The low-key prince summons trainees from the Imperial Household Department at the start of the game.

After the meeting of the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner's Office adjourned, Duan Xi did not return to his residence by sedan chair as usual.

Instead, he sat alone in the duty room, holding a cup of tea that had long since gone cold, and remained motionless for a long time.

The spring rain outside the window was falling softly, making a dull sound as it pattered on the banana leaves.

His fingers slowly caressed the rim of the teacup, his knuckles turning slightly white.

Xu Jie's words still echoed clearly in his ears.

"Several accounts seem to be somewhat related to the Provincial Surveillance Commission."

This is a threat, a blatant threat.

But what truly unsettled Duan Xi was not the threat itself.

He served as the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner in Jiangxi for more than ten years.

I've been threatened so many times I can't even count them on two hands.

He always handled it with ease.

Whether by pressuring, pulling, or striking, things can always be resolved.

But this time is different.

Xu Jie had been silently observing him in Jiangxi for several years, ever since he was demoted to Jiangxi to serve as a censor.

This person's reputation in official circles is always that of an "honest man," "easy-going," and "mediocre."

He always greets everyone with a smile and never refuses anyone's request, but he never actually does anything for anyone.

He once suspected that Xu Jie was a mole for some force in the capital, but after investigating for several years without finding anything, he gradually relaxed his vigilance.

until today.

Xu Jie, in front of him, spoke the harshest words in the gentlest tone and with the most respectful attitude.

This is not an honest person.

This is a venomous snake that has been lying dormant for many years. When it does move, it strikes directly at the vital points.

Duan Xi took a deep breath, slammed the teacup down on the table, and called out towards the door, "Please invite Prefect Ma to come to the residence for a chat."

Before long, Ma Wencai, the prefect of Nanchang, rushed over.

As soon as he entered, he hurriedly asked, "Lord Duan, what did Xu Jie say? Is he willing to suppress my brother-in-law's case?"

Duan Xi didn't answer, but simply pointed to the chair opposite him and told him to sit down.

Then he recounted his conversation with Xu Jie verbatim.

Ma Wencai's face grew paler and paler as he listened, until he heard Xu Jie say, "There seem to be some accounts that are also related to the Provincial Surveillance Commission."

He slammed his hand on the table and stood up abruptly, his voice trembling slightly with anger: "How dare he! He's just a newly appointed deputy provincial inspector, does he really think he's some kind of extraordinary person?"

"If he dares to report this to the capital, I'll make him regret it!"

Duan Xi suddenly sighed and said slowly in a tired and aged voice, "Wencai, we have worked together in Jiangxi for many years, and there are some things I will not hide from you."

"We have all misjudged Xu Jie. He has been biding his time for many years, and now he strikes with deadly moves. He is no ordinary person."

"He's investigating your brother-in-law's case; he must have something deeper behind him."

"Without His Majesty's tacit approval and the support of powerful figures in the court, he would never dare to be so reckless."

"What you and I have done over the years cannot withstand scrutiny. If he really investigates all the way through, it won't just be about your brother-in-law's few acres of land."

"But the more this is the case, the less we should act impulsively."

"Since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Emperor Taizu established an ironclad rule that any official appointed by the court, regardless of rank, who is murdered without cause shall be thoroughly investigated and never tolerated."

"You know the weight of this ironclad rule."

Ma Wencai opened his mouth, but didn't say anything.

He certainly knew the weight of this ironclad rule.

The Great Zhou Dynasty has existed for three hundred years, and it's not uncommon for officials to die in office.

However, every official who dies under abnormal circumstances will be subject to the strictest investigation by the imperial court.

This is not a matter for the Ministry of Personnel, nor for the Ministry of Justice, but for that shadow office directly under the emperor.

Wind Patrol Guard!

He took over personally.

Emperor Taizu conquered this vast empire on horseback and knew that officials were the foundation of the court.

He once erected an iron stele in the Imperial Ancestral Temple, on which were engraved sixteen large vermilion characters.

"Killing an official is like killing my own son; harming an official is like injuring my own arm. Those who commit this offense will be executed along with their entire family; those who conceal it will be punished equally."

This iron stele still stands in the main hall of the Imperial Ancestral Temple behind the Qianyuan Hall.

For three hundred years, no one has dared to question its significance.

The Ningzhou family annihilation case is a bloody lesson that Jiangxi's officialdom can never forget.

More than 30 years ago, when the prefect of Ningzhou was handling a land dispute, he discovered that the local powerful family, the Sun family, had embezzled farmland and set up a private court.

He refused to accept the Sun family's banknotes and instead reported the case to the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner's Office.

Enraged, the Sun family spent a large sum of money to bribe a third-rate sect in the martial arts world.

Martial Arts Gang!

They set up an ambush on the prefect's inspection route through the countryside.

The prefect and his party of seven, along with the sedan chair bearers and attendants, were all killed, and their bodies were thrown into a mountain stream.

The words on the iron stele of Emperor Taizu were not carved on the stele for people to see.

When news of the prefect's murder reached the capital, the late emperor was furious and immediately issued an edict.

Two battalions of troops from Ningzhou Prefecture, totaling three thousand elite soldiers, were mobilized and placed under the direct command of the Xunfeng Guard to completely surround the Wugong Gang's headquarters.

The entire Wugong Gang, numbering in the hundreds, was wiped out, from the gang leader to the lowest servant.

The gang leader's head was displayed on the city wall of Ningzhou for three days, and his body was thrown into the same mountain stream.

And local officials who are associated with the Sun family.

From the prefectural judge of Ningzhou to the deputy provincial judge of Jiangxi, all those who had accepted money from the Sun family were dismissed, arrested, and exiled to the northern border as soldiers.

All adult male members of the Sun family were beheaded, and the female members were exiled to the border as slaves.

From then on, the local bullies in Jiangxi understood a principle.

No matter how powerful a martial arts sect is, it can't be stronger than an army.

No matter how powerful local forces are, they cannot surpass the imperial power.

A ninth-rank martial artist can take on a hundred opponents, but what if three thousand armored soldiers surround you with impenetrable defenses, and powerful crossbows are pointed at your head from all directions?

Your martial arts skills, which claim you can take on a hundred men, are nothing more than fish on a chopping board.

Another more recent example is Nankang Prefecture twelve years ago.

The magistrate of Nankang County was a young scholar who came from a poor family. He hated evil and, upon taking office, he uncovered a major case involving collusion between the registrar of the Nankang prefectural government and local salt smugglers.

The registrar was from the Wu family, a prominent local clan in Nankang. The Wu family was related to the prefect of Nankang by marriage and had been operating in Nankang for decades, their network of relationships as intricate as a spider web.

They first sent someone to bribe the magistrate of Nankang County, but he refused. Then they sent someone to threaten him. Unexpectedly, the young magistrate not only didn't fall for it, but also sent the threatening letter directly to the Xunfeng Guard.

The Wu family panicked and took a desperate gamble, sending someone to sneak into the back hall of the county government office and poison the magistrate's tea. The magistrate died on the spot after drinking it.

Within seven days, the patrol guards took up positions in Nankang, not only apprehending the poisoner but also uprooting the entire Wu family.

All of the Wu family's dozens of shops in Nankang were seized, and more than ten family members who held official positions in various places were all apprehended.

They could be killed, demoted, or exiled.

The prefect of Nankang, who had protected the Wu family through marriage, was dismissed from his post, arrested, had his property confiscated, and was exiled to Qiongzhou, where he died on the way.

This case was talked about in Jiangxi for a long time, and from then on, the local bullies in Jiangxi no longer dared to easily plot against officials.

Killing someone is easy, but the price of bringing down an entire family after killing a high-ranking official is something no one dares to easily bear.

Duan Xi went through these old stories in his mind and slowly said, "Xu Jie is fearless because he knows we dare not touch him."

"Not only do we dare not touch him, but we also dare not touch the people around him, because if we do, what comes will not be the Deputy Inspector, but the Imperial Guard, the army, and the iron hooves of the imperial court."

"The reason we've been able to maintain our foothold in Jiangxi over the years isn't because of our strength, but because of our sense of propriety. We need to know what we can and cannot do."

Ma Wencai remained silent for a long time, then picked up his teacup, took a sip of cold tea, and his hand was still trembling slightly when he put the teacup down.

He asked if he should be allowed to investigate and bring up all the old accounts.

Duan Xi walked to the window and looked at the rain that was getting heavier and heavier outside. He reached out and caught a few drops on the back of his wrinkled hand. His voice was low and tired: "Let him investigate, but let him know that he is not playing this game in Jiangxi alone."

"If he reopens your case, you should cooperate with his investigation, submit the required materials, and admit any wrongdoings you should have made."

"It's just a matter of a few acres of land. At worst, you can have your brother-in-law return the land and pay some compensation."

"But our foundation is not just a few acres of land, but our connections in Jiangxi's officialdom, and our protégés and former subordinates in various prefectures and counties."

"These are not things that Xu Jie can change in a short time. What we need to do now is not to confront them head-on, but to muddy the waters so that he cannot find out the real key points."

Meanwhile, in the back hall of the Yangzhou government office.

Lu Zhi was sitting in his office reviewing today's tax accounts.

A light drizzle fell outside the window, and raindrops dripped from the eaves onto the bluestone slabs, making a crisp, pattering sound.

A thick stack of account books lay before him, each one left behind by the previous magistrate.

The densely packed numbers on it record the annual tax revenue and expenditure of Yangzhou Prefecture.

He served as the county magistrate of Jiangdu for many years and his keen insight into tax accounts far surpassed that of ordinary people.

He had only been flipping through these ledgers for a little over half an hour when he discovered several things that didn't seem right.

Several data points regarding losses in canal transport were nearly double the normal values, while the corresponding transport records showed no abnormalities.

Where did the extra grain go? The answer is obvious.

There was a knock on the door.

He looked up and saw Sun Nian, the prefect of Yangzhou, standing at the door, holding several account books in his hands, with a fawning smile on his face.

Sun Nian said he had brought the salt and iron tax accounts that the lord had requested, and praised Lord Lu for his swift and decisive actions upon taking office, which truly impressed him.

Lu Zhi took the account book but did not look at it. He simply placed it on the corner of the table, leaned back in his chair, and looked him over. Suddenly, he asked, "When the former Assistant Magistrate was demoted to Qiongzhou, Magistrate Sun must have done a lot of work."

Sun Nian's expression changed drastically, and the smile on his face froze like a shattered mask.

He forced a smile and said, "Lord Lu is joking. The former Assistant Magistrate was demoted by the Ministry of Personnel for failing to properly audit the accounts. What does it have to do with me?"

Lu Zhi took a stack of letters out of the drawer and placed them on the table.

This is a handwritten letter from the former Tongzhi to him in Qiongzhou, which details how the former Tongpan colluded with the Cao Zhifu back then.

They tampered with the accounts of losses in the canal transport to embezzle taxes, and then, after he discovered the clues, they preemptively accused him of negligence in auditing the accounts.

Every penny in the letter was documented, and every name was clearly recorded.

He asked Sun Nian if he wanted him to read it aloud in front of him.

Sun Nian subconsciously took a step back, tripped on the threshold with his left foot, and staggered, almost falling over.

He hurriedly lowered his head and said, "This humble official has official duties to attend to and cannot stay any longer."

He took a few steps back, turned around, and walked away quickly. His figure walked faster and faster in the corridor, and finally he almost ran away and disappeared around the corner of the back hall.

Lu Zhi did not get up to see him off, but simply folded the letters again and put them back in the drawer.

Then he picked up his pen and wrote a line in the blank space of the canal transport loss account in front of him.

"The losses in the canal transport are abnormal, and there is suspicion of collusion among insiders. I request that Prefect Cao take a look and review all canal transport documents from the past three years to verify them one by one."

He put down his pen and leaned back in his chair. The spring rain outside the window was gradually stopping, and a ray of sunlight peeked through the clouds, shining on the old locust tree in the yard that was glistening from the rain.

He knew that Sun Nian wouldn't sit idly by and wait for his death, and Cao Wenzhong wouldn't easily let him continue the investigation.

But so what?

Since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Emperor Taizu established an ironclad rule.

Killing an official is like killing my own son; harming an official is like injuring my own arm. Those who commit offenses will be executed along with their entire families; those who conceal such offenses will be punished equally.

These twenty characters are engraved on the iron stele in the Imperial Ancestral Temple, and also on the spine of every local official.

As long as he maintains his integrity, no one will dare to touch him.