Chapter 1273 The Investigation Team Arrives
Wuyi Palace’s work efficiency is very high. Not long after Emperor Jiajing spoke, Wuyi Palace had already formed the Jingnan investigation team. After the investigation team was formed, they set off south without a moment's delay.
The Jingnan investigation team has a total of six members. The team leader is Xu Hai, a doctor from the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Qing Dynasty. The team members are Wang Meng, head of the Ministry of Household Affairs, Zhang Wenbo, head of the Ministry of Punishment, and Peng, the censor of Zhejiang Road Supervision. Chenghe punished Zhang Guyi, one of the hundred households in Dongchang, and Sange, the first stall owner of Dongchang.
Although the Jingnan investigation team only has six members, its composition is complex. Team leader Xu Hai is a member of Li Mo, the Minister of Civil Service. It is a recognized fact that Li Mo is at odds with the Yan Party; Wang Meng, the head of the Household Department, Zhang Wenbo, the head of the Criminal Department, and Peng Cheng, the censor of Zhejiang Province are all die-hard members of the Yan Party; Zhang Gu Ichiwahu Sange is from Dongchang.
Of course, the Jingnan investigation team is not just the six of them. In addition to them, there are also several minor officials who follow them as paperwork and records, as well as a team of Dongchang fans responsible for protecting their safety.
"Xu Jie is really good this time, not a single person has been assigned." Wang Meng, the head of the household department, and others are very satisfied with the staffing of the investigation team.
There are six people in the Jingnan investigation team, and Yan Dang accounts for half of them, so what else is there to be dissatisfied with.
This time we must take down Zhu Ping'an, the boy who caused trouble for Mr. Yan Ge!
Wang Meng and others are confident in this. Judging from Liu Wannian's impeachment memorial and Jingnan's official document defining grain prices, it is an ironclad fact that Zhu Ping'an colluded with grain merchants to engage in corruption. There is no chance of them missing out this time! They went there this time, firstly to further fix the evidence, and secondly to dig deep into Zhu Ping'an's evidence and turn the case into a solid case in front of Dongchang! Drive Zhu Ping'an into a place of eternal destruction! It was also good for them to show their faces in front of Mr. Yan Ge and Mr. Yan and get the qualifications for promotion.
The Jingnan investigation team has two missions. One mission is naturally to verify Zhu Ping'an's grain price corruption, which is also the original intention of the investigation team. The other mission is to investigate the flood situation in Jiangnan. Jiangnan suffered a once-in-a-century flood. Although the imperial court was temporarily unable to rescue, it still needed to take action.
The Jingnan investigation team left the capital and headed south.
After leaving the capital, I didn’t feel much like being in Beizhili, but once I entered the border of Shandong, I felt a certain way.
The price of grain in Shandong has increased a lot. From the original 400 wen per stone, it has now risen to about 500 wen per stone. In addition to food, the price of oil, meat, eggs, vegetables, fruits and other edible items has now increased, with an average increase of about 20% compared to before. In addition, in Jinan Prefecture, they even found some refugees who had fled from the south of the Yangtze River. They were sallow and thin, carrying the elderly and supporting the young. They were very miserable.
The farther south we go beyond the boundaries of Shandong, the more intuitively the investigation team's experience of the floods in the south of the Yangtze River becomes.
There are countless hungry people, refugees are filling the fields, and the cries and howls are endless. Every day, we encounter victims who starve to death on the roadside
The once picturesque Jiangnan is now full of mourners, miserable and miserable, like a hell on earth.
“Everyone says that Jiangnan is good, and tourists only like Jiangnan. The spring water is as blue as the sky, the boats are painted and the rain sleeps. Is this the Jiangnan that everyone talks about?! Alas, I didn’t expect that Jiangnan will suffer from floods. The disaster is so serious. The once picturesque Jiangnan is now devastated and unsightly.”
Xu Hai sighed more than once when he saw the tragic scene of the floods in Jiangnan along the way.
Wang Meng, Peng Cheng and others were also deeply touched.
Xu Hai and the others wanted to show their love on the way and share some of their surplus food with the victims. Zhang Guyi, a householder in Dongchang, reminded him to object but to no avail. Xu Hai and the others secretly ridiculed him. Continue to distribute to disaster victims.
Unexpectedly, a disaster would occur in just one minute. When the hungry and red-eyed victims saw it, they swept in from all directions like hungry wolves, and the looting almost turned into a civil commotion. If Zhang Guyi hadn't decisively commanded Dongchang Fanzi to disperse the victims with thunder and sticks, Xu Hai and the others would have been robbed without even their underpants. Only now did Xu Hai and the others understand Zhang Guyi's good intentions.
After this disaster, Xu Hai and Peng Cheng felt more deeply about the severity of the floods in Jiangnan.
"People are so miserable due to hunger and cold, and Zhu Ping'an even raised the price of food to 2,500 yuan per stone! Alas, these places did not raise food prices, but they are still so miserable, isn't Jingnan Hell on earth?”
After Xu Hai and his party arrived in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, they saw the country was suffering from hunger and cold, and the people were in mourning. Xu Hai could not help but feel indignant.
"The flood is not over yet, but another man-made disaster like Zhu Ping'an is coming. Jingnan is estimated to have only nine empty houses out of ten, and the people are probably going to die soon." Wang Meng took over the words and said, losing no time in belittling Zhu Ping'an.
"Alas, the incompetence of a general will tire the entire army to death, and the incompetence of a county magistrate will tire the people of the county to death. Especially when it comes to a corrupt and incompetent magistrate like Zhu Pingan, the harm will be particularly serious. The people of Jingnan will be the worst off."
Zhang Wenbo nodded, cursed Zhu Ping'an, and showed pity to the people of Jingnan.
"From the perspective of the Zajia family, that's not necessarily true."
Zhang Guyi, the manager of the East Factory who was riding a horse on the side, twitched the corner of his mouth silently after hearing their criticism.
He is no stranger to Zhu Pingan. When Zhu Pingan inspected Taicang, he was ordered to bring a group of subordinates to assist him. He witnessed with his own eyes that Zhu Pingan single-handedly uncovered the major case of Taicang's bank deficit. Even though he was doing accounting and accounting, he still inspected Taicang naked, and he, Zhang Guyi, was a witness.
Zhu Ping'an's wit, strategy and courage left a deep impression on him.
He didn't know whether Zhu Ping'an was a corrupt official.
But he knew that Zhu Pingan was a smart man, a very smart man.
How could a smart person like Zhu Pingan engage in corruption in such a sensitive time as a flood, by using such superficial and unskilled means as raising grain prices and asking for bribes from grain merchants? ! Posted all over the city? ! Afraid that the world doesn’t know? !
If Zhu Pingan was corrupt, everyone would still be praising him for being as honest as water and loving the people like a son. This is only reasonable.
Therefore, there must be something fishy about Zhang Gu's sleep. Perhaps Zhu Ping'an will surprise everyone in Jingnan.
Saving lives is like putting out fire!
After the Jingnan investigation team entered Jiangsu and Zhejiang, with the mentality of saving the people of Jingnan from fire and water, and relieving the people of Jingnan from hanging upside down, they went straight to Taizhou Prefecture without stopping, went straight into the Taizhou Prefecture’s Yamen, and informed them of their intentions. Tan Lun, the magistrate of Taizhou, ordered Tan Lun to accompany him and went to Jingnan to investigate Zhu Ping'an.
After all, Jingnan is a county under Taizhou Prefecture, and Tan Lun, the prefect, must accompany him both in terms of emotion, reason, and rules. (End of this chapter)