Xue Kui was pulled out of the circle and kicked. A group of detective horses surrounded him and kicked him.
Xue Kui did not complain of pain, but just protected his head. His body was covered with wind and sand, his nose was bruised and his face was swollen.
Chu Qing listened to Xiao Yi describing the situation of his enemy.
Logically speaking, whoever withholds the food and fodder of the army is guilty of confiscating the family and exterminating the clan.
But in fact, this is not the first time the enemy has done this.
The first point is that the journey is long, because manpower is needed to transport food and grass. Not to mention that the young adults and auxiliary soldiers ate 20% of the food on the road. Even if they ate half of it, it was not unheard of. It was not normal, but it was not incomprehensible.
The second point is loss. This loss does not mean being eaten by people, but is related to weather and geography.
The longer the journey, the greater the losses. For example, if it rains, a lot of food will become damp and moldy. When walking over mountains and bridges, it is very common for carriages and horses to be accidentally thrown into the water or down the mountains.
The third point is that no one checks it.
There was so much grain and no one was checking it on the road. Only when we arrived at a certain town would officials or officials in charge of grain inspection check and hand over the goods.
From the earliest days, Chu Wensheng was the grain supervisor, in charge of the young men and auxiliary soldiers who escorted grain and grass.
It does not mean that the young and strong people allocated from the capital will always transport the grain and grass to the border. If they need to be handed over, every time they go a certain distance, they will be replaced, and a young strong man organized by the state government will take over the food and grass and continue to transport it to the destination.
If it is the beginning of the year or the middle of the year, the people will be doing corvées and will transport grain unconditionally.
But at the end of the year, you need to be paid. Even if you are not paid, you still have to take care of food and drink. This means that the people escorting the grain and grass not only have to eat on the way, but also take away some grain when handing over as "travel expenses" back home. "And eat.
From Changjing to the border, the teams escorting grain and grass had to be handed over six times, six prefectures organized manpower, and inspections had to be carried out six times. The final destination was Xunyang Road, which was the enemy's territory.
During this period, local officials in transit will inevitably reach out for food and grass. If you are greedy, I will steal some. It is like a cake, everyone secretly takes a small bite. In the end, only half of the cake may be left. Or even a third.
If Liang Rong really came to attack, the local officials would not be so courageous, but in fact the news that Liang Rong would not fight has spread throughout Zhongzhou, so according to the old rules, everyone has to suck the blood of the border troops.
Will the court be angry? Yes, but there is no way to check because of the cumbersome procedures, the collusion between aristocratic families and the protection of officials, and the lack of a perfect supervision system.
The local officials said that there was an accident, it rained, a landslide occurred, and the people had eaten too much.
If you want to say that we are greedy, that's fine. Next time we will be unlucky. Don't say that I am unlucky, but that the people are unwilling to be lucky. In short, if you want to hold people accountable, I will have a hundred excuses and a thousand reasons.
And when the grain and grass are delivered to Xunyang Road, most of the grain and grass are missing, and the enemy will also conduct the final inspection. Then the people who ate the cake before will let the enemy cheat and let the enemy who did the final inspection cover up for them.
In the end, only these 30% were left, ten carts of food, five carts were lost on the road, and the frontier army deserved five carts, but in fact, they only got three carts.
After Xiao Yi explained the situation, he was worried: "Although Xunyang Road is close to the border, there is no need to give face to the border generals. It is deeply rooted. It is difficult to snatch food from their mouths."
Chu Qing, who was extremely tired, yawned.
By the time he was in his position, and with the many things he had experienced, he had already figured it out.
Laws, laws, and justice are not suitable for everyone.
Even in later generations, such things are common. Ordinary people can hardly believe it, nor can they believe that there are people who are greedy for ink, and that there are people who are so bold and dare to be greedy for ink.
In fact, there are too many such things. If it didn't exist, the four-character idiom "appalling" would not have appeared.
Changxian smiled and said: "General Xiao, if it were something else, Master Chu might be troubled, but this family is not worth mentioning in Master Chu's eyes."
Wang Tongtong volunteered and suggested: "Sir, why don't I take a few brothers to Xunyang Road to investigate at the end of the night."
"No need." Chu Qing shook his head: "I didn't come to the border to deal with the aristocratic family."
Everyone was slightly stunned. They thought that Chu Qing "loved" the aristocratic family very much and liked the entire aristocratic family the most.
In fact, Chu Qing was tired, or rather bored, of fighting back and forth with the aristocratic family. It was like this in Beijing, and it was like this when he came to the border. Chu Qing had no interest in this enemy at all. .
Just because he's not interested doesn't mean he won't solve it, but Chu Qing is no longer willing to use that particularly nerve-wracking method to do things.
He picks up any girl, uses whatever method, and wears whatever shoes he goes to. Now that he has arrived at the border, Chu Qing likes to solve problems in the simplest and most primitive way, so in his eyes, his enemies are already withered bones in the grave.
Turning his head, Chu Qing shouted: "Bring him in."
Tong Gui brought Xue Kui in, his face covered with blood, nose bruised and swollen, like a dog being dragged to death.
Chu Qing said with a smile: "The commander of Qianqiying, the supervisor of the three military weapons, and the son of Si'an County came to the border to kill a fifth-grade general. It is very easy, and it is easy to breathe, because from the day I left the capital, , the monarchs and ministers in the court know that I can kill, and I will kill many, many people. The ministers and noble families don't care, as long as I don't swing my sword at them, they don't care, give me a reason to let you live. Bar."
Xue Kui raised his head, weakly wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and shook his head. There was still no fear on his face.
"Then let me give you one, give you a reason to live a few more days."
"Sir, please speak."
"From today on, I will be your accountant. Wherever you go, I will go. Whatever official duties you do, I will take care of them. I want to know what you are doing every day and how the food and grass business works. , after I learn it, I will kill you again."
"Okay." Xue Kui stood up with a calm expression on his face: "Then I will prepare food for the adults."
Tong Gui glanced at Chu Qing with a strange expression, and the latter nodded slightly.
Xue Kui staggered out, walked outside, picked up the shoulder pad from the ground, gently swept the yellow sand off it, put it on his shoulder, straightened his chest, and walked out of the main door to ask someone to prepare. It’s time to eat.
Looking at Xue Kui's back, Chu Qing shook his head slightly and smiled bitterly: "What do you think?"
Tong Gui spat: "You should be killed for taking credit."
Xiao Yi's face was a little complicated, as if he wanted to say something, but Tao Weiran sighed slightly: "There is so much right and wrong in this gate."
Chu Qing deeply agreed, feeling that things might not be as simple as the Thousand Cavalry Camp detectives understood, and many things should not be judged by their appearance.
But then I thought about it, what difficulties could there be in taking the credit of the soldiers who were fighting on the front line? What difficulties could a person who has benefited have, not to mention that Xue Kui also came from a noble family.
