Da Ming: The system granted me immortality; I clock in every day.

Gu Yannian shifted his gaze from the folding table, put down his teacup, and slowly walked to the stone mill.

He extended his long, slender fingers.

He pinched a pinch of wheat flour from the wooden basin and rubbed it between his fingertips.

"Does Your Highness know that the wheat in these sacks is the summer grain that farmers in Wanping County, Shuntian Prefecture, have just handed over?"

Gu Yannian's tone was calm, revealing no trace of joy or anger.

"Your Highness just spent an hour grinding the millstone, and Eunuch Wang sifted it for ages. How many pounds and ounces of fine flour are in this basin?"

Zhu Qizhen sniffed, looked at the small scale beside him, and answered timidly:

"It was weighed just now, it's about... about three jin."

"Three catties."

Gu Yannian nodded slightly and turned to look at Wang Zhen.

"Eunuch Wang, tell His Highness, how many kilograms of whole wheat with husks were just poured into the millstone?"

Wang Zhen shuddered, quickly put down the bamboo sieve, and respectfully replied:

"Your Excellency, I weighed it accurately; it is exactly five jin."

Gu Yannian lowered his eyes and looked at Zhu Qizhen sitting on the ground.

"Five pounds of raw wheat, after removing the bran and grinding it into fine flour, only three pounds remain. The two pounds that disappeared out of thin air are the losses."

Gu Yannian turned around, stood with his hands behind his back, and his voice echoed in the empty hall.

"The imperial court levied one hundred shi of wheat from the people, which was transported to the imperial granary. Only sixty shi of fine grain remained in the granary. This was under the condition that the weather was favorable and the officials were honest."

"If you encounter corrupt officials who line their own pockets, you won't even have fifty bushels left."

Zhu Qizhen blinked, seemingly understanding but not quite.

Having lived in the deep palace for so long, he had no idea about the intricacies of rice and wheat conversions.

He felt that the Grand Tutor was once again finding new ways to torment him.

"I know I was wrong; much of the wheat was wasted. May I go back for my meal now? My mother has prepared crystal pork knuckle in her palace..."

Zhu Qizhen rubbed his rumbling stomach, his eyes full of anticipation.

"What's the rush?"

Gu Yannian turned around and walked back to sit down in the armchair.

He took out a sandalwood abacus from his sleeve and casually tossed it onto the ground in front of Zhu Qizhen.

"Now that Your Highness understands the principle of losses, please review the rations and pay of the Xuanfu border troops reported by the Ministry of War yesterday. The Xuanfu garrison has 50,000 troops, and each person has a fixed ration of one shi of grain per month."

"The journey from the capital's granary to Xuanfu is three hundred li. The cost of transporting provisions by laborers along the way, as well as the damage to carts and horses, is estimated at 30%. In addition, there is the 40% loss from the hulling of the raw wheat, which His Highness just personally verified."

"Your Highness, calculate this: if the court wants to ensure that the 50,000 troops in Xuanfu have enough to eat for a month, how much wheat from the Taicang granary will need to be allocated?"

Zhu Qizhen looked at the abacus in front of him as if he had seen a raging flood.

He looked at Wang Zhen pleadingly.

Wang Zhen was now in a precarious situation, barely able to save himself.

Faced with such a devilish arithmetic problem as Gu Yannian.

His brain has long since turned into a complete mess.

He could only lower his head guiltily and pretend to be focused on picking out the bran.

"If Your Highness cannot figure this out, then you need not leave the Wenhua Hall today. Lunch is to be skipped, and for dinner you will eat the three catties of coarse flour that Your Highness has ground yourself, without even salt."

Gu Yannian picked up his teacup and reopened the book on water conservancy.

Zhu Qizhen burst into tears.

He, the dignified crown prince of the Ming Dynasty, had actually been reduced to eating boiled noodles in plain water!

But he knew the Grand Tutor's temperament well; he was a living devil who even his father, the Emperor, respected and obeyed.

He cried, though.

But he dared not slow down his movements.

Sobbing, she crawled to the abacus and began to fiddle with the beads with her bright red little hands.

"Fifty thousand shi of fine grain... plus thirty percent of the laborers' rations... plus forty percent of the wheat husk loss..."

Zhu Qizhen wiped away his tears while muttering to himself.

The spring scenery outside the palace is just right.

Inside the palace, the young prince experiences the hardships of life under the shadow of the abacus.

Just then, a slightly hurried tinkling sound of jade pendants came from outside the Wenhua Hall.

Is the Grand Tutor inside the hall?

A gentle yet slightly angry female voice rang out from outside the hall.

Immediately afterwards, the palace doors were pushed open.

Empress Sun, surrounded by several palace maids, strode into the Wenhua Hall.

Since Empress Hu voluntarily relinquished her position and retired to a Taoist temple.

Consort Sun, having risen in status due to her son, has been officially named Empress of the Ming Dynasty.

She doted on her son Zhu Qizhen, treating him with utmost care and affection.

Today I heard a young eunuch serving the Crown Prince crying and complaining.

It is said that the Grand Tutor made the Crown Prince do rough work in the palace and did not even give him lunch.

Empress Sun was immediately heartbroken.

Ignoring the rule that the empress dowager should not interfere in politics, she barged straight in.

As soon as she entered the palace, Empress Sun saw her chubby, healthy son.

He was covered in mud and sweat, lying on the ground calculating with an abacus, with a heavy stone mill and a sack next to him.

"Qizhen! My poor son!"

Empress Sun's eyes immediately reddened.

She quickly stepped forward and pulled Zhu Qizhen into her arms, tenderly taking out a silk handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his face.

Upon seeing his mother arrive, Zhu Qizhen felt as if he had found a powerful backer and cried even more heartbreakingly.

"Mother! My hands hurt so much! The Grand Tutor made me grind grain, and he didn't even give me any food!"

When Empress Sun saw her son's swollen little hands, she was immediately filled with rage.

She stood up, looked directly at Gu Yannian who was sitting upright in the armchair, and spoke with a hint of questioning in her tone.

"Prime Minister Gu! Qi Zhen is the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty, a man of noble birth!"

"You are his tutor, the one who taught him how to govern the country. How can you let him do such menial tasks? If he gets injured, can Prime Minister Gu bear the responsibility?"

Faced with the Empress's anger, Gu Yannian did not get up, nor did he even change his sitting posture.

He put down the folding book in his hand and looked quietly at Empress Sun with his deep gaze.

The oppressive aura of a ruler, weathered by the passage of time, inexplicably tightened Empress Sun's heart.

The originally confident questioning subconsciously weakened.

"Your Majesty the Empress."

Gu Yannian spoke in a calm tone, his voice neither hurried nor slow.

"Your humble servant has been entrusted with the important task of educating the Crown Prince by the late Emperor and the current Emperor. What I teach is the most important way of governing the Ming Dynasty."

"Pushing the millstone and using the abacus, what kind of way is that to govern a country!" Empress Sun retorted through gritted teeth.

"If one does not know the hardships of farming, how can one know the suffering of the people? If one does not know the losses incurred in managing finances and grain, how can one govern the officials of the realm?"

Gu Yannian stood up and walked to the pile of wheat.

"Your Highness comes from a noble family and grew up in the inner palace, naturally enjoying a life of luxury. But the Ming Dynasty's empire cannot be preserved by simply reciting poems. If Your Highness doesn't even know how many layers of deduction are involved in transporting a single bushel of grain from the fields to the border,"

"Once he ascends the throne, he will be deceived into being completely blind by those ministers who spout empty words of benevolence and righteousness."

Gu Yannian looked at Zhu Qizhen with a stern gaze.

"Your Highness, if the score isn't settled today, even with the Empress's protection, you won't be able to leave Wenhua Palace."

Empress Sun was so angry that she trembled all over.

"You! Prime Minister Gu, no matter how meritorious you are, you cannot humiliate the Crown Prince like this! I will go to the Qianqing Palace immediately and ask the Emperor to judge this matter!"

After saying this, Empress Sun took Zhu Qizhen's hand and started to walk out.

Gu Yannian did not stop him, but simply said something.

"Your Majesty may go and invite His Majesty. However, I would like to remind Your Majesty that when His Majesty investigated a major corruption case in Shandong, what he hated most were those corrupt officials who were unaware of the true state of the money and grain and were deceived by the clerks."

"If Your Highness wishes for His Highness to become such a foolish and incompetent person in the future, you may simply take him away."