The most arrogant in history

Chapter 446: Harder than conquering an empire!

The soldiers guarding the city stepped forward and shouted in a show of force:

"Where are these merchants from? What kind of business do they run? Where are they going?"

Tan Bamao stepped forward and made up a story: "We came from Hanzhong and just wanted to take a look. We haven't decided what business to start yet. We have 25 people with us, five carriages, and two horses."

The guard nodded, stepped forward to take a look, and held out his hand: "The court has ordered that merchants and horse-drawn carriages entering the city are charged ten cents per carriage. You five carriages must pay a tax of fifty cents."

Tan Bamao was stunned: "Didn't the imperial court stipulate that counties north of the Yangtze River do not collect commercial taxes?"

The current business tax is also very relaxed.

There are toll booths only on highways.

There are also state and county seats where tolls are collected.

The terrain north of the Yangtze River is flat, the roads are better and the maintenance costs are low. Ye Kun had already ordered that county towns in the Jiangbei area would not charge entry fees.

The guard glared at him and shouted, "How dare you, a scoundrel, bring up the imperial court to pressure me?"

Tan Bamao said angrily: "Don't the court have such a rule?"

"The court's rules have changed, you didn't know."

The guard sneered: "Since last month, we in Zhi County have been charging merchants to enter the city. If you don't pay, you can spend the night outside the city. Stop talking nonsense!"

Tan Bamao gritted his teeth and asked, "Is this the rule of your county magistrate?"

"That's right. If you have the ability, go find our county magistrate!"

"Okay, I'll go ask your county magistrate!"

Tan Bamao was furious and came back to Ye Kun and said, "Godfather, do you know who the magistrate of Zhi County is?"

Ye Kun frowned: "Who is it?"

"Ji Congliang, Qin Erwu's father-in-law!"

"Is it him?" Ye Kun remembered.

Because Qin Erwu's father-in-law could read and write, Qin Erwu came to Ye Kun to plead for him to be a minor official.

Ye Kun had no choice but to let Zhuge Feng arrange the matter.

Unexpectedly, he is now the magistrate of Zhi County.

Jiao Nu was also shocked and blurted out, "Is it my uncle?"

Ji Congliang is Qin Erwu's father-in-law, and also Qin Chou's uncle!

So, Jiaonu has to call Uncle Uncle.

Tan Bamao sneered and returned to the city gate again, shouting, "Listen, King Ye Kun of Han is here for a private visit. Go and call Ji Congliang to come and meet him!"

"Ah, is it the King of Han?"

The guard just now collapsed to the ground.

"Capture this squad leader for me." Tan Bamao ordered his personal soldiers to capture the squad leader first, and then sent someone to notify Ji Congliang.

By this time, it was already dark.

Ji Congliang ran over drunkenly, dismounted from his horse and bowed: "The King of Han has arrived, I am sorry for not coming in person to greet you..."

"It's not a crime to fail to welcome you from afar." Ye Kun frowned: "But you, Chi County, actually disobeyed the imperial order and privately collected the city entrance fee. What's going on?"

"I am guilty of a thousand crimes... The government treasury is in deficit recently, so I have no choice but to collect some entrance fees..."

"Stop talking nonsense!"

Ye Kun was furious: "Follow me into the city, I will check your account books!"

Ji Congliang got up, led Ye Kun into the city, and entered the lobby of the county government.

Ye Kun just took a quick glance and asked Ji Congliang to take him to visit his private residence.

Ji Congliang's private residence covers an area of ​​three or four acres. All the houses are newly built and are neat and clean.

Porcelain and glass can be seen everywhere in the house.

There were more than twenty slaves, all dressed in gorgeous clothes.

Qin Erwu's aunt, Ji Qinnu's mother, and Jiaonu's great-aunt, were all dressed like old ladies, wearing gold and silver, and looked extremely wealthy.

The old lady didn't know what was going on. Seeing Ye Kun and Jiao Nu, she was very happy. She stepped forward and said with a smile: "The King of Han brought Jiao Nu here. This is such a great joyous event. No wonder my eyelids have been twitching all day!"

"Yeah, it's a surprise..."

Ye Kun smiled bitterly and returned to the lobby of the county government office.

The county officials all hurried over, each one of them was silent and did not dare to look up at Ye Kun.

Ye Kun sighed:

"Zhi County is near Xiangyang, and it is under my watch. But it has only been a short time since I left Xiangyang to recover the Central Plains, and you have become so corrupt here.

County Magistrate Ji Congliang is much richer than me. He must have embezzled a lot of money in private, right? "

Ji Congliang knelt on the ground, trembling constantly.

Ye Kun thought for a moment and then said, "Financial and tax officials, please come out and tell us how much money Ji Congliang has embezzled?"

The financial officer stepped forward and trembled, "I don't know. I was just following the court's orders... The matter of the entrance fee was decided privately by the county magistrate."

Ye Kun nodded and said to Tan Bamao, "First, confiscate Ji Congliang's property and see how much he has."

After receiving the order, Tan Bamao took a few of his own men and summoned the county government officials to search Ji Congliang's house.

In addition, a group of fast horses were sent to Xiangyang City overnight to mobilize troops and increase the number of capable officials for support.

Considering that Xiao Ruliu needed to rest, Ye Kun went to the post station first to make arrangements for Xiao Ruliu and Jiao Nu.

Jiao Nu was very unhappy and asked in a low voice: "King Han, will you kill my uncle and aunt?"

"For the sake of your father and your second uncle, I will definitely not kill you."

Ye Kun sighed, "But we must confiscate his property to serve as a warning to others. Otherwise, if officials across the country continue to embezzle and amass wealth, the people will revolt again in less than ten years."

"As long as I can save my life, that's all."

Jiao Nu breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile, "You are doing this for my uncle and father's sake, why not for mine? Don't I have any face at all?"

"Well, for your sake, I will give this uncle of yours a tael of silver for travel expenses so that he can return to Guanjia Village to retire."

Ye Kun smiled, but felt very stressed in his heart.

Fighting corruption is the most difficult task.

It’s a hundred times more difficult than conquering an empire!

Especially the matter of Zhi County, Ye Kun found it very strange. Why did the supervision of Mohist disciples also lose its effect?

You know, Gongsun Erniang has trained tens of thousands of Mohist disciples over the years, who are distributed all over the country and in various industries, supervising local officials, court officials, and generals.

These people are Ye Kun’s Jinyiwei, who provide Ye Kun with private information!

There is also a supervisory team under Ma Zhao, which is spread across the country. Why did they turn a blind eye to Ji Congliang's corruption?

The only explanation is that these people are in cahoots with each other.

They formed a group, cheated together, and then divided the profits together.

Ye Kun didn't sleep much that night. He asked for a pot of wine and drank it by himself.

At midnight, Tan Bamao came back and reported:

"Godfather, preliminary investigations have revealed that Ji Congliang's family has twelve gold coins worth 10,000 yuan and one hundred and fifty silver coins worth 1,000 yuan... all the money and property is worth about a million coins. In addition, there are countless pieces of gold and silver, silk, bronze, porcelain, and jewelry..."

Ye Kun shook his head: "It's only been a few years, and our officials have become corrupt officials. It's really sad."

Tan Bamao laughed again and said:

"Ji Congliang also confessed that he had colluded with county officials to commit corruption. I heard that there was another Mohist disciple who worked as a servant in the county government and also formed an alliance with them. The Mohist disciple said that as long as he didn't report it, he would be fine."