Chapter 148 Goodbye Li Ping
The so-called Ministry of Revenue was set up in the south of Jingzhou City.

Under the guidance of Maomao, when Wang Yao arrived at the Ministry of Revenue, there were only a few soldiers in the huge office.

"The other soldiers in the legion have already received their wages and left. Only you, a lazy bug, dare to sleep until noon and then report to the camp." Maomao explained angrily.

"So, the world is so intriguing. In the army, if you are late, I can deduct your salary, but if I am late, you can only stare blankly." Wang Yao smiled shamelessly.

When they were in the camp, in order to prevent Shi Liang and Xiao Ye from taking advantage of the opportunity to pay his wages to drain his blood, Wang Yao had the foresight to ask them to get out, leaving only Maomao to take him to the Ministry of Revenue.

"Just keep showing off. If one day you are caught by the disciplinary inspectors in charge of attendance in the legion, I'll see how much of your salary can be deducted." Maomao rolled his eyes.

"Tsk, at worst I'll just quit. Is there any job these days more tiring than walking on the edge of a knife every day?" Wang Yao remained indifferent, observing the surrounding environment.

The Ministry of Revenue in front of us is a retro ancient office that covers a huge area. What is more interesting is that there are hundreds of passages in the middle that are very humanely opened with wooden fences. They are obviously used to maintain order. Otherwise, if tens of thousands of soldiers in the legion rush in, no one will be able to get a salary.

"At the end of the passage, there are soldiers who are responsible for distributing wages. Did you bring the tiger talisman with you?" Maomao asked.

"What do you want the tiger talisman for?" Wang Yao rummaged around his waist and took out the half tiger talisman that represented his identity.

"Of course it's an identification mark, otherwise who can tell whether you are a centurion or an ordinary soldier?" After saying that, Maomao walked into one of the passages.

Looking at Maomao's back, Wang Yao was stunned. Only then did he realize that Maomao had not received his salary yet.

Had this girl been waiting for him in the camp?

Shaking his head silently, Wang Yao also chose a passage and walked in.

The passage was very long, about a hundred meters in length, and at the end was a large office desk. At this moment, a hunchbacked soldier was sitting inside, holding a brush and marking something on a book.

"Excuse me, I'm here to collect my salary." Wang Yao stepped forward and said.

The soldier raised his head and saw that he was an old man in his sixties with a goat's beard. He was wearing a magic soldier's cloak, and through the slit on the front of the cloak, one could see that he was wearing a uniform similar to that of an ancient civil servant.

Wang Yao suddenly felt as if he had seen this veteran somewhere before.

"It's been a long time since I last saw you, little brother. Why are you here so late?" the old man asked with a smile, putting down the brush in his hand.

Wang Yao was stunned. Did this old man know him?
Seeing Wang Yao's confused face, the old man smiled faintly and said, "My name is Li Ping. Little brother, have you forgotten me so quickly?"

Li Ping?

Hearing this name, Wang Yao thought about it and finally remembered it.

Wait, isn’t this the weird old guy he met outside Zhuge Liang’s military camp before he was promoted to captain of a thousand men?
Three months had passed in a blink of an eye. Wang Yao didn't expect that the old soldier still remembered him. This made him a little embarrassed: "Old sir, so you work here?"

Li Ping smiled, his face full of vicissitudes: "Alas, I am old, and I can no longer personally carry a sword to the canyon battlefield to serve Shu. I can only do my best for Shu behind the scenes with my disabled body."

Hearing this, Wang Yao was in awe. This showed that this was a veteran who had fought in the canyon battlefield for most of his life and miraculously survived to retire.

There is just one thing. Wang Yao feels that the way this veteran named Li Ping looks at him is always a little strange, as if he is looking at a very familiar acquaintance. But they have only met twice in total, so how could they be familiar with each other?

Holding the salary in a small bag, Wang Yao came out of the passage, only to find Maomao already waiting outside.

"Why did it take so long?" Maomao asked.

"I met an acquaintance." Wang Yao said absentmindedly.

"You're so amazing! You have acquaintances in places like the Ministry of Revenue? Who are they?"

"Li Ping. Actually, we've only met twice, but he was very enthusiastic. Isn't that strange?"

After saying that, Wang Yao turned around and stopped, because Maomao was standing behind him in a daze with a look of surprise on his face.

"Li Ping? Lord Li Ping is in there? Wait, you actually know Lord Li Ping?!" Maomao screamed in surprise, looking as if he had seen a ghost.

"What's wrong? Looking at your expression, it's as if you found your long-lost father?" Wang Yao couldn't help but joked. "You don't know who Lord Li Ping is, do you?" Maomao was not in the mood to joke.

“No impression.” Wang Yao flipped through his memories, but could not remember this person’s name in the history of the Three Kingdoms.

Just as Wang Yao was about to open the purse in his hand to see how much his salary was, Maomao came over with a serious look on his face.

"Let me tell you, Lord Li Ping is not an ordinary soldier. He is one of the early veterans who followed His Majesty Zhaolie to conquer the world. He was the captain of our army corps and a great contributor to the Shu Kingdom. Although he has retired from the army for many years and no longer holds the title of military officer, he is in a high position as a civil servant and is in charge of the finances of the entire Shu Kingdom. For example, he repairs the damaged defense towers on the canyon battlefield, allocates budgets to the three armies, transfers funds for water conservancy projects, etc. In short, as long as it involves financial affairs, he is responsible for them all! If we calculate by rank, he should at least be on the same level as our military advisor!"

"What the hell?!" Wang Yao was stunned. The information came too suddenly and he was unable to recover for a while.

It turns out that the plain-looking old soldier is actually a high-ranking official of the Shu Kingdom? !

On the same level as Zhuge Liang? Just a small soldier?
Thinking of this, Wang Yao suddenly widened his eyes.

Although the history of this alien world cannot be completely connected with the ancient history of the Earth, there are still some similarities. For example, in the history of the Three Kingdoms, there is indeed a person who is very similar to Li Ping.
"Maomao, this Li Ping, could he have changed his name?" Wang Yao asked tentatively.

"It seems that you are not completely blind and deaf." Maomao looked at Wang Yao and said, "Yes, Lord Li Ping changed his name a few years ago. At that time, he was not called Li Ping, but Li Yan."

Li Yan!

Hearing this name, Wang Yao suddenly had an epiphany.

Li Yan! One of the most powerful ministers in the later period of Shu Kingdom. In short, in the history of the Three Kingdoms, Li Yan was in charge of logistics and finance, while Zhuge Liang was in charge of military power and politics. They were both ministers entrusted by Liu Bei to his son before his death in Baidi City. At the same time, Li Yan was also the only political force in the Later Shu Kingdom that could compete with Zhuge Liang!
(Popular Science: In history, Li Yan once changed his name to Li Ping.)
Ministry of Revenue, quiet and gloomy.

The old man named Li Ping was still sitting alone at his large desk, diligently reviewing the account books with a brush.

He was hunched over, as if he was unable to straighten his back due to an invisible pressure.

"Hey, the budget for the three armies has increased a lot this month. Even if we are rich and powerful, we can't afford such consumption."

The old man, who was nearly sixty years old, sighed helplessly.

Every time he calculated the budget, Li Ping always felt helpless. For many years, he struggled to maintain the economy of the huge Shu Kingdom, but still could not keep up with the huge consumption of the army. Especially after Zhuge Liang came to Shu, the budget even exceeded the budget.
"Although Zhuge Liang is a rare genius, he is too idealistic. Do you think so too, old friend?"

Suddenly, a teasing voice sounded out of nowhere.

Li Ping's hand holding the pen trembled violently. It was not because he was unaware that there was suddenly someone beside him, but because this 'person' spoke out his thoughts.

Li Ping stood up and looked into the darkness in the corner, where there was a blurry silhouette.

"Shiyuan." Although he addressed him by his first name, Li Ping bowed his head respectfully to show his respect. He then said, "You have just arrived in Jingzhou for two days. You must be exhausted from the journey. Why don't you take a rest?"

"I can't rest. I dare not neglect the things that the master personally told me to do." Silhouette laughed at himself, and then said: "The soldier just now, is he the Wang Yao you reported a month ago?"

"It's him right."

"Yes, it is exactly as written in the report. It is very special. I can sense that he has an aura very similar to our hero."

"Are there really heroes outside the rules? Could they be people from the place of origin?" Li Ping raised his head as if he had sensed something, his cloudy old eyes flashing with a sharp edge that was no less than that of any centurion.

"The remnants of the Land of Origin are now afraid of being exposed, and they are hiding everywhere. How could they let a brat run rampant in the Western Canyon without restraint?"

In the darkness, the silhouette smiled coldly.

"In fact, when I first saw him, my feeling told me that the aura on him did not come from himself, but from the things he was wearing."

Li Ping pondered for a moment and said, "The equipment on Wang Yao is indeed very suspicious. It is not the standard equipment of our Shu army. We have also investigated it privately. There is no place in the entire continent that produces such equipment."

After a pause, Li Ping added meaningfully, "Also, Zhang Shao, the second son of General Zhang Fei, told me when he came back from the canyon the day before yesterday that Wang Yao may have killed two of his super soldiers and hidden an energy crystal. Zhuge Liang himself seemed to know about this, but he kept it a secret."

(End of this chapter)