"
Mr. Su replied: "I don't know how much financial resources there are. There are thirty countermen in the grain store. I, the counter, hold fifty thousand taels of silver in my hand."
"Since last autumn, I have purchased and sold more than 200,000 shi of grain."
Mr. Stand is similar to the business manager of later generations.
Chang Feng was shocked.
The amount of food passed by a station cabinet is 200,000 dan. Wouldn’t the grain passed through by thirty counters amount to six million shi?
The Ministry of Revenue received a total of 20 million shi from last autumn's tax collection. The grain purchased by Runde Grain Store is equivalent to 30% of the total autumn tax in the country!
Of course, the total value of goods is not the total revenue. The profit of Runde Grain Store should be around 370,000 taels based on the price difference between the price of four yuan per stone and the selling price of five yuan per stone!
(Note: The Ming Dynasty implemented the one-two-six-money system)
This is a staggering number.
Chang Feng asked: "Are all your grains stolen from local officials?"
Mr. Su replied: "Almost all. But people who come to sell grain will not take the initiative to reveal their names and official positions."
"The food is there, who knows whether it is dirty or clean. Anyway, it tastes delicious in your mouth."
Fatty Xu interjected: "You have no idea whether it's stolen food or not?"
Mr. Su was silent.
Chang Feng asked: "To handle such a large amount of grain and rice, a huge warehouse is needed to store grain. You must have borrowed the Tongzhou warehouse."
Mr. Su replied: "Exactly. All the grain from our grain store is temporarily placed in the Tongzhou warehouse of the Ministry of Revenue."
Chang Feng asked: "So, someone in the Household Department has been bribed by you? Who is it?"
Mr. Su replied: "I don't know. Only our boss knows."
Chang Feng asked the most critical question: "Who is your big shopkeeper?"
Mr. Su named him: "Yang Mo, a scribe in the Department of Household Affairs, Shandong Qing Dynasty."
A scribe has no job or rank.
Under the Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Vice Minister, there are the Thirteen Cleaning Officials Department, Zhaomo Department, Tea Horse Department, Military Storage Department, and Guangshu Department.
Each Qing official department has several government officials, two principals, one foreign minister, and one lieutenant.
Nowadays, the total number of officials in the Ministry of Household Affairs is only ninety-six.
The financial accounts of the two capitals and thirteen provinces are vast. Ninety-six people can't manage such a large place.
There are more than 830 scribes who actually work in the Ministry of Household Affairs. To put it bluntly, the clerks of the Ministry of Revenue are the secretaries and accountants of later generations.
Of course, they are the kind of secretaries who actually do the work. Not the kind of crooked secretary who has nothing to do as a secretary.
Chang Feng stood up: "Fat man, it's late at night. Let the brothers go back and rest first. Let's go to the Ministry of Finance tomorrow morning. Invite Secretary Yang to come to the imperial prison for tea."
In the early morning of the next day, the Secretary of the Department of Household Affairs, Shandong Qing Dynasty, went to the public house.
There are dozens of tables in the huge public room. Behind each table sat a clerk in civilian clothes.
Clerk Yang Mo is negotiating with Li Futong of Jinan Prefecture on last year's write-off accounts.
The Tongzhi of the government is the fifth rank, equivalent to the executive deputy mayor in later generations. Jinan is also the administrative seat of Shandong. Li Futong's identity is naturally one level higher.
But Li Futong was polite to Yang Mo, who had no character and no position.
Comrade Li Fu said: "The accounts of other prefectures in Shandong have been closed for four months in the second year of Hongzhi. But the accounts of our Jinan Prefecture have not been written off yet."
"Mr. Yang, please quickly calculate the accounts and sign them. I can use your signatures to go to the directors, staff members, and doctors to verify them one by one!"
Yang Mo stroked his whiskers with a smile on his face: "Master Li, there is no need to worry. Have a sip of tea first and let me take a look."
"Ah! This is incredible! Mr. Li, the funds for river control in Licheng County of your government last year only have accounts and no collusion! How can this be done?"
Tandem invoices are invoices from the Ming Dynasty, mostly in triplicate form.
The triple invoice of later generations is a continuation of the Ming Dynasty's collusive invoicing model. I have to say that the wisdom of the ancients is really profound and profound.
Li Futong frowned: "When I came to see you ten days ago, why didn't you say that you still wanted the Licheng County river management bill? You only said that Changqing County's bill and Linji County's Chili book were missing!"
Yang Mo still had a smile on his face: "Hey. Li Futong is in charge of Jinan's wealth and often goes to Beijing to work at the Ministry of Household Affairs. How did I know you would be short of this or that?"
The clerks in the Ministry of Revenue are like this. They laugh in front of their faces, but secretly make things difficult for local officials. How can you force the people who come to do things to give benefits without making things difficult?
Their method of making things difficult is simply to say that you are short of this order or that ticket. And just like squeezing cat urine, he never says it clearly at once. He only says one or two things every time you come.
Only by embarrassing others to the maximum extent within the limited scope of power can we seek personal gain. These damn scribes know the ropes.
Li Futong was a local official who had just been transferred from the Hanlin Academy. He didn't know there was something fishy about it, so he didn't give Yang Mo pen refining silver.
Yang Mo deliberately made things difficult.
Li Futong showed displeasure: "Scribe Yang, aren't you trying to make things difficult for me? It takes at least ten days to go back and forth from Jinan Prefecture to the capital! I have already made six round trips!"
"I'm the magistrate of the government! I'm not a soldier who goes to the officialdom every day!"
Pubing was a postman in the Ming Dynasty, specializing in delivering official documents.
Yang Mo suppressed his smile: "I don't like hearing what Li Futong said! I act in accordance with the rules of the Hubu Yamen!"
"The Ministry of Revenue is in charge of the world's money and food. It has great responsibilities, and the most important rules are! If you are dissatisfied with the rules, you can go to the court officials to complain!"
"Although I have no rank, I still eat royal food! I feed the emperor and relieve the people's worries. How can I just sign your cancellation book casually?"
The fifth-rank official of the Li Mansion was so angry that a little clerk trembled all over: "You, you, you"
As the saying goes, the king of hell is easy to meet, but the devil is difficult to deal with. Although brats like Yang Mo have a humble status, they have real power.
A few changes in their accounts could get local officials into big trouble.
They can make the local officials scratch their heads and scratch their heads in anxiety without using the lake pen at hand!
Yang Mo pointed out to Li Futong: "The local officials who come to Beijing to deliver financial accounts all live in the Jingyi Huixian Hall. You can go and ask them how they do things."
When he mentioned the word "doing things", Yang Mo deliberately emphasized his tone.
After saying this, Yang Mo picked up the tea cup in an elegant manner. This is officially called serving tea to see guests off.
Li Futong left angrily.
The clerk next to him said to Yang Mo: "Mr. Yang, the man named Li just now doesn't understand any rules. How can he be qualified to be the official?"
Yang Mo sneered: "So, Hanlin officials are not suitable to serve in this place. Those sour and smelly literati are suitable to squat in the Hanlin Academy and stay poor."
Although Yang Mo is the big shopkeeper of Runde Grain Store, he makes a lot of money. But people like him like to take it all in.
He wants to make a lot of money from selling stolen goods, and he won't let go of the small income from blackmailing local officials.
Don't bite your hand when you have too much money.
Moreover, blackmailing local officials has been a centuries-old tradition among the six scribes. He can't break the rules.
At this moment, Chang Feng and Fatty Xu walked in with a dozen strong men.
Chang Feng said loudly: "Who is Yang Mo?"
Not to mention a small clerk like Yang Mo, even an ordinary third- or fourth-grade official would tremble when being called upon by a Jinyiwei wearing a flying fish suit and an embroidered spring knife at his waist.
But Yang Mo was unusually calm. He stood up: "The little one is."
Chang Feng said: "Come with us."
Yang Mo told the clerk next to him: "Someone from Dezhou Mansion will be here soon. Tell him that I have something to do today and ask him to come back to me tomorrow morning."
Fatty Xu said from the side: "Young man named Yang, what good things do you want? How do you want to get out of Fusi Prison in Beizhen?"
Yang Mo said neither humble nor arrogantly: "This requires only following the law, maybe we can get it done."
Chang Feng found that this man was very confident. He is not as confident as a little scribe.
Everyone took Yang Mo to the imperial prison.
Chang Feng winked at Mr. Qi, who was in charge of the execution: "Old Qi, please treat Secretary Yang well."
Yang Mo shouted: "Don't be violent! Master Chang, do you recognize the ring on my hand?"
Chang Feng looked at the gold ring on Yang Mo's hand. It turned out to be the style of the palace.
Chang Feng frowned: "You still dare to use the things in the palace privately? This is trespassing!"
Yang Mo smiled slightly: "Chang Qianhu was wrong! I don't use this ring for personal use!"
"Empress Zhang gave this to Uncle Shouning. Uncle Shouning gave it to me!"
Empress Zhang's father, Zhang Luan, was greatly honored.
In the first month of the twenty-third year of Chenghua, Emperor Hongzhi was still just the prince. After his wedding to Zhang Fengling, he was given the special title of Minister of the Honglu Temple to Zhang Luan.
Just over eight months later, Emperor Hongzhi ascended the throne. He immediately promoted his father-in-law to be Dr. Ronglu and Tongzhi, Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese Army.
At the beginning of this year, Emperor Hongzhi specially awarded him the title of "Xiang Xianli Military Minister and Zhuguo", the title of Ningbo, a double salary and a thousand stones, and a gift for three generations.
However, the earl is not the end for Zhang Luan yet.
Therefore, if the daughter marries well, the whole family will have enough to eat.
Chang Feng's expression changed: "How could your noble father-in-law give the ring given by the queen to a humble scribe like you? Did you steal it?"
Yang Mo showed a proud expression on his face: "Because I am a disciple of Shouning Bo's Mansion. Earlier this year, I recognized Shouning Bo as his adoptive father!"
"Oh, Chang Qianhu, I know your background. Your wife is Empress Zhang's sworn sister. To put it bluntly, we are close brothers by sworn marriage!"
Chang Feng frowned: "Fart. Are you the adopted son of Shouning Bo? Why didn't I know?"
Yang Mo seemed to understand officialdom very well: "Oh, Jinyiwei is indeed very powerful. He knows half of the things in heaven and everything on earth."
"However, no matter how powerful the Jin Yiwei is, he is still the emperor's domestic slave! You can spy on the officials, but you cannot spy on the emperor's father-in-law!"
"I guess Uncle Shouning's Mansion doesn't have your eyes and ears. So you don't know what's going on in the Mansion!"
Fatty Xu whispered in Chang Feng's ear: "Mr. Chang, if he is really Shouning Bo's adopted son, we really can't put him to death. The honor of the father-in-law is involved in this."
Yang Mo said: "If you don't believe it, you can take this ring to Uncle Shouning. Just ask and you will know."
The emperor's domestic slaves could execute any prisoner at will. But he couldn't touch the adopted son of the emperor's father-in-law.
The father-in-law’s face must be given! No way!
Chang Feng stared at Yang Mo. He was curious, how did such a humble person climb to the heights of the country?
Half an hour later, Fatty Xu entered the imperial prison: "Master Chang, the abbot is here in person! He is on duty at Commander Zhu's room! He asked you to pass."
Chang Feng was surprised: "You came in person?"
He and Fatty Xu entered the command room.
Chang Feng turned his head and knelt down: "I have met Uncle Shouning before."
Zhang Luan smiled and said: "Nephew Chang Xian, get up quickly."
The two brothers Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling were also in the room on duty.
Zhang Heling quickly went to help Chang Feng.
Chang Feng stood up and asked: "Uncle Shouning, is Yang Mo your adopted son?"
Zhang Luan nodded: "Yes! I just recognized my adopted son at the beginning of the year. I heard that you caught him and sent him to prison?"
Chang Feng replied: "Back to Uncle Shouning, I arrested him. He was involved in the imperial case."
Zhang Luan is a confused old man. He said: "Yang Mo has a pure character, how could he commit adultery and commit crimes! I am willing to guarantee him!"
Chang Feng was stunned: "Are you a guarantee?"
The commander Zhu Ji said: "My father-in-law is willing to be your guarantee. That man must be unjustly accused. Let him go!"
Chang Feng hesitated: "But him"
Zhu Ji's expression changed: "I didn't discuss it with you. This is Jun Ling!"
Chang Feng had no choice but to tell Fatty Xu: "Go and let him go."
Zhang Luan smiled and said: "That's right! My adopted son is a serious businessman."
Chang Feng asked deliberately: "Businessman? Isn't he a scribe in the Ministry of Revenue?"
Zhang Luan took a sip of tea and explained: "The Ming Law does not say that scribes cannot do business."
In fact, after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Grandfather Taizu had issued a clear instruction: no prince, nobility, nobility, nobility, nobility, or officials of the fourth rank or above at home or abroad were allowed to order their children, family members, or servants to open shops in the market, make money and debts, and sell salt, except for merchants.
This is the Ming Dynasty version of "Officials and their immediate family members are not allowed to do business."
However, Grandpa Taizu has been dead for a hundred years. Who cares about this ancestral precept?
For officials, if ancestral precepts can protect their vital interests, then they are golden rules. They will defend it to the death.
If the ancestral precepts would harm their vital interests. What ancestral teaching? Just papyrus! Even wiping my butt feels uncomfortable.
Therefore, ninety-nine out of one hundred civil servants in the Ming Dynasty were double-standard dogs.
Zhang Luan claimed that Yang Mo was a businessman.
Chang Feng took the opportunity to talk: "I also heard that his Runde Grain Store is doing a lot of business."
When mentioning Runde Grain Store, the confused old man Zhang Luan actually slapped his hands: "Hey! My adopted son is a capable person! In his Runde Grain Store, one thousand taels of silver goes in and 20,000 taels comes out!"
"I also bought shares in Runde Grain Store! I get 10% of the grain store's profits!"
Chang Feng was stunned!
This is a typical businessman looking for endorsement from a distinguished person!
The emperor asked him to investigate the Runde Grain Store, but after repeated investigations, he was found to be the head of the country? What the heck?
Chang Feng asked tentatively: "Uncle Shouning, do you know when Runde Liang will earn a fortune?"
Zhang Luan said: "Of course Yang Mo is a good businessman. Well, Cheng Guogong Zhu Yi invited me to play hemp tags. Three are short of one! I have been delayed for most of an hour. Let's go first."
After saying that, Zhang Luan left in a hurry.
The old country leader intervened, and Chang Feng fell into a dilemma.
Local officials all over the world used Emperor Hongzhi's imperial edict to squeeze the people and eat their flesh and blood.
It's okay if one or two thousand local officials can't move. Now those who sell stolen goods can't move. Is no one responsible for this? Do ordinary people deserve to be unlucky?
Although Zhu Ji is not popular, he is still Yu Qian's son-in-law. Still upright at heart.
Zhu Ji said: "This matter involves the abbot of the country. You have to go to the emperor to ask for an order. As long as there is an order from the emperor, let alone a small clerk, even the minister of the Ministry of household affairs, you can continue to investigate!"
Chang Feng cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, Commander, for the tip."
Chang Feng came out and commanded the envoy to be on duty, and was about to enter the palace to ask for orders.
At the gate of Jinyiwei, he met Yang Mo, who was full of energy.
Yang Mo smiled: "How about Chang Qianhu, I told you that you can't lock me up for a day. You let me go after just over an hour."
Chang Feng glanced at Yang Mo: "Don't be too proud."
Yang Mo was not willing to be outdone: "Hey, I heard that your wife, Mrs. Ru, is traveling with me. Control your own family first, and then worry about others!"
Yang Mo's words stopped short.
Chang Feng was stunned: Yes, Yang Mo is a dealer in stolen goods. Isn’t Xiaojiu in my family also a dealer in stolen goods?
They are really peers.
It's just that Yang Mo is selling stolen goods for local officials all over the world; Xiao Jiu is selling stolen goods for thieves and pickpockets in the capital. A small witch meets a big witch.
It seems that Xiaojiu must be made to give up the stolen goods business. So as not to fall into the facts.
Chang Feng entered the palace and asked Emperor Hongzhi for instructions. It happened that a small sutra feast was being held in the main hall of Qianqing Palace.
Changfeng was not ordered to attend the sutra banquet, so he could not enter the main hall. I can only stand at the door of the temple and wait.
He heard Wang Shu, Ma Wensheng and Emperor Hongzhi quarreling again in the palace. After the quarrel, the monarch and his ministers remained harmonious.
When Emperor Hongzhi got along with his ministers, he always dealt with matters rather than people. You can quarrel with me. Sometimes there are many difficult problems, and a quarrel will lead to a solution to the problem.
After the quarrel, you are still my good ministers.
This is what Mingjun did. However, many people criticized him as "Emperor Hongzhi indulged civil servants".
The Xiao Sutra feast lasts half an hour. Chang Feng only waited for a moment before it was over.
Li Guang, who was on duty, came out: "Chang Qianhu, the emperor has asked you to come in."
Chang Feng entered the main hall and kowtowed to Emperor Hongzhi.
Emperor Hongzhi said: "Get up. How is the investigation of the Runde Grain Company case going?"
Chang Feng replied: "Your Majesty, it is difficult to continue investigating this case."
Emperor Hongzhi frowned: "Chang Feng, this is not what you said."
Chang Feng reported: "Your Majesty, the Runde Grain Company involves Uncle Shouning."
Emperor Hongzhi's expression changed: "What?"
Chang Feng said: "I have found out that the chief shopkeeper of Runde Grain Store is Yang Mo, a clerk in the Ministry of Household Affairs. Yang Mo is the adopted son of Shouning Bo, Qian'er."
"Shou Ningbo himself admitted that he owns 10% of the shares in Runde Grain Company!"
No one is perfect in this world.
Emperor Hongzhi was a wise king, but he also had shortcomings. One of his shortcomings is that he doted on Queen Zhang too much, loved the whole house, and allowed his relatives to expand their power.
Emperor Hongzhi hesitated.
Chang Feng was very worried, and Emperor Hongzhi would let him settle the matter and end it there.
So Chang Feng used words to induce Emperor Hongzhi: "This is for your Majesty. Uncle Shouning is a supervisor who has read poetry and books. He doesn't know anything about business."
"I think someone must have taken advantage of Uncle Shouning to endorse the business of selling stolen goods."
"The mastermind behind the use of the current king's father has ulterior motives! He needs to be severely punished to serve as a warning to others!"
"This prevents corrupt officials and evil officials all over the world from imitating the same example and fawning over Shouning Bo, using the name of Shouning Bo to harm the world. This will damage the reputation of the Zhang family and Queen Zhang!"
Chang Feng's words were very tactful, and the subtext was: Your Majesty, your father-in-law has done no evil. It is the evildoers who are using his banner.
If the case is not investigated. From now on, corrupt officials and evil officials will all go to curry favor with your father-in-law. Your father-in-law’s reputation is ruined on the streets!
Even for the sake of your father-in-law's reputation, you have to let me continue to investigate this case.
Chang Feng has been living with Emperor Hongzhi for four years. He had figured out Emperor Hongzhi's temperament and learned to set a trap for Emperor Hongzhi.
After hearing this, Emperor Hongzhi made a decision: "You continue to investigate the case of Runde Grain Company. But it cannot affect Uncle Shouning."
Chang Feng cupped his hands: "Your Majesty is wise!"
Something came out. Another 5,000 words will be updated before 12pm. I can't stand it every day. I changed my name to Liu Ruan. Because the sun is weak.
(End of chapter)
