I run a training class in Shu Han

Chapter 87 Account Book

Clang!

Just as Chen Hu's personal guards were about to take the man away, a murderous aura suddenly filled the tent.

Li Zhong and Cheng Fan's personal guards drew their swords halfway out, the gleaming silver blades radiating a suffocating chill.

This is Li Yan's central command tent, and Li Zhong and Cheng Fan are his confidants. If you want to take the two men away from here, you have to ask their guards about their weapons first.

Chen Hu and Zheng Chuo also drew their swords at the same time, and the two sides were on the verge of exchanging blows.

"Li Zhong, Cheng Fan, do you want to rebel?" Chen Hu shouted angrily.

Cheng Fan showed no fear and arrogantly said, "Generals, this is the main tent of the Yong'an garrison. Commander Li Yan was appointed by the late emperor as a regent and Central Protector-General, overseeing the military and political affairs of Yong'an. Without any evidence, how can you three generals arbitrarily arrest people? This is a blatant disrespect to Commander Li."

Chen Hu stepped forward, knife in hand, and shouted, "Insolence! We are court officials personally dispatched by His Majesty to investigate this case. Do you dare to defy the imperial decree and resist arrest?"

Cheng Fan simply repeated, "As long as the general produces evidence of our embezzlement, we are willing to surrender. Where is the evidence?"

Chen Hu's face turned deathly pale, and he was speechless for a moment.

"Since there is no evidence, please forgive me for not being able to comply. Even if it were brought before His Majesty, I would argue my case based on reason."

Seeing that the other side was aggressive and would not yield, Zheng Chuo could only secretly wink at Chen Hu to avoid conflict, telling him not to rush into action.

Feng Yue, who was kneeling on the ground, secretly breathed a sigh of relief and quickly wiped the sweat from his temples with his sleeve.

He really thought he had no chance.

Looking back now, the other party probably had no evidence. The only way to escape unscathed is to insist that there was no embezzlement of military rations.

But the atmosphere is a bit awkward now.

Both sides had already drawn their weapons, and were now in a precarious situation, neither willing to back down first.

Because if you back down, it means you lose the initiative.

At this moment, Yang Hong, who had remained motionless, slowly raised his head and looked at the guards behind Li Zhong.

"Deng Huai, you've really gotten bolder now, daring to show your sword in front of me."

Upon hearing this, the guard immediately lowered his head, avoiding Yang Hong's sharp gaze.

"Pang Yue, I remember you rose through the ranks from a lowly soldier entirely because of my promotion. What, now that you're all high and mighty, you don't even dare to utter a sound when you see me?"

The other guard suddenly loosened his grip on the sword, sheathed it, and clasped his hands in greeting, saying, "This humble general... this humble general greets the general."

Li Zhong and Cheng Fan's hearts skipped a beat.

When Li Yan served as the governor of Jianwei, Yang Hong was his chief clerk, mainly responsible for inspecting and recording performance. He was able to participate in all government affairs of the prefecture and county and wielded considerable power.

Although he later resigned due to disagreements with Li Yan, many of his former subordinates were promoted and received favors from him.

"General Zhongjie, you are now the Prefect of Shu Commandery. Isn't this going a bit too far?"

Cheng Fan warned that Yang Hong's actions were already overstepping boundaries.

"I am now not only the Prefect of Shu Commandery, but also a minister personally dispatched by His Majesty to investigate the case. Before my departure, His Majesty instructed me, 'Wherever you go, treat it as if I were personally present.' I think both of you generals should understand these eight words."

Upon hearing this, the three men were greatly alarmed. Along with the soldiers inside the tent, they all sheathed their swords, bowed their heads, and dared not even breathe loudly.

Although they had never heard of these eight characters before, their literal meaning was already very clear.

Yang Hong came with the authority of a general granted by the emperor.

In other words, let alone a minor military advisor or supervisor like Li Yan, even if Li Yan were just the Prefect of Yong'an without the title of Central Protector General or noble rank, Yang Hong would still have the power to act first and report later.

Seeing that his warning had worked, Yang Hong continued, "As I said, His Majesty's grace is boundless. He has given you a chance. Whether you cherish it or not is up to you."

"Don't worry, I am acting in accordance with the law. I will not detain you. I will just put you in a quiet place for the time being to give you time to think it over."

"If you haven't explained yourselves clearly before the evidence is delivered, then don't blame me for disregarding our past relationship and subjecting you to military law."

"Please!"

At Yang Hong's command, the soldiers inside the tent dared not move and could only let Li Zhong and Cheng Fan be asked to leave the tent, leaving only Feng Yue behind.

When Feng Yue saw Li Zhong and Cheng Fan being taken away, he was thrown into a state of panic, as if he had lost his backbone.

"Feng Yue!"

Li Zhong suddenly shouted, which sounded more like a warning.

Although Feng Yue understood, he was still uneasy.

Yang Hong did not interrogate him, but left him to the side, leisurely chewing his rice.

The tent suddenly fell silent again, so quiet that Feng Yue could hear his own heartbeat.

His mind was in turmoil, fearing that Li Zhong and the other man would suddenly betray him and make him a scapegoat.

After all, Yang Hong said he had the opportunity to grant a pardon.

They happened to be old acquaintances, and he was just a lowly warehouse clerk, not worth dying for, so it was only natural to give them this opportunity.

Furthermore, the imperial court sent people to investigate the case, but no news came back from Chengdu.

Was it that Li Yan didn't know, or did he treat them as expendable pawns?

Time passed little by little.

As Yang Hong shoveled the last grain of rice into his mouth, Chen Hu and Zheng Zhuo approached the main tent with relaxed expressions.

"General, the trial is over. The two of them wrote so many bamboo slips, their pens are almost worn out." Chen Hu spread his arms wide, his expression extremely exaggerated.

Upon hearing this, Feng Yue panicked instantly.

The pen is worn down from writing so much; how much trouble has this caused?

Yang Hong immediately said, "Since he has confessed, then take him back to Chengdu to await His Majesty's judgment."

Upon hearing this, Feng Yue immediately kowtowed repeatedly.

"General, why won't you give me a chance? I'll confess! I'll confess!"

Chen Hu said impatiently, "Stop arguing. Even if you confess, it's all stuff we already know, so it's worthless."

The phrase "worthless" shattered Feng Yue's psychological defenses.

"I have value, I am valuable."

Feng Yue shook off the soldiers supporting him, crawled up to Yang Hong, and said, "I have account books, I have account books, they don't."

A barely perceptible smile flashed across Yang Hong's lips, but he deliberately pretended to be indifferent and said, "So what if we have account books? Do we need account books? Zhuge Qiao's account books for calculating losses are probably not much different from the account books you provided."

"They are Li Duhu's confidants. With the meager amount of military rations you've embezzled, even if you were to capture them and bring them to Chengdu, Li Duhu would have a way to protect them."

"As for you, you are His Majesty's explanation to outsiders."

Yang Hong's words were crystal clear: unless you provide more valuable intelligence, you can expect to spend your life in jail.

In order to save his life, Feng Yue clung tightly to Yang Hong's trouser leg.

"Yes, I also have the account books."

"No account books are of any use."

"It's...it's the ledger of the forced labor imposed by Li Zhong and his gang."

What!

Yang Hong's expression changed drastically upon hearing this.

His original intention was to trick the military into revealing evidence of embezzlement of military rations, but unexpectedly, Feng Yue, in order to save his own life, revealed some shocking information.

This forced conscription is no small matter.

The situation was slowly getting beyond Yang Hong's expectations.