Comprehensive film and television: Make trouble before lying down

Shen Meizhuang stared blankly out the window. The autumn wind blew down leaves, and the branches were withered and yellow. It was a very bleak scene.

In front of her, there was a pile of account books on the table, which she opened and closed from time to time, looking very bored.

Caiyue stood beside him, and suddenly, a bell with a bell core wrapped in cloth by the window made a muffled sound.

Shen Meizhuang immediately sat up straight, frowned, rested her chin on her hand, and flipped through the account book in front of her.

Caiyue gently massaged her shoulders and felt a shadow approaching outside the door.

"Oh!" Shen Meizhuang sighed sadly.

Caiyue said with some dissatisfaction, "Your Majesty, these are the long-standing palace rules. Why are you worrying about this?"

Shen Meizhuang sighed again: "If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't have bothered to meddle in other people's business, but look at these account books.

When we were outside the palace, I remember that the price of brown rice to polished rice was between five and thirty coins. If you look at the palace account book, it is over three hundred coins, which is more than ten times higher.

Look at these again: linen, cotton, brocade, and jacquard. Which one of them is not falsely priced?

Our emperor is diligent and honest, and the palace always advocates frugality. When I think about it, I feel unfair for our emperor.

The emperor lived frugally, and all the money he saved went into the pockets of the bondservants."

"Hush... Your Majesty, please keep your voice down." Caiyue warned carefully, "There are so many servants from the bannermen in our palace. If they knew you had such thoughts, I'm afraid you would be in danger."

Shen Meizhuang gently closed the account book and heard footsteps outside the door. Someone stopped and didn't show any intention of coming in. So she thought for a moment and said,

"Caiyue, you are right, how could I not know that?

But in the eyes of our Emperor, he has the most intolerance for corrupt officials. Now that I know this, if I keep it to myself every day, I will feel guilty every time I face the Emperor."

Caiyue hurriedly took the account book from Shen Meizhuang's hand and put it aside: "My Lady, are you overthinking it?

Perhaps our Emperor knows about this! Our Empress Dowager is from a family of bondservants. If there is any movement in the palace, how can it be hidden from the Empress Dowager? You don’t have to worry about it.

Shen Meizhuang nodded slightly, but her brows were still tense. She just stopped talking about the palace's accounting issues.

As soon as she finished speaking, Yinzhen walked in through the curtain. Shen Meizhuang quickly winked and told Caiyue to take all the account books away.

I took two steps forward and said, "Your Highness, I pay my respects to you. May your Highness be blessed with good health."

Yinzhen took two quick steps, helped Shen Meizhuang up, and held her white, jade-like wrists.

He came to the table and sat down. "I have been busy with official duties these past few days and have neglected my beloved concubine. I wonder if my beloved concubine is doing well? How is my Sixth Prince?"

Shen Meizhuang smiled and said gently: "Everything is fine with me.

At this time, the Sixth Prince was asleep. When he woke up, I would bring him over to let the Emperor have a look.

This little kid has become so angry after not seeing him for a few days. He's really a burden to me!"

The Emperor raised his eyes, looked at the account book placed aside, and asked tentatively: "My beloved concubine, have you just taken over the official duties? Is everything going well?"

Shen Meizhuang frowned, then raised her hand to press her forehead: "Perhaps I am too stupid. I haven't sorted out the account books yet, so how can I take over the palace affairs?"

Yinzhen raised his hand and stroked her rosy cheek: "Don't worry, my beloved concubine, just take your time."

Seeing the man lowering his brows in deep thought, Shen Meizhuang guessed that what she had just said must have taken effect. She did not disturb him and just waited for him to come back to his senses.

Seeing Yinzhen take a sip of the tea in front of him, Shen Meizhuang said, "It's been a while since Your Majesty last saw Princess Wen Yi, right?"

Yinzhen nodded.

Shen Meizhuang: "These past two days, Concubine Cao has been carrying Wen Yi to play in my room. I love her very much.

Wen Yi kept saying that she missed her father, the Emperor, and wondered if the Emperor wanted to see him.

Yinzhen thought that he had not seen Wen Yi for a long time, so during dinner, Concubine Cao held Wen Yi, and the Sixth Prince also woke up, and they all went together.

Concubine Cao was indeed very attentive. She served the emperor and laid out meals for him. When it was time to go to bed, Shen Meizhuang used the excuse of feeling unwell to push the emperor into Concubine Cao's room.

On the second day, Yinzhen began to secretly investigate the bannermen in the palace. The results of the investigation shocked him.

In the Imperial Household Department, Huang Guiquan was nominally in charge, but he had no say in purchasing outside the palace.

And all of this is firmly controlled by a few banner families.

Yinzhen did not check the palace's accounts over the years immediately, but instead sent people outside the palace to investigate the situation of several families.

The results of the investigation not only made him jealous, but also made him throw everything he could get his hands on.

The investigation stated that if tribute was sent to the palace and he did not reward anyone immediately, the tribute would be taken to the bondservant's home on the pretext of being damaged.

Not only did the unit prices of some daily necessities in the palace increase, but some of them were also jointly exchanged by several companies.

Now they are not only rich, but also have food, clothing and other expenses that are three times better than those of the princes and princesses.

How could this not make people angry? But Yinzhen finally suppressed his impulse.

In the Forbidden City, except for a few departments that have no money, at least 30% of the people in each department and palace, including those around him, are controlled by the Baoyi.

No matter what he did, it would be seen by these people. If he really wanted to take action, the news would probably be known outside the palace before he could even do it.

He thought that when Concubine Ning gave birth, the people from Bitong Academy would be transferred away, and the guards would block all the intersections of the academy without him noticing, and intercept him in front of Changchun Xianguan, so that he would not receive any news.

He thought the queen was already very capable, but he never imagined that something even more serious was waiting for him.

Yinzhen immediately summoned Prince Guo to the palace, and the two began to secretly check the palace's account books.

Shen Meizhuang also paid attention to the developments in the Qianqing Palace. Every time the emperor found an excuse to come to her, she would take the initiative to put the account books in a food box and send it to the Qianqing Palace, pretending to know nothing about it.

She used the excuse that she couldn't understand and asked the emperor to teach her.

When the emperor began to investigate the situation in each palace, she secretly cooperated and brought the empress dowager's people to the surface. After all, these people were the ones with real power in the palace.

What were their positions? What did they do? How did they do it? Every detail was presented to the emperor.

Empress Dowager Uya, who started out as a bondservant girl, climbed to the position of Empress Dowager, and her bondservant family made great contributions to her career.

The Queen Mother naturally had to give some benefits and delegate power to them in many matters, which caused the banner families to become more arrogant and make money without restraint.

In the Cining Palace, the Empress Dowager has been paying close attention to Concubine Ning's taking over of palace power.

She has been waiting. Only by taking over the palace power and arranging things will it be possible to make any moves.

It has been a month since she returned to the palace, and Concubine Ning is still just staying in Qixiang Palace to look at her account books, and has not gone to Yiku Palace to learn from Nian Shilan.

She also did not call the heads of various departments to Qixiang Palace for questioning, which made the empress dowager very confused.