Chapter 364: A prison guard

Being exposed, Xie Changling not only didn't feel embarrassed, but instead appeared righteous, calm, and composed.

"One doesn't know the price of firewood and rice without managing the household. Prison Clerk Chen hasn't started a family, one person eats and the whole family is not hungry, so naturally, you can't understand the deep meaning in my words. The Xie clan is not my Xie clan alone; the Xie clan has hundreds of people up and down, eating, drinking, and defecating every day. Prison Clerk Chen is good at calculation; you calculate for me, how much money does it cost a day?

Just calculate according to the Heavenly Prison's standard, what is the daily expenditure of your Heavenly Prison? Our Xie clan has only more, not less. Don't look at how much we earn, but our expenses are also large. At the end of each year, we settle the accounts; we work hard for a year, and the money we earn is just enough for expenses, with no savings at all. In the end, we have to rely on the harvest in the fields."

He stood in front of the cell door, his attitude appearing very reasonable, and the words he said were also sonorous and powerful. It was clear that he was someone who understood management, not a bookworm who only read dead books and didn't understand economic life.

Chen Guanlou had long known that the other party was a genius, but he didn't expect that a proud scholar would also care about trivial things like daily expenses for eating, drinking, defecating, and sleeping.

Seven things to open the door: firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, and tea.

Before, he didn't understand why the ancients put firewood in the first position. It wasn't until he came to this era and was in the capital that he discovered that the first thing small urban residents had to do every day wasn't to consider where to earn money to buy rice, but to consider buying firewood; the price fluctuation of firewood was even more heart-wrenching than the price fluctuation of rice and grain.

Without firewood, you can't light a fire to cook, and you can't boil water. If the kitchen can't light a fire, you can't eat.

Being in the city, without mountains and trees, all firewood depends on buying. Especially in winter, you can go a day without eating, but you can't go a day without lighting a fire. In such cold weather, if you don't light a fire, people will freeze to death.

Mountains have owners, and firewood has a price.

The consumption of firewood in the capital is by no means less than the consumption of grain.

According to Chen Guanlou's understanding, the mountains outside the city have almost been plucked clean. You have to go to more distant mountains to have firewood. The key is that the mountains have owners; anyway, you can't find ownerless mountains in the capital area.

There are many wealthy households in the capital who rely on selling firewood to get rich, and several generations don't have to worry about food and drink.

The Hou Fu naturally doesn't have to worry about firewood; the Hou Fu has its own fields and its own mountain villas, with stretches of mountain forests. Every month, people from the mountain villa will pull a large amount of firewood and send it into the Hou Fu on a fixed day.

The Hou Fu also has its own charcoal-burning workshop, burning firewood charcoal, coal, and various kinds of charcoal.

When Chen Guanlou buys charcoal, he goes to the Hou Fu's charcoal-burning workshop and pulls it home cart by cart. Because his surname is Chen, he can even get a ten percent discount.

Accounts cannot withstand careful calculation.

Once calculated, he discovered that firewood occupies an extremely important position in life, and the money spent on it over a year is also a not-small amount. This was still when he lived alone and occasionally lit a fire on weekdays. If it were the situation of Spring Fragrance Sister's family, he really wouldn't dare to calculate carefully.

"Fine, fine, fine! I know Lord Xie is good at economics and understands management; you don't need to tell me big principles. Anyway, there is no discount here. If you want to blow the wind, you have to pay the price. The Heavenly Prison does not allow credit." Chen Guanlou made the rules clear.

This is a seller's market; credit does not exist.

Xie Changling wiped his face, "Your Heavenly Prison's prices are too high, too black!"

Chen Guanlou wasn't good at complaining before.

Since becoming a prison guard, he had self-taught this skill, "We are also forced to be helpless! You are an official, you should know very well that most of the money we collect has to be handed over. What falls into our hands is only a fraction. The Ministry of Justice often delays our salaries and grain and oil public funds.

The food and drink of hundreds of people in the Heavenly Prison all depend on this bit of money to support. You tell me, is it easy for us? Lord Xie, if you are willing to show understanding, don't mention the discount again in the future. Talking about money hurts feelings."

"Distorted logic!" Xie Changling scolded.

Chen Guanlou laughed, "Whether it is distorted logic or not, you and I know it in our hearts. Actually, similar situations exist in every government office. What does the Five Cities Military and Horse Division rely on to pay money? You think they really rely on that bit of salary from the Imperial Court? It all depends on exploiting the merchants under their jurisdiction, letting the merchants pay their share, so the government office can operate. What does the Ministry of Justice rely on? It relies on our Heavenly Prison's tribute to maintain. Otherwise, with that bird-like appearance of the Ministry of Revenue, with deficits every year, they can't even pay the salaries of officials in the capital; if you rely on the Ministry of Revenue to eat, everyone will starve to death." ===== CHAPTER 365 =====

This measure was welcomed by all the imprisoned officials in the Jia-block prison. Previously, when money was handed over, it was spent in an unclear manner, and after a period of time, the prison guards would say the money was gone, spent clean. As for how exactly it was spent, they would be vague, and no one could explain it clearly.

Now that there were private accounts, every tael of silver spent could be queried through the private account.

Very quickly, Qian Fugui came running over with a thick account book.

"My lord!"

"Find Master Xie's account and let him look it over."

Chen Guanlou instructed.

Qian Fugui licked his finger and began to flip through the account book, "Xie Changling, Xie Changling... Master Xie entered the prison at the beginning of this year, ah, found it. Master Xie, please take a look!"

Qian Fugui held the page recording the accounts up to the prison door, "Master Xie, have you seen clearly? From the day you entered prison until today, every single expenditure is recorded in the book, without any omissions, and there are no false entries. They are all real expenses. Look, the expenses for your bathing a few days ago, the expenses for wine and meat last month, the high-quality rice paper you wanted, the high-quality brush and ink you wanted..."

You wouldn't know until you looked.

Upon seeing the accounts, Xie Changling realized that he had spent so much silver and bought so many trinkets without even noticing. Of course, the fact that the prices in the Heavenly Prison were not in the same dimension as the prices in the capital was the main reason why the money was spent so quickly.

Seeing that the balance was only eighty-something taels of silver left, the corners of his eyes twitched twice.

He pursed his lips, his face solemn, not knowing what he was thinking. Perhaps he was reflecting on why he had spent so much money.

Qian Fugui's mouth never stopped, "Master Xie, have you seen clearly? Do you have any questions? Any errors or omissions? You can rest assured that under the wise leadership of Master Chen, our Jia-block prison has changed its past style, achieving honesty without cheating the young or old, with clear and explicit accounts, and achieving mutual satisfaction between the prisoners and the guards. If there are no questions, I will take the account book back. Day after day, I am busy to death. The more people there are in the prison, the busier I am on this side."

Xie Changling gave a grunt and waved his hand.

Qian Fugui asked Chen Guanlou for instructions again.

Chen Guanlou nodded, and only then did he leave with the account book.

"Master Xie, do you have any other questions? Do you still want to take a walk? The Heavenly Prison does not allow credit." Chen Guanlou stated the rules clearly.

This was a seller's market; credit did not exist.

Xie Changling wiped his face, "The prices in your Heavenly Prison are too high, too black-hearted!"

Chen Guanlou was not good at complaining about his hardships in the past.

Ever since he became a prison guard, he had mastered this skill without a teacher, "We are also forced into this! You are an official, you should know very well that most of the money we collect has to be handed over. What falls into our hands is only a little bit of change. Over at the Ministry of Justice, they often delay our salaries and the public funds for grain and oil.

The hundreds of people in the Heavenly Prison, from top to bottom, all rely on this little bit of money to survive. Do you think it's easy for us? Master Xie, the reason you imprisoned officials can have two meals of grain issued on time every day is thanks to the efforts of the black-hearted prison guards you speak of. Without our hard work in collecting money, you would all have to go hungry."

"Sophistry!" Xie Changling scolded.

Chen Guanlou let out a laugh, "Whether it is sophistry or not, you and I know it in our hearts. In fact, similar situations exist in every yamen. What does the Five Cities Military Commission rely on to pay for things? Do you think they really rely on that little salary from the imperial court? It all relies on exploiting the merchants under their jurisdiction, making the merchants pay their share, so the yamen can operate. What does the Ministry of Justice rely on? It relies on our offerings from the Heavenly Prison to maintain itself. Otherwise, with the way the Ministry of Revenue is, with deficits every year, they can't even pay the salaries of the officials in the capital; if you rely on the Ministry of Revenue to eat, everyone would starve to death."