Chapter Thirty-Seven: Jiang You Changes Heaven

  Zhou Dayuan finally admitted, the inside story and conjectures that Lu Haoshan uncovered during his audit were incredibly accurate, almost as if he had divine assistance. If Chen Gui knew that behind his back, Zhou had colluded with several grain officials and merchants, treating Jiang'An Warehouse like a personal money bag, selling grain wildly and making a huge profit over the years, getting rich to the point of bursting, taking advantage of benefits for himself while letting everyone else take the blame when things went wrong, manipulating Chen Gui like a puppet on strings, wouldn't Chen Gui explode in anger?

  It must be kept absolutely secret; once it gets out, I will definitely die. Zhou Dayuan completely surrendered.

  Lu Haoshan sneered and said: "Oh, Zhou Silü is really amazing?"

  "Alright, alright, I give up."

  "Are you going to listen no matter what I tell you to do?"

  "Listen, listen, grown-up."

  "Good," Lu Haoshan said without hesitation: "This official also doesn't like to drag things out, let's get straight to the point. If you follow me, then you'll be used by me. As long as you listen to and obey this official's words, I guarantee your safety. Following this official not only means a bright future ahead, but also that this official will take responsibility for what you've done in the past. Even the benefits you've obtained can still be kept, no need to return them."

  Zhou Dàyuan was overjoyed upon hearing this, his body trembling with excitement, and hastily said in a loud voice: "Your humble servant is willing to follow Your Excellency's lead, if there be any duplicity, may the heavens strike me down with five thunderbolts."

  Originally thought that being able to keep one's life was good enough, although having grasped a large number of secrets, these things would instead make oneself die faster, even one's own family members could not be spared. Having mixed in the official circles for so long, Zhou Dàyuan deeply understood the darkness within, just taking the county yamen's great prison as an example, those old jailers had a hundred methods to make oneself unable to see tomorrow's sun, wanting to plead injustice? Go plead with Yanluo Wang instead.

  The current county magistrate issued an invitation, not only to protect himself but also to take on the responsibility alone. Even the benefits of the past do not need to be spat out. It sounds like a dream and is hard to believe. Zhou Dàyuan now has no choice but to immediately make a poisonous oath and declare his loyalty.

  "Don't be in a hurry to show your loyalty, Cao Can, hand over the pen and paper to our Magistrate Zhou."

  Cao Hu heard this and immediately took out a pen and paper, handing them over to Zhou Dàyuan who was kneeling on the ground.

  "Sir, what is this..." Zhou Dàyuan was momentarily bewildered by Lu Haoshan's actions and didn't know what he wanted him to write. He asked cautiously.

  Lu Haoshan didn't even look up, picked up the teacup, blew it lightly, and took a sip of tea before saying calmly: "Prefect Zhou is an intelligent man, he naturally knows what to write. I've already said that if what you write can't satisfy me, Captain Cao will take into account our colleagues' relationship and arrange a clean prison cell for you."

  "This, this..."

  Cao Hu shouted loudly from the side: "What's all the fuss about, hurry up and write it, Zhou brother! To be honest with you, I still want to swindle a large sum of money from you. Unexpectedly, the adults are so generous. If you continue to drag things out here and displease the adults, it will be too late then. There are many people who want to take your seat, not to mention Zhang Tuhou, can't even eat hairless pork? You also know Cao's methods, how about trying?"

  "No, I don't dare, I write, I write." Zhou Dayuan hastily said.

  Magistrate Lu had many options, but Zhou Dàyuan only had two: life or death. There was no room for a third option, nor any capital to haggle over the price. However, Lu Haoshan didn't tell him what to write, so Zhou Dàyuan could only guess and started by writing a letter of surrender to show his willingness to obey Lu Haoshan, then began writing about the crimes of his former superior Chen Gui.

  Cao Hu was a trusted aide of County Magistrate Chen, but County Magistrate Lu quietly won him over. This time, he took advantage of County Magistrate Chen's trip to the countryside to inspect preparations for the Lantern Festival and made his move. Needless to say, this was done to avoid County Magistrate Chen. This County Magistrate Lu is absolutely a top-notch intelligent person. At first, he used the tactic of "loosening the reins to lure the enemy in", numbing everyone, and then slowly plotting against them. It can be seen that his plans are not small. If Zhou Dayuan still didn't understand what Lu Haoshan wanted him to do at this time, then he would have lived a dog's life all his life.

  Then Zhou Dayuan wrote down all the disciplinary violations he knew Chen Gui had committed, including embezzlement, corruption, forced buying and selling, extortion of public funds, and how he would imprison and torture others to force them to sell their land to him at a low price. He also wrote about how Chen's relatives were involved in these activities. As he continued writing, Zhou Dayuan wondered how much the county magistrate knew about these matters and was afraid that if he didn't write everything down, the magistrate would think he wasn't doing his job thoroughly. So he even included the fact that Chen Gui loved to drink "tiger whip" wine and would often indulge in depraved activities, including having an affair with his own daughter-in-law, which was something Chen had mentioned when he was drunk one time, and Zhou Dayuan had remembered it.

  To save his life, Chen Gui can be said to have sold out his former superior completely. If Chen Gui saw this paper, he would at least spit out a few liters of old blood.

  Go for it, Lu Haoshan's tea had gone weak, but Zhou Dayuan was still writing furiously, which surprised Lu Haoshan in two ways: first, he was surprised that there were so many of these expensive black materials, and second, he finally understood that when people are in a desperate situation, their desire to survive is incredibly strong. To stay alive, Zhou Dayuan was indeed going all out. Fortunately, Cao Hu beside him had an eye for it, saw the tea color fade, didn't need to be told, directly refilled new tea leaves for Lu Haoshan and brought over a fresh pot of tea.

  "Master, it's done." After finishing writing, Zhou Dàyuan didn't dare to be slow and immediately organized the black materials, presenting them with both hands in front of Lù Hào Shān.

  Lu Haoshan smiled and said with a deep tone: "I believe Zhou Silü is a clever man, bring it over."

  "Yes, sir." Zhou Dàyuan hastily handed over those black materials with both hands.

  It has to be said that Zhou Dàyuan's account exceeded Lù Hǎo Shān's expectations. On it were listed all the crimes Chen Guì had committed over the years, including the exact amount of silver he had embezzled each year. Then Chen Guì had also listed out his shops, lands, secret hideouts and so on. What shocked Lù Hǎo Shān was that according to Zhou Dàyuan's calculations, Chen Guì's mansion, shops, lands, carriages and horses alone were worth over 100,000 taels of silver.

  One hundred thousand taels! The current finances of the Ming dynasty, even if only counting the silver coins, are just over two hundred million taels. And this small county magistrate from Jiangyou County has a personal wealth of one hundred thousand taels, not to mention his collections. Lu Haoshan's eyes widened as he looked at him - what a fat sheep! He thought that by taking down Chen Gui, he would gain an additional one hundred thousand taels for himself, and Lu Haoshan's eyes shone brightly. As he continued to look, Lu Haoshan's face slowly turned iron-gray: a murderous intent suddenly appeared in his eyes.

  The original accumulation of capital, that is filled with blood and gore, Zhou Daguang was no exception. According to Zhou Dayuan's records, apart from being corrupt and lawless, Zhou Dayuan also organized his family members to sell private salt in large quantities, making a fortune. Then he would forcibly occupy land, if someone sold him the land at a low price, he would be polite, but if they refused, he would instruct people to cause trouble, find an excuse to throw them into prison, and extort money from them until he got what he wanted. Many people were forced to bankruptcy and death by him, according to statistics, more than ten people died unjustly at his hands.

  It's simply infuriating, even Lu Haoshan has become hardened, but Chen Gui's actions have made him so angry that his face is iron-green.

  It's also good, getting rid of him, and there's no need to bear a heavy mental burden either.

  After finishing, Lu Haoshan let out a long sigh, slowly put down the materials, closed his eyes, leaned his body lightly against the back of the chair, and carefully pressed his temples with his hands, looking very tired.

  "Sir, Chen Gui is a tyrant in Jiangyou, with many evil deeds and great resentment among the people. If he is not eliminated, it will be difficult to calm the people's hearts. As long as you give the order, I, Cao Hu, am willing to take the lead." Cao Hu immediately chimed in from the side.

  It's time to take action, and it's necessary to mobilize the three shifts of rapid response troops. Without saying a word, I will be the first to charge forward. Now that I've spoken out, it's also good to show my loyalty. Moreover, since I have pledged allegiance to County Magistrate Lu, if Chen Gui doesn't die, then I'll have to die instead. This kind of thing is naturally "die together with a friend rather than live without him". Furthermore, ever since obtaining Lu Haoshan's promise, Cao Hu has been dreaming of bringing Li Yunniang back home as soon as possible. And the first condition for Li Yunniang to enter the Cao family is that Chen Gui must be thoroughly defeated.

  These days, Cao Hu was anxious.

  As soon as Cao Hu heard this, Zhou Dayuan on the side immediately followed up and said: "The adult is young and promising, but Chen Gui is a tyrant in Jiangyou County. If you want to make a name for yourself, you must remove this stumbling block. I am willing to testify against his crimes and assist the adult with one arm."

  It's human nature to seek benefits and avoid harm. These two people were calling Chen Gui brother just a few days ago, and now they're standing on opposite sides, ready to put each other to death in the face of interests.

  There are no eternal friends and no eternal enemies, only eternal interests. This sentence is really too philosophical.

  It is now the third year of Chongzhen, and the world is in chaos. The great house is about to collapse. Although Jiangyou is located in a remote area and has not yet been affected by the war, it is only a matter of time before it does. What Lu Haoshan needs to do is to expand his power before the war arrives, so that he can have a share of the spoils in the chaotic world and make a name for himself. This is also why Lu Haoshan is eager to take control of the county government.

  Now hearing the two new subordinates so enthusiastic, Lu Haoshan naturally would not refuse. Upon hearing this, he nodded: "Alright, you two sit closer, we'll now discuss a foolproof plan to take down Chen Gui and uproot him completely."

  "Yes, sir."

  "Yes, sir."

  Cao Hu responded the fastest, taking three steps as two and running to Lü Xiao's front, wishing he could immediately take the token arrow to capture the person and bring back his heart's desire. Zhou Dàyuan responded slightly slower, sitting at the lower end with some melancholy, out of respect for County Magistrate Lü, sitting askew with half his buttocks empty. When Lü Xiao was preparing to discuss countermeasures while holding a pen, he unintentionally saw the outside sky through the window and found that the originally clear sky had appeared with large blocks of dark clouds, looking as if they were about to collapse, no wonder the atmosphere was somewhat depressing.

  Zhou Dayuan shook his head with a wry smile: It seems that Jiangyou County is going to change its sky.