The First National Preceptor of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 1208

"Alright. I won't talk about being frugal anymore. Let's see how you behave."

Xu Tian revealed a meaningful smile and continued talking about the account books.

"Strange, I don't know if it's because my eyesight is failing me or if I'm bad at math."

Xu Tian muttered a few words under his breath, carefully examining a line of small print in the ledger.

The officials were bewildered. Could there really be something wrong with these account books? Impossible, they had personally delivered them. Could it be that they, too, were getting old and their eyesight was failing?

Several civil officials suddenly looked at Xu Tian with innocent expressions, while Xu Tian was reviewing the account books.

The longer Xu Tian stared at the ledger, the narrower his eyes became.

"Sir! Oh no, this is an account book from ten years ago!"

A civil official suddenly shouted and rushed forward to snatch the account books.

"Hey, hey, I didn't tell you to come up here!"

"Stop him!"

Xu Tian quickly shouted, blocking the unyielding civil official.

Several civil officials pretended to stop the other civil official. Seeing that the situation was not going well, the other civil officials pulled him away.

What should we do? Is Xu Tian just bluffing us, or did we actually give him the real ledger?

A civil official muttered something under his breath, his voice barely audible.

Xu Tian then stopped looking at the ledgers and said, "The ledgers are actually fine, it's just that the numbers don't match."

The civil officials immediately felt that Xu Tian had cheated them, and they couldn't help but feel angry.

"My lord, if there is truly a problem, a minor punishment will suffice. The Tang Dynasty still relies on these minor officials to maintain its stability."

Another civil official explained, "Even ministers who are more powerful than the adults will choose to treat these minor officials leniently."

Xu Tian thought about it and realized that he was just a newcomer and had no idea how deep the waters were.

"I'm new here and don't know anything yet. Why don't you hand over the real ledgers? I won't hold you accountable."

Xu Tian said seriously, "If you go back on your word, you are welcome to impeach me."

The civil officials discussed the matter amongst themselves and concluded that Xu Tian was trustworthy. For the ancients, breaking a promise was the most shameful thing.

Since Xu Tian had made the promise, the civil officials compromised.

After a while, more than a dozen real ledgers were delivered to Xu Tian.

"My lord, you must know that since ancient times, minor officials have been the key to maintaining prosperity."

Several civil officials said, "We also want to cure it, but we have no other choice."

"All right."

Xu Tian carefully examined these accounts and found that expenses still exceeded income, but there was an additional problem: income was not enough to cover expenses.

"With income not covering expenses, how can we not be frugal?" Xu Tian said, no longer bothering to look at the accounts.

The civil officials exchanged bewildered glances. Frugality seemed simple, but it was actually very difficult to implement. Even minor officials had to support numerous relatives, and in ancient times with low productivity, they could only afford to do so by cutting back on food and clothing.

Just as Xu Tian was still having a headache, a guard suddenly came to report.

"Reporting to Your Excellency, the King of Yinglan has come to visit and is currently outside the manor!" the guard said. "It should be about what happened the day before yesterday."

The civil officials exchanged glances and said dismissively, "Sir, there's no need to see him. Just pay what's due. We're busy resolving important matters right now."