Ming Dynasty: I risked my life to teach the prince, the emperor begged me not to die

Chapter 239: New Year's Assassination
It's a new year again, and the fourteenth year of Hongzhi is about to arrive.

Starting from the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month, all government offices began to close.

Towards the end of the year, Wang Defa, Tang Yin, Wu Niangzi and others began to get busy, mainly busy with the accounting work.

On the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, all the account books of Shuntian Press and Shuntian Express were handed over to Chen Ce, who started looking at the account books early in the morning.

Shuntian Press made a profit of more than 2,900 taels this year, and Shuntian Express broke even. Of course, if we follow accounting standards and the accrual basis of accounting, Shuntian Express is actually still making a small loss.

But no matter what, after paying all the costs, both businesses still had a surplus and also supported Liu Hong's group of intelligence spies. Chen Ce was already very satisfied.

Zhu Houzhao held the 1,450 taels of silver he had been allocated with a smile on his face. This was all his pocket money, money he earned with his own ability, and it gave him a special feeling.

"Little brother, your Shuntian Express is clearly breaking even. Why do you say it's losing money?"

Chen Ce knew everything. He patiently explained to Zhu Houzhao: "When accounting records income and expenses, we usually use the revenue realization basis, but this is actually not accurate."

"If you want to truly observe the books, whether there will be profits, you should still use the accrual basis."

Zhu Houzhao was confused, but it didn't matter. Chen Ce had nothing else to do, so he continued to patiently ask Zhu Houzhao, "Have you seen the expenditure in this account book?"

"On August 26, the 12th year of the Hongzhi reign, I spent 36 taels of silver to rent a good horse. The lease term is one year, and the payment is a lump sum, right?"

Zhu Houzhao said: "Yes, it is correct to put these thirty-six taels of silver in the account book as expenditures."

Chen Ce said: "That's right, but it's wrong to put it in terms of operating costs. This horse will be used for a year, so there will actually be costs for this horse every month."

"If we calculate the monthly profit, we need to amortize the value of this horse. The cost of this horse should be three taels of silver every month."

Zhu Houzhao scratched his head and asked in confusion: "What's the difference?"

Chen Ce said: "This way, we won't have a sudden large fluctuation in profits in a certain month, which would affect the judgment of the entire account book."

“It’s also convenient for checking accounts.”

"There are many things that can be reflected in the account book. If the fluctuations each month are too large, we need to analyze why this is the case and whether there are errors in the account book records, etc."

"But if there are mistakes in the accounting method, many rules in the account books cannot be reflected in the business situation, and decision makers cannot judge the overall situation of a business through the account books."

Zhu Houzhao seemed to understand, but he was not quite sure. He asked in confusion, "Isn't the account book just for checking how much money is left in the account? How can you analyze other things?"

Chen Ce shook his head and said, "Da Ming's business account books are generally divided into two parts, one is the profit account book, and the other is the capital account book."

Of course, this is a record-keeping method only adopted by businessmen with large enough businesses. Small workshop businesses do not need any profit books, and a capital book will do.

Larger employment businesses will use a mixture of both types of books.

For example, Chen Ce’s current Shuntian Newspaper Company and Shuntian Express are all like this.

Talents in accounting and mathematics are rare treasures, passed down from generation to generation. The Ming Dynasty generally provided targeted training for such scarce talents, or they were privately trained by the powerful.

"Forget it, forget it, you better not worry about these things, there is no use knowing this."

Zhu Houzhao said, "We are both human beings, why do you know everything? I have received the best education in the world, but why do I feel like I know nothing in front of you?" "It's the New Year again."

"Auspicious snow indicates a good harvest. Next year will definitely be a good year for harvest."

Chen Ce seemed to remember something and said to Zhu Houzhao, "There is something I haven't taken you to do yet."

Zhu Houzhao: “What?”

Chen Ce said, "Last year you asked me what Linjiantihu was. When the summer grain is collected next year, I will take you to see it. Remember to remind me, or I will forget it again."

Zhu Houzhao said with a smile, "I see. Why do you feel like you are making arrangements for your last wishes... Uh, little brother, that's not what I meant."

Chen Ce smiled and said, "Yes, you are right. I was just making arrangements for my funeral arrangements."

It is almost the thirteenth year of Hongzhi, and the time left for Chen Ce is getting less and less.

"Little brother, someone at the Plum Garden is organizing a fundraiser for disaster relief tomorrow. Shall we go and join in the fun?"

Chen Ce shook his head, but after thinking about it, he knew that Zhu Houzhao wanted to go out and play. He had been studying peacefully in the East Palace all year, and it was finally the end of the year. He could only play outside in these few days. Chen Ce did not spoil the fun. Although he did not want to go, he still said, "Okay."

After Zhu Houzhao and Chen Ce reached an agreement, they left Huaihua Hutong with a smile on their faces.

Not long after he left, Liu Hong and Li Zhen found Chen Ce one after another. They brought a message that Jiao Huang had found a group of knights and planned to assassinate Chen Ce before the end of the year.

This is the purpose of Chen Ce’s establishment of spies. Of course, the internal factory is also very useful.

Jiao Huangzhong is a vengeful person. Chen Ce thought that everything that happened before was over, but he didn't expect that he would come back.

Liu Hong looked a little serious, and said to Chen Ce: "Sir, the man Jiao Huangzhong found is quite skilled in martial arts. We have asked around in the martial arts world and heard that he spent a lot of money to find a chivalrous killer from the Miao village in Sichuan."

Liu Hong and others are very good at gathering intelligence, but their personal martial arts are not their strong point. Although they are also proficient in assassination, they are not good at actual fighting.

Chen Ce nodded and said, "I understand."

After sending Liu Hong away, Chen Ce called Li Zhen again to see if the internal factory guards could deal with this group of people in advance.

Li Zhen had a serious expression on his face, and immediately began to make arrangements, preparing to secretly hunt down this group of knight-errant killers from the Miao village in Sichuan.

Originally he wanted to leave some people alive so that they could identify Jiao Huangzhong, but in order to avoid any further complications, Chen Ce told him not to show mercy and to strike hard without leaving any people alive.

……

All officials in the court have stopped working, except for the Ministry of Revenue, which is still working hard. They will hold a financial meeting in the spring of next year, and all financial data must be sorted out before the end of this year, otherwise they will not have a good year.

After Qi Zhong's death, Qin Hong was promoted to the Minister of Revenue. At this time, he was carrying some important financial accounts into the Qianqing Palace to report to Emperor Hongzhi and the Cabinet.

All the Ming Dynasty government offices had basically stopped working, except for the Cabinet and the Ministry of Revenue, which were still operating non-stop. Every year, they would accompany Emperor Hongzhi until the 29th day of the lunar calendar before they would completely stop working.

(End of this chapter)