Chapter 882: Headache
Chapter 882 -885: Headache
Hua Zhang sat in the Imperial Study Room in a daze, completely unaware of the ink dripping from the tip of his brush and staining the rice paper.
The palace maids and eunuchs waiting by his side did not dare to remind him. They lowered their heads, trying to minimize their presence.
When Hua Zhang finally snapped out of it, he tossed the brush aside and led his attendants straight to the harem to find Empress Dowager Zhou.
“How does the Emperor have the time to visit today?” Empress Dowager Zhou asked, fiddling with a potted bonsai on the table and trimming away the excess branches.
“Mother…”
“You’ve run into another matter you can’t figure out.” No one knew a son better than his mother. Hearing the Emperor hesitate, Empress Dowager Zhou directly asked, “Are the courtiers causing trouble again?”
Hua Zhang asked, “Mother, must the Huajia people’s private treasury and the National Treasury be so strictly separated?”
In his eyes, this world belonged entirely to Huajia. The Supreme Emperor had tightly guarded his private treasury before, but wasn’t he taking it all out now to use for the people?
Empress Dowager Zhou set down her scissors. A palace maid immediately brought over a basin of water for her to wash her hands. After drying them, she slowly and deliberately said, “Your imperial father handled this very well. No matter what you do, you must always hold a trump card in your hand.
“When the late Emperor passed away suddenly, he left behind a massive mess for your imperial father to clean up.
“Your imperial father had to deal with the courtiers on one hand while slowly gathering military power on the other. At the same time, natural disasters struck endlessly. Back then, your imperial father didn’t even dare to close his eyes at night. He feared that the mobs would riot and plunge the people into misery once again.
“Fortunately, with heaven’s blessing, those difficulties slowly subsided.
“But what remained was a court riddled with gaping holes.
“Being the Emperor is not as simple as everyone thinks. I believe you have experienced this deeply yourself in recent days.”
Empress Dowager Zhou glanced at the silent Emperor before continuing, “The late Emperor conquered the realm, but all the treasures he acquired were placed into the National Treasury. There was no private treasury. All palace expenses had to be allocated from the National Treasury. With the country facing a crisis, can you imagine how difficult life in the harem was back then?
“But my imperial son, you have never suffered a day in your life since childhood. This is entirely because your imperial father established this private treasury. Back then, courtiers submitted memorials advising your imperial father not to compete with the people for profit.
“Those courtiers spoke beautifully, but which one of their estates didn’t run outside businesses?
“Speaking of this, your imperial father is also better than you in one aspect. As an Emperor, do not value your pride too heavily. Sometimes, like when he occasionally… well, the courtiers were completely helpless against him.
“Just like that, your imperial father’s private treasury grew richer bit by bit. Those people naturally had things to say again, always finding various excuses to merge the private treasury into the National Treasury, but your imperial father stood his ground.”
Hua Zhang frowned. “Then why did Imperial Father this time…?”
“Why didn’t he hand the private treasury directly over to you?” Seeing Hua Zhang’s expression, Empress Dowager Zhou knew she had guessed correctly again. “Your imperial father is doing this for your own good.
“To put it nicely, the private treasury is your imperial father’s personal property. If that fateful day truly comes, do you think you would be able to take it over smoothly?
“Let alone the courtiers, wouldn’t those brothers of yours want a piece of the pie?
“Even in ordinary commoner households, inheritances are divided by a set ratio, let alone among Princes.”
Hua Zhang showed a look of shame. He had been too greedy.
“You must remember your imperial father’s kindness. By arranging all of this now, he is saving you from countless future disputes.
“Furthermore, by using the private treasury for the people, he is helping the Royal Family build a stellar reputation. This will make your throne even more secure.”
Still feeling ashamed, Hua Zhang was also a little curious. “…I have learned my lesson. Mother, have you ever been inside Imperial Father’s private treasury?”
Empress Dowager Zhou fell silent for a moment. “…Mother did not have that blessing.”
Hua Zhang was speechless. “…”
***
The blessed Gu Wenheng, however, did not want to receive such treatment. Looking at the jam-packed storehouse, he only felt a throbbing ache in his head.
The Supreme Emperor had no talent for bookkeeping, yet he liked to do everything himself. Just look at the chaotic mess he had recorded; nothing was properly organized.
Besides, even if he was busy with state affairs, he could have ordered the eunuchs around, right? Just dumping things randomly and locking the door—did he consider the job done?
Amidst the piles of inventories, only the chests of gold and silver were the easiest to calculate. Who knew what this Supreme Emperor was thinking? The whole world belonged to him, yet he didn’t trust the banking houses. Whenever he received silver notes, he converted them all into gold and silver and hoarded them in the storehouse.
Gu Wenheng rubbed his nose. This point, at least, was somewhat similar to how he and his wife operated. They only kept silver notes on hand for emergencies and circulation; the rest was entirely exchanged for silver.
“Eunuch Le, how many more storehouses are there like this one?” Gu Wenheng turned to ask Le San, who had accompanied him.
Le San was long accustomed to the clutter before him. It really wasn’t that they, as servants, wanted to be lazy, but rather that the Supreme Emperor refused to let them interfere. Whenever the Supreme Emperor felt upset, he would come take a look, and his mood would improve significantly.
“There are five more, big and small. Most of them are filled with rare novelties collected from sea trade over the years,” Le San said, glancing at Gu Wenheng. Ever since the sea trade in Lu City was opened, an endless stream of goods had been sent into the palace.
Aside from using a few items for rewards, the Supreme Emperor had piled the rest right here. Even though these were imported goods, they were highly sought after by the nobles of the Rong Dynasty. Moreover, the items sent into the Supreme Emperor’s hands were strictly selected to be the most precious.
Gu Wenheng naturally knew the value of these things. “Isn’t it a bit too much to place them so carelessly?”
Le San pointed to the innermost corner. “For the very first batch sent into the palace, the Supreme Emperor specially prepared shelves for them. But as the items piled up and the Supreme Emperor grew busier with his affairs, he simply couldn’t manage it all. He just ordered people to set them down randomly, and eventually, he completely neglected them.”
There were some things Le San found hard to state too explicitly. He had offered advice before, but the Supreme Emperor had been extremely stubborn.
Gu Wenheng was speechless. “…”
“Mr. Gu, how about I call over some little eunuchs to help you tidy up?” Le San looked at the chaotic mess inside and felt a headache coming on, sympathizing deeply with Gu Wenheng.
“In that case, I will have to trouble Eunuch Le. Once these items are categorized, they will still need to be appraised.”
What gave him the biggest headache was liquidating all of this as soon as possible. If it were just this one storehouse, it would be manageable, but Eunuch Le had just mentioned there were several more. With such a massive quantity, dumping them all on the market at the same time would drastically lower their value.
Looking at the Supreme Emperor’s stance, he intended to completely clean out his private treasury in the short term. This was simply handing him a colossal problem.
If this had been a few months ago, he could have persuaded his wife to take these in first. With their shops scattered across various regions, they could have sold them off very quickly. But now, other than the restaurants and the escort agency, their businesses had long been consolidated. They truly couldn’t help with this.
“I’ll have to trouble Eunuch Le to find some careful and patient people,” Gu Wenheng said helplessly, pointing at the dust on the objects. “These will need to be cleaned up and arranged by category. They are all precious items, so make sure they aren’t bumped or damaged.”
The more he thought about it, the more his head hurt. Gu Wenheng called over the Ministry of Revenue officials following behind him. “Divide yourselves into groups. Every single item must be registered in meticulous detail.”