Chapter 26: Ordering Takeout In The Hall Of Supreme Harmony?! New Book Seeking Collection
Old Zhu went from a beggar to an emperor. The hardships he endured were probably the harshest of any emperor in history.
And people who have endured hardships all have one common ailment: they will resort to any means to avoid suffering again.
Therefore, the financial structure of the Hongwu Dynasty was very peculiar.
Old Zhu’s Imperial Treasury had more money than the National Treasury, making the Hongwu Dynasty’s monetary system centered around the Imperial Treasury.
The consequence of this was that Old Zhu sometimes blurred the lines between personal and public funds when spending money. The imperial treasury’s financial management was chaotic, and it often couldn’t make ends meet.
After all, the Imperial Treasury controlled the issuance of Precious Notes.
Old Zhu had even printed tens of millions of Precious Notes backed by hundreds of thousands of taels in principal. It’s no wonder the Ministry of Revenue was often out of money.
Inflation was too severe; money simply didn’t last. If there was any corruption, then nothing would be left.
“Your Majesty.”
Zhang Biao’s weak voice sounded again, with an expression that said ‘I understand everything, but I’m hungry.’ He looked at Old Zhu: “Your subject understands the court’s difficulties. But Censor Shen next door is even more miserable than I am!”
Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned: “Censor Shen? Who?”
“It’s Censor Shen Lang from the Jiangxi Circuit of the Censorate, who lives opposite me!”
Zhang Biao immediately perked up, as if he had found a fellow sufferer: “Your Majesty! Censor Shen has an eighty-year-old mother upstairs and a three-year-old child downstairs, and they all rely on his meager salary!”
“Now, like me, he’s been owed his salary for seven months and twenty-one days, and his family can’t even afford to eat!”
“His elderly mother is also sick, and they don’t even have money for medicine! The child cries from hunger! Just a few days ago! I personally saw Censor Shen, in order to get some meat broth to nourish his mother and child…”
As he spoke, his voice couldn’t help but choke up a little: “He pawned an ancestral Jade Pendant! That Jade Pendant, said to be passed down from his great-grandfather, with a pretty good luster! He pawned it for three hundred copper coins! Just to buy half a pig’s head from Wang Mazi’s house, Your Majesty!”
Old Zhu: “…”
“Your Majesty! Think about it! A dignified Seventh Rank Censor! A pure stream censor! For half a pig’s head! He pawned his ancestral Jade Pendant!”
“If this gets out… whose face will be lost? It’s the face of our Great Ming Dynasty!”
“We constantly boast of being a celestial empire, but if our Ming Dynasty’s censors are so poor they’re selling their clothes, who will believe us?!”
“…”
Old Zhu was completely silenced.
The scene Zhang Biao painted was too impactful.
A Censor, so poor he jingled, holding an ancestral Jade Pendant, eagerly exchanged it for half a greasy pig’s head.
This image, more than Zhang Biao demanding his salary himself, struck him with a piercing pain and utter shame.
The Hall of Supreme Harmony fell into dead silence again, with only the rumbling of Zhang Biao’s stomach echoing clearly.
Old Zhu sat on the Dragon throne, his expression shifting, with a trace of imperceptible embarrassment.
Throughout his life, he had been decisive in battle and decisive in executions. When had he ever been in such a ‘down-to-earth’ predicament?
After a long while, so long that Zhang Biao suspected Old Zhu had fainted from anger, a weary sigh filled with deep frustration was heard.
“Jiang Huan!”
Old Zhu’s voice was hoarse and low, as if he had used all his strength.
“Your subject is here!”
Jiang Huan immediately charged in from outside the Hall, sword in hand, ready to kill Zhang Biao at Old Zhu’s command.
However, Old Zhu weakly raised his arm and waved it: “Go to the Imperial Treasury and retrieve… retrieve fifty taels of silver.”
Jiang Huan: “???”
Retrieve silver? In the Hall of Supreme Harmony?!
Jiang Huan thought he had misheard and stood frozen, like stone.
But Old Zhu ignored Jiang Huan’s shock. He looked at Zhang Biao at the steps below, his gaze indescribably complex, finally turning into a heavier sigh, filled with a sense of resigned frustration: “Fifty taels, forty taels, consider it my personal compensation for the back pay owed to you and to Zhang Biao and Shen Lang! Another ten taels…”
He paused, as if saying this was more difficult than beheading ten men, and added through gritted teeth: “Give it to that Censor Shen, so he can redeem his ancestral Jade Pendant!”
“And buy him two… no! Buy him three pig’s heads!”
“So he doesn’t have to disgrace the Great Ming Dynasty for a mouthful of meat again!”
Jiang Huan looked at Old Zhu, then at Zhang Biao, with an expression as if he had seen a ghost. He retreated from the Main Hall, and after a long moment, returned carrying a heavy, coarse cloth bag.
The bag was not sealed, and inside were gleaming silver ingots that made one’s eyes dizzy.
With a complex expression, he walked to the steps and handed the cloth bag to Zhang Biao, his movements stiff as if he were handing over stolen goods.
Zhang Biao’s eyes lit up instantly, and like a starving dog pouncing, he snatched the cloth bag.
The heavy, cool touch in his hands almost made him cry with gratitude.
He didn’t even care about losing decorum in front of the Emperor. He quickly untied a corner of the bag, rubbed the five ten-tael snow-flake official silver ingots inside, weighed them, and his mouth split into a most sincere smile. He then prostrated himself before Old Zhu with a thud: “Your subject! Thanks Your Majesty for your grace! Your Majesty is wise! Long live the Emperor, long live the Emperor, long live the Emperor!”
This flattery was delivered quickly and loudly, completely different from his ‘starving ghost reborn’ demeanor when demanding his salary.
Old Zhu sat on the Dragon throne, looking at Zhang Biao at the steps below, that ‘money-grubbing’ pathetic appearance, and listening to that soulless ‘long live the Emperor,’ he only felt his chest becoming even more constricted.
The money was given grudgingly! Terribly grudgingly!
A dignified Emperor, cornered by his subjects in the Hall of Supreme Harmony to successfully demand his salary, had to pay out of his own pocket!
If this were to get out…
“Scram!”
Old Zhu gritted the word out through his teeth, then wearily waved his hand: “Take your silver! Scram out of the palace! Don’t let me see you again!”
“Your subject obeys! Your subject will scramble now! Scramble away smoothly!”
Zhang Biao nimbly got up, clutched the silver as if it were a treasure, covered it tightly, gave another deep bow to Old Zhu, and turned to slip away.
However, after only two steps, his stomach let out another long and loud—
“Rumble~~~”
The sound echoed in the empty hall, louder than before, and more brazen.
Zhang Biao’s steps faltered, and his face instantly shifted to an expression of extreme difficulty and embarrassment:
“Your Majesty! Your subject is deeply grateful, but… my stomach is so hungry that I can barely move. It takes at least two quarters of an hour to roll out of the palace gate from here. Your subject fears he will pass out from hunger halfway there. If I were to disturb any noble personage, or soil the palace’s golden bricks, your subject would deserve a thousand deaths!”
He swallowed, trying to make his eyes look as sincere as possible: “Your Majesty… could you perhaps… let the Imperial Kitchen simply give your subject a bowl of noodles?”
“Clear soup noodles will do! I wouldn’t even dare to dream of an egg! Just to fill my stomach a little, and your subject will roll away immediately! I guarantee I’ll roll quickly and far, and will never cause you any trouble!”
Zhu Yuanzhang: “…”
Jiang Huan: “…”
The air in the Hall of Supreme Harmony congealed once more.
Everyone was so stunned by Censor Zhang’s ultimate ‘pushing his luck’ that their souls seemed to have left their bodies.
Want money? Given!
Now want takeout in the Hall of Supreme Harmony?
And it’s clear soup noodles?!
Old Zhu felt as if his temples weren’t just throbbing, but were digging a canal inside them!!
Where is my saber?!!
Seeking monthly tickets! Recommendation tickets!! Seeking monthly tickets! Recommendation tickets!!
