Chapter 1384: Rival

He thought for a while and said: "A few days ago, Qian Yu heard Xue Zongwu's troops scolding General Zhongwu for not knowing what's good for him in front of Xue Zongwu, and Xue Zongwu listened without a word while eating and drinking. Qian Yu really knows quite a few things like this." "Hated by the superior and resented by the inferior. It seems Xue Zongwu doesn't like General Zhongwu. However, what is the use of this information?"

"Let's go back to Jucheng first." He Lingchuan had extracted many trivial daily details from Qian Yu this time. Sometimes the devil hides in the details, and mastering more information is never a bad thing; you never know when it will come in handy. "Two days after Xue Zongwu sets off, we will also set off for the Kingdom of Yao."

Then, his plan would begin.

When the news from Shuangxi arrived, Xue Zongwu was sweating profusely on the training ground.

Hearing that Qian Yu had been kidnapped and killed, the muscles on his chest jumped twice.

Hearing that the Shuangxi government office had caught fire and the account books had been reduced to ashes, he threw down the martial arts stone in his hand.

With a "bang," the ground trembled, and the two people opposite also shook.

This pair of martial arts stones was embedded with refined iron, much heavier than ordinary large stones; the pair, the size of a suitcase, weighed over 800 catties.

Xue Zongwu had to hold them flat and still for more than a quarter of an hour.

"Tell me the cause and effect clearly!"

His personal guards brought County Assistant Li of Shuangxi over, and the latter knelt on both knees with a "plop," not daring to lift his head at all.

As soon as General Xue got angry, County Assistant Li felt the tiger's might, his legs trembling, and he couldn't even catch his breath while staying on such an open training ground.

He stammered and talked about the process of the incident; every time Xue Zongwu asked a question, he was scared to the point of trembling. Originally, he could have explained it clearly in a quarter of an hour, but he took more than twice that time.

Xue Zongwu's face grew gloomier the more he listened: "You tell me, someone climbed over the wall and stole a few account books, and in the end, set a fire, and now Shuangxi can't calculate the loss?"

County Assistant Li had cold sweat on his forehead: "Qian, Manager Qian's account books from the past few days hadn't been entered into the account room, and he, he died suddenly, so the county doesn't know which items have been cleared and which haven't, so..."

So it was the period when the account books were most chaotic, and it happened to be caught by the opponent. "But, but the income account books of Shuangxi for these past few years are gone by half."

"Burned away or stolen away?"

"This, this..." Xue Zongwu's tiger eyes glared, County Assistant Li's lips trembled, and he couldn't speak clearly, "No, no, no, no... can't be sure!"

Anyway, half were gone.

"What about the book dropped by the thief climbing over the wall?"

County Assistant Li hurriedly offered it with both hands.

Xue Zongwu took it and flipped through it, finding that it was all account entries.

He wasn't good at this, flipping back and forth without finding the knack, so he threw it aside and continued to ask, until County Assistant Li really had nothing to say, and then he ordered him to roll.

Xue Zongwu had of course received news that an elite force had appeared in the mid-west of the Flash Gold Plain, wearing black armor masks, appearing only in the middle of the night, and specifically slaughtering evil people. The common people all admired them and even gave the leader the title of "Great Emperor of the Nine Netherworlds."

Xue Zongwu just listened to this as a joke. Which general didn't want to shake the world? What's the point of covering your face?

As for the Black Armor Army defeating the cannibal king Zhao Guangzhi of the Luodian Kingdom, heh, Xue Zongwu had never taken this wild country bumpkin seriously.

But Xue Zongwu didn't expect that he would suddenly have an intersection with this "Great Emperor of the Nine Netherworlds."

His advisor Tong Huan had long since rushed over to listen, and Xue Zongwu turned to ask him: "What do you think?"

"The so-called 'Great Emperor of the Nine Netherworlds' has quite a pomp when he appears, so he can be regarded as a god by the ignorant; judging from what County Assistant Li said, this one doesn't even have battle armor, only wearing night-travel clothes, and the mask is also crudely made, so it is very likely that he is imitating a tiger by drawing a cat, wanting to borrow the name of Nine Netherworlds."

"Furthermore, those killed by Nine Netherworlds in the past were not strong people; how can they be compared with the General?" Tong Huan said this with three parts of arrogance, "Even he doesn't dare to step into the territory of the Kingdom of Yao. This person is playing god, but he should be very clear in his heart about who can be killed and who cannot be touched. I suspect that the real Nine Netherworlds doesn't dare to provoke the General."

Xue Zongwu nodded slowly: "I don't think this is a real one either; the problem is, why did he want to steal the account books, and who was he instructed by?"

Tong Huan said in a low voice: "This person's methods are clumsy; I'm afraid it's to cover up his real purpose."

Xue Zongwu's eyes were uncertain, and he pressed his knuckles: "Are you thinking the same as me?"

He had an absurd idea.

"This..." Tong Huan changed the subject, "Can I take a look at that account book?"

Xue Zongwu threw the account book to him: "There is still more than half of the materials in the document warehouse intact, but half of the income account books of the Shuangxi tribute land for these past few years were burned. Heh heh, the opponent acted so precisely, how could it be an 'accidental' drop of an account book?"

So, this book was deliberately dropped for him to see? What signal does the opponent want to convey? Your handle is in my hands? "Does this person want to blackmail me, deal with me?" Xue Zongwu sneered, "What does burning half the account books mean? At worst, I'll burn the other half too."

Everyone knows that if the accounts can't be balanced no matter what, there is one last trick: burn it all clean.

Commonly known as dead men tell no tales.

If he burned all the remaining account books for the men in black, what else could the opponent threaten him with? Tong Huan had been flipping through the book, silent.

But his face grew heavier and heavier.

Xue Zongwu waited for a long time, and finally couldn't help but say: "Why, is there something tricky?"

When marching, Tong Huan managed a part of the money and grain for him, so he was also very good at using an abacus.

"This is the outline of the account book; it doesn't do detailed accounts, but it has the total amount of each item."

Xue Zongwu only understood the middle sentence: "So what? What threat does this pose to me?"

"Looking at this kind of outline, you know the amount of income and expenditure, incoming and outgoing funds, and expenses of each item in the territory." Tong Huan explained, "When the Wang Ting audits the military accounts in previous years, the first thing they look at is this kind of outline."

"The account books made by Qian Yu should be fine." The things on the surface were all handled beautifully by Qian Yu; this was why Xue Zongwu had used him for many years. "You have many enemies. But no matter which one stole the account book, it's of no great use. Unless—"

Xue Zongwu had enemies all over the world; even if there were indeed tricks in these account books, whether they could be used to deal with Xue Zongwu depended on who held them. Not to mention commoners, even if nobles held the account books, they couldn't do anything to Xue Zongwu, who was in his prime.

Who would dare to take them out? That would be their death date! Unless, this person is not afraid of Xue Zongwu's power at all.

Xue Zongwu stroked his chin: "Think about it from the other side; if 'that person' really got the outline account book, what could they do to me?"

"You sent Qian Yu to Shuangxi, also because the Wang Ting is coming to audit the accounts in ten days."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 1385 =====