Cui Geng was slightly stunned and said, "Except for money, I really can't think of anything so charming, boy!" ”

Su Wei nodded and said: "Erlang is really smart, in fact, Meizhou's specialty is gold." Thirty percent of the gold mined in my Great Zhou every year comes from Meizhou. ”

"Uh...... This ......" Cui Geng frowned slightly, and said, "If I guessed correctly, kid, these gold mines belong to the imperial court, right?" ”

"That's nature, what's wrong?"

Cui Gengdao: "Don't forget, I'm the visiting envoy of Jiannan Dao!" Old man Su, if you use the gold mines in Meizhou to enrich your pockets, do you say that boy, I will investigate, or not? ”

"In this way, Erlang, you don't have to worry, the old man doesn't want to be greedy." Su Wei introduced: "According to the regulations of the imperial court, twenty percent of the gold mined in Meizhou is retained by the local government. Therefore, the usual money in Meizhou Thorn History is 1,000 taels of gold for a year, and there is no need for corruption at all. ”

A thousand taels of gold is 10,000 yuan, which is quite a lot. It seems that the Great Zhou court also understood that it was difficult for officials to be tempted by such a large amount of money, and began to pay high salaries.

Cui Geng put his mind at ease and said: "The history of Meizhou Thorn has a regular amount of money of 1,000 taels of gold, so how much does the entire Meizhou Mansion get?" With so much money to use, and the population of Meizhou is not large, you can be a thorn in the world. ”

Su Wei twisted his silver hair and said proudly: "Brother Zhang's is also interesting, and he has found such a good place for the old man to retire!" Erlang, as long as you help me deter the officials in Meizhou again, I can spend my old age in peace, old man. ”

……

……

After three days of travel, everyone entered Meizhou City in the warm welcome of Meizhou officials. Meizhou is a central state, with 30,000 household registrations, and the entire state city is about 10,000.

Cui Geng and the others saw that although the population of this place was not large, the people were ruddy and full of energy, and they believed in Su's introduction more and more.

In the reception banquet, the wine and food are also sumptuous. Old man Su was quite interested, and his words were witty, which made the local officials in Meizhou laugh.

However, when most of the officials dispersed, under the guidance of Meizhou Governor Shi Xiaofang, Cui Geng and others were a little dumbfounded when they arrived in front of the Meizhou Mansion.

But I saw that the vermilion paint of the entire gate of the government was peeling off, revealing the logs. The threshold was bright, and it must be an old object. The brass ring on the gate is rusty, and it must have not been wiped in some days.

The most annoying thing is the plaque on the gate, which looks like it is newly carved. However, at first glance, it is shoddy, a gust of wind blows, swaying, and only one corner is still nailed to it, which is too perfunctory, right?

Cui Geng and the others all set their eyes on Su Wei's face, and the meaning was already obvious, is this the local forces in Meizhou giving Su Xiangye a dismount, do you always have a seizure?

However, Su Wei was stunned for a moment, and then said with a smile: "As the saying goes, officials don't repair the government." The face of this government is dilapidated, and it also shows that the old man is honest and honest. Let's go inside, maybe there will be a hole inside. ”

However, the inside of this government is not as good as the outside.

The house of the government is clearly in disrepair, ventilated on all sides, and daylight shines through the roof. As for the furniture inside, most of them are missing arms and short legs. Even getting enough seats for a group of people became a huge problem.

The furnishings in this are still like this, and the situation of the officials on duty in the government can be imagined, not only the number of people is only 20% of the rated number, but also most of them are old, weak, sick and disabled.

Su Wei couldn't help it no matter how much he admired "ambiguity", and said angrily: "Xiao Fang, why is this Meizhou Thorn History Mansion so dilapidated?" You have to give an explanation to the old man! ”

Xiao Fang's face was full of grievances, and he said: "Su Xiangye is angry, the lower officials want to repair this yamen well, but our government has no money!" ”

"No money? How can there be no money? Didn't the imperial court stipulate that Meizhou could keep 20% of the gold mined every year? ”

Xiao Fang said with a bitter face: "But the problem is...... Recently, all these years, all those gold is gone! ”

"Gone?"

Su Wei frowned and said: "The amount of gold that the imperial court has received from Meizhou over the years is considered normal, why is the gold left for the government office gone?" Besides, so much gold is missing, it's a big case, why hasn't the old man heard of it? ”

Xiao Fang sighed and said, "Because this gold was not stolen by someone, but it disappeared on its own initiative, so it is not a case at all......"

Then, Xiao Fang told a strange thing that happened in Meizhou a few years ago.

Generally speaking, the Meizhou gold mine can produce 30,000 taels of gold every year, of which 20%, that is, 6,000 taels, can be left to the Meizhou Thorn Mansion.

However, it was said that five years ago, Meizhou had just finished distributing the gold mined in a year, and 24,000 taels were escorted into Beijing, and 6,000 taels were included in the official treasury.

But when I opened it the next day, I was dumbfounded, because all the gold had turned into clods of earth.

At that time, the Meizhou assassin was called Xingwen, and he believed that the matter was a self-theft by the warehouse keeper who guarded the warehouse, and tortured him.

However, most of those warehouse officials refused to admit death, claiming that they were wronged. Even if someone is tortured, he admits that he took the gold, but he can't tell where the gold is. Obviously, these people are bent into a trick.

In this way, the case became an unsolved case and remained unsolved for a long time.

Just when the criminal text of the Meizhou Assassin was about to report the case to the imperial court and ask the imperial court to send a master from the criminal department to investigate the case, a supervisor named Li Mian came to Jiannan Road.

Li Mian carefully examined the clods and asked the people if the gold at that time was exactly the same as the appearance of these clods.

After receiving an affirmative answer, he asked how the gold was brought into the treasury.

The people replied that there was not much gold, so they found two officials and carried them to the treasury with poles.

Li Mian immediately found the crux of the case, two people carried 6,000 taels of gold, an average of 300 catties per person, can they carry it?

So, he ordered someone to find 600 pounds of stones and let the two officials carry them. Sure enough, the two officials not only failed to lift the 600-pound stone, but also broke the flat pole.

In the end, Li Mian came to the conclusion that the gold was not turned into clods of soil in the warehouse, but in the flat poles, so those hastily pawns were completely innocent.

Now the problem is that the gold in plain sight has been turned into clods of dirt when it is picked up by the flat shoulder, and the thieves have no chance to do it. How can this case be solved?

In the end, Li Mian said that there is no need to break it at all, and no matter how many things there are, gold turns into clods, this is the number of days, and it has nothing to do with people.

For example, during the reign of the Great Sui Emperor, the people of Luoyang built the Qilin Temple, and when digging the foundation, they dug out a huge jar full of silver. Fearing that the magistrate would confiscate the money, the people covered it with wood. That night, they each wrapped his clothes in silver and went home. However, when I opened it after dawn, I saw that the silver had turned to dirt.

For another example, during the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty, there was an old lady surnamed Wang in Liangzhou who did good deeds and accumulated virtues, and accidentally picked up a piece of more than two catties of dog's head gold. Unfortunately, the neighbors found out about this and reported it to the government. After the magistrate forcibly put the piece of dog's head gold into the treasury, the next day the dog's head gold turned into a stone.

……

Li Mian said that he has a nose and an eye, and he is also supervising the imperial history, his position is not high and powerful, but he is heavy, and he can't believe the criminal text of the Meizhou assassination, so this matter has passed.

However, it is strange to say that since that year, every time the gold that should have been due to the Meizhou Thorn Mansion will turn into dirt.

It has been rumored that this is due to the lack of morality.

Since Xingwen became the history of the Meizhou Thorn, he has not made a penny of the usual money, the government is dilapidated, the officials are scattered, and they are said to be lacking in virtue, can that tone be smooth? In the end, he fell seriously ill this year and died, which is why Su Wei took over as the assassin of Meizhou.

"This ...... It's too unbelievable, isn't it? ”

Su Wei likes to be "ambiguous", that is his wise way to protect himself, but he is not really confused.

Ordering Xiao Fang to wait for the local officials in Meizhou to retreat, Su Wei looked at Cui Geng and said, "Cui Visit, what do you think about this gold theft case?" ”