Chapter 1491: Gold and Jade Overflow, Piled Like Mountains

Emperor Liu's decree went out, and the palace was shaken—especially those stakeholders involved, the palace women and officials who clung to imperial power and lived parasitically off the court.

Only Emperor Liu himself knew his original intentions, but he could not prevent those below from speculating and interpreting. Those with guilty consciences were caught completely off guard, and for a time, a heavy atmosphere began to shroud the Han palace—even more suffocating than when the Central Plains had flooded.

Of course, Emperor Liu's attention was not on the petty scheming within the palace. After seven consecutive days of careful inventory and inspection, the imperial treasury, the storehouses, and the imperial estates managed by the Court of the Imperial Household had finally yielded a rough tally.

The results of the inventory were gratifying—and astonishing. In terms of cash, there was indeed less than seven million strings of copper coins, but if the other wealth were exposed, it would absolutely leave people dumbfounded.

The gold alone lying in the palace treasury amounted to 110,000 catties. If used only to craft gold ornaments and gold objects, at the current rate of palace consumption, it would take fifty years to use up.

Silver was comparatively scarce, barely enough to sustain the palace's daily expenditures. In the past, over a hundred thousand catties had also been stockpiled, but due to the currency reform, it had all been lent to the court to mint silver coins.

Fine silks from Chuanshu and the southeast numbered over ninety thousand bolts. Simply airing and organizing them each year required tremendous effort, and during this inspection, many were even found to have rotted and deteriorated from improper storage.

Rice, millet, and other grain provisions stockpiled in the warehouses controlled by the imperial city and the Court of the Imperial Household amounted to over a million dan—these could all be considered the final strategic reserves of the imperial house and the court.

The above was merely a portion of the imperial family's wealth that could be directly converted for use. As for other immovable property, the quantity was staggeringly large.

And as Yan Tuo had described, those pearls, jade, jewelry, calligraphy, paintings, porcelain, and curios—if not piled up like mountains, they filled several warehouses to the brim. Emperor Liu went to see for himself; the dazzling gleam of jewels and treasures was truly eye-catching, and even Emperor Liu, who had seen much of the world, could not help but feel astonished.

If one truly tried to appraise all the wealth owned by the imperial house, based on current market rates in the Great Han, exceeding a hundred million would not be difficult.

Such an enormous fortune gave Emperor Liu a sense of the extraordinary, and what was even more absurd was that Emperor Liu himself had hardly been aware of it before. After all, the whole realm was already his—why would he care about these mere worldly goods of gold and silver?

However, quantity changes quality. When wealth accumulated to such a degree, even Emperor Liu, with his current state of mind, could not help but feel ripples stir within him.

This vast fortune had taken over twenty years to amass. Spread out evenly, it no longer seemed so astonishing—but one had to consider the overall situation of the Great Han during those twenty-plus years.

It was not as if he had resorted to ugly extortion or ruthless exploitation—Emperor Liu disdained such methods. Rather, under the imperial system, standing at the pinnacle of power in this world, things like wealth naturally flowed toward the imperial city, toward the storehouses of the Court of the Imperial Household. This was almost a principle of nature...

Of course, no man grows rich without windfall, and no horse grows fat without night feed. Among this wealth, there was also a great contribution from enemies and the subjugated. Take gold for example: back when Li Jing, the second ruler of the Southern Tang, sought peace with the Great Han, before and after the war, envoys shuttled back and forth, providing Emperor Liu with no less than fifteen thousand jin of gold. Meng Chang was the same; after Panyu was breached, the Southern Yue palace yielded enormous gains as well. Add to that the mining and smelting of gold mines across the realm, and 110,000 catties was actually on the low side—after all, the court had taken a large share of the meat.

It could be said that the vast wealth now held by the imperial house owed the greatest debt of gratitude to the contributions of separatist regimes like Jiangnan, the Later Shu, and Southern Yue.

Back when Chengdu fell and the Han army plundered it, the uproar was tremendous, even provoking rebellions among the Shu people and repeated defections and betrayals. The infamy was borne by the arrogant soldiers and fierce generals, but in truth, Emperor Liu and the court were the ones eating the meat—the riches of the Shu palace had fattened the Great Han regime in the Eastern Capital.

The Southern Yue state was the same. When it came to plundering and exploitation, Liu Chang and his sorcerer-eunuchs were past masters, and the Liangguang region was indeed a treasure land capable of producing rare wonders. After Pan Mei entered Panyu, the spoils seized required several hundred boatloads to finish transporting.

Jinling went without saying—in terms of wealth and prosperity, no place in the realm surpassed it. Even its book collections numbered over a hundred thousand volumes, let alone its other riches.

Even Wuyue—before Qian Hongchu surrendered, Emperor Liu showed mercy and allowed the Qian family to retain a considerable fortune, but what remained was nothing to scoff at either.

Even Jiangling contributed a fair amount of war booty. The only place that yielded nothing was Jingnan. When the court recovered Changsha, that region was already in ruins and destitute, having been scoured to the bone by the Tang army in earlier years. Yet, in a roundabout way, after Jiangnan surrendered, among the goods that flowed into the Han palace, it was hard to say how much had originally been plundered from Changsha by the Tang army.

Opposite to wealth stood beauties. Li Jing and his son Li Yu, as well as Meng Chang, were all fond of romantic pleasures, and the many detached palaces of Southern Yue were also filled with beauties. Among those tens of thousands of palace women and ladies of beauty, Emperor Liu naturally did not take them all, but he did collect a good portion of the finest—otherwise, where would the current bustling population of the Han palace have come from?

"Six palaces of powdered ladies, three thousand beauties" was no longer merely a figure of speech—there were truly that many people...

These countless riches and treasures could be said to be the spoils of Emperor Liu's pacification of the realm and conquest of all heroes—something he could rightfully and peacefully possess and enjoy.

Yet behind every gold brick, every precious pearl, behind that gleaming yellow, that sparkling brilliance, that dazzling splendor—was there not also condensed the flesh and blood of the people?

In the past, Emperor Liu would not have dwelled on such things. He did not have that much saintly compassion, after all—the sins were committed by others. He merely harvested the fruits in the posture of a conqueror and a victor, even if that beautiful, luscious fruit concealed too much tyranny and exploitation within.

Only now, when Emperor Liu once again faced these gains, faced those soul-enthralling riches and treasures, his state of mind could not help but waver somewhat.

It was not that he was seduced by these external things, but that he felt a strange unease, a sense of instability—not in the wealth itself, but in what this wealth represented.

However, Emperor Liu was, after all, Emperor Liu. No matter how much wealth lay before him, he could cast it aside like a worn-out shoe. What truly could intoxicate and corrode him was still power.

In Chuigong Hall, a young official stood in respectful stillness, dressed in green robes, appearing very humble. This was Lü Mengzheng, the top scholar of last year's special imperial examination. He had originally been observing governance at the Ministry of Revenue, where his performance was outstanding. For this inventory of imperial property, Emperor Liu had specially seconded several officials from the Ministry of Revenue to participate, and Lü Mengzheng was one of them.

A top scholar always had some special privileges, and he had obtained the opportunity to report the details to Emperor Liu. Standing not far from Lü Mengzheng was Yan Tuo. At this moment, the grand eunuch kept his head bowed very low, already sensing the unusual atmosphere in the hall.

Even Lü Mengzheng, who was not familiar with Emperor Liu, sensed this strangeness. A feeling of fear began to grow in his heart, and this fear clearly originated from Emperor Liu standing on the elevated dais.

"Truly, one never knows until one checks—and once checked, it startles one to no end. Today, I have once again had my eyes opened wide, left in utter awe!" Emperor Liu remarked calmly in a cold tone: "Those in charge of tea and wine enjoy tribute tea and imperial liquor; those managing the kitchens feast on imperial cuisine; those handling medicinal herbs consume ginseng and deer antler like ordinary fare; those watching the storehouses pilfer and hide goods, stealing while on guard duty..."

What Emperor Liu spoke of was naturally the people and affairs that had been incidentally exposed during this asset inventory. Though not the main focus, they inevitably drew Emperor Liu's attention, and he ordered a thorough investigation.

"Well then! So there are this many thieves and robbers in this Purple Forbidden City, this many acts of petty thievery?" Emperor Liu's voice rose unnaturally, as if it would shatter the hall, his tone most chilling: "I wondered why palace expenditures were so enormous—so it turns out I'm not the only one spending! So these people who serve me have been enjoying things on my behalf as well! Hm?"

"Your Majesty, please calm your anger!" Lü Mengzheng now possessed the basic qualities of a subject. Seeing the imperial countenance in great fury, he almost instinctively bowed and pleaded.

"Calm my anger? My anger right now is blazing to the heavens! Tell me, how am I to calm it!" Emperor Liu immediately shot back.

This reaction caught Lü Mengzheng, a newcomer to officialdom, completely off guard. His status as top scholar did not grant him more confidence when facing an enraged Emperor Liu.

"Reporting to His Majesty, all those who committed offenses have been arrested and are awaiting disposition," Yan Tuo stepped forward and reported upon seeing this.

"Do you still need to wait for my orders?" Emperor Liu replied coldly: "Every single one of these people—if they truly had any conscience, would they need to wait for the executioner's blade to reach their necks?"

"I have always thought that the court was not lacking in corrupt officials and venal clerks in need of rectification, but now it seems this imperial palace and inner court also requires a thorough cleansing!" Emperor Liu's emotionless gaze fell upon Yan Tuo, making him feel a chill run down his neck.

"His Majesty speaks truly..."