Da Ming: The system granted me immortality; I clock in every day.

Upon hearing this, Jian Yi's heart skipped a beat.

Gu Yannian ignored the reactions of the crowd.

He took out a thin, blue booklet from his wide sleeves and presented it with both hands.

"For the past six months, I have been reviewing the reports on fire losses, post station expenses, and carriage and horse losses submitted by prefectures and counties throughout the country every night, and I have noticed a strange thing."

Gu Yannian's voice was not loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears.

"Dezhou Garrison in Shandong reported a complete crop failure in its military farms. However, in the past three months, the number of horses that have been replaced at post stations along the official road from Dezhou to Jiangnan, as well as the wear and tear on axles of civilian carts, has been more than three times greater than in previous years when there was a bumper harvest."

A cold smile appeared on Gu Yannian's lips.

"If there was a complete crop failure, where did the local area get such a massive amount of goods that needed to be transported south day and night?"

The hall fell silent instantly.

The tedious and boring expenses of post stations and the damage to carriages and horses would make even an ordinary official dizzy just by looking at them.

Who would have thought that this prime minister could rely on his terrifying intellect?

By meticulously piecing together these vast accounts, such an astonishing truth has been revealed!

Cold sweat beaded on Jian Yi's forehead, but he forced himself to remain calm and said:

"Prime Minister Gu, how can you determine the whereabouts of military provisions based solely on the loss of carts and horses? Don't speak recklessly!"

Gu Yannian was not angry; he simply turned slightly to look at Jian Yi.

"Minister Jian is right; everything requires evidence. Therefore, half a month ago, under the pretext of inspecting the waterways, I dispatched Chen Jian, the top scholar of this department, along with ten capable clerks, to secretly infiltrate Shandong for an undercover investigation."

Gu Yannian turned to face the dragon throne, his voice resounding.

"Your Majesty has investigated and found that the fertile fields of the Dezhou Garrison have long been privately divided up by local powerful families and the garrison commanders, becoming their private property."

"They resold all of this year's autumn grain to grain merchants in the south of the Yangtze River, making huge profits."

"Now that there is a food shortage at the border, they are trying to cover it up by falsely reporting a disaster, attempting to swindle the imperial court out of disaster relief funds, and then buy the grain back from Jiangnan, making a fortune off the national crisis!"

These words struck the entire court like a thunderbolt.

Zhu Zhanji flew into a rage and kicked over the imperial desk in front of him.

"How dare they! They actually dare to target the border troops' rations! These traitors who deceive the emperor, I will exterminate their entire clan!"

"Your Majesty, please calm your anger."

Gu Yannian cupped his hands in greeting.

"This case involves a wide range of people, and the Shandong officials are all in cahoots. Your Majesty has already ordered Chen Jian to search the account books in Dezhou Prefecture. Judging by the time, the irrefutable evidence should be delivered to the capital by tomorrow at the latest."

Jian Yi's legs were already weak at this point.

The Shandong Provincial Governor was his prized student.

If the account books are confiscated, pulling out the radish will bring out the mud along with it.

Even as the Minister of Personnel, he couldn't escape being implicated!

No!

We absolutely cannot let that ledger enter the capital alive!

After the court session, Jian Yi returned to his residence in a daze and immediately summoned his confidants.

He secretly ordered them to send a message by carrier pigeon to their accomplices in Texas.

"Tell them to burn down the military granaries and government warehouses in Dezhou immediately, by whatever means necessary! Once the account books are reduced to ashes, there will be no way to prove anything."

"Gu Yannian shouldn't try to convict us based solely on the loss of our carriages and horses!"

Jian Yi's face was contorted with rage; he had fallen into a final frenzy.

Thousands of miles away, in Dezhou Prefecture, Shandong.

The night was as dark as ink, and the cold wind howled.

The commander of Dezhou Garrison and the prefect of Dezhou were terrified when they received a message by carrier pigeon from the capital.

For the past few days, Imperial Envoy Chen Jian has been like a tireless hunting dog, searching everywhere in the city.

If he were to actually uncover the ledger of spoils hidden in the secret room of the granary, they would all lose their heads.

"Burn! Immediately send men to set the granary on fire! Say that a refugee riot caused the fire and burned down the government warehouse!"

The commander issued the order fiercely.

Dozens of assassins, carrying torches, stealthily made their way to the garrison granary outside the city under the cover of darkness.

This large granary covers a vast area and is usually used to store provisions for the border troops to get through the winter.

Although they had sold out the entire stock, for the sake of appearances, a layer of old grains and thatch was still laid out on the surface.

"ignition!"

At a command, dozens of torches were thrown at the wooden beams and thatched piles surrounding the granary.

However, a bizarre scene unfolded.

The torch landed on the beam, producing only a wisp of smoke before quickly going out.

The thatch, which looked dry and flammable, was as if it had been soaked in ice water.

No matter how much oil the suicide soldiers poured, it could only ignite a brief flame, and could not spread into a raging fire.

"What's going on? Has this granary been bewitched by ghosts or spirits?!"

The leader of the assassins was terrified and broke out in a cold sweat.

Just then, countless torches suddenly lit up in the darkness surrounding the granary.

The entire granary was illuminated as brightly as day.

Three thousand fully armed elite soldiers of the Shenji Battalion surrounded the dozens of suicide soldiers as if they had descended from the heavens.

The dark muzzle of the musket exuded an aura of death.

The crowd was separated.

Chen Jian, the newly appointed top scholar in the imperial examination, is now the Director of the Shandong Provincial Department of Revenue.

Dressed in a sixth-rank blue robe, he walked out slowly, accompanied by Yu Qian, a senior official in the Ministry of War.

Chen Jian looked at the panicked assassins and sneered.

"Prime Minister Gu is a genius; he foresaw that you would resort to such despicable means as burning down the granary and destroying evidence when you were cornered. Do you know that the beams and walls of this granary were repainted with a special brine made of lime and yellow mud when it was being repaired a month ago?"

"That thatch was also soaked in alum water. With the little bit of kerosene you have, even if you burn it for three days and three nights, you won't be able to damage this granary in the slightest!"

Such fire prevention methods are nothing more than common chemical knowledge in later generations.

But in this era, under the guidance of Gu Yannian's insights that transcend a thousand years, it has become an unparalleled divine object to restrain the vicious schemes of corrupt officials!

The commander and the prefect were overseeing the battle from nearby, and now they saw that the situation was hopeless.

His legs gave way and he collapsed onto the snow.

Yu Qian shouted sternly, "Take them down! Search the ledgers in the secret room!"

The Shenji Battalion pounced like wolves and tigers, capturing all those involved in the case alive.

Half an hour later, the ironclad ledger that recorded how Shandong officials embezzled military farms, resold military rations, and divided the spoils was found intact.

Three days later, in the capital.

The sky was overcast, as if another heavy snow was brewing.

The atmosphere at the Fengtian Gate court assembly was extremely oppressive.

Gu Yannian stood at the head of all officials.

He held in his hands the account book that had been delivered to the capital overnight by the Embroidered Uniform Guard with the utmost urgency.

His expression was calm, yet he possessed an aura of authority that made people afraid to look him in the eye, as he read aloud the entries in the ledger.

"In September of the first year of the Xuande reign, Zhao, the prefect of Dezhou, resold 100,000 shi of wheat from military farms for 150,000 taels of silver. In October, Li, the commander of the Dezhou garrison, seized 30,000 mu of military farmland and converted it into his private estate..."

With each name read out, one of the officials below would tremble and break out in a cold sweat.

Gu Yannian turned to the last few pages of the account book and slowly raised his gaze.

The blame fell on Jian Yi, the Minister of Personnel, whose face was ashen.

"In November of the first year of the Xuande reign, Wang, the Shandong Provincial Governor, presented a certain mentor in the capital with 50,000 taels of silver and two boxes of antiques and calligraphy, hoping to help his Shandong colleagues pass the imperial examination in the capital."

Gu Yannian closed the account book with a dull thud, like the tolling of a death knell.

"Minister Jian, do you recognize this mentor who accepted 50,000 taels of silver?"