Things have developed to this point, and this small-scale "struggle" in Jiangdu City has come to an end.
Since Magistrate Chen is willing to replenish that part of the money to the Ministry of Household Affairs, no one can say anything to him even if this matter reaches the capital. The most the court can do is hold him accountable for the sudden increase in food prices in Jiangdu.
However, Chen Fuzun fell down this time.
Because replenishing money to the household department does not mean just spitting out what you have eaten.
This time he, Chen Yu, took money from the Household Department's funds. Originally, Mr. Zhao and Mr. Zhao had a share, and Mr. Yang in the capital had a share. He, the prefect Chen, was not prepared to take a penny.
Since it is money to be used for relationships, even if the money needs to be made up now, not a penny of the money that has been given to Mr. Zhao and Mr. Yang can be taken back.
He couldn't ask for the money back, and he had to make up the money to the Ministry of Accounts, so he had to make up for the shortfall with his own money.
This is what Shen Yi calls "breaking money."
Moreover, Magistrate Chen's financial ruin was much more serious than Shen Yi had imagined, and the deficit was also greater than Shen Yi had imagined.
Because Chen Yu didn't take any money from it.
He didn't take any money, so he had to pay for the shortfall from his own pocket. This time, the Ministry of Accounts allocated 50,000 taels of silver. Even if it was calculated as half, Chen Fuzun would have to put in at least 20,000 to 30,000 taels of silver to make up for it. This is a deficit.
Two to thirty thousand taels is an extremely huge number! Even a wealthy businessman like Ma Yuanwai would feel a little pain if he took out so much cash in one go, let alone Chen Yu whose annual salary is only a few hundred taels. official?
Even if Chen Fuzun has been greedy for many years as an official, I am afraid that it will be difficult for him to spend so much money at once. This time, even if he does not have to borrow money from others, he will clean up his family fortune.
What's even more terrible is that the money Chen Yu has to spend is not just to fill the gap.
Mr. Zhao from the Ministry of Revenue returned to the capital a few days in advance and went to the Ministry of Revenue to help Chen Yu with his activities. He helped Chen Yu settle the matter there so that the Ministry of Revenue would not investigate the matter in detail. Collect money and put it into the treasury steadily.
This is not an easy task either.
After all, Chen Yu wanted to steal the money at first, so he never mentioned the need to buy grain at the real price with the Ministry of Revenue. If the court investigated, the Ministry of Revenue would easily find out the flaws. Thus, the matter was investigated to the bottom of the matter.
Only when Mr. Zhao returns to the capital to help Mr. Chen bring peace to matters can this matter be completed satisfactorily.
After this incident is over, Chen Yu has to go to the capital to settle the bill that Mr. Zhao paid for him.
This bill cannot be written off by two pipa girls by the Jade Belt Lake.
In other words, Chen Fuzun would have to dig into his pocket again afterwards.
However, for young officials like Chen Yu, the future is boundless. I dare not say that the future of money is boundless. Therefore, no matter how much money you spend, you can earn it back in the future, so it doesn't matter if you spend some money. .
What worries Chen Fuzun is that after this matter reaches the capital, Yang Xiangguo, who is the head of state in the capital, will be dissatisfied or unhappy with his student.
If the old man is made unhappy, Chen Fu Zun's future... will be bleak.
But no matter what, the most that Chen Fuzun could do this time was to lose some money and get rid of the disaster. However, the Ma Yuanwai family who opposed Chen Fuzun would not be able to get through so easily.
Jiangdu grain merchants, in the name of the imperial court purchasing grain, colluded and maliciously raised grain prices. After the Jiangdu government intervened, they even went on strike and closed the market together with local grain merchants, threatening the government and even alarming the imperial court!
Each of these crimes can be serious or minor. If the court really cares about it, each of them can go so far as to confiscate your home!
Not only Ma Yuanwai and others, but the censor who forced Chen Yu to be impeached in the court behind his back will also be affected by this "false accusation"!
The horseman's face looked extremely ugly.
Magistrate Chen had a frosty look on his face, looked at the horsemen indifferently, and said: "Mr. Ma, in front of the imperial envoy, if you have anything else to say, you might as well say it all at once. Do you want to tell the two imperial envoys?
Since arriving in Jiangdu for more than a year, how many bribes have I received from you?"
Jiangdu officials had more or less taken some of the money from these grain merchants, including Jiangdu Magistrate Feng Lu, who had all taken advantage of the Ma family. Otherwise, when the Chen Qing case was first reported, Jiangdu Magistrate Yamen would not have let it go so easily.
He married Ma Jun, the son of Ma Yuanwai.
If the Ma family hadn't been so diligent and filial in daily life and wanted to let Ma Jun out, the Ma family didn't know how much money they would have spent to get in.
But Chen Yu did not receive any money from these grain merchants.
At least I didn't accept cash.
Firstly, he had just arrived in Jiangdu Prefecture for more than a year and was more cautious in doing things. Secondly, the relationship behind these grain merchants was complicated. Chen Fuzun, who wanted to go on stage to pay homage to the prime minister, did not want to have too much involvement with them.
However, even if Chen Yu really received money from Ma Yuanwai, Ma Yuanwai would not dare to say it in front of two imperial envoys. This is the most taboo thing in officialdom. Now the Ma family bows their heads and admits their failure. In the future, they will use the money to run away with the relationship.
Maybe there is still a chance to succeed. If Chen Yu is bitten at this time, then no one in the entire court will dare to accept money from the Ma family.
That's when the game is completely over.
Ma Yuanwai's face was ugly. He first looked up at Magistrate Chen, and then at the two imperial envoys. Then he lowered his head and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He gritted his teeth and knelt down in front of Chen Yu. He lowered his head and said: "Prefecture
Sir, we don’t know the truth of the matter, and we don’t know that you are upright and upright, so we have misunderstood you and the prefect’s yamen. Please give the common people a chance..."
Ma Yuanwai's face turned pale and he lowered his head and said: "I will stabilize the food price immediately after I return. Within three days at most, the food price in Jiangdu will return to its previous state..."
Ma Yuanwai knelt down, and naturally several other grain merchants also knelt down. They knelt behind Ma Yuanwai and begged Master Chen.
Chen Yu raised his head slightly and glanced at the grain merchants kneeling in front of him, with disdain in his eyes.
"Five days ago, I and Magistrate Feng talked to you many times, asking you to stabilize food prices so as to prevent the people of Jiangdu from having a hard time. Did you hear that at that time?"
"You keep saying that you are from Jiangdu, and this is how you treat the elders of Jiangdu?"
Speaking of this, Chen Fuzun had an expressionless face: "Originally, this matter is a family scandal of my Jiangdu Prefecture. I don't want to make this matter a big deal. Let's close the door and handle it ourselves, and it will be fine. But …”
He glanced at these grain merchants coldly and said coldly: "But who brought this matter to the capital and the imperial court?"
Ma Yuanwai and others all lowered their heads and did not dare to speak.
"I'm afraid it's not me?"
Master Chen closed his eyes and said slowly: "Since the court has been alerted and the court has sent an imperial envoy to investigate, then this matter is beyond my control. Except for Ma Yuan, you don't have to kneel to me."
Chen Fuzun turned to look at Master Lu and others, bowed his hands to Master Lu and others, and then looked behind his hands at the horsemen and other grain merchants.
"You and I, just wait for the imperial court to take action!"
After saying this, Chen Fuzun walked away with a puff of his sleeves.
Master Lu silently watched Chen Yu leave, then turned to look at Shen Yi, and sighed slightly: "You see, this is officialdom, intrigues and murders at every step."
Compared to Master Lu's emotion, Shen Qilang watched with gusto. After hearing Lu Anshi's words, Shen Yi smiled slightly.
"It is indeed a murderous step, but it is also very exciting..."