At that time, Wei Zhi wanted to summon Bai Qi for questioning, only to find out upon inquiry that this scholar, who had passed the imperial examination in the first year of Dazhen, had not been transferred to another location. He had died in the second year of Dazhen.
He died while in office, during a bandit suppression campaign.
Having previously worked in the Ministry of Justice, Wei Zhi's intuition honed from adjudicating cases told him there was something not normal about it.
Thus, he set aside the investigation on the Jianwei Canal and turned to look into Bai Qi instead.
Two years had passed, and nothing could be discerned from the financial records of the Jianwei Canal. He knew there were issues with it, but without evidence, everything was in vain.
So, he investigated Bai Qi.
