Chapter 364: An Empty Treasury

Old Master Zhu nodded thoughtfully, "Why did His Majesty suddenly come up with such an idea? Has someone been slandering him?"

"He said he has accomplished nothing. When a person says something like that, anyone with a bit of ability will want to change the situation. His Majesty holds the imperial power, so how could his ambitions be any less than ordinary people?"

The old master nodded, once again confirming in his heart that Zhi'er's source of information was not simple. The emperor's words were not something that ordinary people would know.

Unaware that she had inadvertently exposed something, Hua Zhi continued, "It's not that the Grand Canal cannot be built, but the current situation, you know better than I do. The crown prince has not been established, which is a domestic crisis, and the Chao Li tribe is making a comeback, which is an external threat. With both internal and external troubles, if we were to dig the Grand Canal, there is a risk that the Great Qing Dynasty would be dragged down. We can die last in the capital, but my grandfather and the others are on the frontier. Once all the young and strong are conscripted to build the Grand Canal, and the front line loses reinforcements and Wu Yong is defeated, my grandfather and the others will be the first to suffer. To let you know, the Seven Stars Bureau has convinced the emperor to order an early conscription. You should tighten your purse strings and not give the emperor a chance. He won't be able to openly say that he wants to dig the Grand Canal under these circumstances."

"If he's already opened his mouth, it can't be refused, so let's just make sure he doesn't have the chance to open his mouth, right?" The old master smiled, asking casually, "Did you come up with this idea?"

"Someone else did." All the way back from the north, Yan Xi would talk about these things when they rested. Unlike other men who couldn't tolerate women having their own thoughts, he would encourage her to express her own opinions, and she naturally wouldn't go against his wishes.

The old master nodded and then said, "Have you contacted the Ministry of War? I haven't heard anything yet."

"It should be necessary to wait until the south is pacified before conscription. I only heard a little bit about it, and I don't know the details very well."

The old master pondered for a moment and slowly revealed something about the Ministry of Finance, "The treasury of the Great Daqing Dynasty is actually not very full. In recent years, there have been frequent natural disasters, and the court has been providing disaster relief every year. In addition, the emperor's large-scale construction of the palace last year cost a lot of money, and the treasury is already half empty."

"Half empty... how much is left? Before last year, I thought that the Great Daqing Dynasty was not a prosperous era but was still stable. How come the treasury is not full?" Hua Zhi was a little panicked. Internal and external troubles, an empty treasury, the old emperor wanted to dig the Grand Canal, and he was always wary of the officials' heads... This looked like the signs of a troubled world!

"We currently have about nine million taels to use, but we'll need to allocate a portion of that for disaster relief. This amount is barely enough to support one campaign. Zhi'er, the Great Daqing Dynasty is short on money, and our grain reserves are nowhere near as full as they used to be." The old man chuckled bitterly.

Now was clearly not a good time to ascend to a higher position, but since the imperial edict had been issued, he could only accept this hot potato. If he had a choice, he would have preferred to resign.

Hua Zhi didn't know how to describe her feelings. The national treasury only had nine million taels left. That meager was the only savings of an entire country!

"And with this year's severe floods in the south and drought in the north leading to crop failures, the Emperor will have to exempt taxes to keep the people alive. This means the granaries won't be replenished, and the Ministry of Revenue will have to sell old grain to buy new grain, which will incur another expense. We need money everywhere, but there's nowhere to get it."

"If we don't buy grain, we can try to get it from the Yan Kingdom," Hua Zhi had a sudden idea. "The Yan Kingdom cheated the Great Qing before. We can use that as leverage to exchange for some of their grain, or perhaps get a relatively lower price."

The old man had also considered the Yan Kingdom, thinking that if it came to it, he would send people to buy grain there. Their grain production was extremely high, and correspondingly, the grain prices were very low.

But who wouldn't want to get it for free if they could?

It was just that, "How did they cheat the Great Daqing? What kind of handle do they have on us?"

Hua Zhi then remembered that the matter was being suppressed by the Seven Stars Bureau, so she told him about the small iron mine. "I still need to ask for more details. I'll come tell you in a few days. Also, don't sell the old grain. Let's just use it for disaster relief. That way, we can save some money, right?"

"If what you said is true and the Seven Stars Bureau was indeed supervising, then it's worth discussing with others. I'll talk to the others and see how we can handle this, and then submit a memorial to the Emperor."

The grandfather and granddaughter spent quite some time hashing out the details of the matter when Zhu Haocheng and Zhu Haodong walked in together. Their arrival instantly lightened the room, their faces brimming with ease and good spirits.

With a playful grin, Zhu Haodong quipped, “The moment I stepped in, I heard whispers of the eldest young miss being here. Looks like your reputation is really growing."

Hua Zhi offered a polite curtsy, her tone carrying just a hint of humor. “What reputation? Every family’s got an eldest young miss, don’t they?”

Zhu Haodong chuckled, shaking his head. “Ah, but it’s not the same. No one else could turn a simple ranking system into something this celebrated.” Eschewing formalities, he skipped the seat below his elder brother and casually settled right next to Zhi’er.

Meanwhile, Zhu Haocheng, the dignified eldest brother, turned his attention to Hua Zhi with a warm smile. “And how’s your father holding up these days?”

"He’s doing well,” Hua Zhi replied with composed deference. “He’s teaching over there now, and fortunately, he hasn’t faced any major hardships.”

She liked this kind of concern between family members. Whether it was her maternal grandfather or grandmother, or now her eldest uncle, they were all concerned about this first, which showed that they all cared about the Hua family.

"Since your second uncle from the Zhu family has come, we can't avoid discussing business. You've only just returned, so you might not know this, but the soap is already made. We had planned to wait for you to inspect it before selling it, but since our family found it so good, we couldn't help but use it ourselves and then sent some to our relatives. The Zhou family did the same thing, and before we could even start selling it, our reputation had already spread. Now, everyone is clamoring for it, and we don't even have a few pieces left at home. I'll go get some for you later so you can see if it meets your standards.'

"If everyone approves of it, it can't be bad."

Zhu Haodong laughed until his eyes narrowed. "No, that won't do. I won't be at ease until you've seen it."

"Alright, I’ll take it back and give it a go before saying anything." Hua Zhi glanced at her lively second uncle, then at her first uncle, who seemed completely unbothered, and suddenly everything clicked. She finally understood why her first uncle was so invested in pushing this marriage and why her grandfather backed it without hesitation.

Bai Lin, being the eldest grandson of the Hua family, was naturally poised to inherit the lion’s share of responsibilities. No matter how things turned out for the Hua family, all roads would eventually lead to Bai Lin. With this marriage locked in, what did it matter if her second uncle took over this business?

After all, she still held 30% of the business. If tying the knot between Bai Lin and Zhu Shan could solidify their position, what difference did it make whether the reins ended up with Bai Lin or her cousin? It was all staying in the family.

Her second uncle wasn’t oblivious to this, either. He might have a larger slice of the pie for now, but he wasn’t about to overreach or get greedy. He knew better than to tip the scales too far.

That said, the Zhu family wasn’t exactly freeloading off her generosity. If they’d been looking to take advantage, she wouldn’t have handed them anything to begin with. Relationships like this were built on reciprocity. Accepting their goodwill wasn’t enough—she had to give a little back to keep things balanced.

Still, as these thoughts crossed her mind, she glanced at Zhu Shan and felt a twinge of discomfort. Zhu Shan, as usual, was warm and close, but there was a new hint of shyness about her—a clear sign that she was well aware of her family’s intentions and wasn’t opposed to them.

And then there was Bai Lin. His attitude—or rather, his lack of interest—gave Hua Zhi a mild headache.

Out of everyone involved, was she the only one stressing over whether they actually liked each other?

At this rate, would she really have to orchestrate a marriage between them while they were still so young?

It seemed like everyone else was playing their part, leaving her to figure out the messy details.