Chapter 32: A Gamble
"My Lord, whatever you want to know, I promise to tell you everything I know!"
When he saw Shen Yu again, Sun Heling was very positive, almost pouring out his heart to him. It must be said that under the threat of life, some people have no bottom line at all.
"Master Sun, then tell me, what do you know about our prefect?" He asked casually, but in fact Shen Yu pricked up his ears and listened carefully, afraid of missing anything.
As the saying goes, if you don't kill the snake, you will be bitten by it. Either don't do it, or if you do it, you have to hit the vital point accurately and ruthlessly. In the past two days, Shen Yu has also carefully understood this prefect, and realized that he had thought too simply before.
This prefect has a strong background and superb means. He does things flawlessly on weekdays, and there is basically no evidence of him. In fact, there are more praises for him. His son is notorious, but the father is not only not implicated, but praised. This means is incredible!
The report I made before probably won't work. Although his son's crime would implicate him, it would be a case of poor parenting, which would at most damage his future, but would not cause him to be dismissed from office.
But revenge on him will surely follow. How could the other party let it go after killing his son and cutting off his road? The storm will only get more intense, so he must find a way to strike first!
"My Lord, the prefect didn't ask our Sun family to do anything on weekdays. He just asked me to store more food and send it to the designated location regularly. Also, most of our Sun family's income every year is used to store these food!"
"According to my guess, these grains were probably resold to grain merchants. After all, floods are frequent in our area. Once a disaster occurs, the grains can be resold for a large sum of money!"
"Do you have any evidence for what you said? Like an account book or something?"
"Well, there is no account book for the tribute to the prefect. Even if there is, it cannot threaten the prefect. He can just say that I forged it. Besides, we have only transported the grain to the designated location for so many years, and we don't know who took over or even when it was taken away."
"You are really honest!" Looking at Sun Heling in front of him, Shen Yu was a little speechless. He knows nothing, so your Sun family is just a tool. It's true that even if they find out something, they can't blame the prefect at all.
Forget it, this prefect is a cautious person, and it doesn't matter if Sun Heling is not mentioned. Some important things will not be let Sun Heling know, so I am afraid that I am daydreaming if I expect to learn something from Sun Heling.
But this doesn't make sense. Asking Sun Heling to buy grain and store it, and then sell it, isn't that like taking off his pants and farting? Why would he, an official appointed by the imperial court, resell grain? Wouldn't it be more convenient to hand it over to Sun Heling, a businessman? When the time comes, just wait for the money to be divided.
Interesting, it looks like this prefect has a secret!
"Sir!" He looked at Shen Yu carefully. He suddenly felt that the county magistrate seemed to be in a bad mood. How could this be possible? His life and property were in his hands.
"Sir, although the prefect has no evidence left outside, your son has done a lot of ridiculous things over the years. I have enough evidence here. If you need it, sir..."
"No need!" He waved his hand and interrupted Sun Heling. If the prefect's son could not be punished for killing thousands of people, then the others would be even more impossible. What was the point of these evidences?
Seeing that Shen Yu still looked uninterested, Sun Heling hurriedly said again, "Sir, if you have any ideas, I will actively cooperate with you and I guarantee you will be satisfied!"
"You want me to frame him? You underestimate me!" He curled his lips in disdain. Even if he really wanted to trick him, he couldn't discuss it with you like this.
It's not that he looked down on Sun Heling. After a brief contact, he knew that he was a man who was incapable of accomplishing anything. How could such a person become the richest man in Bai'an County? I really don't know how he did it!
"Sir!" At this moment, Zhou Yuan came forward and whispered, "Young Master Sun wants to see you, Sir, and says he has something important to tell you!"
"Young Master Sun? Your son?" He smiled and shook his head. If the father is like this, how strong can the son be? But in the end, Shen Yu still waved his hand and said, "Let him in!"
After obtaining Shen Yu's consent, Zhou Yuan brought the young master of the Sun family in. To be honest, the young master of the Sun family was nothing like Sun Heling. He looked dignified, energetic, and exuded a strong sense of self-confidence, almost comparable to himself.
It is said that the daughter of this great official Sun is extremely beautiful, otherwise she would not have been taken into the mansion of the prefect who was so picky and loved so much. So, are these his biological children?
"Greetings, sir!"
"Okay, no need to be so polite. I wonder what Mr. Sun wants to see me about?"
"Your Excellency, I am here to give you something!" As he spoke, the young master of the Sun family handed over a book, and then said softly, "It is an account book, I believe it will be useful to you, Your Excellency!"
"Account book?" Shen Yu took the account book from the other party and flipped through it carefully. It clearly recorded the amount of grain and fodder purchased by the Sun family over the years, including the time and place of delivery, the person who took over, and so on.
The quantity of these food and fodder is quite large, even if each one is taken out separately, it does not seem like a small amount.
"Sir, these are the money and grain that our Sun family has paid to the prefect in recent years. I have registered them one by one. In addition, according to my secret investigation, the person who took over the grain was actually from Fuyun Mountain, and the grain was eventually transported to Fuyun Mountain!"
"Floating Cloud Mountain? Are you sure? I remember that there seemed to be a group of Zhangnan bandits entrenched in Floating Cloud Mountain! Are you sure?"
"Yes, it is the Zhangnan bandit!" Nodding his head, the young master of the Sun family bowed deeply to Shen Yu and said, "Everything I said is true. How dare I lie to you, sir!"
"You mean he keeps bandits for his own benefit?" Putting down the account book in his hand, Shen Yu frowned slightly. It seems normal for these powerful people to keep some bandits for their own use. After all, there are always some things that are inconvenient for them to do.
But the Zhangnan bandits were different. They were the largest and most powerful bandits in the surrounding three counties. There were thousands of them. Not only were they powerful, they came and went like the wind. There were also dozens of large and small mountain strongholds affiliated with the Zhangnan bandits, with at least 10,000 people in total!
In addition, Fuyun Mountain is in a dangerous position, and the imperial court has sent troops to suppress it several times, but all seem to have returned in vain. This is not just a simple matter of nurturing the enemy for self-preservation, this is going to cause trouble.
Putting the account book aside, Shen Yu looked at the young master of the Sun family quietly, "Why are you telling me this? Aren't you afraid that I will think you are colluding with businessmen?"
"Sir, because I want to live, that's all!" The young master of the Sun family lowered his head with a bitter expression on his face. "At the beginning, the prefect took a fancy to my sister and forced her into the mansion. From that moment on, we had no choice but to stand on the side of the prefect!"
"Haha!" Shen Yu just laughed at what the young master of the Sun family said. How come the information he got was that this young lady of the Sun family was sent up by Sun Heling himself?
Of course, it is also possible that the prefect was interested in him, and Sun Heling just wanted to curry favor with him, so he just went with the flow. With the backbone of this Mr. Sun, it is not surprising that he could do such a thing.
"Then why are you taking the initiative to hand over this account book now? Don't you know the relationship between me and the prefect now?"
"I know. That's why I came here. The matter with the prefect is too big now. He is a big bandit from Zhangnan. Our Sun family can't afford it. Once it is discovered, the Sun family, as the in-laws, will be implicated!"
"So you have long wanted to leave the prefecture, but never had the chance!" Nodding slightly, Shen Yu couldn't help but take a few more glances at the young master of the Sun family. No wonder the Sun family could accumulate such a huge fortune. Although Sun Heling was unreliable, this son was not simple at all!
"Aren't you afraid? If I lose to the prefect, have you ever thought about the consequences?"
"Is it useful to be afraid? From the moment my father fell into the hands of adults, our Sun family had no choice!"
After saying that, Master Sun bowed to Shen Yu and said firmly "Your Excellency, just tell us what you want us to do. We will do our best. No matter what, I will take a chance!"
"I will let you know that you cannot lose the bet you made!"
