In the face of interests, the former Huoqiu County Magistrate was obviously tempted, so he sold most of the disaster relief rice to grain merchants and only used a small portion for disaster relief.

In fact, this situation should exist more or less in all parts of the Song Dynasty, but due to the nature of the Song Dynasty's itinerant officials, the term of office of the county magistrate was relatively short, and the longest was only three years. Therefore, most county magistrates did not dare to go too far, for fear that their successors would discover the clues and report to the court. Basically, they only did a very small amount, earning a few thousand strings of cash, and did not dare to do too much.

But unexpectedly, the successor was also a corrupt official. After taking office, he received large bribes from the former county magistrate and local grain merchants, so he suppressed the matter and did not report it to the state.

As a result, the people of Huoqiu suffered heavy casualties and the population was directly reduced by one third.

"Bang!"

In Xiacai County, Shouzhou, Zhao Jun threw the teacup in his hand to the ground and glared at Yang Riyan, the transport envoy of Huainan West Road, Yang Gao, the tea, salt and alum tax administrator and the chief transport envoy of Huainan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jinghu and coin minting, Zhou Ling, the chief transport magistrate and transport judge, and Lin Zhu, the magistrate of Shouzhou.

Many high-ranking officials in Huainan Road were silent and dared not respond.

"Your Majesty stated two years ago that, following the disaster in the southeast, the people were destitute. He ordered the Jianghuai Shipping Department to reduce the grain supply by one million hu and exempt Huainan from taxes, so that you could protect the people's livelihood and restore their strength."

Zhao Jun slammed the table and looked at them. "You've been here for a year or two, haven't you? Yang Riyan, you came here in the second year of Jingyou. Huainan suffered from drought in the first year of Jingyou. Not only has it not recovered yet, but corruption like this is happening right under your noses. What do you have to say?"

Yang Riyan shirked responsibility, saying, "Minister, I did come here in the second year of Jingyou. At that time, due to a disaster, the former Huainan West Route Transport Commissioner, Huang Wei, was transferred here. I was transferred to Huainan West Route as a Langzhong of the Ministry of War and Director of the Historiography Office. Immediately after taking office, I went to various places to comfort the victims, and I never slacked off."

"How do you explain what happened in Huoqiu County?"

Zhao Jun shouted, "Huoqiu is right in Shouzhou, right next to your Huainan West Road seat. How could such a major event happen? Are you deaf or blind and unable to see the plight of the victims in Huoqiu?"

Yang Riyan added, "Although the disaster in Shouzhou was severe, the situation in Shuzhou, Luzhou, Qizhou, and other places was even more worrying. Therefore, I simply instructed the county magistrates of Shouzhou to resettle the victims themselves, and then I went to Shuzhou and other places. This was my dereliction of duty."

"hehe."

Zhao Jun sneered, completely shirking the responsibility.

The current Huoqiu County Magistrate committed suicide, and the former Huoqiu County Magistrate was transferred to Hubei Road. So it’s purely the county magistrate’s fault and has nothing to do with them?

However, Yang Riyan was indeed the successor after the drought, and it seems reasonable for him to shift the blame to his predecessor.

Zhao Jun then looked at Lin Zhu and said, "Yang Riyan said he was attending to the disaster in other places. As the governor of Shouzhou, it's your responsibility to take care of the local people's livelihood. Could it be that you have never been to Huoqiu and learned the truth from the people there?"

Lin Zhu was sweating profusely at this moment. He glanced at Yang Riyan and gritted his teeth after a moment and said, "Reporting to the prefect, this, this, this..."

"What is this!"

Zhao Jun shouted, "If you were involved, tell the truth. Perhaps I can give you a lighter sentence. If you weren't involved and know the inside story, tell it. No matter who's behind it, there's no need to worry!"

"I'm not aware of this."

Lin Zhu noticed Yang Riyan's stern look and trembled all over. He bowed repeatedly and said, "I was transferred here only last year and haven't even been in office for a year. How could I possibly know the situation?"

Zhao Jun snorted coldly, "The situation in Huoqiu County can be easily understood by simply visiting and asking the local people. Yet you know nothing about this. You're seriously derelict in your duty as prefect. I think you should resign and stay home. If I find evidence of your involvement, you'll face more than just imprisonment."

"ah."

Lin Zhu was dumbfounded. He was dismissed just like that?

Originally, I wanted to refute that without the imperial decree, why did Zhao Jun dismiss the prefect from his post?

But then I thought, Guo Chengyou has a powerful background, right?

Zhao's son-in-law.

The current emperor’s official in the Eastern Palace.

Ancestors were founding generals.

Then what?

I'm afraid the grass has started to grow on the grave now.

Obviously, arguing with the prefect in front of him would be a dead end.

The problem is that Lin Zhu was wronged.

He was not involved in this, so he was dismissed for nothing. Isn't that making him a scapegoat for others?

Thinking of this, Lin Zhu was forced into a corner. Finally, he gritted his teeth, closed his eyes and said, "This was all the work of Huang Wei, the former Huainan West Road Transport Commissioner, Sun Mian, the Shouzhou Governor, and Xiong Tao, the Huoqiu County Magistrate. It's said that it's not just Shouzhou, but other places as well. The gains are far more than a million strings of cash! This has nothing to do with me!"

After he finished speaking, Yang Riyan and Zhou Ling both felt a tightness in their hearts.

I originally thought that I could force the Huoqiu County Magistrate to death and put all the blame on him.

They were even preparing to send people to Hubei to kill the former Huoqiu County Magistrate, so that there would be no evidence against him and Zhao Jun would be helpless.

But unexpectedly, Lin Zhu exposed it.

This is a big trouble.

The main reason is that as successors, they did not actually participate in the embezzlement of disaster relief grain funds.

The problem was that the profits were too high. Huang Wei and Sun Mian were afraid that their successors would find out, so they bribed Yang Riyan and Zhou Ling with a large sum of money.

In history, these two people were impeached by Ouyang Xiu for corruption, which shows that they were greedy people.

Lin Zhu did not accept the bribe.

Because the disaster occurred in the first year of Jingyou, Huang Weisunmian engaged in corruption in the second year of Jingyou.

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!