The Comeback of the Charming Farmer's Wife-Chapter 2151 - 2153: Embezzling a Huge Sum of Silver
"In the first year of Tianbao, embezzlement in household and land taxes in the Zhejiang governmental office totaled two hundred thousand taels, with Prefect Lan receiving fifty thousand taels, Prefectural Magistrate Song receiving forty thousand taels, Lord Wang receiving forty thousand taels, and the remaining officials evenly dividing seventy thousand taels. Prefect Lan used the fifty thousand taels to purchase a private residence in Zhejiang Prefecture City and organized ancestral worship fields covering a thousand acres. Prefectural Magistrate Song similarly bought a private residence, two night pearls, and two thousand-year-old ginseng roots. Lord Wang deposited his forty thousand taels in the Shen Family bank."
"In the first year of Tianbao, embezzlement from household and land taxes totaled three hundred thousand taels, with Prefect Lan taking eighty thousand taels, Prefectural Magistrate Song taking seventy thousand taels, and Lord Wang taking seventy thousand taels. Within the same year, you began engaging in trade with the Western regions, pooling the embezzled taxes amounting to three hundred thousand taels to purchase tea and silk valued at this amount, planning to transport them to the Western area. However, this year saw a maritime storm, causing the ships to be damaged and the business venture to lose everything. Furthermore, the merchant ships used for the venture were originally government warships which you appropriated for personal use. What crime do you deserve for this?"
"..."
"In the fourth year of Tianbao, an iron mine was discovered in West Zhejiang, with Prefect Lan taking the lead, along with Prefectural Magistrate Song and others, in appropriating the iron mine and each investing thirty thousand taels to jointly extract the iron ore, having sold the iron ore to the Jiangsu rebel forces and southern rebels over the course of the fourth and fifth years of Tianbao..."
"In the fifth year of Tianbao, private encroachment on the sea and sun-drying sea salt in the East Zhejiang region disturbed the court’s control over sea salt. During the fifth and sixth years of Tianshe, nearly ten thousand jin of illicit salt was sold, causing significant losses to the official salt of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions."
Ye Zi’an closed the ledger and looked coldly at the crowd, "Do you want me to report in even greater detail?"
Upon hearing this, everyone broke into a cold sweat. They thought they had hidden things well, leaving nothing to trace, but unexpectedly, Ye Zi’an had uncovered the uses of the silver they had embezzled.
"Lord Marquis has investigated thoroughly, but this official will still not admit to anything." Prefectural Magistrate Song clasped his hands behind his back, showing no fear of Ye Zi’an, resolute in his decision to deny everything.
He believed that as long as he did not confess, the court would be powerless to convict him.
Meanwhile, Lord Wang hastily shifted all blame onto Prefect Lan, "Lord Marquis, spare me! It was Lord Prefect who forced me to do these things! I’m just an academic administrator, what else could I have done?"
The penalties for the mastermind and accomplice were different, so he naturally tried to shift the blame onto Prefect Lan.
The previous alliances instantly collapsed, with each person harboring their own selfish intentions.
"Whether you admit it or not is of no importance!" Ye Zi’an said coldly, "What matters is that I have all the evidence of your crimes, and the Emperor has granted me full authority to deal with you. Take them away!"
Disregarding those still struggling, the city guard captain and the guards stepped forward to seize them.
Fortunately, these were civil officials, incapable of resisting against absolute military force, only able to rely on their cunning and rhetoric.
With ample evidence at hand, the group was raided, assets were confiscated, and they were imprisoned.
Witnessing the silver that emerged from the raids, even Ye Zi’an was astounded.
From Prefect Lan alone, a total of four hundred thousand taels of silver was seized, all in cash, buried in the prefect’s cellar, filling the entire space and dazzling everyone present. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺
As for the jewelry and paintings, there were no less than ten large boxes.
The household of the Prefectural Magistrate who refused to confess had even more seized than Prefect Lan’s, with fifty thousand taels of silver in cash and fifteen large boxes of jewelry and paintings.
Including others involved, more than a million taels of silver were seized, along with dozens of boxes of jewelry and paintings.
Seeing such a vast amount of silver, Yang Chuxia could only think of one phrase: ’Three years as a clean prefect, ten thousand snowflakes of silver.’
