Ting Province had many Heze lakes, it was the most prosperous land of fish and rice in Great Xia.
In Tingzhou alone, the annual tax revenue could reach eight million taels of silver.
It was more than the annual tax of many feudal dynasties in Zhang Chen's previous world!
This year's tax collection was even higher. The document sent by Tingzhou to the court stated that there were ten million taels of silver.
However, the ten million taels of silver had disappeared!
In the Tingzhou treasury, millions of taels of silver disappeared without a trace. The entire court was shocked, and Emperor Wu was furious!
10 million taels of silver, even a large cart would have to pull it more than 1,000 times!
Obviously, the person who stole ten million taels of silver was not an ordinary thief.
It was very likely that it was an inside job!
The Emperor understood this problem, so did all the civil and military officials in the court, and even the commoners who knew how to count.
However, the official position of Tingzhou's prefect was still as stable as Mount Tai. It was obvious that someone in the court was protecting this person.
Zhang Chen guessed that Emperor Wu wanted to get rid of the vermin in the court through the magistrate of Zhating Prefecture.
If not, why would they give out the imperial sword and the death-exemption gold medal?
The emperor could naturally decide who he wanted to kill, but if there was no reason, he would inevitably be called a tyrant and a fatuous ruler.
Therefore, this trip was nominally to investigate the Tingzhou tax case, but in fact, it was to find out the involvement of Tingzhou and the officials in the court.
In this way, it would give the Martial Emperor a legitimate reason to kill.
He wasn't afraid of blowing things up, but he was afraid that things weren't big enough.
Lying on the bed of Tingzhou Yuelai Inn, Zhang Chen sorted out his thoughts and muttered to himself,""The Martial Emperor wants to kill and I want to capture. It's a coincidence! With this opportunity, he would definitely be able to obtain unimaginable rewards.”
Suddenly, someone knocked on the door.
" Is this Miss Qing Xian?" "The door isn't locked, please come in."”
Lady Qingxian's full name was Ye Qingxian. She was a thirty-eighth generation disciple of the Swordsmanship Sect and her martial arts skills were unfathomable.
This woman was the beautiful woman who had acted with Princess Kagura the other day. She was also the purple-robed woman who had stood behind Princess Kagura on the flower boat.
Ye Qingxian pushed the door open and entered. Seeing Zhang Chen lying on the bed, a hint of dissatisfaction flashed across her cold face. She said faintly,"Young Master Zhang, isn't it a little rude of you to greet guests like this?”
Zhang Chen smiled." You and I have been helping each other along the way. What's the difference between host and guest?"”
Ye Qingxian's pretty face was slightly red. She frowned and said,""Young Master, please have some self-respect. When have I ever helped you through thick and thin?”
"We ate the same dishes and drank the same pot of water along the way. Isn't this considered helping each other?”
Ye Qingxian couldn't be bothered to argue with Zhang Chen, so she changed the topic.""We have already arrived at Ting Province. May I know where Young Master Zhang plans to start investigating the case?”
Today, after walking around Tingzhou City, the two of them discovered many hidden sentries.
Clearly, although many days had passed since the incident, Tingzhou City was still relaxed on the outside but tight on the inside.
They had just settled down when officials came to interrogate them.
Even though Ye Qingxian was not good at solving cases, she could sense that something was wrong.
" This matter is more serious than I thought," Zhang Chen said." I'm afraid we'll encounter more resistance than we imagined in the process of handling the case." I thought about it and felt that we should go straight to the enemy and not give the Tingzhou Zhizhou any chance.”
"How?" Ye Qing Xian asked.”
Zhang Chen smiled and said in a low voice," There are too many people in the inn. Some things are not easy to do in the inn. Let's rest for a while and buy a courtyard with a cellar." Then, tonight, you go and kidnap the Zhizhou. I'll interrogate him directly.”
"Is this how you're going to investigate the case?" Ye Qingxian asked in surprise. Isn't this too simple and crude?"
Zhang Chen said nonchalantly," There are countless unjust cases in the various prefectures and prefectures of Great Xia. It's already good enough that I didn't frame a corrupt official like the Tingzhou Zhizhou. Do you expect me to slowly find evidence to play with him? In officialdom, corrupt officials had to be cunning, and honest officials had to be even more cunning. Otherwise, how could they defeat corrupt officials?”
" What's more, the tax case happened a month ago," he said after a pause." After such a long time, the traces that should have been cleaned up must have been cleaned up." I reckon that the officials guarding the tax money have already been silenced. It's basically impossible to solve the case from the bottom up, so the best way is to go straight to the dragon.”
In this era, torturing confessions and extorting confessions were the mainstream.
It was very difficult to find evidence in many cases, and the method to solve the case was very simple. It was to catch suspicious people and make them confess by fraud or enticement. If the fraud or enticement did not work, they would be punished.
In the process of solving a case, the investigator basically did not avoid anything. As long as it was beneficial to solving the case, any method could be used.
After finding the real criminal, they would then obtain evidence based on the criminal's confession.
This was still a dutiful method.
If the investigator wanted to save time, the process of cheating and enticing confessions might be skipped. He might even find someone to beat him into a confession and forge evidence to frame him.
As long as they could solve the case, there would be merit. Many investigators did not care who the real criminal was.
Zhang Chen would not do this if he was dealing with ordinary people. However, he did not feel any psychological burden when dealing with corrupt officials.
"Moreover, the Zhizhou has been kidnapped. There will definitely be people who will be anxious. We can also lure the snake out of its hole.”
This chapter has been banned! Sigh! Let's make do with the new version!
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]