Transmigrated into a minor official in a county government, with children at home waiting for rice t

Zhang Sanlang nodded and walked to the row of earthenware jars.

The jar was covered with a wooden board; when you lifted it, you could see tung oil inside.

He used a bamboo stick against the wall to probe the surface; the oil noodles were less than three inches from the rim of the vat.

There are four cylinders in total, and all of them are full.

There were two barrels of lamp oil next to it, sealed with wax, and they had never been opened.

He put down the bamboo stick and walked to the innermost corner of the warehouse.

There were several burlap sacks piled up there, their mouths open, revealing the dark barbed wire inside.

He reached out and grabbed one, holding it in his palm.

The barbed wire was covered in rust, and the tips were dull.

Yan Shizhong walked over and said, "These caltrops were hastily made by the county in the early years of the Taiping Xingguo era. They were put into storage as soon as they were made, but were never used. It's been five years, no wonder they've rusted."

"Can it be used?"

Liu Da chimed in from behind, "There are about two hundred usable ones. If you scatter them on the ground, they'll still prick your feet. But if they're rusty, they'll easily cause chafing. When you need to use them, you'll need to re-polish the four points."

Zhang Sanlang put the caltrops back into the sack and patted the rust off his hands.

He turned to look at Yan Shizhong, "The amounts of tung oil and lamp oil match the inventory report. Ash bottles, listed at 120, 30 usable. Logs, none. Bristles, listed at 300, 200 usable."

Yan Shizhong's expression remained unchanged, a smile playing on his lips. "These old goods stored in the warehouse are rarely used, and new officials don't check them. It's only because you, Zhang Yashi, are here that I'm here; I wouldn't even let anyone else through this door."

Zhang Sanlang didn't respond to his question. "After converting that batch of new lime and tung oil into cash and putting it into storage, replenish the lime bottles as needed. Use what's in the storage for now."

Yan Shizhong nodded.

Zhang Sanlang scanned the warehouse again, his gaze lingering on the pile of old burlap sacks in the corner for a moment before moving away.

He cupped his hands in greeting to Yan Shizhong, saying, "I apologize for disturbing you, Officer Yan."

Yan Shizhong stepped aside to make way, saying, "Zhang Yashi, you're too kind."

Liu Da blew out the oil lamp, and the warehouse fell into darkness again.

The three men left the storeroom. When Liu Da locked the door, the brass lock clicked shut perfectly.

After returning from the county granary, Zhang Sanlang sat down in the household office, copied the actual usable quantities of ash bottles, oil, and caltrops onto a new sheet of paper, blew on the ink to dry it, folded it up, and put it into his sleeve.

The bandits are not good at attacking cities, so they may not need these defensive supplies, but he needs to have a clear understanding of them.

He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes to rest for a moment.

When I opened my eyes again, my gaze fell on another row of wooden shelves.

The Household Department also managed the distribution of miscellaneous rations to county clerks and archers. Archers were subordinate to the county commandant, but their salaries, winter clothing, and holiday bonuses were recorded in the Household Department's accounts. What was distributed each month, how much was distributed, and to whom it was distributed were all recorded in the miscellaneous rations book.

He got up, walked to the wooden shelf, and pulled out two notebooks.

One of them was a register of archers, which recorded the names, ages, hometowns, and dates of enlistment of the registered archers. It was reviewed and reported annually by Sun Zhonghe, the former head of the military office.

The other book was a ration book, which recorded each archer's monthly rations, including how much rice, money, cloth, and charcoal they received.

He spread the two books out on the table, first looking at the records from the past three years, then flipping through them from the beginning.

There are a total of 106 archers on the roster.

Sun Zhonghe's handwriting was bold and stiff, and each name was written in large characters, taking up half a grid in a single line.

The characters on the miscellaneous allowance book are small and dense, a style left behind by Tao Cheng during his tenure. At that time, the household registration system was quite comprehensive, with the date and the person in charge noted after each expenditure.

Zhang Sanlang turned to the page with Xia Ge.

Summer rations consisted of hemp cloth and salt, three feet of hemp cloth and two catties of salt per person. The rations for each person on the roster were recorded in the miscellaneous ration book, with their signatures drawn. Some drew circles, some drew crosses, and some wrote their surnames in a crooked manner.

Turning to the autumn harvest, one finds firewood and charcoal.

The number remains the same, one copy for each person.

The receipts were neatly kept and all signatures were complete.

He turned to the winter.

The winter allowance included an extra bonus compared to the summer and autumn allowances. This was a New Year's reward: four hundred coins for each archer, eight hundred coins for ten generals, and two strings for the captain. As usual, the payroll was filled out with a list, one line under each person's name, where they would sign to receive the money.

His fingers moved down the paper line by line. He signed one mark after another, some with dark ink, some with light ink.

No abnormalities were found.

After thinking for a moment, Zhang Sanlang found the records from three years ago and slowly flipped through them. After a while, his finger stopped on the name "Zhao Sanyou".

Zhao Sanyou's winter allowance included one more item than others. It wasn't money, but rice. The amount wasn't large; he received an extra three dou of coarse rice. At the end of that line, in the remarks column, were four small characters: "Extra allowance for night patrol."

It was common for archers to patrol at night, but the extra rations for night patrols were never recorded in the household register. Night patrols were conducted by the county constable or the duty officer, and the extra rice rations were directly drawn from the county granary and not recorded in the miscellaneous rations register.

This sum did come in, and it was much more generous than the normal bonus.

Zhang Sanlang flipped through the pages. The spring allowance was unchanged. The summer allowance arrived again; after Zhao San's name, there were three hundred more coins. The remarks section still contained the same four words.

He quickly brought out all the earlier miscellaneous ration books and spread them out on the table.

I read it from beginning to end.

Zhao Sanyou's "night patrol bonus" was not given every month, but it happened five or six times a year. Sometimes it was rice, sometimes it was money, and the amount was not large.

In total, over the five years, he received nearly twenty shi of rice and fifteen guan and three hundred wen.

He closed the book and tapped his fingers lightly on the cover.

The night patrol was given this designation, using an old document from when Feng Jian was in office.

Three years ago, when Tao Cheng was transferred to Juancheng, he was in charge of household registration and housing, and only a few miscellaneous expenses were recorded under this item.

Zhou Quan was a scholar by nature, but not an expert in money. Therefore, he would only look at the general terms of such small amounts and would not investigate them in detail.

After Zhang Sanlang took over, he went through the old files and realized there was such an expense, but he didn't think much of it, since it was an old file that Feng Jian had signed off on. Since he took over as the head of the household, the miscellaneous allowance book he submitted no longer included this expense.

Zhang Sanlang read Zhao Sanyou's record again, his gaze falling on the signature.

Most people drew circles, and a few drew crosses. Zhao Sanyou's signature was a horizontal and vertical stroke with a slight bend, crooked and crooked, like half of the character "有" (you).

He vaguely remembered this man; he was an archer in Old Liu's team. He was present when they went to Chenjiazhuang to collect taxes and when they dragged away Wu Haogu, who had come looking for trouble. He was a capable young man.

However, what impressed him most was that every time he saw Xiao Zhao, he was leaning against the wall, dozing off with his arms crossed.

Zhang Sanlang always had a certain admiration for people who could fall asleep standing up, just like his classmates who could still sleep peacefully even when the teacher was roaring in class.

Night patrol.

It's normal to feel sleepy during the day after a night patrol.

However, the problem is that it's impossible to always assign him night patrols. Even someone as strong as Wu Yan, who's as tough as an ox, only gets to patrol every three days.

If night patrols are real, then being tired is to be expected.

But if the night patrol was fake, but the extra rice was real, then the drowsiness must be due to something else.

Zhang Sanlang sat behind his desk for a while, then found an earlier miscellaneous ration book, which listed thirteen archers who had also received unusually extra rations. Most of these people were no longer serving in the county government.