The First National Preceptor of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 343

"The Master said he wanted to lay flooring in the academy. Are you sure you can do that?"

The man was taken aback at first, then said, "I've worked for the tribal chief, so laying the floor is no problem for me."

Qin Xian nodded again and asked him to return to Xu Tian's residence that evening. He saw Xu Tian warming himself by the fire with a pile of mooncakes next to him.

Seeing Qin Xian covered in snow, Xu Tian came in and immediately used fire tongs to take a roasted sweet potato from the fire and handed it to Qin Xian.

"Have some of this. It's a local snack from my hometown. It can not only ward off the cold but also fill your stomach."

Qin took it and took a bite, then was clearly burned.

Qin Xian looked somewhat awkward before finally sitting down to the side.

“These days, I accompanied Magistrate Chen to the market in the north to buy materials, and I found that the account books recorded prices at dozens or even hundreds of times the actual prices.”

The extra money should be used to hire more workers and speed up the completion of the project, but after inquiring, I discovered that not everyone is truly skilled in construction; most are just slackers. It seems Magistrate Chen must have embezzled the project funds.”

The flames crackled and popped.

The construction of Hongwen Academy was extremely difficult. If it hadn't used the best building materials, it would probably have collapsed in a few years. There were also problems with the surrounding area, such as a shortage of workers to transport materials. It definitely required a lot of money to be invested.

Xu Tian walked behind his desk and began to do calculations.

A worker's daily wage is ten taels of silver. There are a total of one hundred workers this time, so that's one hundred and sixty taels per day.

The material cost was 30,000 taels of silver, so the total cost is about 30,000 taels of silver. In addition, the construction has already started.

So it should have been around 34,000 taels of silver, but he has already invested 50,000 taels into the project, which is 10,000 taels more than expected.

Xu Tian was surprised that such a large sum of money would end up in Magistrate Chen's pocket. He cursed inwardly, thinking, "They really think he's an easy target!"

"Take some men and bring Magistrate Chen here to me."

Sure enough, Magistrate Chen was seen kneeling on the ground with a look of fear on his face.

"I am innocent! I would never embezzle the project funds. It's just that the money needed to build the academy is too much. Besides, the Persian workers have already spent a lot of money on their journey."

Xu Tian gave a cold laugh.

"You're far from being a proper scholar in front of me. Sixteen thousand taels of silver, even if each person gets two taels for travel expenses."

There is still ten thousand taels of silver left. Did you eat that ten thousand taels? If you refuse to tell the truth, I will immediately report this to the Emperor.

You won't need to redeem yourself again; someone will arrest you and bring you to the capital to be executed.

Magistrate Chen immediately burst into tears and said, "Master Xu, I didn't want this either, but the Minister of Rites was kind to me in the past. Moreover, he has been sending people to observe my attitude towards him from the Pamir Mountains. If I offend the Minister of Rites, I'm afraid my life here will be even more difficult."

Xu Tian was somewhat surprised. Given Chen Qiuda's character, he would never collude with this fool in front of him. Xu Tian's fingers tapped on the table.