Chapter 175: Chief of the Jinbu Division

The distribution of disaster relief supplies has come to an end. Except for Zhao Sicheng who temporarily stayed in Long'an County with Song Mian to deal with the aftermath, the rest of the people returned to Longchang Academy.

When Murong Jing proposed to take A Jiang away, Duan Wenqing was a little hesitant at first, but considering that A Jiang was a girl after all, it might be inconvenient for her to follow him, and that if she followed Ouyang Ye and his group, she might be able to enter Longchang Academy when she grew up, so he agreed.

Everyone didn't understand why Murong Jing insisted on taking A Jiang away, but Murong Jing was unwilling to say more.

As soon as they returned to the academy, everyone felt a strange atmosphere, which was very different from the past.

Zhu Lan stopped a passing student and asked what happened.

"Teacher Zhu." The student bowed to her with admiration, then pointed in the direction of Wulei Pavilion and said, "Nothing special, just the Mathematics Society..."

Qiao Youyou behind him immediately asked nervously: "What happened to the Mathematics Society?"

The student stammered and couldn't explain clearly, and Qiao Youyou became even more anxious. At this time, she saw a man who looked like a eunuch walking straight towards them from the direction of Wulei Pavilion.

In a thin but steady voice, he asked, "Who is Qiao Youyou?"

Qiao Youyou pointed at herself in confusion.

The eunuch nodded slightly to her and said, "Come with us." Then he took her to Wulei Pavilion.

Zhu Lan didn't know what had happened and looked at Ouyang Ye, but Ouyang Ye didn't look surprised. He announced that everyone else could go back to the study or go home to rest, leaving only Zhu Lan.

"Dean Ouyang, what exactly happened?" Zhu Lan followed behind Ouyang Ye, with many speculations in his mind.

"The matter in Long'an County is not over yet, you should know this." Ouyang Ye said as he walked.

Zhu Lan nodded.

Ouyang Ye stopped and looked at her sideways, "Have you changed your mind about what you said to me late that night?"

"No." Zhu Lan did not hesitate.

Ouyang Ye nodded approvingly, "Come in."

He pushed open a door beside him, and Yan Yuze's smiling face appeared behind the door.

…

As Qiao Youyou walked into Wulei Pavilion, her eyes widened.

There were tables in front of him, and sitting at them were all members of the Mathematics Society. Each of them had a pencil in his hand, calculating something with his head down.

The entire Wulei Pavilion was silent except for the rustling sound of pencils rubbing against paper.

What surprised Qiao Youyou even more was that the person sitting in the front row was actually Xiao Wan, who was wearing a navy blue teaching robe.

What is going on?

Just when Qiao Youyou was completely confused, Xiao Wan also saw her and said something to someone next to her.

Only then did Qiao Youyou notice that there was a man sitting next to Xiao Wan. He was about fifty years old, thin, and dressed in commoner's clothes, but very elegant.

After hearing what Xiao Wan said, the man stood up and walked towards Qiao Youyou. When he got closer to Qiao Youyou, he found that there were two dark circles under his eyes, and it was obvious that he had not slept well for several days.

The eunuch beside him was quite polite to him and introduced him, "This is the former head of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Finance, Lord Zhao Qing."

Qiao Youyou greeted him. Zhao Qing narrowed his eyes and looked at Qiao Youyou with some surprise.

"You are the one who founded this mathematics club?"

"yes."

Hearing the answer, Zhao Qing was secretly surprised.

The Ministry of Finance was in charge of reviewing the national treasury's money and cash registers, coin minting, and government orders regarding weights and measures. He had worked in the Ministry of Finance for most of his life, dealing with numbers every day, and was confident that he was an expert in this area.

He had heard before that Longchang Academy had established a mathematics society, but he never took it seriously. It was just a group of students getting together to study how to count the beads on the abacus faster. The more advanced ones would just study the "Arithmetic Classics" a few more times.

But until a few days ago, I was suddenly summoned to Longchang Academy at home.

Zhao Qing was finally able to gain some benefits, and his eyes were opened!

These young students were able to complete such complex numerical calculations without using abacus beads!

He also held that strange thing called a pencil and demonstrated some "function model" to him.

All these are fine, the most outrageous thing is that they actually have a set of self-created number system called "Arabic numerals". They can understand each other, but I am completely in the dark and can only ask for help on the spot.

Of course, these are not important. The task assigned by the prince is the most important thing.

It was not until he entered Wulei Pavilion that he knew the purpose of his visit - the Sixth Prince handed him an account book and asked him to find out all the tricks in the account book.

He had resigned from office and returned to his hometown many years ago, far away from the various factions in the court. That's why His Majesty and the prince dared to entrust such an important task to him.

Although there is only one account book, it has a huge impact on the entire system, and even relates to the tax accounts of other counties and villages in Jiangzhou. The verification work is huge. Yan Yuze did not want to involve the Ministry of Revenue, so he thought of letting Zhao Qing lead the students of the Academy of Mathematics to do this.

Of course, these accounts are all court secrets, and this work is carried out in a completely closed manner. Once entering the Wulei Pavilion, one will eat and live there, and no one is allowed to leave until all the accounts are counted.

At the same time, in order to prevent the contents of the account book from being leaked, each student was only given a part of the account book, and some irrelevant content was mixed in as a cover. After the verification was completed, the results were reported to Zhao Qing, who then summarized them.

"Youyou, you're finally back. With so many accounts, Manager Zhao and I are overwhelmed." Xiao Wan said to Qiao Youyou.

Qiao Youyou was a little surprised. Xiao Wan was not a member of the Mathematics Society, so how could she be involved in this matter?

Zhao Qing smiled and said to Qiao Youyou, "Originally, you were supposed to assist in this matter, but I heard that you went to Long'an County to provide disaster relief. I also learned from other students that Teacher Xiao also knows mathematics, and her level is quite high. That's why I asked her to come and help lead these students temporarily."

Qiao Youyou suddenly realized that although Xiao Wan was not a mathematics major, she had studied modern advanced mathematics after all. Even if Xiao Wan relied on her past achievements, it would be enough to teach the students in the academy.

"So what's the progress now?" Qiao Youyou asked.

Xiao Wan looked serious and said that it was almost in the final stage.

After all, she is not as professional as Qiao Youyou and Zhao Qing. Her job is mainly to spot check and verify whether there are any major errors in the students' calculation results.

"Now that Instructor Qiao is back, Instructor Xiao can have a good rest. He has been too hard-working these days, and I can't bear it..." Zhao Qing wiped the sweat from his forehead. With dark circles under his eyes, he saw Qiao Youyou as if he had seen a savior.

This girl Xiao was really desperate when it came to calculating. Many times, in the middle of the night when even the dogs were asleep, she would come and knock on my door to discuss the plan with me.

Who understands!!!

If this continues, Zhao Qing feels that he will soon sacrifice his life for the country at his age.

Xiao Wan shook her head and said seriously that more people would mean more strength. Since she had participated in it, she must see it through to the end and do a good job together with everyone.