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

The next morning.

Zhu Qizhen woke up on the spacious dragon bed in Chengqian Palace.

My muscles ached as if they were being torn apart, and my hands were wrapped in thin white cloth, causing excruciating pain with the slightest movement.

Empress Dowager Sun sat by the bed, her eyes swollen like walnuts, wiping away tears with a handkerchief.

"My son, you've suffered! That old scoundrel Gu has gone too far! I will immediately plead with the Empress Dowager to have him removed from his position as Grand Tutor!"

Empress Dowager Sun said through gritted teeth.

Zhu Qizhen stared blankly at the ceiling.

He recalled the despair of carrying sandbags under the scorching sun yesterday, and the 30% of river sand that had leaked out.

"Mother..."

Zhu Qizhen's voice was hoarse, and his tone conveyed a chilling stillness and resentment.

"My son, your mother is here. You can speak, and your mother will listen."

Zhu Qizhen turned his head, and his once clear eyes were now bloodshot.

"Don't go to the Empress Dowager. We can't fight her. She controls the silver in the imperial granary and the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers. If we resist now, we'll only bring more terrible torment upon ourselves."

Zhu Qizhen closed his eyes, and two lines of clear tears slid down his cheeks.

"I will no longer fight wars. I will no longer be the God of War of the Ming Dynasty. Fighting is too tiring, and transporting grain is too difficult. From now on, I will spend my days in the Wenhua Hall calculating accounts for him."

"Whatever he teaches, I will learn."

Hearing her son's sensible yet humiliating words, Empress Dowager Sun felt as if her heart was being torn apart, and she wept uncontrollably.

Zhu Qizhen clenched his bandaged fists tightly under the covers.

"Gu Yannian, you have humiliated me to this extent. You just wait, you will grow old one day."

"As long as I live, this Ming Dynasty will ultimately belong to me. At that time, I will make you wish you were dead!"

Inside the Wenhua Hall.

Gu Yannian completed his roll call as usual.

He placed the sandalwood abacus neatly on the table, lit the small red clay stove, and began to brew today's morning tea.

Intelligence +1

As he felt the increasingly clear and insightful divine wisdom in his mind, a barely perceptible smile appeared on Gu Yannian's lips.

He could sense the overwhelming hatred in that boy's heart even from halfway across the Forbidden City.

"Hate it, the more you hate it, the clearer the accounts will be, and the more secure the Ming Dynasty's assets will be."

The fifth year of the Zhengtong reign.

Gu Yannian, dressed in a purple-red brocade robe with a python pattern, sat upright behind a large sandalwood table.

He picked up the purple brush from the brush holder, dipped it in the thick ink from the Duan inkstone, and steadily wrote his name on the signature book.

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

He put down his pen, picked up the freshly brewed Junshan Yinzhen tea from his desk, and gently blew away the foam.

As the aroma of tea wafted through the air, his thoughts drifted far away.

During the early years of the Zhengtong reign of the Ming Dynasty, the country had ample grain reserves and capable ministers such as Yu Qian guarding the nine border regions.

As for Jiaozhi, the Annamite military governor Pham Van Kieu was desperately mining copper for the Ming Dynasty in order to preserve his wealth and status.

Ship after ship of crude copper was transported to the capital and transformed into Xuande Tongbao coins that circulated in the market.

With nothing to worry about, Gu Yannian, the Grand Secretary, found his job increasingly leisurely.

Meanwhile, in the East Warm Pavilion of Qianqing Palace, not far from the Grand Secretary's office, a completely different scene unfolded.

The thirteen-year-old Emperor Zhengtong, Zhu Qizhen, was lying face down on the large imperial desk, completely lacking any imperial demeanor.

His eyes were bloodshot and bloodshot from staying up all night.

He held a well-polished sandalwood abacus in his hand, his fingers flying across the beads like a blur.

"Pat-pat-pat..."

The sound of the abacus echoed like a violent storm in the warm pavilion.

Beside him stood Wang Zhen, the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, with two large dark circles under his eyes, holding a bowl of ginseng soup in his hands.

He was swaying precariously, as if he might faint at any moment.

"There's no mistake! This time it's definitely not wrong!"

Zhu Qizhen suddenly pushed the abacus aside and stood up abruptly.

His slightly pale face was now flushed with an unusual red from excitement.

He pointed to the thick ledger of the Ministry of Revenue's annual revenue on the desk and laughed loudly.

His laughter carried a suppressed resentment and madness that had been building up for five years.

"Hahahaha! You old scoundrel Gu! You've finally met your match! I've finally caught you red-handed!"

Wang Zhen was startled awake by the loud laughter, and his hand trembled, almost spilling the ginseng soup.

He quickly stepped forward, forcing himself to speak, and asked, "Your Majesty, what...what have you figured out? Is there a deficit in the Ministry of Revenue's messy accounts?"

Zhu Qizhen grabbed Wang Zhen by the collar, his eyes gleaming, and said through gritted teeth:

"It's more than just a deficit! It's an outrageous act of embezzlement that's been concealed from the heavens! For the past five years, that old thief has forced me to calculate the money and grain day and night. I've become intimately familiar with every penny of the nation's accounts."

"Last night I re-examined the maritime trade tax silver from last year's Maritime Trade Office and the interest on the copper brought back from Annam. The accounts should show a balance of 4.5 million taels of silver."

"But the actual amount sent to Taicang according to this register is only three million seven hundred thousand taels!"

Zhu Qizhen held up eight fingers, his voice trembling with excitement.

"A full 800,000 taels of silver! Vanished without a trace! This huge sum of money, without cabinet approval or entering the national treasury, where could it have gone? It must have been embezzled by that old scoundrel Gu Yannian!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Zhen gasped, his drowsiness instantly vanishing.

Eight hundred thousand taels of silver!

If this is confirmed, it would be the biggest corruption case since the founding of the People's Republic of China by Emperor Taizu.

Let alone the current chief minister, even members of the imperial family would have to be skinned alive!

"Your Majesty is wise and mighty! After enduring humiliation and hardship for five years, you have finally achieved your goal!"

Wang Zhen knelt down with a thud, tears welling up in his eyes with emotion.

"As long as His Majesty makes these account books public at tomorrow's morning court session, that old scoundrel Gu will have no way to defend himself. At that time, the power of the court will return to His Majesty's hands!"

"This servant is willing to ransack the Gu family's house on His Majesty's behalf!"

Zhu Qizhen took a deep breath to calm his violently pounding heart.

It's been five years!

Ever since he was old enough to understand, that purplish-red figure had haunted him like a nightmare.

He was made to move sandbags, dig trenches, and eat coarse grains.

He tormented his mind every day with those utterly boring abacus beads.

He gave up his dream of becoming a grand marshal and gave up riding horses and shooting arrows.

He poured all his hatred into these tedious ledgers.

He worked hard and devoted himself to learning the complex methods of financial management.

The purpose is to one day deliver a fatal blow to this old thief on his most prized path of money and supplies!

Today, he finally got what he'd been waiting for.

"Change your clothes! I need to attend court!"

Zhu Qizhen clenched his fists, his eyes flashing with the flames of revenge.