Giant Ship Across the Song Dynasty: My Supplies Come from My Motherland

Chapter 122 Go ahead and investigate! Just investigate!

Chapter 122 Go ahead and investigate! Just investigate!

At this moment, Zhang Caihu felt his blood run cold. The person behind him was Qin Hui. How dare they do this?

Based on a fake ledger?

"I never imagined that someone with such thick eyebrows and big eyes could also be a Tongyue."

Lin Zhou crossed his arms and chuckled as he looked at Zhang Caihu: "But I still believe you're definitely alright, Tiger. However, my opinion doesn't count for everything; we still need to investigate thoroughly. But can we hurry up? Lord Sihou, could we use torture on the spot to make him confess quickly?"

Zhang Caihu was being held down by the two men and was struggling incessantly. The veins on his neck were bulging, and his face was full of anger and disbelief.

"Making fake documents is a capital offense!"

"When did I give false testimony? I'm a first-class law-abiding citizen, I speak my mind. Besides, just because your name is on this ledger doesn't mean you're Tong Yue. My name is on it too, so what are you afraid of?"

After Zhang Caihu was subdued, the magistrate's expression became very serious. This ledger was incredibly intriguing; it seemed designed specifically for eliminating dissidents. Even the most astute accountant couldn't find any flaws in it.

But is it real or fake?

Really.

All the accounts here are genuine; the transaction history and the buyers and sellers can be traced. For example, it records that Zhang Caihu gave Xiao'e and the others twelve shi of rice, worth fourteen guan and thirty-seven wen.

These funds can be traced back to their origins because they match up with Zhang Caihu's own embezzled accounts.

This fellow worked in the Palace Guard, where he usually did some buying and selling. It wasn't a big deal, and he didn't make much money selling them. Everyone did it, and it even became a routine. From rice and flour to iron, salt, and cloth, they were all leftover items from the government office. They made a few thousand strings of cash a year from these odds and ends.

This amount of money was negligible within the vast bureaucratic system of the Song Dynasty. Almost everyone did this, including Cheng'er, because if they didn't use up what they had this year, the Ministry of Revenue wouldn't approve any new supplies for next year.

But what's the biggest problem here? It's that it can't be sold openly. Selling it is possible, but the industry chain behind it involves big players from all sides, and they won't allow anyone to keep a copy.

Therefore, for officials of low to mid-level rank like Zhang Caihu, some only had accounts for expenditures from the government office but could not find where those accounts went.

As I said before, it's not a lot of money, and it's just a departmental benefit, so it's not a big deal.

But the key question is—what if these things are used to aid Yueyang?

If the same hundred strings of cash were spent on prostitutes, the superior officer would simply smile knowingly, pat the subordinate on the shoulder, and say, "Take care of your health."

But if those hundred strings of cash were given to the orphans of Yue Fei's army, the nature of the matter would be completely different.

The most disgusting thing here is that even Zhang Caihu couldn't explain where the things he took from the yamen went.

It wasn't that he didn't know, but he absolutely refused to say anything. After all, even if he really had aided Yue, the worst possible outcome after a thorough investigation would be exile to Lingnan.

However, if the bloodsucking industrial chain behind it were exposed, he would commit suicide in prison with thirty-eight stab wounds to his back.

The person who made this ledger is a genius, an absolute genius. Don't be fooled by the long list of names; most of them are ordinary merchants, insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Even if the investigation traces back to them, it's all plausible. At worst, they'd be like Lin Zhou, where "the master couldn't bear to see the poor suffer, so he gave them some food, like feeding a dog."

But when it comes to Zhang Caihu, things are different. This directly explains why he has been so concerned about Xiao'e and the others during this period, and it also explains why the officer who betrayed Xiao'e suddenly died under his command.

Actually, what this thing fears isn't clues, but rather the closed loop of the logical chain.

Once the logical chain is closed, and he cannot provide self-proof, he will face certain death.

But at this moment, Zhang Caihu seemed unaware that he still harbored a sense of侥幸 (a sense of luck or侥幸心理) while being controlled there, and even had the mind to shout. However, what followed was his real dead end.

Sihou held the accounts and whispered among himself and others, including the Prefect of Lin'an.

They whispered a lot of things, most of which Lin Zhou didn't hear clearly, but he vaguely caught a few sentences, such as "Fellow colleagues, do you think this matter should be a public trial or a closed trial?" and "I think there's no better time than now. These things aren't some random matter. We can just check the accounts."

Lin Zhou didn't know what they finally came up with, but he saw the leaders of the joint trial exchange glances briefly before nodding in agreement.

However, some people expressed their disagreement, but they all covered their mouths and seemed cautious when they said these things.

Lin Zhou guessed that this must be related to Qin Hui, since Zhang Caihu was still nominally Qin Hui's representative at the moment.

But just then, Si Hou began his first round of shady tactics. He slightly raised his head and smiled at Lin Zhou, then cleared his throat: "A copy of the account book alone is indeed not sufficient as evidence. Anyway, today's main focus is on the dispute between Lin Zhou and the Yue family woman, so these unrelated matters are also insignificant."

"Huh?" Lin Zhou suddenly looked up, not quite understanding why.

But after reviewing the account books, Si Hou completely sided with Zhang Caihu and began to protect him.

"Go ahead and interrogate me! Go ahead and interrogate me now!!! Don't let me go! Interrogate me! Prosecute me!!!"

But then Zhang Caihu suddenly began to struggle violently, bouncing on the ground like a large bluefish that had been cut open.

But Sihou ignored his roar, merely glancing at him and laughing, "Men, release Zhang Sicheng."

"Don't let me go! You can't let me go!"

Zhang Caihu's face was filled with terror. He refused to let anyone untie the ropes binding him, and the arrogance he had shown earlier had completely vanished.

Lin Zhou watched the two people's sudden change and felt like his mind was going to fog up.

He even went so far as to approach a clerk who was writing court records in front of a large crowd and whispered, "Clerk, what's going on?"

The clerk looked up in surprise, stared at Lin Zhou for a long time, and then silently lowered his head without saying a word.

"Loading the cargo."

Lin Zhou cursed, and while everyone was focused on dealing with Zhang Caihu, he slowly moved outside the lobby, even standing in the crowd, his head almost touching Cao Wenda's ear: "What's going on?"

Cao Wenda glanced at the stupid dog with some helplessness, then leaned close to his ear and whispered only four words: "Shizhong protects Yue."

"what?"

"Our own people are protecting each other." Cao Wenda took a deep breath and said, "The Prime Minister already suspects that Xu Ping may be a member of Yue Fei's faction. Xu Ping also knows that the Prime Minister suspects him of being a member of Yue Fei's faction. He is Han Shizhong's man. If he were to handle the matter impartially now, it would be too deliberate. It would be better to use his position to let Zhang Caihu go."

Why is that?

"Hand the knife to the Prime Minister."

"It's so dirty—" Lin Zhou exclaimed in disbelief, his eyes wide. "How could you be so dirty—"

"That's called going with the flow, buddy."

Lin Zhou clicked his tongue and strode back to the main hall. Zhang Caihu had already been forcibly untied, and the tattered account book was thrown in front of him again as Lin Zhou returned. Xu Ping coldly said, "Fake accounts."

After saying that, he stood up and said, "Court adjourned."

After a series of formalities, the people in the room left one after another, but Zhang Caihu sat there with a pale face, as if someone had pulled out his tendons.

"What's wrong, Tiger?" Lin Zhou bent over in front of him, "Is it my fault for giving you the account books? Hey, didn't Si Hou say they were fake accounts? What are you afraid of?"

Zhang Caihu stared at him for a while, then his eyes slowly moved to Cao Wenda in the crowd. He nodded slightly and pointed past Lin Zhou to Old Cao outside.

Old Cao simply put his hands behind his back, wore his signature smile, snorted coldly, and turned to leave.

"What's wrong, Brother Tiger?" Lin Zhou asked patiently.

Zhang Caihu clenched his fist, ready to punch Lin Zhou, but Lin Zhou simply lifted his clothes slightly, revealing the black gun handle: "Hit me, come on, hit me."

"Alright, I'll remember you." Zhang Caihu poked Lin Zhou's chest: "The day you fall into my hands, I'll make you wish you were dead."

Lin Zhou chuckled, grabbed his collar, and whispered, "If you poke me again, I'll kill you right now. You believe me, even if I kill you, I'll just pay you some money and that'll be the end of it."

At this moment, Zhang Caihu's eyes were wide with anger, while Lin Zhou loosened his collar and sneered, "After being reported, Yue Dang held a grudge and intended to commit murder, but was subdued by the young swordsman in one move. However, the young man didn't know his own strength and killed him in one go. How long do you think I should be sentenced to?"

"Alright, alright, alright." Zhang Caihu sat back down in his chair. "Heroes truly emerge from among the young."

"Go back and think about how to appease the Prime Minister, you good-for-nothing." Lin Zhou straightened up and patted Zhang Caihu's shoulder in a particularly disrespectful manner: "You, investigating me? There are plenty of people who want to make trouble for you. My brother Cao just said to wait for Han Shizhong to write you a letter of recruitment. Tell me—if Han Shizhong's letter of reassurance falls into the Prime Minister's hands, aren't you going to be in deep trouble?"

Before Zhang Caihu could reply, Lin Zhou laughed and turned around, then glanced at Xiao'e standing beside him: "Let's go, Zhaozhao, let's go home."

Xiao'e followed reluctantly, her head down. As they walked, Xiao'e suddenly asked curiously, "Why is she called Zhaozhao?"

"I told Qin Hui that I wanted to bring you to my side and change your name to Zhaozhao."

"Why is she called Zhaozhao?"

"The truth is clear."

"Huh? I don't understand—"

"Every day, the sun shines brightly."

""

"Ouch!!!" Xiao'e clenched her fists and gritted her teeth, but there were still many people around, so she couldn't make any moves. She just gestured behind Lin Zhou.

"Then can we not change the name?"

"Of course," Lin Zhou replied casually, but then realized something was off. He turned around and added, "No, not even every day!"