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

"Well written."

Gu Yannian closed the file and nodded slightly.

"Your memorial only mentions the symptoms, but doesn't offer a prescription. Do you know that if the court forcibly prohibits the use of silver by the people, it will only backfire, causing that silver to flow into underground sewers?"

Zhou Chen was taken aback, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

He saw the potential for disaster, but had no good solutions.

"Come in with me."

Gu Yannian turned and went inside.

Zhou Chen followed cautiously behind him and stepped into the duty room.

Seeing that her superior, Xia Yuanji, was also there, she was so frightened that she didn't dare to breathe.

Gu Yannian handed the case file to Xia Yuanji, then sat down behind the desk and pointed to the round stool next to him.

"Sit down and talk."

Zhou Chen dared not sit down, and stood with his head bowed in front of the desk.

Xia Yuanji finished reading it quickly and sighed, "This week, the head clerk has a keen eye and has seen the crux of the problem."

"However, the influx of silver is like water bursting its banks; it cannot be stopped. This old man is very worried about this matter."

Gu Yannian picked up the teacup and blew on the tea.

"Minister Xia, the way Yu the Great controlled the floods was by dredging, not blocking. Since this silver is flowing like a flood, why doesn't the court dig a large canal to divert it into this deep pool of Taicang?"

"How to attract it?"

Xia Yuanji and Zhou Chen asked in unison.

"Restructuring".

Gu Yannian's words were startling, yet his expression remained calm and composed.

"Since the Ming Dynasty, the people have paid taxes in kind, such as rice, wheat, or silk. These items are bulky, suffer great losses during transportation, and are easily exploited by clerks at each level."

"Now that silver is abundant in the populace, why doesn't the imperial court issue an edict that, starting from the prosperous areas of Jiangnan, all land taxes, corvée labor, and miscellaneous levies should be converted into silver and paid uniformly?"

The lobby fell into a deathly silence.

Zhou Chen felt as if a great bell was ringing in his mind.

All the complex in-kind taxes were converted into silver!

This idea is truly an unprecedented feat.

Once implemented, it will not only greatly reduce the losses incurred during transit, but also allow the imperial court to completely control the overseas silver flowing into the people, thereby stabilizing prices.

This was the prototype of the later "Single Whip Law".

However, Gu Yannian took advantage of the silver dividends brought by the Age of Exploration and released it a century ahead of schedule.

Xia Yuanji snapped off half a beard hair and trembled all over.

"If this method succeeds, it will be a monumental achievement! However, how will the purity of the silver be determined, given the losses during the conversion process? If corrupt officials take advantage of this to inflate the price of silver, won't the people suffer even more?"

Gu Yannian glanced at Zhou Chen and said with a faint smile, "Therefore, this matter needs to be handled by someone who is proficient in worldly affairs and upright. We should first select a county as a pilot to understand the key points before implementing it throughout the country."

"In my opinion, since Chief Clerk Zhou is able to write such a memorial, he must be someone who is not afraid of running himself ragged."

"I wonder if Steward Zhou dares to take on this hot potato?"

Zhou Chen suddenly raised his head and met Gu Yannian's deep and calm gaze, his eyes involuntarily reddening.

He had expected his outspokenness to be met with criticism.

Unexpectedly, this rumored unfathomable Vice Minister Gu possessed such a broad-mindedness and the ambition to change the world.

"I would gladly die for my principles!"

Zhou Chen lifted the hem of his robe, knelt heavily, and kowtowed deeply.

"Get up. Now that you've taken on your task, go to the treasury to select sample silver and familiarize yourself with its purity."

Gu Yannian waved his hand, "I will now accompany Minister Xia to the palace to meet the Emperor and finalize this matter."

Noon, in a side hall of the Qianqing Palace.

Emperor Hongxi, Zhu Gaochi, had just finished a bowl of light millet porridge and was being served handwashing by a young eunuch.

Although he is still quite plump, his complexion is rosy and radiant, and his demeanor is increasingly composed.

In recent years, I have diligently practiced health preservation methods, and not only has my diabetes not recurred, but my energy has also become more abundant.

After listening to the reports from Xia Yuanji and Gu Yannian, Zhu Gaochi paced back and forth behind his desk, lost in thought for a long time.

"Convert taxes in kind into silver..."

Zhu Gaochi stopped and looked at Gu Yannian.

"Yan Nian, this method is excellent, and I am aware of its benefits. However, most of the silver is transported back by sea merchants, and the practice of private minting is gradually emerging. If the silver collected is adulterated with lead and tin, resulting in insufficient purity, wouldn't the national treasury suffer a great loss?"

Gu Yannian bowed slightly, took out a broken silver ingot from the treasury along the way, and handed it to the eunuch next to him.

"Your Majesty's concerns are very valid. Therefore, I propose that a special Silver Workshop be established within the Ministry of Revenue, whereby the court will uniformly cast standardized silver ingots bearing the official seal."

"All silver coins used for tax payment by the people must be melted down and recast at the local furnace. As for how to determine the purity, I have a simple method."

Zhu Gaochi became interested and walked back to his desk to sit down: "Oh? Tell me about it."

"Listen to the sound, observe the color, and discern the quality."

Gu Yannian spoke in a calm tone.

"True silver, when dropped onto a stone slab, produces a dull, echoless sound, and its color is white and lustrous. As for discerning its quality..."

He walked to the red clay charcoal stove next to him and picked up the fire tongs.

He picked up a piece of red-hot charcoal and pressed it directly onto the silver ingot.

Everyone was taken aback.

Gu Yannian did not use any tools, but instead extended his right hand with its distinct knuckles and pinched the extremely hot silver ingot with his thumb and forefinger.

Xia Yuanji was startled and was about to exclaim, "Be careful, it's hot!"

But Gu Yannian remained calm and composed, without even frowning.

Then, a chilling scene unfolded.

Gu Yannian exerted a slight force with his two seemingly weak fingers.

"Crunch~"

A metallic crackling sound rang out.

The solid silver ingot, hard as it was, was kneaded into two deep fingerprints by Gu Yannian's fingertips, just like dough.

It was then folded into a bizarre arc!

The hall was completely silent.

The eunuchs covered their mouths in horror, and Xia Yuanji's eyes nearly popped out.

Those are pure silver ingots! And they've been heated over charcoal!

For an ordinary person, let alone pinching it, even touching it would burn off a layer of skin.

Is this Vice Minister Gu perhaps an indestructible Arhat descended to earth?!

Gu Yannian casually tossed the deformed silver ingot onto the tray, making a crisp clanging sound.

He turned around, meeting Zhu Gaochi's equally shocked gaze, and naturally took out a silk handkerchief to wipe the gray and black residue off his fingers.

It was as if I had just crushed a piece of pastry.

"Your Majesty, please observe: pure silver is soft in texture, yet hard but resilient, able to bend under great force without easily breaking. If it contains too much lead and tin, it will become brittle and break easily."

"This method of mine is crude and unorthodox; I hope Your Majesty will forgive me."

Zhu Gaochi swallowed hard, his heart pounding as he looked at the pitiful silver ingot on the tray.

He had long known that Gu Yannian was no ordinary person, and that he could make sense of Gu Yannian crushing silver ingots with his bare hands today.

But this visual impact still made the emperor feel a chill run down his spine.

Is this guy a civil official or a military general?

"Gu...Gu Qing's words make sense. This method of discernment, although...although it is beyond the reach of ordinary people, is based on the principle."

Zhu Gaochi suppressed the shock in his heart and nodded repeatedly.

"As Gu Qing suggested, the Ministry of Revenue will draft regulations and implement them on a trial basis in the capital region."

When Xia Yuanji left the Qianqing Palace, he looked at Gu Yannian as if he were a monster.

The two walked side by side down the alley. Xia Yuanji finally couldn't hold back and asked in a low voice:

"Lord Gu, that move you just made... could it be the long-lost Vajra Finger technique from the martial arts world?"

Gu Yannian kept his eyes straight ahead and walked steadily.

"Minister Xia is too kind. I grew up in the countryside and spent my life helping my family pound rice and chop firewood. That's all that makes me a little stronger than the average person."

Can chopping wood produce the strength to crush silver ingots?

Xia Yuanji's lips twitched, and he secretly rolled his eyes. "I'd be a fool to believe you."

But he was a smart man; he knew that some things were better left unsaid.

As long as this God of Wealth stays peacefully in the Ministry of Revenue, it will be a blessing for the Ming Dynasty.