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

"His Majesty intended to reward the three armies in court yesterday, which shows that His Majesty still harbors ambitions for war. In that case, let's settle the score for the saying 'the army moves only after the supplies are ready.'"

"Make sure the horse and fodder losses for the twelve post stations listed in this inventory are accounted for. If there is any error, Your Majesty will go to the West Garden tonight and dig another three zhang of trenches."

Upon hearing the word "trench," Zhu Qizhen's hands trembled violently, nearly overturning the abacus.

He stared intently at Gu Yannian, the resentment and hatred in his large eyes almost bursting forth in a tangible form.

But in the end, he chickened out.

Zhu Qizhen gritted his teeth, sobbed, picked up the abacus beads, and began to fiddle with them.

In his mind, he regarded each abacus bead as Gu Yannian's head, wishing he could crush it to pieces.

The legitimate golden age of the Ming Dynasty.

Amidst the eerie, comical, yet oppressive and resentful clatter of the abacus.

The curtain slowly rose.

Gu Yannian, sitting high on the table, had a clear and relaxed look in his eyes.

The road to immortality is long and arduous; let's see what kind of trouble this young dragon can stir up under his scheme.

The spring breeze of the third year of the Zhengtong reign, carrying a touch of warmth, swept across the towering red walls of the Forbidden City.

The willow branches along Taiye Pond have sprouted tender green buds, and several swallows are flitting about among the upturned eaves, carrying mud with them.

It was truly a vibrant spring scene.

Under the leadership of this Grand Secretary, the Ming Dynasty's treasury overflowed with silver, and peace reigned throughout the land.

Copper ore from Annam in southern Xinjiang was continuously transported to the capital.

These coins were cast into high-quality Xuande silver dollars and copper coins, which circulated freely in the market.

With ample provisions and supplies, the troops in the nine border towns were strong and well-equipped.

The Oirat and Tatar tribes beyond the Great Wall have been behaving themselves in recent years, paying tribute every year without fail.

Inside the Wenhua Hall, a delicate fragrance wafted.

Gu Yannian, dressed in a purple-red brocade robe, sat upright behind a large desk.

He picked up the purple brush and steadily wrote his name on the signature book.

[Ding! Today's attendance complete. Attribute point gained +1.]

He put down the purple brush and casually opened a yellow book on the table.

This is the homework he left for the eleven-year-old Emperor Zhu Qizhen yesterday.

The salt imports of the Liangzhe Salt Bureau in the previous quarter were calculated and converted into cash and fuel consumption.

Gu Yannian glanced lightly at the yellow book, and a playful smile suddenly appeared in his originally calm eyes.

He didn't say much, but simply closed the yellow book and held it in his hand.

He then stood up and walked steadily out of the hall.

Deep within the Imperial Garden, beside a secluded group of artificial hills, a grand drama of "warfare and conquest" is unfolding.

The eleven-year-old Emperor Zhengtong, Zhu Qizhen, wore a small set of silver-leafed bright armor specially made by the Imperial Household Department.

Wearing a silver helmet with tassels, and holding a white ash wood spear with the tip removed, her small face was full of murderous intent and arrogance.

In front of him stood twenty or thirty young eunuchs, around ten years old, holding wooden swords and shields, divided into two groups.

A group of people with red headscarves tied around their heads were dressed as Ming Dynasty soldiers.

Another group stood scattered, playing the roles of Oirat cavalry from beyond the Great Wall.

"All soldiers, listen to my command!"

Zhu Qizhen roared in his childish voice and pointed his spear forward sharply.

"Charge with me! Capture Esen, the leader of the Oirat Mongols, alive! Pacify the northern deserts and display the might of our Great Ming! Kill!"

The eunuchs playing the roles of government soldiers immediately cooperated by shouting and charging at the "Oirat cavalry" opposite them with their wooden swords.

The two groups of people pretended to chop each other, and every now and then someone would fall to the ground with an exaggerated scream.

Seeing his overwhelming power, Zhu Qizhen witnessed the "enemy army" crumbling in disarray.

A surge of boundless pride welled up within me.

Since his father's death, he has been confined to the Wenhua Hall for the past three years.

Staring at that pile of boring account books and cold abacus beads was like living hell.

That old scoundrel Gu, relying on the Empress Dowager's trust, treated the emperor like a mere accountant.

Today, I finally managed to take advantage of the fact that old scoundrel Gu was holding a meeting in the cabinet.

He then asked Wang Zhen to find a group of old eunuchs who were good at arithmetic to do his homework for him.

He then secretly slipped away to the Imperial Garden to indulge in the fantasy of being the God of War of the Ming Dynasty.

"His Majesty is divinely mighty! His Majesty is truly Emperor Taizong reborn!"

Wang Zhen, the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, was standing to the side, holding a handkerchief and tea, and loudly flattering her in a shrill voice.

Zhu Qizhen sheathed his spear, took the tea offered by Wang Zhen, drank it all in one gulp, wiped the sweat from his brow, and said smugly:

"Of course! I am the Son of Heaven, and such a method of troop deployment is a gift from Heaven! When I am older, I will find a pretext to dismiss that old scoundrel Gu."

"When the time comes, I will personally lead an army of 500,000 beyond the Great Wall, with you, Wang Zhen, as the supervising officer, and we will fight our way all the way to the Onon River!"

Wang Zhen was overjoyed and nodded and bowed repeatedly.

"This servant swears to follow Your Majesty to the death! As long as Prime Minister Gu is no longer a mountain weighing you down, Your Majesty will surely establish a great and immortal legacy!"

The master and servant were engrossed in this illusory grand ambition.

Unbeknownst to them, the sounds of fighting beside the artificial hill had ceased at some point.

Those eunuchs who were shouting for battle just moments before now seemed to have been frozen in place.

One by one, they turned ashen-faced and trembled as they threw away the wooden swords in their hands.

He knelt down on the bluestone slab with a thud, not daring to lift his head even once.

Zhu Qizhen and Wang Zhen noticed something was amiss and turned to look.

At the moon gate of the artificial hill, Gu Yannian, dressed in a purple-red python robe, was looking at them with a half-smile, waving a folding fan.

"Clang!"

The white ash wood spear in Zhu Qizhen's hand instantly slipped from his grasp and slammed into the instep of his foot.

He didn't even have time to cry out in pain; his face turned deathly pale, his legs went weak, and he almost fell to the ground.

The fear of being dominated by the abacus and trenches instantly extinguished his previous high spirits like a tidal wave.

Wang Zhen's knees buckled, and he crashed heavily onto the stone slab, his teeth chattering uncontrollably.

"Your Majesty, I have a deep appreciation for your refined tastes. This performance of the duel between generals on the battlefield is quite vivid and lifelike."

Gu Yannian walked forward steadily, his voice gentle and calm.

Zhu Qizhen swallowed hard and forced out a smile that looked more like a grimace.

"Grand Tutor... I... I just finished reviewing my lessons and came out to stretch my muscles."

"Oh? You've finished reviewing your homework?"

Gu Yannian stopped and pulled the yellow book from his wide sleeve, patting it gently in his hand.

"Is Your Majesty referring to this account book detailing the salt tax revenue of Liangzhe?"

Zhu Qizhen glanced at Wang Zhen, who also looked ashen-faced, and had no choice but to answer with a forced smile:

"Indeed... I have already calculated everything."

Gu Yannian's smile deepened as he opened the yellow book and handed it to Zhu Qizhen.

"Although the handwriting in this account book tries its best to imitate His Majesty's handwriting, the strokes and turns reveal a craftsman's workmanship from years of copying official documents. Let's leave that aside for now."

"What surprises me most is the calculation of the loss of salt certificates in this account."

Gu Yannian closed his folding fan and pointed to a row of tiny characters.

"What I taught Your Majesty was to first convert it into copper coins, then exchange it for silver at the market price, deducting one and two cents for fire loss. But the calculation method in this booklet uses the method of calculation commonly used by the old officials of the Ministry of Revenue in the early years of the Hongxi reign, which is a roundabout way."

"Your Majesty, is there perhaps a retired senior official from the Ministry of Revenue hiding in your palace?"

Zhu Qizhen was stunned into silence.

He never expected that the account books, which the old eunuchs had patted their chests and guaranteed that there would be absolutely no flaws, would be so easily found.

In Gu Yannian's eyes, not only was the handwriting fake, but the method of accounting was also completely exposed.