Royal Gold Magistrate

The next morning, Hong Yao, Lu Liu, and Zhou Dahai were in a small room in the yamen.

The two maids stood nervously, recounting the terrifying events of the previous night.

Zhou Dahai’s eyes were unfocused, but occasional flashes of fear still crossed them.

After they finished telling everything, Zhou Dahai burst into tears.

He knelt on the ground, clutching Liu Xun’s leg and shaking it vigorously: “Master! Master! Please send someone else, I’m truly terrified!”

“This lowly one isn’t even married yet. If that Fang Zheng really has his way with me, how can I face anyone ever again?!”

Hong Yao and Lu Liu couldn’t help but quickly turn their heads away, covering their faces with their hands.

They were scared too. This Fang Zheng seemed quite abnormal.

He was disgusted by the sight of a woman’s body, but what if one day they displeased him? Wouldn’t they be beaten to death?

Liu Xun’s brows furrowed into a knot, annoyed by Zhou Dahai’s wailing.

He kicked Zhou Dahai to the ground and scolded, “You dog of a servant! You can’t even handle this simple task. Never mind waiting for him to torment you, if you waste one more word, this official will chop off your dog head first!”

Hearing this, Zhou Dahai immediately prostrated himself before Liu Xun, his whole body trembling uncontrollably.

“What exactly happened between you and Fang Zheng yesterday? Tell me in detail!”

Zhou Dahai looked at Liu Xun, then at Hong Yao and Lu Liu, his lips quivering twice.

Then, in a hoarse voice, he stammered, “Last night, after I entered the room, Fang Zheng asked me to sit on his bed… th-then he gave me ten taels of silver.”

“He wanted me to… to sleep with him… wuu wuu wuu”

Liu Xun was just getting interested when, seeing Zhou Dahai’s pathetic state, he gave him another kick.

“Damn it, speak up! Stop your blubbering!”

Zhou Dahai sobbed a couple of times: “He had many bank notes… a whole bag full of them! Of course, I refused, but then he tried to force me!”

“In the end, I resisted with all my might and he didn’t succeed. But that angered him, and he beat me up, saying… that in the future, there would be plenty of time to slowly… train me.”

“Master! I definitely can’t do this! I beg you, please send someone else!!”

“That beast not only beat me but also stole the silver from my body!! He accused me of pocketing his money for buying food. How could five taels be enough for all that meat in these times? This lowly one even had to pay extra out of pocket!”

Zhou Dahai wept uncontrollably.

Little did he know that Liu Xun’s mind was already in a state of tremendous shock.

This man was not only greedy for money and fond of men, but he also liked to eat beef. Clearly, he had no respect for the law.

How could such a person thrive in the capital? Who gave him such confidence…

Without a doubt, it could only be the Crown Prince. This person… this person must be the Crown Prince’s favorite!

No… wait, judging from the situation, Fang Zheng seemed to be the dominant one!

Good heavens…….

Liu Xun drew in a sharp breath, feeling as if he had discovered an earth-shattering secret!

Yes, that must be the situation.

No wonder Fang Zheng had the courage to run such a newspaper in the capital. Liu Xun had been shocked when he first saw it.

He never thought there could be such a bold person in the world, but now everything made sense.

Fang Zheng was nothing more than someone who dared to act recklessly because of the Crown Prince’s favor. The content in the newspaper offended everyone in the court. Such a great crime would normally be punishable by death!

It must be that the Crown Prince spoke highly of him to the Emperor, and with his uncle being the current cabinet elder Li Yansong, he was able to escape the death penalty and even be appointed as the Assistant Prefect of Jianjiang!

As Liu Xun’s imagination ran wild, he unconsciously pieced together the story, feeling increasingly confident in his deductions!

Looking at it this way… this person was just a mediocre, greedy, and lecherous small man.

That’s not worth mentioning then…..

Liu Xun trembled with excitement, having easily unraveled such a big secret.

Now it was time to handle Fang Zheng carefully!

Liu Xun put on a stern face and said to the three, “You all go back! Make sure you serve Fang Zheng well, understand?”

“Zhou Dahai! You must go along with him. If he’s dissatisfied in any way… this official will not let you off lightly! Now go!”

“Uh… I..” Zhou Dahai was on the verge of tears!

………….

While they were talking, Fang Zheng had already reviewed the grain records of Jianjiang Prefecture in the Revenue Office.

The records showed no problems at all. Apart from the 20,000 stone of grain from the capital, all the outgoing and incoming grain quantities matched up.

It could be said that everything was accounted for, without any loopholes.

But the people of Taoyuan County would never lie to him. If nothing unexpected had happened, these people must be trying to make a huge profit from the national disaster!

In a couple of years, when the sweet potato cultivation gradually spreads, they would gradually replace the grain in the granaries.

The high yield of sweet potatoes was already common knowledge, and everyone agreed that grain prices would fall in the future.

This wave… who knows how many people would eat until they’re stuffed, but these people’s silver wasn’t just silver, it was literally people’s lives!

Fang Zheng closed the grain ledger with a cold expression, then asked the clerks around him, “Very good, there are no problems with the accounts.”

“But… this official came from the capital, and 20,000 stone of grain should have been transported from the capital to Jianjiang. Why is there no record of this in the ledger?”

Seeing his displeased expression, the clerk bowed and said, “In response to Your Excellency, that batch of grain has already arrived.”

“It should have been distributed after inventory, but due to the severe disaster situation and lack of manpower, it has been delayed for a few days. It will be inventoried in a few days.”

“Mm.” Fang Zheng nodded, inwardly sneering. They were probably preparing to replace the new grain with moldy rice and sand.

He needed to speed up on his end too. He needed to find evidence of corruption among officials and collusion with grain merchants as soon as possible before taking action.

If he made too much noise or if the evidence was insufficient, firstly, those people would flee in advance and destroy the evidence. If Liu Xun was the mastermind, he might even use troops to retaliate against him.

Secondly, many people in the court held grudges against him. If he killed indiscriminately without sufficient evidence, he might be attacked by slander, and even the Emperor wouldn’t be able to protect him.

He needed to proceed cautiously.

Thinking of the refugees outside the city, Fang Zheng couldn’t help but feel a headache. Every day of delay meant several more deaths, but he couldn’t rush.

If only he had some kind of lottery draw or check-in strengthening system, that would be fucking awesome!

The more Fang Zheng thought about it, the more irritated he became. He instructed those around him, “This official is going out for a walk. You all continue with your work.”

With that, he strode out.

Fang Zheng walked straight out of the yamen, looked around casually, and strolled into a nearby deserted alley as if nothing was amiss.

Soon after, Bai Rui came over the wall, his movements quick and agile, like a bird.

Seeing him, Fang Zheng couldn’t help but feel envious. Bai Rui’s martial arts skills were truly impressive.

Back then, if he hadn’t gathered dozens of people with manure scoops to trap him, they really wouldn’t have been able to catch him.

As soon as Bai Rui saw Fang Zheng, he immediately said, “Master, I found out!”

“Yesterday, they did indeed return to the yamen. The guards inside were too tight for me to enter, but from the wall, I saw them enter a room, after which the door was closed.”

“I don’t know exactly who was there, but that Prefect was definitely present. I waited until late at night when someone came out to dump the leftover food, and I found a lot of good stuff in there.”

“Abalone, ginseng, shark fin, fish maw, they had everything. There were also pork and beef bones, all delicacies.”

Fang Zheng asked puzzled, “You can even distinguish pork and beef bones in the slop?”

Bai Rui rolled his eyes, inwardly grumbling.

Here we go again! The master is indeed focusing on the strangest things!

“I saw that the bone marrow hadn’t been eaten, so I sucked on it a couple of times.”