On the way back, Dong Zi asked suspiciously, "Brother, you finally won the opportunity, why did you give it to Brother Wang again?" ”

Liu Fan was silent for a moment before saying: "You have also seen that Brother Wang is infatuated with Miss A Xia, I can completely guess that Brother Wang has not married so far, it is because of Miss A Xia that he often goes to the Qinglou to meet Miss A Xia, and makes his own family stand on the wall, I heard that he has been living in the barracks until now, but it is really unpredictable whether this infatuation can get a good result in the end." ”

"In addition, a place like the Qinglou is resolutely not nostalgic, if you are not careful, the Qinglou will become a place where the man's family is ruined, no matter whether my brother can stay by your side for a long time in the future, remember, the Qinglou must use the greatest perseverance to isolate it."

On the fifth night after going to the Qinglou with Wang Kai, Liu Fan and Dong Zi had just sent away Yan Haicheng and the three of them, who were looking for a visit in the evening, because the hour was close to the beginning of the child, and they were about to go to bed, when they heard the guard at the door report: "Someone is visiting again, and I also ask General Liu to move to the door of the post house to meet." ”

Liu Fan was puzzled: "Who is this, you still come to visit at this time, and the strange thing is that you have to go to the door to meet yourself?" ”

When they and Dong Zi came to the door of the post house, they found that Ling Han was wearing a hat and a silk robe wrapped in a silk cotton robe, and he was waiting at the door, followed by a maid and two guards.

Seeing the two Liu Fan brothers, Ling Han bowed his head and saluted and said: "Brother Liu, I'm really sorry, I'm still bothering you so late, it's like this, Around the second moment of the first month, the imperial court sent the official department Shangshu to the northwest for the second time arrived in Liangzhou, accompanied by the household department, the military department and others.

Although it was too late because it was too late, the Qin Cha only conveyed the content of the will to Uncle Li and others, and waited for the official announcement tomorrow morning, but the decree clearly stated that this time the officials and their entourage came to convey the will of the Son of Heaven, and at the same time took on many matters such as inspecting the place and supervising the army.

After the meal, the camp immediately asked Uncle Song to arrange all the personnel of the baggage camp to sort out the various account books of the camp this year, and after the preliminary verification, it was immediately found that this year's 'expulsion' (1) (referring to expenditure) exceeded last year's tens of thousands of yuan, of which more than 50 people had been checked for more than an hour and still have no clue at all, because the time is very urgent, I think Brother Liu has extraordinary skills in arithmetic, and may also have a good method in this account book, so Uncle Song wants to ask you to take a look. ”

After speaking, he bowed solemnly, and looked at Liu Fan quietly with anticipation in his eyes.

"Alas, I am not immune to this kind of vision." Liu Fan thought.

turned around and said to Dong Zi: "It's nothing, you go back, I'll accompany Miss Ling Han for a trip, I may not be able to come back tonight." ”

When a cart and three horses arrived at the location of the northwest camp, the yamen of the prefect of Liangzhou, the time had reached about two o'clock in the first month.

The yamen of the prefect of Liangzhou was repaired on the basis of the former Jiedu Embassy in the west of the Tang River, and it is the largest and most well-organized building complex in Liangzhou and even the northwest region.

The whole building covers an area of nearly 100 acres, hundreds of halls and corridors, the courtyard is multi-entered, the layout is multi-road, the two longitudinal axes are side by side, the building is majestic, the furnishings are solemn, it is currently the station of the northwest camp, and it is also the highest authority of all the state capitals of Longyou, Hexi.

The main buildings such as the lobby and the second hall are located on the central axis of the main body after entering from the south gate. Enter the gate, face the middle of the three rooms for the instrument door, the two sides of the instrument door for the matching room, through the instrument door, wear the ring stone workshop, face is the high and majestic, magnificent government hall. The lobby is located on a bluestone pedestal about one meter high, with five rooms wide and three rooms deep. The six rooms of the government are arranged on the left and right sides of the lobby, the west side is the officials, households, and ceremonies, and the east side is the soldiers, criminals, and workers.

Since the establishment of the Northwest Camp, the main buildings such as the lobby, the second hall, the third hall and the six rooms of the government have become the places where the Northwest camp and its various functions handle official business. The yamen of the Liangzhou prefect moved to several large courtyards in the northeast corner of the palace garden.

It was almost midnight, but Liu Fan vaguely saw that there was a soldier on duty every few steps around the mansion, and the four lanterns hanging high illuminated the twenty steps around the gate of the mansion, I don't know how it was designed, although the autumn wind was cold, but the lanterns fixed on the pillars of the porch still emitted orange light, and there were four fully armed sergeants in front of the door, although it seemed that Ling Han and the others were familiar with the four sergeants, but the four of them still meticulously checked one of the waist cards handed over by Ling Han.

After the inquest was completed, Liu Fan and Ling Han, accompanied by the maids and guards, entered the palace from the east gate, passed in front of the lobby to the west, and then walked about 100 steps from the west longitudinal axis to a courtyard house with a plaque of "Xingying Heavy Camp" hanging above the gate.

Liu Fan saw that the five words written in the line were majestic and dangerous, and at first glance they were rare good words, and he couldn't help but sigh when he thought of the stinky words he wrote in the Qinglou a few days ago.

Ling Han next to him said softly: "What does Brother Liu think of this word?" Liu Fan said depressedly: "If you can write such a word, it will not be in vain." ”

I only heard the little maid next to her smile and said: "It seems that this general still has a few visions, this is the words written by the master." ”

Liu Fan glanced at Ling Han, only to see a smile in the girl's eyes, nodded lightly, Liu Fan said to himself: "Fortunately, there is no random evaluation." ”

At this time, after hearing the knock on the door, the door opened from the inside, and two more guards respectfully welcomed Liu Fan and the other five people in.

When I entered the gate of the courtyard, I saw an unconventional courtyard, which was covered with houses on all sides, not only the main house in the west was tall and majestic, but the second house on the north and south sides was also extraordinary, only the house on the east side was slightly low in comparison.

There is a lantern hanging on the passage of the entrance and the southeast corner of the courtyard, although the courtyard is a little dim due to the obstruction of an osmanthus tree in the middle of the courtyard, but it is still possible to see the things in the courtyard clearly.

Next to him, Ling Han casually introduced, "Brother Liu, the main room in the west is the warehouse and meeting room, the second room in the north and south is the office room, and the wing room in the east is the bedroom and gatehouse. ”

When the three of them entered the main room, they saw that the hall that could accommodate dozens of people for office work was lit with butter wax on both sides, illuminating the whole room as bright as day.

In the hall, there are twenty or thirty large tables placed in the north and south rows, on which thick account books are stacked high, and there are two clerks behind each table, one is responsible for reciting the account books and records, and the other is responsible for calculating with the abacus, and the whole room is the crackling sound of the abacus.

Under the guidance of Ling Han, Liu Fan walked to the main seat facing the main gate in the middle, and the two officials in civilian clothes had already stood up to greet him.

I only heard an old man on the left who looked close to the age of the sixtieth birthday said with a smile, "Recently, I have heard the general's deeds from the mouths of Min'er and Han'er, the two girls, I have admired it for a long time, and I have long wanted to see you, a resourceful young hero who came out of the sword mountain and fire, but I didn't expect to meet in the hall of this baggage camp tonight, and I hope the general will not complain that our two old guys disturbed the general's dream." ”

I only heard Ling Han on his side introduced: "Brother Liu, this is Uncle Shi Song, the commander of the Northwest Expedition, this is my uncle's current prefect of Liangzhou. ”

Liu Fan said secretly in his heart: "It turns out that this person is Xie Yuan's father who was in the Qinglou a few days ago, although he has a wide face and short eyebrows, he still has a trace of resemblance to Xu Pan in his face. ”

After listening to Ling Han's introduction, Liu Fan immediately bowed to the elders of the younger generation and said, "I have seen Song Changshi and Xu Zhifu." ”

Next to him, Governor Xu suddenly hugged Liu Fan and said: "You came here late at night to help us solve the problem, it is rude for my two old men to rely on the old man and sell the old man and not go out to greet him, how dare to be such a big gift as a general." ”

After the three of them finished the ceremony, a secretary had already moved two stools, Liu Fan and Ling Han sat down with Song Changshi and Xu Zhifu, only to hear Song Changshi continue: "Probably the situation may have been briefly explained to General Xiao Liu, this year from the beginning of July to the beginning of September to withdraw from Shazhou lasted only more than two months, compared with last year, the duration of the war was nearly a month less, due to the short duration, the overall purchase of military materials by the Northwest Battalion this year should be lower than last year.

However, the results of rough statistics show that this year's 'expulsion' is tens of thousands of yuan higher than last year's, and the overall price of military supplies last year and this year has not undergone any major changes, and I originally thought that there was still some time before the end of the year, and there would be enough time to thoroughly check the accounts, but I did not expect that the senior officials of the imperial court who came today also took on the post of checking the accounts, and the household officials could see at a glance that this year's 'dismissal' was higher than last year's, so we urgently needed to find out the reason for this year's 'dismissal' increase.

More than an hour has passed since the beginning of the year, more than 50 people from the baggage battalion and the former household officials of Liangzhou Mansion have been searching, but there is no clue yet, the time is very urgent, I heard that General Xiao Liu is not only outstanding in military talent, but also has extraordinary ability in counting, and the account book has always been closely related to counting, so a few of us have no choice but to forcibly pull the general to help, and I thank the general in advance. ”

After Liu Fan heard Song Changshi finish speaking, he immediately stood up and raised his hand and saluted: "Please don't say that, my lord, it's a trivial matter, what you said is so precious, I am a little panicked, and I am also a camper, and it is also my duty to do my part." ”

After speaking, he continued: "To solve this problem, I have two methods, one positive and one strange, but before I say the method, I would like to ask the two adults, is the method currently being applied in this hall to check the total number of 'expulsions' of this year and last year, and then classify them according to the details, and then make an overall comparison in combination with the prices and quantities of various materials in the past two years, so as to finally get the result?" ”

"That's right, does General Liu think this method is feasible?"

"This is the most correct and only way to get to the bottom of the mystery, and it is based on the 'one positive' method that I want to apply."

As soon as he heard Liu Fan's words, he saw that Song Changshi had frowned slightly, and said to himself in his heart: "What is this, one of them is done in the same way as ours, and it seems to be a matter of fact, let's listen to what the method of 'Yiqi' in this person's mouth is......"

I only heard Ling Han whisper: "Brother Liu, we did the same at the beginning, since the afternoon has been subdividing this year's 'expulsion' projects, but after a year, there are more than 200 'expulsion' projects, and some projects happen every day, plus 'expulsion' and 'new income (2) (refers to income)' are mixed together, therefore, the subdivision of this project is extremely complicated, from the afternoon to now it has been divided into less than three months, I am afraid that it will be difficult to subdivide all the 'expulsion' projects for two years even if I work overtime." ”