Early the next morning, as the sky was just beginning to lighten, the yamen of the Ministry of Revenue was already dead silent.
Ever since harsh words were dropped in the imperial court that day.
Undercurrents had been surging through the capital these past few days, and today, the main hall of the Ministry of Revenue had become the center of the storm.
The officials in the hall each harbored their own thoughts. Even the clerks, who usually loved to gossip, kept their mouths shut tight, burying their heads in wiping their desks, terrified of stirring up even the slightest bit of dust.
When the sun was just three poles high, a high-pitched announcement echoed from outside, breaking the stagnant silence.
"His Majesty has issued a decree!"
A pale, beardless eunuch, holding a bright yellow scroll and surrounded by a group of young attendants, strode proudly into the main hall.
All the officials in the hall, regardless of their rank, dropped to their knees in a rustling wave.
Shang Qitai knelt at the very front. Behind him were the Left Vice Minister Xu Youde and the Right Vice Minister Cui Jin, followed by the directors and secretaries of the various bureaus.
The eunuch unrolled the scroll, his gaze sweeping over the dense sea of official hats below.
"By the grace of Heaven, the Emperor issues this verbal decree: The Ministry of Revenue manages the world's money and grain, serving as the lifeblood of the nation."
"The military supplies for the northern border concern the very foundation of the state and allow for no mistakes."
"I have recently heard that the amount of grain lost during water transport is shocking, which deeply troubles My heart."
"I hereby order the Minister of Revenue, Shang Qitai, to close the doors and conduct an internal investigation starting today. Within a time limit of one month, the accounts regarding the loss of northern military grain over the years must be thoroughly investigated and a clean dossier presented."
"Any deficits must no longer be excused with tired pretexts of floods or storms. Respect this."
The eunuch rolled up the scroll, but a deathly silence remained below.
One month!
And a perfectly clean dossier at that!
This verbal decree was more vicious than a direct order to confiscate their estates.
Shang Qitai kowtowed in gratitude. As he received the scroll, which symbolized a death warrant, with both hands and stood up, his face had turned a livid iron-green.
He scanned the subordinates kneeling on the floor, his gaze finally landing on Xu Youde's back, a flash of ruthlessness passing through his eyes.
"All of you, rise."
Shang Qitai walked to the main seat of the hall and sat down, slapping the scroll heavily onto the desk.
"You have all heard His Majesty's decree clearly. For one month, no one in the Ministry of Revenue should even think about getting a good night's sleep."
As if having made up his mind, he slammed his hand on the table.
"Men! Pass down my order! From this moment on, the four treasuries of the Ministry of Revenue, Gold, Granary, General Accounts, and Armory, are all sealed!"
As soon as these words were spoken, an uproar broke out in the hall.
"Lord Minister, this..." Lu Chengyi, Director of the General Accounts Bureau, had just opened his mouth when Shang Qitai glared him into silence.
"Seal the treasuries! All treasury keys are to be collected and brought to my office! Without my written order, no one is allowed to privately access a single page of the account books or a single tael of silver!"
Shang Qitai stood up and paced to the center of the hall, his voice chilling to the bone.
"What His Majesty wants is an internal investigation. It is I, Shang Qitai, who am responsible for the imperial command!"
"If I let each bureau flip through the accounts on their own, with you investigating yours and him investigating his, the records will be scattered and the stories won't match. When the time comes to present them to the Emperor, do you want His Majesty to treat our Ministry of Revenue like a laughingstock?"
His high-sounding words effectively gagged everyone.
Right Vice Minister Cui Jin immediately bowed in agreement. "Lord Minister oversees the overall situation, which is in accordance with the regulations. The matter of the internal investigation is of great importance. It is only right that it be uniformly coordinated by the Minister's office to ensure nothing goes wrong."
Director Lu Chengyi of the General Accounts Bureau also quickly changed his tune. "I second this! We will all follow the Lord Minister's dispatch and absolutely will not let personal grievances disrupt the overall situation of the investigation."
Following the statements of these two, several secretaries in the hall also closed the account folders in their hands and stood with their arms at their sides, looking entirely submissive.
For a moment, everyone's eyes converged on Xu Youde.
Everyone knew that this turmoil started because of the Earl Chengyi estate.
Shang Qitai's move ostensibly aimed to oversee the overall situation, but in reality, it was to completely marginalize Xu Youde, preventing him from touching any core accounts.
Standing in the hall, Xu Youde neither argued his case as everyone expected, nor did he try to fight for those crucial treasury keys.
He simply stepped slowly out of the line, walked up to Shang Qitai, lifted his official robes, and knelt straight down.
"This subordinate is also guilty."
This kneeling action completely stunned Shang Qitai.
The officials filling the hall looked at each other in dismay, wondering what kind of act the usually tough Earl Chengyi was putting on today.
Xu Youde kowtowed on the floor.
"As the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, this subordinate failed to share the Lord Minister's burdens, resulting in numerous malpractices in the ministry's affairs and causing His Majesty to worry. This is the crime of dereliction of duty."
"Now that His Majesty has brought down his thunderous wrath, this subordinate is willing to be at the Lord Minister's disposal to assist in clearing the accounts, stopping at nothing."
Shang Qitai narrowed his eyes, staring at Xu Youde kneeling on the ground, his mind calculating rapidly.
He had originally thought Xu Youde would make a huge scene, which would have been the perfect excuse to pin a label of disrupting official business on him. He hadn't expected this old fox to play the trick of retreating in order to advance.
Shang Qitai sneered and personally stepped forward to help Xu Youde up.
"What is Lord Count saying! You and I serve as ministers in the same court, what crime could there be?"
He was polite on the surface, but there were daggers hidden in his words.
"However, since your son caused a great disaster at the docks, Lord Count really ought to avoid arousing suspicion right now. Since Lord Count has the heart to share the country's burdens, I cannot chill your enthusiasm either."
Shang Qitai patted Xu Youde on the shoulder and turned back to the main seat.
"How about this, the accounts for the Ministry's miscellaneous reimbursements and the repairs of old ships over the years have been backlogged for a long time. It is time someone sorted them out. I shall trouble Lord Count with this task."
As soon as he finished speaking, a wave of suppressed chuckles echoed through the hall.
Miscellaneous reimbursements and old ship repairs were the most neglected, rotten old accounts in the Ministry of Revenue.
There was no profit to be made from them, let alone any merit to be earned. It was purely a thankless chore.
Shang Qitai was publicly humiliating Xu Youde.
The officials of the General Accounts Bureau and the Granary Bureau immediately understood the assignment. They sent their people back to their rooms to fetch piles of dust-covered, obscure account books, dumping them on the empty floor in front of Xu Youde.
They deliberately suppressed all recent accounts related to the northern border's transport losses, refusing to give Xu Youde even a single volume.
Faced with this small mountain of waste paper, there was not a trace of anger on Xu Youde's face.
He merely cupped his hands in a salute and spoke calmly.
"This subordinate accepts the order."
"However, according to the rules, a voucher is required to access old archives. I kindly request the Lord Minister to issue an Old Archive Access Voucher to this subordinate."
Shang Qitai blanked for a moment, then burst into loud laughter.
"Lord Count is truly a man who follows the rules! Very well, I will issue it for you!"
He assumed that Xu Youde had completely admitted defeat and given up even struggling.
Xu Youde continued, "What this subordinate wishes to access are all the old accounts from twenty years ago regarding grain transport ship repairs, plank damages, cable replacements, and the compensation for the casualties of the boatmen."
Twenty years ago?
The crowd was once again stunned. That was ages ago, what use could there be in digging that up?
Shang Qitai laughed even harder, swaying back and forth. With a wave of his large hand, he shouted to the clerk beside him, "Did you hear that? Issue the voucher to Vice Minister Xu and stamp it! Let him investigate!"
He turned his head to mock Xu Youde, "Lord Count, those moldy accounts piled up in the old archives room are older than you are. If you can actually sort out two taels of silver from them, it would be considered saving our Ministry of Revenue some firewood money!"
The clerk quickly wrote out the voucher, respectfully stamped it with the official seal of the Ministry of Revenue, and handed it to Xu Youde.
Xu Youde took the thin slip of paper, carefully examined the red ink seal on it, and tucked it into his sleeve.
I shall comply.
He said only these words before turning and leaving the main hall, without so much as a second glance at the pile of account books on the floor.
Watching Xu Youde's desolate retreating figure, several previously wavering directors quietly shifted their footsteps, edging closer toward the Minister's office.
In their eyes, the estate of Earl Chengyi had completely lost this time.
In the afternoon, the Minister's office issued the first official order regarding the accounts: all records of lost military rations for the Northern Frontier from the past three years were to be personally reviewed by Minister Shang Qitai.
The various departments were forbidden from making unauthorized copies, leaking a single word to the outside, or privately meeting with anyone from the Earl Chengyi estate.
As the orders were handed down one by one, Shang Qitai turned the entire Ministry of Revenue into an impenetrable fortress, locking all secrets tightly in his own hands.
Meanwhile, deep within the Ministry of Revenue, outside the door of the old archives room that never saw the light of day.
Xu Youde stood outside the heavy iron door, holding the voucher stamped with the red seal.
The old clerk guarding the archives yawned with sleep-heavy eyes. He took the voucher, glanced at it, and lazily unfastened a large ring of rusted keys from his waist.
My lord, why do you want to look into rotten accounts from twenty years ago? It is full of rat droppings in there.
Xu Youde did not answer, merely looking at him in silence.
The old clerk felt a chill under his gaze and dared not say another word. He struggled to insert a massive brass key into the keyhole.
The iron lock fell open with a heavy clank. The smell of ancient mildew and rotting paper rushed out from the crack of the door, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Standing outside the threshold, Xu Youde faced the pitch-black archive shelves inside and spoke mildly.
Open the door.
Bring out the maintenance records of the grain tribute ships from twenty years ago.
