The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 901 - 879: Sorting Out

Chapter 901: Chapter 879: Sorting Out

County Magistrate Tang flipped through the items in his bundle. Instead of looking at the account books and letters, he took out a few official land deeds to inspect.

Manbao and the other two stared at him with intense anticipation, waiting for him to clear up their confusion.

County Magistrate Tang glanced at County Magistrate Yang, who gave a slight nod. Only then did Tang tap the paper in his hand and ask, "This is a mountain deed, do you know what that is?"

Manbao replied, "The name suggests it’s a deed for a mountain."

County Magistrate Tang paused before nodding, "That’s correct, but this is the copy that remains with the government," he pointed to a small symbol at the lower right corner and asked, "Do you know what this means?"

All three shook their heads.

"This means that there is an iron mine in the mountain."

County Magistrate Yang also nodded in agreement, "It must have been discovered later. County Magistrate Bai marked this here probably with the intention to redeem the mountain so that the imperial court could start mining operations."

"According to ’The Great Jin Legal Code,’ apart from the imperial court, no one is allowed to mine privately. If privately-owned property contains a mine, it must be reported to the court, and the office must issue a mining permit. Both parties are to mine together. I just flipped through the documents, and I did not see any record of such permits."

Only then did County Magistrate Tang begin to sort through the other items. As he looked, his heart grew heavier. He passed the ledger to County Magistrate Yang and then opened the letters.

Manbao and Bai Shan immediately crowded closer to look together.

County Magistrate Tang glanced at them but did not stop them.

There were nineteen letters, and the identities of the correspondents varied greatly. There were high-ranking ministers from the court, members of the imperial clan, and even some major merchants.

County Magistrate Tang read through each one carefully. Seeing that the three were intensely focused on him, he handed over the letters he had read. They immediately took them and read them as well.

County Magistrate Tang shook his head and, together with County Magistrate Yang, started organizing the ledgers.

There was so much material that it could not be reviewed in a short time. They could only briefly skim everything and then carefully examine the ones at the front, identifying one book connected to the Prince of Yizhou, another with accounts of his embezzlement from river projects, and another documenting the iron ore mined. There was also his ledger for purchasing grain...

After they had sorted these, the three children had also minutely inspected the nineteen letters and listed many details on a sheet of paper, extracting the correspondents and main contents of the communication, making it easy to understand at a glance.

Bai Erlang attached these lists directly to the back of the letters, so they knew what each letter was about primarily.

County Magistrate Tang, struck by an idea, placed the neatly arranged account books on the table in front of them and smiled, "Come here, let me teach you how to read these ledgers. Do you know what these are?"

The three, just having finished the letters and still shocked by the content, shook their heads blankly.

County Magistrate Tang had a smile like an old lady cajoling them to help tie up firewood in the village, and gently said, "No worries, I’ll teach you."

County Magistrate Yang glanced at him, shook his head, and then looked out the window to realize that the sky had already darkened. He stretched his neck, stood up, and said, "That’s enough for now. Let’s step out for a walk to refresh our eyes. Even if you need help, there’s no rush for this very moment."

County Magistrate Tang agreed that he had a point. He gathered up the items and prepared to go out, but Manbao and Bai Shan were eager, "Why not talk about it first? We are not tired at all."

Even County Magistrate Yang couldn’t help but exclaim, "Here we have some who are eager to find work."

He instructed them, "You can’t rush things. More than a decade has passed, why the urgency now? The more you rush, the more likely you are to make mistakes. Come on, let’s go out and take a walk."

Wantian stayed behind to guard the study, and they had just stepped out of the courtyard when they bumped into Ms. Cui.

Ms. Cui smiled and said, "I was just about to call for you all, it’s time for dinner."

They had actually spent the entire afternoon in the study. County Magistrate Yang laughed and nodded, leading them to have their meal.

Dinner was bountiful, and Ms. Cui had also prepared wine, clearly intending to welcome County Magistrate Tang and wash away the dust from his journey.

Zhou SiLang had spent the entire day with Wantian Mingli squatting outside the study, terribly bored. He glanced at County Magistrate Tang, then at his own youngest sister, and asked, "Manbao, when have you decided to return home?"

Manbao thought it over, knowing that sorting through so many items would take a not insignificant amount of time, and looked uncertainly towards Bai Shan, "Five days?"

Zhou SiLang then said, "Then I’ll return home tomorrow. I have to inform father and mother so they don’t worry. It’s a busy time on the farm, and my sister-in-law has closed the shop to go help at home. Otherwise, I’d just tell sister-in-law directly. Do you want me to let your family know?"

He turned his head to look at Bai Shan and Bai Erlang.

Bai Erlang timidly nodded, "It would be best if Fourth Brother Zhou could tell my father."

Even Bai Shan nodded, "We would be grateful, Fourth Brother Zhou."

Zhou SiLang agreed nonchalantly, not finding it troublesome at all. After all, he was someone who just followed orders. In the end, when they got back home, it was they who would be punished.

County Magistrate Tang then said to County Magistrate Yang, "I will leave after lunchtime the day after tomorrow."

County Magistrate Yang nodded and then turned to Ms. Cui, "Have the kitchen prepare some easily digestible late-night snacks for us to send over later in the evening."

Ms. Cui, not understanding what the three young men and women could possibly have to do that needed to be done all night, nonetheless nodded her head.

Everyone then had their dinner, without delay, and went straight back to the study.

Feeling pressed for time, County Magistrate Tang and County Magistrate Yang each took an account book and grabbed someone to teach.

County Magistrate Tang grabbed Bai Shan, saying, "This is an account book regarding iron mining. It includes dates, amounts mined, stock levels, as well as times of shipments. But this looks to be privately recorded and is somewhat disordered, with gaps in the timeline. I need you to calculate the daily average output, then the total monthly amount recorded, and fill in if the total amount was mined over an entire month..."

Bai Shan understood, "So this is to calculate how many weapons they have actually forged, isn’t it?"

County Magistrate Tang hesitated a moment and then patted his head, "So many questions, just sort out the books first."

County Magistrate Yang meanwhile grabbed Manbao, handing her three account books for purchasing grain, saying, "Although these three books are about buying grain, they are recorded in a mess. Look, there are even notes in the middle. This note is for purchasing grain for Family Hill Valley, and this one is for Anshan. I need you to list out which ones are for Family Hill Valley and which ones are for Anshan, how long the intervals are, and it would be best if you can calculate how much grain is roughly used by each place per day."

Manbao understood instantly, "So this could be used to calculate how many people are in Family Hill Valley and how many are in Anshan, right?"

County Magistrate Yang hesitated for a moment before nodding, "Exactly, these account books you have are all very mixed up. You have to sort them clearly, don’t make any mistakes. The miners and the soldiers are not the same."

Manbao nodded solemnly.

Only then did County Magistrate Yang hand a thick account book to Bai Erlang, saying, "This is Prince of Yizhou’s book involving the embezzlement of funds for river projects. This should be the original book, not very disorderly, but you need to list whose hands it passed through. Help me list this out."

Bai Erlang trembled, "I—I don’t understand."

County Magistrate Yang gave him a reassuring smile and soothed him, saying, "Don’t worry, I’ll give you an example, and you just follow that to list it out."