Chapter 79: You dare to offend me, don’t you look down on me?
In the account room, Yang Zhengshan sat at the desk, his large knife and axe-like presence making everyone outside the door exchange nervous glances.
“Sir, last month’s grain and fodder had a shortage of thirty stones!”
“Sir, the silver money withdrawn in May had problems, and we even bought thirty rolls of silk!”
“Sir, the cowhide bows in the warehouse are missing twenty pieces!”
As Yang Chengxu and the others presented the problems one by one, the officials outside the door couldn’t help but sweat coldly.
Yang Zhengshan’s eyes narrowed slightly, “Cowhide bows?”
“Yes, a hundred cowhide bows were stored in the warehouse in March, but now there are only eighty left, and there’s no record of any withdrawals!” Yang Chengxu replied.
This was a serious offense. If it was discovered, it could mean beheading.
Yang Zhengshan glanced at Xu Zhen and the others outside the door, his expression calm and unflappable.
Xu Zhen couldn’t sit still, “Commander Yang, please lend me a moment to speak.”
“What’s there to say? Say it here!” Yang Zhengshan smiled faintly at him.
“This…”
Xu Zhen hesitated for a moment before finally Gathering his courage, he leaned in close to Yang Zhengshan and whispered, “Sir, this is General Zhang’s doing.”
“Did you participate?” Yang Zhengshan asked.
“No, absolutely not!” Xu Zhen shook his head like a rattle drum.
Yang Zhengshan didn’t bother with him, quietly waiting for Yang Chengxu to continue the audit.
After about an hour, Yang Chengxu and the others finally finished checking the accounts.
There were many problems, and some were very serious. If they were all exposed, it would be enough to behead all these corrupt officials.
“Do you have any explanations?” Yang Zhengshan asked indifferently.
Xu Zhen and the others all lowered their heads, as if they had all become mute.
“Since you have no explanations, I’ll take it that you’re admitting guilt!” Yang Zhengshan continued.
Xu Zhen suddenly lifted his head, his eyes full of incredulity.
Admit guilt? Why admit guilt?
Wasn’t this just a normal thing to do?
What crime was this?
He didn’t think he was guilty, because they all did this.
Maybe in his eyes, this was just a normal thing to do.
Instead, Yang Zhengshan was being unreasonable by wanting them to admit guilt.
“Sir, do you want our lives?” Xu Zhen finally reacted.
Yang Zhengshan shook his head slightly, “I don’t want your lives, but you’ve broken the national law and military law!”
He wasn’t someone who liked to cause trouble, and if these officials had someone useful, he wouldn’t mind accepting them.
However, he couldn’t tolerate a group of corrupt officials working under him, as it would hinder his future plans.
So, he followed the principle of “rather fewer but better” and decided to clean up these corrupt officials first.
“Sir, aren’t you afraid of offending the crowd?” Xu Zhen was angry, his eyes flashing with killing intent.
“The crowd? Are you the crowd, or are the poor soldiers outside the crowd?”
“You ask if I’m afraid of offending the crowd, but I’d like to ask if you’re not afraid of the soldiers under your command rebelling?”
Yang Zhengshan laughed disdainfully, as officials protecting each other was a common occurrence in Chong Shan Zhen.
If this were in Guan Cheng, Yang Zhengshan wouldn’t have been so reckless in exposing these things. But here, he was the chief officer of Ying He Bao, and his superior was also the superior of Ying He Bao.
Even if this was something he couldn’t handle, Zhou Lan could.
This was the importance of having a powerful backer.
“Take them away!” Yang Zhengshan had already decided to hand these people over to Zhou Lan to deal with.
“Who dares!”
At the moment of life and death, Xu Zhen lost his mind and lunged at Yang Zhengshan.
A long fist swung, carrying a fierce gust of wind, and aimed directly at Yang Zhengshan’s face.
Yang Zhengshan’s eyes narrowed slightly, and he swiftly raised his hand, slapping Xu Zhen’s face with a loud smack.
The slap was extremely loud, like a thunderclap, and it sent shivers down the spines of those who were about to make a move.
The next moment, Xu Zhen crashed to the ground like a broken bag.
“You dare to attack me? Don’t you look down on me?”
Yang Zhengshan didn’t expect Xu Zhen to attack, but thinking about it, Xu Zhen’s actions weren’t unexpected.
The crimes they committed were indeed worthy of punishment, and if they weren’t executed, they would at least be skinned alive.
In this situation, they would rather stir up trouble and create a disturbance, hoping to get rid of Yang Zhengshan and gain some leeway.
However, they underestimated Yang Zhengshan’s strength and overestimated their own.
Xu Zhen was also a Late Heaven cultivator; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to sit in the vice-commander position.
But he was only at the first layer of Late Heaven.
Yang Zhengshan was also at the first layer of Late Heaven, but the gap between them was still significant.
“Do you want to take action too?” Yang Zhengshan looked at the officials beside him.
They trembled all over, shrinking back like quails.
Take action? Don’t joke around.
It’s better to submit to the authorities than to seek death.
Attacking Yang Zhengshan was equivalent to seeking death, and they would rather be imprisoned and handed over to the Metropolitan Prefecture Office to be dealt with.
That way, they might still be able to seek connections to commute their sentence.
Yang Zhengshan saw them cowering and laughed coldly, “Lock them all up in the large prison!”
Yang Mingwu and the others didn’t hesitate, roughly seizing the officials and throwing them into prison.
Xu Zhen was knocked unconscious by Yang Zhengshan’s slap, and Yang Mingwu dragged him away like a dead dog.
However, this move by Yang Zhengshan would create trouble for the management of Ying He Bao and other fortresses.
After Yang Mingwu locked up Xu Zhen and the others, Yang Zhengshan immediately ordered Yang Mingwu and Yang Chengxu to lead a team to Xiang Yuan Bao and San Shan Bao.
Today, the officials from Xiang Yuan Bao and San Shan Bao had come to welcome Yang Zhengshan, but now they were all locked up in prison.
So Yang Mingwu and Yang Chengxu took over the two fortresses without encountering any obstacles.
Over the next two days, Yang Zhengshan stabilized the fortresses under his management and thoroughly understood the situation of all the fortresses.
As he had expected, the three fortresses, with over twenty beacon towers and烽燧, each had their soldiers living a hard life.
Especially during the great drought, the three fortresses still had deep wells, and water wasn’t a problem, but the towers and烽燧 were struggling.
Therefore, the second thing Yang Zhengshan did after taking office was to arrange for ox carts and mule carts to deliver water to each tower and烽燧.
As for military training, how could they train when the soldiers were struggling to get water?
Not to mention Yang Zhengshan, even Zhou Lan was in a similar situation.
Yang Mingzhi and the others followed Zhou Lan to Jian Ning Wei, but instead of joining the military training, they helped the soldiers dig wells.
At this time, Zhou Lan’s situation was more complicated than Yang Zhengshan’s. Yang Zhengshan only had to manage three fortresses, while Zhou Lan had to face over ten fortresses and over 100,000 soldiers.
At this time, Zhou Lan couldn’t spare a thought for Yang Zhengshan, and Yang Zhengshan was too busy to care about the situation in Jian Ning Wei and Chong Shan Zhen.
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