Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 103: Financial Affairs of the Palace, Four Pillars Inventory [Subscription Request]

in the afternoon.

After resigning from his post, Liu Kuan returned home to have dinner.

Seeing that his brows were slightly furrowed, as if he had something on his mind, Zhu Huilan asked, "My husband, is there anything bothering you?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Kuan, noticing Zhu Huilan's concerned gaze, raised his eyebrows and smiled, "It's not that I'm worried about anything, but His Majesty has ordered me to give a lecture to the princes in the main hall, and I'm thinking about how to teach it."

"The lecturers in the main hall are all veteran scholars. Why would the emperor allow my husband to go..." Zhu Huilan said in surprise at first, then realized something and hurriedly explained, "I'm not saying my husband is inferior to those veteran scholars. It's just that my husband comes from a later era and doesn't know much about the Four Books and Five Classics."

Liu Kuan smiled and said, "So I came to the Great Hall not to teach Confucianism, but to teach 'nature'."

"Naturally?" This was the first time Zhu Huilan heard this word, and she couldn't help but look puzzled.

"It's natural science..." Liu Kuan immediately summarized the natural science content he learned as a child.

Zhu Huilan listened with great interest and said, "This class sounds very interesting. I wish I could follow along."

Liu Kuan smiled and said, "That's easy. I'll tell His Majesty later and let you in to listen."

Zhu Huilan shook her head, "Let me ask Mother first."

"also."

Immediately, Liu Kuan asked Xia He to call the housekeeper Su Caiwei and the chief steward Liu Laifu.

"I'm planning to start a newspaper, and I'll need some money. Please report the financial situation of the mansion to me."

Liu Lai Fu was responsible for liaising with the managers of all the farms, shops and workshops owned by Liu Kuan and Zhu Huilan, and for overseeing external affairs.

In terms of finance, he only checked the accounts of these external industries, and regularly collected the profits from these industries and sent them to the mansion.

The finances of the mansion are managed by Su Caiwei.

In addition to all expenses within the mansion, it also includes income and expenditure accounts.

Of course, Liu Lai Fu will also make an account of the income and expenditure of various industries in the Liu Mansion, which can be compared with Su Caiwei's account.

As the hostess, Zhu Huilan is responsible for overseeing all of this and can check anyone's account at any time.

As for Liu Kuan, although he usually doesn't take care of these "household chores", as the head of the family, he can ask about them at any time.

One of them was originally a female official in the palace, and the other was a slave. They had never been partial to anyone in managing the finances of the Liu Mansion, and they had not made any mistakes. They were not nervous when answering Liu Kuan's questions.

Liu Laifu said, "Master, I am old and cannot remember some accounts. I am afraid I need the account book before I can answer."

Liu Kuan nodded and said, "Just go."

Su Caiwei took out a small notebook from her sleeve pocket and said with a smile, "Master, I will tell you first."

Although Liu Kuan was quite surprised that Su Caiwei carried a small account book with her, he didn't ask much and just nodded.

Su Caiwei flipped through the notebook and said, "Let's talk about the gold, silver, and banknotes in the palace first. They mainly come from four places. One is the princess's dowry, which includes 10,000 taels of gold, 66,666 taels of silver, and 99,999 strings of banknotes."

Although Liu Kuan already knew about Zhu Huilan's dowry, he still couldn't help but sigh inwardly when he heard it.

Speaking of which, although Zhu Yuanzhang was good to his daughters, their treatment was far inferior to that of the princes.

The prince's nobility and the arrangements for his enfeoffment have already been discussed, so I will not elaborate on them. Suffice it to say that the princess's annual allowance of rice is only 2,000 dan, which is only one-twentieth of that of a prince.

When Zhu Huilan's two elder sisters got married, although they had the same properties such as farms as Zhu Huilan, the floating wealth in their dowries was only one-tenth of hers - the only reason Zhu Huilan had so much floating wealth in her dowry was because she married Liu Kuan.

However, even in later generations, some parents cannot avoid favoring sons over daughters, and it was also normal for the ancient royal family to favor sons over daughters.

While Liu Kuan was sighing, Su Caiwei continued, "The second is the rewards the master has received - including today, the master has received rewards five times."

"A total of 1,000 taels of gold, 25,000 taels of silver, and 31,000 strings of banknotes were obtained."

"The third is the salaries of the master and the princess. The court pays them annually, and the palace has already received this year's salary. The princess's rice salary is converted into 2,000 strings of banknotes; the master's annual salary is only 170 dan, which is converted into 170 strings of banknotes."

Hearing this, Liu Kuan couldn't help but look at Su Caiwei.

He really wanted to ask: What do you mean by only 170 stones?

Are you mocking me, sir?
"However, the salaries Zhu gave to officials were indeed low, which became famous in later generations and there is no need to argue about it."

'Although prices were low at the time, the salaries of officials could only allow their families to live a comfortable life in the Ming Dynasty, and it was impossible for them to be as lavish as the officials of the later Ming Dynasty.'

'Compared to how Zhu treated his sons, it's no wonder some people in later generations criticized this matter.'

Liu Kuan muttered a few words in his heart, and then listened to Su Caiwei report the total amount of floating wealth in the mansion.

"Finally, the various properties owned by the master and the princess turned a profit—most of the proceeds from the farms and mulberry gardens were sold. Since it happened to be the autumn harvest, the harvest was quite substantial."

"Adding the profits from the various shops, the total amount of treasure notes earned over the past few months is 27,865 strings of cash, plus 32 coins."

"So, the total amount in the palace before this should be 11,000 taels of gold, 91,666 taels of silver, 168,864 strings of banknotes, and 32 coins remaining."

Having said this, Su Caiwei took a breath and continued, "Then there are the princess's dowry and the silk and other items that the master received as a reward..."

"Wait!" Liu Kuan was already a little dizzy after listening to this, and quickly interrupted Su Caiwei, "There's no need to talk about the actual situation in the mansion."

Su Caiwei was a little surprised, but still asked: "Then would the master like to see the detailed accounts?"

Liu Kuan looked at Zhu Huilan and said, "Madam, I'll leave the audit to you. I won't ask any more questions. I mainly want to see how much floating wealth the mansion has available." Su Caiwei said, "The mansion's expenses aren't huge. It's just the social etiquette that's costing a bit. Currently, the gold and silver haven't been touched, and there are still over 165,000 strings of banknotes left."

Liu Kuan nodded and started to think about it.

There is still so much money in the government, and it is definitely enough for him to create a publication.

If you create a publication in the early Ming Dynasty, you will definitely not make any money in the early stages, but you will have to keep investing money.

As for how much he needs to invest, he can only estimate it after he understands the relevant situation.

While Su Caiwei was checking the accounts for Zhu Huilan, Liu Lai Fu finally came with the account book.

With Su Caiwei's report just now, Liu Kuan no longer asked Liu Lai Fu to report, and directly took the account book to look through it.

He frowned at the sight.

Because it was filled with records such as when a certain industry harvested so much, how much it had been handed in, and so on, it was a complete diary. Furthermore, it was written vertically, making it even more difficult for Liu Kuan to decipher.

Actually, the reason he had asked Liu Laifu to take care of these things was because Liu Laifu was literate and could do arithmetic and had handled such matters before. He had not considered that Liu Laifu was not professional in bookkeeping.

Looking at Su Caiwei next to Zhu Huilan again, Liu Kuan suddenly felt worried.

"Isn't Su Caiwei also keeping a diary?"

He quickly leaned over to take a look.

Su Caiwei's notebook was filled with beautiful small characters, neatly divided into four columns. On the far right were written the traditional Chinese characters "old management", "new collection", "expulsion", and "real".

Seeing this, Liu Kuan was slightly surprised and asked, "Ms. Su knows how to keep accounts? What kind of accounting method is this?"

Su Caiwei smiled and said, "Since I have been assigned to manage the household for the princess, I know how to keep accounts. As for the method I use, it is the four-pillar account book method handed down from the Tang and Song dynasties."

It turned out to be a four-pillar inventory.

Liu Kuan suddenly realized.

He had heard of this accounting method. It seemed that it evolved into Longmen account and Sijiao account in the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty, and later developed into the double-entry bookkeeping method he was familiar with.

But I had heard of it, but this was the first time I had actually seen it.

Although the Four Pillars Inventory Method is much more advanced than the running account, Liu Kuan still isn't used to it.

After putting down the account book, he said, "Well, if I have some free time one day, I can take half an hour after dinner to teach you Arabic numerals, counting, and double-entry bookkeeping."

"Ms. Su, please select two clever maids, along with Xia He, Tao Yao and a few other maids, to attend the class together."

"Old Liu, go back and call Liu Ping'an, Li Cheng'en, Ah Rong, and Ah Hu to come to class. Oh, and bring pencils, blank books, and loose paper."

Arabic numerals?
Double-entry bookkeeping?
Several people were stunned after hearing Liu Kuan's words.

Then Xia He and other maids became happy.

Liu Laifu bowed excitedly and said, "Thank you for your teaching, Master. I will work diligently and take care of all the affairs outside the palace!"

Liu Lai Fu was really grateful to Liu Kuan.

Because at this time, teaching people to read and count is equivalent to having a good relationship between teacher and student, and it is a kindness.

Not to mention that Liu Kuan also wanted to teach him a new accounting method - this is a skill that can help people make a living.

In fact, after Liu Lai Fu looked at Su Caiwei's account books, he had thought about asking her for advice.

However, he did not dare to speak because of the differences between men and women, and between insiders and outsiders. In addition, he was a government servant and Su Caiwei was a female official, so there was a huge gap in their status.

Now that he can learn accounting skills from Liu Kuan, how can he not be happy and grateful?

As for the maids like Xia He, they were naturally happy because of a similar mentality.

Although Su Caiwei knew the Four Pillars Inventory Method, she was still surprised.

She had some guesses about Liu Kuan's background. She knew that although Liu Kuan was not familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics and his handwriting was ugly, he knew a lot of strange knowledge.

Since Liu Kuan said he wanted to teach her the double-entry bookkeeping method, it meant that this method was definitely better than the four-pillar bookkeeping method.

And Arabic numerals are probably very useful knowledge.

So, after Liu Laifu, Su Caiwei also led Xia He, Tao Yao and others to bow to Liu Kuan: "Thank you for your teachings, Master!"

···
The next morning.

Liu Kuan said something to Su Quan and left his post half an hour early. He met up with Liu Lai Fu on the way and they headed towards the south of the outer city together.

Even in ancient times, papermaking and printing would cause certain environmental pollution. Although the ancients did not have as clear an awareness of environmental protection as later generations, they knew to keep such workshops as far away from places where people lived as possible.

In addition, papermaking and printing both require water, so the papermaking workshop and printing workshop that Zhu Yuanzhang rewarded to Liu Kuan were both located in the southern part of the outer city, on the banks of the Changgan River.

The group left the Jubao Gate of the inner city, crossed the Changgan Bridge, and walked about a mile west.

Liu Laifu pointed to a large courtyard in front and said with a smile, "Master, that is the printing workshop given to you by the emperor."

　First update.

　　Thanks to [青guna No. 500] for the reward of starting coins!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)