Chapter 1376: He Lingchuan's Remedy

Shuangxi, this tributary territory, is under Xue Zongwu's management. Qian Yu is his trusted associate. To put it bluntly, Shuangxi's resources and income first pass through Xue Zongwu's hands before being sent to the Yao Kingdom. Xue Zongwu has used Qian Yu to audit these accounts for years, so only the two of them truly understand the state of the finances and records.

"Therefore, the significant discrepancies hidden within the accounts are exactly what he fears being exposed," He Lingchuan said with a serious expression. "Qian Yu's abduction indicates that someone else might also be after these very accounts. Once a person begins to worry and feel anxious, their judgment declines. We simply need to provide a few pieces of additional evidence, and he'll start connecting the dots."

"You..." Dong Rui was momentarily at a loss for words. "Are you going to clean up after those men in black?"

"You could say that," He Lingchuan sighed, genuinely frustrated. "It's not just for their benefit, but for ours too."

Dong Rui gave him a thumbs-up. Barely fifteen minutes after Qian Yu's incident, He Lingchuan had already grasped all the implications and was ready to intervene, further muddling the situation.

Dong Rui acknowledged that he lacked such quick thinking and adaptability.

He Lingchuan continued, "Last night, I happened to learn from Qian Yu that all the accounts he was auditing were stored in the west wing's archives at the government office. He works there daily."

"Understood." This alley led directly to the government office's back gate. Seeing no one around, Dong Rui released his bat demon puppet to scout ahead for He Lingchuan.

After about five minutes, the bat fluttered back and landed on Dong Rui's shoulder.

"Inside, it's a complete mess," the bat puppet reported. "The officers have all been dispatched to search for people, and officials are gathered for a meeting. Only the west wing is completely empty; that's probably where the archives you're looking for are." Panic was widespread inside the government office at that moment. Local officials, spurred on by the urgent demands of the guards from Xue's mansion, were both terrified and desperate. Who would have time to worry about some dusty archives?

He Lingchuan nodded, took out the Skin of Boshan Monarch, draped it over himself, and climbed over the wall into the Shuangxi government office.

Dong Rui pointed towards the wall, and the bat flew back inside.

Then Dong Rui turned and left.

He specifically detoured to the front of the government office, where he bought three whole-grain steamed buns and a bowl of sour, starchy noodle soup from a stall. The buns were a bit coarse and the soup overly tart, but that didn't stop him from eating heartily.

Before he had even finished his third bun, he saw the west wing of the government office ablaze, accompanied by shouts.

"Fire! The west wing is on fire!"

Oh, could it be the archives on fire?

"Quick, put out the fire! Hurry! Ah, there's a thief!"

"He climbed over the wall and escaped! Chase him!"

Dong Rui was taken aback. He Lingchuan got caught stealing?

Was it intentional, perhaps?

Engrossed in the unfolding drama, he slowed down his eating.

By the time he finished his bowl of starchy noodle soup, he saw four or five officers rushing back to the government office, all looking anxious.

The government office was certainly bustling today.

"Five more buns," he said. He paid and walked away, as the bat quietly flew over and slipped into his backpack.

The little spy reported that the west wing of the government office had suddenly caught fire. Officials dispatched people to investigate and saw a man in black rush out of the west wing's archives, climb over the wall, and flee, clutching a stack of documents.

Officers gave chase, but while fleeing, the man in black accidentally dropped a book. The officers picked it up and saw it was an account ledger.

Naturally, they failed to catch him. The fire in the archives was eventually contained and did not spread to other parts of the building.

But!

An entire section of shelving in the archives, along with most of the documents it contained, was completely incinerated.

All the account ledgers for the Shuangxi tributary territory from the past few years were stored precisely there!

Why would an ignorant thief break in here just to burn and steal account books?

Local officials, already overwhelmed by Qian Yu's abduction, now had the additional burden of assembling personnel to investigate what had been lost from the west wing.

Fifteen minutes later, Shuangxi was placed under lockdown.

Another fifteen minutes passed, and He Lingchuan and Dong Rui were already on a small hill outside the city, gazing down at the tightly closed city gates.

"Shuangxi was actually sealed off, all for Xue Zongwu's accountant?" Dong Rui tutted. "Their reaction was much faster than I anticipated."

He Lingchuan munched on a whole-grain steamed bun, while pulling out several documents from his storage ring and waving them at Dong Rui.

"The most important reason might be this—the documents I took from the archives."

Dong Rui didn't even bother to open them. "What's in them?"

"These are the account ledgers for the Shuangxi tributary territory from the past few years—they include both the summaries and the detailed entries," He Lingchuan explained. "I learned their location from Qian Yu and conveniently 'stole,' cough, took them out today."

Fortunately, last night he had his nightmare entity ask a few more questions in the dream. Qian Yu confessed to over a dozen instances of falsifying accounts at General Xue's request, involving sums exceeding 200,000 liang.

Qian Yu, being so highly valued by Xue Zongwu, was naturally a master at manipulating accounts.

Of course, this was just an insignificant portion. Over the years, Xue Zongwu's total gains from the two tributary territories had far exceeded 200,000 liang.

Furthermore, Xue Zongwu had financial interests beyond these two territories.

Dong Rui asked, "Are these account ledgers you specifically retrieved problematic?"

"No," He Lingchuan replied.

"..." Then what was the point of taking them?

"If the problems were that easy to find, do you think Qian Yu would still be alive?" He Lingchuan asked, patting the documents. "The ledgers in the archives had their accounts largely balanced, making it virtually impossible to spot any issues by simply looking at them. That's precisely why I set them on fire."

"When it comes to auditing and manipulating accounts, Qian Yu is truly a master," he remarked with a sigh. "If Kang Lang had such a talent, the profit-sharing accounts for the Qingye Agreement would be easily managed."

"So what about these...?" Dong Rui gestured to the documents.

"What I took were the summaries and detailed entries," He Lingchuan said with a slight smile. "They will be of great use; you'll understand later."

Given his explanation, Dong Rui didn't press further. "The local officials in Shuangxi must have strong constitutions, not to faint after receiving these two pieces of dreadful news."

"These accounts are directly linked to Xue Zongwu, so the local officials wouldn't dare to conceal anything," He Lingchuan mumbled, taking a bite of his bun. "They will undoubtedly report the theft from the archives and the disappearance of the important accounts. Hopefully, this will confuse Xue Zongwu, leading him to believe that Qian Yu was abducted because someone is gathering evidence of his corruption."

"How likely is that?"

"Quite likely," He Lingchuan chuckled. "Have you forgotten that someone in the Yao Royal Court has recently been rectifying the government?"

Dong Rui's quick reaction followed: "Qing Yang?"

"For the better part of this year, Qing Yang has been challenging the Yao King under various pretexts, and several ministers have been 'justly' put to death by her," He Lingchuan explained. "'Justly' here means they were genuinely guilty."

In He Lingchuan's original world, there was a well-known saying: Some matters seem insignificant until they are formally weighed; once on the scales, their true gravity cannot be suppressed.

Only by acting with "justice" can you infuriate your opponents, make them resentful, yet leave them utterly helpless.

He Lingchuan had already successfully employed this tactic in Lingxu City. Qing Yang, with over 150 years of experience in official circles, wielded it with even greater mastery.

"Xue Zongwu is a staunch royalist and has clashed with Qing Yang before. If Qing Yang were looking for a good reason to deal with him, and thereby undermine the Yao King's power and prestige, it's not entirely impossible from Xue Zongwu's perspective, is it?"

"More diverting trouble to the east!" Dong Rui couldn't help but laugh, finding it truly unlucky for Qing Yang to be targeted by He Lingchuan. "But since you're so good at strategizing, why don't you try to figure out what those men in black are actually after?"

"Qian Yu isn't their true target. If they were sent by Qing Yang, their methods wouldn't be so crude," He Lingchuan said without much hesitation. "Their way of operating doesn't resemble that of an organized group. Therefore, it must be a personal vendetta."

"But didn't you just say...?"

"I meant that they likely have a personal vendetta against the Xue family, which is why they abducted Qian Yu to extract information. However, their methods are transparent and not well-thought-out," He Lingchuan sighed. "These people tend to mess things up. I just hope their actual target isn't Xue Zongwu himself."

The following day, Qian Yu's body was found floating on the river outside Shuangxi City by a shepherd boy.

Just as He Lingchuan had predicted, the men in black had left no survivors.

The cause of death was a swift, clean cut to the throat.

Upon hearing the news of Qian Yu's death, He Lingchuan immediately dispatched someone to gather more information.

Soon, the intelligence came back.

All of Qian Yu's personal belongings were gone; even the ring on his hand and the jade pendant at his waist had been stripped away.

He Lingchuan frowned at the news. "Definitely not the work of an organization."

Qian Yu had been carrying a considerable sum of money. The night before his death, he had received pearls, jade, and two hundred liang in banknotes, all of which ultimately fell into the hands of the men in black.

Killing and robbing, too, tsk.

Dong Rui chuckled. "Perhaps it's an organization that's short on funds."

Qian Yu's death and the disappearance of the account ledgers were like pebbles dropped into a pond: the pebbles sank from sight, but the ripples on the surface spread ever wider.

He Lingchuan also wanted to know the identities of the men in black, but they had left too few clues to trace.

There were many secretive groups on the Shanjing Plains, not just this one.

"Is there anything useful from the intelligence Qian Yu provided?"

"Quite a lot," He Lingchuan replied, giving an example offhand. "For instance, Xue Zongwu maintains close contact with his mentor, Qi Yunsheng. Whenever he faces a major issue or is indecisive, he travels to Mangzhou to consult him. Oh, Qi Yunsheng is also his father-in-law; Xue Zongwu married his mentor's daughter."

"Another example is Xue Zongwu's inherent cruelty and overbearing nature. He is frequently reported by other powerful figures, and the Yao King always has to intervene to settle matters."

Dong Rui asked curiously, "Didn't you say before that it benefits a ruler when a commanding general has poor relations with other high-ranking officials?"

Otherwise, with troops, power, and connections, wouldn't that be...

He Lingchuan had indeed said this when they were in Lingxu City, and Dong Rui remembered it perfectly.

"A few years ago, he even killed the imperial official sent from the capital to the border, incurring severe punishment from the Yao King," He Lingchuan said with a smile. "The Yao King is essentially raising a tiger. Tigers, by nature, aren't as obedient as dogs, and this balance is difficult to maintain. Qian Yu revealed in the dream that the Royal Court had specifically audited the tributary land accounts managed by Xue Zongwu multiple times, right up until Qing Yang arrived in the Yao Kingdom to serve as Grand Overseer."

"In his youth, Xue Zongwu served as an imperial official for the Yao King, and he was promoted through the ranks against much opposition, entirely due to the King's efforts. I believe he is quite loyal to his master, and with such a general as his backing, the Yao King feels more confident in his confrontation with Qing Yang."