Yan Mu brought a lot of officials this time and drove away the guards from Li Huai's mansion, and his men would protect Wanchunyuan.

When Hongxuan learned that he came to investigate Yang He's corruption case in the name of the emperor, he gave him a big gift.

"Your Highness has not yet been lifted from his guilt, but he can come to investigate this case. It is not appropriate to be in the affairs or the law. But the emperor actually sent you here. It shows that your highness is so capable that I really admire."

Yan Mu narrowed his eyes, "Don't kidnap me!"

"Your Highness has great wisdom to maintain a country!"

"I know how much wisdom I have and don't accept flattery."

"What is even more commendable is that His Highness can recognize himself, not expand or be complacent."

Yan Mu was speechless. This old Taoist priest wanted him to sit in that position and be a wise monarch, to calm the world and the country, to devote himself to his work, to give up his ego to achieve great achievements, just like the saints in the book, leaving their names for generations.

His lifelong wish was to support such a monarch and be a wise minister who could be famous throughout the ages.

Unfortunately, he is not so righteous, nor so selfless. Even if he becomes a monarch, he will not give up his ego. He just wants to live indulge in his life, and he will do whatever he wants.

Seeing that Yan Mu was a little impatient, Liu Yunxiang quickly changed the topic: "Take out the account book you two stolen to see if it is useful."

Xue Changfeng slapped his forehead and was really trying to do this, so he hurriedly took out the account book from his arms. Feng Zheng also took it out, and the two of them put together, and there were a total of more than ten copies.

Everyone gathered around, and Liu Yunxiang asked everyone to get one book to see if there was any problem.

She picked up a copy, but saw Yan Mu still sitting in his original position. Seeing her looking at him, she pulled her to her side and sat down.

"Don't you look?" Liu Yunxiang asked.

Yan Mu snorted, "I don't want to see that Yang He actually cheated me for nothing."

Liu Yunxiang was funny, "You should know that he had no choice."

"I know, but I just don't want to help him."

"Only children can hold grudges."

"What do you mean?"

Liu Yunxiang leaned into Yan Mu's arms, "Let's watch together."

Yan Mu hugged Liu Yunxiang and secretly kissed her while others were not paying attention. He hugged Liu Yunxiang and looked through the account book with her.

This is a book of paying taxes and grains in various places. They first saw Qi County. Last year, due to the severe drought, the court exempted their taxes and grains, so their page was empty. After looking back, the other counties did not pay enough.

"Are other counties also affected?" Yan Mu asked.

Liu Yunxiang nodded, "The Taoist priest and the others went to investigate. Last year, except for Qi County, several surrounding counties were also affected by disasters, some were light and some were severe, so the tax and food paid was insufficient."

However, these counties were all supplemented after the autumn harvest last year, so the word "ping" was finally called "ping".

Yan Mu looked at the word "ping" and hesitated a little, "Yanzhou has added 30% more taxes than other places, and it can be compensated for the balance in that year, unless it is a great harvest."

At this time, Hongxuan turned around and said, "I asked the ancient county magistrate that the autumn harvest was also affected last year, and the grain output was not as good as in previous years."

Yan Mu's thoughts turned around and continued to look back. The account records were very detailed and clear. It can be seen from it that the people paid taxes and grains and merchants paid taxes and silver in full, but he made fake accounts for the imperial court, and the one million taels of embezzlement were calculated in this way.

Looking further back, Liu Yunxiang suddenly glanced at a place and only showed Yan Mu: "We have been to Changhe Village. All the young and middle-aged people in the village were arrested to join the army, and they were all sacrificed. The young women and children left, and only the elderly left in the village. Although there were fertile land, most of them were deserted, with only a few acres of land planted, barely maintaining the food for the elderly in the village. They did not have any extra grain to pay taxes, and in order to avoid the people urged to pay, they even pretended to be ghosts to scare them."

And the amount of taxes and grain paid in Changhe Village is clearly recorded below this page, and it is obviously wrong.

Liu Yunxiang asked Hongxuan and Xue Changfeng to see other years, and soon they found them. Since Yang He took office, there has been no record of tax arrears in Changhe Village, and they have paid them all every year.

Liu Yunxiang put together several books of account books and things were clear at once.

"There has never been this million tael. It grows out on the account and disappears in the account and does not enter anyone's pocket."

Hongxuan nodded, "As time of accumulation, the amount is getting bigger and bigger, and it can no longer be hidden. There is always someone to take the blame, so Yang He stood up."

Xue Changfeng scratched the back of his head, but he didn't understand for a moment, "The court checked the accounts every year, how could it not be found out?"

Yan Mu curled his lips, "Because in the past few years of Yang He's in Yanzhou, there have been constant natural disasters and man-made disasters. Every year, he has made false accounts. If the court does not investigate, it will be a loophole. Moreover, the longer the sun and the longer the moon, the more difficult the loophole is, the harder it will not be discovered."

"In order not to let the court hold the people and the merchants accountable, he took it on himself, making the court think that he was corrupt." Liu Yunxiang continued to explain.

Xue Changfeng thought for a while before he figured it out, "So the people of Yanzhou say that he is a good person, but good people are not necessarily good officials. Good officials want to protect the court and the country, but he did not do it, and only protected the people of Yanzhou."

"The year when he first came to Yanzhou to take office, it happened to be a severe drought and the people were unable to feed. He asked the court for help, but the court not only did not give it, but also added 30% of the tax. He watched the people starve to death one by one, and could only scold himself for being incompetent. Later, he went to other states to borrow food, turned away a few times, and even knelt down for those people. Finally, he borrowed food and built a porridge shed in the city. But when he returned home, he found that my mother and wife and daughter were starved to death." Speaking of this, Feng Zheng's eyes were red, "The graves in the west courtyard of the Mansion were from the old lady, the wife and the young lady, and there were several servants. The adult felt deeply ashamed of them, so he buried them in the west courtyard and had to go over and take a look every day."

Liu Yunxiang was shocked when she heard this. It turned out that the tombs were Yang He's relatives.

"In the past, Yanzhou was indeed full of rain and fertile land. It was the main grain-producing area of ​​Darong. It had a prosperous economy and trade and a wealth of people. But for some reason, droughts often occurred in Yanzhou, and the court seemed to be blind and had to add 30% more taxes. The people complained, and merchants fled one after another, and Yanzhou became poor all of a sudden. In order to change this situation, the adults began to make fake accounts and hide the court. In the years of good weather, he reported that he had encountered disasters.

, grain production was reduced, and he could only pay half of the tax. In the years of drought, he said that he encountered a severe drought, and there was no harvest of particles, and he still had to ask the court for relief. If the court did not give it, he asked the merchants to use 30% of the tax on disaster relief. He deceived them year after year. The people were full of food and clothing, and the merchants stayed, and the economy and trade became more and more prosperous." Feng Zheng shrugged after saying that, "This is the truth. Whether we are corruption or deceiving the court, it will be a death penalty."

Liu Yunxiang sighed deeply. No wonder Yang He never mentioned the whereabouts of the one million taels, no wonder he didn't think they could save him.
Chapter completed!