"Um."
Zhao Jun nodded approvingly: "You are right."
Encouraged by Zhao Jun, Yang Gao continued, "So, I think that when Yang Riyan and Zhou Ling learn that the Supreme Court is investigating this matter, they will most likely contact Huang Wei and Sun Mian immediately and ask them to destroy the evidence. By then, it will be difficult to catch them."
As the saying goes, to catch a thief, you must seize the stolen goods, and to investigate corruption, you must have evidence. It is impossible to conclude that Huang Wei and Sun Mian were involved in corruption based solely on Lin Zhu's words.
After all, there are very few officials like Guo Chengyou who found evidence of his crimes such as letters directly in the home of a landlord with whom he colluded, and then had reason to search his mansion directly and find more evidence of his crimes.
Guo Chengyou relied on the emperor's backing to act lawlessly. Other officials were much more cautious, so it was not so easy to catch them.
Including Zhao Jun temporarily suspending Yang Riyan and Zhou Ling from their posts today, it is not because they made money from it, but because he accused them of not having the disaster relief grain funds in many counties in Huainan Road actually being distributed, and they had been in Huainan Road for two years but had no idea about it, so they were suspended on the charge of dereliction of duty.
In later generations, if an official encountered a sudden natural disaster, even if he personally went to the scene to command, if he failed to fully handle the problems in the disaster area, it might greatly affect his career and he might even be in danger of being demoted and punished.
In the Song Dynasty, the charges of dereliction of duty and neglect of duty were rather reluctant, and Zhao Jun almost forcibly used his power to remove them from their posts.
It can be seen that if we want to truly fight corruption, we must rely mainly on actual evidence.
So, upon hearing Yang Gao quickly identify the key issue, Zhao Jun was even more satisfied with his ability and asked, "Then how can we prevent them from destroying the evidence?"
Yang Gao said, "They manipulated the system, exploiting people at every level. They must have implicated a large number of people. For example, the former Huoqiu County Magistrate, Xiong Tao, and the current Huoqiu County Magistrate, the deceased Wang. According to Lin Zhu, many officials in Huainan Road were in collusion with them. If we can catch some of them, we might be able to find evidence of their crimes."
"Very good, it seems you already have an idea."
Zhao Jun smiled and said, "Then I'll leave this matter to you. I'll have you take charge of Huainan Road. If you can get to the bottom of this major corruption case, I'll personally commend you to the emperor. In the future, you might even be promoted to the position of Vice Minister, Minister, or even Prime Minister!"
"Thank you, Lord Governor! I am willing to go through fire and water for you and your majesty, even to the bitter end!"
Yang Gao was overjoyed and stood up to salute again.
For someone of his background, being a transport envoy or shipping envoy in a certain place was basically the limit.
Now he has met a senior official who appreciates him and promises that if he does well, he may be promoted to the central government in the future. This scene is as unreal as a dream.
"Go ahead."
Zhao Jun warned, "Be extremely cautious and don't let them destroy the evidence. If you need to mobilize troops, please report to me. I will sign the mobilization order and allow you to command at most one battalion."
According to the Song Dynasty system, a battalion should have 500 people, but except for the two battalions led by Zhao Jun himself, which were full or even exceeded the quota, the rest of the imperial guards and wing troops were not full at all, and the problem of ghost soldiers was very serious.
Therefore, the number of troops in a local battalion is no more than three or four hundred, which is more than enough to deal with the local county magistrate and the provincial government and transport envoy's office that have no military power.
"yes."
Yang Gao bowed and walked out.
After he left, Zhao Jun did not immediately call Lin Zhu in, but continued to leave him alone.
You have to know that this is a major event that concerns hundreds of thousands of disaster victims in Huainan. Tens of thousands of disaster victims starved to death in this incident. Isn't it just that someone is doing something bad?
Lin Zhu may not have been involved in it, but his failure to report it despite knowing about it is still a problem. His attitude is very improper. It is good enough that he was not dismissed from his post, so it is naturally impossible for him to be treated with any good face.
Half an hour had passed, and Lin Zhu, who was waiting in the main hall outside, was extremely anxious. He saw with his own eyes that Yang Gao, who came in later than him, went in and came out soon after with a happy look on his face, obviously because he was praised by the prefect.
Now that Yang Riyan and Zhou Ling have been suspended from their posts, he still doesn't know what punishment he will receive, so after thinking it over at home, he hurried to find the prefect to surrender, but he didn't expect the prefect to ignore him.
This made Lin Zhu panic.
However, he repeatedly asked the guards, but the guards said that the dean was busy and there was nothing he could do.
Fortunately, Zhao Jun was still willing to see him. After a while, Zhao Jun finally called him in. At this time, Lin Zhu was sweating profusely and almost in despair.
"Meet the Magistrate!"
After Lin Zhu came in, he wiped the sweat from his forehead, bowed and saluted immediately.
"Lin Zhizhou."
Zhao Jun stopped writing again, raised his head and looked at him seriously, "Do you know where you went wrong?"
"Your Majesty, I have failed to report this and have betrayed His Majesty's grace."
Lin Zhu said hesitantly.
"That's just one of the reasons. The second is that when asked by the Honjhōngshō, he mumbled and didn't answer immediately."
Zhao Jun accused him, "This shows that you still don't dare to speak your mind. If this court hadn't forced you, how could an official like you, who is idle and muddle-headed, ever truly repent and repent?"
Lin Zhu had only been in office for a year, so it was impossible that he didn't know everything. However, he pretended to be deaf and dumb, fearing that he would offend his superiors and colleagues, and kept silent.
Even after Zhao Jun came, he still had to be forced by Zhao Jun to tell everything. This shows that Lin Zhu had no intention of seeking justice for the people of Shouzhou from the beginning. He was simply a figurehead, acting like a clay or stone figurine, trying not to offend either side.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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