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The military ports of Guangdong and Guangxi opened their gates, and Tulichen, along with Bayan and Erlu, sat at the entrance to receive businessmen who had been wronged. They recorded each petition and prepared to present it to His Majesty's imperial table as quickly as possible.
Inside the flower hall, Qingyan and Lady Yingenjueluo began to review the accounts of the military ports in Guangdong and Guangxi. The account books were in complete disarray, with some records being incomplete, clearly indicating that tampering had been done.
"Little darling, who recorded all of this?" Yin Genjue Luo was slightly annoyed; this was clearly just a perfunctory response to her superiors.
The Vice Minister of Revenue came down to inspect the accounts. How did such chaotic accounts pass the review?
"I don't know. It seems I need to talk to Fourth Prince. We must clean up the Ministry of Revenue!" Qingyan had a headache. At Yin's suggestion, the Ministry of Revenue changed the format of its account books a long time ago. If it hadn't been changed, the accounts would probably be even more chaotic.
Qingyan flipped through two more pages and found that the accounts were unclear. Up to this point in the accounts, at least 50,000 taels of silver had already been embezzled.
"No, I can't stand it anymore, Sulan, get Sisi here right now." Qingyan was about to complain.
Yin Genjueluo circled all the problematic accounts, intending to hand them over to Yin and Yin for review later.
“Sister-in-law, you should take a rest too. We’ve been looking at it since breakfast. There are at least five or six boxes of account books left, but after looking for so long, we’ve only found one or two.” Qingyan sneered.
The vice ministers of the Ministry of Revenue come to audit the accounts every three months. The accounts are in disarray, the silver has not yet been counted in the treasury, and the specific situation of the cash is still unclear.
Given the problems with the silver at the Shandong military port, they also had some concerns about the silver vaults there.
After a short while, Yin hurriedly came in from outside. He and his companion had just conveyed Emperor Kangxi's edict to Yinqi, Yinsi, and Yintang, ordering them to immediately set off for Beijing.
Yin Si kept emphasizing that the Tenth Prince had gone out with them and should return to the capital with them.
Yin was still dealing with them when Su Peisheng called him back from the study.
"Fourth Brother, take a look for yourself. The ledgers are not only chaotic, but some records are also unclear. Just from the ledgers I've seen, there's already a deficit of nearly 50,000 taels!" Qingyan saw Yin come in and blurted out everything like popping beans, then threw the top ledger at him.
Upon arriving in Guangdong and Guangxi, Qingyan thought he should visit the ports instead of just staying in the naval port. However, he didn't expect so many problems to arise so soon after arriving, which meant he had to delay again and again.
"Little Darling, are you sure?" He was shocked. There was a deficit of 50,000 taels in one and a half accounts. If the accounts in those boxes were checked, how much deficit would there be?
Qingyan nodded and handed over the accounts he had previously reviewed to Yin, many of which were marked with circles.
Yin sat beside her, looking at the account book, his brows furrowing more and more as he read.
"Sister-in-law, you wait here for your elder brother. Little Darling, come with me to the treasury first!" Yin was a little worried; there would probably be more problems in the treasury.
Qingyan followed closely behind Yin, heading towards the silver treasury.
Upon arriving at the silver vault, Shu Yun looked at the low, single-story building in surprise. If it were an ordinary silver vault, it would definitely be the most upscale place in the military port. It was really hard to associate this low-lying building with a silver vault.
The warehouse manager was named Guo Luoluo Shi Tunduo, a confidant of Yin and a bondservant under the Guo Luoluo clan. This man was only about forty years old, with a round and fat body, and did not look like a good person.
Tunduo! In Chinese, it means fair and just. The person in front of me is clearly contrary to his name and does not have such a character at all.
"Fourth Master, this is the treasury!" Tun Duo was surprised that the first place Yin went to was not the accounting office, but the treasury.
At this moment, cold sweat was dripping down Tun Duo's chubby face. There was only one-third of the cash left in the warehouse; the rest had been sent out for lending by Ninth Master.
If it were an ordinary person, this lending would be against the law, but Ninth Prince was Emperor Kangxi's own son, and Emperor Kangxi would definitely protect him.
"Open it!" Yin noticed that Tun Duo was in a bad mood and quickly told him to open the door.
The doors to the treasury were slowly opened, and Erlu was summoned to bring Yin and Yin's personal guards to begin taking inventory of the treasury.
The ledger showed 1.95 million taels of silver in cash. The treasury contained many boxes, each of which was tightly locked, and it seemed that nothing was missing.
"Open everything and count it." At Yin's command, all the guards came in and began to count the silver in an orderly manner.
Tunduo's forehead was covered in cold sweat, and he couldn't help but feel afraid. This man was absolutely impartial and incorruptible. If they were discovered, their future days would definitely be difficult.
"Fourth Master, may I speak to you in private?" Tun Duo wanted to tell the Fourth Master the truth, but brothers would surely give each other some face.
Yin glanced at Qingyan and told her to stay there, while he followed Tunduo out of the warehouse.
Later that evening, Yin returned with a dark expression. Qingyan curiously looked into the courtyard and discovered that Tunduo had actually disappeared.
He looked into her curious almond-shaped eyes and inwardly cursed, realizing that the girl was definitely starting to mutter something.
"Little darling, there probably won't be much cash left!" After hearing Tun Duo's explanation, Yin suddenly understood why the businessman's relationship with Lao Jiu was so strange.
When doing business, there will always be times when cash flow is tight, so it is common to need to borrow money to tide you over. It is relatively convenient to lend money to Yin, so many business people like to borrow money from Yin.
However, they discovered that when it came to repayment, Yin's fees were higher than usual, and most of them borrowed once and then stopped borrowing.
Yin was naturally unhappy and directly hinted to Kun'e to attack the businesses of those businessmen, forcing them to break their cash flow and come to Yin for loans.
As the investigation deepened, more and more of Yin's dealings with businessmen in Guangdong and Guangxi were uncovered, and some shady dealings were revealed. After hearing Yin's explanation, Qingyan gasped twice, marveling at how much she relied on Yin; otherwise, Linglong Pavilion and Yuelai Inn would definitely have been Yin's first choice.
"Fourth, what a relief!" Qingyan felt like she had survived a disaster.
"Huh?!" Yin's eyes were fixed straight ahead, and he didn't hear the relief in Qingyan's tone.
Qingyan tugged at Yin's sleeve and said, "Fourth Brother, if it weren't for you, I would probably be the primary target! Yin has always been eyeing Linglong Pavilion and Yuelai Inn, but you've been keeping an eye on them. He has the desire but not the courage, which is why the two shops have been able to operate peacefully!"
Yin smiled and said that it was enough to help her.
"Don't worry, it will be alright!" Yin said, putting his arm around Qingyan's shoulder.
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