Chapter 56: All Hotheads Wanted

Ji Zan’s face flushed red from the constant teasing, yet his posture grew even straighter.

“It seems the government office doesn’t have a rule against young lads applying, right?”

At the county office, hiring for the accountant position usually required candidates to be over thirty-five. But their new magistrate was different from those before.

Their magistrate had declared that anyone over twenty could take the exam.

If the magistrate said it was allowed, then why couldn’t he try his luck?

“This magistrate isn’t easy to please,” a middle-aged accountant warned, trying to intimidate him. “Have you not heard? The previous accountants each received ten strokes and served years in prison!”

Many dignitaries in the county office had been removed by this new magistrate.

Ji Zan sized up the man, finding his warnings rather nonsensical.

“If he’s so hard to please, why even bother taking the exam?”

Wouldn’t it be better to just go home and rest?

Why compete with these government job-seekers for a public meal?

He was here to find work for himself, not to embezzle from the office. Whether the magistrate was easy or hard to please was none of his concern.

All he needed was to keep his own accounts straight.

Inside the courtyard of the county office, over thirty desks had already been set up.

Each desk held an abacus. Li Yu, seated as the chief examiner, personally posed the questions, quietly savoring the thrill of wielding authority.

“In the autumn of the 23rd year of Qianyuan, Zhangqiu County collected five thousand four hundred shi of rice.

At a tax rate of seven qian and three fen per shi, and knowing that two hundred shi were lost due to ‘Lin Jian Ti Hu’ (a method by which tax collectors kicked the measuring container to spill some rice to overcharge), please calculate the actual amount of grain stored in the Jinan granary.”

‘Lin Jian Ti Hu’ referred to the practice where tax officials deliberately kicked the measuring container, causing the grain to spill, which was then not allowed to be collected by the people—this loss was pocketed by the officials.

The accountants exchanged looks—they thought it was simply a matter of collecting the amount declared.

But Ji Zan, a bold young man, immediately spoke out loudly.

“Respectfully, magistrate, I believe not only would no grain enter the Jinan granary, but there would be a deficit of one hundred ninety-seven shi.”

Li Yu smiled at him, signaling him to continue.

Ji Zan spoke clearly, “When the county collected grain, it was taxed at seven qian three fen per shi, but when buying from merchants, the price was deliberately lowered to six qian eight fen.”

“The tax silver for five thousand four hundred shi of rice was three thousand nine hundred forty-two liang collected from the people, but the reported purchase price to the Ministry of Revenue was at six qian eight fen silver.”

“That means the total is... five thousand seven hundred ninety-seven shi at inflated silver value, five thousand four hundred shi of tax on the books, plus two hundred shi of surplus rice.

Subtract the inflated silver value equivalent to five thousand seven hundred ninety-seven shi, and the actual grain on hand would show a deficit of one hundred ninety-seven shi, not even counting the price difference in the grain.”

The people were being overtaxed by two hundred shi, while the court was defrauded of over three thousand liang of silver.

Yet the officials held over five thousand seven hundred shi of grain and more than three thousand liang of silver, fabricating shortages to continue cheating the court.

Li Yu admired the young man. Many thought mathematics was a foreign concept, but in truth, their civilization had understood positive and negative numbers eight hundred years earlier.

“Second question: please identify the discrepancies in the following relief provisions.”

“In the seventh year of Qianyuan, during the flood relief:

First, two thousand shi of rice were allocated, of which three hundred shi were spoiled and repurposed as horse feed.

Second, eight hundred liang of silver were used to purchase medicinal herbs—sixty jin of angelica at three qian per jin, and one hundred jin of atractylodes at two qian five fen per jin.

Third, five hundred bolts of hemp cloth were used for wrapping the dead; the death toll was four hundred eighty-six, with the market price at one qian five fen per bolt.”

Li Yu’s questions were all based on real cases; the first was a recent case, while this relief question dated back many years.

He asked not to test anything else but their familiarity with prices—an accountant must know market values.

Ji Zan, quick-witted, was again the first to answer.

“The previous dynasty lasted over two hundred years; the highest spoilage was never more than five percent. Fifteen percent spoilage is clearly incorrect.”

“Angelica and atractylodes currently cost about two qian three fen; so the recorded prices are wrong.”

“As for the hemp cloth...”

He paused before continuing, “A grown man of seven feet can be wrapped in just half a bolt of hemp cloth; women and children require even less. Therefore, five hundred bolts for over four hundred dead is impossible.”

Ji Zan had a natural passion for math and had studied an epidemic disaster one year, determining half a bolt was enough to wrap a large man.

Some tax collectors even economized, wrapping two women and a child in half a bolt.

So five hundred bolts for over four hundred victims was clearly an exaggeration.

Li Yu’s admiration deepened, then he had three ingots of official silver presented for the group to distinguish real from fake.

The silver wasn’t counterfeit per se but mixed with inferior fire-damaged official silver.

It took some skill to discern, but seven or eight people, including Ji Zan, correctly identified the fakes.

For the last question, Li Yu brought out various rice samples—some new from that year, some a year or three years old, and some one and a half years old.

He asked them to identify and accurately state which year each rice sample came from.

The results convinced Li Yu that Ji Zan was a rare talent. Without hesitation, he appointed him as the chief accountant—a position of great importance.

He also selected four assistants, all relatively young, the eldest only thirty-three, which caused quite a stir throughout the county office.

“Magistrate, is this wise?” Tie Yi was puzzled. “Wouldn’t older men be more reliable?”

All young men—wouldn’t their work be clumsy?

Li Yu’s tone was meaningful: “They might be reliable, but they fear death.”

“Those with families fear losing their jobs, making them vulnerable to threats and temptation, prone to mistakes. Young men don’t fear death and are reckless.”

“Given Ji Zan’s temper, do you believe if you tried to recruit him, he wouldn’t turn around and bang a drum at the county gate to report you?”

To restore order, young talent was essential.

Tie Yi: “... Magistrate, you speak with reason.”

Their magistrate was young indeed; an older man wouldn’t have dared these measures.

The entire county office underwent a complete overhaul—few could have pulled this off.

As for the assistant magistrate, registrar, and archivist positions, Li Yu deliberately chose brash young men in their early twenties, ready to strike hard at the chaos plaguing Zhangqiu for years.

On their first day at the office, each knelt, neck stiffened, facing the capital, weeping and swearing to be good officials, or else face divine punishment.

Assistant magistrate Zhou Yunqi was the most extreme; on his first day, he immediately demanded to move to the riverbank to start construction on a long-delayed reservoir.

Li Yu cautioned that immediate construction might not be feasible.

“The reservoir will take up a small part of the Xiao family’s farmland. Xiao Yunzhou has been arrested, and his family refuses to cooperate—so we cannot requisition their land.”

Hearing this, Zhou Yunqi was outraged. “How dare a mere landlord defy the government!”

“This matter doesn’t depend on his willingness. I will go to the Xiao family and make things clear. Today, whether he agrees or not, he will have to agree.”

Li Yu was inwardly delighted but outwardly advised Zhou Yunqi to prioritize harmony and avoid force unless absolutely necessary.

But Zhou Yunqi heard it as:

“If absolutely necessary, then force it!”