Chapter 376 When was he caught red-handed?
"Hmph." Prefect Tang's face was ashen. He ordered the soldiers behind him, "You lot, go to the kitchen and see what good stuff this magistrate's mansion has! And you, go check other places and see if there are any other 'big shots' hidden in this small magistrate's mansion?"
The officers and soldiers responded in unison, and their footsteps immediately echoed in the courtyard. Half of them headed straight for the kitchen, while the other half dispersed, their hands on their waist knives, and headed towards the side courtyard and study.
The county magistrate was terrified. He reached out to stop him, but was frozen in place by a cold glare from Prefect Tang. His fingertips clenched white, and his lips trembled, but he couldn't utter a single word of pleading.
Standing to the side, watching Magistrate Nong's panicked appearance, Zhu Yue, who had finally managed to be free from her secret guard identity, couldn't control her impulsive nature and smugly mocked, "Magistrate Nong was about to arrest me just now, why is he silent now? Is he afraid that the soldiers will actually find something shameful?"
Before the county magistrate could refute, a commotion suddenly arose from the direction of the kitchen. A soldier shouted back, "Sir! There are more than a dozen jars of aged wine and several boxes of brocade hidden in the kitchen cellar!"
Immediately afterwards, there was a commotion from the west wing: "Sir! There's a secret compartment here, full of gold and silver ingots!"
Magistrate Nong's legs went weak, and he knelt down with a thud. "Misunderstanding, sir, it's a misunderstanding!"
"Misunderstand?"
Tang, the prefect, was furious. As the prefect of Heshan County, the county magistrates were his direct subordinates.
Just a few days ago, His Highness the Crown Prince and His Highness the Princess left him in high spirits, and not long after, the two princes personally caught his subordinates embezzling.
This is a slap in the face to him, and it also breaks the rules of Heshan County!
"Okay, since it's a misunderstanding, then explain where you got all these things from!!"
Tang, the prefect, was so angry he was practically fuming. As the direct superior of the county magistrate, he knew, of course, that the county magistrate had risen through the ranks from a poor farmer.
In the past two years, the reputation of the county magistrate has been very good among the people, so Prefect Tang thought that the county magistrate, who was born into poverty, would understand the hardships of the people better and would be more reliable and know how to behave than those pampered sons of officials.
Furthermore, Jinzhou City is not far from the provincial capital, and recently the Empress Dowager has been practicing meditation at Putuo Temple. Prefect Tang would never have imagined that Magistrate Nong would do anything under his and the Empress Dowager's noses, so he always trusted him.
Unexpectedly, his trust became the arrogance of the county magistrate, which instead fostered such a huge disaster!
Aside from Prefect Tang never expecting such a thing to happen, how could Magistrate Nong have imagined it either?
It is said that the most dangerous place is the safest place. He knew that he was deeply trusted by Prefect Tang and had always strictly controlled public opinion about him. For the past two years, he had been able to get by smoothly. He never thought that one day he would be caught off guard and have these things discovered.
Moreover, even now, the county magistrate still hasn't figured out where things went wrong, or when he was caught red-handed.
"Your Excellency, please calm down! This is all a misunderstanding!" Magistrate Nong steadied himself. "To be honest, these were all sent by wealthy merchants in Jinzhou City. They asked me to do them a favor in Jinzhou City, so..."
"As far as I know, if a city suffers a poor harvest or heavy losses due to pests, natural disasters, or other reasons, the county magistrate can apply to the imperial court for a subsidy to help the affected farmers, make up for the losses of seeds and farming tools, and stabilize local grain prices to prevent grain merchants from taking the opportunity to raise prices and make it unaffordable for the people."
Xie Yun-yang suddenly interrupted Magistrate Nong, "Magistrate Nong, right?"
The county magistrate's heart tightened: "Yes, there is such a rule..."
"Professor Nong, last year the outskirts of Jinzhou were plagued by rodents and insects, which devoured the farmers' food supplies and stored grain, resulting in a dismal harvest. You haven't forgotten about that, have you?"
The county magistrate's heart tightened, and a cold sweat broke out on his back. His eyes darted around in a panic, avoiding Xie Yun's gaze. He stammered, unable to speak coherently, "Yes... yes, that's true, and we can indeed apply for relief... but... but I've already done my best to appease the people..."
"Trying to appease them?" Xie Yun's voice was calm, yet carried an undeniable penetrating force. "According to the records, the imperial court allocated two thousand taels of relief funds, which should have been used to buy grain and distribute it to farmers at a fair price, and to purchase new grain seeds for replanting. But I heard that last year, the affected farmers only received a few bushels of coarse grain, while grain merchants used the 'famine' as an excuse to raise grain prices fivefold, and your household received 'thank-you gifts' from the grain merchants?"
Sheng Sheng let out a comfortable "Oh," her tone carrying a profound meaning: "Sheng Sheng understands! In other words, he pocketed most of the relief funds the court allocated to disaster-stricken people, and used the remaining money to feed the grain merchants, allowing them to take advantage of the rat plague to raise prices and rip off the people—so, this county magistrate, Master Nong, isn't here to protect the people, but rather to help unscrupulous merchants plunder the people's hard-earned money?"
Sheng Sheng added with a grin, "Oh, by the way, I heard that the Agricultural University has a very good reputation among the people, and even the Empress Dowager praises them highly. Now it seems that... it was all a show put on by the Agricultural University to avoid arousing suspicion, huh?"
After all, who would have thought that a kind magistrate who would pay medical bills for ordinary people, right under the noses of the Empress Dowager and the Prefect, would do such a thing?
Upon hearing this, Magistrate Nong's face drained of all color, and he collapsed onto the bluestone slab as if his bones had been removed, too weak even to kowtow.
That's right, that's exactly right...
His reputation for "paying back medical expenses for the people" and "visiting poor households late at night" was spread by hiring people at a small cost.
They deliberately staged performances in places where people gathered, just to solidify the image of "honesty and love for the people," so that they could use this facade to secretly embezzle relief funds and accept bribes.
Compared to the much greater profits behind it, spending a few dozen taels of silver on a show is simply insignificant.
With just a little money, he can make those foolish people grateful to him, turning this parasite who exploits the people into a benevolent and righteous savior.
Why not?
Unexpectedly, this carefully crafted facade was shattered by a single, casual remark.
"How dare you! This is utter nonsense! Who are you people to spout such nonsense and slander this official!" Magistrate Nong's face turned ashen.
He suddenly straightened up, his eyes filled with a desperate ruthlessness, and his voice trembled with rage: "A few baseless speculations, and you dare to use them to frame me?! I am upright and have nothing to fear. If you dare to spread rumors again, don't blame me for arresting you on charges of 'offending a superior and slandering an official of the court'!"
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