Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 354 Eh? Isn't this a restless person?
The audit team from the court consisted of more than twenty people, including representatives from the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Personnel, the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of War. After all, treason was a big deal, involving a wide range of issues, and required careful verification.

These twenty-odd people arrived today, and the leader was Dali Temple Anmuse. He got off the boat in Zhenhai, and saw a vast expanse of fertile fields stretching out. On this side of the fields was a new city that was being built with great fanfare, and on the other side of the fields was the old city that was in ruins.

You can tell who is behind this construction model at a glance. Anzi has to say that he is really moved. That person always has some ability to turn decay into magic. Although this place is not a fertile land, it is full of vitality. Looking at the abandoned city not far away, if someone else came here, this place would probably still be full of starving people and bones.

"Master An, shall we rest here for the night or set off immediately?"

"Let's set off immediately."

Anzi is now a high-ranking official. Because he is efficient and upright in his work, he is much loved by the crown prince, so he was directly promoted to the position of Dali Temple Secretary. However, the Dali Temple Secretary is an old subordinate who took sick leave and was bedridden years ago. Now, Anzi is basically in charge of the affairs of the Dali Temple. He is regarded as the most promising person among the younger generation to rival Ma Zhou.

And now he has come to investigate the rebellion of Duke Dingguo. He is the highest-ranking official among this group of people, and all the troops here follow his lead.

The sound of horse hooves could be heard everywhere. Although these people were all scholars, they had mastered the six arts of a gentleman and their riding skills were better than each other. Although they were tired from the long journey by boat, they still arrived at Yangzhou Prefecture in the evening.

As soon as they dismounted, Xia Lin came up to them and said, "Oh, you guys are quite late. Did Anzi see another beautiful girl on the road and couldn't walk?"

An Zi rolled his eyes and said, "Master Xia, it's been a long time since we last met. You are still so funny and humorous."

"What the hell is funny? I'm almost getting wet from the wind here. Let's go to the restaurant. I'll treat you to dinner."

All the officials from various departments have heard of this little bully. They all said that he was the successor of Guo Da. They didn't believe it before. After all, it is hard to find someone more rogue than Guo Da in the world. But after seeing him today, they really understood why Guo Da would adopt a person with no roots and background as his adopted son.

Isn't this exactly like Guo Da when he was young? He is even better than his master. No one else would do such a thing as teasing Shangguan in person.

But Anzi didn't take it seriously. This was not the first time. He started dealing with this ancestor when he was still a sixth-rank official. Many years have passed, but he is still the same.

"You all came here to check. If you need my assistance, I will definitely do my best to help you. You don't know that I had a narrow escape this time. The small Yangzhou Prefecture actually stockpiled 50,000 elite soldiers, all of whom were strong and powerful. If I hadn't been proficient in strategies and used a trick to change the attack and defense..."

Xia Lin talked a lot about actual things during the banquet, just like telling a story, and the other officials listened with great interest. The ups and downs in that story were more exciting than the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and the ups and downs were so exciting that people couldn't help but applaud.

Only An Zi drank and ate silently, muttering in his heart: "Don't believe it, don't believe it, don't believe it..."

After so many years of friendship, how could Anzi not know that this guy always talked about sports cars? Only one out of ten of his words was true, and according to Anzi's analysis, the only true thing here was that they won in the end.

The rest are all fake! What about the enemy's strong soldiers and horses, what about the enemy's cunning and cruelty, all are fake! As he walked along, Anzi found that the topography and environment of this place had not changed much, especially in the city, except for a section of the city wall that collapsed and was under repair, the rest was almost undamaged.

This means that there was no siege, and didn't it just end a few days ago? When they entered the city, the city was brightly lit, and the people were strolling in the streets, enjoying the flowers and the moon. This shows that the battle was fought very quickly, and judging from the soldiers patrolling the city, it is estimated that the defenders surrendered as soon as they met, and there was no high-intensity war at all.

But coming from Xia Daosheng's mouth, he wished that his 20,000 people would die eight times per person. Is this credible? Is this credible!?
But his colleagues seemed to believe it and kept praising Lord Xia for his military prowess.

Oops, you’ve been fooled… You’ve all been fooled.

After finishing the meal in a daze, An Zi was about to say goodbye to Xia Lin, but Xia Lin raised his hand to stop him: "An Zi, wait a minute."

"what happened?"

Xia Lin came forward and said, "Duke Dingguo has a granddaughter who is pretty. Do you want her? Be nice to her. She is only thirteen or fourteen years old. If she were in the hands of others, she might be killed. I feel more at ease if she is in your hands."

"you……"

"Don't say it, really don't say it." Xia Lin pulled An Zi aside and said, "Can you bear to watch such an innocent child being thrown into the teaching office?"

"What are you up to? Hiding a traitorous relative, do you want to die?"

Xia Lin sneered: "After all these years, you still can't adapt?"

"You keep it for yourself. I'll pretend I don't know about this." An Zi shook his head helplessly: "You're almost the same."

"Don't teach me a lesson. Just tell me whether you want her or not. If you don't want her, I'll kill her."

An Zi frowned and said, "Why are you doing this?"

"Don't talk nonsense, just one word, do you want it or not?"

"I'm afraid of you." An Zi didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Why did you force such a person on me?"

Xia Lin patted his shoulder and said with a smile: "Because I really believe in your character, Anzi."

"Can't you keep it for yourself?"

"Hey! Brothers, what do you mean by yours and mine? I see that you don't even have a girlfriend to accompany you. You're already thirty, and your family isn't pushing you to do that?"

"I'm married!~"

"You got married and you didn't invite me?" "You were only ten years old when I got married." An Zi laughed out loud after saying this: "Okay, okay, I won't talk nonsense with you anymore. I'm going to sleep for a while. We traveled day and night and I'm very tired."

Send these auditors to rest, and the next day's high-intensity work will really begin.

Although An Zi and Xia Lin have a good relationship in private, An Zi is a fucking ruthless bastard at work.

After checking the warehouse, An Zi could question Xia Lin sixteen times in one morning.

“Why is the warehouse completely empty?”

"That's not right. Maybe he wants to rebel and ruin his family."

“Why is there only rubble left in the Duke’s Mansion?”

"No, maybe they knew they were defeated and burned themselves out?"

"Burn!?" An Zi's eyes widened: "Master Xia, do you think I'm a nerd who only knows how to read?"

"I don't know. Are you a nerd? Don't you know it yourself?"

After a day's audit, even a dog would feel that there was something wrong here. The entire Dingguo Mansion had been dismantled, the large warehouse had been emptied, and the grain in the warehouse was not enough to feed 50,000 people. Except for the total number of swords, guns, and armor, nothing else matched.

Can this be called a rebellion? No silver, no food, just a bunch of swords, spears, halberds, axes, hooks and forks. What? The army has to rely on performing arts along the way to raise military funds for rebellion, right?

But the problem now is that there is no evidence, Duke Dingguo was killed! Although all the evidence shows that Duke Dingguo did rebel, the money, silver and grain do not match.

There is only one possibility here, that is, all the valuable things here were embezzled by Xia Lin, but everyone knows that if a soldier gets something into his pocket and wants it out, he can take your life.

With just that little salary a month, why would they risk their lives?

So everyone avoided this problem, and when writing the report, they were all very sensible and added the actual revenue with Xia Lin's account.

Only Anmus, who was stubborn, insisted on getting the truth, so he rushed into Xia Lin's residence one night.

"If the account doesn't add up, you can do whatever you want."

"It's cold." Xia Lin had just finished soaking his feet and was wiping them: "What? Are you still planning to investigate me?"

"Correct!"

An Zi refused to give in. He was just pushing people like this. Xia Lin knew it in his heart, but he already had a plan to deal with it. He chuckled and said, "Oh, An Zi wants to check me."

"How much did you take from Duke Dingguo?"

"Let me tell you straight." Xia Lin held up two fingers. "All in all, it's almost eight million taels. This isn't even the full amount. We'll have to wait until I melt the gold and silver mines to get the exact number."

An Zi was stunned and silently took a few steps back.

Xia Lin continued, "Master An, if I report this silver, do you know how many people will die?"

Now it was An Zi's turn to remain silent. If the number was really that huge, then he would have to sort it out from top to bottom and investigate thoroughly who was doing business with Duke Dingguo.

Where do the gold and silver mines come from? Where does the silver come from? With so many people involved, even the emperor would not dare to act rashly.

"Anzi, the court doesn't play the game of Xingning bending or not bending." Xia Lin now sat upright, "What matters is that a roundabout way leads to a secluded place. This is a win-win situation. Some things can't be said, and some things can be said but not done. I tell you straight out that at least 60% of the money here was given by the Li family. Do you dare to report it?"

Anzi took a few steps back again and sat down on the chair. He picked up the water cup on the table and took a big sip without caring whose it belonged to, but his mouth still felt dry.

"You mean, the Li family... intends to rebel?"

"God knows, the earth knows, I know, your majesty knows, and the crown prince knows. But what can we do? It's not just the Li family, warlords everywhere have dealings. If you report it, do you want the court to do something about it or not? If they do, the country will be destroyed. If they don't, the country will be destroyed. Don't say I didn't warn you, Anzi. If you report it the night before, your whole family will be met by bandits and wiped out the next morning."

An Zi licked his lips: "Then you..."

"What do you mean by me? This money is the hush money given to me by the warlords. Do you understand? This is called tacit understanding, Anzi."

"Then I'll go first." An Zi stood up and bowed to Xia Lin: "Is there any place around here where we can go sightseeing? I haven't been to this seaside place for a long time."

"Tomorrow, finish what you are doing quickly. I will take you to go sea fishing. The fish in this season are so fresh and delicious." Xia Lin laughed: "You will have lived in vain if you don't try some."

(End of this chapter)