Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 368 The Art of Falsifying Accounts
Previously, the powerful families of Chen Commandery could still feign composure and even comfort themselves by believing that Liu Yu and his group had come to investigate and eliminate the rebellious faction that had betrayed the emperor.

After all, among the three dukes and nine ministers of the imperial court, only the insignificant Minister of the Imperial Clan Affairs arrived.

Moreover, many powerful and wealthy families believed that their support for Liu Chong was extremely discreet and had not left any concrete evidence.

At this moment, with the issuance of the imperial edict, everyone realized that the land of Chenjun was about to face an unprecedented storm.

Even the powerful and wealthy families in various states and counties who were watching from the sidelines couldn't help but marvel at how extravagant the gesture was!

With the joint investigation by the three judicial departments and the supervision by the Imperial Secretariat, the Emperor is determined to stop until bloodshed ensues!

In comparison, the previous actions of Chenliu County were simply insignificant.

No matter how ruthless the executions in Chen Commandery were, they were mainly aimed at corrupt officials, as well as powerful families and merchants who openly supplied grain and metal to Liu Chong. Concealing people and land was ultimately just a matter of imposing fines.

No matter how high the penalty, except for a few stubborn wealthy families who refused to pay back taxes, it was ultimately just a matter of paying money to avoid further trouble.

The problem is that almost none of the prominent families in Chenjun are clean.

Whether they voluntarily provided funding or were forced to pay "protection fees," strictly speaking, they were all remnants of those who rebelled against the Party and the government.

Even if the emperor had wiped out all the powerful and wealthy families in Chen County, people would at most criticize him for being too harsh and inhumane in enforcing the law, but in no way would he be considered "wrong".

However, if we investigate cases according to the standards of treason... treason cases have always involved far-reaching consequences, with tens of thousands of heads being merely an appetizer. Previously, when the Yuan family of Runan rebelled, the emperor only beheaded a few thousand people, which was already considered exceptionally merciful.

That was, after all, a rebellion initiated by the Yuan clan of Runan on a whim, and only core members of the clan participated, so it did not cause much turmoil.

However, in this rebellion of Liu Chong, the government army and the rebel army each committed nearly 300,000 troops to fight. The court mobilized more than 200,000 laborers, in addition to 200,000 canal workers in the Maritime Trade Office. The actual number of people involved in this war to quell the rebellion was more than one million. The emperor would certainly not let it go easily this time.

In fact, even moderates like Lu Zhi, Liu Yan, and Zheng Xuan, who were usually prudent, wrote to the emperor after the war ended, explicitly supporting a large-scale purge of the powerful families of Chen Commandery.

They are not radicals, but if those who participate in rebellion are never punished as they should, more and more people will take chances in the future.

Without slaughtering countless people, the might of the emperor cannot be truly displayed!

Meanwhile, in a side hall of the Chen Palace, to ensure the safety of everyone and the confidentiality of the collected information, all the officials who had come from Luoyang to Chen County stayed in the Chen Palace. They were closely guarded by the Left Guard Battalion, and their food and daily life were taken care of by eunuchs and the imperial chefs.

In any case, including the officials of the Yuzhou Governor's Office who participated in and cooperated with the investigation, there were no more than two hundred people in total.

There were no women in this Chen Palace, only eunuchs, so there was no need to avoid anything.

Inside the hall, everyone gathered, their gazes meeting, but ultimately all turned to Liu Yu, the Minister of the Imperial Clan, who sat quietly to the side.

The imperial edict explicitly designated Liu Yu to lead the investigation of this major case.

Seeing that everyone remained silent, Zhang Zhao, the Imperial Censor, bowed to Liu Yu and said, "Minister of the Imperial Clan Court, you are an elder of the imperial clan, why don't you preside over this..."

Before Zhang Zhao could finish speaking, Liu Yu slowly raised a hand, making a pushing gesture to stop Zhang Zhao from speaking. He shook his head slightly and said, "The Minister of the Imperial Clan Affairs is only in charge of the affairs of the imperial clan. It is your duty to investigate and punish the rebels. Apart from dealing with the traitorous emperor and his children, wives and concubines, I will not interfere in the specific matters of investigating the rebels. At most, I will make a decision when you disagree with each other."

Liu Yu had a clear understanding of his own position. He was adept at governing a prefecture or state and handling daily trials and cases, but it would be too much of a stretch for him to take the lead in such a large-scale judicial case with such a wide scope.

Furthermore, if it is truly necessary for a high-ranking official to lead the investigation, why is it him, the Minister of the Imperial Clan Court, who is in charge?
Ultimately, the three independent entities—the Imperial Censorate and the Court of Imperial Sacrifices in the inner court, the Court of Justice and the Ministry of Agriculture in the outer court, and the governor's office of Yuzhou and the prefectural governor's office of Chenjun—needed a person of sufficient influence to maintain order.

In the past, when the governor of a prefecture was merely an inspector with a salary of 600 shi (a unit of grain), he was only a subordinate of the Vice Censor-in-Chief and his voice was far less powerful than that of the Attendant Censor.

However, once the prefectural governor took control of the state government and his rank rose to two thousand shi, he was removed from the Censorate. Naturally, the prefectural governor with a rank of two thousand shi would no longer be willing to be subordinate to the Censor-in-Chief with a rank of one thousand shi.

The inner court and the outer court engaged in open and covert struggles for nearly four hundred years.

On the contrary, the Attendant-in-Ordinary Temple has nothing to worry about. Anyone with eyes can see that this so-called supervision is nothing more than the emperor supporting the Three Departments. No matter who is in charge, the Attendant-in-Ordinary Temple will get a considerable share of the credit.

However, the other government departments and agencies all wanted to take the lead and make the first contribution, so they were all unwilling to give way to each other and no one was willing to admit defeat.

At this point, the identity of the person in charge becomes crucial.

The arrival of high-ranking officials like the Grand Tutor and the Three Dukes, whose salaries are in the tens of thousands of bushels of grain, seems like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

Among the Nine Ministers, if there were a Minister of Justice, he would naturally be the most suitable person to lead the investigation. However, the current Minister of Justice is Guo Tu, the Chief Supervisor of the Minister of Justice with a rank of 1,000 shi, who is in charge of the affairs of the Minister of Justice.

The Grand Minister of Agriculture, Cao Song, said that taxes were to be submitted to the treasury in August each year. However, due to the distance between various places, the taxes collected by each prefecture and county in August were gradually collected in September and then sent to Luoyang. At this moment, a batch of taxes had already arrived in Luoyang.

Therefore, at this crucial time when taxes were being collected, Cao Song naturally had no time to attend to other matters.

The other nine ministers, such as Zheng Xuan, the Minister of Ceremonies, Fan Ling, the Commandant of the Guards, and Zhang Wen, the Minister of the Imperial Stud, either had unrelated duties or lacked the experience and reputation to convince the public. On the contrary, Liu Yu, the Minister of the Imperial Clan, who was usually the least noticeable, was the most suitable.

When members of the imperial clan rebelled, it was perfectly legitimate for the Minister of the Imperial Clan to lead the investigation, since the rebels from these powerful families were essentially a product of Liu Chong's treason.

As elders of the imperial clan, no one would disrespect Liu Yu.

Upon hearing Liu Yu's words, Zhang Zhao did not mince words. He raised his hand and lightly tapped the table, drawing everyone's attention. He then raised his voice and said, "Since the Minister of the Imperial Clan trusts us, then I will lead the censors to conduct a public visit, to intimidate them and make them panic. Does anyone have any objections?"

Although Zhang Zhao addressed everyone as "pluralists," his gaze fell directly on Guo Tu.

"Yes, I do." Guo Tu did not speak after the words were spoken, but Zhang Hong, the Grand Minister of Agriculture, spoke first.

Zhang Hong shook his head slightly, his finger lightly tapping the copy of the crimes of the powerful families of Chen County on the table, and said, "It is not that I look down on the Censorate, but I am afraid that you upright censors will not be able to deter us by conducting open investigations."

"Does the Imperial Censor know how to measure the area of ​​a field by paces, and how to estimate the annual yield of a field?" Zhang Hong stretched out one leg, pointed to his leg, gestured with his hand, and continued, "I can. I can estimate the area of ​​a field even from fifty paces away."

Upon hearing this, a look of confusion flashed across Zhang Zhao's face.

The duty of the censor is to report on matters based on hearsay. If they hear of someone being corrupt, they will naturally report and impeach them.

Investigating a case? That's the business of the Court of Justice!
As for measuring the area of ​​a field by step distance?
How could a servant of a powerful family allow you to approach the fields? And how can you measure distance by the pace of fifty paces?
Zhang Zhao was not well-versed in arithmetic, so naturally he did not know how to calculate such a mathematical problem that would be extremely simple in later generations.

These simple and straightforward plane geometry calculation problems have long been passed down in the "Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art".

However, the officials were unaware that they possessed such powerful tools, and some even considered arithmetic to be a minor skill.

The censors were a group of officials focused on empty rhetoric and theoretical matters.

The Grand Minister of Agriculture was in charge of all agricultural and tax matters in the country, so it was natural for him to be pragmatic.

The two departments, one focused on abstract concepts and the other on practical matters, are inherently incompatible in their philosophies and inevitably look down on each other.

When the Imperial Censor Huan Dian saw that Zhang Hong had stumped Zhang Zhao, he naturally couldn't let the Censorate lose face, so he immediately retorted, "What good would it do to investigate the area of ​​farmland? These lawless powerful families have probably already prepared false accounts, so how can they be accurately counted?"

Zhang Hong did not respond. He and Zhang Zhao were of equal status, both being officials with a rank of 1,000 shi (a unit of grain measure).

Although you, Huan Dian, are known as the "Imperial Censor on a Galloping Horse," you are merely a Supervising Censor with a rank of 600 shi (a unit of grain), and your status is not equal to his. (Note 1)

Even if he wins, it's because he bullied the weak; his victory was dishonorable.

Losing the argument would damage the reputation of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Fortunately, without Zhang Hong's prompting, Zao Zhi, the Vice Minister of Agriculture with a rank of 600 shi (a unit of grain), took the initiative to speak on behalf of his leader, saying, "Do you really think that falsifying accounts is so easy?"

"With a stroke of the brush, numbers are scribbled over, or a new ledger is fabricated to cover things up. Is that how things can be so easily resolved and how one can get away with it?"

"Falsifying accounts is a delicate art!" When the topic of falsifying accounts came up, a smile flashed across Zao Zhi's eyes, and he laughed loudly, "As Zigang Gong (Zhang Hong) mentioned before, we officials of the Grand Minister of Agriculture can calculate the area of ​​the fields by walking a certain distance, and then deduce the approximate annual yield of this land based on the soil quality, water conservancy and other conditions. If the fields suddenly 'reduce yield', there must be a reason, and to balance this account, we need to do more to cover it up, which will inevitably leave more loopholes."

Zao Zhi practically gave everyone a vivid lesson in economics.

If the yield of grain crops has decreased, there's no reason why the yield of neighboring mulberry and hemp fields shouldn't have decreased, right?
If drought-resistant millet has experienced a reduction in yield, there's no reason why drought-intolerant rice and winter wheat shouldn't also see a reduction in yield, right?
The production and trade of cloth were intertwined with the production of mulberry, hemp, and raw silk, which in turn affected the taxes paid by the entire Chen County in the trade of cloth and grain.

In addition, there are past annual output, transaction volume and taxation information. Water conservancy projects have been continuously built. Why did production suddenly decrease when there was no natural disaster?
With so many interconnected data points, it would be virtually impossible for such a large family to completely balance their accounts.

To Zao Zhi, an accountant with an extreme sensitivity to numbers, those accounts were as riddled with flaws as if they were children playing house.

But it was precisely these flawed data that had successfully deceived the officials in the court in the past.

Besides the mutual concealment, the reason was that the imperial court's control over the local areas had weakened to the point of being nominal rather than real, leaving it powerless and unwilling to investigate thoroughly.

As for why Zao Zhi was so familiar with the tricks of falsifying accounts?

He studied agriculture and mathematics from a young age. Although his clan had fallen on hard times, it was still a powerful clan.

He was the one who personally handled those shady, fake accounts that the clan used to keep secret.

Moreover, the most common method used by Zao Zhi to balance accounts was to have someone deliberately carry a batch of grain, cloth, and other goods in the wilderness, waiting for bandits to plunder them.

Then, they will report the losses as five or even ten times greater, thus settling the family's accounts for several years in one go!

The Yangdi Zao clan was not the only ones to use this tactic; other clans such as the Yingchuan Xun clan and the Yingchuan Du clan did the same. At that time, each clan would gather their private soldiers to consult with the bandits on behalf of the government, kill all the bandits, and then burn the mountain stronghold to the ground, so that there would be no way to prove anything!
"In that case, let a clerk from the Ministry of Agriculture and a censor jointly conduct an open investigation."

Although Liu Yu did not want to get too involved, he could still mediate the conflict between the two sides, especially since Zhang Hong and Zao Zhi's words were indeed reasonable.

The Censorate and the Ministry of Agriculture have already received their share; now it's the Court of Justice's turn.

Liu Yu turned his gaze to Guo Tu, but Guo Tu was uncharacteristically unenthusiastic. He was not as proactive as he usually was when handling cases involving powerful families. Instead, he seemed uninterested and casually added, "The Court of Justice is responsible for the final conviction. Other investigations can be handled by the Embroidered-Robe Envoy."

Upon hearing this, everyone looked at Guo Tu as if they had seen a ghost, and some even wondered if he had lost his mind.

Such a great achievement was given away to the Embroidered-Robed Envoy for nothing?
But Guo Tu was not lazy or confused; rather, his mind was not on these "petty gains" at all.

Suppressing traitors is a temporary achievement; drafting new laws will ensure lasting fame!
The relative importance of each is self-evident.

(3716 words)
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Note 1: The Book of the Later Han Dynasty, Volume 27, Biographies: At that time, eunuchs held power, and Huan Dian was in charge of the government without any restraint. He always rode a white horse, and the people of the capital were afraid of him. There was a saying: "Walk and stop, avoid the imperial censor riding a white horse."

(End of this chapter)