Da Ming: I told you to die for your cause, why are you actually going to die?

Chapter 77 Zhang Biao: Whose little darling is crying?! [Requesting monthly votes]

The residence of Marquis Wuding, Guo Ying.

A servant rushed into Guo Ying's room, panting, and said:
"My lord, something terrible has happened! Zhang Biao and his gang of poor scholars have robbed the Ministry of Revenue!"

"puff--!"

Guo Yinggang had just been revived and was trembling as he drank his second bowl of ginseng soup to calm his nerves when the news reported by his servant startled him so much that he spat out the soup all over his face.

"What did you say?! Zhang Biao robbed the Ministry of Revenue?! What was Fu Youwen doing?! And Jiang Huan, why didn't he stop him?!"

Guo Ying's voice trembled like a leaf falling in the autumn wind, her face filled with disbelief.

But then the servant wiped his face and said bitterly:

"It's true, Your Excellency, absolutely true. The whole town is buzzing with the news that Censor Zhang audited the Ministry of Revenue with just an abacus and a chamber pot lamp."

"audit."

Guo Ying murmured the unfamiliar new word over and over, her face flushing red and then turning pale.

He recalled Zhang Biao calling him a "stinking rock in a latrine," and then the threat of "peeling him to light a lamp," and then his own messy old grievances.
"Will he come after me next to settle old scores about Poyang Lake? Or about the forced occupation of farmland? Or... the messes caused by those good-for-nothing children and grandchildren?"

Thinking about this, Guo Ying became increasingly panicked. She suddenly grabbed the servant's hand and shouted, "Quick! Quickly close the gate tightly for me! Don't let anyone open the gate! Especially that Zhang fellow!"

After saying that, still somewhat uneasy, he hurriedly gave another instruction:

"Tell everyone in the manor to pack their bags and get ready. Once the Emperor wakes up, I will immediately submit a petition to return to Fengyang to recuperate! Zhang Biao is a madman; I must stay as far away from him as possible!"

His voice was anxious and flustered, which made the servants a little panicked as well, but they still couldn't help but remind him:

"My lord, didn't Duke Cao consult you yesterday about countermeasures? The ginseng in your ginseng soup was a gift from Duke Cao; is it really alright for him to leave like this?"

"Gong Cao Guo?"

Guo Ying paused for a moment, seemingly regaining some of her composure, then glanced at the half-eaten bowl of ginseng soup, her eyes suddenly lighting up:
"Yes, yes, yes! You're right! That kid Li Jinglong is got a lot of money! Send that madman to find him!"

After saying that, he lay back down, pulled the blanket over his head, and started to whine: "I'm sick! Seriously sick! I'm unconscious! Don't call me even if the sky falls!"

On the other side, at the residence of the Duke of Cao.

Li Jinglong was in his luxurious mansion, facing the Qinhuai River, elegantly sipping a cup of newly arrived West Lake Longjing tea, trying to use the aroma of the tea to dispel the fright and humiliation he had suffered at Fengtian Hall Square the day before.

The steward practically rolled in, his voice trembling as he described how Zhang Biao had wreaked havoc in the Ministry of Revenue.

"puff--!"

Li Jinglong sprayed a mouthful of top-grade Longjing tea all over the valuable Persian carpet.

His handsome face contorted instantly, and the official kiln teacup in his hand shattered with a 'crack'.

"He...he emptied out the Ministry of Revenue?!"

Li Jinglong's voice changed, filled with disbelief, fear, and a hint of inexplicable envy.

After all, that was a really flashy move.

But he quickly realized that if the next one was the Ministry of War, then the one after that would be him, the Vice Commander of the Left Army Commandery, or even come directly to his residence, the Duke of Cao's mansion.
The thought of Zhang Biao and his gang calling him a "spoiled brat" and a "disgrace to the nobility" sent chills down Li Jinglong's spine.

Can his scandalous affairs—frequenting pleasure boats, keeping actors, embezzling small sums of money—withstand Zhang Biao's 'audit'?

"quick!"

Li Jinglong jumped up abruptly, no longer caring about elegance:

"Quickly hide all those newly acquired calligraphy, paintings, and antiques in the storeroom in the cellar! No! The cellar isn't safe either, move them out of the city! Put them in my villa in the suburbs!"

"Also, go to the accounting department! Change all the account books for the last three years! Yes, redo them! Make them flawless! Don't let that madman notice a single mistake!"

He paced back and forth in the luxurious living room like an ant on a hot plate, muttering to himself:

"A madman! A complete madman! He has no sense of decorum whatsoever! How can he just move things like that?! He's utterly disgraceful! Utterly disgraceful!"

Meanwhile, at the Ministry of War, Minister Ru Chang was frantically checking accounts on an abacus while wiping away the cold sweat that he couldn't stop with a handkerchief.

He heard his trusted clerk scrambling and crawling as he reported the dire state of the Ministry of Revenue.

News about how Zhang Biao accurately calculated his accounts, how he emptied his pockets, and how Fu Youwen broke down.

The abacus in Ru Chang's hand fell to the ground with a clatter, scattering the beads all over the floor.

His obese body trembled violently, and the fat on his face twitched.

"What?! He emptied out the entire Ministry of Revenue?!"

Ru Chang was utterly shocked, her voice shrill and distorted: "Madman! Madman! How dare he?! Is Fu Youwen a pig?! He just let him move it like that?!"

"Where is Commander Jiang?! How can he be allowed to act so lawlessly? Is there no law? Is there no justice?!"

"Commander Jiang went to the Ministry of Revenue, said something about the Emperor's decree, and said that Zhang Biao was the Left Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, with the authority to supervise the Ministry of Revenue's money and grain, land and taxes, and to report to the Emperor. Then he turned around and left."

The clerk said with a mournful face, "Besides, that Zhang Biao... he's completely unreasonable!"

"He just kept listing expenses! He listed them in more detail than our accountant could, driving Minister Fu to the brink of despair!"

Reimbursement?!
When Ru Chang heard those two words, it was as if she had heard a death warrant.

His Ministry of War's bad debts were no less than those of the Ministry of Revenue.

Drinking soldiers' blood, reselling arms, and embezzling salaries.
Which of these crimes, if publicly stated by Zhang Biao, wouldn't be a capital offense punishable by the confiscation of property and the extermination of the entire clan?!

He could almost see Zhang Biao leading that group of impoverished officials to the city gates, holding an abacus, exposing all his petty affairs, and then emptying his Ministry of War.

"Quick! Quick!"

Ru Chang jumped up suddenly, like a startled fat cat:

"Quickly close the doors! Close the doors now! Block all the side and back doors! Use door shovels! Thick ones!"

"Go to the warehouse! Hide all the newly arrived armor and weapons that haven't been stored yet! No! Take them out of the city! Find a place to bury them!"

"And the account books! Burn all the account books in the yamen immediately! If they're burned, there won't be any evidence to reconcile the accounts. Bah! No! If they're burned, Zhang Biao won't be able to find any fault with them! Burn them now!"

The Ministry of War was instantly thrown into extreme chaos, even worse than the Ministry of Revenue.

Ru Chang was like a headless fly, sometimes directing the blocking of the door, sometimes trying to salvage the account books, and sometimes thinking about how to transfer her hidden private wealth.

He had only one thought in his mind.

We absolutely cannot let Zhang Biao in! Absolutely not!

however.

Just as he was pacing frantically around the room, as if he'd lost his mind, a cold, slightly mocking voice suddenly came from the roof: "Oh, let's see whose little darling is crying~"

Boom!

These words were like the whisper of a devil, which made Ru Chang's obese body tremble all over, and even her fat rippled.

He mechanically looked up and saw that a few roof tiles had been removed at some point, revealing a fair-skinned, slightly mischievous face.

"Zhang Zhangbiao?!"

……

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(End of this chapter)