My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 428 Emperor Qianlong wanted his officials to fear him even more, so he confiscated the homes of all of them!
"Are all the positions filled?"

Beside a field of golden wheat, Yunti, dressed in a black cloth jacket, rested his two thick, python-like arms on his knees and asked Xin Youmai, who was standing next to him, about his situation, deliberately showing a look of disappointment.

Xin Youmai nodded, looking dejected: "I heard the official say it with my own ears."

"That's a pity."

Upon hearing this, Yunti stood up, patted his own backside, and then bowed and smiled at Xin Youmai, saying, "Thank you, sir, for saving me a wasted trip."

"You're welcome. Judging from your accent, you're from Shuntian Prefecture, right? Are you here to make a living too?"

After answering with a smile, Xin Youmai asked about Yunti.

Yunti crossed his arms, frowned as he looked at the vast wheat fields under the dark clouds, and said, "I am from Daxing County, Shuntian Prefecture. I was on my way to visit relatives, but I learned about this on the way and thought I would do some short-term work for a few days to earn more travel expenses."

"That's it!"

Xin Youmai left somewhat dejectedly after answering.

He originally intended to return with Yunti, since Yunti had a group of several people.

But now that Yunti is going to visit relatives, he has no choice but to give up this plan.

However, Yunti suddenly had someone bring him here and asked him to go with him to the construction site on the official road.

Xin Youmai then learned Yunti's true identity.

After meeting Xin Youmai, Yunti went directly to the construction site of the official road in Xinxiang County.

County Magistrate Hou Shijian had already received news from the prefectural government that Yunti was likely to come to the construction site, so he set up a shed here in advance to show how much he valued the matter.

When Yunti arrived, he was just about to eat, and he was preparing to eat pickled vegetables and tofu.

Moreover, he had just cut pieces of tofu and thrown them into a small pot on the stove, humming a song with great enthusiasm.

Because Yunti was dressed in civilian clothes, the officials at the construction site initially thought he was an ordinary merchant and questioned him.

Yunti then revealed his identity directly, which startled Magistrate Hou Shijian, who hadn't even taken advantage of him yet, so he immediately came to pay his respects to Yunti.

After meeting Hou Shijian, Yunti asked him about the matter of expanding the road to the post station.

What greatly displeased Yunti was that there were very few migrant workers on the construction site.

He had seen the scale of migrant workers on the same construction site in the capital and knew that there was a serious shortage of migrant workers in Xinxiang County.

Therefore, Yunti also asked Hou Shijian the reason, asking him why the laborers said that. Didn't the court give enough money? Besides, the local area also had a fire loss allowance that was returned to the public. Moreover, now that a three-level fiscal system has been implemented, each county will also have a certain share of fire loss allowance available for expenditure.

"Can't recruit enough people?"

Magistrate Hou Shijian's answer made Yunti frown again.

Hou Shijian replied with a smile, "Indeed, we can't recruit enough people. Not many people are willing to come. Many people are lazy and idle. Even if we offer higher wages, few people are willing to come. We don't dare to forcibly recruit them, so we can only do this."

Yunti looked at the nearby wheat fields with a sullen face and asked, "Many of these winter wheat fields are almost completely yellow, so why haven't any farmers come to harvest them?"

"Your Highness may not know this, but the people of this village are too lazy. When planting wheat, the county government had to send officials to urge them to hurry up. It's the same now when harvesting wheat."

"However, the county government is currently busy expanding the road to the post station, so they haven't had time to urge it, and many people aren't in a hurry."

"Your humble servant has never said that there is anything wrong with the court expanding the post stations and roads. It is just that the situation is as it is, and your humble servant will send officials to urge them to do so as soon as possible."

No sooner had Hou Shijian answered than he heard a loud bang, and then everything went black as he saw stars. At the same time, he heard Yunti's stern shout: "You scoundrel, do you think I'm that easy to fool?!"

"What do you mean by 'not being able to recruit enough'?"

"Tell me, what the hell do you mean by 'not being able to recruit enough'!"

"Do you only tell the truth if I have to inspect your cell? Besides, if the people of Henan are lazy, are there any hardworking people left in the world?"

Yunti coldly questioned Hou Shijian.

Hou Shijian hurriedly scrambled to his feet, picked up the fallen official hat, put it back on his head, and knelt before Yunti, saying:

"Your Highness, please forgive me. This is all the order from above. I have no choice but to do this. The higher-ups didn't give us enough money, so we could only barely recruit these people to pretend to work. Also, we were ordered by the higher-ups to forcibly conscript some laborers, but we released them because we were afraid you would be angry. That's why there are so few people working now, and the people are still hiding and dare not come out to harvest the wheat."

"His Majesty guessed right, your problem lies in your unwillingness to treat the people as human beings!" The fourteenth prince clenched his fists, then put his hands on his hips and said this, turning back to look at Hou Shijian: "But you are all Han Chinese!"

Hou Shijian only watched the ants crawling around in front of him on the ground and did not respond to what the fourteenth prince said.

The fourteenth prince ignored him and immediately summoned Chang An, the governor of Henan, to see him. With a stern face, he asked, "Why haven't you distributed the silver?"

"Your Highness, please forgive me, but firstly, the Ministry of Revenue hasn't distributed enough silver!"

Chang An replied with a cautious smile.

The fourteenth prince's face grew increasingly grim: "Then why not submit a memorial to the emperor?"

Chang An revealed a smile that was more like a grimace: "The Ministry of Revenue is full of E Zhongtang's men, how dare this servant submit a memorial?"

"Alright, if you won't submit a memorial, I will."

"But the road widening project cannot be delayed. It must be carried out immediately according to the Emperor's will, with sufficient funds and grain to be provided, and the project should be carried out as a form of work relief!"

"This is your chance to redeem yourself. Don't wait until you're on the execution ground to regret it. Don't say you weren't warned!"

After saying this, the fourteenth prince sent an urgent letter to the capital to file a complaint against Ortai and the Ministry of Revenue.

Capital.

The Hall of Diligent Governance and Kindness to the Worthy.

"So, when the project funds left Beijing, half of what was on the books had already disappeared?"

"And then, you Grand Councilors, Minister of Revenue, and Vice Ministers were all kept in the dark."

"What do you eat?"

After receiving the urgent message from the fourteenth prince, Hongli summoned Ortai and the officials of the Ministry of Revenue and asked them to investigate the matter. This led him to learn about the problems that had occurred during the actual implementation of the road expansion project.

Although he had anticipated this, he still deliberately showed the fury that a young emperor should have, so as not to make the ministers even more dismissive. So he put on a stern face and questioned the ministers very seriously.

"My lord, please allow me to explain that because Shanxi is not a region rich in grain, the project funds are not entirely in silver, but are mixed with grain and cloth, in order to avoid buying everything locally at once and causing prices to be extremely high."

"However, physical goods inevitably suffer damage during transportation, and some may even drift away."

"But the local governments haven't reported how much of the project funds they actually received, so our Ministry of Revenue still doesn't know how much has been lost."

Minister Haiwang of the Ministry of Revenue first gave an explanation.

Hongli asked, "If the local authorities don't report, what about the officials you yourselves sent out? Don't they know how to report?"

"Bai Chun, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue who was being escorted, suddenly fell off a cliff and died. All the accounts he had settled with local officials were also lost. The Ministry of Revenue only recently learned of this."

Upon hearing this, Haiwang immediately kowtowed and said, "My lord, please calm your anger!"

Hongli's face had indeed turned ashen. He chuckled coldly and said, "So you want to leave no one to know the actual losses incurred on the road, is that it?"

"According to the local reports, there was a loss of half; which is why the local government only received half."

When Shi Yizhi, the Han Minister of Revenue, replied, it was clear that his Ministry of Revenue had no choice but to accept the situation.

Bang!
Hongli suddenly slammed his fist on the table and stood up: "I don't want to waste money! What I want is for the money and grain I allocate to have a clear destination, and for not a single penny to end up in the pocket of any corrupt official!"

After slamming his fist on the table, Hongli said, "Of course, we must first deal with the problem of the Henan officials not promptly submitting secret reports. They are actually willing to suffer this injustice in silence!"

"Since they're willing to suffer this injustice in silence, let them suffer to their heart's content."

"This time, I will accept that your Ministry of Revenue has disbursed all the project funds, whether in cash or at cost. You don't need to admit to any losses, since there's no way to prove it once the dead are dead!"

"First, confiscate the homes of these Henan officials and make them pay compensation!"

“My lord, please calm down. This is also my fault. They think that the Minister of Revenue was recommended by me, so they dare not offend the Ministry of Revenue.”

Ortai then knelt down and begged for forgiveness.

Hongli replied coldly, "Since they are afraid of offending you but not of offending me, then I will make them afraid! Make them fear me more than they fear you!"

(End of this chapter)