At the Prime Minister's residence, Li Lin was busy organizing some of the account books and materials from the Imperial Household Department that he had been sent to the National Treasury for reference.
Just then, Long Da, whom we hadn't seen for several days, suddenly came to visit with a few people.
Tell him that there is news about Zhang Liang, but it's bad news.
"Master Long, what did you say? The Zhang Liang I wanted has been detained by Lu Ying, the magistrate of Julu County?"
"Yes, Your Excellency, Long Er and Long San should have already arrived in Xianyang City with Zhang Liang by this time, but they have returned empty-handed because the magistrate is extremely cunning. No matter how they plead, the magistrate refuses to release them. Therefore, we have come to request Your Excellency's order!"
"Where are Long Er and Long San?"
"Your Excellency, I have failed in my mission. I deserve to die!"
"Your Excellency, Magistrate Zhang Ying doesn't respect you at all. When we mentioned your name, he actually hurled insults at you. I had no choice but to come back with Brother Long to report the situation!"
"Oh? Lü Ying, is that it? What a magistrate of Julu County, so arrogant!"
Li Lin was immediately furious.
He waited in Xianyang for so long, but still received no news from Zhang Liang and Xiao He.
He was extremely worried.
Unexpectedly, just when we finally got news of Zhang Liang, we were told that he had been detained.
This made him very upset.
Upon seeing this, Han Xin immediately came over and hurriedly said, "Your Excellency, why don't you let me personally lead a team to see just who this arrogant magistrate really is?"
Li Lin was puzzled by Han Xin's proactive performance. Why would the usually taciturn Han Xin volunteer today?
He smiled without saying a word. In fact, he had two considerations in mind when he volunteered this time.
On the one hand, he felt stifled staying in Xianyang and needed to go out for a walk to clear his mind.
On the other hand, he also anticipated that Li Lin was currently unable to leave, so he took the opportunity to help him by going to Julu County to bail him out.
This way, you can not only gain Li Lin's favor, but also relieve your fatigue. It's killing two birds with one stone. What a wonderful decision!
"Hmm, Han Xin, since you want to go in person, then go. But before you go, I'll give you a group of men, five hundred cavalry. If the magistrate dares to refuse to hand over the people, you can kill him on the spot. Remember, you must kill him on the spot, in front of everyone."
"Does Your Excellency mean that the students should bring Zhang Liang back to Xianyang at all costs?"
"Hmm! As the saying goes, it's easy to find a thousand soldiers but hard to find a general. Zhang Liang, Zhang Zifang, is a genius of our time. I could talk to you about his abilities for three days and three nights and still not finish. You must ensure his safety. As for that dog of a magistrate, just kill him. You are my student. I'll see who in the court dares to touch you!"
"Yes, sir, I will definitely bring Zhang Zifang back to Xianyang City safely!"
"good!"
Li Lin nodded with great satisfaction. He was busy converting money into cash for the national treasury and didn't have a moment to spare. Otherwise, he would have gone to Julu County himself.
They rescued Zhang Liang.
Perhaps in that case, Zhang Liang's attitude towards him would definitely be much better than when Han Xin rescued him.
"Long Da, go to the palace immediately and ask His Majesty to allocate five hundred iron cavalry to me!"
"promise!"
He waved his sleeve, and after arranging things properly, he devoted himself to studying the Qin Dynasty's past expenditures.
And how the national treasury's money is used.
On his desk lay a pile of account books from over the years, covered in dust on the bamboo slips. Some of the slips had been bitten by insects, leaving numerous tiny holes on their surface.
Besides these, there were also some whitish bamboo slips, which were most likely left on the shelf during the humid season and had absorbed some moisture from the return journey.
So it looks a bit pale, and when you touch it, it feels cool and sticky.
He spread out the bamboo slips one by one.
The bamboo slips contain records of the national treasury expenditures over the course of more than thirty years, from the third year of Qin Shi Huang's reign to the seventh month of summer in the thirty-fourth year of his reign.
He carefully flipped through it.
As he spent more time reading, the beads of sweat on his forehead gradually became more dense.
"Phew! These accounts are a complete mess. It's like a primary school student writing a diary, and the year-end deficits and surpluses don't match up at all. It seems like the imperial treasury is in surplus every year, but this situation has been completely reversed since the 27th year of Qin Shi Huang's reign. Last year they said there was a surplus of over two million coins, but a close examination of last year's data makes it look like there was a deficit of tens of millions of coins!"
He was bewildered by the surplus recorded in the ledger last year, which was completely inconsistent with the facts.
Who kept this account?
Why is this so strange?
If the money in the national treasury that was surplus before the 27th year of Qin Shi Huang's reign was counted as a deficit by the bookkeepers, then where did this actual surplus money go?
There are also the fiscal surpluses of recent years.
However, the money that actually came in was far from enough to make up for this huge fiscal shortfall.
Who filled the gap with money, creating a so-called false surplus in public finances?
"There's probably a lot more to this than meets the eye!"
Li Lin suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. He felt that he had once again touched a vested interest group in the Great Qin Dynasty.
If he himself had revealed all of these discoveries.
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
