Be a small county magistrate in ancient times

Liu Dexiang started pacing in circles again, saying, "Once news of the stolen secret letter gets out, it will be a dereliction of duty on our part."

Old Lin said in a low voice, "Master, this is Liangzhou, under your rule. How could word of this possibly get out?"

"Okay." Comparing the two, Liu Dexiang still felt that Sun Xiang's presence was more dangerous to him.

Now I only regret that I was too lenient back then. I originally wanted Sun Xiang to be sick for a long time and then die, but I didn't expect that the tax collection would attract the attention of officials in the capital. That Sun fellow was so tactless that he dared to accuse me to my face.

Liu Dexiang grew increasingly resentful, lamenting that Sun Xiang was too healthy and that the previous dosage of medicine had been too light.

"You take men there yourself. No matter what they say, you must kill them!"

"Yes!"

When Lao Lin takes charge, the scale of the operation is enormous.

He first summoned all the yamen runners who could be mobilized to his presence, and then selected one by one the people he thought were capable of carrying out the task.

After giving instructions and preparing the horses, they set off after lunchtime.

Fortunately, the government office was large enough; otherwise, the commotion on his side would have alerted the three officials in the capital.

After he had chosen his men, he rode quickly to the gate of Yangmen County. It was getting late, and the guards on the city walls of Yangmen were changing shifts.

The guards of Yangmen County, seeing that the group, except for the leader, were all dressed in the uniforms of Liangzhou Prefecture officials, dared not be negligent. The two squad leaders came forward and asked, "What official business do you have?"

Old Lin did not dismount, nor did he look directly at the two men approaching. He shouted loudly, "By order of the Prefect, we have come to Beishan County to arrest the thief who stole the secret letter. Open the gate immediately!"

Of the two leaders, one had the privilege of witnessing the yamen runners being bound, but Prefect Mao had issued a gag order, so he dared not say much. When his subordinates mentioned him, they had to pretend to scold him.

Well, now another group of people are coming from the state government, and they might get tied up again.

After the two leaders verified the official documents, they opened the gate and let people in. As soon as the city gate closed, the leader who was supposed to hand over his shift and go back to rest instead pulled another leader and rushed up the city wall.

"What's wrong?" The person being pulled was completely confused.

The man who was pulling people away said, "Don't ask, there's bound to be a good show!"

Old Lin saw the checkpoint that the constables could never get past; it consisted of only a dozen or so people and a few barricades.

As before, Lao Lin explained his purpose to the constables and asked to be allowed to pass.

Zhou Xing sized up the people in front of him and knew that the one at the front must be an important figure.

"What should I call you?" Zhou Xing asked the man on horseback with a smile as he went to collect the official documents.

"I am a servant of the prefect, in charge of the affairs of the Liu family."

"So it's the steward." Zhou Xing stepped back a few paces before carefully reading the contents of the official document.

He acted the same way as before, looking slowly and carefully.

Old Lin was more patient than Zheng Lin at the shop. No matter how Zhou Xing delayed, he just sat on his horse and waited, looking calm and collected, as if to say, "You dare not let me pass?"

Stephen Chow really dared to do that.

He didn't even return the official document to the other party, saying, "Beishan County is well-guarded and no thieves have ever entered. As for Sun Xiang, whom you are looking for, we have never seen him. You should not waste your time here, but go look elsewhere."

"Absurd!" Old Lin angrily retorted, "If we didn't have evidence, would we be here searching your place?"

"What evidence?" Zhou Xing put his hands on his hips and looked at Lao Lin calmly, as if to say that unless the other party threw the evidence in his face, it would be useless.

Old Lin pointed behind him, "The city walls are full of witnesses." "Then call them over to confront us," Zhou Xing said, shrugging, "We don't have any here anyway."

"You're really going to take this lying down!" Old Lin's hand was already reaching for the dagger at his waist.

Zhou Xing had seen the other party's actions and knew that this person would be difficult to deal with. He had already given his brothers a look when he was looking at the official documents.

“I must say, steward, you’re really strange,” Zhou Xing said warily. “Didn’t I tell you? You insisted on coming into my Beishan County. Who’s really being unreasonable here?”

Old Lin labeled them, saying, "You've been protecting thieves; it seems you've already betrayed the court and colluded with the Yan bandits!"

After saying that, he drew his dagger and said to the group behind him, "Attack!"

Zhou Xing and his men quickly engaged the enemy, shouting, "You're so good at slandering people! I think you're the ones who're going to join up with the Yan bandits! The secret letter is on you!"

When it comes to disputes between government offices, neither force nor words can afford to be defeated.

As the fighting began outside, a group of men who had been waiting inside the earthen house with knives in hand rushed out, attacking from both sides and quickly forcing Old Lin and his men off their horses.

Meanwhile, at the Beishan County government office.

It's almost time for everyone to go off duty at their respective offices.

Meng Changqing had something on his mind and couldn't sit still in his study. After finishing his work, he would often go to various places in the government office to look around.

I happened to see that the door to the household affairs office was not closed, and the curtain was lifted at one corner.

Meng Changqing went up and smoothed it out. After thinking for a moment, he simply lifted the curtain and saw Meizi sitting by the window, staring intently at the things on the table.

After the account was officially opened, the layout of the room was changed. According to Meizi's idea, the tables and chairs were moved to a well-lit place, and bookshelves were placed in the deeper part of the room.

Seeing her sitting in this environment, I couldn't help but recall our first meeting when she fainted in the crowd and her eyes were numb and empty after she was rescued.

She has truly come back to life.

Meng Changqing became even more convinced that what she did was right. Even if she was narrow-minded, even if she had limited vision, even if she could only help one or two people, it was still worthwhile and meaningful.

After a brief moment of reflection, Meng Changqing quickly regained his senses and knocked on the door frame.

Meizi then noticed the person at the door and immediately got up to greet them.

"Sir, is there something you need from me?" Mei asked.

Meng Changqing entered the room and sat down by the stove, asking with a smile, "Has someone been here just now?"

“Clerk Cheng came by and asked me to go through the inventory of the storeroom with him these next couple of days.” Meizi took a clean cup from the shelf to pour tea for Meng Changqing.

Meng Changqing told her not to rush, "I just want to say a few words to you before I leave."

"Yes."

Meng Changqing asked, "Have things been going smoothly these past few days? Is there anything inconvenient about working here?"

"Thank you for your concern, sir. Registrar Cheng has been teaching very diligently, and so far we haven't encountered anything particularly difficult." Mei Zi replied with a smile, "There haven't been any inconveniences either. On the contrary, I've seen a lot of things that I never dared to imagine before."

“I know you’re hardworking and meticulous,” Meng Changqing affirmed her first, then asked, “If someone comes to ask you about the accounts now, can you handle it?”

Mei Zi had also heard some news from Cheng Guang: "Is it a high-ranking official from the capital who wants to investigate our county's accounts?"

"Who cares about his rank or not?" Meng Changqing laughed. "Even if he's a high-ranking official, he won't share his salary with us. What does it have to do with us? Just remember he's an auditor." (End of Chapter)