Chapter 7 Arabic Numerals

  Lord Wei, it's not right for Your Highness to act like this! For these past few days, our Ministry of Revenue has been unable to do its work.

  In Wei Wensheng's office, Yan Juncheng, the Minister of Revenue, said with a sullen face.

  What's wrong with that? He is the Crown Prince and also the defender of Daxing. We are all doing things for the royal family, what's wrong with suffering a bit?

  Wei Wensheng had an old and mysterious look on his face as he said indifferently.

  "Lord Wei, you are now the mentor of the Crown Prince, one day as a teacher and a lifetime as a father. No matter what, you are his master. The Crown Prince is young and has just tasted the sweetness of power, he's become somewhat arrogant." Yan Jun Cheng had an expression that showed he was thinking on behalf of Wei Wen Sheng.

  Your Excellency, although it is said so, why would His Majesty let us stay in Daxing? It's not just to assist the Crown Prince, but more importantly, we need someone like you, Your Excellency, to remind the Crown Prince not to make mistakes!

  Yan Jun Cheng performed absent-mindedly for a while, but Wei Wen Sheng refused to comment.

  Old fox. Yán Jūn Chéng cursed in his heart,

  His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince, used to be highly respected by Lord Wei, and we all saw it with our own eyes. However, since His Royal Highness returned this time, I don't know if Lord Wei has noticed, but everyone knows that the current Crown Prince is no longer the same as before.

  Yan Juncheng smiled slyly and didn't say much more, but every sentence he spoke was piercing to the heart.

  Although in the eyes of many people, the Crown Prince still treated himself with courtesy and respect.

  Weidong Sheng, who had struggled in the officialdom all his life, knew that both the officialdom and reality emphasized a struggle. Dai Wang had already taken this step, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and could no longer turn back. Even if Dai Wang was unintentional, those opportunistic officials would not be as docile as before.

  Yan Juncheng didn't say much more, bowed and took his leave, leaving behind a calm-looking Wei Wensheng.

  After Yan Juncheng left, Wei Wensheng did not conceal his fatigue. This matter was indeed difficult to handle. For Yang You, who had returned from Daxing, he discovered the abnormality earlier than others because he had taught him for many years and demanded strictness from him.

  Although Prince Wang was somewhat mischievous in his daily life, Wei Wensheng knew that in his heart, he still had some fear of himself.

  However, the current Crown Prince has no fear of himself at all. Although he still pays homage to himself as a teacher, he still clearly feels a sense of estrangement.

  Wei Wensheng did not suspect anything else, but only sighed in his heart that the power of rights could transform a person so greatly.

  Heaving a sigh, Wei Wensheng adjusted his mood, reached out and pulled the thin rope beside him. This was a simple summoning tool; when the thin rope was pulled, the bell outside would ring.

  The door opened and an official in his thirties walked in.

  Benefactor

  The official bowed deeply, his waist bent very low.

  Wei Wensheng looked at his proud disciple Pan Wenlin with satisfaction. He was able to feel the changes before and after Dai Wang because he used the person in front of him as a reference for comparison.

  As a student, Pan Wenlin always managed to make himself feel respected.

  Go investigate, how did Lord Li offend Prince Dai's mansion.

  Yes

  Pan Wenlin didn't ask more questions and bowed again before retreating.

  Before long, Pan Wenlin came in again, holding a sealed document in his hand and gently placing it on the desktop.

  Wei Wensheng picked up the file, opened the seal, and pulled out a few thin sheets of paper. If Yang You saw this document, he would definitely be shocked, because this document recorded every detail of his life since waking up.

  Including Yang You's and Yang Jie'er's cuju, the Ministry of Works' request to see, making carbon brushes, peacock feather hard pens, and four-wheeled horse-drawn vehicles.

  The more I read Wei Wen's letter, the more entangled my heart became, especially when I saw the last page, my eyebrows gradually furrowed.

  The Ministry of Revenue's monthly settlement was actually rejected by Prince Daewong three times." Wei Wensheng said with some confusion.

  "Yes, Master. The first time everyone knew that Li Daren wrote the amount of money as over 300,000 guan and let King Wang directly reject it." Pan Wenlin replied with a serious face but a hint of a smile.

  Wei Wensheng nodded, this happened during the early morning court session when many people were present. For a while, Yan Juncheng became a laughing stock as he was the first person to have his memorial rejected by Crown Prince's palace.

  Many people who didn't get along with him even deliberately ridiculed him, asking if 310,000 yuan was still over 300,000 yuan, and whether 390,000 yuan was also over 300,000 yuan. In a phrase from later generations, it's called "numerical bullying".

  The second time, Mr. Li personally handed over the folded paper and asked on behalf of Wang Gongzi, but Mr. Li did not answer correctly again and was rejected. Pan Wenlin replied once more.

  For the third time, which was this morning, Mr. Li presented a folded paper again, and as a result, he found seven mistakes on the Ministry of Revenue's folded paper after bowing his head for half an hour. The smile at the corner of Pan Wenlin's mouth had disappeared, revealing a cautious expression.

  This matter has long been spread among officials, and Mr. Li's arithmetic is completely problematic this time. In the rumors, what surprised people the most was that Crown Prince Dai actually found seven errors in the Ministry of Revenue within half an hour, and most officials took it as a joke.

  But Wei Wensheng didn't think so, and looked at Pan Wenlin with doubt.

  This is a draft paper used by His Royal Highness when he was in charge of the Ministry of Revenue. My teacher, please take a look.

  Pan Wenlin handed a piece of Xuan paper to Wei Wensheng, the paper was crumpled and stained, something that Wei Wensheng would normally not even bother with, but today no one paid attention to these details.

  Rice paper! Wei Wensheng was slightly stunned. He knew that this disciple had a good sense of propriety and wouldn't present something unimportant, so he couldn't help but feel curious - could there be some mystery to this rice paper? And when did the Crown Prince become so formidable, able to find out about the Ministry of Revenue's mistakes in such a short time.

  Some expected to open the crumpled grass paper in their hands, and it was obvious that Dai Wang wrote it casually, with dense and strange symbols all over the paper.

  This is...

  Wei Wensheng was somewhat perplexed because he couldn't understand these symbols at all.

  Don't you think your teacher looks familiar?

  Pan Wenlin said with some mystery.

  Wei Wensheng looked at his disciple with a puzzled expression, lowered his head and carefully examined the ghostly symbols again, feeling more and more familiar.

  Suddenly he had an epiphany and blurted out: "This is a heavenly script."

  "That's right," said Pan Wenlin seriously.

  The two of them exchanged a glance, their faces somewhat heavy.

  In this imperial court, there was only one person who was proficient in the script of Tianzhu, and that was Geyi. Geyi himself was a native of Tianzhu, who had traveled thousands of miles to arrive at Daxing, deeply trusted by Yang Guang. What's more precious is that Geyi had an extraordinary talent, which was accounting.

  Could it be that Gu Yi and Yang You have gotten together so early? Not necessarily, he wouldn't make a move so soon.

  Wei Wensheng shook his head, he and Gu Yi had been fighting for a lifetime, they knew each other very well.

  It is said that Gu Yi had once presented his method of auditing accounts to the Emperor, and perhaps it was from here that Wang Gong got it. Pan Wenlin said somewhat uncertainly.

  "Either way, it's not a good thing for us." Wei Wensheng said with some fatigue.

  If Yang You knew, he would definitely shout loudly that it's a miscarriage of justice. I'm using Arabic numerals here. Who else knows that Arabic numerals originated from India?