Chapter 240: Hidden Zhu Gui

The Han family and the ten major clans in Jiangjin County controlled several powerful departments of the Huaxia Ministry. Not only the chief officers of each department, but also the lower-level management of each department were in charge of their children.

There is nothing wrong with taking out the money and depositing it in the bank of the Hua Xia Department to earn some interest, and there is no need to worry about not getting back the principal.

"They seemed to have agreed that each family only saved 10 million taels of silver, and the Chen family saved 8 million taels. The entire Jiangjin County family, big and small, saved a total of 200 million taels of silver." Lao Nian continued.

"That's impossible!" Chen Gu frowned and said, "I believe that the ten major families in Jiangjin County can come up with 100 million. I believe that the Chen family can come up with 8 million. But the others combined can't come up with that much. Let alone 100 million, even 30 million is difficult."

After all, the Chen family made a fortune from the cobblestone land and the two-tooth hoe, although not long after that, the land in Jiangjin County was distributed to the people by Chen the Executor.

But because the Chen family had made plans early, after taking over those cobblestone lands, they made some deals with other families. In addition, they also had plans in other counties, and Chen Qi made a lot of money by purchasing refined iron in Renhuai. So although it is not one of the top ten families, its strength is still strong.

Afterwards, the father and his two sons took charge of the three major departments of the Huaxia Ministry, which should have allowed them to gain some benefits. Therefore, Chen Gu was not surprised to take out eight million taels of silver. After all, it was once one of the top ten clans.

If Chen Gu had not rebelled, the Chen family would have been able to return to the top ten clans in Jiangjin County with those cobblestone lands.

But other people in Jiangjin County definitely don’t have that much money. The reason why the top ten clans are called the top ten clans is because they completely control the entire Jiangjin County. Except for the top ten clans, everyone else is the target of their exploitation and suppression.

Their magnitudes are simply incomparable. If the ten major clans constitute the upper level of the pyramid, then the others are the bottom level and can only occupy the two underground levels at most. After all, there is a gap in strength among the ten major clans themselves.

If other small families could share the power of the ten major families in half, then the ten major families would not be able to have such a strong control over Jiangjin County.

"It's really impossible!" Lao Nian laughed and said, "So I carefully checked other deposit certificates in Jiangjin County, especially those with silver amounts between 10,000 and 100,000, and retrieved the detailed information of the depositors.

I found that it was impossible for these people to have so much silver. In fact, their deposits were divided into two extremes. The rich families had millions or tens of millions of taels of silver in deposits, while ordinary people had only a few taels or tens of taels of silver in deposits. There were very few people who had tens or hundreds of taels of silver in deposits.

There are people who have thousands or tens of thousands of taels of silver, but their number is even smaller. However, there are quite a few people in Jiangjin County who have tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. There are actually one or two such people in every market town.

This is very strange. After all, a town may have tens of thousands of people or only a few thousand. How could a family with tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of taels of silver possibly grow there?

Besides, no one would deposit all their wealth and life in a bank, right?"

"Are they helping others save money?" asked Chen Gu.

Lao Nian nodded and said, "Yes, after careful investigation, I found that the people who deposited the silver used fake identities. Although they showed their identity certificates when they deposited the silver, there was no such person in the local market town."

"Our identity documents have been tampered with!" Chen Gu sneered.

"More than 300 of these large-denomination certificates of deposit were obtained using false identification documents. It is much easier to track down such a large number of forged identification documents.

After all, our identity certificates are all numbered, and the paper itself is very precious. The use of each one is recorded, so it is not so easy for someone to misappropriate it! "Lao Nian laughed. Chen Gu couldn't help but sighed and said, "Okay, just say that there is a problem with that company?"

"From the Bian family, in terms of seniority, he is Bian Shichun's cousin. His name is Bian Shijie and his current position is the instructor of Jiangjin County." Lao Nian said.

The position of a county teacher was not low already. After all, the various departments of the Huaxia Ministry were deeply rooted in various towns and markets, and a large county like Jiangjin County had more than a hundred towns and markets under it. In other words, Bian Shijie was in charge of hundreds of teachers and more than ten thousand students.

"What did he say?" Chen Jue asked, "Does the head of the Bian family know about this?"

Since Lao Nian has already said who it is, that person must have been caught.

"It is not clear whether the head of the Bian family knows the inside story. During the interrogation, we learned that Zhu Gui had secretly entered our Sichuan territory and contacted Bian Shijie a month ago. He tempted him with high positions and generous salaries, causing Bian Shijie to waver and decide to bet on both sides!" said Lao Nian.

"Old fellow!" Chen Gu sneered, "You are really good. You actually pretended to be sick and hid for me. Issue a warrant for arrest. Let all towns and villages in the territory cooperate in hunting down Zhu Gui. All traffic arteries should be searched strictly. All ships traveling on rivers should be strictly checked."

"Will this alert the enemy?" Lao Nian asked worriedly, "It's not easy to arrest someone in such a big Sichuan!"

"It's not easy in other places, but it's not that difficult in my Huaxia Department. Even if he has various documents and identity certificates, it's not easy to spread them around. As long as we let all places check the loss of identity certificates and documents, we can find the person soon!" Chen Gu said confidently.

Lao Nian stopped dwelling on this question and asked, "What about Bian Shijie?"

"Just deal with it according to the law, and dig deeper into the people involved. The loss of hundreds of identity documents is no small matter. Such an important thing was treated as a joke by the people involved. Do they think that I have been in Chongqing for so long that I can't lift a knife anymore?" Chen Gu sneered.

Lao Nian licked his lips, his eyes sparkling with excitement, and said, "If you dig deep, I'm afraid it will cause deep consequences!"

Lao Nian naturally hopes to dig deeper. Only by digging deeper can the Jinyiwei make greater contributions.

"It doesn't matter how deeply involved they are. Our imperial examinations are currently underway and many poor scholars can't find a way out. We can get rid of a group of officials to free up their positions so that they don't have to go to Guizhou to take up posts." Chen Gu said with a smile.

This in-depth investigation uncovered more than just Bian Shijie. In Jiangjin County alone, more than 200 officials who violated laws and discipline were uncovered, covering all departments. None of the ten major families in Jiangjin County, including the Chen family, escaped.

The only one that survived was the Han family's Organization Department. Han Yuanxiao's Organization Department had already penetrated into various prefectures and counties. There were more than a dozen people in Jiangjin County. After all, each department had penetrated into the towns and villages, and the number of officials and yamen runners was just over 2,000. More than a dozen people in the Organization Department was considered small.

But none of the more than ten people in the Han family participated in it.

This forced Chen Gu to have a new understanding of Han Yuanxiao.

(End of this chapter)