Echoes of My Heart Throughout the Court-Chapter 340: Gaining You Is Like a Fish Gaining Water! New

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[I had never noticed before — the currency situation across the country is a total mess…]

Xu Yanmiao flipped through the system, utterly amazed.

[Who would have thought that after the First Emperor unified the currency, a great, unified nation could descend into such chaos with its money by the middle to later periods.]

[Multiple currencies in one region — who could have imagined!]

[In Beijing, there’s “gold-backed money” and “sealing wax money”; in Guangdong, there’s “green money” — and the value of a single coin from these areas is actually worth double that of a coin from the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions! Good heavens!]

[Yunnan uses “spiral-edge coins,” along with poor-quality coins nicknamed “stick coins.”]

[Besides these, every province has its own nicknames for currency — “goose-eye coins,” “rolling coins,” “elm-leaf coins,” “pen-tube coins,” “two-sparrow coins,” “black sand coins,” “large plate coins” — all different names for money! If you collected these with silver, the same amount of silver could get you five goose-eye coins, but ten rolling coins.]

[Collecting them would be an absolute nightmare.]

[And that’s not all — there are still coins from previous dynasties in circulation… things like “Kaiyuan Tongbao” and “Wuzhu coins.” Technically, that’s counterfeit currency, right? But since they’re all made of copper, if you just close your eyes and pretend you don’t recognize the characters, you can still use them.]

[Oh, and there’s plenty of money adulterated with lead and sand too…]

[The old emperor thought he could just send a random official to the three pilot regions to recover the currency, but it backfired horribly — the poor guy nearly gave himself a stroke trying to sort it out. The old emperor got the report yesterday afternoon and immediately summoned Minister Yuan for an all-night candlelit discussion. They even shared a bed!]

[At this point, the old emperor has probably truly given up. Managing currency isn’t something you can just casually assign any official to do.]

The Left and Right Prime Ministers and the several other ministers all blushed with shame.

They had known that the currency situation was messy due to the disasters in the mid to late previous dynasty, but they hadn’t realized it was this bad.

—After all, whether during the conquest or after founding the Great Xia, they only cared about getting money, not about how the money was managed.

But…

As they turned to look at Yuan Zheng’s suddenly smug, grinning face, they couldn’t help but feel an itch in their teeth.

That old fox — what was he so proud of! His tail was practically wagging in the sky!

Tch.

[But wait, if Minister Yuan has been cleaning up after the previous dynasty and Great Xia for over thirty years, why is the currency still this chaotic? Surely it wasn’t even worse before…]

[Holy crap — it really was!]

[During the mid to late Great Zhou, the wealth gap was insane. The rich were eating shark fin stir-fries, and when the last emperor was still crown prince, they managed to squeeze out twelve million taels of silver for his wedding from local regions.]

[Meanwhile, the poor… tsk tsk, they were still bartering like cavemen.]

Hold up?!

The emperor, empress, crown prince, two princesses, both Prime Ministers, and several ministers — those who had suffered hardship and those who hadn’t — were all stunned into chaos.

Bartering?!

When exactly was this happening?

Are you sure you mean the middle to late period, not the chaotic collapse at the very end of the previous dynasty?

[Let me see… Oh! Back then, Sichuan and Guizhou used “anise silver” and “salt cloth” as currency; Jiangxi and Huguang used “rice silver” and “grain cloth”; Shanxi and Shaanxi used “fur cloth” for trade.]

[Forget copper and iron coins — even gold and silver weren’t fully trusted in those areas.]

[Especially Yunnan.]

[Yunnan was still using cowrie shells!!!]

[Those are seashells, right? Those are seashells, right???]

Xu Yanmiao started doubting his own eyes.

In a world where people were already fighting wars with guns, they were still using primitive shells for transactions?!

[The reason was, people were afraid the silver used in trade had been adulterated!]

[Wow!]

[Back then, there was a man from Yunnan who wanted to buy a house. The price was twenty-four taels of silver, but he refused to pay in silver — he insisted on paying with cowrie shells instead, offering a total of 2,160 shells!]

[Thankfully, thanks to Minister Yuan’s hard work, those regions — even the common people of Yunnan — slowly began to trust copper coins again. Otherwise, buying messy copper coins with silver would’ve been hard mode; buying cowrie shells with silver? That would’ve been nightmare mode!]

Just thinking about that situation made the Great Xia emperor and his officials dizzy and chilled to the bone.

What could you even do with a bunch of cowrie shells? Other regions didn’t use shell money!

“Ahem, ahem!” Minister Yuan gave his colleagues a very pointed sidelong glance, coughing loudly.

The officials: “……”

Their faces twitched. They all bowed deeply to Minister Yuan and said, “Minister Yuan, your talent in easing burdens is truly exceptional. We were wrong to underestimate you and have offended you many times before. Please forgive us.”

“Hmm—”

Minister Yuan stroked his beard. After giving the old emperor enough attitude to vent his frustration, he decided not to make too many enemies: “Gentlemen, trust me — once the national treasury is full again, you’ll be free to do whatever you want!”

The old emperor immediately lit up: “Really?!”

Minister Yuan hadn’t expected His Majesty to respond first and was momentarily at a loss for words: “Replying to Your Majesty, I did not promise anything to Your Majesty. No need to take my words seriously.”

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After all, the emperor had far too many “projects” he wanted to undertake.

The old emperor instantly lost interest: “Oh.”

Empress Dou quietly tapped the back of his hand.

The emperor straightened his expression and said seriously, “Ahem… I know. My dear minister, you have always been honest with me, serving wholeheartedly for me, the country, and the people. Having you by my side is like a fish gaining water. Tian Tong is blessed to have a subject like you.”

At first, he was just trying to say something nice, but as he continued, genuine emotion crept into his voice. He even used his newly learned phrase, “like a fish gaining water.”

Minister Yuan froze for a moment. Then, his eyes filled with glistening tears: “Thank you, Your Majesty! I will do my utmost as Minister of Revenue and secure more money and grain for Your Majesty!”

He added, “Regarding the current chaos in the currency system, I already have a plan in mind. I shall write up a memorial tonight at home and present it to Your Majesty tomorrow.”

He was full of confidence.

The old emperor called out emotionally, “My good minister, you have suffered because of me. It’s my own recklessness that drained the treasury and left you scrambling!”

Minister Yuan: “……” Love fades, and so does sentimentality.

If it weren’t the emperor speaking, he would have said: You still have the nerve to say that?!

But then he thought of the dusty coffin at home, still hopefully unused for now, and forced a smile: “Your Majesty flatters me. It wasn’t squandering — everything Your Majesty has done has been for the benefit of the country.”

— It’s just that… maybe it would be better if you didn’t try to do everything all at once.

— If you could spread things out to just one big project every three to five years, that would be even better.

The emperor smiled at Yuan Zheng and asked, “Now that you’re returning to the Ministry of Revenue, do you have anyone to recommend to fill the vacancy of Minister of Works?”

Yuan Zheng frowned deeply, thought for a moment, then suggested, “Langzhong of the Department of Revenue, Bing Hui, is excellent at calculations. He would be a good fit for Minister of Works.”

The emperor said, “Oh? I thought you would recommend Gao He.”

“Gao He is indeed skilled at gathering wealth,” Yuan Zheng said, “but he has only been in government for less than a year. Appointing him as Minister now would be risky — he’s still too young and inexperienced, and the court might not accept it.”

The emperor let out a “hmm” and gave Yuan Zheng a sidelong glance, feeling like there were probably other reasons.

Yuan Zheng kept a straight face, pretending total seriousness. How could I say this out loud? — The third reason is that I think that kid Gao He has a real talent for accounting, and I want to keep him close to nurture him. Maybe one day he’ll be good enough to take over the Ministry of Revenue for me!

The emperor didn’t catch on, so he nodded and said, “Very well, transfer Bing Hui to be Minister of Works.”

Yuan Zheng relaxed a little and smiled: “Also, Bing Hui, like Gao He, is very… frugal — cough — I mean, he’s very careful with his money and personal possessions. I believe he will manage the Ministry of Works well.”

“Oh?” The emperor’s eyes lit up. “I had overlooked this worthy official before. Excellent!”

After Xu Yanmiao finished approving a pile of pointless memorials, he dashed off as fast as he could.

Glancing at the time, he was nearly in tears: “It’s probably afternoon already. My vacation… is gone!”

[Damn emperor! All he knows is how to exploit people! Never even gives overtime pay!]

The “damn emperor” himself heard this inner complaint and whistled casually.

[Despicable! Push me a little more and I’ll quit and become a paparazzo, selling every last bit of your dirty laundry!]

The emperor’s whistling faltered. He turned to the commander of the Jinyiwei and said, “Go fetch twenty catties of good rice and deliver it to Xu Yanmiao’s residence.”

— Xiaozhan rice was tribute rice, reserved exclusively for the emperor, empress, and the two palaces. The cooked rice was especially fragrant and glutinous. Only a few high-ranking officials were ever granted some.

Moreover, for someone like Xu Yanmiao, who loved good food, giving him something to eat would make him very happy.

The commander of the Jinyiwei (Embroidered Uniform Guard) looked extremely awkward. He said quietly, “Her Majesty the Empress heard that Xu Shizhong has a fondness for food. When the tribute rice arrived, she had ten catties sent to him as a reward.”

The old emperor paused. “Mhm, my empress is indeed virtuous and thoughtful.”

After a moment’s thought, he said, “Then don’t send the tribute rice. Aren’t chestnuts in season now? Send Xu Yanmiao a couple of catties of chestnuts instead.”

Still speaking very softly, as if afraid the emperor might vent his anger on him, the commander said, “The Wanshou Princess has already sent two catties of chestnuts. She even had a small kitchen in her palace make a chestnut roast chicken dish and sent it to Xu Shizhong.”

The old emperor: “…Mei Suwan? Well, it’s summer now; that snack quenches thirst…”

“Princess Xiangyang has already sent a lot of it too.”

“…” The old emperor’s face stiffened. “Then go buy all the current popular storybooks on the market and send them to that brat. He likes reading storybooks.”

The Jinyiwei commander answered, “Xu Shizhong already bought them himself.”

Since he loved storybooks, he had bought them all as soon as they were released. Absolutely no fault there.

The old emperor’s face turned green, then purple: “Then just send money!”

Even if others had sent gifts already, it didn’t matter if he sent some more.

The Jinyiwei commander immediately responded, “At once!”

Thus, Xu Yanmiao received his overtime pay.

[Wuhu! Sorry, boss, I wrongly accused you!]

Xu Yanmiao happily tucked away the money, then took out part of his savings to buy several packs of moxa sticks and slices of fresh ginger. He also wrote something on a notepad, then knocked on the door next door: “Auntie! Didn’t you say during the day that your legs hurt and felt cold and never got better? I found an old remedy. After massaging with medicinal wine, you can use moxa sticks and ginger slices for moxibustion, and it should heal! Try to do the moxibustion in the morning when the yang energy is strongest.”

The old lady’s heart warmed, deeply touched: “Young Master Xu, you are so thoughtful.”

Xu Yanmiao felt rather guilty: “It’s not really being thoughtful… You’ve taken such good care of me over the years. Sewing clothes for me, helping me chop meat… and I didn’t even notice your legs were hurting before.”

He quickly added, “Auntie, hurry back inside and sit down, be careful with your legs! I’ll bring all this stuff in.”

The old lady beamed: “Alright!”

Once inside, Xu Yanmiao set the things down on the table, then turned and spotted a few bolts of silk cloth on the table, looking particularly vibrant and glossy: “Auntie! Where did you buy this silk? It’s so bright! Not even worse than the ones in the palace!”

The old lady said proudly, “I took a carriage to Luo County myself. Someone there was selling silk — all very good quality and very cheap. Only 650 wen! Just 200 wen more than regular silk! If you ask me, if this silk were brought to the capital and sold, the price could go up to 800 wen.”

Xu Yanmiao: “Wow! Auntie, you’re amazing, finding such affordable silk! I’ll definitely go buy some too!”

The old lady grew even happier, babbling about where the location was and sharing bargaining tips — though Xu Yanmiao already knew a lot about bargaining — but he still sat there, listening intently and obediently.

As he listened, Xu Yanmiao glanced at the silk again, feeling that something wasn’t quite right: “Auntie, can I touch it?”

“Of course!”

Xu Yanmiao reached out and touched it, feeling uncertain, then glanced at the system.

His brows instantly furrowed.

[How outrageous, they actually sold fake goods to the old lady!]

[This silk was coated with glue! That’s why it looks so shiny!]

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