"Don’t dawdle, hurry to take office!"
Long Yue felt the man was becoming more reckless and pulled him down the mountain.
They had t his grandfather yesterday, today they were to handle Li Qingmu’s appointnt affair. Luckily, the officials in Xinan were close to the camp. Riding horses, they quickly reached the Southwest Prefecture and t the person in charge.
The person who ca forward was a burly middle-aged official with a big belly, squinting and yawning, as if just waking up.
The officials coming to Xinan were either sent for committing errors or squeezed out for offending people, all without much prospect. So when he saw Li Qingmu and his wife, he didn’t look pleased.
"Why are you here?"
He took a sip of tea, his attitude laid-back.
"Taking office."
"Taking office? What position? The officials here are already full!"
Long Yue squinted slightly, was he being squeezed out even before taking office? She looked at the big-bellied official, who was tapping his fingers on the desk leisurely.
"Here is the governnt-stamped docunt, you must take office whether you want to or not!"
Li Qingmu wouldn’t back down naturally, he handed over the docunt, "Moreover, there’s an imperial edict here too. Are you thinking of defying the Emperor’s orders?"
"Huh?"
The fat official was stunned, staring at the imperial edict in Li Qingmu’s hand, shocked. There’s actually an edict? Who is this lad, leading the edict to take office? Could he be the offspring of so important minister from the Capital City, coming to the frontier to gain experience?
Damn, Chang Yao fooled him!
Chang Yao didn’t clarify Li Qingmu’s background, causing the official’s judgnt error. He quickly forced a smile, "Li Qingmu, right? Then, there’s still a position missing in the military supplies office, you can go there!"
Li Qingmu held the edict, sowhat moved. Previously, he thought it was a bit excessive for the Emperor to issue an edict for his appointnt, but now it seed to have deeper aning.
Afterwards, a clerk led them to complete various procedures and provided them with a duty room.
"Yue’er, don’t you find it strange?" Li Qingmu placed his belongings on the table, turned to his little wife, "Xinan here is poor, even the officials may not eat well or live well. Didn’t you see that official, how he was so full and plump?"
Long Yue rested her chin, nodded, "Indeed, too fat! I even wonder if he falls, would he roll around like a ball?"
"Yeah, how can he be so fat?"
"So?"
"There must be sothing wrong!"
Long Yue blinked, seeing the man reveal a mischievous smile, her heart skipped, "What are you up to again?"
"Nothing much! Being a Minister ans to help alleviate the Emperor’s concerns!"
"Ha, speak plainly!"
"Plainly speaking, the governance here is poor. If I can take it down, I can gain more power!"
This guy is planning to seize power!
But Long Yue liked it!
"Alright, since that person is so full and plump, let’s start with his food!"
The two quickly aligned, acted that night, and stealthily went to the accounting room.
There were two keys to the accounting room, one with the guard and one with the fat official, both needed to be used simultaneously to open the door. Long Yue pretended to drink with the official, got him drunk, and obtained one key. Li Qingmu used the sa trick and got the other key from the guard by inviting him to a drink.
The accounting room was opened, and the two lit a dim oil lamp, shielding the light while carefully searching for evidence.
"Find the general ledger! Those scattered books are of no use!"
"Alright!"
What’s the consequence of a man being too smart? It makes you his little follower!
Fortunately, Long Yue enjoyed being his follower.
"Found it!"
After laboring for half an hour, they finally found the annual account books and left with them.
Outside there were patrolling clerks, the two sidestepped the clerks and swiftly made their escape.
"Pri Minister, the governance here is really poor. Such an important place as the accounting room is so easily accessed."
Back at the residence, Long Yue and Li Qingmu separated to check the accounts, couldn’t help but complain during it.
"If it weren’t like this, how could we exploit the loophole?"
Li Qingmu picked up a ledger and looked through it again.
Suddenly, his gaze tightened, "Found it!"
...
In the tent, Cao Yin was talking with several generals.
A map was hanging on the wall, a local terrain map. He pointed to a mountain road stretching westward.
"If the Xiliang people were to attack, they’d definitely take this Yuan Shui Road. There’s a pass here, with cliffs on both sides. We’ll ambush here..."
"Report—Great General, the military supplies office administrator seeks audience!"
"Military supplies office administrator? Who’s that? No see! Can’t you see we’re discussing important affairs?"
Cao Yin waved to dismiss the soldier quickly, but the man hesitated and wouldn’t leave.
"Well, what’s the matter?"
"Great General, the military supplies office administrator is Mr. Li."
"So what... Oh, him? That lad?"
Cao Yin was stunned, just rembered it was Li Qingmu, surely an unruly guy, probably with sothing urgent.
"Let him in!"
"General Cao, I found evidence of embezzlent of military funds at the Southwest Prefecture. Here’s the ledger, I’ve circled the problematic areas!"
Li Qingmu entered, throwing a big bomb at everyone.
Cao Yin widened his eyes, "Lad, this is a major case, are you clear about it?"
While speaking, he signaled with his eyes, aning if you don’t have hard evidence, quickly retreat. I’ll help cover this up later.
But Li Qingmu was serious, "Great General, this matter is indeed true!"
Seeing his earnest appearance, Cao Yin knew he was probably right. He then found a trustworthy person to review all the account books.
"Great General, these accounts are inconsistent, totaling a theft of one hundred thousand taels in military funds!"
"Pfft! Cough, cough..."
Cao Yin was drinking water, and upon hearing this, he sprayed it out.
"One hundred thousand taels? You must be joking..."
There were other generals nearby, Cao Yin tried not to lose composure, only to find everyone was furious.
"One hundred thousand taels? This is too outrageous! Our soldiers are shedding blood on the frontlines, and soone shalessly embezzles military funds in the rear? Damn it, I’ll butcher those corrupt officials!"
A middle-aged man with a hot temper also drew his long saber to rush out of the tent, stopped by the people beside him.
"This must be reported to the court!"
Soone suggested.
"But I want to slaughter those bastards right now!"
The general wielded his long saber, continuing to roar in anger.
Seeing this, Cao Yin decisively split the ledger into two parts, giving one to a trusted aide, "Go, rush eight hundred miles, deliver this to Shengjing City!"
Once the aide left, soone else ca, "Reporting to Great General, General Chang is leading an army of ten thousand here!"
Ten thousand troops?
Cao Yin shot up, extrely excited. Xinan already had a stationed army of fifty thousand, now another ten thousand, is the court serious about striking against Xiliang?
A hundred and fifty thousand troops covering the skies, is Dazhou going to recover its honor this ti?
Cao Yin was excited, couldn’t help but shout, "Long live the Emperor!"
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