Transmigration: Space-Aided Rise to Power and Prosperity-Chapter 770 - 606: 1 million taels?

Yin Kun could only nod and replied, "Indeed! That illegitimate son originally only wanted to coerce the Xia Clan Leader, but who would have thought the Xia Clan Leader wouldn’t play along and wanted to kill him to silence him."

As Yin Kun said this, a look of disdain appeared on his face.

The Xia Clan, like Xia Qing, was cold and ruthless. Wasn’t Xia Qing so arrogant because the Emperor had his back?

"These people don’t care at all about sacrificing a few clan members for their own benefits." Yin Kun was very displeased with the actions of Xia Qing and the Xia Clan members.

"Sacrificing one to save the many. The Xia Clan did this to minimize losses. But Xia Qing failed to restrain the clan members, allowing them to act so recklessly—that’s Xia Qing’s fault. He let them run amok, and weren’t those people relying on Xia Qing’s power?"

Gu Chengyu shook his head, thinking that Xia Zhou was quite foolish too.

The bird that sticks its neck out gets shot. As a small County Magistrate, how could he have such boldness? Once trouble arose, they would immediately have him take the blame, wouldn’t they?

But he wasn’t entirely foolish; he knew to keep a couple of safety measures.

How could those people be trusted? They might just wipe them all out.

By leaving a contingency plan, Xia Zhou also aimed to threaten the Xia Clan, not only to safeguard the lives of his wife and children but also to protect their livelihood.

"But that illegitimate son was clever; knowing that the Xia Clan Leader ordered his death, he still managed to find his way to me."

Gu Chengyu nodded in understanding, but then he quickly asked nervously, "So how did you escape, Senior Brother? Surely they would pursue and kill him, right?"

Yin Kun gave Gu Chengyu an approving glance; talking to someone smart was definitely easier.

"Fortunately, I brought some capable hands along, and, being an Imperial Envoy, they didn’t dare go too far. It’s just a pity about the ledger. By the time it reached me, there was only one, and it had been soaked."

Gu Chengyu was somewhat perplexed, "Only one? Where did the other one go?"

If there was one, there was no reason the other couldn’t be retrieved!

"They said it got damaged on the road, and the one that remained was so blurred in many places that it was unreadable," Yin Kun said with a sigh.

Otherwise, the findings this time would not have been insignificant; while they couldn’t deal with the high officials, getting rid of their underlings would have been effective too.

"Did the illegitimate son see the contents of those two ledgers?" Gu Chengyu doubted that he wouldn’t have taken a look and noted them down.

But Yin Kun shook his head, "He’s dead!"

"An arrow through the heart!"

Yin Kun spoke with regret, "How could they let him go? But they didn’t lay a hand on me. Those people were well-trained, and my men didn’t catch up."

"Did you check the places where the illegitimate son stayed? And the people he contacted?"

Gu Chengyu was momentarily stunned, then raised an eyebrow and asked.

He wasn’t particularly interested in the details of the illegitimate son’s escape.

Yin Kun was taken aback by these words; indeed, he had overlooked this.

"I was careless. He only said that the ledger was lost during the escape. I didn’t think he might be lying."

Indeed, Xia Zhou kept something in reserve; the illegitimate son could have done the same.

Why hadn’t he considered that the illegitimate son might have hidden the ledger?

Perhaps it was more important than the one the son of Xia Zhou handed over, the one they kept to save their lives.

"It’s a pity; the one he gave me only implicated some low-level officials, including the Assistant Prefect and County Magistrate of Yishui County and several officers in the county government. There were three or four officials of the same rank from neighboring counties. It also implicated Yan Tongpan, with his name appearing in the ledger, though the amounts were blurred."

Gu Chengyu pondered for a moment; these were all low-ranking officials—surely the more crucial information was in the other ledger.

How could a County Magistrate embezzle several hundreds of thousands of Silver Taels? The low-ranking officials alone couldn’t have covered it up. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

As for Yan Huanong, looking at Senior Brother’s expression, it seemed he was fine.

"Is the matter handled properly? There won’t be any leverage left, right?"

Gu Chengyu added the words out of concern; he trusted Senior Brother’s ability to handle matters.

This Senior Brother might not be very sensitive to political nuances, but he was reliable in getting things done.

"Of course, since other places could be erased, so could his name, couldn’t it?"

Yin Kun laughed heartily, appreciating Gu Chengyu’s keen insight.

"Was he really involved?" Gu Chengyu was not familiar with Yan Huanong; the teacher rarely mentioned him.

If Yan Huanong was really involved, Gu Chengyu would have to weigh things more carefully in future dealings with him.

No doubt, too foolish!

Taking some benefits from one’s position, as long as it wasn’t excessive, was not unacceptable for Gu Chengyu.

After all, official salaries were too low; relying solely on them could easily bankrupt one’s household from hosting fellow officials.

He wasn’t a pedantic person; otherwise, he wouldn’t have gifted officials Silver before or shared restaurant profits with Yin Kun.

But he also couldn’t hand things out blindly; these were among familiar people, not greedy, nor of the type to brag.

If Yan Huanong dared to take the Xia Family’s Silver, it could only indicate two things.

Either he was very greedy and couldn’t resist temptation,

or he wasn’t keenly aware of the court’s situation, mistakenly thinking Xia Qing was at his zenith and would remain prosperous.

Of course, it couldn’t be ruled out that someone might have him by the throat.

Whatever the case, his achievements in the official career would unlikely be significant.

"He told me he was framed, insisting he never accepted any Silver, saying the matter involved the Yingnan Prefecture Magistrate. He’s the Assistant Prefect, meant to oversee those officials, not to be seen as a single entity with the Magistrate. That Magistrate played some trick, and the Silver probably ended up with him."

Gu Chengyu smiled, thinking such a reason required further investigation.

Seeing Gu Chengyu’s non-committal response, Yin Kun added, "Yan Huanong came from a poor family. Our teacher valued him for his steadiness and integrity back then. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have remained an Assistant Prefect of the Secondary Fifth Rank all these years."

Gu Chengyu nodded slightly, but inside, he remained skeptical.

Yin Kun hadn’t seen Yan Huanong for many years and didn’t interact with him often. Who knew if the man’s nature had changed?

Some officials might not have advanced in their earlier years due to being too straightforward and unable to maneuver politically.

Later, when others rose rapidly, they might naturally feel discontent.

It was possible to abandon their previous principles and become the kind of person they once despised.

Of course, Gu Chengyu didn’t conclude that Yan Huanong was like that.

Perhaps the man had always been upright; it was uncertain.

Only by meeting the person and associating with him after could he gauge the situation.

"So, how much Silver was confiscated? Was the Emperor satisfied?"

Gu Chengyu changed the topic, inquiring about the amount of Silver.

He thought it should be at least eight hundred thousand taels, as they had previously agreed on the amount.

This time, satisfaction was evident on Yin Kun’s face, "A total of one million and thirty thousand taels of Silver!"

Gu Chengyu raised his head from the tea bowl, "So much?"

Yin Kun felt Gu Chengyu’s surprise was natural.

When he discovered the amount of Silver, he was shocked as well.

That a small County Magistrate could embezzle over a million taels of Silver—what an enormous sum!