“My good people, please disperse now. Return to your homes, and give this official some time to rectify the administration.”

“This is my promise to you!”

Liu Xun’s impassioned speech moved many naive commoners to tears, and they lingered reluctantly, unwilling to leave.

Fang Zheng was already growing impatient.

He had originally planned to extract more information from Liu Xun on the way.

But he hadn’t expected this dog to disgust him with such a performance midway.

Wanting to inspect the granary sooner, Fang Zheng approached Liu Xun: “Everyone should disperse now. Prefect Liu still has official duties to attend to.”

Hearing another voice, the crowd turned to look.

Seeing a young man with hands full of gold rings and dressed in luxurious clothes, they couldn’t help but cast disdainful glances.

What kind of corrupt dog official is this? Look at Prefect Liu with his patched clothes!

“………….”

Fang Zheng immediately realized his mistake upon seeing the crowd’s gaze.

Damn it, how could he have made such a basic error!

Liu Xun glanced at Fang Zheng with a smile. Young people are indeed too young, jumping out to be his scapegoat.

Seeing the still lingering commoners, Liu Xun put on a stern face: “Disperse now, all of you. This official indeed has duties to attend to.”

With this command, the surrounding commoners began to scatter.

“Prefect Liu truly loves the people like his own children. It puts this humble official to shame,” Fang Zheng said with a faint hint of sarcasm.

Liu Xun, however, showed no shame and stroked his beard, laughing: “Hehe, it’s nothing. Just the way of being an official.”

“Let’s go, we’ll head to the granary.”

For the latter half of the journey, the two rode in silence directly to the granary.

The granary keeper was still busy taking inventory of the newly arrived grain in the courtyard. Upon seeing Liu Xun arrive, he immediately knelt down.

“Greetings, Prefect Liu! My apologies for not welcoming you from afar. Why didn’t you inform this official of your arrival?”

Liu Xun said, “This time, I’m accompanying the newly appointed Assistant Prefect Fang Zheng on his visit.”

“It’s a good opportunity for you to meet him for the first time.”

“Greetings, Lord Fang.”

Fang Zheng nodded, walked to a pile of rice sacks, and asked, “When was this rice delivered?”

The granary keeper hurriedly answered, “This is the grain that arrived from the capital a few days ago.”

“From the capital? It’s been days, and you’re still taking inventory?”

The granary keeper looked at Fang Zheng, then at Liu Xun. Seeing Liu Xun give him a signal, he replied, “In response to Your Lordship… we’re short-handed, so the inventory is taking longer.”

Fang Zheng said nothing and began to wander around.

Jianjiang’s granary was built above ground, with an overall structure resembling a huge courtyard. The grain was neatly stacked in sacks.

After a round, Fang Zheng noticed a grain probe. He quickly picked it up, walked back to the granary keeper, and inserted it into a rice sack.

The grain probe was similar to a Luoyang shovel, but slightly longer than a screwdriver, with a groove running from top to bottom.

One insertion and extraction could bring out rice from the sack.

Fang Zheng carefully examined the rice.

The quality seemed fine, no problems.

Liu Xun approached and asked, “How does it look?”

“Not bad, but I haven’t looked closely enough yet.” Saying this, Fang Zheng walked towards the grain piles that had already been inventoried inside the granary.

He probed several more rice sacks, all without issue.

Liu Xun watched from behind, unable to suppress a smile.

But before he could smile for long, he saw Fang Zheng climb to the top of the rice pile and stoop to walk inside.

Liu Xun frowned: “Lord Fang, it’s dangerous inside. Be careful!”

“It’s fine!” Fang Zheng’s voice came from inside.

At the deepest part, the grain probe still showed no problems.

Fang Zheng furrowed his brow. It seemed this old fox still didn’t trust him completely.

Before he arrived, Bai Rui had casually inspected and found quite a few moldy and old rice grains, but now they were hidden so deep.

However, no matter how deep they were hidden, it was useless. Those fake and inferior goods must still be inside the granary.

Otherwise, anyone with intent could easily detect the shortage from outside.

Fang Zheng began to move the topmost layer of rice sacks, probing downwards bag by bag.

After moving just three bags, the rice brought out by the probe changed color!

The blackish-brown rice had a strange smell. Found it!

Fang Zheng’s mouth curved into a smile. He grabbed a handful and slowly walked out.

Liu Xun, hearing the sounds from inside, stood below with a gloomy expression, waiting. The granary keeper beside him kept swallowing nervously.

Although he was now on the same side as Fang Zheng, he still didn’t fully trust him and hadn’t revealed everything.

This young man was so greedy; if he discovered more problems in the granary, wouldn’t he try to extort even more?

He had thought Fang Zheng was just a pampered young master who had never worked a day in his life, but he hadn’t expected him to dig so deep!

Fang Zheng had now poked his head out, but he didn’t hurry down. Instead, he sat directly on the rice pile.

Looking at Liu Xun, he extended his right hand and slowly opened his five fingers.

The moldy rice slid from his palm onto the ground….

Liu Xun didn’t panic, but the granary keeper did, quietly tugging at Liu Xun’s sleeve twice.

Liu Xun waved his hand: “Go, have everyone leave. I have something to discuss with Lord Fang.”

The granary keeper sighed in relief and ran off in a flash.

Fang Zheng, sitting above, sighed: “Prefect Liu, you haven’t treated this official as a friend, have you?”

“Privately collecting extra grain from the people, I can overlook that, since it’s not recorded.”

“But… when it comes to the official granary, this official cannot turn a blind eye.”

“If the starving people outside the city riot and break into the granary, discovering this situation, even if this official had ten heads, they couldn’t be saved.”

Hearing this, Liu Xun smiled instead: “What are you saying, Lord Fang? Come down first, it’s dangerous up there.”

Fang Zheng jumped down directly and walked towards Liu Xun, looking him in the eye: “Prefect Liu, please explain. How should we resolve this?”

Liu Xun asked, “What does Lord Fang think?”

Fang Zheng smiled slightly and said in a low voice: “You’ll have to add more money! Make it fifty thousand taels for me, but let’s be clear, the matters in the granary can’t be discovered by outsiders. If something goes wrong, no amount of money will help this official.”

“I wonder… how does Prefect Liu intend to deal with the counterfeit goods in the granary?”

Hearing Fang Zheng demand fifty thousand taels, a fierce light flashed in Liu Xun’s eyes.

“Heh, fifty thousand taels… Lord Fang, you’re really asking for a lot. But this official agrees!”

“As for the moldy rice in the granary, you needn’t worry. Today, you and I are truly being frank with each other, so I might as well tell you everything.”

Saying this, Liu Xun looked around and leaned close to Fang Zheng’s ear.

“The day after tomorrow, the Self-Reliance Sect and the Iron Robe Sect will engage in an armed conflict outside the city, with some refugees involved. The official troops will step in to suppress the rebels, and the Iron Robe Sect rebels will take the opportunity to set fire to the granary…”

“At that time… Lord Fang can lead troops to eliminate the remaining bandits, a great achievement! This prefect will report it truthfully!”

“With your relationship with the Crown Prince, at least a lateral transfer back to the capital shouldn’t be a problem!”

“Then Lord Fang can return to the capital with fifty thousand taels of silver and be back by the Crown Prince’s side. Wouldn’t that be perfect? What do you think?”

Fang Zheng frowned: “How can you control the two sects’ conflict? Moreover, if a large-scale armed conflict really occurs, how will you handle the involvement of Jianjiang’s garrison commander?”

“Don’t tell me the garrison commander is also one of us?”

Liu Xun laughed bitterly: “You’ve been in the capital so long and still don’t understand this? His Majesty may not care about many things in the world, but when it comes to military power, he will never relax his grip one bit!”

“His Majesty’s abilities are beyond your imagination. The garrison commanders everywhere are firmly controlled by His Majesty. It can be said that they are all trusted confidants who have followed His Majesty through mountains of corpses and seas of blood.”

“If the garrison commander knew about the granary situation, we’d be the first to lose our heads!”

“But you needn’t worry. We’re preparing in advance, and our speed will be much faster than theirs!”

“After the granary burns down, we can say whatever we want!”

“As for those sects, this official has his own arrangements. You don’t need to think too much about it.”

Hearing him say this, Fang Zheng’s heart eased.

In that case, he could act without hesitation. If there were conflicts with those military commanders, it would indeed cause trouble.

Everyone on his side was talented; they couldn’t afford to lose anyone over such matters.

Then Fang Zheng continued to ask: “Prefect Liu, for such a big matter, is it just the two of us…”

“Of course not!” Liu Xun’s smile grew even brighter.

“Now that you’re one of us, tomorrow this prefect will call those involved in this matter to Yongqing Tower near the yamen to discuss the grand plan. At that time, I’ll assign some people to you to go out of the city, suppress the bandits, and establish merit! This way… you should feel at ease, right?”

Fang Zheng immediately became excited and stepped forward to grasp Liu Xun’s hand.

“My parents gave me life, but Prefect Liu truly understands me!”

Holy crap!

Liu Xun looked at his grasped hand, suddenly shuddering all over, then quickly pulled his hands away.

He laughed awkwardly: “Does Lord Fang want to inspect further?”

“No! No need! Thank you for accompanying me today, Prefect Liu. Shall we head back now?”

…

That night, Liu Xun was in his study with Wei Shan standing beside him, looking somewhat serious.

Finally, unable to hold back, Wei Shan asked: “Master… are we really just going to give that silver to Fang Zheng? That’s fifty thousand taels!”

Liu Xun laughed coldly, the candlelight flickering, casting a mysterious atmosphere on his face.

“Heh, let him have it. How long can he keep that silver anyway?”

“He’s merely the Crown Prince’s male favorite. He wants too much and knows too much. No matter what, we can’t let him return to the capital.”

“However, although this man is a scoundrel, he’s quite meticulous. I fear he might not feel at ease and have other thoughts, so tomorrow I’ll take him to meet our own people.”

“The day after tomorrow, you’ll stay by his side and kill him in the chaos. By then, there will be no evidence, and the silver will still be ours.”

“Master is wise……”

…

On the pleasure boat on Cheng Lake, Fang Zheng was recounting the day’s events to everyone, in high spirits.

With a smug expression, he said: “Listen carefully, all of you. Tomorrow, Bai Rui will lead the way with a group of skilled men. Occupy Yongqing Tower for me, but keep it quiet.”

“Zhang Biao, Zhou Tie, and the others should all go!”

“When your master smashes a cup as a signal, burst into the room and tie up those dogs for me!”

“As for the leader, Liu Xun, break all four of his limbs! Don’t give him any chance to escape! If anyone dares to struggle, break their legs immediately. No need for discussion. This operation must succeed and cannot fail. Do you all understand?”

“We understand!!”