Imperial henchmen? My divine skills are all hacked versions.

Xu Xian did not join Yang Xu in acting recklessly, not because he was petty or had a problem with Yang Xu.

Yang Xu's approach of "sealing up all account books and isolating all officials" works in routine cases—isolate people, break through them one by one, and eventually one of them will reveal a flaw.

But the tax and banking case is different.

Someone who dares to tamper with the Ministry of Revenue's accounts is unlikely to break down in the interrogation room.

The facts proved his judgment: Yang Xu interrogated for most of the day, and all eight testimonies were watertight, with not a single stutter.

These people didn't coordinate their stories on the spot; they had been trained beforehand.

So he changed his approach.

...

The Ministry of Revenue's archives are located in a two-story building behind the Department of Finance. Pushing open the heavy wooden door, the smell of dust and old papers hits you.

The official in charge of accompanying them was a thin man in his early thirties, surnamed Sun, with a worried expression.

"Lord Xu, I'm just an employee, please don't make things difficult for me!"

"Don't worry, if you're obedient, I won't make things difficult for you."

Xu first asked him to retrieve all the tax and silver transportation records for the entire previous year. Chief Clerk Sun paused for a moment, then pointed to the row of wooden shelves against the wall in the archives.

"Sir, last year's transport records—they're about half a person's height."

"Move everything over here."

"Me alone?"

Xu raised an eyebrow. "Are you the only one in the Ministry of Revenue?"

Manager Sun called two servants to help, and the three of them carried the load for almost half an hour.

Inbound slips, outbound slips, transport slips, and receipts from various local customs offices were piled up on the long table in front of Xu Xian, stacked up to about half a person's height.

After moving the last box, Manager Sun dusted off his hands and cautiously began to speak.

"Sir, would you like me to help you translate?"

Xu waved his hand.

"Go about your own business, I'll call you if I need anything."

Sun, the steward, left with a sigh of relief, and thoughtfully placed an extra oil lamp on the table before he left.

Xu began turning the pages one by one, using his left hand to turn the pages and his right hand to hold the pen, his eyes scanning from left to right as he turned the pages and continued scanning.

He doesn't need to read every word; his eyes automatically filter out all the formatted platitudes and repetitive information, only capturing numbers, dates, names, places, and contradictions.

He flipped through the stacks of files, which were half his height, from morning till afternoon. Several times, he instinctively reached into his pocket to touch the Liqun cigarettes, but couldn't find a single one. He sighed repeatedly.

  

Sun, the steward, came in twice to bring tea, and each time the scene was exactly the same: Xu Xian was in the same posture, turning pages with his left hand and taking notes with his right, with a small stack of boxes he had already turned over piled up at his feet.

Manager Sun put down his teacup and quietly withdrew, muttering something to his colleague in the corridor.

"The new inspector is a tough guy; he rummaged through a box and a half in half a day."

His colleague gasped: "A box and a half? Was he flipping through books or accounts?"

"He flips through the accounts faster than I can read a book. I don't really believe it. Either he's faking it, or..."

...

As darkness fell, Xu Xian closed the last transport record, leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and rubbed his temples. In his mind, he had already strung together the transport data for all twelve months of last year into a single line.

Then he reopened the October shipping and receiving records and laid them side by side on the table. The shipping records were written clearly:

The tax silver in October was transported from Jingxi, in twelve carts, each carrying five thousand taels of silver, for a total of sixty thousand taels.

The departure date of the caravan, the rest stops along the way, and the date of its arrival in the capital are all verifiable.

However, the warehouse entry record only shows ten carts, which is two carts short. If each cart carries five thousand taels of silver, then the two carts short would amount to ten thousand taels!

The number of duplicate entries he found in the ledger was exactly twelve thousand taels—the figures roughly matched.

The difference of two thousand taels was mostly due to normal losses during transportation, which were embezzled by the person doing the accounting.

He flicked the paper in his hand, chuckled, clipped the two records together, stood up, and walked toward the interrogation room.

-

Yang Xu was being besieged by officials from the Ministry of Revenue and was in a terrible predicament.

Although Mok effectively deflected his impeachment, the pressure remained.

The people in the Ministry of Revenue were very shrewd. They didn't dare to openly defy the imperial decree, so they used a war of attrition—one group argued with him, another group waited outside the interrogation room to pass on messages to him, and a third group spread rumors outside that "Yang Xu, the commander of the Inspection Department, abused his power."

When Xu Xian pushed open the door, Yang Xu was surrounded by two officials from the Ministry of Revenue. The interrogation record in his hand was covered in red comments, and he looked like a bear trapped in a cage.

"Tsk... What did you find out?"

Yang Xu's tone was not very friendly when he saw Xu enter.

Xu Xian didn't pay any attention and spread the two records on the table.

"The tax silver in October was transported from Jingxi. The transport record shows twelve carts, and the warehouse record shows ten carts. Two carts are missing. If each cart carries five thousand taels of silver, then the missing two carts would amount to ten thousand taels."

"When I checked the account books, I found a duplicate entry of 12,000 taels of silver. The amount roughly matches up. The whereabouts of these two carts of silver is the key to solving the tax silver case."

Yang Xu was taken aback, then suddenly stood up and picked up the transportation record, reading it three times from beginning to end.

The two officials from the Ministry of Revenue also came over to see what was written in the record. Yang Xu pulled the record toward himself, glared at them sideways, and the two sheepishly shrank back.

He looked up at Xu Xian, and for the first time, the scrutiny in his eyes turned into surprise.

He worked at the headquarters for more than a decade, handling no fewer than a hundred cases and having supervised at least several dozen inspectors.

Never before has a newcomer, never before has a junior officer, been able to find a crucial clue in a pile of files half a person's height on the very first day!

"Tsk... How did you find out?"

Xu Xian still blamed the deceased old man.

"Back in Tiemenguan, I had to help Lord Cao check the accounts every month. After seeing so many discrepancies between the transportation records and the warehouse records, I naturally developed a feel for them."

Yang Xu squinted at him for a few moments, then threw the interrogation record, which had been thoroughly criticized by officials from the Ministry of Revenue, onto the table, scattering the pages everywhere.

"Tsk...that's a bit clever."

Xu Xian smiled but didn't reply. It didn't matter if he was stubborn; his eyes had already betrayed him.

...

When Xu Xian left the headquarters that evening, it was already completely dark. He stretched his stiff neck and walked towards his alley, his mind still preoccupied with the two cartloads of missing tax silver.

The transport records clearly state that the convoy stopped at Jingzhou Post Station for an extra day, which is the next area he needs to investigate.

As he approached the alley entrance, he heard a rustling sound. Instinctively, he pressed his hand on the hilt of his knife and looked closely—Zhang Hu and Zhao Bao were squatting at his doorstep, one leaning against the doorframe yawning, and the other teasing ants with a blade of grass.

Seeing Xu Xian return, the two of them stood up at the same time to greet him, smiling.

"Why are you two squatting here?" Xu Xian looked them up and down.

"Wait for Brother Xu."

Zhang Hu chuckled. "I have good news."

"What good news?"

Zhang Hu puffed out his chest, rolled up his sleeves to reveal the muscle definition in his arms, and said, "I've reached the first level of Body Tempering today."

"Me too!"

Zhao Bao also came over and rolled up his sleeves, "Look, look!"

Xu Xian raised an eyebrow. These two were just ordinary people without any cultivation level when they were at Iron Gate Pass. After fighting alongside him in the Green Wolf Forest, they began to cultivate relentlessly...

Moreover, he had obtained a lot of medicine for these two guys a couple of days ago, and it was only a matter of time before they were approved for use, but he didn't expect to see results so quickly.

"Thanks to Brother Xu for getting us the medicinal bath from Lord Mo..."

Zhang Hu scratched the back of his head, looking unusually embarrassed.

"Although it's only the first level of Body Tempering, far inferior to you, Brother Xu, it's still an entry-level achievement. At least I won't be a hindrance during patrols and fights in the future."

"So we're going to treat Brother Xu to drinks!" Zhao Bao chimed in, rubbing his hands together with a grin.

Xu Xian chuckled and put his arm around the two of them.

These two followed him from the Iron Gate Pass to the capital, and worked their way up from ordinary people to the entry-level. Although the first level of Body Tempering is indeed considered the bottom among martial artists, it was a qualitative change for them.

"You two are part of Lord Cao's dowry, so naturally I have to take care of you. Forget about drinking, tomorrow I..."

"Let's go to Taibai Tower!"

Upon hearing Zhang Hu's words, Xu Xian paused for a fraction of a second in mid-air, then naturally changed direction, his hands on their shoulders pulling them forward.

"I don't have much to do tomorrow, and since you two are so kind, I can't refuse you. After all, we're brothers who came out of prison together, so let's go!"

Zhang Hu and Zhao Bao exchanged a glance and chuckled.

They know Xu Xian too well.

The name Taibai Tower was mentioned by Liu Shan to Xu Xian a few days ago at the martial arts training ground—it's the largest brothel in the capital, full of courtesans who, it's said, sell their art but not their bodies, and each one is exceptionally beautiful.

At the time, Liu Shan was talking animatedly, while Xu Xian stood beside him wiping his knife with a blank expression, seemingly not listening at all.

But as old acquaintances, the two naturally knew that Xu Xian must have taken it to heart.