Since Fu Tinghan was going to Qingzhou and Guangzhou, Zhao Hanzhang thought for a moment and appointed Shi Hongtu and Lu Daxuan, who were at his side, to the rank of Assistant General, permitting each to lead one thousand troops. Together the two would bring two thousand men to escort Fu Tinghan to Qingzhou.

Zhao Kuan and Sun Linghui had departed several days ago. Calculating the time, they should have arrived by now. Once Fu Tinghan arrived, they should also be familiar with the area and could immediately begin working on salt matters.

Upon hearing that Fu Tinghan was going to Qingzhou, Gaohui from the secret service immediately brought the secret service’s merchant caravan along.

Although he didn’t know what Fu Tinghan was going to do, he hadn’t operated for a long time. Since the Xiongnu moved south and various regions fell into chaos, he could only circle between Yuzhou and Sizhou, not daring to go too far lest he accidentally be robbed by bandits.

Once Fu Tinghan left, the Suanmin Order centered on Yuzhou and starting from Chen County vigorously commenced.

Zhao Hu endured his heartache and reported his assets and number of vehicles and boats to the county office, then had the accountant calculate the money and transport it to the office.

Oh, not transport—haul.

When the first cart arrived at the county office, the last cart was still at the street corner, not yet turned out. Some busybody specifically counted along the carts, and soon returned to find his companion, clicking his tongue: “Do you know how many carts there are?”

“How many?”

He held up two fingers and waved them. His companion was also stunned. “Twenty carts? All money?”

The companion suppressed his excitement: “All money!”

The clerks unloaded the boxes from the carts and opened them to count. After confirming everything was correct, they were about to carry the boxes to the storeroom. Who knew the steward who came to deliver the money would stop them: “Wait. The money is yours, but the boxes must be returned to us.”

The old master had specifically instructed to bring the boxes back. These boxes were made of good wood and worth quite a bit of money.

If not for fear of being shabby, they would actually prefer to pack the money in hemp sacks. But the old master was both stingy and face-conscious, insisting on using boxes. After using them, they still had to bring them back.

The clerks: …

If this were an ordinary person, they would definitely scold them. If you don’t want to give the boxes, just use hemp sacks.

But this was Zhao Hu’s family steward. As the saying goes, even a prime minister’s gatekeeper is a seventh-rank official. Though Zhao Seventh Great-Uncle’s steward wasn’t a seventh-rank official, he still couldn’t be too offended. So they could only turn to find the accountant and bring out dozens of sacks. A group of people then counted money, recorded accounts, and stuffed money into hemp sacks right near the county office entrance.

There was too much money to count at once. The county magistrate personally came out to look, then ran to the school. Before long, senior students from the school had their class temporarily changed to practical study, brought by the mathematics teacher to count money together.

The students had never seen so much money in their lives. To be honest, both the mathematics teacher and the county magistrate were seeing it for the first time.

Chen County Magistrate Wei Zhao was newly promoted by Zhao Hanzhang. He had previously been magistrate of Zhencheng County. Though both were county magistrates, their official rank and status were quite different.

He was very dedicated and hardworking. They counted straight through until evening. The county office kept lights burning and continued counting. After all the money was counted and confirmed correct, he personally supervised its storage in the warehouse, locked it after the guards were posted, then took the key and ran to see Zhao Ming.

There was too much money. The county office warehouse was already half-filled. He needed to move the money. Otherwise, he definitely wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.

Zhao Ming also hadn’t slept. He handled administrative affairs quickly. His staying up late now was to tally his own family assets.

If Zhao Hu represented wealthy scholarly merchants, then Zhao Ming represented scholarly officials. Only if both of them led in paying Suanmin money would others follow.

Zhao Ming was calculating accounts with growing irritation. He endured and endured, then finally threw down his brush and called his steward: “Shanbo, when will our family accountant arrive?”

Shanmin bowed slightly and said quietly: “We’ve already urged them. They’ll come up once they finish tallying the family assets.”

Zhao Ming snorted: “Too slow. Seventh Uncle’s family has so many assets, yet tallying went so quickly. The money has already been sent to the county office, but our family accountant hasn’t come up yet.”

Shanmin kept his head lowered, not daring to rebut.

Zhao Ming waved his hand, dismissing him.

Shanmin bowed and withdrew. Once outside, he straightened up. Seeing Fifth Great-Uncle playing with chess pieces at the stone table, he walked over.

Zhao Song didn’t lift his head as he asked: “Got scolded?”

Shanmin stood behind him with hands clasped before his abdomen, watching him play chess, sighing: “Seventh Great-Uncle’s family keeps eighteen accountants alone. How can we compare? The speed naturally slows somewhat. But to say our family accountants don’t measure up to Seventh Great-Uncle’s family, I disagree. When the master said to clearly tally assets, the accountants naturally dare not be careless and will certainly count every grain and wheat clearly, unlike Seventh Great-Uncle’s family…”

He paused here and asked Zhao Song quietly: “Fifth Great-Uncle, do you think Seventh Great-Uncle was really that honest, truly reporting assets faithfully?”

Zhao Hanzhang wanted Suanmin money. Of course she couldn’t send accountants to every household to tally people’s property and calculate taxes. She directly ordered those meeting the standard to tally their own assets and report them, then pay the Suanmin money.

Zhao Hu reported a number to the county office, also listing the vehicle and boat inventory, then paid the算money and vehicle-boat tax according to what was listed.

Shanmin only suspected. Zhao Song directly confirmed: “He naturally wouldn’t be that honest.”

Hearing this, Shanmin was quite worried: “Sanniang won’t quarrel with Seventh Great-Uncle, will she?”

Zhao Song sighed: “Who knows?”

Zhao Hanzhang didn’t quarrel. Upon hearing that Zhao Hu had sent people to ostentatiously haul twenty carts of money to the county office, she couldn’t help laughing. Then she said to Zhao Yunxin at her side: “Make a note. Tomorrow I need to write a piece of calligraphy for Seventh Uncle-Granduncle to reward him for setting a good example.”

Zhao Yunxin acknowledged. She secretly glanced at Ji Yuan and Ming Yu sitting cross-legged below, still couldn’t help quietly asking: “Does Your Excellency believe Seventh Uncle-Granduncle paid enough Suanmin money?”

“Of course,” Zhao Hanzhang smiled warmly. “I never doubt Seventh Uncle-Granduncle’s character. Since he voluntarily paid, he naturally paid in full.”

Zhao Yunxin looked at Zhao Hanzhang’s smiling face, feeling deeply ashamed. In her heart, she apologized repeatedly to Seventh Uncle-Granduncle, feeling that this time she had judged a gentleman with a petty person’s heart.

Your Excellency’s information is well-informed. Speaking with such certainty, she must have verified that Seventh Uncle-Granduncle didn’t evade or underreport taxes this time.

Zhao Yunxin took out her small notebook to write down the calligraphy matter, so she could remind Zhao Hanzhang tomorrow.

Zhao Hanzhang turned to her: “You’ve also worked hard today. Go dine and rest.”

Zhao Yunxin scanned the room, roughly guessing they had confidential matters to discuss, so she bowed and withdrew.

After Zhao Yunxin left, Ji Yuan asked with a smile: “Does Your Excellency truly believe Seventh Great-Uncle faithfully reported his family assets?”

Zhao Hanzhang said: “He brought out twenty carts of money. Roughly calculating, the amount is mostly over ten million. He also ostentatiously delivered it to the county office for in-person counting. That’s enough.”

Ji Yuan thought for a moment, then smiled: “After today, the wealthy who were still observing will likely hurry to tally their assets and report. He can indeed serve as an example. Your Excellency should indeed send that piece of calligraphy.”

—