Chapter 351: The Project Team

"You don't even know the subordinate officers under the Privy Treasurer clearly, yet you muddle-headedly became the Privy Treasurer Aide? I'm truly worried now whether we can actually accomplish this."

The two were already seated in a small courtyard within the Privy Treasurer's office. Zhang Han listened to Heifu ask him about Privy Treasurer affairs; he found it amusing, yet also somewhat worrying.

Heifu was thoroughly exasperated: "The Privy Treasurer has the most subordinate officers among the Nine Ministers, with dozens of subordinate offices. Its functions are also broad, from mountain and sea salt and iron, to poll taxes and market taxes, to craftwork and imperial meals — how numerous they are. Right now I only know the Privy Treasurer and the Privy Treasurer Supervisor; as for the others, how could I possibly remember every single one clearly?"

Zhang Han thought it over carefully; what Heifu said was actually not wrong. Unless one was someone like himself, who had been a petty clerk in the Privy Treasurer from the start of his official career, it truly was no easy matter to clarify the complex and vast duties of the Privy Treasurer.

In plain terms, the Privy Treasurer was simply the institution that managed the emperor's finances.

The Qin dynasty's fiscal revenue was basically divided into two parts. The bulk, the land tax, went to the Superintendent of Grain and Capital, which was the state's fiscal revenue; every year, official salaries, road building, city construction, and other public budgets were allocated from here.

The poll tax — that is, the head tax — together with the taxes from mountains, seas, pools, and marshes, and market rents, were collectively called the Forbidden Funds, which belonged to the emperor's personal income and were assigned to the Inner Treasury. The First Emperor's casting of the Twelve Metal Men and his massive construction of palaces were all paid for from this.

"So the emperor feels that when he builds palaces on a grand scale in Guanzhong, he is actually spending his own money, and others have no right to interfere…" Heifu somewhat understood now why You Zhan and Fusu's remonstrances had hit an iron board.

However, the Privy Treasurer's income was truly far too great, actually accounting for one-third of the state's finances! Every year, one-third of the fiscal revenue was used to serve one man; the height of the emperor's power can be imagined.

Of course, it is said that during the years of the Chu-conquering campaign, the Superintendent of Grain and Capital could not make ends meet, and the emperor not infrequently had the Privy Treasurer allocate funds for emergency relief.

The Privy Treasurer's authority was not limited to being the emperor's inner treasury; in addition, all of the emperor's clothing, food, and daily life, medical provisions, garden excursions, and the manufacture of utensils were all under the Privy Treasurer's purview. The Imperial Physician Prefect Xia Wuju, whom Heifu had dealt with before, was under the Privy Treasurer's jurisdiction.

Because the Privy Treasurer's scope of duties was relatively broad, it was necessary to specially establish the "Six Aides" to divide management.

Zhang Han counted on his fingers and gave Heifu a primer on what exactly the various Aides of the Privy Treasurer did.

"The Privy Treasurer Bronze Aide is in charge of poll tax and coin-minting matters."

Heifu silently noted this down, and in his mind, he labeled it: the People's Bank of China.

"The Privy Treasurer Inner Aide is in charge of palace clothing, treasures, precious delicacies, and the like. Under him are the Grand Provisioner overseeing meals, the Grain Selector overseeing rice selection, the Music Bureau overseeing music and dance, and also the Yellow Gate Prefect overseeing the palace eunuchs."

Does this count as the Chief Palace Steward? Heifu thought to himself.

"The Privy Treasurer Park Aide is in charge of all the imperial household's mountains, forests, pools, and marshes. Under him are the Water Works, Price Equalization, Shanglin, and Pool Overseer officials."

The National Forestry Administration, Heifu nodded.

"The Privy Treasurer Construction Aide is in charge of palace artisanship. For example, the Imperial Workshop makes palace forbidden objects, the Imperial Wardrobe makes the Son of Heaven's clothing, the Eastern Garden Artisan makes objects for the imperial mausoleum; in addition, there is the Craft Workshop Office overseeing workshops inside and outside the palace."

Heifu understood. So, the terracotta warriors were also fired by the Eastern Garden Artisan?

Then Zhang Han also mentioned the Privy Treasurer Prison Aide, who was in charge of imperial edict prisons. It turned out that the Privy Treasurer also managed over ten imperial edict prisons, such as the Eternal Alley Prison, the Weaving Chamber Prison, and the Forced Labor Prison, holding thousands upon thousands of convict laborers. At present, these people were the main labor force for the massive palace construction in Guanzhong. The work was endless; in a few more years, Mount Li and the First Emperor's mausoleum were still waiting for them.

"Historically, could Zhang Han have led this batch of convict laborers to fight against Chen Sheng and Wu Guang?" Heifu glanced at Zhang Han. He had already finished speaking of five Aides, but one Aide alone remained unmentioned.

"The sixth Aide is not a permanent position; it is usually a Provisional Aide."

Zhang Han told Heifu that the sixth Aide was usually only temporarily appointed to take charge of some enormous, critical projects — such as the Zhengguo Canal, the Du East Mausoleum, the Zhiyang Mausoleum, the Six Kings' Palaces, the Twelve Metal Men — when they needed to be completed within a set time. It was somewhat like a later-era project team…

The last project team was precisely for the casting of the Twelve Metal Men, and now, it was Heifu's turn to manage papermaking — whose fault was it that his idea had piqued the First Emperor's intense interest?

After all, the First Emperor had to review one hundred twenty jin of memorials every day, which was truly a heavy physical labor. If it truly could be as Heifu said, making "paper" that was as light and thin as silk, yet cheaper than bamboo and wooden slips, not only would the emperor's own work become much easier, it would also greatly benefit the implementation of standardized script.

But the First Emperor was not a patient man; he demanded that Heifu must produce results within this year (before the tenth month)!

Heifu himself was also anxious. What was even more maddening was that the emperor had appointed him as a "Provisional Privy Treasurer Aide," with no subordinates under him — practically a bare commander.

Fortunately, the emperor also gave him the authority to select personnel from various offices and ordered all the Privy Treasurer Aides to assist Heifu to the best of their ability.

Heifu immediately named Zhang Han. With this old brother who was familiar with the Privy Treasurer and had overseen multiple projects helping out, things would be much easier.

Just as Heifu and Zhang Han were chatting idly, the other two subordinates he had summoned finally arrived.

Entering one after the other were, respectively, a thin man dressed in black with a face full of worry, and a huge fat man clad in silk and nearly soaked through with sweat.

It was precisely Qin Mohist Cheng Shang and the Pillar-Lower Scribe Zhang Cang…

…

With the casting of the Twelve Metal Men and the massive construction of palaces in Guanzhong, the vicinity of Xianyang was full of migrants and convict laborers forced into corvée service; Qin Mohist Cheng Shang was growing more and more worried.

In the eyes of Mohists, who esteemed frugality, the prevalence of rites and music, the construction of palaces, and the building of mountain mausoleums were all acts that wasted the common people's farming seasons and squandered wealth — all were unacceptable, all were useless endeavors that should be eliminated.

But even Prince Fusu's remonstrance was of no avail, let alone the Mohists, who were increasingly neglected?

When the birds are gone, the bow is stored away. Now the Mohists' position at court was not even as good as those Confucian Erudites; at least they were numerous and still had soil to continue in the eastern lands. But what of the Qin Mohists? They were almost like rootless trees and sourceless water. The Chu Mohists were already extinct, the Qi Mohists in decline; the Qin Mohists suddenly felt the grief of the fox at the hare's death.

What was worse was yet to come. With the end of war and the unification of the realm, the Qin Mohists had wholeheartedly hoped for a brand-new beginning, but the First Emperor's desires were too strong; he had no intention whatsoever of letting the people rest. Though he collected all weapons under heaven, the corvée labor of the common people was not lightened by half compared to the Warring States period.

The Qin Mohists were somewhat disappointed. The only thing they could do was refuse to contribute effort to the construction of palaces and instead turn their energies to the building of linked water-powered trip-hammers and water mills. It happened that Neishi Teng was promoting wheat-based foods among the migrants, so the Mohists frequently went in and out of Du East, Shanglin, and many other migrant settlements from the eastern lands, establishing mills, helping them build towns, and repairing houses.

The Mohists naturally had no common topics with wealthy households, but they talked very happily with the artisans from east of the Pass. Through their travels in the migrant towns, the once-lost Qin Mohists seemed to have found a bit of their necessity for existence again…

Cheng Shang was very grateful to Heifu. Had it not been for that word of advice from Heifu back then, he might still be immersed in the brutal war and disappointment with the empire's governance.

So when Heifu invited him, Cheng Shang came without the slightest hesitation.

"That by which the humane man conducts affairs must be to promote what benefits all under heaven."

He bowed to Heifu and said: "Since it is a good thing that benefits the people of the world in reading, literacy, and opening their minds, we Mohists shall do our utmost to help!"

Heifu was very pleased. He had only seen the process of papermaking in documentaries and remembered a bit of the general principle. If he wanted paper to emerge out of thin air, he would probably encounter many difficulties; at such a time, he would need to seek help from the Mohists.

He laughed heartily: "With the Mohists and the craftsmen under the Privy Treasurer Construction Aide working together, in terms of technique, I have nothing worth worrying about."

Seeing Heifu so happy, the panting fat man on the other side fanned himself with a palm-leaf fan and said: "If Heifu hadn't tempted me with the abacus, I would never have come."

Heifu estimated that this fellow's weight had already exceeded two hundred jin. What fat people hate most is high summer; in past years during this season, he would hide in the cool Archive Chamber reading books, and no matter what anyone said, he would not take a single step outside, having completely become a fat otaku…

It was only when Heifu brought out the "abacus" he had mentioned to Zhang Cang that he reluctantly agreed to go out. This was something Heifu had asked Cheng Shang to help make: a smooth, thin rod set into an apricot wood frame, strung with flat, round wooden beads that could be flicked up and down along the thin rod…

Zhang Cang was already obsessed with mathematics and was in the process of compiling "The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art." When he got this object and was taught the most basic abacus addition formulas by Heifu, he immediately became so fond of it he couldn't put it down.

Of course, he didn't forget to ask: how had Heifu made this thing?

Fortunately, as early as the Western Zhou, there had been the prototype of the abacus, the "pottery ball," so Heifu fabricated:

"My younger brother is a disciple in the study chamber, where he must learn not only laws and ordinances but also arithmetic. One day I saw him using a wooden stick strung with pottery balls to replace counting rods for calculation, and I had a sudden inspiration: why not combine the wooden stick and pottery balls together? Thus I got the idea to make the abacus…"

As for the inspiration for papermaking, Heifu attributed it to the scene of "East Gate retting hemp" he saw while inspecting the weaving chambers in Nan Commandery.

Zhang Cang did not investigate further, because in just one day, he was already more adept with the abacus than Heifu, and he was continuously developing multiplication and division abacus formulas that Heifu had already returned to his math teacher.

This couldn't help but make Heifu sigh: a genius is a genius. Entrusting this thing to Zhang Cang was truly finding the right person.

At this moment, after Zhang Cang had caught his breath, he again pulled the abacus from his bosom and began playing with it, clacking away, while casually saying: "What use can I possibly be?"

"This matter truly cannot do without Zihu. Papermaking cannot be accomplished overnight; from site selection to tree felling to production, it will cost considerable manpower and material resources. Therefore, I must ask Brother Zihu to match income with expenditure and calculate the labor volume, the time required, and the money and silk to be spent."

Heifu had to prove to the Emperor that what he made was not only lighter and easier to use than bamboo slips, but also far cheaper than silk. So he needed a meticulous account ledger, and asking Zhang Cang to handle this was perfectly fitting.

In their project group, Zhang Cang was the planner and accountant, never stepping outside, processing all the data the accounting clerks sent in.

Zhang Han was the concrete executor, commanding the convict laborers and bondservants to work, and also liaising with the other departments of the Privy Treasury.

Cheng Shang was the technical expert, responsible for turning Heifu's ideas into reality and solving the difficult problems they encountered.

With ample manpower, a sufficient budget, and three men to assist him, Heifu felt a few more degrees of confidence that they could trial-produce writable paper within three months.

"This way, I won't have to summon my brother-in-law all the way to Xianyang."

Heifu did not plan to let his family rise any further. Nan Commandery was the safest place for the next decade; if he insisted his elder brother and brother-in-law follow closely at his heels, he would instead be harming them.

In any case, matters like the military ball game and the public latrines had already left Qin Shi Huang with the impression that he "often produced startling stratagems," so there was no fear of startling him again and again.

"We each oversee our own affairs, so what will you do?" At this moment, Zhang Cang stopped the hand that was flicking the abacus beads and looked at Heifu.

"Me?"

Heifu tapped his own head with his index finger and laughed. "I, of course, am the one who labors with his mind!"

PS: My brain is squeezed dry, can't manage the third chapter, maybe tomorrow or the day after.

(End of chapter)