Chapter 52: Don't You Respect This Magistrate At All?

"With all due respect, what could this magistrate possibly mean?"

Seeing him act as if facing a formidable enemy, Li Yu found it rather amusing.

"You've acquired so much good stuff—did you really intend to swallow it all yourselves?"

Had it never crossed their minds to give him a cut?

Although he didn't spell it out bluntly, this was unmistakably what Li Yu meant; he might as well have written the words across his forehead.

Lu Qingyuan was first startled, and then his face blossomed with joyful surprise.

"This subordinate understands, this subordinate understands. Rest assured, My Lord Magistrate, no matter who gets shortchanged, My Lord will never be shortchanged. I will go and make the arrangements right away."

He had originally thought it would be a blessing if the new magistrate chose not to denounce them. Who would have thought that the newly appointed magistrate was actively looking to join in? That, of course, was the best possible outcome.

And what did this signify? It signified that they could continue on their path to making a fortune.

As Lu Qingyuan's figure gradually faded from view, the pair of walnuts in Li Yu's hands spun even faster.

"You turtle's spawn of a bastard!"

Just last night, he had quietly gone to inspect the county granary. That was where a portion of the newly collected annual taxes was stored, kept as disaster relief grain in times of famine.

If the year passed safely and peacefully, it would be distributed to the petty functionaries as their official stipends.

Yet when he went to the granary yesterday, while the grain sacks on the outside indeed appeared to be filled with fresh rice, they were merely shining on the surface like polished cow dung.

When the outer sacks were pushed aside, the bags within were entirely filled with moldy, aged grain.

Li Yu was not someone whose integrity was purely pristine to a fault, but to tamper with the disaster relief grain—was that even human?

That was the behavior of a beast, and even a beast that bit the hand feeding it deserved a good thrashing.

"Saddle the horse. I am going to see Prefect Hang."

The Prefect of Jinan, who was his direct superior, was named Hang Jun, with the courtesy name Ziyue.

He had been a second-class jinshi in the twenty-first year of Qianyuan, and had been transferred to Jinan to serve as prefect just last year.

Zhao Tieshan asked with some concern, "Will Prefect Hang be willing to help us?"

This was by no means a simple matter of disciplining a few low-ranking yamen runners.

In truth, neither prefects nor magistrates held the direct power to appoint or dismiss corrupt officials; there were numerous higher authorities standing above them.

If something went wrong with finances and grain supplies, that was the domain of the Provincial Administration Commissioner. If there were issues with criminal law and prisons, that fell under the Surveillance Commission.

If someone's moral conduct was flawed and their scholarly honors needed to be revoked, that had to be handled by the Educational Commissioners.

Of course, the opinions of magistrates and prefects carried great weight, and with concrete evidence, those above would take action. If their magistrate merely wanted to make an example of a chicken to scare the monkeys, that would be one thing.

But now, he intended to thoroughly purge the entire county yamen, which meant the prefect would have to run back and forth assisting him, while the Provincial Administration Commission, the Surveillance Commission, and the Education Commission would all have to be mobilized. Would those people be willing to go to such troublesome lengths?

There was no particular friendship between them, either. They might as well just sit in the prefectural office and read some leisure books for a while.

Li Yu did not answer the question. Anyway, Prime Minister Wang had instructed him that if any trouble arose, he should look for Hang Ziyue.

If Hang Ziyue dared to claim he wouldn't get involved, Li Yu would return and burn that fellow's belongings to ashes.

Slipping out through the back door of the county office, Li Yu glanced at Cao Fu, who was following closely behind him.

"Where has this magistrate been today?"

Cao Fu was stunned for a moment, but quickly recovered and answered respectfully, "My Lord Magistrate has been nowhere today. This subordinate has not seen the magistrate step outside the yamen."

Li Yu nodded in satisfaction and stepped forward. Li Tieyi tossed a money pouch he had prepared in advance straight into Cao Fu's arms. "His Honor invites the brothers to tea."

Cao Fu hurriedly caught the pouch with both hands, and its hefty weight made his teeth show in a wide grin.

"Many thanks, My Lord Magistrate!"

The other yamen runners also wore delighted expressions, thinking that this new magistrate was simply too generous.

Aside from distributing silver to those who were in on the secret, Cao Fu was already plotting to invite everyone in the county office out for a round of drinks. Otherwise, he would never be able to sit securely in his position as head runner.

Of course, he also had to execute the magistrate's errands flawlessly; otherwise, his career as head runner would come to an abrupt end.

Once outside the city walls, Li Yu couldn't help asking, "I didn't tell you to give them money, did I?"

Even if it wasn't one's own silver, it shouldn't be squandered so casually.

"Ah, My Lord, this was instructed by the Mistress," Tieyi hurriedly explained. "The Mistress said that before the matter is accomplished, it is best to reward these yamen runners handsomely."

Hearing this, Li Yu said nothing more. His main concern was spoiling the runners and making them unwilling to work in the future if the rewards stopped coming.

However, since his wife had specified that this was before the matter was accomplished, it implied that once the task was successfully completed, such lavish tossing of silver would cease. Therefore, there was nothing further to discuss.

The Prefectural Office.

Hang Jun had long known that Li Yu would come to find him, though he had not expected it to be so soon. He stepped quickly out of the inner chamber and greeted Li Yu with a smile.

"Before taking up this post, I heard my teacher speak of Zixuan's essays, and I wondered when we might have the chance to work together. I never imagined we would meet so soon."

Having spent seven years lying low in the capital, Hang Jun radiated the aura of a mature man throughout his entire person, setting him fundamentally apart from those hot-headed youths.

"We couldn't afford to wait," Li Yu said, cupping his fists before speaking with a helpless expression. "Prime Minister Wang ordered this subordinate to govern Zhangqiu well, but the county yamen is rotten to the core from top to bottom. That is why I have no choice but to come and beg for Prefect Hang's assistance."

Hearing this, Hang Jun smiled and took a sip of tea. In truth, he had known about it all along.

"Then how shall I help you?"

His teacher, Prime Minister Wang, had started his career as a censor. In other domains, Wang might not have been able to outmaneuver Prime Minister Fan, but when it came to the dissemination of intelligence, even three Fan Mins could not compare.

Two years ago, Prime Minister Wang had already been aware of the situation in Zhangqiu, and had deliberately kept the vacancy open precisely to allow the young Li Yu before him to accumulate experience.

Coincidentally, he was also extremely eager to see what kind of person this young man, so highly regarded by Prime Minister Wang, truly was.

Li Yu smiled faintly and laid out his plans one by one.

As night fell, the entire Zhangqiu County was shrouded in a blanket of dark mist.

Every household in the county bolted their doors tightly. Those with money lit a lamp and chatted with their families.

Those without money crawled under the covers early, toil-worn cogs striving for the imperial court's next generation of beasts of burden.

The county yamen was supposed to be a place that upheld justice for the common folk, but at this moment, Lu Qingyuan, accompanied by Master of Correspondence Jiang Yan, was carrying a full chest of silver ingots to split the illicit spoils with Li Yu.

Li Yu picked up a large silver ingot at random and inspected it closely under the glass lamp.

"This was melted down from official treasury silver, wasn't it?"

Although the official markings had been removed, the traces of deliberate melting were far too obvious.

Other than official silver, Li Yu could find no other reason for anyone to melt silver on such a massive scale.

"My Lord's eyes are as sharp as torches," Jiang Yan fawned. "This is two thousand liang out of the five thousand earmarked for repairing the reservoir. The remaining three thousand will be used to finish building it properly."

"These two thousand liang are offered in respectful tribute to My Lord Magistrate. We hope My Lord will not disdain them."

There were five people who knew the inside story, and the magistrate alone was taking nearly half of it.

He felt they had shown ample sincerity, but little did he expect Li Yu to be completely unsatisfied.

"Is this magistrate so easily fooled that you bring a box of silver today to dismiss a beggar?"

A clean magistrate for three years yielded one hundred thousand flakes of silver, and Xiao Yunzhou had served as magistrate for five full years.

Two thousand liang of silver was supposed to satisfy him? Did he look like he had a face that was easy to push around?

"This..."

Jiang Yan looked helplessly at Lu Qingyuan. The latter was equally caught off guard; he had not anticipated that someone as young as Li Yu would have such a voracious appetite.

Li Yu extended his left hand to the side, and Li Tieyi promptly handed over a ledger.

"In the twenty-fifth year of Qianyuan, the twenty-sixth, and the twenty-four—where did the reserve grain in the granary go? How much was it sold for? Old Li has recorded every single brushstroke for you right here."

Old Li was faint of heart; a mild scare had been enough to make him strip off his very trousers.

Of course, Li Yu was also willing to show leniency. After all, since they had once been cut from the same cloth, he understood the hardships that compelled lower-level workers to act against their better judgment.