When Prefect Fang hesitated to say that the relief money had been stolen, he was met with three pairs of suspicious eyes in the hall and three sneers at the door.
"I have never heard of anyone daring to steal from a government office. This is really an eye-opener for me."
Could Magistrate Fang say that the disaster relief silver was brought directly to his house last night and not placed in the government office's warehouse where official silver was stored?
If that were the case, he and those officials who wanted to embezzle part of the disaster relief money would have their intentions exposed to everyone.
However, facing the suspicious eyes of the crowd, Prefect Fang suddenly felt that he had no way to defend himself.
An Xin withdrew his gaze, picked up the teacup, took a sip, and put it down with a clang.
Prefect Fang was startled and looked up at An Xin, who had a sneer on his face.
"Prefect Fang, please stop joking. I have the receipt for your signature on the disaster relief money here."
An Xin tapped his fingers lightly on the table, making a dong dong sound that made people's hearts beat: "Whether you really lost it or pretended to lose it, this official wants to see these three hundred thousand taels of silver.
It was distributed to the people of Nanyang according to population, so that they could rebuild their homes destroyed by the flood.
If anyone dares to lay his eyes on this batch of silver, I don't mind letting him know the strictness of Daqian's laws."
Prefect Fang's face turned red and fear flashed in his eyes. He had been an official for so many years, how could he not know that losing disaster relief money was a capital crime.
Seeing that An Xin and others did not believe that the relief money was stolen, and even more believed that he had embezzled it, Prefect Fang really wanted to stand up and curse them.
He had that idea, but he also knew that with this person around, it would be impossible to embezzle all the money.
"I advise the prefect to go back and distribute the relief money to the people as soon as possible, otherwise don't blame me for reporting you for not doing your job well."
You want to infect her with the plague. An Xin curled her lips and sneered, I will not let you lose everything and take your surname.
Prefect Fang left An Xin and the others and returned to his own residence. He also noticed that the Nanyang official who was looking for him was also glancing at him with suspicion, and he was so angry that he threw the teacup in his hand.
She thought about how An Xin had given him three days before she left to start distributing disaster relief money to the people, otherwise she would send someone to deliver an urgent memorial to the emperor over a distance of 800 miles to report him.
By that time, there is no guarantee that the things he did before he was investigated would be revealed. If that happens, he would not even have enough head to chop off.
So Prefect Fang turned his gaze to the officials in front of him, those Nanyang officials who had followed him in corruption.
“I don’t care whether you believe it or not, but the relief money was indeed stolen by thieves, and this matter cannot be publicized. Don’t forget that several of you officials signed for it at the time.
If the imperial court knew that we had lost the relief money, at best our property would be confiscated and we would be exiled, at worst we would lose our heads.”
These Nanyang officials wished they could go back to last night and they would definitely not follow him. Now they have not embezzled any money, but have gotten into trouble instead.
"Then the inspector and Governor Li who is inspecting here already know about this. Will they report this to the court?" an official asked.
Prefect Fang frowned and glanced at everyone with a sinister look, "She said that as long as we start distributing disaster relief money within three days, they will pretend nothing happened.
So everyone doesn’t want to be reported together, and what you have done over the years will be investigated and then die a more miserable death.
I will pay half of the money, and you can share the rest equally. Let's get this over with together, or you'll all die."
After saying this, Prefect Fang turned around and left. He had embezzled a lot of money over the years, but he also spent a lot on his extravagant life in private.
Now he is asked to take out 150,000 taels of silver at once. It can be said that this is all the silver he can mobilize. The rest are shops and houses that he received privately from others. These fixed assets cannot be converted into cash all at once.
After Prefect Fang left, people in the hall began to talk in low, angry voices.
"The silver was carried into his house, and he was the one who said whether it was lost or not. Who knows whether it was stolen or not?"
"Yes! Why should we pay money to fill his hole?"
"Yeah, who says it's not."
“…”
More than a dozen officials, both big and small, were murmuring to each other, but no one dared to speak out loud. After all, they were all under someone else's command, so they didn't dare to complain too loudly.
They didn't want to raise this sum of money, but when they saw the unquestionable look that Prefect Fang gave them before he left, they knew they had to pay the money.
Otherwise, after this incident, they will have no chance of staying in the Nanyang government office.
6◇9◇Book◇Bar
In order to collect the remaining half of the silver, more than a dozen Nanyang officials quarreled endlessly and talked about their own difficulties.
Several high-ranking officials must have taken a lot of money when they were corrupt, so they left a message, "I'll give you 15,000 taels, you can handle it yourselves," and then walked away.
The remaining seven or eight-rank officials who usually followed behind to drink the soup, discussed it over. I'll get eight thousand, you'll get seven thousand, and he or she will get six or seven. After they finished arguing, they all left the prefect's residence with sad faces.
There is no longer the joy and smiles of everyone embezzling money together, and the appearance of getting along harmoniously. If it weren't for the concern for face, they would have fought to pay less money.
Here, when Prefect Fang walked into the secret room where he had hidden the bribe money, he saw that it was empty and there was not even a copper coin left for him. He felt dizzy and fell to the ground.
Who on earth not only stole the disaster relief money, but also emptied his private treasury without anyone noticing?
"Who is it, who is it?!" Prefect Fang's eyes were bloodshot, and he growled through gnashing teeth: "Don't let me catch you, or I will skin you alive and tear out your tendons."
Prefect Fang, who had lost the silver, had to sell all his properties in order to raise half of the relief money. However, those properties could not be sold in time for cash. When the butler came hurriedly to report that the servants who went to deliver food today found that the doctors imprisoned in the secret prison in the backyard had also been rescued.
As a result, Prefect Fang, who was so angry that his eyes turned black, fainted. After lying at home for a day and waking up, Prefect Fang went to the house where the court officials lived the next day.
However, he arrived at an unlucky time because An Xin and his men had already taken the certificate he had signed and were pulling grain from the granary in Nanyang Prefecture to go to a more distant place for disaster relief. They would not be back until a few days later.
In the end, Prefect Fang could only walk out of the residence of the reception officials with a gloomy face. He looked back at the vermilion gate and thought about the bad luck that had happened to him in the past few days, which were all caused by the arrival of these people.
Prefect Fang's heart shuddered, a cold light flashed in his eyes, then he turned around, got into the sedan chair and left.
When An Xin and his companions went to distribute disaster relief grain this time, they also brought the three imperial doctors and Dr. Su who were hiding in the teahouse, and they also took away the medicinal materials they brought from the capital.
Because of the disaster relief money these days, Prefect Fang didn't pay any attention to these things at all, and he placed people around An Xin and others.