Li Jie doesn't have much information about the case of the stolen grain in Taicang, Nanjing. Although the Jinyiwei sent someone to investigate early, he has not reported it to him yet, so Li Jie asked Xie Jin about the situation in Nanjing. After all, Xie Jin had been in the officialdom before, and the information in the academy was well-versed.

Sure enough, after hearing Li Jie's inquiry, Xie Jin showed a serious look. After pondering for a while, he said, "I'm not hiding it from Brother Li, in fact, I have met him several times before the suicide minister Xu."

"Oh? Do you know him?" Li Jie also looked surprised when he heard this. Xu Zhou was Empress Fan's uncle, and he was also Zhu Yunyu's wife's uncle, but Li Jie had no impression of him.

"Yes, Mr. Xu is in charge of warehousing, and warehousing also requires technology. It just so happened that someone in the academy was interested in this aspect, so he had some contact with the Ministry of Revenue. Mr. Xu and I had met him a few times, and we had dinner twice in between, and we had a very pleasant chat." Xie Jin replied again.

"So, in Brother Jie's opinion, what kind of person is Mr. Xu?" Li Jie immediately asked. He had too little information in his hands, and even if the Jinyiwei collected information from all aspects, some of them might be inaccurate. In contrast, Xie Jin, an outsider, had a more credible view.

"This..." Jie Jin hesitated for a moment again, and then he spoke, "If it were just based on my impression, Mr. Xu should be considered a capable minister, and he is very flexible and willing to accept new things. Our academy put forward some ideas for the warehouse, and he was willing to adopt them, and even went to Taicang to arrange them himself, so I really couldn't believe that he would steal millions of stones of food in secret."

When talking about this, Xie Jin paused for a moment and then said, "In addition, in my opinion, Mr. Xu is a very optimistic person. He is proficient in both piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and has some other hobbies. I really can't figure out that he will commit suicide if he is like him."

After hearing Xie Jin's evaluation of Xu Zhou, Li Jie also showed a meditative look. He believed in Xie Jin's vision. Although Xie Jin was a person with higher IQ than EQ, it actually did not mean that he was not familiar with human affairs, but that he didn't care about these things at all. He could actually see through the tricks that some people used at first sight, but he was just lazy to pay attention to.

So Li Jie believes that Xie Jin's evaluation of Xu Zhou is still very objective, but it is just a person like Xu Zhou who suddenly became a corrupt official who stole million stones of food, and he committed suicide after the incident. The huge contrast between the past and after is really hard to believe.

"Since the academy has had contact with Taicang, brother Jie, do you have any opinions on Taicang?" Li Jie suddenly asked again.

"There are thirty-five Taicang in Nanjing, each of which is extremely large in scale. The grain stored is also calculated in tens of thousands of stones. Every year, the grain is sent out and new grain is brought in and out, and the accounts are in and out of the complex, so there are many officials in Taicang, and when there are more people, the personnel will become very complex. In addition, Taicang is affiliated to the Ministry of Revenue and the oil and water are extremely abundant, so Taicang has always been a place of right and wrong..."

Xie Jin knew a lot about Taicang. With his account, Li Jie also had a preliminary understanding of Taicang. The so-called Taicang is actually the granary for storing grain in the capital. Nanjing was originally the capital. Although it was moved to the capital, it was still one of the capitals, so Taicang's name was still preserved.

Taicang is a place where grain is stored. There are 35 Taicangs in Nanjing, and each of them is stored in a small amount. Moreover, the grain has a storage period, so some old grain will be replaced every year and some new grain will be injected. During this entry and exit, huge amounts of oil and water will be generated. If there are officials who are not clean, they can make huge profits from it.

In fact, it is not the first time that food has been stolen in places like Taicang. After all, the oil and water here are too great. Even Lao Zhu used to torture to peel the skin and grass, but it did not stop the greed of officials. As early as the Hongwu period, Taicang had been stolen many times, resulting in several officials being tortured.

However, there were not many cases of food and grass theft before, and only a hundred thousand stones were killed. As a result, this time, millions of stones were stolen at once, which was more than all the theft cases before.

"Brother Li, this is definitely not a simple theft case. Millions of stones of food and grass cannot be transported away in a short time. What's more, it is not concentrated in one or two Taicangs, but all Taicangs are involved, so there must be unknown secrets behind this!" Xie Jin concluded at the end.

"I understand, thank you Brother Jie for explaining to me!" Li Jie also breathed a sigh of relief at this time, and then bowed his hand to thank Xie Jin.

"Brother Li, you are polite. These things are not secrets at all. You will know when you arrive in Nanjing, but this case must be very involved. Brother Li, you must be careful!" Xie Jin finally reminded him again.

"Brother Jie, don't worry, I'm not alone this time, but I mobilized the Jinyiwei. In addition, the imperial guards will also obey my transfer, so there is absolutely no problem with safety." Li Jie said with a smile.

Because the case was urgent, Li Jie came on a steamboat, and only brought more than a dozen guards on the boat, but this was just an open force. In secret, the Jinyiwei had already sent people to Nanjing, and they would all obey Li Jie's orders.

However, compared with the Jinyiwei, the most critical force is the Imperial Mausoleum Guard. The so-called Imperial Mausoleum Guard is actually the imperial guards guarding the Xiaoling Mausoleum. Lao Zhu was buried in Xiaoling Mausoleum, so he naturally sent a large army to guard it, which is the so-called Imperial Mausoleum Guard. This Imperial Mausoleum Guard was transferred from the capital and had escorted Lao Zhu's coffin to Nanjing before, which had nothing to do with the Nanjing officialdom, so it was absolutely trustworthy.

"It's a lot of relief to have so many guards, but since the other party dares to steal so much food, it must have a considerable force. Moreover, Brother Li's arrival will definitely make the other party feel pressured. Maybe they will do something to the death in a hurry." Xie Jin reminded again.

In such a big case, the perpetrators must have huge energy, otherwise the transportation of food alone would be a problem, so Xie Jin was worried about Li Jie's safety.

"Well, I will be careful!" Li Jie nodded again after hearing this.

While talking, the steamboat finally arrived at Songjiang Port. I saw sails gathered in the port, and there were crowds of people on the dock. Behind the dock were there, there were buildings connected together, which made Li Jie look surprised. I remember that when he first came to Songjiang Prefecture, it was still a mud flat, but now it has become a prosperous port.
Chapter completed!