Be a small county magistrate in ancient times

Chapter 543: I just can't get in.

“That’s understandable. I suspect that Prefect Liu probably discovered the problem with Quping County’s tax revenue beforehand, which is why he proposed the new tax rate,” Li Daolang said.

Xu Xiaoyun then asked, "Then why has the investigation only found problems in Quping County? Of all the officials in Liangzhou, only Zeng Jing has a bad character?"

Even if only Quping County has problems, how come all the lower-level officials under him have reasons to get away with it?
"Without any help in the government office, how could he have lived off the tributes he received for so many years?"

The more he was asked, the more confused he became. Li Daolang simply stopped answering and pretended to be thinking, even though he had actually been asleep for a while.

“After returning to the capital, I will have to report these issues to my superiors.” After Xu Xiaoyun finished speaking, seeing Li Daolang nodding repeatedly beside him, he said, “Registrar Li, you should also seize this opportunity.”

"Huh? What?" Li Daolang suddenly woke up, his eyes wide open.

Xu Xiaoyun smiled at him, "Which official doesn't want to advance further?"

Li Daolang, unaware of the reason, nodded in agreement, "Yes, yes, yes."

Then climb over a few more walls.

There was finally a knock on Liu Dexiang's bedroom door. He excitedly pointed to the door and said, "Go open the door quickly."

When the door opened, the person standing outside was indeed the one Liu Dexiang had been waiting for.

Before Lao Lin could speak, the man replied, "The people at the gate of Yangmen County said that we have entered Beishan County."

"Where is that person?" Old Lin asked.

“The people from Beishan County set up a checkpoint outside the city wall of Yangmen County. Without official documents to pass through, they wouldn’t let me in and wouldn’t answer my questions.”

Liu Dexiang heard everything clearly from inside the room. "There was indeed a problem. What a Meng Changqing, daring to touch someone from this manor."

Old Lin gestured for the people outside to leave, then quickly returned to Liu Dexiang's side. "Master, please don't get angry. Even if Lao Qi and the others are trapped in Beishan County, they can only be placed under house arrest. The man surnamed Meng would never dare to lay a hand on your people."

Liu Dexiang's chest heaved, clearly furious. Old Lin quickly advised, "Since they won't let us in without official documents, then let's write one. Sir, we are the prefectural government; it's only right that we enter Beishan County." Old Lin's eyes darted around, and he smiled, "Besides, we have a ready-made reason. We've almost finished checking the accounts of Bishan County and Yangmen County; now it's time to check Beishan County's accounts."

Take advantage of the opportunity to retrieve the account books to find Lao Qi and his gang. Then, with their help from the inside and outside, we can deal with the guy surnamed Sun.

The prefectural magistrate died in Beishan County, and the man surnamed Meng couldn't explain it no matter what.

After hearing what he said, Liu Dexiang's anger subsided considerably.

The two of them must have been compatible in temperament and personality to have been able to get along for so many years.

In other words, they all became incredibly stupid.

Liu Dexiang also instructed, "Make sure to bring plenty of people this time! Go first thing tomorrow morning!"

The next morning, Liu Dexiang treated Feng Zhong'an and the others to breakfast. Meanwhile, Lao Lin ordered two groups of men to go to Beishan County to retrieve the account books. Before they left, he instructed them, "You must find Zheng Putou and make sure to deal with the thieves."

To everyone's surprise, even after arriving at the checkpoint and explaining their identity and purpose, they were still unable to enter.

After they finished speaking, Zhou Xing shouted into the earthen house, "Bring the things over!"

Zhou Xing smiled at the visitors and said, "My master knew you were coming to collect the account books, so he prepared them in advance and had me bring the accounts here to wait for you to come and collect them."

As they were talking, a wooden box with a seal was brought to the front of the group.

Zhou Xing pointed to the box and said, "All the account books of Beishan County are in this box. Take them back and report."

The yamen runners looked at each other, momentarily losing their composure.

After hesitating for a moment, the head constable was about to open the wooden box when Zhou Xing stopped him, saying, "You'd better think this through. If the seal is broken before we enter the prefectural government and the account books inside are problematic, our Beishan County will not acknowledge it."

The constable abruptly stopped moving and had no choice but to carry the box back to report.