Chapter 022 Chapter 22
Xue Chen came very low-key, not like what Gong Jiu said, directly under the banner of the King of Taiping, attracting attention all the way.
Xue Chen quietly exchanged identities with Gong Jiu. Gong Jiu moved out and did not know what he was doing. Xue Chen moved into Cangyunxuan. People sent various news one after another, and local gentry and wealthy people asked to see him.
Perhaps Gong Jiu had instructed his confidants in advance, so nothing related to the nameless island was sent over.
On the table were the account books calculated by Xie Heng, as well as other account books and documents in the government office. Some of them Xue Chen had seen with Xie Heng's body, and some he had never seen.
Xue Chen flipped through it and found that the basic accounts were clear, but the fake accounts sent from the government office were also very clear for various purposes, and there was no handle left.
Some local farmers did not have land, and the fields were bought by local tycoons and then rented to farmers for cultivation. After the grain was harvested, it had to be handed over to the landlords. Farmers could only get a little food, and the family could not store the grain at all. After
the locust plague, the grain was in short supply, and these tenant farmers did not even have the most basic food. The landlords and the government spared the grain, but it was not much. Each person only got a little, and it was eaten up in less than three days. These tenant farmers had no way to make a living, and most of them fled to other places. Only a small number stayed.
There were also some people who had their own land, and they sold their land to get a few days' food, or they just starved to death while guarding the wasteland.
These people who were waiting for the court to provide relief had all starved to death in the accounts, and the huge amount of funeral expenses invested here were nowhere to be found.
The bodies actually stored in the charity house were not buried, and the plague probably spread because of this. More and more people died, and more and more money disappeared.
But they were afraid of alarming the emperor, so they didn't dare to make a big fuss, and now they are preparing relief.
Those wealthy people outside who wanted to visit Gong Jiu came for this reason.
Xue Chen sorted out these things, pushed the documents on the table aside, stood up suddenly, and walked outside.
The servant guarding the door saw him coming out and hurried forward: "Prince."
Xue Chen: "Prepare the carriage, go to the government office."
When Gong Jiu was not ill, he was an obsessive-compulsive disorder. He wished that there was not even a wrinkle on his clothes for fear of dirtying his white clothes. Most of the time, he took a carriage and rarely rode a horse.
That day, Gong Jiu rode a horse to block him from entering the city. Xue Chen was actually a little moved, so he couldn't help but hug him and comfort him.
Xue Chen's face was cold and his eyes did not look away.
On his way out, someone opened the door for him, put up the footrest, and dispersed the guests who were surrounding the door to visit him.
When Xue Chen came out, it was very quiet outside. He got on the carriage and vaguely heard people behind him shouting: "Prince, Prince! I am Chen Yuanwang, and I want to see the Prince!"
Last name Chen?
Is this the ancestral home that this prodigal son sold?
The driver turned around and asked, "Young Master, do you want to see him?"
Xue Chen: "No."
The driver: "Okay!"
The whip fell heavily, the horse neighed, and the speed increased suddenly.
Xue Chen felt the carriage shake violently. The driver seemed to look back, then quickly turned his head and concentrated on driving.
System: [He doesn't pay attention to driving safety at all. What if he hits someone.]
Xue Chen thought thoughtfully: [Whip...]
System: [Don't scare me!]
Xue Chen: [Don't scare me either! I'm thinking about whether I should act out based on Gong Jiu's character setting. Your reaction makes it seem like I'm asking for a beating.]
The system breathed a sigh of relief: [Are you really going to act?
Xue Chen: [Forget it. According to the setting, I don’t know Gong Jiu’s quirks. There’s no need to be so strict.] The
carriage stopped in front of the government office.
Xue Chen adjusted his sleeves slightly, walked into the government office, and raised his chin to the yamen runner standing on duty outside: "Lead the way."
Enter from the side door, walk east along the stone road, make a big circle, and come to the office space at the back. The yamen runner led Xue Chen to continue walking, and stopped in front of a room with an open door: "Prince, we’re here."
Xue Chen nodded.
Several officials who were writing at their desks heard the sound, looked up and saw Xue Chen coming over, and greeted him one after another: "It turns out that the prince is here."
A frail man wearing a green curved collar, a leather belt around his waist, and a futou on his head came over and bowed: "Prince, please come here."
Xue Chen followed him to the small rest room next to him.
The frail man poured a cup of tea and said in a very soft voice: "I have sent Ge Yong's body to the charity house as you ordered, and also gave Song family 300 taels of silver. As long as the money is allocated, Song family can come over immediately to beat the drum and redress the injustice."
In connection with the information he had seen before, Xue Chen immediately understood Gong Jiu's plan, and he nodded.
The weak man: "That money..."
Xue Chen and Gong Jiu exchanged identities just for the money. He immediately said: "Give it here, I'll check it again. If the number matches, there's no need to inform the government office. Just say it's the government's intention and take it directly from the warehouse and send it to the front as military expenses."
The weak man was stunned: "All?"
Xue Chen looked over with deep eyes: "What else?"
The weak man: "Yes, I'll listen to the prince."
He whispered again the recent income and expenditure, very fluently. It was obvious that he had prepared for a long time, just waiting for the Prince of Taiping to ask.
Xue Chen found several errors in it and after pondering for a long time, he came to the conclusion: "The herbs are too expensive."
The frail man cupped his hands and said: "Your Highness has a good eye. The price of the herbs is indeed slightly higher than usual. Lord Luo made the excuse that it was the disaster victims outside who picked and ate the herbs on the mountain, causing local herbs to be scarce. The existing medicines are bought from outside merchants, so the prices are higher."
"Whether it's true or not, you'll know if you ask around." Xue Chen said lightly.
"The prince is a little different from what was rumored."
"How is he different?"
"I thought you were impatient to look at these accounts, but I didn't expect you to be so good at it. You found the mistakes easily after listening to just a few sentences, which is equivalent to several days of work for me."
Xue Chen thought he had noticed the difference between him and Gong Jiu, but he didn't expect him to be talking about this. He instantly lost interest in the conversation.
He waved his hand, asked them to leave, and sat here alone for a while.
System: [What did you do here? Why don't I understand?]
Xue Chen: [I helped my brother to settle the accounts, and borrowed his identity to confiscate all the money he was going to embezzle.]
System: [I did see this, but how can you be sure that the money can really be sent to the front line? After Gong Jiu knew about it, he changed his mind temporarily, and there was plenty of time to recover the money and send it to the nameless island.]
Xue Chen: [He won't.]
System: [How do you know he won't?]
Xue Chen: [Because I know the exact amount of this money, I just chatted with my father for a few words, and he couldn't hide it. The risk is too high. With his prudence, he would never take risks under such circumstances.】
System:【So that's how it is.】
Xue Chen cheated his brother and went home happily.
The prodigal son of the Chen family who was guarding the door at home hadn't left yet. Since there was nothing else to do, Xue Chen went to see him.
Chen Yuanwang was very emotional. When he saw Xue Chen, he knelt on the ground and cried, "Please save my life, my prince!"
Xue Chen: "Save your life?"
"The Chen family has a small fortune from ancestors, but it is considered a wealthy family in the local area. The unfilial son managed the business in a wicked way, and my mother is seriously ill. We have to sell all the family property. I have to thank the prince for his generous help, otherwise I don’t know what to do.
"My family’s poverty has been seen by the neighbors. However, Magistrate Luo came to visit a few days ago and said that he and my father were old friends. He couldn’t bear to see me living in such poverty, so he wanted to give me money to buy land. He was quite sincere, and I also wanted to bring honor to my family, so I took advantage of the disaster year to buy all the land.
"Later, I learned that the prince came to provide relief and rescue. The more I thought about it, the more I felt something was wrong. I asked someone and found out that the land that Luo Junqing asked me to buy was all in the name of his family
's retainers!" Xue Chen: "Is there anyone who runs a pharmacy among his retainers?"
Chen Yuanwang was in a state of excitement. He was stunned for a moment and thought carefully: "No one runs a pharmacy. There is a doctor named Hu Xiaozhong who is a skilled doctor. He used to practice medicine at Chunhua Hall. In recent years, He quit his job as a doctor and only treated Luo Zhizhou's family. "
Xue Chen: "I see."
Chen Yuanwang: "Please, the prince, help me and don't let Luo Zhizhou deceive me."
Xue Chen: "You are so bold that you dare to frame an official of the court."
Chen Yuanwang: "I have no choice but to resort to this."
Xue Chen felt that this man had a keen sense of smell and was quite courageous. If what he said was true, he was a promising talent.
Xue Chen: "I have written down what you said. I will definitely send someone to investigate in detail and will not wrongly accuse innocent people."
Chen Yuanwang: "Thank you, prince!"
Seeing that Xue Chen's face was pale and he looked quite tired, he did not dare to disturb him any further and quickly apologized and left.
Xue Chen sat there for a while.
The system said: [You seem to be slow to react.]
In the alchemy room, Xie Heng paused as he stared at the alchemy furnace and prepared to put firewood in it: [Are you there?]
System: [Yes.]
Xue Chen: [Maybe it takes too much energy to concentrate on both sides.]
The two bodies have two sets of senses and their own physical strength, but the energy is shared, which is why the vest can strengthen the soul.
System: [Take a break.]
Xue Chen: [Okay.]
Xie Heng threw the firewood under the furnace, and Xue Chen also stood up.
A body suddenly blacked out and lost all senses.
Xue Chen blinked: [Ahhhh! System, my original body is offline!]
System: [Calm down, it's just offline. 】
Xue Chen: [Can I still live if my original body dies? ]
[You won't die just like that, will you? ] System, [No, if your original body dies, the container that holds your soul will also break, and you will die directly, and it is impossible for you to retain consciousness. Don't worry, you are not dead. ]
Xue Chen was still panicking: [What if I am a special case? My original body died, but my soul did not dissipate, but was directly taken over by a vest, and I could not continue to perform tasks, and could only depend on the crippled system for the rest of my life...]
System: [...]
I shouldn't have comforted him.
Xue Chen didn't care about controlling the temperature of the alchemy furnace, picked up the small porcelain bottle next to him, and pushed the wheelchair outside.
Hu Sheng saw him frowning and pushing the wheelchair out in a hurry, with an anxious look on his face, and hurried forward: "Sir, what's wrong with you?"
Xue Chen: "Take me to see Gong Jiu, now!"