It is true that Zhao Hongrun came here to investigate and investigate, but when Wang Zan came to greet Wang Zan in person, Zhao Hongrun did not show any shame to the latter.
However, this made Wang Zan feel even more uneasy.
Welcoming Zhao Hongrun into the hall of the north room, Wang Zan did not dare to sit on the main seat. After inviting Zhao Hongrun to the head of the guests, he sat across from him and looked at the somewhat bewildered person following Zhao Hongrun calmly.
Yan Yong, the magistrate of Anling County.
"Magistrate Yan, please sit down too."
Zhao Hongrun pointed to the seat at the bottom with a smile, and said to Yan Yong with a smile, speaking and acting as if he was the owner of this mansion.
"Yes, yes..." Yan Yongcheng nodded repeatedly in fear, then lowered his head and sat down below Zhao Hongrun.
He did not dare to raise his head because Wang Zan, the head of the Anling Wang family, was staring at him intently at the moment.
Although Yan Yong is the magistrate of Anling County, in fact, he is just a puppet.
In the early years, when he hoped to seek help from the Anling Wang family, he had to pay money to meet the housekeeper of this mansion. The latter shouted at him and showed no respect.
As for the head of the Anling Wang family in front of him, I'm sorry, but Yan Yong is not qualified to ask for an audience.
But this time when Zhao Hongrun arrived, Wang Zan actually went out to greet him in person. This really shocked Yan Yong, and he finally understood how powerful the King Su next to him was.
After a while, the servants of the house served fragrant tea. Zhao Hongrun sometimes took a few sips and sometimes smacked his lips, as if he was quite satisfied with the tea.
On the other hand, Wang Zan seemed a bit unnatural.
The reason was that Zhao Hongrun had not spoken since he sat down, causing silence in the hall. An invisible pressure enveloped the entire hall, making Wang Zan faintly breathless.
Momentum, this is a very mysterious thing.
It is invisible and intangible, but sometimes it can make people tremble.
It's not some absurd metaphysics. In fact, momentum is confidence and an external manifestation of complete self-confidence.
For example, the current Zhao Hongrun is superior to Wang Zan in terms of status, power, and life experience. What's more, he is holding the hand of the Anling Wang family. This time he is raising an army to investigate the crime. Therefore, Zhao Hongrun is confident and confident.
On the other hand, Wang Zan felt guilty and worried because of what his Wang family had done in the past. Therefore, it is no wonder that he was overwhelmed by Zhao Hongrun's momentum.
Finally, Wang Zan couldn't bear it any longer and took the lead in speaking: "His Royal Highness Prince Su's visit this time has really made my Wang family shine... I wonder if His Highness Prince Su has ever found a place to stay. If so,
If you don’t mind it, why not just stay with my family, the Wang family, and let me, the Wang family, fulfill the friendship of landlords one by one."
"The friendship of the landlord..." Zhao Hongrun chuckled when he heard this, and asked a little bitterly: "The 'landlord' does not refer to the 'Lord of Anling', right?"
Wang Zan's face changed slightly when he heard this.
To be fair, Wang Zan's polite words just now were not wrong, they were just very common polite words. However, Zhao Hongrun deliberately distorted the meaning of the word "landlord friendship", which made it sound extremely harsh.
Lord of Anling?
What do you mean? Is Anling the property of your Wang family?
Therefore, Wang Zan quickly changed his words with a forced smile: "It was Wang who made a mistake. Wang did not mean that. What Wang meant was that His Highness, Prince Su, has come a long way to work hard. I wonder if I, the Wang family, will have the honor to serve His Highness."
"Heh." Zhao Hongrun snorted noncommittally, and then asked slowly: "Master Wang, did you say this from the bottom of your heart?"
"Of course it is absolutely true." Wang Zan said confidently.
Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun shook his head slightly and said: "But I almost couldn't even enter the city gate of Anling County!"
Wang Zan's heart skipped a beat.
After listening to his youngest son Wang Chen's story, he naturally understood what Zhao Hongrun meant.
He looked horrified and said angrily: "What happened? Someone dared to stop His Royal Highness Prince Su from entering the city? What a rebellion?!"
"Good acting..."
Zhao Hongrun snorted secretly, he would not believe that Wang Chen would not tell his father Wang Zan about this when he entered the city.
Having said that, it is very simple to test whether Wang Zan knows the truth.
No, after Zhao Hongrun chuckled twice, he suddenly stopped the smile on his face and said coldly: "The head of the Wang family is right, it is really contrary to heaven! ... Anyone who disobeys me should be killed! The Wang family has decided
how?"
Wang Zan opened his mouth but was speechless.
Who to kill? Kill his beloved youngest son Wang Chen?
He was shocked and quickly changed his words: "It is possible that the madman didn't know His Highness King Su, and Wang thought that a little punishment would be enough..."
While he was talking, Zhao Hongrun always looked at him with a teasing and teasing look.
Seeing this look, how could Wang Zan not understand?
But he had no choice but to bite the bullet and plead for mercy for the "I don't know who" maniac who attacked His Highness Prince Su in front of him.
"Hehehehe..."
Seeing Wang Zan finish his plea with an awkward expression, Zhao Hongrun felt funny in his heart. He shook his head, then suppressed the smile on his face, looked at Wang Zan and said seriously: "Master Wang, it's just a wall in Anling County.
The city wall cannot stop me... I will ignore the behavior of a child like this, but if it happens again, I will definitely kill him without mercy, did you hear me?"
"Yes, yes." Wang Zan nodded repeatedly and said subconsciously: "Wang will severely punish the traitor..."
At this point, he realized that he had made a mistake. After all, wouldn't it mean that he already knew it?
But what surprised him was that Zhao Hongrun didn't argue with him on this point.
"This time I came here to do two things. First, in the county warehouse in Anling County, all the rice was secretly exchanged, and the white rice was replaced by bags filled with straw... The Wang family
Lord, do you know this?"
"..."
Looking at Zhao Hongrun's serious expression, a few beads of sweat gradually appeared on Wang Zan's forehead.
You must know that misappropriating rice from the county warehouse is a serious crime. Once admitted, the offender will be sent to the army and distributed, which will never be a minor crime.
However, it is undeniable that things like the Wang family's misappropriation of county warehouse rice and personal gain, in fact, may have happened in other counties in the Wei Kingdom.
Usually, as long as the nobles replenished the misappropriated rice in this kind of thing afterwards, some county magistrates would just turn a blind eye.
Maybe they think that no one loses anyway, so what’s the problem?
But in fact, is it true that no one loses?
No!
In fact, it was the common people who suffered losses, and the nobles passed the losses on to the common people.
For example, last year Zhao Hongrun led his army to conquer Sanchuan. Although the army consumed countless amounts of military rations, Wei State even used national power to mobilize grain and grass for the army to march to Sanchuan. However, in fact, Wei State is a big grain-producing country. Logically speaking, the consumption of military rations was
, will not increase domestic rice prices by 30%.
So, why did the price of rice in the private market still rise by a full 30% despite the intervention of the Ministry of Household Affairs of the imperial court?
The reason is that some people in the country take the opportunity to hoard food and prepare to make huge profits.
You are hoarding, and I am hoarding. If there is less food on the market, the price will naturally rise.
If the Ministry of Household Affairs had not intervened to transport rice from warehouses in various counties and regulate and control the increase in rice prices, would the price of rice have increased by more than 30%?
It's ridiculous to say that the Wei State clearly has excess rice and sells it to "Chuan Luo", Xiong Tuo, Lord of Chuyang City, and the Jie and Ling tribes. However, in China, the price has steadily increased due to "shortage of rice". .
However, in fact, it is not that there is a shortage of rice in Wei State, but that too many people are hoarding large amounts of rice in an attempt to make huge profits. If these ignorant merchants and nobles take out the hoarded grain, the price of rice on the market will immediately rise. More than tripled the price!
Fortunately, Zhao Hongrun hasn't learned the truth yet, otherwise, I'm afraid he would be eager to cut them into pieces.
But now the Anling Wang family is doing even worse. Not only are they hoarding food themselves, but they also have devious ideas to gain access to the county warehouses in Anling County. This is something Zhao Hongrun cannot tolerate.
Faced with Zhao Hongrun's questioning, Wang Zan decided to deny it after thinking for a moment.
Because once he admits it, there will be conclusive evidence in the hands of Zhao Hongrun, and judging from the attitude of King Su just now, it is obvious that he has a bad impression of his Wang family. Rather than deny it, it is better to deny it.
Therefore, Wang Zan once again looked shocked and said in disbelief: "This is happening?...Who is so bold?"
Hearing this, Zhao Hongrun laughed secretly a few times.
He felt that Wang Zan might have thought that there was no evidence for the misappropriation of rice from the county warehouse, and he did not expect that the magistrate of Anling County, Yan Yong, whom he despised, actually kept a book recording the corruption and perversion of the law by the nobles in the city.
Yes, it’s just a brochure, and it’s just one side of the story, so don’t believe it all.
But for Zhao Hongrun, as long as he has this thing, he can attack the Wang family.
If Wang Zan was still wise, he should hand over his youngest son Wang Chen, and at the same time spend huge sums of money to purchase rice and grain to make up for the deficit in the county warehouse.
In this way, although his younger son Wang Chen had to be imprisoned, the Wang family was spared.
After all, the Wang family is a public family, and unless the circumstances are serious, both the imperial court and the Emperor of Wei will be lenient.
However, when Zhao Hongrun deliberately revealed his dissatisfaction with his Wang family, Wang Zan chose to deny it. As a result, the plot of the incident became even worse. From Wang Chen alone, it became The Wang family is full of corruption and perverting the law.
Thinking of this, Zhao Hongrun deliberately said to Yan Yong with a straight face: "What's going on, Magistrate Yan, this is inconsistent with what you said to me!"
Yan Yong was startled when his name was suddenly called by Zhao Hongrun. He raised his head and was about to speak when he saw Wang Zan's sullen eyes.
In the past, Yan Yong would not have dared to go against Wang Zan. However, before coming, Zhao Hongrun had clearly told him: If the deficit in the county warehouse cannot be made up, then he will be severely punished for the serious crime of deficit in the county warehouse. No responsibility.
This is a serious crime that will bring harm to the children!
Thinking of this, Yan Yong didn't care about anything else, pointed at Wang Zan and said to Zhao Hongrun: "Your Highness Prince Su, the deficit in the county warehouse is exactly the work of the Wang family..."
"What an outrage!" Wang Zan was furious when he heard this.
You know, the magistrate of Anling County, Yan Yong, who he didn't take seriously in the past, now dares to accuse him?
What the hell?!
Seeing the quarrel between Wang Zan and Yan Yong, Zhao Hongrun picked up the teacup, took a sip, and laughed at the dog-eat-dog drama.