Account checking and verification have always been Li Ling's trump card. With the accounting methods and means of this era, no matter what tricks are hidden in front of him. In the past, he broke the deadlock by checking accounts, and it is naturally the same today. As long as there is a booklet to check, he can tell whether what the Yingzhou officials said is true.

This is where Li Ling’s confidence in choosing to come to Yingzhou.

After hearing his proposal, several Yingzhou officials were obviously stunned for a moment, and then Ma Bangwen nodded and smiled: "Of course, I want to check it. The lower officials should hand over all the relevant accounts to you. However, it is too late today, and I think I am quite tired from coming all the way. Why not take a rest for a night and check it tomorrow? Moreover, the lower officials and others have also prepared some wine to wash the dust to express their respect, and I hope the lord will not refuse."

With such an attitude, Li Ling couldn't help but disgrace him, so he smiled and nodded. As of now, he was not in a hurry to do this night. Seeing this, Ma Bangwen breathed a little relieved and then led Li Ling to a restaurant opposite the government office for a banquet. In addition to the few members brought by Li Ling, the participants were several major officials in Yingzhou and local gentry.

At this banquet, everyone naturally flattered and pleased Li Ling, raised their glasses and said a lot of compliments, but the meaning was roughly similar. They were all young and promising, and they would definitely be able to enter the center in the future and become the chief minister. In this regard, Li Ling, who had social events for several years, naturally didn't care about it, and even didn't drink too much wine. After being drunk for five minutes, he pushed the cup and refused to drink it.

Then, on the excuse of being tired from afar, he said goodbye first and returned to the inn arranged for him.

Until he entered the inn courtyard guarded by the imperial guards, no one else could know his words and deeds. Li Ling's smile stopped. While taking a towel to wipe his face to wake up, he said to Li Moyun who came over: "Now it seems that there is something strange here, so you must be careful."

"Does the sir think that the officials in Yingzhou City have concealed something and there is something else about food?" Li Moyun's expression also became solemn and asked in a low voice.

"Their attitude was quite normal at first, but later when I asked to check the account book, some people felt guilty. Also, at today's banquet, many local rich gentry also had something to say, as if they wanted to explore the way, give me some benefits, and then let me be proud... It is obvious that the so-called tight food storage in the local area is tricky, and there are signs of collusion between officials and businessmen." Li Ling said as he entered his bedroom. With a glance, he saw that the layout inside was quite luxurious. The large bed was covered with a good brocade quilt, and the texture of the table in front of the bed was extraordinary. The whole set of tea sets used for drinking tea was also delicately reflected in the candlelight, and it was considered to be a good porcelain.

Seeing this, Li Ling was slightly stunned, and then sneered again: "I was crying with me just now, but I turned around and arranged so many things. Do you think they are really poor or fake poor?"

"This is obviously just to use this method to bribe the young master and make you proud." Li Moyun naturally understood the purpose of this, and then frowned slightly, "The young master decided how to deal with it?"

"It is related to the overall situation of the Northern Xinjiang. How can we let them go because of these plans?" Li Ling's face turned cold. "Tomorrow, I will go to them to ask for relevant accounts. As long as I find any problems, I will report them directly to the court. How to punish them is the court's business."

This is just the first batch of food, grass and supplies that followed the army. According to past experience, once the war really begins, there will inevitably be many subsequent military rations transfers. Therefore, this hole must not be opened, otherwise if other places follow the example, the raising and transfer of military rations will become a bad debt, which may affect the front-line war.

"So do you need to block the car tonight?" Li Moyun asked again. He knew that the inn would not be peaceful tonight. Some things were hard to say in the yamen, and there was no time to say at the banquet, so he could only wait until late at night to come to the door secretly.

"I blocked it all, and I said I couldn't bear to drink and had already gone to bed. Then I told them that I would go to the government office tomorrow morning and asked them to prepare all the relevant accounts." Li Ling immediately gave his attitude.

The facts later proved that their speculation was correct. In the next more than an hour, no less than ten people came to pay their respects, including officials from Yingzhou Prefecture and several local rich gentry. However, they were all blocked by the imperial guards guarding outside. Not to mention seeing Lord Li, even the gate of the courtyard could not enter, so they could only return in disappointment.

In this way, it was not until the third day that the guests who came to the door who were close to each other finally stopped coming to encounter a wall, and Li Ling had already fallen asleep at this time. It was not until this time that Li Moyun felt relieved and asked a few guards to go back to his residence to rest.

But just as he turned around and wanted to close the door and go to bed, his eyes glanced outside, and his expression changed, and he immediately rushed out: "It's gone!" I saw that the night sky, which should have been pitch black and quiet, was reflected red by the flames, almost illuminating half of Yingzhou City.

At the same time, there were also a sound of gongs around, and people kept shouting: "Go away from the water, go out of the government office, go to put out the fire..." Then there were waves of messy footsteps, obviously many people were running towards the yamen.

Li Moyun's sleepiness had long dissipated, and his heart felt even more alert. Without saying a word, he went straight to Li Ling's bedroom. At this time, Li Ling, who was already asleep, woke up from his dream, put on his clothes and opened the door and asked: "What's wrong? Where did you get out of the water?"

Li Moyun quickly stepped forward and reported: "I heard from the outside world that there was a fire in the government office."

"Is there such a thing?" Li Ling's brows became more and more frowning, and he said incrediblely, "How can the government offices take water at will? And it's so coincidental that it was just night I arrived here... You'll ask someone to ask where the government office caught fire and whether it was damaged?" He had a secret guess in his mind, not to mention that the government office storehouse, which is specially used to store various documents and account books, caught fire.

Li Moyun also obviously thought of this layer, and his body suddenly shook. Then he quickly agreed, waved to a guard and conveyed Li Ling's meaning. The latter clasped his fists to answer his orders and left quickly.

After such a fuss, more than a hundred people who had rested in the courtyard of this inn rose up and gathered near Li Ling to ensure his safety. Li Moyun was even beside him and did not dare to leave at all. This fact is strange. They dare not relax at all until they know what the attitude of the people here.

The fire broke out suddenly, but the rescue was a little slow. Two hours later, the sky was dawn and the fire was completely extinguished. Then, the exact news came back soon. I was really afraid of anything I was going to get. The fire really burned the cabinet warehouse of the government office!

Li Ling was dozing off because of this fuss. When he heard this, he woke up instantly. He became excited because of the intense emotions in a certain place: "What a courage, what a decisive method!" He really underestimated Ma Bangwen and the others. The other party didn't give him any chance to check the accounts, and just burned the account book with a fire!

In fact, such methods have often appeared in the officialdom in the past, especially the former Song Dynasty, which was most favorable to the literati and officials. Such methods of burning evidence and leaving the court helpless are often happening. For the sake of self-protection or for the benefit of local people, as long as the officials encounter financial problems that cannot be solved, they will directly burn all the accounts and solve the emergence of the problems from the source.

At this time, the attitude of the former Song Dynasty court has always been ambiguous. Sometimes it is a few rebukes, and sometimes the bench officials think it is punished, but they don’t have the intention of further investigation anyway. This may also mean that officials protect each other.

In the Great Yue Dynasty, as the civil and military forces balanced each other, and Taizu Taizong had already set rules, such bold actions were much less. But it was not impossible, because such methods were almost unrecognizable, and key evidence such as accounts were all gone, and then they would let a few small officials take the blame, so the most serious punishment was to demote the officials involved. As for the greater sins that might exist, they could only be left alone.

Li Ling really didn't expect that the accounting checking skills he was proud of had completely lost his place to use when he arrived in Yingzhou. The anger and unwillingness in his heart were completely hoarded, but he couldn't vent it. After a while, he could only stand up and said, "Let's go and go to the government office to see. I want to ask them why it happened so by chance. I was about to check the account book when the cabinet warehouse caught fire!"

At this time, the Yingzhou government office was still in a mess, with ashes after the fire, and water traces flowing everywhere after extinguishing the fire. Whether it was the officials and servants in the yamen, they were still walking around like a group of headless flies. The adult said a few words, and the adult ordered everyone to make a mess.

In the second hall, not only the pavilion and warehouse were built, but also several nearby public housing units were affected. Although the buildings were not burned, they were in a mess, and the window lattice walls were already dark.

When Li Ling arrived, he looked so embarrassed that he was stunned for a long time before he recovered. Then he stepped inside and looked around for Ma Bangwen and others.

Finally, in a corner, he saw Magistrate Ma with black and white on his face. His official uniform was covered with burnt marks, his eyes were red, and there were two charred corpses in front of him, and he was in a trance.

It was not until his subordinates reported twice that he came back to his senses and saluted Li Ling: "I would like to forgive my sins. I am not afraid of such a disaster."
Chapter completed!