Hot flashes

Chen Shen came in from outside and closed the door. Zhou Heng looked up; he had walked in quickly and was still breathing heavily.

"Young master, there's news from Xuzhou."

Zhou Heng put down his pen. Chen Shen walked to the desk and took out a folded piece of paper from his pocket.

It was Zhao Ting's handwriting. After Zhou Heng finished reading, he brought the paper close to the candlelight. The flame licked the edge of the paper, causing it to curl up, turn black, become brittle, and finally turn into ashes, falling next to the inkstone.

Chen Shen waited a while, and seeing that he didn't speak, he asked in a low voice, "Young Master, should we investigate that Qi Luan?"

Zhou Heng shook his head. "Investigating him is useless."

Chen Shen was taken aback.

After that day, Zhou Heng no longer went to the Ministry of Works to review old files, nor did he go to the Ministry of Revenue to check accounts. He continued to go to the Hanlin Academy for his daily duties as usual, but he began to frequently visit the Grand Secretariat.

The cabinet was located in the Wenyuan Pavilion, right next to the imperial city, and was where court officials discussed matters.

Zhou Heng didn't usually go, but during those days, he went almost every afternoon. Sometimes he would stay for half an hour, sometimes for an hour.

Chen Shen asked him what he was doing, and he replied, "I'm going to chat with someone."

Zhou Heng was indeed chatting. He chatted with the senior officials in the cabinet, with the secretaries in the Imperial Secretariat, and with the junior clerks responsible for copying documents.

The conversation covered a wide range of topics—this year's harvest, last year's floods, the border troubles of the year before. It included which county magistrate was promoted, which prefecture's governor was demoted, and which state's garrison was rotated.

Seeing his amiable demeanor and knowing he was someone close to the Emperor, those people were naturally willing to say a few more words. They were talking about gossip that couldn't be heard in the court.

Over the course of a few days, the image in his mind became clearer and clearer.

He obtained the accounts of the Xuzhou granary through a secretary in the Imperial Secretariat.

The secretary in the Imperial Secretariat, surnamed Fang, was in his forties and had served in the Wenyuan Pavilion for over a decade, overseeing the reports on money and grain submitted from various regions. Zhou Heng had chatted with him a few times and discovered that this man had a quirk—he loved wine.

After a few drinks, he started talking nonsense.

Zhou Heng first chatted casually for a while, and then casually brought up the matter of the Ministry of Revenue's accounting last year, saying that the people in the Ministry of Revenue couldn't even match up a single number, and he didn't know if they had bad eyesight or bad brains.

Fang Sheren, half-drunk, was amused by his words and said that the people in the Ministry of Revenue not only couldn't match the accounts, but they couldn't even read the account books completely.

The grain warehouse accounts reported by Xuzhou two years ago did not match the figures in the Ministry of Revenue's archives; there was a discrepancy of 20,000 shi (a unit of dry measure). When the Ministry of Revenue officials went to Xuzhou to demand an explanation, Xuzhou claimed it was a clerical error, submitted a new report, and thus smoothed things over.

Zhou Heng asked, "A difference of 20,000 shi (a unit of dry measure)? Are you just going to cover it up like this?"

Fang, the regent, waved his hand. "What's 20,000 shi? It's not the first time. The year before last, it was this much short, and last year it was even more short. But so what? The figures reported by Xuzhou every year are always full, and the figures verified by the Ministry of Revenue every year are always correct. As for where those 20,000 shi went—"

He didn't finish his sentence, but picked up his glass and took another sip.

Zhou Heng didn't ask any more questions. He poured Fang Sheren a full glass of wine and chatted about other things for a few more minutes.

After leaving Wenyuan Pavilion, Zhou Heng stood in the corridor for a while.

Twenty thousand shi. The year before last, there was a shortfall of twenty thousand shi, and last year the shortfall was even greater. The figures reported by Xuzhou every year were full, and the figures verified by the Ministry of Revenue every year were also correct. Where did the grain in between go? No one asked, and no one investigated.

Even if they find out, it's useless. Even if they arrest Qi Luan, he can just say it was a clerical error, a mistake during copying. What can the court do to him? Fine him? Demote him? Transfer him?

Then a new prefect arrives, new account books, new figures, and everything starts from scratch. Those 20,000 shi of grain are simply treated as if they never existed.

Zhou Heng walked back to the Hanlin Academy and sat in the duty room for the entire afternoon.

Then he had someone write down, one by one, the good deeds Qi Luan had done in Xuzhou in a memorial to the emperor.

Please commend me.

Since taking office, Qi Luan, the prefect of Xuzhou, has rectified official corruption, surveyed land, repaired water conservancy projects, and pacified the people. Within three years, no one in Xuzhou picked up lost items on the road, and doors were left unlocked at night. He can be called the most upright official in the land.

After he finished writing, he sealed the memorial and sent it to the Office of Transmission. The person in the Office of Transmission took it, glanced at the signature, then at the contents, and hesitated for a moment.

"Lord Zhou, this..."

Zhou Heng said, "Pass it on truthfully."

The officials of the Ministry of Justice dared not ask any further questions and accepted the memorial.

This memorial was held by the Office of Transmission for three days before being sent to the Grand Secretariat on the fourth day. The Grand Secretaries circulated it through the document and looked at each other in bewilderment.

After reading it, Shen Yu said nothing and put the memorial back on the table.

"Let's draft the ballots as usual," he said.

The term "draft proposal" means that the cabinet provides its proposed solution, which is then presented to the emperor along with the memorial to the throne.

The cabinet's proposal was simple: Qi Luan's political achievements were outstanding and he should be commended. He was to be assessed by the Ministry of Personnel and promoted to Provincial Surveillance Commissioner of Jiangnan Circuit.

When the draft document was presented to Xiao Jue, Xiao Jue was reviewing other memorials. He picked up the document, glanced at it, and then glanced at the signature.

Then he put down his pen and set the folding paper aside.

"Stay in China," he said.

The eunuch responded and put the folded paper away.

When the news spread, many people didn't understand. What was the point of keeping a prefect of Xuzhou in office, whether or not he was promoted to provincial inspector?

Qi Luan waited in Xuzhou for half a month, but instead of receiving an imperial edict of promotion, he received a secret decree.

The secret edict, written in Xiao Jue's own hand, bypassed the cabinet and went directly to Qi Luan. It stated that someone had reported discrepancies in the accounts of the Xuzhou granary, and Qi Luan was instructed to cooperate in the investigation and deliver the original granary accounts to the capital within three days.