Northern Song Dynasty Text Copyist

Chapter 20 Resounding Fame

They slept peacefully through the night without incident.

The next morning, as dawn broke, the county officials entered the yamen to sign in as usual.

Shen Zhong'an arrived at the yamen on time. After exchanging greetings and pleasantries with the officials and clerks under the chief clerk, he first gave orders to distribute the medicines for colds, heatstroke, and fatigue that had been prepared from the pharmacy in Bianjing the day before to the officials and laborers in the countryside who were on the front lines of disaster relief, showing consideration for those who had fallen ill or injured themselves from working in the fields for days.

After making the arrangements, Shen Zhong'an personally carried six packages and visited each of the six clerks except for Kongmu Wang, to see them off privately. They chatted about local affairs, the autumn harvest, and farming, with perfect manners and propriety.

This action was perfectly clear to everyone in the county government.

This was clearly a public demarcation, making it obvious that he only befriended and showed consideration to the six clerks, while estranged and neglecting Clerk Wang.

The grudge between Shen Zhong'an and Wang Dianli was an open secret in the yamen, and there was no need to make it public.

Now that Shen Zhong'an has blatantly exposed this by giving it away in public, the most embarrassed person is none other than Wang Dianli, the instigator.

Back in his duty room, Wang Dianli was filled with rage. Unable to contain himself any longer, he raised his hand and swept it across the table. The blue stone inkstone on the table fell to the ground and shattered into several pieces with a crack.

His chest heaved, his face turned ashen, and he muttered curses through gritted teeth:

"You, Shen Zhong'an! Just because you did a little favor in saving the drought and protecting the seedlings, you've become so arrogant and presumptuous. It's really... really..."

He said "really" several times, but the second half of the sentence stuck in his throat, and he couldn't find the right words to scold him.

Wang Dianli knew in his heart that Shen Zhong'an had passed the imperial examination at a young age and had made real contributions to disaster relief. If anyone were to investigate, he could simply dismiss it by saying that Shen was young and impetuous and acted straightforwardly.

If I were to argue with them in public, I would only earn a reputation for being petty and ostracizing younger generations, and I would be in the wrong.

After much deliberation, Wang Dianli had no choice but to suppress his resentment and swallow this bitter pill. He secretly resolved to continue to endure and that there would be plenty of opportunities to settle scores later.

On the other side, Shen Zhong'an calmly finished delivering the gifts and strolled back to the registrar's office. A clerk who was already waiting at the door saw him return and quickly stepped forward, bowing and reporting:

"Registrar Shen, the Prefect has invited you, saying there is important official business to discuss."

Shen Zhong'an dared not delay, straightened his clothes, and followed the bailiff straight to Luo Shi's official residence.

After paying his respects, Luo Shi didn't mince words and casually pushed a thick stack of files onto the table.

"This matter is tricky, so I'll leave it entirely to you to handle."

Shen Zhong'an reached out and took the file. He glanced at the cover and knew that this was the grain inspection task that should have been under the jurisdiction of County Magistrate Tang Geng.

It seems that Tang Geng had been busy traveling to the countryside for several days and had been granted two days off, which conveniently coincided with the breakup, leaving this mess to be done by me.

When a superior gives an order, how can a subordinate refuse? Shen Zhong'an had no choice but to accept the order with his hands clasped. He took the dossier with him, bid farewell to Luo Shi, returned to the registrar's office, spread out the case files, retrieved the relevant records from the county government over the years, and buried himself in reading them carefully.

At first glance, the case file seemed to contain nothing more than common old problems.

Improper storage of grain in Changping Warehouse and failure to separate dry and wet grains led to mold growth.

The handover between the previous and current warehouse supervisors was unclear, and the exact figures were unknown.

Over the years, the accounts have become chaotic and the income and expenditure have become mixed up, which may seem to be just a common problem caused by laxity in storage and bookkeeping.

However, as Shen Zhong'an compared the records with those from previous years, he keenly realized that the truth was far more complex than it appeared.

However, at that time, single-entry bookkeeping was the prevailing method. For each transaction involving money or supplies, only the cash or material receipts and payments were recorded, without recording the corresponding source, destination, or purpose.

To trace a grain transaction, one cannot rely on just one ledger; one must simultaneously consult four other ledgers—the transaction log, the copy log, the general ledger, and the tail ledger—to cross-reference them and barely make sense of the situation.

If the figures on the books don't match, you have to start from the beginning and check each page, tracing back to the source step by step.

Without corresponding accounts, without income and expenditure balance verification, and without detailed records to follow, it is extremely easy for someone with ulterior motives to secretly alter or erase accounts, but it is incredibly difficult for future generations to thoroughly investigate past malpractices.

After flipping through just a few old ledgers, Shen Zhong'an was dizzy and overwhelmed by the densely packed vertical traditional characters, the mixed items of money and grain, the old-style bookkeeping without division of subjects, balance, or detailed traceability.

After a moment's thought, Shen Zhong'an decided to stop obsessing over this cumbersome and outdated old-fashioned accounting method.

He decided to abandon the long-standing established rules and, using his familiar accounting ideas from later generations as the framework, while incorporating the fundamental regulations of the Song Dynasty's Four Pillars of Destiny accounting method, began to drastically reform the county government's accounting system.

First, the general ledgers that used to record money, grain and miscellaneous items all together were separated and clarified into five main books: tax book, grain book, public expenses book, relief expenditure book, and materials and equipment book.

A separate household register was set up, encompassing the tax registers of villagers, the salary registers of officials, and the construction and maintenance registers, with clear categories and each belonging to its own category.

With the categories determined, Shen Zhong'an further redefined the six elements of accounts based on the traditional four pillars: date, reason, person in charge, source, destination, and amount.

The neat horizontal tables are arranged with clear entries and orderly rows and columns, making it easy to enter each account clearly and eliminating the problems of messiness and sloppiness.

However, the problems with the grain reserves were deeply entrenched and complex, involving years of old issues, with case files piling up like mountains.

If I were to spend at least two or three months sorting through everything by myself, by then everything would have been settled, and any oversights or flaws would likely have been covered up and smoothed over.

Shen Zhong'an naturally refused to sit alone and suffer in vain.

Once the new accounting regulations and bookkeeping system were finalized, Shen Zhong'an immediately ordered all the scribes under the Chief Clerk's office to gather in the duty room.

Shen Zhong'an laid out the prepared horizontal table on the table and distributed it to the six scribes one by one.

The six people held the papers in both hands, all looking completely bewildered.

They learned to write and keep accounts from a young age, and were familiar with the writing and accounting style that had been used in the Song Dynasty for a long time. They wrote from top to bottom and from right to left, and the accounts were all arranged in vertical lines, with each word connected and each page linked together.

But the piece of paper in front of me is completely different.

The writing method is reversed, with the text written horizontally and read line by line from left to right. At first glance, it feels awkward, and you have to consciously adjust your gaze. If you are not careful, you will read the wrong order.

Besides the list of items at the top, the bottom of the paper was completely blank, divided into square grids by horizontal and vertical lines. It was orderly yet strange, completely different from the logbooks and transcription books they usually saw. For a moment, they didn't know how to start writing.

"In the past, the accounts were chaotic and difficult to check, which made it easy for fraud to occur. Today, I will change the way of keeping accounts. Please listen carefully. If there is anything wrong, please tell me directly."

Then, Shen Zhong'an explained the purpose of each grid one by one. While explaining, he picked up a pen and filled in the blank grid column by column, demonstrating the complete accounting process.

It should be noted that those who could work as scribes in the Chenliu County government office, although not as well-educated as scholars or graduates, were still literate and quick-witted.

On a daily basis, they handle all kinds of books and documents in the county government, and come into contact with all sorts of strange and unusual matters. They are knowledgeable and have a far greater ability to accept new things than ordinary people.

At first, they found the horizontal table and the way it was written from left to right strange and awkward.

They could calm down and listen carefully to Shen Zhong'an's detailed explanation, watch him demonstrate examples by hand, and compare them with their own experience in bookkeeping. In no time, the six of them gradually understood the new bookkeeping method and grasped about 70-80% of it.

These six men were all experienced and capable officials in the county government. After a little contemplation, they grasped the deeper meaning behind it.

This newly appointed Registrar Shen has come up with a new regulation that is quite extraordinary.

With the new accounting system after the reform, the entries in the books will be clearly organized and easy to understand, making it much harder to arbitrarily alter or secretly tamper with them as before.

Furthermore, since each account serves as a reference and is cross-referenced, even if someone were to deliberately tamper with one account, it would be extremely difficult to conceal the truth about all related books.

In doing so, this move will undoubtedly cut off the avenues for many people to secretly profit.

However, it doesn't matter who is the fish, who is the clam, or who is the old man; they are just people who follow orders and only need to obey commands.

Seeing that everyone understood, Shen Zhong'an sorted the mountain of old account files by year and category and distributed them to the six people.

"Now that you all understand, each of you should perform your duties, compare the old accounts in your hands with the new regulations, fill them into the new forms, and organize them into new books."

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. Do not fill in anything haphazardly; ensure that the records match the actual contents and that all entries are clear.

"Yes, sir!"

The six of them responded in unison, and holding the old accounts and blank forms they had been assigned, they each found a table and sat down, set out their writing brushes, inkstones and inkstones, and quickly got into the swing of things.

The office of the registrar fell silent, with only the soft scratching of pens on paper.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Niu Dali is a strong and honest man from Nanhe Village, which is under the jurisdiction of Chenliu County.

During this spring drought in the capital region, the county government conscripted able-bodied men from the villages to participate in drought relief and seedling protection. His family's few acres of poor land were also affected by the disaster, so he naturally accepted the conscription without the slightest complaint.

Every day, he followed the crowd to dig wells, open canals, loosen soil, and irrigate holes. Sweat was constantly dripping from his forehead, and his clothes were wet and then dry, then wet again.

Although it was late spring, the drought had brought intense heat to the fields, and even though everyone tried to avoid the hottest time of day, the oppressive heat was still unbearable.

Niu Dali was exhausted from working for days and was also affected by the summer heat. After returning home from work, he felt weak and sore all over, dizzy and unable to lift his hands. He had no appetite, lay on the bed unable to move, and felt burning hot. Even his breathing was hot.

In the countryside, it is common to catch a disease during the hot summer months. Many folk remedies have been passed down from our ancestors and have always been effective in treating mild summer ailments.

The family quickly followed the traditional remedy, gathered common herbs, boiled them into a strong medicinal soup, and fed it to Niu Dali spoonful by spoonful.

This time, however, the usually effective folk remedy failed. After two days and six bowls of herbal soup, Niu Dali's condition did not worsen, but it did not improve at all. He remained lying in bed, drowsy and unconscious.

Niu Dali is one of the pillars of his family. He has elderly parents and young children to care for. The family's fields depend on him and his father and brothers to manage. Without him, the work in the fields would be much less labor-intensive, and the harvest would be reduced.

The family was extremely anxious and couldn't sleep all night. Finally, they gritted their teeth and decided to raise money to invite a proper doctor from the town to treat the patient.

Just as the family was preparing to ask someone to fetch a doctor, the village headman's shouts came from the village entrance.

"Listen up, fellow villagers!"

Registrar Shen, showing his compassion for our hard work in drought relief and seedling protection, personally purchased a large quantity of medicinal soup, which is currently being brewed at the village office!

All villagers and officials who participated in this drought relief and seedling protection effort, regardless of whether they are suffering from colds, heatstroke, or back and leg injuries, can come and receive medicinal soup free of charge after verification!

When Niu Dali's family heard this, they simply thought it was a rumor.

What official would personally pay for medicine to deliver to rural people?

How could such a good thing fall into their laps?

Seeing Niu Dali's dazed state, his family, clinging to a sliver of hope, hurriedly went to the village head, questioned him repeatedly, and asked the village chief to testify, confirming that Niu Dali was bedridden. Finally, they were granted the right to receive the herbal medicine.

That evening, the family fed Niu Dali the herbal medicine they had brought.

Strangely enough, after just one dose of herbal medicine, Niu Dali's originally burning body gradually cooled down, his breathing became much more stable, and he was even able to lean against the edge of the bed and weakly say a few words.

The next morning, the family went to the village office to collect the second dose of herbal medicine.

After drinking the medicine, Niu Dali felt much better. In the afternoon, he was able to get out of bed and walk a few steps slowly while holding onto the wall, and he could even drink a small bowl of thin porridge.

In the evening, after taking the third dose of medicine, he slept soundly through the night.

On the morning of the third day, when Niu Dali woke up, although he was still a little weak and his face was still pale, he was able to get up normally and his spirits had completely returned to normal. He was fine!

This change didn't only happen to Niu Dali.

Many villagers in Nanhe Village who participated in the drought relief efforts suffered from heatstroke, colds, or fatigue from working hard for days. After receiving the herbal medicine distributed by Shen Zhong'an, most of them saw improvement after one or two doses and were completely cured in three to five days.

Only one or two people who have worked hard all year round, have accumulated chronic illnesses, or whose conditions are slightly more serious, can experience some relief after drinking the herbal decoction, but they cannot be completely cured.

Upon learning of this, Shen Zhong'an immediately made a special approval to take a portion of his own salary and invite the county's medical officers to go to the countryside to diagnose and treat these people one by one, prescribe appropriate medicines, and cover all the medical expenses.

The news quickly spread throughout Chenliu County, and everyone from villagers to county officials praised Shen Zhong'an.

Previously, people only knew him as a capable administrator, a talented and resourceful official. Now, seeing how selfless he was, caring for his neighbors, and using his own money to buy medicine for everyone, he has gained another title: "a benevolent and honest official."

Previously, the village elders, village heads, and ward chiefs who had to obey Shen Zhong'an's command due to the county government's conscription or local regulations now had more genuine trust in him.

Whether it was someone secretly instigating it or the villagers spontaneously expressing their gratitude, ever since the medicine pills were distributed, every morning when the officials opened the county government gates, they could always see various local products quietly placed outside.

It might be a basket of fresh vegetables, a basket of wild fruits, or eggs and coarse grains that villagers have saved up by being frugal in their daily lives.

Each item was an ordinary household item, yet it was full of simple sentiments. However, no name was left, making it impossible to trace the owner or return the items.

Seeing this, Shen Zhong'an had no choice but to give the order to send all the gifts to the county government's kitchen, prepare them into a meal, and share them with everyone in the government, regardless of whether they were officials or servants.