Chapter 423: Three Destinations

Pan Xiaohei squatted on the table, scratching his paw pads, and said, "Don't humans often say 'power and money'? Clearly, these two go together—the more power you have, the more money you naturally have."

Pan Yun: "Then the Emperor must be the richest, since he holds the greatest power."

Pan Xiaohei shook his cat's head and recited, "Under the heavens, all land belongs to the king; since you are his subject, of course he is the wealthiest."

Pan Yun frowned, still fundamentally socialist at heart, and said, "I am my own person, a successor to socialism—I may belong to the state, to the people, but never to any emperor."

Pan Xiaohei shuddered violently, lowered his paw, and said, "You're so nauseating."

Pan Yun sniffed and said nothing, walking over to two vivid crimson coral trees, lost in thought.

When Yin Song and his apprentice returned home in the evening, they hadn't even had time to eat before Pan Yun called them into her room.

The master and apprentice fell silent at the sight of the boxes piled in her room, and fell even more silent when they saw the gold, silver, and jewels inside.

Wang Cong and Seeing Miao Zhen, who had also been summoned, fell silent along with them.

Even Sister Hong Yan and the newly emerged Xiao Hong were blinded by the glittering jewels.

Xiao Hong floated to the edge of the box, crouched down, and reached out to touch a gold brick, her eyes gleaming with gold light. "This gold looks so familiar—did I used to be rich in my past life?"

Pan Yun picked her up and placed her beside another box filled with jewels. "People who were rich in life don't react like this—look at the jewels."

Xiao Hong glanced at the jewels in the box, then silently shuffled back to the gold brick.

Sister Hong Yan, however, crouched beside the jewel box, constantly trying on the jewelry and ornaments against herself.

Yin Song closed his gaping mouth and sighed. "Little sister, I'm just a Xia Guanzheng—I can speak a few words to the Emperor, but I don't have a pardon of immortality, nor am I a trusted favorite like Wang Zhen who can act so recklessly."

Pan Yun: "Without evidence, what's the chance the Emperor would suspect me?"

Yin Song fell into thought.

"The world is vast, and there are so many talented and extraordinary people—yet I'm so young. Today, you yourself were inside the palace, and I never even approached Wang Zhen's residence. Do you really think I've become so powerful in the Emperor's eyes that I can bypass Wang Zhen's countless obstacles and teleport objects away instantly?"

The Emperor knows much about cultivators, yet still much remains unknown.

Even cultivators themselves don't fully understand themselves or their peers.

Yin Song raised an eyebrow. "You didn't go near Wang Zhen's residence? Then how did you get these?"

He looked at Pan Xiaohei.

Pan Yun smiled at him but said nothing.

Pan Xiaohei lifted his cold cat eyes, gave him a brief glance, then lowered his head to continue eating the small fish in the dish.

Yin Song's heart burned with excitement; his gaze toward Pan Xiaohei grew even softer. "I've been meaning to ask—where did your black cat come from?"

Pan Yun glanced at it, expression disgusted: "Born with me."

Yin Song thought he'd misheard. "What?"

Pan Yun looked at him again. "I was born, and it was born—what else could that be but a soul-bond?"

Pan Xiaohei meowed, adding, "We were even born from the same womb."

Pan Yun slapped its head sharply and asked Yin Song, "Second brother, have you found a place for these gold and jewels?"

"Oh, yes—I found three," Yin Song snapped back to reality, pulling a paper from his sleeve. "The three places most in need of funds: first, the frontier troops in Ningxia and Gansu, especially Ningxia—they've applied for military equipment and pay subsidies for three consecutive years, all rejected."

"Second, the Henan Ruying region suffered drought last year, then floods—crop yields dropped by sixty percent; many civilians have fled. I checked the Ministry of Revenue's records: officials everywhere are requesting funds to resettle refugees, but from what I hear, the Ministry's bureaus use this as an excuse to cover past budget shortfalls, so very little actual funding is approved."

"Third, the people of Quanzhou affected by last year's Japanese pirate raids—the imperial court ordered them to retreat another twenty li to prevent further attacks. I checked the Ministry's disbursements: almost nothing. They only ordered local authorities to raise funds themselves and cut this year's taxes by thirty percent."

Pan Yun: …

Anger rose in her chest. She asked, "Are the Great Ming soldiers' blades dull? They'd rather force civilians to retreat than drive the Japanese pirates back?"

Yin Song rubbed his nose. "I thought your money was limited, so I only picked the three most urgent places, far enough from Jingcheng to avoid Wang Zhen's influence—you'd have an easier time moving it. But I didn't expect…"

His gaze swept over the boxes in the room, lips slightly curled. "These gold and jewels look like just one room's worth, but if converted into grain and cloth the people desperately need, they could save many lives. I think you should pick two places."

Pan Yun frowned. "Why did the Ningxia frontier troops apply for pay subsidies? Why did the Ministry of Revenue reject their equipment requests?"

Yin Song said, "Don't think all the Ministry officials are evil—they're struggling too. The state treasury is empty; every coin must be split in half. All three groups are suffering, but far worse off than them are countless others. The Ministry can only prioritize the most urgent cases." He continued, "Ningxia's frontier troops were supposed to rotate every six months, but as border tensions rose and the Oirats and other northern raiders constantly invaded southward, the rotation changed to every three years. In reality, soldiers often serve four or five years without relief. Troops are exhausted, so the army recruits family members to fill gaps—some households have five or six members serving on the frontier. Equipment is critically short."

Pan Yun's mouth opened slightly. "It sounds like they're all exiled as a family."

Yin Song smiled bitterly. "Pretty much—except they don't even get the official title of exile. Their situation is worse than some officials banished to military service."

"Like your father and brothers, your uncle—you have support. They don't. Not only do they lack support, they must save their own pay to send home to support parents and raise wives and children."

"They live hard themselves, and their families suffer too—no able-bodied men left at home. All sons and grandsons are on the frontier. If disaster strikes…"

Pan Yun bit her lip, lowered her eyes. "This isn't something money alone can fix. To change it fundamentally, the rotation schedule must be revised."

"Yes—but I'm just a Daoist Priest," Yin Song spread his hands. "This is the Ministry of War's affair. If the Ministry of Revenue won't fund it, maybe it's meant to force the Ministry of War to reform—but for now…"

He paused. "Only Wang Ji can change this system."

Pan Yun felt a pang of pain. Though she wanted to send part of the money to Ningxia, she shook her head. "Send it to Henan and Quanzhou. The frontier troops… we must not touch them."

Yin Song sighed. "I know. I just couldn't bear it, so I picked these for you to choose."

Yin Song moved quickly, asking immediately, "How do you plan to deliver the money?"

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Pan Yun blinked, then replied, "One part grain, one part cloth, one part resettlement funds—three parts make one bundle. We need trustworthy people to distribute them. It's spring now—if they return home, they can still make the spring planting."

Yin Song: "What if some villagers without land refuse to return?"

Pan Yun: "That's not something I can solve. That's the Emperor's responsibility."

Yin Song raised an eyebrow, and together they looked at the coral trees—impossible to liquidate—and the jewelry, equally hard to convert.

Pan Yun huffed, being stingy: "Send the coral trees. The jewels…"

She turned to Wang Cong. "Can they be turned into cash?"

Wang Cong thought. "They can, but they'll be sold at a discount."

"Still, it's money—once it's in our hands, it's in the people's hands. If it goes to the palace, who knows?"

Yin Song: "What's your plan?"

Pan Yun looked at Wang Cong.

Wang Cong assured them, "Give me the goods, and I can find a merchant house to exchange them for grain and cloth for you, or convert them into a large amount of copper coins."

"So many gold bricks — you have a way to exchange all of them?"

Wang Cong gave a slight smile and said, "Little Martial Uncle, Jiangnan is known as the land of fish and rice. Mount Sanqing is right in Jiangnan, and I travel frequently between Henan and the Jingchu region. These three places are currently where the Great Ming produces the most grain."

"These three areas account for ninety percent of the Great Ming's grain output. The common folk there are bitterly poor, but the wealthy are richer than you could possibly imagine."

"You feel that these few chests of gold and silver are an enormous fortune, but you've forgotten — this is just a tiny fraction of property taken out by a tiny number of people as a bribe. Spread it out, and to those great rich men, it's no more than a single hair off nine oxen — not even worth a glance."

So Wang Cong was very confident — not only could he exchange all this gold, silver, and jewelry for grain and cloth, he could do it without anyone noticing anything unusual.

Pan Yun: "Not even the Brocade-Clad Guard would notice?"

He said, "There are plenty of deals done in the shadows. If the Brocade-Clad Guard could notice and investigate every one of them, how would there still be so much chaos in the world?"

He counted off on his fingers: "Outwardly there are the Japanese pirates, the northern raiders, the southern barbarians — all of them smuggle grain, salt, tea, silk, and even military supplies like sabers and bows and arrows out of the country. Not to mention all the unseen deals going on inside. Let's not say the waters are surging, but they've never been calm. I'm just adding a single drop to these countless waves — what's there to draw attention?"

"That drop isn't small," Pan Yun said. "It's water snatched from Wang Zhen's hands, and afterward it still has to be waved in front of the Emperor."

"Isn't that even better?" Wang Cong said. "It's like going half the road in the open. As long as the Emperor is willing, they won't investigate further. If they're unwilling and insist on digging, at most it'll expose me — but Wang Zhen…"

The more Wang Cong spoke, the more excited he grew. Pan Yun, however, was not pleased. She smacked him on the head with a sharp *pa*. "What's there to be happy about? How can that bastard Wang Zhen compare with you? You want to trade yourself for Wang Zhen?"

Wang Cong instantly became meek, lowering his head and saying, "I understand. I'll be careful, again and again, and won't let anyone get a trace on me."

Yin Song sighed and asked Pan Yun, "These two coral trees of yours — how do you plan to deliver them to the Emperor?"

"Just send them straight in. Is the imperial palace really that hard to enter?"

(End of chapter)