What to do if you have too many golden fingers? Walk sideways!

Chapter 121 Let Him Go Bankrupt

Gu Xi and Chu Zhao looked at each other, then both pricked up their ears and listened carefully.

Gu Ming said, "Oh? I have never heard of Qi Dasheng of the Northwest Army. What is so special about him that he could be favored by the Shangshu?"

Shi San drank a glass of wine, then smacked his lips and said:

"It's normal that you don't know. The news that the Northwest Army has pacified the Turks was only recently reported to the capital, and it has not yet been announced to the world."

Gu Ming was shocked. "What? The Northwest Army pacified the Turks? When did the Northwest start a war? I am so ignorant that I didn't even know such a big thing happened in the world."

Shi San waved his hands and said, "It's not that you are ignorant, it's just that this is too rare. The Northwest Army took only a little over a month to pacify the Turks. The court didn't even have time to issue an order to march west, and the entire Turks were conquered. So this Qi Dasheng is now a legendary figure in Kyoto. He was the first to pacify the Turks, and it is said that he will be given a title. His future is limitless. Even my master is willing to make friends with him."

Gu Ming was shocked.

The Turks are a country. Although not as rich as Anning, its land area is not much smaller than Anning.

To conquer a country in just over a month was truly a legend. He even suspected that Shi San was just talking drunkenly and that it was mostly exaggeration.

But no matter what the truth is, when Qi Dasheng really arrives in Yanzhao County, he must be careful to serve him. Such a person will surely become a high-ranking official in the future, so he must be flattered and not offended.

The two then started chatting nonsense, and even talked about the girls in the brothels in Yanzhao County. Zhao Guming also said that he would call a few of them to serve Shi San tonight, and asked Shi San what kind of girls he liked. Chu Zhao's face turned as dark as the bottom of a pot when he heard this, and he pulled Gu Xi away.

Gu Xi: “…”

I've really been an adult for a long time.

The two of them walked on the roofs of the courtyards and came to the roof of the study.

There were a few servants below. Chu Zhao and Gu Xi gestured to each other and decided that one would be responsible for the east and the other would be responsible for the west.

After Chu Zhao went down, he passed behind the servants like a ghost and knocked one of them out with a single slash of his hand.

When he hit the last one, he was discovered by the servant. He was about to scream, but Chu Zhao immediately stepped forward and covered his mouth. Then, as he let out a terrified "woooo", Chu Zhao knocked him unconscious with a palm.

Mission accomplished! Chu Zhao turned around and found that Gu Xi was already opening the door.

"How did you knock out three servants so quickly?" Chu Zhao walked over and asked in a low voice.

Gu Xi spread out his palm, and a very small, completely black anesthetic gun appeared in his hand.

"This is called a tranquilizer gun. Once injected, even a cow will faint and sleep for several hours. It's a powerful weapon for robbing people and stealing goods."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier that you had this good stuff? I want it too." Chu Zhao stretched out his hand.

Gu Xi found this thing when he was bored a few days ago and browsed through the weapon mall.

It’s not expensive, you can exchange one for five reputation points. But the needle is a bit expensive, also costing five reputation points each.

Gu Xi casually exchanged another one and gave it to Chu Zhao.

For Chu Zhao, who had played with a pistol before, playing with a tranquilizer gun was a piece of cake.

Chu Zhao hung the tranquilizer gun around his waist, then looked at the lock on the study door, took out a dagger, and prepared to pry the lock open.

Although he could kick it open with one kick, the noise was too loud and would easily attract patrolling guards.

Gu Xi stopped him, took out a master key from the space, and said:

"use this."

She had this made by a locksmith she found in modern times a few days ago.

As long as it is not a modern lock with a particularly high anti-theft level, other mechanical locks can be opened. Opening this ancient old-fashioned long copper lock is a piece of cake.

Chu Zhao watched helplessly as Gu Xi gently poked the door of the study room open. This scene seemed familiar.

The two men entered the study, each with a flashlight, and began searching separately.

If you want Gu Ming to cooperate in providing relief to the people, you must have something on him, and generally, officials like to hide their evidence of guilt in their study. (This is the author's private speculation as he has never been an official. Any similarity is purely coincidental.)

After searching for a while, Gu Xi actually found some things.

A few days ago, when the Gu family was distributing porridge, they asked the refugees to put their fingerprints on the paper. Several large pieces of paper were covered with red fingerprints, with a few names here and there.

There was also a report in the drawer that had just been written but not yet sent out. The gist of it was that Yanzhao County was suffering from a severe drought, the harvest had dropped sharply, the people had no food, and the county could not collect taxes. The county requested the court to reduce or exempt taxes and provide relief to the victims.

But Gu Xi remembered that Old Man Zheng said that not a single cent of taxes had been reduced.

The following part also emphasizes that in order to help the victims, the Gu family has sold most of their property and distributed food to the people every day.

According to the report, the Gu family distributed one pound of food to each refugee every day, with the refugees' fingerprints as evidence. But in fact, just for the Gu family's thin porridge, one pound of food could probably make a hundred bowls.

What an ancient county magistrate! In order to defraud relief and official reputation from the court, he exaggerated the facts a hundred times.

This does not include the ten copper coins per person for entering the city as a fee. It is basically the wool coming from the sheep. He did not spend a penny and might even make a profit.

Now he is applying for relief from the court. If the relief grain arrives, I'm afraid he will embezzle it all, including taxes, and he will make a lot of money.

It really makes money from national disasters!

"Termite!" Gu Xi cursed.

Chu Zhaoze was searching the study for a secret room or something, and he actually found a secret compartment.

After opening it, there was a book inside. Chu Zhao flipped it open and saw that it was an ordinary book, but there were several gift lists inside.

"Axi, come and see, there is evidence of guilt." Chu Zhao raised the gift lists.

Gu Xi took it and took a look.

Huh! When the mother of the assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel celebrated his birthday and the prefect of Dengzhou took a concubine, Gu Ming gave gifts, and they were all very valuable. According to the laws of Anning State, if the bribe was more than 100 taels, the person would be demoted, if it was more than 300 taels, the person would be dismissed, if it was more than 500 taels, the person would be imprisoned, and if it was more than 1,000 taels, the person would be beheaded.

These gift lists are enough to chop off the heads of Gu Ming's entire family.

They are not only parasites of the country, but also a group of parasites who sell official positions and titles.

No wonder Gu Ming, who didn't even pass the imperial examination, became a county magistrate.

They had the evidence, but it was still early, so based on the principle that if thieves came (no) they would leave (empty space), they decided to take a walk in the storeroom of the ancient palace.

Didn’t Gu Ming say in his memorial that even if he lost everything he had, he would not let the people starve to death?

Then make his wish come true and make him bankrupt.

The two flew onto the roof again, took out binoculars and checked each courtyard one by one.

It was discovered that most of the courtyards had maids, old women or servants active in them, and the guards were only patrolling the periphery.

There is a courtyard on the east side, which is guarded inside and outside, with tight defense, and no maids or servants. It is obvious that good things are hidden there.

That’s it!