Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 432 A Bright Future
Zhang Dai was not only promoted but also received praise and appreciation from the prime ministers, so he was naturally in a very good mood.

After finishing his conversation with Pei Guangting, it was already evening. Seeing that it was getting late, he did not go to the Censorate after leaving the Secretariat. Instead, he left the palace and went to Anxingfang to share his joy with the Princess of Yunyang.

"Brother, your talent is undeniable. You have already been appointed to a high-ranking position before you have even reached adulthood. You are truly admirable!"

Upon learning of Zhang Dai's promotion to Inspector, the County Head of Yunyang was overjoyed and repeatedly instructed him, "The Inspectorate is different from the regular offices. Those who can hold this position are all outstanding figures of the time and enjoy great renown! Before you take up your new post, please remember to visit my home again. I have prepared a batch of gifts for you to take to the Inspectorate to present to your colleagues. This will help you gain more favor and support in your future work!"

"That's unnecessary. There are over a hundred colleagues in office. If the gift is too light, they'll ridicule me; if it's too heavy, it'll be seen as bribery. This group is prone to arrogance and has criticized me a lot in the past. I'm here to put a stop to this typhoon!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Dai snorted coldly. His relationship with the Censorate had never been very good, and he was still thinking that revenge was a dish best served cold. He had no intention of giving gifts to those people.

Upon hearing this, the county magistrate smiled and comforted him, saying, "A tree that stands out in the forest will be felled by the wind, and a person who excels above others will be criticized by the masses. Brother, you are naturally so handsome, it is only natural that you will be criticized. Those idle people are trying to use all sorts of interpersonal troubles to make you overwhelmed and fade into obscurity."

But as long as one is an upright person, treating others with courtesy will naturally please people. Even if some disagree, bystanders will know right from wrong; there's no need for you, brother, to question it—the voices of the people will speak for themselves! With just a little effort, right and wrong will be revealed, and my lord will no longer need to be distracted by complicated human relationships. Why not do it?

Seeing that the county magistrate was thinking of him in this way, Zhang Dai was also in a good mood. He held the county magistrate's fair wrist and said with a smile, "I will do as my wife says. Now that my disciples have accepted my courtesy, if they still refuse to be friendly with me, I will have a reason and a legitimate cause to punish them!"

The two of them were relaxed and comfortable discussing matters of the heart. But not everyone is in such a good mood.

After Yuwen Rong became prime minister, Li Linfu was undoubtedly one of the most excited people. He not only longed for promotion, but also hoped to use Yuwen Rong's control over finances to pay off his debts and cover his losses!
To demonstrate his competence, he meticulously drafted a detailed plan for recovering stolen goods, which was the same plan Zhang Dai had recently devised at the Ministry of Personnel to investigate the old accounts of those corrupt officials who had managed the government's capital in the past.

Once this matter is initiated, a steady stream of embezzled funds will be uncovered, and only the officials in charge of the recovery can say for sure how much it will amount to.

Those clerks who collected the money would be granted an official position after fully recovering the principal of the government office. Most of the positions they obtained in this way were minor administrative posts of the ninth rank.

Most of these people were appointed to their posts before the tenth year of the Kaiyuan era, and by the seventeenth year of the Kaiyuan era, they should at least be in the preliminary selection office, with their official positions generally between the eighth and ninth ranks. Therefore, to conduct an investigation into their embezzlement, a fifth or sixth-rank official would be sufficient, excluding, of course, positions like the Honglu Cheng currently held by Li Linfu.

To be honest, Li Linfu was somewhat disappointed when he learned that Yuwen Rong had recommended Pei Yaoqing, the governor of Xuanzhou, for the position of vice minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

However, he also knew in his heart that if he hadn't been tricked by that petty thief Zhang Dai back then, he would still be in the position of Censor-in-Chief, and there was still a chance that he could be transferred to the position of Vice Minister of the Six Ministries, or at the very least, he could be appointed as a Supervising Secretary.

But now, he no longer dared to hope to be appointed to such a prestigious position. His greatest expectation was to be able to serve as the Censor-in-Chief again, which would be perfect for him to take charge of the recovery of stolen goods.

To put it another way, positions such as the Director of the Ministry of Revenue or the Director of the Ministry of Finance would be acceptable, but Yuwen Rong's cousins, Wei Heng and Wei Ji, had already reached the point where they could seek the rank of fifth-grade official.

Although Li Linfu considered himself to be exceptionally capable, he also understood that because of the trouble he had caused the Yuan family in the past, he might not be a high priority in Yuwen Rong's mind, and he probably couldn't compete with his two cousins.

If even a fifth-rank official position was unattainable, then the fifth-rank position of Dali Zheng (a judicial official) could be considered Li Linfu's bottom line. Although the Dali Zheng was only a fifth-rank official, he was an important judicial official in the Dali Temple, second only to the Dali Qing (Minister of Justice) and Shaoqing (Vice Minister of Justice), and was also qualified to preside over such large-scale cases of recovering stolen goods.

In short, as long as the huge debt hole could be filled, Li Linfu would accept it even if he couldn't be promoted to a higher official position for the time being.

After all, the court's finances were unlikely to improve overnight, which meant that Yuwen Rong, who was in charge of finances, should be able to serve as prime minister for a considerable period of time. Under his protection, Li Linfu was always able to seize opportunities and advance step by step.

After Yuwen Rong was promoted to prime minister, he felt that there were too many people in the Secretariat and that the emperor was now staying at Xingqing Palace in the South Palace. It was not appropriate for the prime minister to hold a grand banquet for his colleagues in the Daming Palace, which was far away from the emperor. Therefore, he changed his previous practice of gathering his subordinates in the Secretariat to discuss matters, and instead held a large meeting of his subordinates at his home to discuss official business.

The Court of State Ceremonies was not an important department, and the position of Assistant Minister of State Ceremonies was not a crucial one. Therefore, whenever Li Linfu entered the office to inspect the situation and handle some official business, he would rush to Yuwen Rong's home in the afternoon. After waiting for Yuwen Rong to return home, he would speak enthusiastically and try to make a good impression at the banquet.

Even so, whenever Li Linfu arrived at the Yuwen family's residence, it was already packed with guests, leaving almost no room to stand in the front hall. Yuwen Rong had recently been appointed prime minister and was very busy, usually not returning home until nearly dark in the evening. His sons were responsible for receiving guests at home. Of his four sons, the eldest, Yuwen Kuan, served as a consultant to the crown prince; the second, Yuwen Ning, served in the Three Guards through hereditary privilege; and the third, Yuwen Shen, and the fourth, Yuwen Xuan, were still young and had not yet been formally appointed.

"The eldest son is full of heroic spirit, inheriting the style of Prime Minister Yuwen!"

After arriving at the Yuwen family, the guests praised Yuwen Rong's sons highly, especially his eldest son, Yuwen Kuan.

It's not an exaggeration to say that Yuwen Kuan inherited his father's style; many of Yuwen Rong's disciples also knew a great deal about this eldest son.

Perhaps due to his father's influence, Yuwen Kuan was quite adept at financial matters, but unlike his father who managed the country's finances, Yuwen Kuan was particularly fond of accumulating wealth for himself. Even the disciples under Yuwen Rong had to bribe Yuwen Kuan to get introductions.

"The Prime Minister is well-served and busy with state affairs, while the eldest son is thin at home and works hard to greet guests. In the future, he will succeed his father as Prime Minister and this will surely become a great story!"

Li Linfu frequently visited Yuwen Rong's home and was naturally familiar with his son's behavior. However, he was currently burdened with huge debts and had no spare money to curry favor with him, so he could only be sweet-talking and flatter Yuwen Kuan.

Yuwen Kuan was in his early twenties, tall, shrewd and capable. Although he disliked Li Linfu, who was stingy and often visited his patrons, he didn't show it too obviously. He just smiled and said, "Li Shi, you've arrived home even earlier today. My husband often praises you for your shrewdness and efficiency. There are some new things that have arrived in Bianzhou that need to be sorted out. I have a lot of guests here and don't have time to go and ask about them. Could you take care of them for me?"

"Don't worry, brother, I will handle this properly!"

Li Linfu smiled and agreed, but his eyes turned cold as he turned away.

He now needs to rely on Yuwen Rong, but they were once colleagues of equal rank. Now that Yuwen Rong's son has turned him into a slave, he is naturally very resentful.

However, he dared not express it. He could only follow the servants of the Yuwen family to the courtyard and then begin to help with the accounting and sorting of money and goods.

Previously, when Yuwen Rong served as the governor of Bianzhou, Yuwen Kuan also went to the post with his father. Taking advantage of his father's position and Bianzhou's convenient water and land transportation, he set up a shop and warehouse in Bianzhou. In addition to operating there, he would also buy some light and rare goods that were in good demand and send them to the capital to sell for profit.

All Li Linfu needed to do was wait for his servants to finish taking inventory, record the specific quantity and value of the goods, and then check them against the invoice. The task was very simple and posed no difficulty for Li Linfu.

Looking at the various light goods worth thousands or even tens of thousands of strings of cash, Li Linfu couldn't help but sigh inwardly at Yuwen Kuan's utter lack of self-control. His father was the Prime Minister, in charge of finances, holding a high position and wielding great power; what couldn't he get? Why be so greedy and leave himself vulnerable?
Although Li Linfu himself was not morally upright, he was not greedy for money while in office; he simply aspired to greater power. Firstly, he came from a wealthy family and had no worries about food or clothing. Secondly, even if he had any material needs, he could easily obtain them through abusing his power; embezzling and then buying them seemed pointless to him.

Of course, this is precisely why he stumbled and ended up with a huge debt. But that was only an extremely accidental situation; he still considered it very foolish to exchange power for money.

Even if he planned to seize some of the stolen money through the recovery of stolen goods, it would be to pay off his debts, not for his own hoarding and spending. Only by paying off his debts could he gain the saint's forgiveness and thus acquire greater power. Power is only for acquiring more power, while money is only coveted by the most mediocre and greedy people.

As he was inwardly complaining, he suddenly heard cheers and shouts of welcome coming from outside. He knew that Yuwen Rong had returned home, and he instinctively stepped forward to greet him. However, the money and goods had not yet been inventoried, so he could only patiently urge the servants to do so as soon as possible.

After the inventory was completed, he checked his records against the Bianzhou accounting books. Suddenly, a scroll of other documents rolled out from the accounting books. Li Linfu opened it and saw that the contents were not records of money and goods, but rather records of principal and interest, and the amounts were not small.

"These accounts don't need to be checked by Juro. The lord has already returned to his residence, so Juro should go to the gathering!"

Before Li Linfu could take a closer look, a steward from the Yuwen family rushed in, snatched the account book from him, bowed to Li Linfu with a smile, and then carefully put the account book away.

(End of this chapter)