Chapter 493 Negligence
Lin Suo was a general personally selected by Wen Zhiming, and Wen Zhiming trusted him to some extent.
However, given the enormous amount of silver Xie Guanzhi had embezzled, Lin Suo had never mentioned it in his previous memorials to the capital. Wen Zhiming was also puzzled by this, so he did not let Lin Suo get up, but asked softly.
"What crime did Commander Lin commit?"
Lin Suo lowered his head in shame and said, "Your Highness entrusted the Northern Frontier to me, but despite three years of peace, the people there are still suffering terribly, even more so than during times of war. In these three years, tens of thousands of people have starved or frozen to death in the Northern Frontier every year. This is all due to my incompetence, and I am guilty!"
Wen Zhiming scrutinized him, his face as cold as ice.
“You are responsible for the safety of the northern frontier. Prefect Lin is the official in charge of the people of the northern frontier. The fact that the people of the northern frontier are suffering so much is the fault of Prefect Lin. But you also made a big mistake by knowing the truth but not reporting it and by covering it up.”
"Knowing but not reporting?"
Lin Su shook his head and said, "No! Regarding the situation in the Northern Frontier, I wrote at least a dozen memorials, but after sending them out, I received no response whatsoever. I even sent a special messenger back to the capital to deliver the message, but both the messenger and the message disappeared. I thought that His Majesty... the Prince had received them, but simply had no time to reply. In addition, not long after, the court sent aid funds, so I assumed..."
At this point, he was filled with fear and apprehension. "Could it be that in the past three years, all the memorials I sent to the capital have been switched? And that the people I dispatched have all been intercepted?"
Lin Suo had his doubts, but he thought that no one would be so bold as to change a memorial or intercept a messenger; that was a capital offense.
Moreover, the imperial court had been providing financial and material assistance for the past few years, and he believed that it was due to the effect of his memorials.
Lin Suo opened his eyes wide, as if he had suddenly thought of something.
“Your Highness, if someone really did alter my memorial, then that person must be Xie Guanzhi. Once, when he was talking to me, he inadvertently revealed a sentence I wrote in my memorial. At the time, I thought it was something Your Highness mentioned when you issued an imperial edict to him, but now I think it must be that he secretly read the memorial I wrote for Your Highness.”
"Xie Guanzhi spouts righteousness and morality, yet he secretly engages in such deceptive and misleading acts. I noticed his suspicious nature long ago and have kept my distance from him. Although his memorial described the predicament in the northern frontier, it did not mention his faults. I never expected him to..."
Wen Zhiming looked at him and said.
"As the official in charge of the northern frontier, Xie Guanzhi, even when there is no war, still leaves the people of the northern frontier without clothes or food. If you state the truth, it is no different from accusing him. Furthermore, if I had known at the time that the court was providing hundreds of thousands of taels of silver in aid every year, yet people in the northern frontier were still freezing and starving to death, do you think I would have spared Xie Guanzhi, or continued to feed this vicious wolf?"
Lin Suo's face was deathly pale.
He was indeed loyal, but he didn't understand the ways of officialdom. He underestimated Xie Guanzhi's greed and audacity, and overestimated his own understanding.
His soldiers were far superior to Xie Guanzhi's. If he had discovered the problem with the memorial earlier, or if he had been more cautious, he would certainly have had other ways to get the truth to the capital.
But even though he knew it was wrong, he kept finding reasons to push things to a reasonable level, which made Xie Guanzhi increasingly greedy and caused the people of the northern border to struggle for survival.
The prince is right; he is indeed very wrong.
"Tens of thousands of taels of silver every year?" Lin Suo said with a wry smile, "Although I don't know the exact amount, each time the county magistrate distributes grain from the imperial court, it's about one liter per family. The porridge they cook is just water, with no rice in sight. The cotton clothes distributed in late autumn and winter total less than a hundred pieces... Adding all these together, the actual aid the people of the northern frontier receive each year definitely doesn't exceed ten thousand taels of silver..."
He also thought that the imperial court was giving too little. After all, the northern frontier was vast and populous. Tens of thousands of taels of silver a year sounded like a lot, but with so many people, it was negligible when divided among the many common people.
If the people of this city can be saved, then the people of other cities cannot be helped. The people of each city share a small portion of the cost, and in the end, there is not enough to go around, and famine occurs year after year.
Lin Suo thought that the Jin Yue Kingdom's treasury was empty before. Although the situation improved after Wen Zhiming took the throne, there would not be much surplus. The court had already done its best by providing tens of thousands of taels of silver in aid every year.
Little did they know that the amount the imperial court originally allocated to the northern frontier each year was astonishing.
Wen Zhiming's voice was low and deep.
“Xie Guanzhi certainly deserves to die. But there are many mountains, forests and fields in the northern frontier, and the imperial court has exempted taxes for three years. Even if Xie Guanzhi embezzled all the imperial aid, it shouldn't have resulted in tens of thousands of people starving or freezing to death in a year. There must be some other reason behind this. Do you know what the situation is?”
Lin Suo's head drooped lower and lower.
"The imperial court's tax exemption is common knowledge throughout the country, and Xie Guanzhi did indeed issue this imperial edict. However, in addition to exempting the regular grain and land taxes, he added many other taxes. There's a sunshine tax for sunny days and a rainwater tax for rainy days, applicable to everyone regardless of social status, age, or gender. Combined, the total revenue is actually more than before the tax exemption. Therefore..."
"What a two-faced traitor!" Wen Zhiming sneered. "Did that traitor Xie Guanzhi give you the silver to expand the military camp?"
Lin Suo said, "Yes. Half a month ago, Xie Guanzhi sent 50,000 taels of silver, saying that it was his savings over the years, as well as donations from the people, to ensure that the military camp was repaired and that the prince would be satisfied."
At the time, he thought Xie Guanzhi was just trying to please the prince, but now it seems he had done too many bad things and was now spending his own money to do something practical to gain the prince's trust.
Wen Zhiming also thought of this and couldn't help but sneer.
"He has committed such a grave mistake, yet he thinks he can get away with it with such a small achievement. It's wishful thinking. Besides, the money used to expand the military camp was originally the money of the imperial court and the people."
"I killed more than a dozen corrupt officials in the capital, thinking that my deterrent effect was enough. I never expected that the biggest corrupt official was actually in the poorest and most backward northern frontier."
"Lin Suo, although you did not harm the people, you have still neglected your duties. I will verify the matter in the memorial again. Now tell me, what is the most urgent matter, how do you intend to atone for your sins?"
Lin Suo looked up excitedly upon hearing this.
“With Your Highness’s approval, I can send troops to the Prefect’s residence now to capture Xie Guanzhi and hand him over to Your Highness for judgment.”
Wen Zhiming shook his head and said, "Taking Xie Guanzhi down is something any of my generals can do; there's no need for you to do it personally. What I want to do is to uproot all the corrupt officials in the Northern Frontier, leaving none alive."
"His Highness's idea is to avoid alerting them first, and wait until Xie Guanzhi and his officials slip up before taking them down together," Lin Suo said.
Seeing that he wasn't completely stupid, Wen Zhiming kindly offered some guidance.
"Don't let this slip. Tonight, on my orders, I've invited the prince stationed in Lanyu Kingdom to attend the banquet. Make sure to protect his safety."
"Understood."
As Lin Suo nodded and was about to leave, Wen Zhiming gave him a gentle reminder.
"Remember, I have countless ways to deal with Xie Guanzhi, but you only have one chance to save your life."
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