Chapter 41

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While the cherry blossoms danced in the wind, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of the promise written there.

Of course, it might also be the mischief of the previous clerk, but no matter what, Li Sheng was the one who fabricated the accounts. According to regulations, he had to verify each entry before confirming it and stamp it with a red seal to indicate the result.

For example, if the receipt was clear, he would stamp it with "Received," if the payment was completed, he would stamp it with "Paid," if the account was transferred, he would stamp it with "Transferred," and if the account was settled, he would stamp it with "Settled." Moreover, for all income items, the source of the income would be prominently stated; for all expenditure items, the destination would be prominently stated, followed by the source of the expenditure. Although this method could not completely make up for the shortcomings of single-entry bookkeeping, it at least made it possible to clearly identify the responsible person when investigating later.

Therefore, Li Sheng was at least a co-conspirator, and his guilt could not be avoided!

Moreover, this incident happened four years ago, and the clerk at the time had already died of a sudden illness. Li Sheng could easily shift the blame to his superior, and with some maneuvering, he could avoid the serious consequences and only bear the lesser charge of negligence.

If it were negligence, the worst that could happen would be dismissal or even just a demotion, so even if he reported him, he wouldn't feel too much psychological burden...

Yes, Zhang Dianli very much wanted to get rid of Li Shuhu. One reason was his desire for advancement. Although both Dianli and Shuhu were clerks, their status and power were vastly different. Not to mention that the Shuhu had full control over the affairs of the office, while the Dianli was just a supervisor of the clerks. It was clear who got the meat and who got the broth. Even in informal settings before the magistrate, the Shuhu could sit, while the Dianli had to stand. The Shuhu could be addressed without his name, while the Dianli could only be called by his name.

There were many such differences, and how could Zhang Dianli not be tempted?

Moreover, Li Sheng was a sycophant who flattered his superiors and bullied his subordinates. He fawned over the chief clerk, Di Zhubu, fearing he might not be thorough enough. But he never took Zhang Dianli seriously, not even showing him the basic respect. How could Zhang Dianli not bear a grudge?

But Zhang Dianli, whose name was Zhang Hua, was not like Zhang Fei, who acted on impulse. He had to consider the consequences. After all, Li Sheng was deeply rooted, and there was Di Zhubu protecting him. If he failed to strike the snake and instead suffered its bite, it would not be worth it.

Thus, after pondering for the entire afternoon, he still couldn't make up his mind. After the afternoon session ended, he left the office to go home for dinner, and coincidentally met Sima Shiyi. The usually stingy Sima Qiu, contrary to his usual behavior, invited him to a restaurant. Zhang Dianli thought, "If someone offers help without a reason, it's either a trick or a trap," but he didn't dare offend Sima Shiyi, so he not only agreed to go but also insisted on treating him.

The two went to the Zhou Family Restaurant near the county office. Seeing Sima Shiyi and the head of the household office, the restaurant owner, Zhou Li, personally welcomed them and arranged a private room on the second floor. He also personally served the dishes and warmed a pot of good wine. Seeing that the two had something to discuss, he tactfully left.

After some small talk, Zhang Dianli waited for Sima Qiu to get to the point, but the man kept talking about trivial matters and family affairs, avoiding the main issue. Finally, Zhang Dianli couldn't hold back and said, "Sir, you usually enter through the back door. Meeting you at the front door this time, it must not be a coincidence, right?"

"Hehe, think whatever you want," Sima Qiu sipped his wine and smiled, his rat-like mustache twitching. "Zhang Lingshi seems a bit distracted."

"Is that so?" Zhang Hua touched his face and laughed dryly. "I might be a bit tired lately. It's the time for the autumn grain collection, and our office is still busy rechecking the yellow register. How can I not be anxious?"

"This is self-inflicted," Sima Qiu said coolly. "The county has had good weather for the past three years, with no floods, droughts, or locust plagues. Why has the population been sharply declining year after year? Some people have gone too far!"

"Such matters..." Zhang Hua's heart tightened and trembled. He thought, "Sima Qiu's words have a deeper meaning! He's clearly targeting Li Sheng!" Thinking about the unexpected invitation to drink, he seemed to have found the answer... This is like someone sending a pillow when you're about to sleep, Zhang Dianli thought to himself, and cautiously probed, "I also find it abnormal, but as you know, the yellow register is handled solely by the Shuhu, and I, as a Dianli, have no way of knowing..."

"Hum, Li Sheng is too arrogant..." Sima Qiu seemed very angry and snorted. "The magistrate has long wanted to replace him, but couldn't find a reason!" After saying this, he seemed to realize he had spoken out of turn and stopped mentioning Li Sheng, instead lavishly praising Zhang Dianli, "Zhang Lingshi is really excellent. The magistrate appreciates you very much, but the seniority system in the clerk's office is too strong, and there are no opportunities for promotion, which he deeply regrets."

Zhang Hua was so confused by Sima Qiu's flattery that he couldn't sleep that night. Since he couldn't sleep, he took out the account book he had secretly brought home and began to extract the abnormal and scattered purchase records from the book, following Wang Xian's method, and then汇总 them... By the time he completed the statistics, it was already midday, but Zhang Hua was neither tired nor sleepy. Instead, he was excited and trembling all over because his own verification proved that what Wang Xian said was entirely true!

Thinking about Sima Qiu's words from the previous night, he finally gritted his teeth and slammed his hand on the table, saying, "I'll do it!" He then hastily washed his face, put on his blue robe, and rushed out of the house, heading straight for the county office!

Entering the county office, Zhang Hua passed by the six offices and went directly to the back office's signing room!

In the signing room, Magistrate Wei and Sima Qiu were waiting anxiously. Although they felt the matter was almost certain, the absence of Zhang Hua during the morning session had made Magistrate Wei very anxious...

Hearing that the head of the household office, Zhang Dianli, was requesting an audience, Magistrate Wei let out a long sigh of relief and smiled at Sima Qiu, saying, "Sir, you are truly a divine person, calculating everything to the last detail!"

In fact, this was also Wang Xian's idea... While accepting the praise, Sima Qiu felt a bit sad, realizing he was becoming increasingly dependent on that young man.

When Zhang Hua entered, Magistrate Wei treated him with great courtesy, much to Zhang Dianli's surprise.

"Zi Hua, what brings you here?" the magistrate asked kindly.

"Reporting to the magistrate," Zhang Dianli bit his lip and said, "I recently overheard a subordinate mention that four years ago, the clerks in our county were all giants, eating twenty-nine pounds of rice a day, not counting vegetables and meat. They wore two hundred and fifty feet of cloth a year, not counting their daily casual wear..."

"What a joke!" Magistrate Wei laughed, "I thought the Song Dynasty chancellor Zhao Wenshu, who could drink three dou of wine and eat five pounds of pork and mutton each time, was the champion. If he came to our county canteen, he would be considered a light eater..."

"Although it sounds like a joke, I scolded the subordinate, but he insisted, 'If you don't believe me, check the account book from the fifth year of Yongle,'" Zhang Dianli said seriously. "I felt that this matter concerned the government's finances and could not be taken lightly, so I reviewed the account book and found..." He then presented the list he had compiled with both hands.

Sima Shiyi took it and handed it to Magistrate Wei. The magistrate's face darkened as he read it, "Is this true?"

"Each item can be verified in the account book!" Zhang Hua then presented a thick stack of account books.

"..." Magistrate Wei casually flipped through one and saw that the accountant was Li Sheng, his face darkening. "Call Di Zhubu!"

Di Zhubu arrived shortly after, and by then, Zhang Dianli had already left. The outer signing room only had Magistrate Wei and Sima Qiu.

Di Zhubu entered and saw Magistrate Wei in a bad mood. He glanced at Sima Qiu, who nodded toward the list and account books on the table.

"..." Di Zhubu, who was in charge of the county's documents and accounts, glanced at them and his face changed. "Who did this!"

"Li Sheng," Magistrate Wei replied coldly.

Actually, Di Zhubu meant, "Who is digging up old accounts to cause trouble?" But seeing the magistrate's dark face, he had to suppress his anger and said in a low voice, "It's the critical time for the autumn grain collection, yet someone is bringing up these old issues to trouble Li Shuhu. I think this is a deliberate attempt to disrupt the situation! We must investigate thoroughly, thoroughly!" As he spoke, he couldn't help raising his voice.

"Exactly!" Magistrate Wei, who originally intended to tell Di Zhubu not to meddle, now saw his arrogance and decided to suppress him. He said loudly, "We must investigate thoroughly! We must check all the false accounts he has made over the years!"

"Magistrate..." Di Zhubu's expression froze, then he put on a "you're too young" look and said, "Whoever is in that position can't avoid it. If he were to be honest, the county would have over five hundred mouths to feed, and the magistrate wouldn't have the money to pay Sima Shiyi's salary!"

Seeing him resort to the "corruption is justified" theory again, although Magistrate Wei acknowledged the truth, he couldn't stand it. A high-ranking official of the court shouldn't openly talk about such things!

"Then let me order these five hundred people to gather, and we'll discuss it together!" Magistrate Wei, now armed with the truth, was not afraid of this old fox.

"..." Di Zhubu immediately lost his fire and became much less arrogant.

He dared not agree because there were not five hundred clerks in the county!

The six offices and three classes of the Fuyang County government, including both permanent and temporary staff, totaled two hundred and fifty-three people. Additionally, there were management institutions such as the county school, post offices, inspection stations, relay stations, river management offices, tax bureaus, and inspection offices, all with official staff. There were also public welfare institutions such as the orphanage, the poorhouse, the relief shelter, and the cemetery, all managed by officials appointed by the county, who also received salaries from the county... In total, the number of people in these various institutions was even greater than in the county office.

In reality, the three classes and six offices were better off, but the dispatched institutions were severely understaffed. The work that should have been done by the clerks was done by unpaid laborers. However, every month, the county paid salaries for five hundred and thirty people. Naturally, the extra money went into the pockets of those handling the accounts...

Li Sheng couldn't escape this, and Di Zhubu was the primary culprit! If Magistrate Wei exposed this, he would lose his head!

Large sweat beads appeared on Di Zhubu's forehead...

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