Zhang Chen slowly stopped cultivating, and Jiang He gradually regained consciousness.
Ye Qingxian carefully sorted out her confession, feeling very sad.
Jiang He looked at his surroundings and slowly struggled out of his daze. He looked at Zhang Chen and sneered,"What's wrong? Why don't you interrogate him? You're just a small constable with a wooden badge. I don't believe you dare to break the law!”
Zhang Chen glanced at Jiang He and said indifferently,""Lady Qing Xian, please read out a confession for Lord Jiang to defend himself and see if he has done those things.”
Ye Qingxian's murderous gaze pierced straight into Jiang He's heart. She said in a cold tone,"In the ninth year of Yuan 'an, Zhizhou Jiang He was patrolling in Wa County of Tingzhou. He met a commoner named Liu on the way. He saw that she was very beautiful and wanted to take her as a concubine. In order to prevent her husband from going to the capital to complain, she sent people to tie up her family at night and burn them to death…including Liu's three-year-old son.”
"In the 11th year of Yuan 'an, Ting Prefecture's Ying County suffered a flood. The imperial court allocated disaster relief grain, but Zhizhou Jiang He intercepted the disaster relief grain, causing the victims of Ying County to exchange their children for food. Tongzhi Li Da had a conscience and secretly opened the warehouse to release grain. After being discovered, he was severely beaten and died. His wives and concubines were sold to brothels, unable to bear the humiliation and hunger strike suicide. He dismissed his servants, leaving his five-year-old daughter with no one to support her and starving to death at home.”
" Thirteen years of Yuan An…"
"Don't say anymore!" Jiang He's face was pale as he said in horror,""How did you know?"
He had already forgotten about these things, but as long as someone mentioned them, he would be able to remember them again.
Many things had happened during the reign of the previous emperor. As time passed, the people who had participated in those things had either died or left. There were not many people who were still in Tingzhou.
Logically speaking, it was impossible for the two people in front of him to know those things.
"If you don't want people to know, don't do it yourself," Zhang Chen said leisurely. You've committed a crime. Just wait for your death!"
……
Back in the house, Ye Qingxian put away the confession and looked at Zhang Chen.""What do we do next?"
Zhang Chen pondered for a moment." Let's go find Jiang He's eighteenth concubine first. There's no time to lose. Let's set off quickly."”
According to Jiang He's confession, the Tingzhou tax case was indeed an inside job.
Moreover, the tax money he stole was not only 10 million taels, but a total of 13 million taels!
This year, Tingzhou had collected a total of thirteen million taels of silver through excessive taxes. Jiang He was greedy and only reported ten million taels of silver.
Out of the other three million taels, one million taels were used to bribe officials of various levels in Tingzhou, while Jiang He pocketed two million taels for himself.
This was Jiang He's plan to take advantage of both sides, and even the big shots who shielded him might not know about it.
Out of the ten million taels of silver that was reported, Tingzhou kept one million taels of silver. Another one million taels of silver was sent to the Luosha Sect, and the Azure Dragon Village robbed more than five hundred thousand taels of silver.
The remaining seven million taels were secretly transported to the capital and handed over to the assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel.
In other words, the Tingzhou tax case involved three parties--
Luosha Sect was a local evil sect in Tingzhou, and had close ties with the Tingzhou officialdom.
The officials, merchants, and gentry of Tingzhou's nine counties basically prioritized the disciples of Grim Reaper Sect when recruiting guards.
Azure Dragon Village was a village on the Green Dragon Mountain outside Tingzhou City. It was said that the village master was an unknown top-notch expert. Most of the mountain bandits in the village were good citizens who had been forced by the government to the point where they could not survive.
The group of people who attacked the government office last night were bandits from Azure Dragon Village.
Finally, there was the Ministry of Personnel. Zhang Chen believed that a mere assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel would not be able to swallow seven million taels of silver.
At least a portion of the seven million taels of silver had to be distributed to the city gate officials. Otherwise, they wouldn't even be able to enter the capital.
Perhaps, he would have to take care of the other counties along the way.
In the end, the rest of the money would fall into someone's pocket. They would have to return to the capital to investigate.
The one million taels of tax left in the Tingzhou government office, along with the two million taels of tax left by Jiang He, were in a certain courtyard in the city.
That was the residence of Jiang He's eighteenth concubine, and it was hidden very well.
According to Jiang He, this concubine of his was called Cui Yuan 'er. She was also a disciple of the Luosha Sect. Her martial arts skills were outstanding and she had helped him resist assassination attempts many times.
Zhang Chen believed that what he needed to do now was to get rid of Cui Yuan 'er as soon as possible, lest she knew that Jiang He was missing and moved the silver that she had hidden elsewhere.
After this matter was done, whether it was tracking the tax money hidden by the Luosha Sect or the tax money stolen by the Green Dragon Mountain, he could slowly calculate it.
Zhang Chen and Ye Qingxian followed the confession and soon found the courtyard Jiang He mentioned.
This courtyard occupied an extremely large area, and the decorations were extremely luxurious, almost comparable to a large garden.
They didn't have time to admire the beautiful scenery of the garden. The two of them broke through the door and rushed in.
"How dare you! Who are you? He actually dared to cause trouble here! Are you courting death?"
There were many guards in the courtyard. Ye Qingxian took the lead with her sword and killed every one she saw without mercy.
These guards were all accomplices of the wicked. Neither Zhang Chen nor Ye Qingxian would feel any psychological burden in killing these people.
After killing more than a dozen guards, a man and a woman came out from the back hall.
The clothes of these two people were in a mess. One could imagine what they had been doing just now.
The woman in the middle had a black mole at the corner of her mouth. Judging from her appearance, she was Jiang He's eighteenth concubine, Cui Yuan 'er.
The woman was shocked when she saw Ye Qingxian attack.
She knew that she couldn't defend herself, so she didn't even bother to tidy up her clothes. She directly used her lightness skill to fly up to the roof, trying to escape.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。