Unlimited Resources: Raising a Minister with a Space Supermarket-Chapter 478 - 429: Rank Has Its Privileges (Part 3)
Su Jingchen called Li Wenyuan and asked him to bring out the county government’s account books and compare them one by one.
Since coming into contact with Yu Xiaolian, Li Wenyuan had developed a strong interest in mathematics, so dealing with account books was naturally no problem for him.
However, as soon as Li Wenyuan looked at the county government’s account books, his eyebrows furrowed deeply.
"Why are the account books recorded in such a chaotic manner?" They were like a tangled mess, impossible to start.
Hearing Li Wenyuan’s words, County Magistrate Qian showed a trace of smugness on his face!
Of course, they are messy, just to make it impossible for you to reconcile the accounts!
The account books of the county government show a deficit of nearly six hundred taels of silver. He didn’t believe Su Jingchen would be willing to take money out of his own pocket to cover the deficit.
Who becomes County Magistrate not to make money, but to end up spending money instead?
However, if Su Jingchen wanted to secure his position as County Magistrate, the first step would be to balance the accounts.
After balancing the accounts, there should be a surplus on the books; only then could orders be issued to experience the authority of the County Magistrate. Otherwise, he could guarantee that none of the government officials and officers would be willing to heed Su Jingchen’s commands.
Thinking of this, County Magistrate Qian couldn’t help but feel even more triumphant.
The salary of a seventh-rank official is merely forty-five taels of silver, and including the gratuity at the end of the year, it’s just over a hundred and twenty taels.
The public funds given by the court were even less, eight taels of silver per month. To be honest, without exploiting the commoners and wealthy merchants, it would be difficult to do anything with just eight taels of silver.
"Call them back!" Su Jingchen, after looking at the chaotic account book handed over by Li Wenyuan, directly and accurately threw the account book onto County Magistrate Qian’s face.
County Magistrate Qian initially waited for Su Jingchen to speak softly to him, begging him, but he didn’t expect Su Jingchen to step all over his dignity.
Ha, are you young and hot-headed? I’ll make you regret it.
"What is Lord County Magistrate doing? The money owed is not because of my embezzlement; my abilities are limited, and I’ve already tried my best to fill the gaps." Seeing Su Jingchen unable to suppress his anger, County Magistrate Qian was even more delighted. Such young people are the easiest to manipulate.
Wait till I wear down your edge, so you’ll ask for my help. Without me, you won’t even be able to collect the autumn grain tax, hmph!
"The monthly salaries of the government officials and officers are issued by the court on a monthly basis. Why is there still money owed to them on the books? Explain this to me!"
Su Jingchen simply put on a cold face. If he didn’t show some attitude, this old fox, County Magistrate Qian, would never fear him at all.
"Wasn’t it during the spring when people from the Ministry of Revenue came to collect the tax money? Our Yangcheng is experiencing a severe population loss, and the tax money simply cannot be collected. But the court gave us a hard target, and it wouldn’t do if we didn’t turn in enough. We had no choice but to pool together to somehow send the officials from the Ministry of Revenue away.
Even so, I subsidized it with my own monthly salary, without recording it in the books. Alas, I intended to do good deeds without leaving a name, but I didn’t expect to be misunderstood and suspected by Lord Su!"
County Magistrate Qian put on a facade of sadness and regret, but in reality, he was smug about being able to perfectly handle all of Su Jingchen’s inquiries.
Su Jingchen sneered, "Is that so? Then let me check the tax books to clear your name." Although Su Jingchen had never been a County Magistrate and had no experience in this area, when he was in Luocheng, he listened attentively to Wu Ming’s reports about Min Fengyi’s dealings with Liu the Secretary very closely.
Luocheng’s land area was about the same as Yangcheng’s. Although Luocheng’s land yielded crops twice a year, the government there still had a large surplus after the fixed annual tax silver and grain submissions.
Here they not only had no surplus, but were actually in deficit by six hundred taels of silver. This was highly unreasonable, and Su Jingchen didn’t believe there was no foul play!
Upon hearing that Su Jingchen was going to thoroughly investigate all the account books, County Magistrate Qian smiled slightly, completely unruffled, "If you go through these account books one by one, it may take several days. I’m afraid it will be hard on you, Lord."
Su Jingchen closed his eyes slightly, "I would ask you, Lord Qian, to make a trip and gather everyone in the county government by tomorrow morning. I have something to say. If anyone doesn’t come for any reason, then I’m sorry, I will have to relieve them of their duties.
You can see, I brought many people with me; I don’t lack for manpower!"
County Magistrate Qian was infuriated by what Su Jingchen said, but no matter how unwilling, he had to nod in agreement.
No other choice, the higher a rank, the more suppressive the authority!
If his relatives lost their positions due to negligence, his household would definitely fall into turmoil.
Yes, ever since the last County Magistrate of Yangcheng unexpectedly passed away, the position of County Magistrate had been vacant for over half a year. County Magistrate Qian had long replaced the inside and out of the county government with his own people. Besides these government officials and officers, there were gatekeepers and night watchmen, forensic doctors and fast riders, sedan chair bearers and warehouse guards; basically, everything that could be changed had been replaced with his people.
