"Your Majesty, your servant has verified and cross-checked according to the account books provided by the Jiangnan officials; there are absolutely no issues with the tax revenues on these records."
"Moreover, it was Minister Qi who submitted the account books to me, and we both confirmed them. There should be no mistakes."
The underlying implication is that the authenticity of these account books is uncertain.
But upon saying this, it's evident that Zhang Zhi also bears responsibility for not doing his job well; many officials are genuinely unsure of what he intends to do.
Emperor Xuanming angrily shouted, "Minister Zhang, are you admitting that you have been negligent in your duties!"
