Placid Chang'an

"50 taels?" Liang Fang raised his eyebrows, "What 50 taels?!"

Su Cen raised his eyebrows slightly: "Master Liang doesn't know?"

Liang Fang had an expression of "you're a coquette, don't try to blame me", pouted his neck and said, "What should I know?"

The imperial envoys even came to ask about the crime and refused to admit it. Su Cen was too lazy to play dumb with him, and said directly: "In September last year, the household department allocated 50 taels for the repair of the Xuzhou dam. I thought it would be used for a hundred years. , how could it collapse immediately?"

"It's nonsense, it's nonsense!" Liang Fang slapped the table and stood up awkwardly, "Xuzhou has never seen any money for river repairs, but if the imperial court is willing to allocate a little money, Xuzhou will not be what it is today!"

Su Cen frowned, looked at Li Shi, Li Shi said: "The dams in Xuzhou were indeed old when I came here, and there were no traces of repairs."

"But Huang Ting clearly said that the Ministry of Accounts allocated the money," Su Cen frowned, "he wouldn't lie in front of the little emperor and his officials, would he?"

"You're talking about Huang Ting, the servant of the household department with his nostrils pointing toward the sky?" Liang Fang snorted, "He was the one who came to Xuzhou to inspect, and said that the dams in Xuzhou were still functional, and he was as stubborn as a rooster. You can testify, pointing at him to allocate funds to Xuzhou, in the next life!"

Su Cen looked back at Li Shi, "This Huang Ting is a bit arrogant because of his family's ancestors, but he probably doesn't have the guts to bully the king, right?"

Li Shi said: "He dare not."

"What do you mean I got the 50 taels?" Liang Fang took two steps forward, "My lord, you can't listen to this fox, fox... to confuse the crowd! If I take a tael of silver from the imperial court, I will... Die badly! My whole family will die badly!!"

"Zhong An, be safe and don't be impatient." Li Shi frowned, and said to Qi Lin, "Decree, let Huang Ting come to Xuzhou to see me."

Then he said to Liang Fang: "50 taels is not a small amount. When the time comes, I will give you a chance to fight against the court. I don't believe that the 50 taels of river repair money will still disappear?"

Only then was Liang Fang slightly appeased, and angrily sat back on the chair and sulked.

Su Cen squinted at Liang Fang through the book case. The angry look of this man seemed real, and the look of ignorance also seemed real. For a moment, he couldn't tell whether it was Liang Fang's morality or Huang Ting's trick. Together, perhaps only when Huang Ting comes over can the debate be made right or wrong.

Su Cen put this matter aside for the time being, and said, "Then let's talk about the diversion of the Nanqing River and the flooding of Cao Village."

Cao Village is located in Chanzhou County under Xuzhou, Liang Fang could hardly absolve himself of the blame for the accident, Su Cen would like to see what Liang Fang has to say this time.

Never thought that Liang Fang would admit it generously: "I made the river divert."

Su Cen's heart trembled, thinking of Uncle Cao, thinking of Huzi and Erya, and the sad expressions on their faces when they said "Cao Village is gone".The painstaking efforts of the ancestors and the management of the generations were ruined by a word from those in power. Su Cen was heartbroken, "Why do you decide life and death for them? Just because Cao Village is a small person, you should be the one who deserves to be sacrificed, right? "

"That's not because the imperial court refused to allocate funds!" Liang Fangdao, "If the embankment is not repaired, we can only save money, so I allocated 10 taels from Xuzhou Kuyinli to dredge the old Nanqing River. Cao Village diverted to the sea instead of entering the Huai River, so as to reduce the burden on the Xuzhou dam. How could I have thought that they were pocketing their own money, and the lower river course was not repaired at all. As soon as it was diverted to the Nanqing River, it would immediately burst! It is true , They don't take themselves seriously, who can blame this!"

"You mean that the villagers of Cao Village embezzled 10 taels of public funds, but failed to fulfill their dredging duties?" Su Cen frowned, "Now that the villagers of Cao Village are in the palace, do you dare to confront them face to face?"

Liang Fang shook his head: "Why don't you dare!"

It was Uncle Cao, the village head of Cao Village, who came in. He first knelt down and bowed to everyone, and when he raised his head, he saw the person sitting on the right seat, and he couldn't help being stunned for a moment.

Su Cen first explained his intentions with a smile. Li Shi frowned when he heard that Su Cen was rescued from the cliff. How desperate, one hand was placed on Su Cen's shoulder and patted, as if comforting, but also as if distressed.Su Cen tilted his head and smiled at the man, now that he is back, it's all gone, and signaled Li Shi not to mind.

Su Cen looked back at Second Uncle Cao and said, "I called you here this time to verify one thing, did you ask you to clean up the Nanqing River before it diverted?"

Uncle Cao wanted to take out his cigarette again, but he had to give up in the presence of so many important people, he rubbed his fingers and thought for a while, before saying, "It seems that there is such a thing."

"Look, what am I talking about?" Liang Fang slapped the table, "They are simply reaping the fruits of their own hands, and even brought the whole of Xuzhou into trouble!"

"What do you mean by that, my lord?" Second Uncle Cao studied for a few years in his early years, and almost won the prize of a scholar. He can be regarded as a few people in Cao Village who can read and write. He could hear the bad words in Liang Fang's dialect, and asked with a frown: "What do you mean we are reaping the consequences of ourselves, and we have caused Xuzhou to suffer? Xuzhou obviously abandoned us and said it was dredging the river, but they didn't give us anything. There was no wages. The villagers just did hard labor, but even the shovel dustpan We have to go out by ourselves. Many people have been soaked in the water for a long time. Their legs were stung by leeches, and their calves were swollen thicker than their thighs. They couldn’t get any oil and water. The villagers complained, who would do it?! The flood is coming , you diverted the road without even looking at it, and you said that we have caused Xuzhou to suffer, and Cao Village is wronged!" Uncle Cao fell to his knees with a plop, "The adults must make decisions for Cao Village!"

Su Cen hurriedly helped him up, and frowned at Liang Fang: "Didn't you say that you transferred 10 taels?"

"It's 10 taels." Liang Fang also wondered, "I personally gave the magistrate of Chanzhou to coordinate the diversion of the Nanqing River. He also reported to me several times that the river has been successfully dredged and can be diverted at any time." .”

"Cao Village has never received a penny," Second Uncle Cao coughed violently, and was about to kneel again, but Su Cen held him back.

Second Uncle Cao tightly grabbed Su Cen's sleeve and did not let go, "You have met the people of Cao Village, you have to be the master of Cao Village, Cao Village is gone, we can't suffer this kind of injustice anymore!"

Su Cen nodded in response: "I will investigate and give Cao Village justice."

Li Shi asked, "Where is the county magistrate of Chanzhou now?"

Everyone glanced at each other before Liang Fang said, "It seems...he died in the flood."

Su Cen frowned, Li Shi asked a good question, the county magistrate of Chanzhou is the key, but now that a person is dead, a county magistrate died in the flood, was it really an accident or a deliberate murder?

Su Cen asked Liang Fang: "What evidence do you have to prove that you allocated that 10 taels of silver?"

"You still doubt me?" Liang Fang glared at Su Cen angrily, "Ku Yin is going out of the warehouse, so there is a record of it."

Su Cen approached Yin Cao, who was in charge of the treasury bank of the Xuzhou government, and asked about the account book that recorded the in and out of the bank bank. Yin Cao said the flood came too fast, and the account book never came in time to bring it out. It is still soaking in Xuzhou City.Asked again if he remembered Liang Fang’s allocation of 10 taels of treasury silver last year, Yincao only said that he only took up the post this year, and the previous Yincao retired and returned to his hometown at the end of last year.

Liang Fang and Uncle Cao were sent away, and Liang Fang's third crime did not need to be pursued by Su Cen. It is reasonable for some people to go up the mountain.

Su Cen sat on a chair and closed his eyes to rest his mind. By the way, he rationalized his thoughts. He didn't expect that the simple and clear case would turn out to be so tortuous. The case has reached an impasse again. Huang Ting said that he had allocated 50 taels for river repair in Xuzhou , Liang Fang said that he did not receive it; Liang Fang also said that he had allocated 10 taels for the diversion of the Nanqing River, but the villagers in Cao Village said they had not received it.If what these people said is true, that is to say, 60 taels of silver disappeared. It was these 60 taels that caused the breach of Cao Village, the flooding of Xuzhou City, and the displacement of tens of thousands of people. .

Li Shi brought a cup of tea and asked, "What do you think?"

"In the absence of other evidence, Liang Fang is the most suspected." Su Cen opened his eyes and said, "Liang Fang is involved in both cases. First of all, he is the governor of Xuzhou, so it is impossible for him not to know if the imperial court allocates funds. I still think it is less likely that Huang Ting lied. He only talked about the appropriation after you came to Xuzhou. If he had embezzled the money, there was no need for him to ask for trouble at that time. After all, he didn’t say anything. No one will know that the imperial court has allocated funds to Xuzhou. And it involves the 10 taels that Liang Fang said was given to Cao Village. The witnesses and material evidence have been destroyed. If you want to assassinate a county magistrate, you have to replace Yin Cao, who is in charge of the bank. It is impossible for Cao Village to do it, but it is easy for Liang Fang, as long as all the insiders are gone, he will do whatever he says."

Li Shi nodded, "It seems that he is the most suspected person. Are you imprisoning him?"

Su Cen shook his head, "He left long before he left, and instead of sending someone to watch him, he would scare the snake away. Before Huang Ting came over, there was no clear evidence pointing to him. Everything I said was just suspicion. Let's wait for Huang Ting to come. "

Li Shi smiled lightly, now this person is more and more confident, although Su Cen didn't say anything, Li Shi understood that this time, Su Cen is here to investigate the case, he is to provide disaster relief, each has his own responsibility, according to the investigation According to the case, Liang Fang should be locked up, but from the perspective of disaster relief, he can't.No matter how Liang Fang is the governor of Xuzhou, he has a high prestige in the hearts of the people of Xuzhou. If he really bans people without any real evidence, he is afraid that it will cause public resentment.Su Cen was thinking about him, and he accepted him as a favor.

"There's one more thing I'm worried about." Su Cen looked up at Li Shi, "Huang Wan'er was arrested during the period when Huang Ting allocated funds for river repairs. If Song Fan was involved in this matter, it would be a different matter." .”