I embezzled 100,000 taels at the beginning, and the empress begged me to be more greedy

"Sir, let's go into the city first."

Seeing this situation, Ma Hengwei hurried forward to protect Jiang Zuo.

The number of disaster victims is so huge that they have no way to properly accommodate them one by one at the moment.

Under the escort of his subordinates, Jiang Zuo entered Yecheng.

At this moment, the city was still dead silent.

From time to time, beggars appear on both sides of the streets and alleys, begging passers-by.

Most of the people were lifeless and had no spirit at all.

It takes one or two taels of silver to enter the city. The way these corrupt officials make money is really infuriating.

Those homeless victims outside the city can't even afford a meal, yet they are still exploited by corrupt officials and rich people. It's totally unjust.

"Step aside."

Suddenly, a shout was heard, and the sound of a hurried carriage was heard.

The people quickly made way and did not dare to stay.

A moment later, the carriage stopped in front of Jiang Zuo and his group.

A man slowly got off the carriage and came to Jiang Zuo with heavy steps.

"I am Zheng Shouye, the prefect of Yecheng. I am sorry for not welcoming you here from afar."

The visitor was a man in his forties, slightly fat, who claimed to be the prefect of Yecheng.

Jiang Zuo didn't say anything, but looked at the group of people carefully.

Zheng Shouye also looked at Jiang Zuo, and then said: "Are you Lord Jiang Zuo? My apologies..."

“Why don’t you let the disaster victims into the city?”

Jiang Zuo suddenly questioned.

Hearing this, Zheng Shouye's fat body shook violently, and he quickly explained: "Sir, you can see that there are so many disaster victims outside the city. How can Yecheng afford it? What's more, these disaster victims are lazy and disturb the public order of Yecheng. They can only be temporarily arranged outside the city."

"Oh? Isn't it because they don't have even a tael of silver?" Jiang Zuo stared at Zheng Shouye with a fierce look.

"Sir, I don't understand. What do you mean by one ounce of silver?"

Zheng Shouye pretended to be stupid.

"Just when I was about to enter the city, someone told me that outsiders have to pay one or two taels of silver to enter Yecheng. Sir Zheng, is this true? If so, Sir Zheng must have made a lot of money."

Jiang Zuo's words made Zheng Shouye break out in a cold sweat.

Zheng Shouye cursed in his heart at this moment, wondering which idiot was so blind. On the surface, he still smiled and said, "Absolutely not. Lord Jiang, this is a misunderstanding, a complete misunderstanding."

"Misunderstanding? Then who is he?"

Jiang Zuo smiled, and then pointed to Master Liu Qi who was tied up by the Thousand Cavalry Division not far away.

Master Liu Qi no longer had the arrogance he had just now, and the scars on his face also told others what he had just experienced.

"Ah? Yes, yes..." Zheng Shouye's face turned pale.

"Why? Are you familiar with him?"

Jiang Zuo gave a meaningful smile.

Zheng Shouye didn't dare to say anything and was extremely terrified.

It is said that a new official will make three big moves upon taking office, but the governor-general's move was too ruthless. He even dared to offend the aristocratic families in the south of the Yangtze River.

This is Master Liu Qi!

Just got caught like that?

Zheng Shouye couldn't help feeling afraid.

What Jiangnan family? Jiang Zuo doesn’t care at all at this moment.

Among the four major families in Jiangnan, only the Zhao and Huang families have any intersections with Jiangzuo.

As for the Huang family in Jiangnan, the emperor has ordered a thorough investigation because of the Yuzhou case.

Today's Jiangnan Huang family no longer has the same sharpness as before.

The Zhao family has always had a lot of business dealings with Jiangzuo, and the Zhao family's sphere of influence is not in Yuzhou and Jizhou areas, so Jiangzuo is not afraid of offending people from the Zhao family.

At this moment, Zheng Shouye was thinking about a strategy in his mind, and he was also amazed in his heart that Jiang Zuo was really disrespectful.

Before even entering the city, he dared to provoke the Liu family.

If we let him continue investigating like this, what would happen if he found out something?

Zheng Shouye suppressed his panic and smiled reluctantly, saying, "My lords, you have traveled a long way, why don't you take a rest first? I have already arranged accommodation and dinner for you, please be sure to..."

"No need."

Before Zheng Shouye could finish, Jiang Zuo interrupted him and said, "We will arrange accommodation ourselves. Mr. Zheng, please take me to the government office in Yecheng first. I want to check your accounts."

Zheng Shouye's smile disappeared, and he became uneasy, thinking, "This person is not a good person!"

This group of Yecheng officials had already known that the court would send officials to come. After all, this was not the first time.

In the past they had been able to get away with it, but this time, Jiang Zuo obviously wouldn't give them a chance.

"Um, everyone, this way please."

Zheng Shouye hurriedly led the way. Just as he was about to return to the carriage, Jiang Zuo stopped him and said, "Master Zheng, get off and walk over together."

"Let's go..." Zheng Shouye looked a little embarrassed, then nodded and said, "Okay, let's go."

Jiang Zuo followed behind him, looking around from time to time.

After walking for a while, they finally arrived at the Yecheng government office.

Zheng Shouye panted and ordered someone to take out the account book and let Jiang Zuo check it.

Jiang Zuo took it and read it carefully.

These local officials pretended to obey orders but secretly disobeyed them, deceiving their superiors and hiding the truth from their subordinates. They have already withheld an unknown amount of disaster relief funds allocated by the court.

There is definitely nothing to be found in this account.

"Master Zheng, this number is not right."

Jiang Zuo suddenly questioned.

"Excuse me, Governor, what's the problem?"

"In September, the court allocated 200,000 taels; in October, the court allocated 100,000 taels. All this silver was handed over to Yecheng, but why is there only 120,000 taels in the account? Where is the rest?" Jiang Zuo asked.

"My lord, the remaining silver has been used for disaster relief and is not recorded in the records." Zheng Shouye explained reluctantly. At this moment, he was sweating profusely.

"Then may I ask what is all this money used for?" Jiang Zuo continued to ask.

"Most of it was used to buy food and distribute it to the victims," ​​said Zheng Shouye.

"Food? Then why are there so many people starving outside the city? Where is the relief food allocated by the court?"

Jiang Zuo asked repeatedly, his tone extremely serious.

Zheng Shouye wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "My Lord, there are too many victims in this disaster, and all parts of Jizhou have been affected. The government's food supply is a bit insufficient, and Yecheng has already resettled some of the victims, so there is really no way to accept more."

"Has it been settled? Where?" Jiang Zuo asked.

Zheng Shouye thought for a moment before saying, "Nancheng, it's in Nancheng."

"Nancheng? Okay, then I'll go take a look." Jiang Zuo suggested.

"Master Jiang, let me take you there."

Zheng Shouye took heavy steps.

"No need."

Jiang Zuo refused and left.

Seeing Jiang Zuo leaving, Zheng Shouye couldn't help but spit on the ground.

"Sir Zheng, you are here with bad intentions..." someone else said.

Zheng Shouye's face was grim and he said with a bit of disdain, "I don't believe he can find out anything! I secretly asked someone to send him some money. I don't believe there is anyone who doesn't like silver!"

"But sir, this guy dared to offend Mr. Liu Qi. It would be difficult to bribe him with just some silver."

"This……"

Thinking of this, Zheng Shouye immediately wrote a letter and ordered someone to send it to the capital as soon as possible.