White-robed Minister

Chapter 120 0118 [We're about to offend Ouyang Xiu]

As evening fell, Xu Lai put down the "Song Dynasty Criminal Code," stretched, and walked out of the official residence.

Immediately, a servant stepped forward and guided Xu Lai to the inner courtyard of the government office. Upon reaching the inner courtyard, the servant turned and left, and a servant from the Lü family took over as the guide.

Not long after entering the backyard, Xu Lai heard laughter and conversation.

Perhaps because Xu Lai's personal relationship with the prefect was not good enough, none of the women in Lü Jujian's family showed up; only four men were there drinking and laughing.

"Gong Jianyuan?" Xu Lai was somewhat surprised.

However, it was Gong Dingchen, the former director of the Imperial Academy and concurrently the principal of the Imperial College.

Xu Lai's exemption from the imperial examination was granted by Gong Dingchen during the examination review process.

Gong Dingchen waved his hand and said, "Don't call for the Censorate anymore. I was already transferred to the position of Prefect of Yingtian before your name was announced as the top scholar, but I was unable to take up the post for a long time. Many things were delayed, and I am only here in Yingtian Prefecture today to assume my post."

After passing the imperial examination, Xu Lai carefully studied the official system of the Song Dynasty.

Gong Dingchen's transfer is not normal!

The transfer from the Censorate to the Prefect of Yingtian appears to be a lateral move, but it is actually a relatively dignified demotion.

Gong Dingchen submitted a series of memorials last year, four times in one month, requesting Empress Dowager Cao to return power to the new emperor, thus making a great contribution to Zhao Shu's assumption of power!

Why was he demoted?

Seeing Xu Lai's thoughtful expression, Gong Dingchen waved his hand and said, "Don't ask any more questions. Anyway, I'll be your superior from now on."

"Lord Han?" Xu Lai couldn't help but ask.

Gong Dingchen was slightly surprised; he hadn't expected Xu Lai to guess the inside story so quickly.

In everyone's eyes, Gong Dingchen was a confidant of Han Qi, a thorn in the side of the prime minister.

In the early and mid-Northern Song Dynasty, remonstrating officials were naturally in an adversarial relationship with the prime ministers. One of the purposes of these remonstrating officials was to contradict the prime ministers.

How can an advisor be treated like a dog by the prime minister?

In doing so, Han Qi and Gong Dingchen committed a grave offense, and they were collectively antagonized by all the censors.

According to Sima Guang, Lü Hui, and others, Gong Dingchen, this thorn in their side, had to be removed!

Faced with the attacks from the censors, Han Qi did not defend Gong Dingchen to the death.

Because Gong Dingchen wasn't really one of Han Qi's men; he just often prioritized the bigger picture and helped Han Qi fight on the front lines. Many times, he didn't actually listen to Han Qi.

That's why Xu Lai encountered such strange questions when he took the Imperial Academy's annual examination. Some of the questions Gong Dingchen set for the students criticized remonstrating officials, while others concerned the prime minister.

Gong Dingchen's attitude naturally made him unpopular with both sides; the censors ostracized him, and the prime ministers did not protect him.

Being demoted and banished from the capital was perfectly normal.

At this moment, Xu Lai even wondered if his appointment as the judge of Yingtian Prefecture was because Gong Dingchen was also coming here. The emperor had already understood Gong Dingchen's position and had thrown Xu Lai over here for Gong Dingchen to take care of and train.

If that's really the case, Zhao Shu is definitely a cunning old fox—no, he's a wise and sagacious ruler!

Gong Dingchen was unwilling to discuss the political struggles in the capital, so he introduced the people present to Xu Lai.

One of them is Lü Jujian, who is about to step down as the prefect of Yingtian.

One was Lü Jujian's son, Lü Gongdao.

Another one is Gong Dingchen's son, Gong Fugui.

These elderly officials usually have children and grandchildren around to take care of them.

There's not much to talk about at this dinner.

It was nothing more than everyone exchanging greetings. Gong Dingchen introduced Xu Lai to Lü Jujian, and who knows, the Lü family might be able to help Xu Lai in the future.

Gong Dingchen pointed at Xu Lai and said to Lü Jujian, "At the end of the year before last, I was in charge of the annual examination at the Imperial Academy. The questions were very tricky. Yet, Xingzhi was able to write an extremely brilliant essay. At that time, I knew he would definitely pass the imperial examination, so I gave him a exemption from the preliminary examination. I never expected this!"

"You didn't expect to become the top scholar, did you?" Lü Jujian laughed heartily.

Gong Dingchen nodded: "I really didn't expect him to be the top scholar. After all, he's too young."

"Thanks to Mr. Gong's guidance," Xu Lai said, raising his glass.

He was truly grateful to Gong Dingchen, who had given him a spot exempt from the civil service exam.

For the rest of the time, Gong Dingchen and Lü Jujian chatted and laughed, even discussing certain secrets of the capital.

The friendship between these two is probably exceptionally good.

When Gong Dingchen was young, he used his wealth as collateral to prevent his teacher Shi Jie from being exhumed and examined. That event was initiated by Lü Jujian, who rallied hundreds of people to vouch for Shi Jie!

How could their relationship be bad?

After drinking for half an hour, Xu Lai returned to his official residence, slightly drunk.

This is a small room prepared for the clerk on duty; it is simply furnished.

Xu Lai didn't care about this. He tossed and turned in bed, thinking that the position of judge might offend many superiors and subordinates in the future.

He was not in charge of the accounts or the treasury, but all accounts that became official documents had to pass through his hands.

Moreover, he must sign it before it can be forwarded to the prefect, the vice-prefect, or the six ministries.

If the prefect or vice-prefect is corrupt, he can easily discover the problem as long as the matter is handled on a slightly larger scale.

The next day, the officials asked Xu to handle the handover.

Zhou Shenzhi pointed to several large piles of documents and said, "These are the financial records from my tenure."

He then pointed to several other large piles of documents and said, "Those are criminal case files from my time in office."

Zhou Shenzhi took out the official seal and talisman: "There are all sorts of documents and records next door, too many to carry over. Scholar Xu can go and check them himself."

Xu Lai immediately accepted the official seal and other items, saying, "Give me a few days."

Zhou Shenzhi seemed to have come to a decision and said to Xu, "I will be moving out today, and my whole family will be staying at the Yingtianfu Guest House. The back courtyard of the drawing hall will be left to Scholar Xu."

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"No need. I live alone, so I can stay anywhere. Judge Zhou has a large family, so it would be more convenient for him to stay in the back of the hall." Xu Lai didn't care about these things.

Hearing these words, Zhou Shenzhi's impression of Xu Lai changed drastically.

After exchanging a few more meaningless pleasantries, Zhou Shen went to wait in the next room so that Xu Lai could call him anytime if he had any questions.

Du Kongmu Zhang Deyong ran over and asked, "Judge Xu, do you need any help?"

"Make a list of the official duties I usually need to handle. There are some things I might not be familiar with yet," Xu said.

Zhang Deyong immediately got to work.

Xu Lai then sat down to examine various documents.

The first step, of course, is a simple accounting process.

Xu Lai opened the account book and became increasingly displeased with it.

The Song Dynasty implemented the "Four-Column Accounting Method," which already possessed some ideas of double-entry bookkeeping, but it was essentially still a single-entry bookkeeping system.

Xu Lai had never worked as an accountant, so he naturally didn't know much about this stuff.

He disliked it because the ledgers were in a sequential manner, requiring him to flip through each page one by one.

It's difficult to make a direct comparison.

Xu Lai took out a quill pen and a ruler and began to draw tables, reorganizing them by quarter and month.

First, check the accounts in the treasury, because that's the simplest.

Then, Xu Lai's head started buzzing.

The ministerial treasury is a slush fund, and withdrawals are made too casually.

The prefect could use it however he wanted; he only needed to get the sub-prefect to sign it, leaving the sub-prefect no room to speak.

However, the judge also has supervisory responsibilities, and there are only two ways to supervise: one is to advise, and the other is to impeach.

The accounts of the envoy's treasury in Yingtian Prefecture were so poorly prepared that even a fool could see there was something wrong with them.

Let's send it back and make them make it up again; at least it has to look plausible on the surface.

There's no way to investigate it; it's a problem that's been going on for decades, and it's bound to implicate countless people. Even the emperor would find it a headache.

When Teng Zijing burned the account books back then, he was taking the blame for his predecessors over the past few decades.

What can Xu Lai do?

The only thing they can do is try to make the old accounts more plausible and make future accounts more legitimate. After all, this is a slush fund, and everything is decided by the prefect; the imperial court has no say in it.

What Xu Lai really wanted to verify were the government treasury accounts; if there were any problems with those, he would definitely be held responsible!

He worked on it from morning till afternoon, and after dinner he continued working late into the night calculating.

The government treasury's accounts were much more formal than those of the minister's treasury, so with Xu Lai's pitiful accounting knowledge, it was really not easy for him to find any problems.

Until midnight, he took out more than ten forms to compare.

There is an anomaly in the account of Huiyiku!

Huiyi was an official trade activity in which government officials or the military used their privileges to engage in commerce and earn profits to subsidize the treasury. Historically, when Han Shizhong ceased hostilities, he handed over 100 million strings of cash in profits from Huiyi.

Xu Lai could almost certainly conclude that the prefectural magistrate of Yingtian Prefecture was making money off the prefecture.

The prefectural magistrate, using his authority over trade, would buy unsold goods at low prices and force them to be sold to merchants or wealthy households. This practice was called "suppression and distribution."

However, the profits from the distribution of public funds belong to the public, and it would be too unseemly to directly take them.

So they went to the white glove shop for a second exchange.

The first exchange was a buy-low-sell-high transaction, and the second exchange was a buy-high-sell-low transaction. The profits were taken by the middleman, and the exchange treasury didn't suffer any losses. The real losers were the merchants and wealthy households who were forced into expropriation.

It was pretty dirty.

But it was more elegant than Shi Xun's dining style in Guangzhou, and the various operations were naturally more complicated.

The supervisor who steals from the prison is guilty of being hanged.

Hanging!

In the dead of night, Xu Lai sat in his office, staring at the accounts and lost in thought.

These are all things that happened before I took office. Should I get involved?

Regardless, he bears no responsibility.

If we take charge, then so be it; it's just a matter of offending people.

Young people like to meddle in other people's business, which is normal, especially since it is indeed one of Xu Lai's duties.

The original contract was definitely not in the signing hall, but the hall kept relevant transaction records on file. Xu Lai held up the oil lamp and slowly searched through the records, finding them one by one.

After collecting all the evidence, he wrote a letter of accusation to the Transport Commissioner's Office.

Of course, Xu Lai wouldn't send it directly, but would first contact Lü Jujian and Gong Dingchen, who were in the process of handing over the work.

Even a naive newbie needs strategy.

Xu Lai barely slept, staying up until dawn before heading to the government office, yawning.

"My lords, please take a look at this." Xu Lai handed over the unusual accounts, transaction records, and a letter of complaint.

When Lü Jujian saw those things, his expression clearly froze for a moment.

Does this really need to be reported?

There was no loss of public funds; we only made money off those businessmen and wealthy individuals.

Lü Jujian felt that Xu Lai was making a mountain out of a molehill.

This kind of thing is very common, and Lü Jujian had long been aware of it, but he just turned a blind eye.

Gong Dingchen said nothing else, only reminding him: "Feng Zirong, the Vice Prefect of Yingtian Prefecture, was a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) in the second year of the Jiayou era. His transfer to Yingtian Prefecture this time was recommended by Prime Minister Ouyang."

All the Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) of the second year of the Jiayou era (1096) regarded Ouyang Xiu as their mentor.

It's perfectly normal for Ouyang Xiu to recommend this person.

If the person recommended commits a crime, the recommender will be held jointly liable. If the supervisor himself steals, he should be hanged; why not hang Ouyang Xiu too?

What a load of crap!

It was nothing more than fining the offender copper coins and salary, and then demoting him/her.

As for Ouyang Xiu, he would at most be criticized.

However, it seems that Puyi is coming soon. Xu Lai's letter of denunciation is tantamount to providing Sima Guang with firepower support.

It's so hard to be an incorruptible official.

Xu Lai hadn't even officially taken office yet when he discovered corrupt officials during the handover process and, out of a sense of duty, reported them, which inadvertently offended Ouyang Xiu, who had been kind to him.

Moreover, it will also be drawn into the struggle between the two sides!

Those in positions of power must fulfill their responsibilities; there are certain things that must be done.

If we don't even dare to do this, how can we reform the law in the future?

Xu Lai said to Gong Dingchen, "Mr. Gong, when I took the exam for the Guangzhou Prefectural School, I summarized the Three Cardinal Guides and Eight Items in my essay."

"To cultivate virtue, sincerity, and a righteous heart—these are principles I must adhere to. Investigating and resolving matters of the prefecture is my duty. To turn a blind eye would be disloyal to the emperor and unkind to the people. I would lose my integrity and be unable to stand tall as a person."

Gong Dingchen sighed.

He couldn't persuade the young people, and now he had to clean up their messes.

This young man was incredibly cunning. He spoke with great righteousness, but in reality, he just wanted him to clean up his mess.

Xu Lai himself didn't want to make things worse.

Otherwise, the official letter of complaint could have been sent directly; why bother coming all the way to the government office?

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