Is There an Error in the Numbers?

Xiao Ge was furious and summoned Qi Xugu, the Minister of Ministry of Revenue, and demanded, "Who calculated the grain supplies? How come they are so short?" Qi Xugu's brows furrowed deeply.

He reported, "It was Lord Guo Jitong. Because there were many and complicated matters, I assigned the task of calculating the grain supplies to Lord Guo, and had two other colleagues work with him on this matter."

Upon hearing that it was Guo Jitong, Xiao Ge gritted his teeth.

But he also knew that Qi Xugu's arrangement was correct. Guo Jitong was the most proficient in mathematics among the officials of the Great Jin; if not him, who else could be assigned such a task?

Moreover, the other officials in the Ministry of Revenue haven't had a break either; they've all been incredibly busy.

Because there had been no major wars for many years, the capital city did not have enough grain reserves. In order to ensure that the grain could be transported to the border as quickly as possible and to save time, the Ministry of Revenue adopted a variety of methods to procure grain.

In addition to temporarily confiscating all the grain stored by grain merchants and large estates in the capital, they also dispatched officials to the north to count and confiscate grain from the cities they passed through. They then transported the grain from nearby cities in the south to the capital.

Therefore, the Ministry of Revenue was in complete disarray during this period and simply could not spare any more manpower to do the statistics.

But the grain supplies from the capital haven't even been dispatched yet, and such a huge problem has already occurred. The grain supplies from the northern cities aren't even guaranteed to be sufficient.

"Are there any surplus grain supplies in the north? Can they fill this gap?" Xiao Ge asked.

Qi Xugu shook his head. "I've sent people to take stock of the grain supplies in the northern cities. Because we needed to be quick, we requisitioned all the available grain. This is the harvested grain from the autumn harvest, and we've reached the limit of what we can collect. After this is over, we can transfer grain from the south to fill the gap, but that will take time. We need to leave them one or two months' worth of rations, otherwise people will starve to death."

Because they were pressed for time, they set a five-day limit and transported as much grain as possible from the southern city government. Any shortages were made up by grain from the northern city government.

In ancient times, transportation was already inconvenient, and now, with snow falling, the roads were extremely difficult to travel. They only transferred grain supplies from the cities closest to the capital and couldn't afford to spend time collecting grain from the people. Therefore, this portion of grain supplies was very limited and had to be supplemented entirely by grain from the northern cities.

The area north of the capital was not a major grain-producing region to begin with, and the weather in the second half of the year was also bad, resulting in a poor harvest this year. When the surplus grain was requisitioned, the people in the northern cities cried and refused to hand over the grain. The governor and the prefect directly arrested some uncooperative people and imprisoned them, and beheaded one or two wealthy households and grain merchants who wanted to hide the grain, before they could barely make up the amount of grain required.

If they were to try to take away their remaining food rations at this point, the people there would truly riot.

Xiao Ge was naturally aware of these circumstances. He was also the one who issued the orders for the Ministry of Revenue and local governments to allocate grain and deal with the resisting people. He knew that Qi Xugu had no other choice.

After thinking for a moment, he turned to Eunuch Zhang and instructed, "Go to the Prefect of the Capital and convey my imperial edict. Order the yamen runners to go to the streets and beat gongs to collect grain from the east, south, and west of the city. Make the wealthy and powerful families donate all their stored grain, and record their names and the amount of grain they donate. Those who donate more will be rewarded, and those who do not donate will be punished according to the circumstances."

Eunuch Zhang hurried off.

Xiao Ge rubbed his temples.

Although the shortage of eight cartloads of grain was not significant, wealthy and powerful families could more or less cover the gap. However, the real concern was not potential mishaps, but rather sabotage by someone.

The entire demand for grain was calculated by Guo Jitong. The amount of grain collected in the capital and the south, as well as the amount counted in the north, were all assigned to Guo Jitong for statistical analysis.

If Guo Jitong is determined to cause trouble, the minor mishaps in the capital are likely just the appetizer. When the grain transport teams go to the northern capital to collect grain and discover the shortage is enormous, even beheading Guo Jitong won't be enough to make up for the mistake.

The soldiers at the border are eagerly awaiting the delivery of the grain.

In the midst of heavy winter snow, the roads are already extremely difficult to traverse. If any mishap were to occur on the road, even beheading ten Guo Jitong could not make up for the mistake.

"Send this batch of grain over first to alleviate the immediate crisis. We'll set off tomorrow. Tomorrow, have someone go to the south to procure grain, not only to fill the gap left by the people in the north, but also to procure more grain. Then, send another group of people to transport it to the border," he said.

"Yes." Qi Xugu bowed and hurriedly left the palace to attend to his duties.

"Summon Guo Jitong," he instructed the eunuch, turning his head.

Not long after, Guo Jitong was brought in.

Before Guo Jitong could even bow upon entering, the Emperor threw an account book directly at him. Before he could dodge, the account book hit him squarely on the forehead.

"Guo Jitong, come and tell me, why are we still short eight cartloads of grain? How did you calculate the accounts?"

Guo Jitong, utterly shocked, immediately knelt on the ground, protesting his innocence. "Your Majesty, please understand! I did not miscalculate. I have calculated precisely how much grain was needed in total, and how much grain the capital could procure. Now, there is a shortage of eight cartloads of grain. Is it because the amount of grain procured is incorrect, or was there a mistake during loading? Or perhaps... someone tampered with my calculations? In any case, my calculations are not flawed. I beg Your Majesty to investigate thoroughly."

His words made Xiao Ge also suspicious.

Guo Jitong was a veteran of the Ministry of Revenue, having served Ministry of Revenue for Youyu seven or eight years. He couldn't possibly be unaware of the consequences of miscalculating data at such a time, which could lead to delays in military intelligence and result in the execution of nine generations of one's family.

Therefore, he should have checked the data again and again, so there shouldn't be any mistakes.

"Do you still remember the data you calculated?" Xiao Ge asked.

Guo Jitong nodded, wiping the sweat from his brow. "I remember, I remember."

Xiao Ge waved his hand.

The eunuch beside him took out a small notebook and a charcoal pencil and handed them to Guo Jitong.

Guo Jitong knelt on the ground and wrote down all the data he had calculated on a piece of paper. As he wrote, he kept wiping away sweat.

Xiao Ge then gestured to Eunuch Zhang to look for the memorial submitted by the Ministry of Revenue among the pile of memorials.

The memorial contained the total amount of grain that needed to be collected from various regions.

The amount of grain that a single cart could carry according to the imperial regulations was finite. If one cart was missing, it wouldn't be so bad; perhaps other carts were carrying too much grain. But if eight carts were missing, the total amount of grain that the capital could gather was already limited, so this number was definitely incorrect.

They now want to see if the data Guo Jitong wrote down matches the data in the memorial. If they match, then the issue is about procuring food and loading it onto wagons for the soldiers.

The matter was of great importance, and Guo Jitong was someone who dealt with numbers; he wouldn't forget the numbers he had just calculated. Therefore, he handed in the written data in no time.

After checking, Xiao Ge slammed his hand on the table. "Guo Jitong, I ask you, are you sure the numbers you wrote are correct?"