Chapter 80: Chapter 79: Do you dare to lay a hand on me, an official? Are you looking down on me? Chapter 80: Chapter 79: Do you dare to lay a hand on me, an official? Are you looking down on me? In the accounting room, Yang Zhenshan sat decisively at the desk, while Xu Zhen and others outside exchanged puzzled looks.
“Lord, there was a shortage of thirty bushels of grain last month!”
“Lord, there was an issue with the disbursement of silver coin in May, they actually purchased thirty bolts of silk!”
“Lord, there are twenty fewer tendons bows in the storeroom!”
As Yang Chengxu and a few others audited the accounts, one problem after another was laid before Yang Zhenshan, causing the officials waiting outside to break into a cold sweat on their foreheads.
Yang Zhenshan’s eyes narrowed slightly, “Tendon bows?”
“Yes, in March of this year, a hundred tendon bows entered the warehouse, but now only eighty remain with no records of them being checked out!” Yang Chengxu said.
The outflow of military equipment was a serious matter.
If found out, it could lead to losing one’s head.
Yang Zhenshan glanced at Xu Zhen and the others outside, nodding nonchalantly.
Xu Zhen couldn’t sit still any longer, “Lord Thousand Households, may I have a moment to speak with you?”
“What is there to speak about? Just say it here!” Yang Zhenshan looked at him with a smirk.
“This~~”
Xu Zhen hesitated for a while before finally gritting his teeth and moving closer to Yang Zhenshan, whispering, “Lord, this was Mr. Zhang’s doing.”
“You didn’t participate?” Yang Zhenshan asked.
“No, definitely not!” Xu Zhen’s head shook like a bobblehead.
Yang Zhenshan couldn’t be bothered with him, waiting quietly for Yang Chengxu and the others to continue the audit.
About two hours passed, and Yang Chengxu and the rest finally finished auditing the accounts.
There were numerous issues, and many of them were quite severe. If all were exposed, they would be enough to sever the heads of the corrupt officials before him.
“Do you have anything to explain?”
Yang Zhenshan asked indifferently.
Xu Zhen and the others all remained silent, as if they had all turned mute.
“Since there are no explanations, I shall take it that you have acknowledged your guilt!” Yang Zhenshan continued.
Xu Zhen suddenly looked up, his eyes full of disbelief.
Acknowledge guilt?
Why acknowledge guilt?
Isn’t this a common matter?
What guilt is there?
He didn’t think he was guilty because this was the way they all did it.
Perhaps in his eyes, these matters were very normal.
Instead, it was Yang Zhenshan’s insistence on using these issues to make them acknowledge guilt that seemed abnormal.
“Does the lord wish for our lives?” Xu Zhen finally came to his senses.
Yang Zhenshan shook his head slightly, “It is not I who wants your lives, but it is you who have breached national and military laws!”
He was not someone who liked to stir up trouble; if there were useful officials, he wouldn’t mind accepting them.
But he could not tolerate a bunch of corrupt officials doing things under his watch. There was much he needed to do later, and he couldn’t afford to have corrupt officials dragging him down.
So, adhering to the principle of preferring a shortage to an abundance of such people, he intended to cleanse the ranks of all the corrupt officials first.
“Aren’t you afraid of offending the masses, my lord?” Xu Zhen, annoyed, glared with murderous intent.
“The masses? Are you the masses, or are those poor soldiers out there the masses?”
“You ask me if I’m afraid of opposing the masses. I’d like to ask you, aren’t you afraid of the soldiers under your command rebelling?”
Yang Zhenshan laughed dismissively; the practice of officials protecting one another seemed the norm in Chongshan Town.
If this had been in a fortress city, Yang Zhenshan would certainly not have been so rash as to expose these matters, but this was Yinghe Castle, where he was the commanding official, and his superior was an official of Yinghe Castle.
This matter could be managed not only by him but by Zhou Lan as well.
This is the importance of clinging to powerful legs.
“Take them!” Yang Zhenshan had already decided to hand these people over to Zhou Lan.
“Who dares!”
At the brink of life and death, Xu Zhen couldn’t help but go crazy.
Before the surrounding soldiers could make their move, he actually took the initiative to attack Yang Zhenshan.
The long fist swung, carrying a fierce wind, and struck straight at Yang Zhenshan’s face.
Yang Zhenshan’s eyes narrowed slightly, and he abruptly raised his hand, delivering a heavy slap across Xu Zhen’s face.
This slap was truly resounding to the extreme.
It smacked with a noise like thunder, spreading far and wide, making everyone who was itching to move stiffen up.
The next moment, Xu Zhen fell heavily to the ground like a torn sack.
“How dare you lay a hand on a court official, do you look down upon me?”
Yang Zhenshan truly did not expect Xu Zhen to make a move, but upon further thought, Xu Zhen’s action seemed understandable.
The crimes they committed, if truly accounted for, would either be punishable by death or skinning.
Under such circumstances, it would be better for them to escalate the situation and start a mutiny. If they could kill Yang Zhenshan first, they might have some room to maneuver.
However, he seemed to have underestimated Yang Zhenshan’s strength and overestimated his own.
Xu Zhen was also a Postnatal Martial Artist; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to sit in the position of Deputy Thousand Households.
But he was only at the Postnatal First Layer.
Yang Zhenshan was also at the Postnatal First Layer, yet the gap between them was quite evident.
“Do you all want to make a move as well?” Yang Zhenshan looked at the officials beside him.
They trembled all over, shrinking their heads like quails.
Make a move?
Don’t be joking.
A wise man knows better than to fight when the odds are against him.
To make a move against Yang Zhenshan was no different from seeking death; they would rather be imprisoned and handed over to the Guardian Department.
In that way, they might still find connections to seek absolution.
Seeing them like that, Yang Zhenshan sneered, “Lock them all up in the dungeon!”
Yang Mingwu and the others, without a word, unceremoniously captured all the officials.
Xu Zhen was slapped till he fainted by Yang Zhenshan, and Yang Mingwu dragged him away like dragging a dead dog.
However, having taken down all the officials of Yinghe Castle at once, how to manage Yinghe Castle and the other garrisons remained a troublesome issue.
After Yang Mingwu locked Xu Zhen and the others in the dungeon, Yang Zhenshan immediately ordered Yang Mingwu and Yang Chengxu to lead teams to Xiangyuan Fortress and Sanshan Castle.
Today, to welcome Yang Zhenshan’s appointment, the garrison commanders of Xiangyuan Fortress and Sanshan Castle had also arrived and were now jailed in the dungeon.
Thus, taking over these two garrisons was unimpeded for Yang Mingwu and Yang Chengxu.
In the following two days, while Yang Zhenshan was stabilizing his garrison and signal towers, he gained a comprehensive understanding of the situation of all garrisons and signal towers.
As he had anticipated, residents of the three garrisons and over twenty Fire Road Piles and signal towers led a hard life.
Especially under severe drought, the three garrisons managed well since they had deep wells, so drinking water was not an issue, but for those piles and signal towers, getting water was a problem.
Therefore, the second thing Yang Zhenshan did after taking office was to arrange ox carts and mule carts to deliver water to every pile and signal tower.
As for training soldiers, when drinking water was an issue for the troops, how could they possibly train?
Not just Yang Zhenshan, but Zhou Lan was in the same situation.
After following Zhou Lan to Jianning Guard, Yang Mingzhi and the others were not put into training but instead dug wells with the soldiers.
At this time, Zhou Lan faced a more troubling situation than Yang Zhenshan; Yang Zhenshan only managed three garrisons, while Zhou Lan had to confront over a dozen garrisons and more than a hundred thousand military households.
At this time, Zhou Lan could not afford to be concerned about Yang Zhenshan, and Yang Zhenshan also had no time to pay attention to the situation of Jianning Guard and Chongshan Pass.