It’s late at night! It was already past ten o'clock in the evening, and there was chaos everywhere in the capital. Dogs were barking, adults and children were crying, people were running water to put out fires, and patrolmen from the Capital Police Headquarters were running around the streets blowing copper whistles.
The atmosphere in the entire capital has become very strange. In the originally quiet night, there are always small conflicts that wake up the sleeping people, one after another all night long.
Baojun and his team walked to the north gate of Beixincang and looked at the closed black wooden door. The two lanterns in front of the door gave off a dim light.
"Go and call the door!" Baojun ordered, and immediately some soldiers jumped off their horses, rushed over and started banging on the door.
"Who...who...what do you want to do this night?" A dissatisfied voice came from inside.
"The warehouse is being inspected! The Military Aircraft Department is inspecting the warehouse...Open the door quickly!"
There was sudden chaos inside the door, and the dissatisfied voice just now turned into a panic. "What? Are you lying to me? When did the Military Aircraft Department come to inspect the warehouse? The Household Department inspection is still about the same..."
"Let me tell you, this is the treasury of the imperial court. Xiaoxiao, it's better not to make any plans... This place is full of rice and grain, and there is no gold, silver and jewelry. If you want to make plans, you should change the place!"
"Why are you talking so much nonsense!" The soldier who smashed the door angrily kicked it with his foot. "Master Baojun, the chief assistant of the military aircraft, is here to check the accounts in person. You bunch of slaves should open the door quickly!"
Hearing a flurry of confusion inside the door and mutterings of people who didn't know what they were talking about, Baojun suddenly felt a bad feeling welling up in his heart!
"Smash the door! Pry open the door... Tell the people inside that if you don't open the door, everyone will be arrested!"
"Hey..." Several soldiers rushed over at the command, and one of them cleverly pulled out his sword. The sharp blade penetrated directly along the crack of the door, and then began to lift the door latch.
"Hurry up and open the door...Master Baojun has an order. If you don't open the door, you will be arrested and sent to prison!"
Now Beixincang was completely in a state of panic. It was scary to see the bright sword thrust through the crack of the door, not to mention whether it was possible to lift the latch.
The warehouse boy guarding the door was frightened and shouted, "Sir, don't worry...I'll open the door right now, little one, open the door right now..."
The heavy door latch was pushed open, and the heavy wooden door opened a crack. A few pairs of eyes peeked out. At a glance, they saw Lord Baojun under the lantern. He was wearing court clothes and could not deceive anyone.
Not daring to neglect, the door slowly opened, and Baojun's guards rushed in!
"Where's the manager of Beixincang? Where's the clerk? Where's the secretary? Why don't you hurry up and greet your lord..."
The system of treasury management in the Qing Dynasty was strict. The first-in-command was called treasury officer, the second-in-command was called siguan, the person who copied the accounts and calculated the accounts was called treasury secretary, and the rest were all treasury soldiers.
In particular, the warehouses in the capital have strict requirements. There must be a warehouse manager or treasurer on duty every night, as well as warehouse officials and warehouse soldiers.
After a while, a sleepy-eyed official came over and gave Lord Baojun a thousand salutes, "Slave Beixincang Guanku, Tong Jia, has received a deduction from Lord Baojun!"
"Huh? Are you flagging?"
"A slave wears a red flag and is not a talented person. He can only serve as an official and run errands for the court...Prince Lao Li is the slave's real master!"
Baojun glanced at him. This dog slave came up and announced himself as a servant of Prince Li. Could it be that he wanted to use Prince Li to suppress me?
"Well... get up. How much grain is stored in Beixincang? Let me see the accounts! Others will take over the keys and prepare the warehouse..."
Tong Jia saw that it was useless to report her family status, and her face turned pale. "Sir... why are you checking the granary in the middle of the night? There is no such rule..."
"According to Beixincang's system, it is taboo to start a fire late at night. If you get into trouble, I will not be able to bear the responsibility!"
"Well! How brave are you to be so talkative? Do you want to teach me how to be an official? Send the accounts over immediately, as well as the keys to each warehouse..."
Beads of sweat fell from the forehead of Guan Ku, who was kneeling on the ground. "Sir... Sir, please don't be like this. The imperial court has its own system. You can give the slave a copy of the emperor's handwriting. How about you ask for a note from the prince?" That’s okay too!”
"It's really against the rules to check the warehouse late at night. Sir, please don't make things difficult for me. I really can't bear the responsibility!"
The more the manager said this, the more frightened Baojun became. Is there something wrong with Beixincang?
"Bastard, when did Prince Li take charge of the household affairs department? Why did you ask me to find the prince? Is Beixincang a warehouse of the imperial court? Isn't it possible that our chief military officer can't check the warehouse?"
"Slap me! Let him have a long memory!"
A soldier rushed over and slapped Tong Jia with his bow left and right, so hard that his mouth and nose started to bleed.
Baojun looked at him and sneered, "How much rice is there in this Beixin warehouse? Don't you know this if you are the warehouse manager?"
Unexpectedly, Tong Jia became more courageous after being beaten. He wiped the blood from his mouth and nose and smiled, "Why do you need to show your authority to me, a dishonest slave? No one is watching in the middle of the night!"
"Sir, you want to know? Haha... It may be two hundred thousand stones, or it may be three hundred thousand stones. I can't tell clearly. I haven't checked it for a long time!"
"Bold! As a warehouse manager, you don't know how much food is in your warehouse? Such dereliction of duty is really audacious!"
"Haha... Master Baojun, don't scare the younger ones with your big words. Our bannermen are not scared of the older ones! Now that I am on duty in the middle of the night, I am considered responsible!"
"How many people are on errands and don't show up for half a month! This is what happened to the Eight Banners. Lord Baojun didn't know about it for the first time!"
Bao Jun's hands trembled with anger, "You...don't think that Prince Li can protect you! I'm just killing a dog..."
Before he finished speaking, Baojun knew how courageous this slave dog was!
At this moment, a fire suddenly lit up from behind, and the crowd was in confusion. "There is a leak in the accounting room... There is a leak in the accounting room... Wang Kushu is still sleeping inside!"
"Quickly put out the fire...protect the accounts!" Baojun gave an order, and a group of soldiers rushed over!
The secretary who was in charge of the accounting room was now covered in black smoke and had two buckets of cold water poured on him. He was kneeling on the ground shivering while thick smoke billowed from inside the accounting room.
"The little one...the little one has rheumatism...there is a fire plate in the house...I just heard the adult calling and accidentally kicked over the fire plate..."
"The little one deserves to die, the little one deserves to die..." Ku Shu kept kowtowing, and Bao Jun's face turned gloomy after reading it. He had already guessed everything.
Turning to look at the official, "Haha... Is it Tong Jia? Is it Prince Li's servant? You are so confident! How dare you let people burn the accounts? Don't you have a clear account when you are in the Ministry of Accounts?"
"Explain carefully, how much food did you greed for? To be honest, you still have a way to survive!"
Tong Jia frowned and said, "I don't understand what you are saying! What's wrong with the Account Department having a bottom account? The Account Department's accounts are kept with our warehouse for three months! Now that the Account Department's accounts are here, it doesn't mean it's here. It’s a real food reserve!”
"As for burning the account books, that's Ku Shu's fault. You can't blame me..."
"Hahaha! Okay, okay...it's like a Eight Banners fool. You won't shed tears until you see the coffin!"
"I am also a bannerman, Xiangbaiqi, Suo Zhuoluo clan! Don't even try to hide this ghostly trick from me!"
"Come here, find the key! Don't you believe that this key can be transformed?"
Note: Our Hidden Dragon is still ranked tenth on the annual recommendation list, but we are chasing the eleventh place so hard that we are one thousand votes behind us.
There are still 20 days left in December, so don’t let your guard down. You must cast more recommendation votes to stabilize the gap and don’t let your opponents catch up!
