Chapter 83: Poverty is the Root of All Evil

Zhu Houzhao smiled… If Fang Jifan had said something like “Your Highness the Crown Prince need not add coal,” Zhu Houzhao would have felt uncertain. But hearing Fang Jifan say “Step aside,” Zhu Houzhao was startled. Old Fang really had some tricks up his sleeve.

After a moment, he cautiously asked, “Would you like some tea? This Palace will have Liu Banban… ah, no, This Palace will personally serve you tea…”

Fang Jifan paid him no attention.

Unbekciedly, the sky grew dark, and only the last traces of sunset remained.

On the surface, Fang Jifan was putting on an act, but in reality, he was quietly verifying some data from the Veritable Records of the Ming Dynasty in his previous life.

He looked up and saw Zhu Houzhao staring at him pitifully. Fang Jifan said, “It’s getting late. I’ll take the ledger back to continue the calculations.”

“Don’t go!” Zhu Houzhao urged him to stay. “It’s not too late to leave after having dinner with This Palace.”

Fang Jifan gave him a strange look, hesitated for a moment, and finally said, “The food at the House of the Crown Prince is terrible.”

Zhu Houzhao burst into tears.

However, what Fang Jifan said was true.

Although Emperor Hongzhi was frugal, he treated his son quite well. He didn’t dare give him silver to spend, but in terms of clothing, food, housing, and transportation, everything was of the highest standard. However, the kitchen staff at the House of the Crown Prince were still part of the Imperial Palace’s team. The so-called imperial chefs sounded impressive, but they only cared about the appearance of the dishes. Though the ingredients were abundant, the taste was awful.

Fang Jifan had tried it once and almost vomited.

After leaving the House of the Crown Prince, Deng Jian was already waiting outside. The weather had been clear for a few days, so Fang Jifan rode a horse. This horse was a fine steed he had bought from the Northern Barbarians. He had spent several hours selecting it at the Eastern Market, and it was quite expensive, costing over three hundred taels of silver. It looked exceptionally spirited. Every time Deng Jian took care of this horse, he felt a sour envy. Based on his estimate of the brokerage firm’s rates, the value of this horse was more than fifty times his own. Thinking about this made him sad. People often said humans were worse off than dogs, but who would have thought they were worse off than horses?

“Young Lord… Young Lord, this morning, people from the Brocade Guard came by.”

“Oh.” Fang Jifan didn’t care at all and had already mounted the horse.

Deng Jian added cheerfully, “The Brocade Guard showed great concern for you, Young Lord. They heard that you were beaten by that Tang Yin and that Shuntian Prefecture tried to settle the matter quietly. So they sent someone to ask if you wanted to seek justice. Our Great Ming is a place with laws—how could we allow a Scholar to beat our Young Lord?”

“…” Fang Jifan said lightly, “Tell them to stay out of it. This Young Lord is in the middle of a bet.”

“Okay, okay. This servant will go and reply tomorrow.”

As Fang Jifan rode on the horse, he felt embarrassed. The Brocade Guard was not like Shuntian Prefecture. They were both feared and the most sensitive institution. How many things in the world could escape their notice? For example, this time, when he had beaten Tang Yin, did they not know the truth? But even though they knew the truth, they still came to offer to help him vent his anger. Clearly, some people in the Brocade Guard had realized his importance. Just as ducks know when spring arrives, they were more aware than anyone of Fang Jifan’s current relationship with the Imperial Palace. To curry favor with certain powerful figures in the palace, they were willing to serve as Fang Jifan’s thugs.

If they wanted, they could even fabricate ironclad evidence that Tang Yin had written rebellious poems and committed numerous evil deeds. All Fang Jifan had to do was nod, and Tang Yin would be doomed.

These people… were truly frightening…

As Fang Jifan rode on the horse, he couldn’t help but sigh. It was better to stay away from such people. Getting help from them would undoubtedly come at a cost. Besides… Bohu was half an idol to him. Thinking this, Fang Jifan couldn’t help but wonder how his idol was doing. Had his leg been broken? Could he get out of bed and move around?

Two days later, Fang Jifan had roughly sorted out all the accounts.

“You’ve already calculated it!” When Fang Jifan met Zhu Houzhao, Zhu Houzhao widened his eyes in disbelief. This time, he had prepared for a prolonged battle, expecting it to take at least ten days to half a month—and that was without repeated checks. After all, if one number was off, everything could be wrong. At the Ministry of Revenue, even with proper verification, a team of over a dozen people might not be able to produce accurate data in ten days to half a month.

The revenue and expenditure of the National Treasury concerned the allocation of the country’s money and grain. In short, it was about the nation’s economy and people’s livelihood, and not a single mistake could be tolerated.

“Good, tell me, let’s hear it…” Zhu Houzhao looked at Fang Jifan excitedly, then remembered something. “Wait a moment, let me write it down.”

He turned back to the desk and fetched brush, ink, paper, and inkstone.

Fang Jifan felt like laughing. Not only did he know the exact figures for this year’s revenue and expenditure, but he could also effortlessly recall the numbers for the twelfth year of Hongzhi, the thirteenth year, the fifteenth year, and even the figures from the Jiajing to Chongzhen eras.

Fang Jifan composed himself. “By the end of this year, as of the seventh day of the twelfth month in the 11th Year of the Hongzhi Era, the imperial court collected 2,754,622 taels of silver from the Two Capitals and Thirteen Provinces, 790,000 jin of silk, 1,639,300 bolts of cloth, and 226,200 jin of tea…” Fang Jifan listed them as if they were household items. “In addition, from the imperial manors in the Two Capitals, 770,000 dan of grain were obtained, and customs duties amounted to 270,000 taels. The expenditures…”

Each of these numbers was staggering, involving dozens of types of materials, from revenue to expenditure, and finally, the surplus, which was too many to count.

Zhu Houzhao, however, repeated them one by one without pausing, and Zhu Houzhao hurriedly wrote them down.

In truth, Fang Jifan had played a small trick. He deliberately adjusted some of the final digits. For example, the cloth was listed as 1,639,300 bolts, but the actual number was 1,635,232 bolts. He made these adjustments because even Fang Jifan felt that being so precise would seem unnatural. A slight error would make it less suspicious.

Zhu Houzhao recorded the numbers with great satisfaction, but a problem arose: he couldn’t verify them. In other words, the numbers relied entirely on Fang Jifan’s fabrications… Well, he decided to trust him.