The immortal of the Tang Dynasty, but the game starts at Xuanwu Gate?

"What the hell?"

Li Shimin stood up in disbelief: "Where did Chen Huai'an take the Crown Prince?"

"They stormed into the Wannian County government office and assaulted people..."

"Who did Chen Huai'an bring with him?"

"...Your Highness the Crown Prince." Zhang Anan was inwardly miserable, but answered honestly.

Li Shimin smiled.

I was just angry.

"You mean, I sent Chen Huai'an and the Crown Prince out to see the locust plague firsthand, to witness firsthand the helplessness of ordinary people facing it, and then Chen Huai'an took the Crown Prince to the Wannian County government office to beat people up?"

"Even his damn dog got slapped three times, and the evergreen tree in front of the door was cut down?"

Zhang Anan nodded reluctantly.

Li Shimin rubbed his temples: "Go, go, go bring Chen Huai'an and the Crown Prince back to me..."

"Fine, bring the Crown Prince back to me!"

"Go now!!!"

Li Shimin practically roared out his last sentence.

Zhang Anan was terrified and scrambled out of the room.

Li Shimin sighed to the heavens. He knew in his heart that Chen Huai'an was not the kind of person who would fight casually. After all, he was a scholar and still had the proper manners.

There must be a reason why he was so angry. He didn't even bother to inform him before rushing in and beating people. He must have discovered something terrible during his trip out of the city.

No matter what, Chen Huai'an shouldn't have taken the Crown Prince with him.

If he had a reason to fight alone, the matter could have been resolved peacefully. However, as the Crown Prince's tutor, instead of properly teaching the Crown Prince, he led the Crown Prince in beating people, including government officials.

It doesn't make sense no matter how you look at it.

"Guanyinbi".

"Your Majesty, I am here."

"I have a feeling that tomorrow will not be peaceful."

"..."

Inside the Wannian County Government Office, Chen Huai'an vented his anger, but at the cost of almost everyone in the office being bedridden.

Or he would cover his face and kneel on the ground.

At the head of the table, Chen Huai'an flipped through the land distribution ledger in the county government office, his aura terrifyingly oppressive.

After flipping through it for a while, Chen Huai'an slammed the ledger directly onto Zhou Keji's face, who was kneeling beside him. The man cried out in pain again, but dared not say anything.

"Tell me, why don't you use the four-column classification accounting method when I've already promoted it?!"

"ah!!"

"What kind of bullshit complete allocation is this?"

"Zhao Aniu, the hundred mu of land has been distributed? Is this how you keep accounts?"

"Where were they allocated? Which plots of land were they allocated to? Why is there no record? Where is the record?"

"...Your Excellency, Minister." Zhou Keji covered his face, sweat pouring down his back. "Many of the officials and village heads below don't know many characters. The Four-Column Classification Accounting...is quite troublesome to learn in a short time. They are still learning and cannot use it for everyone yet, so..."

"So you're still using the old accounting methods?" Chen Huai'an said coldly.

Zhou Keji swallowed hard and explained, "Your Excellency, there's really no other way. The old accounting methods have been used for so many years, and everyone is used to them. Changing to a different accounting method all at once is something many people can't accept."

"I am already promoting it with all my might."

"Fine!" Chen Huai'an sneered, "As expected of the magistrate of Wannian County, you truly are a magistrate!"

"Full-scale promotion, what a great full-scale promotion!"

"The Four-Column Classification Accounting System was implemented on my very first day as Minister of Revenue, requiring all officials and clerks in all prefectures, counties, and townships to use this accounting method uniformly."

"It has been a year now!"

"In just one year, most areas outside the Great Wall have changed their accounting methods, but you, who are so close to Chang'an, have not."

Chen Huai'an leaned down and asked, word by word, "Is it that you can't accept it for the time being, or are the old methods more suitable for embezzlement, so you're not using them anymore?"

"My lord, there's absolutely no such thing!" Zhou Keji was so frightened by these words that he almost jumped out of his skin. He hurriedly explained, "It's just that the officials below are still using this accounting method for the time being. I'm already changing it."

"Furthermore, after the officials below hand over their account books, I will re-enter them into the four-pillar classification system before handing them over."

"I am truly innocent!"

"Injustice?" Chen Huai'an looked at him as if he were a dead man. "According to what you said, can I understand it this way?"

"Look, let me tell you."

"The officials below use the old accounting methods because it's easier to manipulate them. After they've done their work, they hand over the ledgers, and you rewrite them using the four-column ledger system, or rather, polish them up, before submitting them to us to fool us."

Is that right?

"Take a look at my understanding, is there anything wrong with it?"

Zhou Keji was drenched in sweat and cried out that he was innocent: "Your Excellency, this is absolutely not true! This is absolutely not true!"

"The old accounting methods are vastly different from the four-column ledger. If they had tampered with it, how could I possibly have submitted a four-column ledger and had it perfectly reconcile with the accounts?"

"That's absolutely impossible!"

"Yes..." Chen Huai'an pretended to realize, "If you interfered, the accounts would indeed not match up."

"But if you nominally allocate these 100 mu of land to Zhao Aniu, but actually tell them that 20 mu were allocated to Jiannan, 20 mu to Jiangnan, and another 10 mu to the border region, leaving only 50 mu in Wannian County."

"Zhao Aniu was originally entitled to 100 mu, but the 50 mu in other places were fake. As you know, they would never leave Chang'an for land that is thousands of miles away. So, the remaining 50 mu that were hidden went into your pockets."

"Because of the old accounting methods, it was impossible to see which land Zhao Aniu was allocated. However, he did nominally receive one hundred mu, and he has already signed and sealed it. In this way, the accounts are balanced, aren't they?"

Is that right?

"You beasts!" Upon hearing this, Cheng Chumo finally understood what was going on, and his eyes were full of contempt as he looked at these officials.

Chen Huai'an said a lot, but it can be summarized in a very simple way.

They deceived the people, saying that there were fifty acres of land in other places, and that these fifty acres were divided into three parts. Naturally, the people would not go to great lengths for these fifty acres, and most likely they would not even go.

They actually received only fifty mu of land from the imperial court in Wannian County, but nominally they received one hundred mu. The remaining fifty mu naturally went into the pockets of these people.

Li Zhen crossed his arms: "Looks like I didn't hit him hard enough!"

"If I had known it would be like this, I should have gone harder. Even if I got a beating from Dad later, it would just be a little bit of hardship."

Chen Huai'an's eye twitched.

"..."