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

"How can a Jiangnan family be controlled by a governor?"

Li Yang sat on a stone chair, picked up the prepared tea, and drank it carefully.

"Hold? Humph, with this brat still wet behind the ears, if it weren't for the Thousand Cavalry Division and the Tiger Might Army standing by, I would have ordered people to eliminate him long ago."

Liu Sheng said indignantly.

Ever since Jiang Zuo came to Liu Sheng to threaten him last time, Liu Sheng no longer dared to sabotage openly. This time when organizing a strike, he only dared to order his men to find gangsters who had no connection with the Liu family to do it.

"Boss Liu, stop pretending. How about this? I'll pay the money and you'll continue to provide the people. Let's continue to cooperate and bring down this so-called governor. How do you think that is?"

Li Yang suggested.

"It's easy to say, but I'm following the emperor's orders."

Liu Sheng had some concerns.

Now he didn't dare to provoke Jiang Zuo so obviously.

"Oh? The Emperor's order?"

When Li Yang said this, he actually had a hint of mockery in his voice, and then he added: "Then doesn't Boss Liu know how to create some trouble for the governor-general?"

Liu Sheng said angrily: "They did everything they should do, hoarding food, burning granaries, destroying dams, and even instigating people to go on strike. Haha, they did everything they could..."

Hearing this, Li Yang couldn't help but smile and said, "That's it? Didn't you submit a petition to the court?"

"It has already been reported."

"The imperial envoy sent by the court should be arriving in Yecheng soon. Boss Liu can take this opportunity to trick Jiang Zuo."

Li Yang said in a low voice.

"I wonder what clever plan Boss Li has."

Liu Sheng asked.

Facing Jiang Zuo, he really had no way to deal with it.

Li Yang knocked on the table, then dipped his fingers in water and wrote two words on the table.

"Complain."

……

On the hillside not far from Yecheng, a carriage team was moving slowly on the road.

The man sitting in the carriage had a long black beard and was about fifty years old.

He was the imperial envoy who was ordered by the emperor to thoroughly investigate Jizhou Prefecture, the former Left Vice Minister of Rites Zhang Tingye.

As an imperial envoy, his mood at the moment was a little complicated.

Because the person to be investigated this time is Jiang Zuo, the governor-general of Zhenbei.

Logically speaking, there is not much difference between their official positions.

The reason why Zhang Tingye got this job was because he was one of the few centrists in the court and was known for being a peacemaker and not taking sides, which is why he gained the emperor's trust.

Moreover, Zhang Tingye has always had a good reputation and a strong sense of justice. He often takes on this responsibility and investigates corrupt officials.

But now there is another difficult problem facing Zhang Tingye.

This time, we have to decide whether to seriously investigate Jiang Zuo’s crimes or just let him get away with it.

Is this Jiang Zuo a disciple of the Left Prime Minister?

Now the dispute between the left and right prime ministers in the court has become an open matter, and Zhang Tingye does not want to offend either side.

After traveling for an hour, the convoy finally arrived outside Yecheng.

"Sir, look quickly."

The guard beside him shouted in surprise.

Zhang Tingye stuck his head out in confusion, and was immediately shocked by the scene before him.

Not far away, tens of thousands of people are building a large project.

Such a scale was something Zhang Tingye had never heard of.

"Is this corvée?"

Zhang Tingye was surprised, but also confused.

Such a huge project would definitely require the forced conscription of civilians.

"The Governor-General, are you really oppressing the people?"

Zhang Tingye had his doubts.

The convoy continued to move forward and was about to enter Yecheng.

Only then did Zhang Tingye realize that a water conservancy dam was being built outside the city to prevent flooding.

However, the imperial court had not accomplished anything for many years. How could a governor-general of Jiangzuo want to accomplish something that his predecessors had not accomplished?

Very ambitious.

After entering the city, Zhang Tingye chose to get off the carriage and start walking.

This time I came to Jizhou, I did not inform Jiang Zuo in advance.

But this news has already spread throughout the court or the capital, and I believe it is not surprising that it has spread to Yecheng.

It seems that it is not that easy for Zhang Tingye to launch a surprise attack. He is worried that Jiang Zuo will receive the news in advance and then deliberately create a false impression to deceive the imperial envoy.

Zhang Tingye was walking slowly on the street. Suddenly, he heard a few ragged people crying and shouting not far away: "Oh my God, someone please have mercy on us!"

Most of this group of people are in their fifties or sixties.

“It’s not fair, it’s not fair!”

Someone shouted sadly.

People on the street gave him strange looks but ignored them.

After all, Yecheng had just recovered from chaos, so it was not surprising to see so many strange things.

"What troubles have these people encountered?"

Zhang Tingye was confused. He was a man with a strong sense of justice and was a well-known official.

“Why is this old man shouting about injustice?”

Zhang Tingye stepped forward and asked.

The old man made a bitter face, trying to cry, sobbing for a while, and then said: "This world is so unfair, the evil ones are rampant!"

The old man's words were quite sad, but also ambiguous.

“Who is the bad guy?”

Zhang Tingye looked solemn.

"I dare not say it!"

The old man looked aggrieved, as if he had something to hide.

"Why not? I am an imperial envoy specially appointed by the court. If you have any grievances, just tell me. I will take care of it for you!"

Zhang Tingye said righteously.

The old man immediately stepped forward and knelt down, saying, "Greetings, sir. I want to sue someone!"

Zhang Tingye frowned and said, "Who? Just tell me."

The old man whispered, "Jiang Zuo, the governor of the north of Yecheng."

"It's him!"

Zhang Tingye already had it in his heart.

I didn't expect that as soon as I arrived in Yecheng, I encountered people complaining.

If the matter is true, is there anything that needs to be thoroughly investigated?

This Jiang Zuo must be a corrupt official who oppresses the people.

"What's the matter? Please tell me slowly, old man." Zhang Tingye hurriedly helped the old man up.

The old man burst into tears and said, "The governor-general imposed forced labor and forced us to hand over our children! My youngest son was beaten to death by them!"

"Is there such a thing?!"

Hearing this, Zhang Tingye was immediately furious.

Thinking back to when I entered the city just now, there were indeed tens of thousands of people working on the construction project.

So, those people were forced into labor service?

"Sir, you must make the decision for the people of Yecheng."

At this time, another person came to seek justice. He was heard saying, "Since the governor-general came to Yecheng, he has begun to forcibly collect the surplus grain from the people, saying that it is for disaster relief. But we ordinary people have nothing to eat. We are forced to do corvée labor. An old man like me doesn't even have half a meal a day..."

This person spoke with tears in his eyes, and it was hard not to be convinced.

Zhang Tingye didn't want to convict Jiang Zuo based on just one or two civilians, but when he thought about the situation outside the city, he actually believed what this group of people said for a moment.

They may not have known before that I was the imperial envoy. How could it be such a coincidence that they could seek justice here?

It seems there is a real reason why Jiang Zuo was impeached by all the officials!