So what if I traveled through time? I'll continue to roll in another place

Since Zhou Yao had already arrived, as the first person involved, he would be the one to ring the drum for reporting the incident. Xiao Yueshan would then take a carriage back to the mansion and wait.

After the bell and drum department struck the drum three times, Zhou Yao struck the big drum in front of the Chang'an Gate with all his might.

The rumbling sound of drums echoed over the imperial city. The powerful and heavy drum beats were like the shouts of countless lives before they disappeared in a whirlwind. The court officials who could not help but whisper to each other and discuss the conflict between the Prime Minister and the emperor suddenly quieted down.

The general on duty at the Chang'an Gate, Chang Yuanwei, rode up on horseback and asked loudly, "Who is beating the drum?"

"Your humble servant Zhou Yao, the seventh-rank Censor of Xijiang Province, has a grievance to report!" he said loudly. Thanks to the TV series, this should be the answer, right?

"The law of our dynasty is: 'If anyone goes to meet the emperor or beats the drum to file a complaint but it is not true, he will be caned with a stick 100 times; if the case is serious, he will be punished more severely; if the case is true, he will be exempted from punishment.' Do you know this?" Chang Yuanwei said sternly.

"Wei Chen knows."

"What's the grievance?"

"I report to the emperor that Jiangzhou Governor Pan Xu, Xijiang Dao Seal-holding Censor Duan Pengjing, Censor Luo Jun, and the magistrates of the 27 counties in Jiangzhou and other officials have embezzled relief funds and food, murdered court officials, and caused the people to suffer from hunger and misery!"

"I have already made my petition. I will wait for the summons and report my grievances in detail." Chang Yuanwei rode back to the palace.

Soon the eunuch came to summon him, and Zhou Yao followed Xiao Zheng's advice and entered the court from the left side of the Zuoye Gate. This was the first time for him, a modern person, to experience the ancient court session.

The Danchi of Fengtian Gate was very broad and magnificent, with civil and military officials standing on both sides of the imperial road, and there were at least 500 people in the crowd. Although there were many people, they lined up neatly and were very quiet, giving people the oppressive feeling of being above 10,000 people in the feudal dynasty.

At first he felt a little uncomfortable kneeling down and kowtowed to someone, but after coming in he could only stand far away and could not see the person on the golden stage at all. He could only see a golden expanse.

On the left and right of the steps under the Golden Stage were the bands of the Bell and Drum Department, and everywhere were the imperial guards in full armor. There were also captains holding swords standing on both sides of the imperial road and behind the civil and military officials.

He seemed to be simply submitting to the natural environment and the so-called authority.

Just think of it as kowtowing three times to God, Zhou Yao still did everything Xiao Zheng instructed.

He coughed and began to narrate aloud.

"Your humble servant Zhou Yao, the 7th-rank Xijiang Dao Supervisory Censor, reported to the court that Jiangzhou Governor Pan Xu, Xijiang Dao Seal-bearing Censor Duan Pengjing, Censor Luo Jun, and the 27 county magistrates of Jiangzhou were corrupt in embezzling relief money and grain, were ineffective in providing relief, and ignored the common people. When they learned that I was investigating, they hunted me down to silence me. I am now reporting everything I have found."

He didn't know what the standard way of reporting was. Peng Zhen did sort it out for him when he wrote to Zhao Congjian, but he couldn't repeat the original flowery words. Anyway, it was enough for everyone to understand what he said.

"First, shirking responsibility and delaying the opportunity. I was inspecting disaster relief as a censor. After visiting various places in Jiangzhou, I found that the Han River had burst its banks and submerged many villages, leaving tens of thousands of people homeless. I reported to Jiangzhou Governor Pan Xu and suggested that he order the immediate opening of public warehouses in various counties of Jiangzhou for relief.

Unexpectedly, everyone from the prefect to the county magistrate said no. Pan Xu even declined, saying, "The grain stored in the public granaries must be dispatched by the Ministry of Revenue. If local officials open the granaries and release grain without the court's permission, they will be dismissed from office at best and executed at worst. They must not release grain at will."

I immediately replied that if there was any accountability, I would bear all the responsibilities. I would immediately report to the court that the famine situation in Jiangzhou was severe and the consequences of the outflow of disaster victims would be felt. The emperor would certainly understand that Jiangzhou's unauthorized opening of the warehouse to release grain was a temporary measure. However, Pan Xu and others pretended to obey and secretly disobeyed, preferring to wait for the money and grain allocated by the Ministry of Revenue rather than using the public warehouse.

After some investigation, I found out that the reason they said they did not dare to use the grain was actually because there was no grain left in the public warehouses and there was nothing to use.

The second is embezzlement and donation of food and salary. Jiangzhou is an important grain-producing area. In recent years, the weather has been good and the people have surplus food. The late emperor specially approved the use of grain instead of silver to donate the qualification of the prison students and enrich the granaries of various counties to prepare for the emergency needs of the surrounding prefectures.

During the nine years since the donation, Jiangzhou has repeatedly requested the release of grain on the pretext of floods. As a result, not only did it not have any grain left for relief, it also withdrew 10,000 dan of money and grain from the Ministry of Revenue. Isn't that strange?

I went to the public warehouses in various counties in Jiangzhou to check the inventory books, and found that the county government offices did not store the donated grain truthfully. Instead, most of the grain was immediately converted into silver. The silver was divided up and swallowed up by officials at all levels, resulting in the treasury being empty and the grain reserves being insufficient.

The third was to falsely release relief grain and money. The first was to falsify account books and withhold money and grain. For example, Daoning County was supposed to issue 20,000 taels of relief silver, but in fact only less than 5,000 taels were issued, and the remaining 10,000 taels were pocketed by the county magistrate Xu Peng and others, of which 5,000 taels were sent to Jiangzhou to honor Pan Xu.

The second was to forge the register of civilians and embezzle money and grain. This was the case in all the 27 counties of Jiangzhou, with some differences in severity. The county magistrates of Luning, Shouquan, Jingjun and other counties were more timid and less corrupt, and the disaster was resolved faster; the county magistrates of Deyang, Xindao and Anfeng were more daring and more corrupt, causing the people to live in misery and the victims to flee to more than ten nearby prefectures.

Cai Yongshou, the magistrate of Deyang, even reported his relatives and many local wealthy families as starving people, and embezzled more than 48,000 taels of relief grain allocated by the Ministry of Revenue.

The Ministry of Revenue allocated a total of 840,000 taels of silver for disaster relief, which was a huge amount. Each of the 27 counties in Jiangzhou received 10,000 to 50,000 taels according to the household registration. Deyang County had a large population and received 50,000 taels. The county magistrate Cai Yongshou alone embezzled 40,000 taels, and the rest was divided up by other officials in the government. It is not difficult to imagine how miserable the people of Deyang were!"

"I have verified the truth and reported it to Xijiang Dao's Imperial Censor Duan Pengjing many times. Duan Pengjing did not respond at all. I then set out to Shunzhou and reported the truth to the Imperial Censor in person. But just as I set out, the boat I was on was attacked by thieves and I had no choice but to jump into the water to protect myself.

I, your servant, and I have been displaced along the way, fleeing from Jiangzhou. There is grief everywhere, nine out of ten houses are empty, some are flooded by rivers, some are washed away by mountain waters. In one county, the number of villages flooded ranges from a few to more than a hundred, the number of houses collapsed ranges from dozens to hundreds, and the number of people crushed to death ranges from a few to dozens. The floods all the way are overflowing, and houses are in ruins. Boats are on land, and people and animals are drifting. There are corpses everywhere, and the hungry people eat each other. The number of starving people is too numerous to count.

After finally reaching Shunzhou, I sent my personal seal to the residence of the Xijiang Dao Supervisory Censor, requesting an audience. Unexpectedly, I was falsely accused of being a thief, and was hunted down and slaughtered by soldiers. My servant was imprisoned for saving me, and his life or death was uncertain.

In order to uphold justice, I went to the Censorate of Hochu Province in Gyeongju for help, and only then was I able to go to the capital.

Xijiang Dao's seal-holding censor Duan Pengjing and censor Luo Jun failed to correct Jiangzhou's mistakes and colluded with the crowd, so they concealed the relevant evidence and should be punished together with them.

The prefect of Huainan Prefecture, Xie Wenchang, knew the truth but did not report it, confused black and white, and the source of the clear and turbid. He knew clearly that the rebellion of the famine-stricken people in Jiangzhou was caused by his subordinates' corruption of money and grain, but he still reported that the people were too greedy and demanded military suppression, killing the people and taking human lives. He was praised and criticized at will, just like a black sheep in the herd. How can he be criticized lightly?

Today, I beat the drum to appeal for justice and report it to the heavens. I only ask that the truth be ascertained and the guilty officials be severely punished. There will be no leniency! "

Zhou Yao also tried his best to make a semi-literary and semi-vernacular presentation. He was impressed by the words Peng Zhen used to summarize the plight of the victims and the crimes of the officials involved. He had a hard time memorizing in school, but he could recite it fluently in front of hundreds of people.

He had personally experienced the unbearable suffering of the victims and their lack of access to justice, and his account of the incident in the court was even more heartbreaking, which moved many upright officials.