The dam issue was too simple, so simple that it was beyond my expectation.
Even if a person does not understand water conservancy projects, as long as he stands on the dam, he can feel that the dam is an old octogenarian and will collapse with any gust of wind.
I don't need to collect much information. The entire dam is full of information. As long as someone from above comes to inspect, any problems with the dam can be discovered.
I gave the old man one or two taels of silver, and he kowtowed to me deeply. His two sons went to the county government office to file a complaint, but they both died on the way.
There are no young and strong people in the family, and no descendants.
He was already in a state of waiting to die. I wanted to help him but was powerless. I gave him a tael of silver, but it was only my morality and conscience that warned me against it.
I never thought that he would treat me so seriously.
I felt unworthy of it and left in a hurry.
Compared with the problem with the dam, the problem with the granary is not that big.
I just used an excuse, saying that I wanted to buy a batch of grain for making wine, and I easily found a way and entered the country's important granary, which was not allowed to be entered by outsiders.
The situation inside the granary was also terrifying. There was not much food in the granary used for disaster relief and war preparedness.
I don't know how much food we need to store for emergency preparedness, but I know something is wrong.
Through indirect inquiries, I learned that the largest granaries were empty.
Most of them were sold to grain merchants in Jianyi and even several counties around Hongdu Prefecture.
This is an open secret in Jianyi, just like the dam.
No one cares.
No, it’s not that no one cares. It’s that the people who care about them can’t speak up and can only remain silent, so no one cares.
I collected quite detailed information, and gave a detailed description and explanation of the conditions of each granary, the damaged dams, and the several areas where they had collapsed and breached over the years.
Then he crossed mountains and rivers to Longxing Prefecture and secretly made dozens of copies of the information.
Several copies were lost in Longxing Prefecture, and one copy was given to a storyteller, asking him to describe the old man who died while petitioning and his son.
Dozens of other copies were distributed randomly.
Now that the matter has been made public, there is no need to worry even if the higher-ups want to cover it up, or even if the Jianyi County Magistrate has multiple protectors. Someone must be held accountable for this.
Things have indeed changed, but not in the way I expected.
The storyteller from Longxing Prefecture was arrested for spreading rumors and misleading the public.
Dozens of documents were confiscated and the incident was quickly settled.
I tried to distribute the information again, but no one dared to take it. It even brought me danger of death and I was almost surrounded by soldiers.
If it weren't for my excellent martial arts, I would have died on the spot.
I overestimated my importance and the importance of the information.
But things are not unchanged.
After returning to Jianyi, I heard that there was a lot of construction going on at the dam site, and it seemed that it needed to be repaired, which lasted for several months.
This comforted me a little, as I was feeling depressed. Although the incident had subsided, it seemed to have attracted the attention of the county magistrate.
At least he was afraid of something going wrong, so he finally used some of the money meant for the dam construction for its original purpose.
In my joy, I secretly found the broker from whom I had purchased grain before. I thought he would no longer dare to sell war grain at will.
It turned out the price had only increased by 20%. The broker said with a hint of gloom, "Some time ago, I don't know which crazy person went to Longxing Prefecture and spread some rumors, which caused a huge impact on business. The authorities have been cracking down on it... So we have to raise the price a bit."
This time, the grain was purchased from the largest granary in Jianyi.
Well, I heard from the broker that in order to cope with the inspection from above, the grain merchants of Jianyi moved the grain in their warehouses to the largest granaries in Jianyi.
So the shipping fee will be a little more.
I was completely dumbfounded.
What surprised me even more was that the operation of the dam was done in the same way.
There is a dam about one kilometer long, which is built solidly. The dam is right on the side of the road and can be seen by people around. It looks unusually strong.
But with the previous experience of the granary, I don’t want to believe that the county magistrate is willing to bleed so much.
I walked forward for a few more miles, and sure enough, it was exactly as I expected.
The roads for several miles ahead were all dilapidated and incomplete, with some sections even having been dug out.
The materials used to build the dam were quite good. The county magistrate probably wanted to save money, so he demolished the east wall to repair the west wall, creating a facade project, but the rest of the area...
Not long after, people from above were sent down to inspect the situation, and everyone was happy with the result.
All of these are rumors. Han Qiong, the magistrate of Jianyi County, worked diligently to govern the country. He was incorruptible and worked diligently for the people of Jianyi.
The grain in the granary is piled up like a mountain, and the embankment is solid and tall.
County Magistrate Han Qiong, on the other hand, was left penniless. He was slandered because he had offended local wealthy families when he was building dams and storing grain in granaries, and was not tolerated by others.
Zhang Mingtu couldn't bear to read the notice posted by the county magistrate.
That would piss him off to death.
When things developed to this point, Zhang Mingtu could actually understand what the head of the Zhang family, who was killed for rebellion, said before his death.
Everything in front of me was dark and without light.
The Jianyi County Magistrate and the wealthy families of Jianyi have joined forces to deceive their superiors and subordinates. Who can be their opponent?
I spent a lot of time hiding my identity and collecting a lot of information.
As it turned out, my efforts were in vain.
No, it's not in vain.
Storyteller, I was imprisoned because of the incident, and during the subsequent investigation, it was heard that the old man whose two sons had died was taken away by people from the county government and beaten to death on the spot.
I can't see any light in this world.
When Zhang Mingtu saw this, his heart was also shrouded in a heavy cloud of darkness.
The road ahead was truly dark, with no light in sight. If he had been born this way, he could still endure the fact that he had never seen the light, and would have considered himself a blind man.
The old man guarding the village is him, and he has long accepted his fate.
But Zhang Mingtu had seen the light, so living in darkness became even more unbearable for him.
I endured silently, practicing martial arts while looking for new opportunities.
But I never expected that things would suddenly take a turn for the better two years later.
A chief clerk in the county government collected a lot of evidence against the county magistrate, Han Qiong, including that he bullied his superiors and subordinates, embezzled money for building river embankments, and resold grain for war preparations.
He submitted a lot of materials to the inspector of Jiangnan West Road.
The sky in Jianyi has changed.
The county magistrate was dismissed from his post and investigated, and all those involved were thrown into prison.
It turns out there is still light in this world.
I thought I was the only light, but I didn't expect someone to shine like a torch.
Things started unexpectedly and ended unexpectedly.
The people applauded and for half a month, Jianyi was shrouded in laughter and joy.
Even I can't help but smile at home.
The old man found out, but was mocked by the drunkard in a low voice.
"The sky has never changed!"
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