New Policies in Sichuan

Chapter 12 Searching the Accounts After the Fire

Outside Fenghe Grain Store, the firelight had already illuminated half the street red.

From a distance, the fire looked impressive, with thick smoke curling into flames that seemed to leap even more enthusiastically than the onlookers at the street corner. But as Meng Xuanzhe approached, he couldn't help but sneer inwardly.

The fire is burned quite skillfully.

The front shop was engulfed in flames and thick with smoke, making it seem as if the sky was about to collapse at first glance; but upon closer inspection, the most fiercely burning areas were actually the west wing and the two accounting rooms at the back. As for the front storefront, although the fire looked terrifying, it was actually mostly licking at the lintel and burning through the window paper, making it seem like a storefront specifically designed to provide entertainment for the neighborhood.

To put it bluntly, it can be summed up in one sentence: it looks like a fire, but it's actually more like a staged performance.

Sun Kuo came forward, sweat beading on his forehead, but his eyes gleaming.

"Your Highness, both the front and back gates are sealed off. Four shop assistants, an accountant, and two porters ran out from inside, and I detained them all to the side. I also stopped the mule cart at the west alley entrance. There were three boxes on the cart, two of which contained clothes and miscellaneous items, and the other was very heavy, so I didn't dare to open it without permission."

"Well done." Meng Xuanzhe nodded. "Where's the fire?"

Sun Kuo lowered his voice: "It doesn't seem to have come from the kitchen. I went in to take a look, and there was a strong smell of tung oil in the west wing, as if someone had poured it on the stove first."

Upon hearing this, Gao Chengli's face tightened.

Tung oil.

Once this thing came out, the word "fire" didn't seem so unexpected anymore. It was as if someone was afraid the fire wouldn't start fast enough, so they specially built a ladder for God.

Lu Yuanfeng, who was following behind, noticeably slowed down a beat when he heard this.

Unfortunately, being slow won't help.

Meng Xuanzhe didn't even look at him, and walked towards the mule cart that had been stopped.

The burlap on the cart had been burned in one corner, the edges charred black, revealing half a wooden crate underneath. The man escorting the cart knelt on the ground, his face covered in ash, crying fervently.

"Your Highness, please understand! We were trying to save our master's belongings! The fire came so fast, we were only thinking about moving things out, hoping to save as much as we could—"

"Really?" Meng Xuanzhe stopped in front of him. "When your employer's property caught fire, you saved the boxes first, not the people?"

The shop assistant choked, his eyes darting around quickly: "We can save people, of course, but the shop assistants can run away on their own. If these chests and boxes in the accounting office burn down, the owner's accumulated wealth over the years—"

"Years of accumulated experience?" Meng Xuanzhe chuckled. "I think you've hit the nail on the head. Why move all those goods in the front yard first, instead of the boxes in the back? That's not loyalty, it's just knowing the ropes."

The waiter's lips trembled, and he dared not reply.

Meng Xuanzhe turned and ordered, "Open the box."

Sun Kuo immediately waved his hand, and two guards stepped forward and pried open the box in a few quick movements.

The first box contained ordinary clothes and valuables, along with two boxes. Upon opening them, one could find several pieces of silverware.

The second bite was similar, plus a few bolts of unburnt silk.

Gao Chengli, watching from the side, almost had his nose crooked from looking at it.

What a fine example of "rescuing the owner's family fortune"!

The fire had barely started when he was already tending to the silverwares and silks; he certainly knew how to prioritize.

But when the third box was opened, Sun Kuo and Gu Chengyan's expressions changed.

There was no gold or silver inside.

It was all ledgers.

Thick and thin, the volumes were packed full of paper, and there were also several packages of contracts and tickets wrapped in oiled paper, the edges of which were blackened by the flames, but they were obviously rushed out during the hurried packing.

Meng Xuanzhe looked at the box full of account books and couldn't help but laugh.

"it is good."

"Very good."

"When other people's houses catch fire, they move their ancestral tablets first; when your house catches fire, you move your account books first. It seems that Fenghe Grain Store really does keep its ancestors very well."

A burst of uncontrollable laughter immediately erupted from the crowd.

The escort was ashen-faced and could barely keep his knees up.

Zhou Ling'an stood to the side, feeling a burning sensation in his back teeth.

If the fire had only burned some goods, it could have been considered a shop fire, resulting in some financial loss. But now, account books are being shipped out by the boxful—who wouldn't see something fishy going on?

Meng Xuanzhe reached out and opened the top book.

Gu Chengyan immediately moved closer and helped to light the lamp.

After turning two pages, Meng Xuanzhe saw several lines of familiar yet strikingly obvious words:

—A quantity of rice to be forwarded to the public granary of Qingcheng County.

—Rewrite the letter.

—A separate courtyard was built in the west.

He narrowed his eyes slightly.

Good guy.

This is no longer just "temporary government grain deposited by businesses".

This even includes details about resealing and rewriting.

The meaning is clear: the grain leaving the official granary didn't simply go into the grain shop's backyard; it was resealed, its records altered, and then processed through the other end of the accounting system. From the outside, it still looked like grain, but its classification had changed.

This method simply cannot be implemented smoothly without the approval of the county government, the granary administration, and the grain merchants.

Gu Chengyan also noticed this, and lowered his voice: "Your Highness, this is not an ordinary business account."

"Of course not." Meng Xuanzhe closed the booklet, his gaze sweeping over the kneeling shop assistants and accountant. "For ordinary merchants, the fear is losing money; for this kind of account, the fear is going to the authorities."

After saying that, he looked at the middle-aged scholar whose face had less ash than others, but whose clothes were neater.

"Are you the accountant?"

The man was kneeling, but his back was fairly straight, clearly indicating that he understood the gravity of the situation better than the group of men next to him who could only cry.

"Your Highness, my surname is Zou, and I keep records of the cash flow for Fenghe Grain Store."

"If the fire starts, will you save the boxes first, or the tent?"

Accountant Zou swallowed hard, still trying to maintain a semblance of scholarly decorum: "The master's accumulated wealth is all tied to the ledgers, and I was just a little impatient..."

"You're impatient, aren't you?" Meng Xuanzhe nodded. "Then I'm impatient too."

"Sun Kuo, move these boxes of things to the street."

"yes!"

Sun Kuo waved his hand, and the guards immediately set to work, carrying the three boxes one by one to the brightest spot in front of the grain store.

This left the onlookers, who had been craning their necks to watch the spectacle, speechless.

Everyone thought they were going to watch a fire tonight, but the more they watched, the more it seemed like they were watching a bottom-fishing frenzy.

First they blocked the gates and roads, then they intercepted vehicles and opened boxes, and now they're even bringing account books out onto the street.

This is much more exciting than simply watching fire.

Lu Yuanfeng finally couldn't hold back any longer, took half a step forward, cupped his hands, and said, "Your Highness, merchants' account books often involve private matters. If we were to look through them in the street like this, I'm afraid—"

"I'm afraid of what?" Meng Xuanzhe raised his eyes. "I'm afraid it's inconvenient for you to make up a second set?"

Lu Yuanfeng's face twitched, and he quickly lowered his head: "This humble subject dares not."

"It's not that you're afraid," Meng Xuanzhe said calmly, "it's that you're afraid I'll observe too closely."

As he spoke, he threw the account book he had just flipped through to Gu Chengyan.

"Recite it in the street."

Gu Chengyan was taken aback, then his eyes lit up.

That was a ruthless move.

Accounts, if viewed only within the government office, always leave room for misunderstandings; but if read aloud to the people in the street, it's not just about checking accounts, it's about peeling back the most sensitive layer of local customs and exposing it to everyone.

"Yes."

Gu Chengyan took the ledger, turned to that page, and spoke in a calm and clear voice:

"On the seventh day of the third month of the twenty-fifth year of Guangzheng, thirty-six shi of rice were transferred to the public granary of Qingcheng County and temporarily stored in the west courtyard of Fenghe. On the ninth day of the third month, the seal was changed and twenty shi were designated as commercial grain, with the remaining rice to be settled separately..."

After only a few sentences were read, the crowd erupted in cheers.

"Gongcang rice?"

"Can rice from the government granaries be transferred to grain shops?"

What exactly is a "resealed record"?

"What happened to the remaining twenty bushels?"

Ordinary people may not understand the intricacies of the entire accounting system, but they can understand the phrase "public granary rice entering the grain store".

Even someone who knows nothing can tell that an official granary is an official granary, and a grain store is a grain store.

If these two things can be exchanged back and forth like this in the accounts, then in the end, the one who will suffer the most is probably the one waiting in line at the pot.

The accountant's expression finally changed, and he said urgently, "Your Highness! This is just a copy of an old account; it may not be the true meaning. There are many words in the account—"

"There are many interesting words on the account book," Meng Xuanzhe said, looking at him. "For example, 'temporarily sent,' 'resealed,' and 'separately concluded.'"

"Your poems are so well-written, why don't you open a school tomorrow and teach the people of Qingcheng County—"

"When you see there's no rice in the pot, which saying should you learn first to make yourself sound cultured about being hungry?"

Someone in the crowd burst out laughing.

Accountant Zou's face flushed red and then turned pale.

He had thought that even if the crown prince knew a little about accounting, he was just watching the show. He never expected that the other party would pinpoint the most crucial points with each sentence.

By this time, the fire in the west wing had been somewhat contained.

The men Zhou Ling'an sent were carrying buckets of water back and forth, sweating profusely. But Meng Xuanzhe could tell at a glance that things were also going on over there—some were grabbing, some were searching, and some were pretending to put out a fire while actually rummaging through the ground.

He immediately replied, "Sun Kuo."

"Your subordinate is here!"

"You personally lead four people to the accounting office in the west wing, and make sure you don't miss any of the remaining scraps of paper, half-pages, or ashes. Also—" He glanced at Accountant Zou, "see if there's anything that wasn't burned in time but was stepped into the fire pit by someone."

Sun Kuo grinned: "This subordinate understands."

That sounds crude, but it's crudely accurate.

Because if you're really in a hurry to destroy the books, the two most common methods are: one is to move the whole book away, and the other is to stomp on or crush the ones that can't be burned completely, making them look like they're beyond saving.

Unfortunately, tonight they encountered someone who had seen all the dirty tricks of the lower-level workers.

Such tricks are nothing new to him.

After Sun Kuo left, Meng Xuanzhe looked at the few men who had been detained.

"Whoever speaks first lives."

This statement is simple, direct, and extremely effective.

The youngest servant kneeling on the left almost broke down on the spot, crying and trembling as he said, "Your Highness! I say! I say! The fire wasn't started by us, it was... it was Mr. Zou who ordered it! He said those ledgers in the west courtyard can't be kept, otherwise we're all finished!"

Accountant Zou suddenly turned his head: "Shut up!"

"You shut up." Meng Xuanzhe didn't even look at him, pointed at the waiter, and said, "Continue."

The young waiter was clearly terrified; once he started talking, he couldn't stop.

"This afternoon, rumors circulated in the city that the Crown Prince had searched the granary and even questioned the Fenghe Grain Store in public. When Mr. Zou heard this, his face changed, and he said that if someone really came to search the granary tonight, all the old debts from the past two years would be wiped out. Later, as soon as it got dark, he told us to pack up the chests and boxes in the west courtyard first, saying that if there were any rumors, we should first move the carts, then set them on fire, and it would be best if it burned down..."

Suddenly, even the laughter around them stopped.

All that could be heard was the sound of gasping for breath.

What does it mean to have a guilty conscience?

This is.

Just as they were starting to figure things out in the warehouse, the grain shop was already collecting payments, packing boxes, lighting fires, and preparing mule carts. If this was a coincidence, it seemed too much like a pre-arranged event.

Upon hearing this, Meng Xuanzhe stopped asking further questions.

He turned to look at Zou's accountant.

"Are you going to tell me that it was just a moment of impatience?"

Accountant Zou's face was as white as paper, his lips trembling, but he still stubbornly insisted: "Your Highness, the merchants' accounts are complicated, I'm just afraid that if a fire breaks out—"

"So you ordered it set on fire first because you were afraid it would catch fire?" Meng Xuanzhe looked at him and suddenly laughed. "Mr. Zou, your logic is quite convenient. In the future, if anyone is afraid of being robbed, they might as well dismantle their own door first, so that thieves won't come."

Gao Chengli, who was standing next to him, almost couldn't hold back.

That's a really hurtful thing to say.

But it just so happens to make perfect sense.

For a moment, even the accountant Zou couldn't utter a cry of "injustice."

Because no matter what he says now, he can't stand up to the guy next to him who just said "lift the car first, then start the engine."

Meng Xuanzhe didn't give him another chance, only saying, "Take him down and keep an eye on him alone."

The guards immediately stepped forward and dragged Zou's tent out.

Once this man left, the remaining employees, seeing that even the accountant couldn't hold on, suddenly found their mental defenses crumbling like paper.

Someone hurriedly said, "Your Highness, I know there's a well in the backyard, and two packets of old warrants were buried next to it!"

Another person quickly chimed in, "And in the master's inner courtyard study, there's a hidden compartment. I've seen Mr. Zou stuffing deeds into it!"

The third one even cried and shouted, "I know who delivered the seals to the granary! It was Zhao, the clerk next to the county clerk! He always brought the seals—"

Okay.

Once someone speaks, it completely turns into a race to answer.

Gao Chengli watched from the sidelines with mixed feelings.

On the one hand, he felt the scene was a bit absurd. It was clearly a fire, but His Highness had turned it into a rummaging-through-old-crimes meeting in the vegetable market. On the other hand, he had to admit that the investigation had yielded amazing results.

What started as a vague thread has now grown longer and longer, stretching from the official granary to the grain store, from the grain store to the county clerk, and even to things like burying tickets by the well and hiding contracts in the study.

What does this tell us?

This shows that it wasn't just one person who was daring.

It was a group of people who were bold together.

What His Highness the Crown Prince is doing now is forcing them to become more and more timid.

Listening to these conflicting testimonies, Meng Xuanzhe already had a general idea of ​​what was going on.

The granary, the grain shop, and the county clerk—three points forming a line.

If you continue along this line, you'll most likely encounter someone even higher up in the county government.

For example, the registrar.

For example, a county magistrate.

For example, there are those few powerful and corrupt families in the county who have no clean hands or eyes.

Thinking of this, he didn't rush to follow the clues and catch the big fish first, but instead focused on securing every exposed spot.

"Gu Chengyan".

"Your subject is here."

"Write down everything they just said, word by word, by person. Record who said it, when they said it, and where they were referring to it, all separately."

"Yes."

"Let me add one more thing," Meng Xuanzhe said, "The fire at Fenghe Grain Store today is not a natural disaster, but rather a man-made one."

Gu Chengyan wrote with great steadiness, but his heart couldn't help but tremble slightly.

Once this sentence is written on the scroll, it's no longer just about a local fire.

It was a fire.

The fire incident not only brought misfortune to the grain store owner, but also led to trouble for the entire family.

This prince really wasn't prepared to stop there.

At this time, the fire in the west wing had subsided a bit.

Sun Kuo returned with his men, carrying two items in his hands.

One was a half-burnt booklet, its edges charred black, but the words on a few pages inside were still legible; the other was a package of tickets that were soaked with water, but the cover was still barely legible.

Sun Kuo handed the items to Meng Xuanzhe and grinned, saying, "Your Highness, we caught two people who were treading on the fire. They pretended to put out the fire, but actually they were just picking up things with writing on them and stuffing them into the basin. I just grabbed them all."

"it is good."

Meng Xuanzhe took the half-burnt account book, flipped through a couple of pages, and sure enough, he saw familiar words again:

Change the seal.

Backfill.

To fill in the missing book.

well.

These people are quite good at summarizing.

If I hadn't run into this mess today, these few sets of rhetoric might have been enough to compile into a "Practical Handbook for Local Grain Transfer".

After he finished reading, he closed the ledger and his gaze finally fell slowly on Zhou Ling'an's face, who had become increasingly silent from beginning to end.

"Magistrate Zhou."

Zhou Ling'an trembled and quickly bowed, saying, "Your humble servant is here."

"You told me before that many things in Qingcheng County are just old cases, old abuses, and old rules," Meng Xuanzhe said in a light tone. "Then I want to ask you now—"

"Is the fire started by Fenghe Grain Store an old one, or a new one?"

Sweat immediately rolled down Zhou Ling'an's forehead.

That's a really dangerous question.

Answering "old fire" is tantamount to admitting there was a problem all along; answering "new fire" would mean the fire started too coincidentally tonight.

He opened his mouth, but could only manage to utter a weak and feeble sentence: "This humble official... failed in his duty."

"Another oversight." Meng Xuanzhe nodded. "It seems that what your Qingcheng County has most abundant resources for is not grain, but oversight."

A low chuckle rippled through the crowd.

Zhou Ling'an wished he could bury his face in the ground.

But he didn't dare to argue back.

Because tonight's fire has burned not only a grain store, but also the last shred of dignity on the face of this county magistrate.

Meng Xuanzhe did not continue to pressure him.

This level of suppression is enough.

The most important thing now is not to scold him a few more times, but to tie him and the debt together tightly, so that the connection doesn't break again.

So he raised his hand and waved it.

"Someone come here."

"Seal off Fenghe Grain Store from front to back. No one, not even a single piece of paper, and not even a single box is allowed to enter or leave tonight."

"Accountant Zou, the cart escort, the arsonist, the two men who stepped on the fire pit, Feng Si, and the scribe Zhao mentioned earlier—"

"Don't miss a single one."

"Take him back to the county government office first."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone at the fire site felt a sinking feeling in their hearts.

This is no longer just about inspecting a grain store.

This is following the grain trade, and they've officially started taking people away.

Looking at the still-burning flames, Meng Xuanzhe finally felt completely at ease.

This fire appears to be a desperate act by the other party to silence them.

But the fire, ironically, forced him to bring out the most difficult-to-obtain items:

People panicked.

The tent has been exposed.

The car was stopped.

My hands and feet were all in disarray.

Often, the biggest weakness of a bad person is not that they do bad things, but that when they are in a hurry, they will expose the bad things they had hidden.

This is what Fenghe Grain Store looks like tonight.

As he was thinking, he suddenly saw a guard rushing from the direction of the backyard, clasping his hands in greeting:

"Your Highness! Sure enough, two packets of warrants and a short letter that wasn't completely burned were found near the well in the backyard!"

"Only half a sentence remains at the top—"

He paused here, as if he himself realized that the other half of his sentence was not quite right.

Meng Xuanzhe raised his eyes: "Read it."

The garrison soldier swallowed hard and whispered:

"…'Debts can be repaid, but lives cannot be spared.'"

The street was quiet.

Even the crackling sound of the still-burning fire seemed to have suddenly faded away.

Gao Chengli felt a chill run down his spine.

The debt can be reimbursed.

No one should be spared.

The moment those eight words were uttered, the entire fire scene, the grain store, the granary, the county government office, and even the pot of porridge at the city gate seemed to be connected by an invisible thread.

It turns out that what they feared most was never the accounts.

If the account is burned, it can be replaced, replaced, or a new, more elaborate explanation can be made up.

But if someone really knew how the accounts were processed, how the people were registered, and how the seals were changed, then it wouldn't just be a matter of making up the accounts.

That's to save your life.

Meng Xuanzhe looked at the half-burnt letter, his eyes gradually darkening.

After a long pause, he chuckled softly.

"it is good."

"This time, someone has figured out the next step for me."

He took the half of the short note, put it in his sleeve, looked up at the crowd, and spoke in a low but steady voice.

"It seems—"

"In Qingcheng County, what truly cannot be investigated is not the accounts."

"It's a human head."