Starting with a Wei Wu soldier

Chapter 163 Fiscal Audit

Against the backdrop of the azure sky typical of the north, Xinghuo Fortress appeared exceptionally majestic and solid. Unlike the delicate and graceful pavilions and towers of Jiangnan, the buildings here featured strong lines, a spacious layout, and high, thick walls, exuding a vibrant and rugged vitality. As Su Xiaoxiao, protected by Dian Xiong and others, passed through the heavily guarded yet orderly city gate, the last vestige of a sense of being in another world was amplified by the starkly different scene before her.

There was no grand military procession as expected, nor any solemn welcoming ceremony. The group was led directly to a quiet, clean, simply yet practical independent courtyard within the inner city to settle in. A female official, who had been waiting, arrived with maids, respectfully and tactfully attending to their needs as they bathed and changed, and serving them a meal tailored to northern tastes, yet still quite elaborate. The entire process was efficient and quiet, exuding a sense of orderly discipline, which, despite Su Xiaoxiao's accustomedness to the elaborate rituals of Jiangnan and the superficial clamor of the Misty Rain Pavilion, brought a strange sense of relaxation.

After a short rest, a palace attendant came to deliver a message: "Lord Xing invites Miss Su to a side hall of the 'Hall of Diligent Governance' for a chat."

Su Xiaoxin's heart tightened. She was finally about to meet the legendary Lord of the North. She took a deep breath, straightened her newly changed, plain-colored dress in the style of the North in front of the mirror, and made sure she looked neat and composed before following the eunuch.

The side hall of the Hall of Diligent Governance was small and simply furnished. A huge desk occupied almost half the space, piled high with documents and files. A rough map of the northern and western territories hung on the wall, still bearing many traces of drawing. A man dressed in casual clothes, who looked younger than he had imagined, stood with his hands behind his back by the window, his back to the door, watching the faint sounds of drills coming from the training ground outside.

He heard footsteps and turned around.

Su Xiaoxiao met Chen Xing for the first time. His face wasn't particularly handsome, but his features were well-defined, with a straight nose. His eyes, in particular, were clear and bright, their gaze calm yet seemingly able to see through people's hearts, carrying a natural air of authority that came from long-held positions, yet strangely, they didn't feel oppressive. He wasn't wearing armor or a crown, just a simple cloth robe, yet he possessed a calm and steadfast demeanor, like a mountain, profound and imposing.

"This humble woman, Su Xiaoxiao, greets Lord Xing." Su Xiaoxiao lowered her eyes and bowed in the manners common in the North. Her voice was clear, neither humble nor arrogant.

"No need for such formalities, Miss Su. You must be tired from your journey." Chen Xing's voice was gentle, with a slight northern accent, but it was not difficult to understand. "Please sit down."

A servant brought over a chair. Su Xiaoxiao sat down as instructed, her back straight, her hands folded on her knees, her posture dignified.

Chen Xing didn't engage in much small talk, getting straight to the point. His gaze held a scrutinizing, yet inquisitive, quality: "Inviting Master Su north this time was fraught with peril, truly a last resort. It's because I've heard that Master Su not only possesses unparalleled talent in Jiangnan, but more importantly, she has unique abilities in economic affairs and financial planning, even once helping someone to thoroughly examine the treasury. I wonder if these rumors are true?"

Su Xiaoxiao's heart skipped a beat; so this was it after all. She raised her eyes and met Chen Xing's gaze frankly: "Your Excellency is wise. I have indeed had the opportunity to come into contact with some accounting matters and have a basic understanding of the principles of calculation. My abilities are but a few, and I dare not claim to be 'unique.' As for the rumors, there may be some exaggeration." She answered cautiously, neither belittling herself nor boasting.

Chen Xing nodded, seemingly satisfied with her attitude. He walked to the desk and pointed to a pile of account books, receipts, and documents of varying ages and formats, piled up like a small mountain. He said, "Xinghuo Fort started from humble beginnings and has expanded rapidly. Now its territory is growing larger and its affairs are becoming more complex. Although there are people in charge of various accounts such as financial revenue and expenditure, warehousing and logistics, land tax and commercial tax, military expenses and salaries, due to the hasty establishment, manpower shortage, or inconsistent standards, problems have gradually accumulated over time. The accounts are chaotic, unclear, and even loopholes are frequently found, making it difficult to detect corruption."

He casually picked up the top ledger, flipped through a few pages, and pointed to the blurred and contradictory figures: "For example, the records of last year's autumn grain entering the granaries in the three counties of Hexi do not match the actual amounts of military grain allocation and storage, resulting in an extra 20% loss. Furthermore, the original inventory lists from when the granaries were taken over in the newly occupied Xiliang region, the subsequent transportation costs, and the current inventory are all a mess. If this continues, not only will the national assets be unclear and corruption will breed, but it will also delay important military and national affairs."

Chen Xing put down the account books and turned his gaze back to Su Xiaoxiao. His tone was calm but weighty: "Since you're new here, it's good that an outsider can see things more clearly. I'd like to entrust these chaotic accounts to you. I'm giving you five days. I don't expect you to sort everything out, but I hope you can glean some clues, point out the most critical issues, and propose preliminary solutions and preventative measures. Would you be willing to give it a try, Ms. Su?"

Five days? To sort out this mountain of chaotic accounts? Su Xiaoxiao looked at the documents that nearly filled half her desk and instantly assessed the workload; it was practically an impossible task. But she immediately understood Chen Xing's intention—this was both a test and an opportunity for her to demonstrate her abilities and establish herself. If she was truly talented, she would be able to grasp the key points from the chaos; if she was merely a figurehead or incapable of handling the responsibility, her true colors would be revealed immediately.

Without hesitation, she rose and bowed again, her voice clear and firm: "Your Excellency is trustworthy, and I dare not fail to do my utmost. Though I am of limited talent and learning, I will do my best to analyze and understand."

"Good!" A hint of approval flashed in Chen Xing's eyes. "This side hall will be temporarily allocated to you. You can ask the officials on duty outside the hall for any abacuses, paper, ink, or even an assistant you need. I will come back in five days to hear your opinions."

After Chen Xing left, only Su Xiaoxiao remained in the side hall, facing a mountain of accounts. She walked to the desk and, instead of immediately flipping through the specific ledgers, quickly scanned the types, sources, and time spans of these documents. She found that these accounts were indeed extremely chaotic, just as Chen Xing had said: there were rudimentary bamboo slips from the early days of Xinghuo Fortress, there were later standardized paper ledgers, there were original records from various places in Xinfu Xiliang with different formats, there were special accounts categorized by type for grain, weapons, silver, cloth, etc., and there were also general ledgers summarizing income and expenditure. There was a lack of clear connections and indexes between them, and there were numerous alterations, omissions, and contradictions.

Su Xiaoxiao frowned slightly; this was even more troublesome than she had anticipated. But she didn't panic. Back when she assisted Governor Wang, she had also faced years of accumulated problems. She took a deep breath, rolled up her sleeves, and first summoned the clerk on duty outside the hall, requesting a large amount of white paper and charcoal pencils. She also asked for two clerks who were proficient in arithmetic, had neat handwriting, and were discreet to assist in copying and calculating.

Instead of diving headfirst into the sea of ​​specific numbers, she first spent half a day classifying and sorting these account books and documents according to their type and date, outlining a rough framework. Then, she chose the two most prominent and fundamental issues—"grain tax revenue and expenditure" and "government treasury receipts"—as her starting point.

For the next four days and four nights, Su Xiaoxiao practically lived in the side hall. With astonishing focus, patience, and an innate sensitivity to numbers, she led two assistant clerks on the tedious yet crucial task of sorting through the data. She established a simple cross-checking indexing method to compare similar data from different sources and times; based on common sense about the products of the northern lands and transportation losses, she judged obviously unreasonable high losses in the accounts; she looked for possible traces of human tampering by examining handwriting, ink color, and the age of the paper; she even used scattered records of officials' salaries and soldiers' rewards to reverse-engineer whether the total expenditures for certain periods matched.

She worked tirelessly, her eyes bloodshot, her slender fingers often stained black with charcoal, and the paper in front of her was covered with symbols, lines, and notes that only she could fully understand. The two assistant clerks, who were initially skeptical and perfunctory, were eventually impressed by her selfless work ethic and the occasional insightful pointing out of key contradictions, and they also became exceptionally diligent.

Late on the fourth night, Su Xiaoxiao finally put down the last copy of the list of gold and silver treasuries to be received by Xiliang Guzang at the beginning of the period. She rubbed her throbbing temples, looked at the thick stack of summaries, problem lists, and preliminary cleanup suggestions in front of her, and let out a long sigh of relief.

The problems she discovered were shocking: a large part of the "losses" of autumn grain in Hexi pointed to collusion between officials in charge of several key transit warehouses, who falsely reported losses and smuggled grain; the chaos in receiving supplies in Xiliang was not only due to the objective reasons of war, but also showed signs of officials taking advantage of the situation to enrich themselves, and even deliberately destroying original vouchers; there were many cases of duplicate requests for funds and false reporting of personnel in military expenditures; even some early commercial contracts contained loopholes that were clearly unfavorable to the government...

On the morning of the fifth day, Chen Xing arrived at the side hall on time. He saw that although Su Xiaoxiao could not hide her fatigue, her eyes were clear and bright, and her expression was calm and confident. On the desk in front of her, the messy account books were still piled up, but next to them were several stacks of papers filled with writing.

"Lord Xing." After bowing, Su Xiaoxiao didn't waste any words and began her report. Her voice was a little hoarse, but her points were exceptionally clear.

Instead of presenting complex and specific figures, she first summarized the main reasons for the chaotic accounts: the lack of standards in the early stages of the system, inconsistencies in the formats of account books between old and new regions, uneven quality of officials and a lack of effective supervision, and incomplete records of key processes that were easy to manipulate. Then, she categorized and listed twelve of the most prominent suspicious issues discovered through cross-checking, covering multiple aspects such as grain, weapons, money, and received supplies. For each category, she pointed out potential loopholes, the general direction of the problems, and key contradictions in the accounts.

Finally, she presented her initial recommendations: First, immediately standardize the format and accounting rules of all account books in the jurisdiction, establish a general ledger and category ledgers, and clarify responsibilities; second, for the suspicious issues that have been discovered, she suggested that the Censorate, the Military Council, and the Civil Administration Office jointly conduct targeted surprise audits and physical inspections, especially the key warehouses and officials she identified; third, establish a regular, cross-departmental system for account reconciliation and public disclosure to increase transparency; fourth, provide basic accounting and legal training to officials in charge, increase their salaries, and at the same time, increase the punishment for corruption, using a combination of rewards and punishments.

Chen Xing listened quietly, his eyes shining brighter with each word. Su Xiaoxiao's report didn't dwell on the surface-level chaos, but went straight to the core issues of systemic deficiencies and mismanagement. The problems she discovered were precise and incisive, subtly echoing some clues in the scattered reports from the Supervisory Commission that he had, yet they were more systematic and persuasive. And her suggestions, though somewhat idealistic, were clear, to the point, and demonstrated a strong overall perspective and practical potential.

In just five days, she managed to untangle a tangled mess and come up with such a clear picture, and proposed a practical preliminary plan. This woman's talent is truly well-deserved!

As Su Xiaoxiao finished her report and waited anxiously for her evaluation, Chen Xing clapped his hands and laughed, praising, "Excellent! What a perfect example of 'the bystander sees most of the game'! Su Xiaoxiao truly lives up to her reputation! This 'financial audit' is worth far more than a thousand pieces of gold! It has relieved me of a great worry!"

His gaze towards Su Xiaoxiao had shifted from initial scrutiny and curiosity to undisguised admiration and respect. He knew that he had truly struck gold this time, having snatched food from a tiger's mouth.

As Chen Xing showered Su Xiaoxiao with praise, her tense nerves finally relaxed slightly. At the same time, a long-lost warmth of being truly valued and recognized quietly welled up in her heart. The trip to the North seemed to be more than just a helpless escape.