Early the next morning.
In the backyard of the West City workshop, Jenny Huang directed several craftsmen as they built a waist-high test kiln out of broken bricks and yellow mud. The bottom of the furnace was lined with a three-inch layer of fine sand, and four thumb-sized air vents were left open. They were just waiting for the dry firewood to arrive before they could ignite it for a test run.
Xu Qinghuan did not linger long in front of the kiln. After giving a few instructions, she turned and headed back to her study.
Xu Qinghuan spread out her father's letter again, pressing it down at the corner of her desk, and piled several old files that Li Sheng had found on her right-hand side.
When Li Sheng arrived, he knocked the sand and dirt off the soles of his shoes against the outside of the threshold before stepping into the room.
"Miss, you were looking for me?"
Xu Qinghuan did not look up. Her finger tapped on the characters for "Autumn Examination" in the letter.
"When you were in the capital, did you ever handle any errands for the Ministry of Revenue?"
Li Sheng thought for a moment, rubbing his hands together as he answered, "For a short while. When the Master first took a post in the Ministry of Revenue, I ran to the storehouses a few times on his behalf and once audited the accounts of the annual silver sent to the capital from the various provinces. But regarding the Autumn Examination, I only know the general gist of it."
"The general gist will do." Xu Qinghuan picked up her cup of cold tea, took a sip, frowned, and set it down. "Go through everything you know from start to finish. Generally speaking, where does the silver for the Autumn Examination come from, where does it go, and whose hands does it pass through in between? Don't leave out a single step."
Li Sheng pulled up a stool, sat down in front of the desk, gathered his thoughts, and began to speak.
"According to the officials and popular rumors, the bulk of the funding for the Autumn Examination is allocated by the imperial court, with the Ministry of Revenue setting aside a special fund from the Great Vault."
"This silver is calculated based on the number of candidates taking the exam in each province. Provinces with many scholars, such as Jiangnan, Liangzhe, and Huguang, naturally receive more. After the Ministry of Revenue allocates the funds, the silver is first stored in the provincial treasuries under the Provincial Administration Commission."
"And then?"
"Then it becomes a local matter. The Provincial Administration Office divides the silver into several portions. One portion is for the repair of the examination hall. Every year before the exams, the examination cells must be renovated and the walls inspected to prevent anyone from climbing over to smuggle in cheat sheets.
"Another portion is for the travel expenses and luggage allowance of the examiners. When the chief examiner travels from the capital to take up his post, the costs for carriages, horses, food, lodging, and the retinue of servants along the way all come out of this.
"There is also a portion for the printing, sealing, and copying of the examination papers. The paper and ink used for this have specific requirements; even a slight deviation is unacceptable."
Li Sheng counted on his fingers, listing them one by one.
"Then there's the charcoal, candles, and food inside the examination cells.
"Jiangnan is wealthy, so they even provide tea and pastries in the cells. In our poor northern provinces, getting a bowl of hot porridge is considered good. The final portion is the silver for the banquets after the results are posted, like the Luming Banquet and the Qionglin Banquet, where the chief examiner dines with the newly passed provincial graduates. Although this sum isn't huge, the etiquette cannot be skipped."
As Xu Qinghuan listened, her right hand unconsciously fiddled with the teacup lid.
"How many procedures must these funds go through between being allocated by the Ministry of Revenue and reaching the provincial treasury?"
Li Sheng shook his head. "I'm not entirely clear on that. I only know that when the Ministry of Revenue issues the documents, the provincial administrators must sign a receipt, which is then sent back to the capital to clear the accounts. But in reality, from the time the silver is dispatched from the Great Vault to when it actually lands in the provincial treasury, it takes anywhere from two or three months to half a year. The escorting process alone consumes a lot of manpower."
"Who is in charge of transporting the silver?"
"In the early years, the provinces sent their own people to the capital to collect the silver. Later, after a few cases of robbery on the road, the imperial court changed the rules. It is now centrally coordinated by the Ministry of Revenue. Silver heading south via the waterways is loaded onto grain transport ships, while silver taking the land route is escorted by local garrisons."
Xu Qinghuan's finger stopped moving on the teacup lid.
"You mentioned the water transport routes?"
"Yes. The Autumn Examination silver for the Jiangnan provinces is mostly sent along with the grain transport ships. It saves money and effort." Li Sheng answered casually; to him, this was just a standard transfer procedure.
Xu Qinghuan looked up at him.
"Who oversees the water transport?"
Li Sheng paused for a moment. "The Office of the Director-General of Grain Transport. It nominally falls under the Ministry of Works, but in practice, the Ministry of Revenue can also step in to coordinate."
"Once the silver reaches the provincial treasury, who handles the tasks of purchasing paper and ink for the exams and buying bricks, tiles, and timber for repairing the examination halls?"
"Local officials, naturally."
"Under the Provincial Administration Office, there are councilors and registrars specifically in charge of money and grain who handle the purchasing.
"But as you know, Miss, this kind of errand is extremely lucrative. The ones actually handling it are often not the principal officials, but the clerks and runners beneath them. With the higher-ups turning a blind eye, the subordinates dare to report something worth three taels of silver as costing ten taels."
At this point, Li Sheng suddenly stopped, a hint of confusion appearing on his face.
"Miss, if I may say something I perhaps shouldn't... the allocation of funds and provisions for the Autumn Examination has always been a local responsibility. The Ministry of Revenue only concerns itself with dispatching silver to the regions lacking funds and collecting the receipts. The intermediate tasks of purchasing, transporting, and storing have never been managed by the capital.
"Even in ordinary years with good harvests, this money is covered by the local authorities because... to be honest, it really isn't that much.
"There has never been a precedent of a Vice Minister of Revenue personally interfering with local Autumn Examination expenses."
He rubbed his hands together, weighing his words carefully. "To this day, I still can't understand why His Majesty arranged for the Master to handle this matter."
The study fell quiet.
From outside came the sound of craftsmen moving bricks and the loud voice of Jenny Huang scolding someone.
Xu Qinghuan did not reply. She pulled an old file from her desk.
These loose pages were not from the border market, but had been dug out of a wastepaper pile at the deputy general's manor by Qian Fugui.
On the paper were several old accounts. The ink was yellowed and the handwriting was sloppy; judging by the writing style, it was likely penned by one of He Minghu's aides.
The accounts were a jumble, including military supply purchases and horse fodder, but one entry stood out glaringly.
"Autumn of the Gengwu year. Transferred 3,200 taels of silver for the repair of the Jiangbei Circuit examination hall. Actually paid 1,400 taels. The remaining silver was diverted into a private treasury."
Xu Qinghuan stared at this line of text for a long time.
"Li Sheng."
"Here."
"You just said that the silver for repairing the examination halls is dispatched from the provincial treasury and handled by local officials for purchasing. If local clerks falsely report and embezzle the repair funds, does the Ministry of Revenue investigate?"
Li Sheng gave a bitter smile. "Investigate? How could they? The receipt bears the official seal of the Provincial Administration Commissioner. Once the silver enters the provincial treasury, it becomes a local matter. It's impossible for the Ministry of Revenue personnel to travel to every province to watch how they spend the money.
"Even if an imperial censor were to impeach them, it would mostly be over trivial amounts that wouldn't cause a stir. This is an open secret in the officialdom of the Great Qian."
"Wouldn't cause a stir?" Xu Qinghuan pushed the loose page in front of Li Sheng. "Look at this."
Li Sheng leaned in to take a look, his brows knitting together.
"Transferred silver for the repair of the Jiangbei Circuit examination hall... 3,200 taels reported, but only 1,400 taels actually paid?" Li Sheng looked up. "These people are quite bold. They swallowed 1,800 taels from a single repair fund."
"This is just one province, one year, one entry." Xu Qinghuan's voice was very soft, yet she enunciated every word heavily. "The Great Qian has eighteen provinces, and the Autumn Examination funding for each province is at least ten thousand taels a year. Do the math for me. If every province operates like the Jiangbei Circuit, after one examination cycle, how much of the silver allocated by the imperial court actually serves its intended purpose?"
Li Sheng's smile faded. He looked down, counting on his fingers, his lips moving silently for a long time.
Xu Qinghuan did not wait for him to finish calculating. She grabbed a worn brush from the desk, dipped it in ink, and began to write and calculate on a blank sheet of Xuan paper.
First, she listed the names of the eighteen provinces of the Great Qian Dynasty, estimating the total funds for the autumn provincial examinations in each province based on average figures.
Li Sheng had just reported these numbers. Combining the imperial court's special allocations and local miscellaneous silver, large provinces like Jiangnan and Liangzhe were economically prosperous; mid-tier provinces like Huguang and Shandong required ten to twenty thousand taels; even poorer provinces like Gansu, Shaanxi, Yunnan, and Guizhou needed twenty to thirty thousand taels.
In total across the eighteen provinces, for a single autumn examination cycle, the imperial court allocated around three hundred thousand taels of silver.
She wrote down "300,000 taels" on the paper, then noted a ratio next to it. According to the embezzlement in He Minghu's old ledger, where 3,200 taels were reported but only 1,400 taels were actually paid out, the false reporting ratio was as high as fifty-six percent.
However, for a routine event like the autumn examinations, the ratio should be around thirty percent.
If the officials in all eighteen provinces operated at this ratio, out of the 300,000 taels for an autumn examination, only about 200,000 taels were actually spent on the exams. The rest all went into their own pockets.
But it did not end there.
Xu Qinghuan's brush continued down the page. The autumn examinations were held once every three years. In the century since the founding of the Great Qian Dynasty, over forty examination cycles had taken place.
She multiplied "90,000 taels" by forty. After arriving at a number, her brush paused.
Li Sheng had been watching from the side. Seeing that Xu Qinghuan had stopped, he craned his neck to look.
Written on the paper was a shocking string of numbers.
And this was only for the autumn examinations.
Xu Qinghuan set down the worn brush and flipped the loose sheet of paper over. On the back were a few lines of even smaller handwriting, recording items such as "silver allocated for military arms procurement," "silver allocated for river maintenance," "silver allocated for post station upkeep," and so on. Two numbers followed each entry.
One was the reported amount; the other was the amount actually paid.
The discrepancy between the two numbers was staggering.
For a clearer picture, calculating the total amount embezzled within a single year was the better choice.
Xu Qinghuan picked up her brush again, listing major categories one by one, autumn examinations, military arms, river works, post stations, salt taxes, water transport, and so on, and calculated each based on that thirty percent embezzlement ratio.
She calculated very slowly, repeatedly verifying and scrutinizing every entry. Occasionally, she would stop to flip through the numbers in the old archives before continuing to write.
Watching beside her, Li Sheng's breathing grew heavier. Finally, he simply stood up and paced back and forth across the study, appearing exceptionally agitated.
The numbers on the Xuan paper grew longer and longer.
When Xu Qinghuan finished adding the final entry and circled the grand total, her hand froze above the paper. The fingertips gripping the brush were actually trembling slightly.
Astoundingly...
It was nearly ten million taels.
