Classification

Old Wu, who was dozing beside him, opened his eyes, glanced at him, and snorted, "Headache? Always the same. It's good enough if you can remember it clearly. This is a matter of vital importance, grain and fodder; one wrong number and you're out of a job. Slower is fine."

Has it always been this way? Looking at the tangled mess before him, Zhou Heng felt an instinctive unease stemming from modern, efficient society.

If this were his family's company, the CFO would have been fired long ago if such a primitive accounting method were used.

He hesitated for a moment, then tentatively said to Old Wu, "Old Wu, what do you think... could we try to group together items of the same type or items that came in and out on the same day and record them together?"

For example, how about setting up a few "virtual folders"... uh, I mean, using strips of cloth or rope of different colors to categorize and bundle the bamboo slips containing different information? When searching, could we also search by category and by day? Wouldn't that... save a little trouble? And make it less likely to get things mixed up?

Old Wu stared at him with his cloudy eyes for a few seconds without saying a word, then closed his eyes again, seemingly in acquiescence, or perhaps in impatience.

Zhou Heng took this as tacit approval. He found some tattered strips of cloth of different colors and began to try to classify them according to his own understanding.

Grain was grouped into one category, fodder into another, and military supplies into a third. Within each category, they were further arranged roughly by the date they entered the warehouse. He even used blank bamboo strips to write simple labels on charcoal sticks.

A few days later, Old Wu needed to check the consumption of a batch of soybean feed from half a month ago.

In the past, he would have to spend a long time rummaging through a large pile of mixed bamboo slips. This time, he frowned and, following Zhou Heng's "color classification" and simple date labels, quickly found the relevant records. Moreover, because the records were relatively concentrated, the comparison between them was much faster.

After Old Wu finished checking, he put down the bamboo slips and looked at Zhou Heng, who was busy tying cloth strips to a batch of new account books. His gaze was less murky and more scrutinizing.

"Kid," Old Wu said, his voice hoarse, "where did you learn this trick from?"

Zhou Heng's heart tightened, and he quickly lowered his head: "No, I didn't learn it from anyone. I just figured it out on my own and thought that this way... it wouldn't be messy. Is it against the rules? I'll change it back right away..." As he spoke, he went to untie the strip of cloth.

"Never mind." Old Wu waved his hand. "That's fine. It'll be quicker." He didn't ask any more questions, but the work assigned to Zhou Heng gradually included more accounts that needed to be sorted out and weren't so old.

Zhou Heng breathed a sigh of relief, inwardly cursing himself for being nosy, but his hands became even more skilled at sorting and binding.

Some time later, a batch of newly forged swords, spears, and armor arrived at the warehouse. The accompanying inventory list was densely filled with various specifications and quantities. The supply officer in charge of receiving the goods frowned as he slowly checked them.

Zhou Heng happened to be called by Old Wu to help move the bamboo slips, and glanced at the list as he passed by. His professional instincts gave him an instant urge to make a spreadsheet for the other party—of course, it was just a thought.

But when he saw the baggage officer checking the supplies, he was sweating profusely because the list was so disorganized and he had to repeatedly compare it with the previous list.

Zhou Heng's fear of getting into trouble was triggered again: if something went wrong here and it was investigated, those of them who were there to help and handle the accounts might all be implicated.

Taking advantage of a break while moving things, he leaned close to Old Wu's ear and said in a very low voice, "Old Wu, that list... is too messy."

Should we suggest that sir count the long weapons, short weapons, armor, and helmets separately, and then roughly group each type according to their specifications? Counting them all together like this is easy to get confused about.

Old Wu glared at him and scolded in a low voice, "You talk too much!" But seeing the increasingly agitated look on the supply officer's face, Old Wu himself felt uneasy.

He hesitated for a moment, then slowly moved over, bowed, and with a forced smile, reported to the baggage officer, rephrasing Zhou Heng's words: "Sir, this list is quite complicated. Perhaps... we could sort it by major categories first, which might speed things up? My humble opinion, my humble opinion..."

The supply officer, already annoyed, glanced at the list and then at the piled-up weapons. After hesitating for a moment, he waved his hand and said, "Let's try it as you say!"

As a result, after sorting and counting, efficiency was significantly improved, the sense of chaos was greatly reduced, and the final count was successfully verified.

The supply officer's expression softened considerably, and he nodded to Old Wu: "Yes, it's a safe approach."

Old Wu bowed repeatedly and retreated to Zhou Heng's side. He let out a long sigh of relief and glanced at Zhou Heng with a complex and unreadable look in his eyes.

Zhou Heng lowered his head, pretending to be focused on moving the bamboo slips.

In recent days, the atmosphere among the battalion's senior officers has been quite tense due to the situation on the eastern front, the allocation of supplies, and some internal personnel issues.

During a routine military supplies coordination meeting, a military officer in charge of logistics casually mentioned that the recent inventory and accounting of the supply train seemed to be "somewhat efficient," without mentioning any specific names.

But this insignificant "efficiency," against the backdrop of numerous trivial matters and setbacks, still briefly attracted Xiao Jue's attention as he listened intently to reports from various parties.

Xiao Jue's gaze lingered on the recruit for a moment, but he didn't ask any more questions. However, he subconsciously connected the "supply corps" with Zhou Heng, the new recruit who had secretly scalded cloth with hot water in the wounded soldiers' camp not long ago, offered a plan to destroy the rolling stone trough, and wore an exquisite jade buckle on his chest.

He remained calm and continued listening to the next report.

This person is perhaps a little more "special" than he initially expected.

As for whether this point is particularly useful or worth taking another look at, Xiao Jue was still unsure.