Chapter 1050 Audit
It was late at night, and in the Yuanlu County government office, the light in Magistrate Sun's study was flickering, brightly lit.
Sun Shan, Mr. Zhang is carefully flipping through the bills one by one.
The former county magistrate needs to hand over the "Money and Grain Book", "Treasury Book", "Tax Book", "Criminal Case Files" and other books.
If the rules are followed, the audit needs to be conducted under the supervision of a superior (such as a prefect). If the book is clear, the previous official and clerk will sign their names to ensure that the accounts are clear and there is nothing concealed.
Putting it into practice is another matter altogether.
Because Sun Shan had not yet taken office, the previous magistrate had already sorted out the funds in the book, and had also prepared the accounts and signed his name under the supervision of the prefect.
If there was a problem, the former magistrate would need to pay compensation or Sun Shan would report it to the court for handling.
If Sun Shan made a loss, he had to report it not only to the previous county magistrate, but also to the signing prefect.
Therefore, unless the accounts are so outrageous that the current county magistrate is trapped, he will be forced to choose to report it.
In cases of minor corruption and embezzlement, even if the incumbent finds something wrong, he or she can only accept it silently.
At this moment, Sun Shan and Mr. Zhang were checking the accounts. Although he had never met the previous county magistrate, Sun Shan knew from these account books that the previous county magistrate was an expert in accounting.
Please submit clear, reasonable and legal account books. From this perspective, there is no problem with your predecessor.
Sun Shan looked at the remaining balance in the entire booklet, frowned, and asked, "Master, do you find any problem?"
Master Zhang shook his head and said, "Master, no problem."
After a pause, he added: "If you want to say there are problems, you can say there are problems, such as the price of the purchased goods is a bit high. But this...is not actually a problem."
The most common method of corruption is to inflate prices and take kickbacks.
He obviously followed a conventional route when he took office.
For example, if you want to arrange for someone to repair the government office, you might want to find a more expensive craftsman.
For craftsmanship like this, it doesn't matter if it's good or not. Anyway, if the workmanship is acceptable, it can be used to make a big deal and you can earn kickbacks.
This phenomenon exists as an unspoken rule in the imperial court, and it makes sense no matter where you talk about it.
Mr. Zhang said, "Sir, the last magistrate liked to renovate the yamen. He did so every year during his five years in office. He also kept very good accounts, which we can see clearly."
In fact, repairing the yamen was a good project that killed two birds with one stone. First, he could embezzle money from it, and second, the magistrate could enjoy the repaired yamen himself.
Sun Shan smiled and said, "No wonder we found the government office of Yuanlu County so new and exquisite when we came in. Haha, it turned out to be the work of the previous magistrate."
Sun Shan walked into the yamen and found that the tiles were new and the walls were recently painted. There was a small garden in the backyard of the yamen, which was full of spring flowers and a small pond with running water flowing through it.
It looks clean and refreshing, which is a good thing for Sun Shan, the current boyfriend.
Not only is the backyard beautiful, but Sun Shan’s bedroom and study are also bright.
Manager Wang also said that the bed left by his predecessor was made of pear wood, which is quite valuable.
It seems that the former county magistrate was a man who knew how to enjoy life. I just don't know whether he enjoyed life by exploiting the people's money.
Zhang closed the account books and said to Sun Shan, "Master, there is nothing wrong with these account books. Now we just need to wait until tomorrow to check the inventory according to the books to see if the warehouse is consistent with the registration."
However, Master Zhang believed that they would be unanimous. The previous magistrate had done such a great job in accounting that he would not be so concerned about the physical reconciliation.
The predecessor was taking up a post somewhere else, not retiring. If you go too far, you might meet Sun Shan again one day.
Leave some room for maneuver when doing things so that it will be easier to get along with others in the future.
The officialdom also has its own rules, and officials generally act according to the unspoken rules.
Sun Shan closed the account book, sighed and said, "Master, the balance of silver in the treasury is only 500 taels. It's just the beginning of spring, and I need money for everything. I don't know how to increase the silver in the treasury."
The main sources of taxation in a place include land tax, head tax, business tax, salt, mining tax, etc., among which land tax accounts for the largest share.
Generally, the taxes that local governments can retain account for 10%-30% of the total taxes.
These retained taxes are generally used for official salaries, post station maintenance, disaster relief, famine prevention, education, etc.
The total tax revenue of a medium-sized county is in the range of 2 to 6 taels of silver, so 1000 to 3000 taels can be retained.
It was early spring, just after the New Year, when there was no income. The predecessor left Sun Shan 500 taels, which was not only not less, but also quite a lot.
Of course, after all these years, this little money is not enough.
It was learned that Yuanlu County had no debt, but it was cleared out every year and did not move towards prosperity at all.
Master Zhang comforted him and said, "Master, you have to think positively. The previous magistrate did not lose money in Yuanlu County. He is also a rare good colleague. The Yuanlu County that I took over is not a quagmire. On the contrary, there is a surplus of 500 taels, which is already good."
Sun Shan was delighted when Master Zhang said this.
That’s right, at least it’s not a pauper county, there’s still 500 taels to spend.
In case of any emergency, there will still be a little money left to work.
Thinking of the unexpected, Sun Shan asked, "Brother Nan, have you finished reading the county annals of Yuanlu? Have there been any floods, droughts, snowstorms, or earthquakes in the past?"
Natural disasters often bring fatal harm to people, and humans are quite insignificant in front of nature.
Sun Shan was afraid that Yuanlu County was prone to natural disasters. If there were floods and snowstorms from time to time, why would he still be a county magistrate? He might as well just get sick and resign and run away.
Sun Dingnan still couldn't understand the more complicated accounts, so he couldn't help Sun Shan check the accounts as his assistant.
Sun Shan asked him to help look at the county annals of Yuanlu County and pay attention to major events in the county to facilitate his future work.
Sun Dingnan shook his head and said, "We didn't see any floods, droughts, or earthquakes, but we did see snowstorms. Two years ago, there was a heavy snowfall, and many houses in the villages collapsed, killing many people."
When it comes to the snowstorm, Sun Shan and his gang are not very familiar with it.
Even though Sun Shan had lived in Changsha and the capital for a period of time and had experienced winter, they had never personally encountered heavy snow.
And Master Zhang didn't even know that it had never snowed in Guangzhou, and the city wasn't even aware of the snowstorm problem.
Gui Ge'er came in and poured tea and water for Sun Shan, Zhang Shiye, and Sun Dingnan.
When he heard about the snowstorm, he suddenly realized and said, "Brother Shan, we are in Huguang now, not Guangnan. It snows here in winter, so it is normal to have snowstorms."
After a pause, he continued, "Fortunately, winter is over. If there is a snowstorm, it will be next year. There is no need to be too nervous now."
Since there would be a snowstorm in Yuanlu, Sun Shan wrote the words "snowstorm" in large letters on his notebook.
Since I have come to a place where it snows from a place where it never snows, I must pay attention to this situation.