In the imperial palace on a sunny afternoon, the golden roof tiles gleamed brightly under the sun, yet the space beneath the eaves felt as cold as a deep well.
The Emperor sat behind his imperial desk, reviewing the last memorial of the day.
The memorial was a report on the Jiangnan salt tax, and between the lines, it was full of complaints about poverty.
It claimed that there was too much rain, the salt fields were damaged, the people were exhausted, and requested the imperial court to reduce the tax for three years.
The Emperor's red vermilion brush fell, drawing a circle next to the four words "reduce the tax for three years", and he wrote two lines of small characters in the blank space.
"The salt fields are damaged, the salt merchants are not damaged, the people are exhausted."
"The salt tax is not exhausted, let the Ministry of Revenue verify it separately."
Outside the door, an inner court attendant bent over and entered.
"Your Majesty, Commander Shen of the Imperial City Division requests an audience."
The Emperor did not look up, only lightly scraping his vermilion brush against the edge of the inkstone.
"Let him in."
The hall door was pushed open a crack.
Shen Lian, wearing the black robe of the Imperial City Division, walked straight to the steps before the throne after entering, knelt on one knee, and held up a bamboo tube with both hands.
"Your Majesty, an urgent report from the waterways of the capital region."
The Emperor was still looking at the memorial.
Shen Lian held up the bamboo tube.
He had been in the Imperial City Division for many years, having seen midnight confiscations and executions at the Meridian Gate, and had also seen ministers kneeling in the rain begging for their lives.
But every time he entered the imperial study, he always felt that this place was harder to endure than the imperial prison.
In the imperial prison, the blade would fall.
In the imperial study, the blade first hung over your head.
When it fell, and on whom it fell, all depended on whether the person behind the imperial desk was willing to speak.
The Emperor finished writing the last word and closed the memorial.
A young eunuch beside him timely offered warm water.
The Emperor washed his hands, dried them, and then looked at the bamboo tube Shen Lian was holding.
"Speak, what bad news is there now."
Shen Lian lowered his head and said, "There has been a change in the waterways of the capital region. After the eldest son of the Xu family, Xu Wuyou, took over the Shuicheng Hall."
"He detained the cargo ships of the Guangyi Merchant Firm, uncovered a case where military supplies of saltpeter and sulfur were framed as charcoal, and following the death of a subordinate, intercepted a list detailing the loss of military grain on the northern line."
The Emperor picked up his teacup, looking puzzled.
"Xu Wuyou?"
Shen Lian said, "It is indeed the legitimate eldest son of Count Chengyi, Xu Youde. He has a reputation in the capital as a profligate, and entered the Shuicheng Hall a few days ago."
The Emperor did not drink his tea, only asking, "Who is behind the Guangyi Merchant Firm?"
Shen Lian raised the bamboo tube higher.
"Please review it, Your Majesty."
The Emperor did not take it.
"Read it."
Shen Lian opened the bamboo tube with both hands and took out the narrow copy of the list inside.
The paper had been soaked in water, its edges curled, but the handwriting on it was still fairly clear.
He scanned it first, his throat feeling a bit dry.
This piece of paper was not long, but every line could cost someone their head.
"Jianghuai Granary military grain, eight thousand shi, reported loss of twelve percent, profit shared three hundred and eighty taels."
"Huaisi transport grain, ten thousand shi, reported loss of fifteen percent, profit shared six hundred and twenty taels."
"Guangyi Merchant Firm transferred three batches on the northern line, hung the exemption plaque, changed holds at night, shorting the Zhenbei military granary by two thousand four hundred shi."
"Water Transport Inspector Tao Boyong received seventy taels of silver, released three ticket stubs."
"Northern line loss account, profit shared according to custom, thirty percent to the merchants, twenty percent to the water transport, the remainder sent to the Chief Inspector."
Reading to this point, Shen Lian paused for half a beat.
The Emperor lifted his eyelids.
"Continue."
Shen Lian turned the paper to the end, lowering his voice.
"At the end, four words circled in cinnabar."
"Chief Inspector, Shang Residence."
But Shen Lian felt that the imperial study suddenly lost a bit of vitality.
It wasn't that the wind stopped, nor that there were fewer people, but after those four words fell.
Everyone standing in the hall bent their waists lower, as if an invisible blade had suddenly appeared above their heads.
The young eunuch holding the water basin had sweat on the back of his hands, and the surface of the water gently rippled.
The Emperor finally put down his teacup.
The porcelain cup touched the table top; the sound was very light, but it almost made the several inner court attendants in the hall choke on their breath.
"Shang Residence."
The Emperor read it once, his tone betraying neither joy nor anger.
Shen Lian lowered his head, waiting for the thunder to strike.
The Minister of Revenue, Shang Qitai, controlled the nation's money and grain; water transport, salt, and iron could not bypass him.
Even if the price of rice in the capital rose by half a copper coin, someone in the Ministry of Revenue could buy grain to hoard three days in advance.
The loss of military grain involving the Shang Residence was not just a mouse drilling into a rice bin; this was someone treating half a granary as their own backyard.
More importantly, his other identity—
Xu Jie's favored disciple.
With a different emperor, the paperweight on the desk would have been thrown out.
But the person behind the imperial desk did not get angry.
The Emperor just reached out, reopened the memorial on the Jiangnan salt tax, and took a couple of looks.
Then, a very faint, cold trace pressed down at the corner of his mouth.
Shen Lian's shoulders and back tensed even more.
This was scarier than fury.
The Emperor spoke, "Shang Qitai reaching into water transport, I kept a record of it three years ago."
Shen Lian's fingers pressed on the edge of the paper, stopping abruptly.
Three years ago?
Inside the imperial study, the seal-holding eunuch standing in the corner also lowered his head.
The Emperor ignored the reactions of those in the hall; he stood up and walked to the window.
The dragon patterns on his hem gleamed golden in the sunlight.
Outside the window were the crabapple trees in the palace; the blooming season had long passed, leaving only the leaves shining under the sun.
In the distance, the palace paths were empty, and the armor of the guards reflected light, dazzling the eyes.
"When the water is too clear, the fish run away."
"Shang Qitai is greedy, but he is greedy with method, greedy and knows how to share the meat."
"The Jiangnan noble families take a bite, the Water Transport Division takes a bite, and the clerks under the Ministry of Revenue also take a bite."
"Sitting in the middle, he smooths the accounts and feeds the people, so the imperial court's grain route can run and the salt tax can be collected."
"Those prominent families whose brains have been ruined by reading are also willing to pretend to be obedient subjects before me for a few years."
Shen Lian did not dare to answer.
The Emperor turned around, his gaze falling on Shen Lian.
"I keep him not because he is clean, but because he is fat enough."
As this sentence came out, the inner court attendants in the hall stopped breathing.
The Emperor continued, "A fat pig must be raised until its fat is thick; when the knife goes down, it will have enough weight."
"Slaughtered too early, that water line of water transport will also shrink back into the mud."
"For me to investigate them, it would take ten years."
But, do I still have ten years!
The old Emperor ultimately did not say this sentence aloud.
Shen Lian lowered his head even more.
Having followed the Emperor for many years, he had always understood.
It wasn't that no one was investigating Shang Qitai; it was that the Emperor was holding it down, not letting it be fully exposed.
It was not indulgence.
It was raising meat for the blade.
The Emperor walked back to the imperial desk and pointed to the list in Shen Lian's hand.
"What Xu Wuyou got, is it a copy or the original?"
Shen Lian said, "The Shuicheng Hall has already sent out the original in three routes: one to the Chengyi Count's Residence, one to the Imperial City Division, and another along the northern line to the Imperial Envoy of Zhenbei, Xu Qinghuan."
"The copy in my hand is a transcript received by the hidden agents of the Imperial City Division from a fast boat."
Hearing this, the Emperor showed a bit of interest.
"Divided into three routes?"
Shen Lian said, "Xu Wuyou publicly sealed the warehouse of the Guangyi Merchant Firm at the East Bay Wharf, confiscated the water plaques, and forced back the Water Transport Inspector Tao Boyong."
"He also used the Imperial Envoy's documents to suppress the military supply materials. This person acts with needles hidden in his coarseness, and he is bold."
"If he hadn't first brought the boatmen at the wharf to bear witness, the Guangyi Merchant Firm might not have been defeated so quickly."
The Emperor picked up the list, pressing on the four words "Chief Inspector, Shang Residence."
"Everyone in the capital says the eldest son of the Xu family is a scoundrel who only knows how to fight roosters, race horses, and smash people's shops. And stands up for his younger siblings; I used to hear it that way too."
The Emperor chuckled softly.
"I didn't expect that the one handing me the butcher's knife would be this legitimate eldest son of the Xu family, who looks least like a scholar."
Shen Lian asked in a low voice, "Is Your Majesty going to move against Shang Qitai?"
The Emperor did not answer him, but asked, "Is there any movement at the Chengyi Count's Residence?"
Shen Lian said, "Xu Youde hasn't entered the palace yet, but the Imperial City Department reports that the lights in the Earl of Chengyi's estate were on all night."
"The Xu estate's accounting room went through the old files overnight. The Earl of Chengyi's people have already copied out three chests of receipts from the Ministry of Revenue for the provisions allocated to the northern army over the years."
The emperor set the manifest down.
"Xu Youde, that old fox, has caught the scent of blood."
The Seal-Holding Eunuch bowed. "Your Majesty, shall we summon the Earl of Chengyi?"
The emperor raised a hand, cutting him off.
"Not yet."
Shen Lian paused in surprise.
The emperor sat back behind his imperial desk and opened another memorial.
It was a charter for the autumn grain transport submitted by the Ministry of Revenue. At the bottom, it bore Shang Qitai's personal seal.
The emperor tapped it with his knuckles.
"If Shang Qitai were to enter the palace now to cry out his grievances, he would speak very beautifully."
"He would say things like 'this humble official failed to notice,' or 'treacherous merchants deceived their superiors,' or 'I willingly request my salary be suspended for three years.'"
"If Xu Youde were to enter the palace now to present the accounts, he would also speak very beautifully."
"He would say 'this subject dares not act arbitrarily,' or 'military provisions concern the fate of the state,' or 'I beg Your Majesty to make a divine judgment.'"
The emperor looked up.
"But I do not want to hear their pretty words."
Shen Lian raised his head.
The emperor said, "I want to see which piece of meat they bite into first."
No one in the hall made a sound.
The emperor took a black wooden token from a hidden compartment in his desk and pushed it to the edge.
"Shen Lian."
"I am here."
"The Imperial City Department will not make arrests. Just watch for now."
Shen Lian received the token with both hands.
The emperor enunciated every word clearly. "For anyone who leaves the estates at night to deliver a message, record the person, the time, and the destination. But... do not intercept them."
Shen Lian asked, "Do not intercept them?"
"Do not intercept."
The emperor picked up his vermilion brush and drew a cross over the Ministry of Revenue's charter.
"Let the messages go out. Let the silver move."
"Let them stick out the feet they have hidden underwater. The more they stick out, the easier it will be when it is time to chop them off."
Shen Lian acknowledged the order and was about to withdraw.
The emperor suddenly added, "And there is Xu Wuyou."
Shen Lian stopped.
The emperor looked at the bloodstained bamboo tube, his tone finally taking on a hint of amusement.
"Send people to protect him. Do not let him die, but do not let him be too comfortable either."
This time, Shen Lian truly could not hold back. He looked up and asked, "What does Your Majesty mean?"
The emperor dipped his vermilion brush heavily in ink and brought it down on the paper.
"A blade must be sharpened. If it is sharpened too safely, it will become dull."
"Since that boy from the Xu family dared to use Shuicheng Hall as a whetstone, then let the people of the capital's waterways sharpen him."
"If he survives the sharpening, he will become the Xu family's second good blade."
"If he does not, Xu Youde deserves to feel some pain, lest he spend all his days pretending to be honest."
