Chapter 601 The Poorest Prefect
Xie Shang helped Jiang Fenghua down from the carriage. She took his arm and spoke in a dialect that only people from the South could understand, "My husband wants to do good deeds to accumulate blessings for my mother, and I also want to accumulate blessings."
Xie Shang couldn't understand either. "I know my wife is kind-hearted. We will definitely donate more this time. The Bodhisattva will see our sincerity and bless us so that we can get pregnant soon and have many children and grandchildren."
Jiang Fenghua was stunned, then smiled and said in the language of the Great Zhou Kingdom, "After donating grain and silver, I will also go to the temple to make a golden statue of the Bodhisattva. I heard that the Bodhisattvas in the Great Zhou Kingdom are the most efficacious, and I hope they will bless my mother-in-law's health so that she can recover soon."
She deliberately said that someone in her family was sick, just to test whether the yamen runners knew that the prefect was aware of the arrival of the woman who claimed to be the brother of Guanyin Bodhisattva at Wangyue Tower.
The yamen runner didn't react; perhaps he didn't know, but he didn't know if Prefect Fan knew.
Upon entering the government office, one is greeted by a plaque inscribed with the words "Upright and Honest." The plaque is somewhat old, but the characters on it are still vigorous and powerful.
When they met Prefect Fan, he was already waiting in the main hall. He was wearing a faded official robe, with a thin face and a very simple appearance. He truly looked like an honest official.
The constable said, "Sir, the person has been brought."
Fan De said, "I heard from the yamen runners that you two are jade merchants from the South. I heard that you want to donate grain to Qingzhou. On behalf of the people of Qingzhou, I thank you for your kindness. The people of Qingzhou are suffering too much."
Xie Shang said, "We only saw the locust plague here when we were passing through Qingzhou. My wife is kind-hearted and always wants to do good deeds wherever she goes. She wants to do her part. Does Your Excellency need food or silver? I will have someone prepare it as soon as possible, and it can be delivered to the people of Qingzhou in five days."
“Grain would be even better, but silver is also acceptable. I wonder how much you would like to donate, young master?” Magistrate Fan added, “You two have done a good deed, and we will erect a monument in your honor. The people of Qingzhou will not forget you.”
Jiang Fenghua was also sizing up Fan De, and then said, "Let's donate grain directly. We happen to have a batch of grain that we bought from Jiangnan that we need to transport to the Southern Kingdom. It's 50,000 catties. Let's donate it to the people of Qingzhou first. If it's not enough, we'll find a way to transport more. Along the way, we've seen many poor people who can't even afford to eat. The people are so pitiful. Doesn't the emperor of your Great Zhou Kingdom care about the lives of the people?"
Fan Dedao said, "The imperial court did allocate silver, but how could that amount be enough for the people of the whole prefecture? It's all gone. We have nine counties and more than a hundred towns and villages of all sizes, with countless people affected by the disaster. The crops in the fields have yielded nothing, and there have been several swarms of locusts. How could that amount of silver be enough? As the prefect of a prefecture, I can't help the disaster victims. I have no choice!"
As he spoke, his eyes reddened, and he looked as if he was about to cry from emotion.
Xie Shang said, "Qingzhou wasn't affected by the disaster last year, right? The surplus grain should have been enough to last for a while. How did it suddenly become so serious?"
"Qingzhou is not wealthy to begin with, and there is not much left of last year's surplus grain. There are still so many soldiers to feed..." He then went on to explain the difficulties faced by the government. In short, when you calculate the details, you realize that money is needed everywhere, and the money has been used up.
They knew exactly how much grain 500,000 taels of silver could buy, enough to feed all the people of Qingzhou. However, according to their investigation, the people hadn't received a single tael of silver, a single grain of rice, or even a bowl of thin porridge.
Prefect Fan, however, was complaining about being poor, and that his yamen was in a dilapidated state. Every year, the imperial court would send funds to various prefectures to repair their yamen and other infrastructure, so why was Qingzhou so shabby?
Anger flashed in his eyes. There must be some hidden story behind how the money was spent. He could find out by checking the ledger, but he couldn't reveal his current identity.
If they were truly merchants from the South, knowing how dilapidated the government offices of the Great Zhou Kingdom were, they would surely laugh their heads off.
He then asked, "Your city of Qingzhou wasn't affected by the disaster, so everyone has wine and meat to eat!"
“People in the city are definitely richer than people in the towns. Every family in the city has surplus grain and money, so it’s normal that they don’t have to worry about food and drink. But no one does good deeds like you two.” Van der’s words were impeccable.
Xie Shang nodded, and then handed Lin Feng a box of silver. "This silver is to be donated to you first, sir. You can buy some grain from the local grain merchants to make porridge and distribute it to the people outside the city. When we came in, we saw many disaster victims crowding into the city."
When Fan De saw the silver, his eyes lit up. He quickly explained, "There's really no other way. If the disaster victims enter the city and have no food, they will rob the shops. I have no choice but to let them in. If they commit crimes, the government will have to arrest them. But I don't have enough food to feed them in jail. So I've decided to keep all the disaster victims out of the city."
Jiang Fenghua and Xie Shang exchanged a glance. It seemed that the prefect of Qingzhou was well-prepared and not afraid of an audit from above.
So much silver must have a purpose if it were delivered to him. This money was personally approved by him and directly allocated from the national treasury.
Jiang Fenghua said, "We need to find a warehouse to store our grain when it arrives. I will personally distribute the grain to the people. They are so pitiful. Could you please arrange a safe granary? I am afraid that something might happen to so much grain."
Fan De's eyes darted around. "Of course there are granaries. Our government office has one. Madam, you don't need to worry. All the grain you donated will be distributed to the disaster victims."
"Then we can rest assured." Jiang Fenghua smiled.
Van der asked them where they lived and even offered to treat them to a simple meal, which they declined.
Xie Shang and Jiang Fenghua got into the carriage directly after leaving the yamen.
"Where did all this money go? We need to find this missing disaster relief fund as soon as possible."
"Does Your Highness believe he embezzled 500,000 taels of silver? On the surface, he appears to be an honest official, dressed simply, and his yamen is impoverished." Jiang Fenghua smiled slightly. "Are all your court officials this poor?"
"The imperial court doesn't require him to pay for his official robes; the court distributes them every year. He's clearly dressed like this on purpose." Xie Shang thought that such an official wasn't frugal; he was simply disgracing the Great Zhou Kingdom. How did Jiang Jinyan manage to distribute all that silver to the prefect of Qingzhou back then?
Since taking power, Xie Shang has investigated many corrupt officials, but he has never investigated a corrupt official like Fan De who looks like an honest official.
They had personally investigated the actual situation in Qingzhou's towns and villages; otherwise, they would have been completely deceived by the illusion of Qingzhou City.
Just then, a carriage with its horses startled suddenly appeared in front of their carriage.
The carriage on the other side was going too fast, and the driver looked panicked, shouting repeatedly, "Get out of the way! The horse is spooked!"
Seeing this, Lin Feng quickly said, "Master, please sit tight."
He pulled on the reins so hard that the horse almost grazed the other horse's head, causing the two vehicles to collide violently.
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