Chapter 824: The Dilemma of the Shipbuilding Department
Sun Chuanting was shocked when he heard this. He took a closer look and found that although the man sitting in the hall was wearing plain clothes, he was none other than Duke Xingguo. So he quickly led his men to kneel down to pay homage.
He had met Zhong Jinwei many times when he was in the capital, but he had always been a spectator among the officials. Therefore, there was a situation where Zhong Jinwei had not seen Sun Chuanting, but Sun Chuanting recognized Zhong Jinwei.
Zhong Jinwei looked at Sun Chuanting who was kneeling below him, snorted coldly and asked: "You are so audacious Sun Chuanting, why do you want to embezzle even the pension money of the anti-smuggling soldiers? Such a large shipping department does not even have a person in charge.
It has caused the shipping department to stop operating several times. Do you admit to the crime of neglecting your duties?"
Ordinary people would definitely be frightened to the point of being questioned like this by an imperial envoy, a famous figure in the dynasty, or the Duke of Xingguo.
But Sun Chuanting did not. He looked up at Zhong Jinwei and said calmly: "Why did the Duke say this? After I came to Guangzhou and took office, I have devoted myself to my duty and devoted myself to the Shipping Department. How could I neglect my duty?"
Even a low-ranking official would never commit such acts of corruption, let alone want to embezzle even the pension!"
How could Zhong Jinwei change his opinion after being explained by Sun Chuanting in a few words? He immediately said: "You still dare to quibble! Bring the accuser."
Sun Chuanting was a little surprised when he heard that someone was suing him. When he turned around to look, a young woman holding two children walked out from the side and knelt down on one side.
When Sun Chuanting saw him, he recognized this person. He immediately understood that this was what the Duke of the country said.
After the woman knelt down, she turned sideways and faced Sun Chuanting and said, "A common woman has come to ask for her husband's pension money over and over again, but she has never given it. You are a corrupt official like you."
Zhong Jinwei kept looking down and was slightly surprised when he saw that Sun Chuanting remained calm and calm after seeing the plaintiff.
He was thinking in his mind, is Sun Chuanting really able to see the coffin without shedding tears, or is there something hidden in it, and there is no corruption at all?
Sun Chuanting ignored the young woman, but turned his head and said to Zhong Jinwei: "My lord, I understand what is going on. Please allow me to explain."
"According to the truth." Zhong Jinwei vaguely felt that there must be a problem, and immediately said to Sun Chuanting in a less cold tone.
"After I took charge of the Shipping Department, I wanted to start operating the Shipping Company in accordance with the imperial decree, but found many difficulties. One of the biggest reasons was that there was not enough silver to run the Shipping Company normally."
"Therefore, in order to keep the Shipping Department from being paralyzed as much as possible, I can only temporarily withhold payment of this woman's pension. Not only that, but the wages of other anti-smuggling soldiers are still in arrears." Sun Chuanting said this and pointed.
The young woman kneeling on one side said.
Zhong Jinwei frowned when he heard this. He didn't quite understand this, and immediately asked: "Didn't the imperial court allocate silver coins, and there are also silver coins originally reserved by the Shibo Division. The combination of the two should be enough for your Shibo Division to use?"
"My lord, please listen to your official explanation in detail." After Sun Chuanting finished saying this, he began to explain in detail: "My lord, after my official took charge of the Shipping Department, I found that the original anti-smuggling soldiers were old and cunning, and many of them committed adultery.
It was an illegal act. Therefore, most of the original anti-smuggling soldiers were disbanded and new anti-smuggling soldiers were recruited from refugees for training. This cost a large sum of money, but it was a necessary sum."
"Most of the anti-smuggling soldiers recruited by Xiaguan at the beginning were strong men without families, but they did not expect that smuggling was rampant. They could not bribe the anti-smuggling soldiers, so they used weapons to fight against the anti-smuggling soldiers, causing the casualties of the anti-smuggling soldiers to remain high. In order to supplement the anti-smuggling soldiers,
As soldiers, I had to recruit a group of people with young families, and his family was recruited at this time. As a result, a lot of money and food were spent."
"My lord, smuggling is rampant, and the local government and the governor's office are not cooperating. As a result, the shipping department is struggling and cannot collect much tax and various expenses, especially the training of anti-smuggling soldiers, as well as medical care and pension funds for casualties.
It consumed a lot of money. The Shipping Department quickly ran out of money allocated by the imperial court, and the above expenses are well documented."
"Originally, I was counting on the silver taels left by the Shibo Division, but when the official came to the Shibo Division, I had never seen the silver taels and it had been misappropriated."
Zhong Jinwei kept listening and saw that Sun Chuanting was talking without any pause and there was no sign of lying at all, so he began to believe it in his heart.
When Sun Chuanting said this, he couldn't help but ask: "Who misappropriated it?"
Sun Chuanting's face became a little angry at this time, and he replied to Zhong Jinwei: "The Chief Envoy's Yamen and the Governor's Yamen are blaming each other, and they both say that it is at the other party's place. The lower officials have gone to pursue it many times, but there is no result."
"The Duke asked why no one in charge was staying at the Yamen of the Shipping Department. There was really an urgent need for silver, and it was impossible to keep people in the Yamen. The official simply took these people with him and went to recover the silver."
After Zhong Jinwei heard this, he turned to look at the Guangzhou police officer and asked in a cold voice: "Is what Sun Tiju said true?"
The officer in Guangzhou listened to the Duke's question and quickly reported: "My subordinates are incompetent and have not paid attention to the silver issue. However, what Sun Tiju said is that smuggling is rampant and there are many casualties among anti-smuggling soldiers. It is true."
Zhong Jinwei could also understand that Dongchang would not be as omnipotent as the legend. Therefore, he did not accuse the Guangzhou policemen. The news of rampant smuggling was enough to prove the authenticity of what Sun Chuanting said.
In fact, the rampant smuggling can be inferred as long as you think carefully.
Foreign overseas trade has not been allowed by the imperial court before, and the Guangzhou Shipping Department has always been in a state of herding sheep, just like a display. In addition, Guangzhou is the largest trading point for overseas trade, and those people were used to not paying taxes.
, or in other words, if you are used to smuggling, you will naturally not be happy if you suddenly have to collect taxes.
The Municipal Shipping Department does not have enough troops to deter smuggling. If the local government does not cooperate, it is inevitable that things like this will happen.
Thinking of the smuggling incident, Zhong Jinwei couldn't help but glance at Zheng Zhilong standing next to him, thinking that this was the biggest armed smuggling leader. If Fujian smuggling had been strictly investigated, he would have been guilty of not resisting with arms!
Now the matter is almost clear. This matter is no longer a matter of embezzling money or not, but a matter of the imperial court reopening the shipping department.
Therefore, it was no longer convenient for the young woman to stay here any longer, so they asked her to retreat and wait for the final result.
After the young woman exited the lobby, Zhong Jinwei said to the officials kneeling below: "Everyone, get up."
"Thank you, Duke Guo." Whether it was Sun Chuanting or his subordinates, seeing that Duke Guo must have believed their explanation, they couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief. After answering in unison, they stood up and lined up on both sides.
Zhong Jinwei turned around and ordered Zheng Zhilong and Gu Baichuan: "The chief envoy of Guangdong and the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi are here to see me."
"Yes, Duke." The two of them agreed and left the lobby. Zheng Zhilong was a little surprised, why did the Duke ask him to deliver the order?