White Paper Black Silver

In the fourteenth year of Chenghua's reign, a strange fire broke out in the inner transport warehouse, which destroyed the ten-year reward account book of the empire. Shen Mo, a junior official from the Ministry of Revenue, risked his life to grab the copy and found a line of numbers that could overturn the government and the opposition: "Eight thousand collars of cotton-padded jackets, and four thousand taels of silver." According to the market price, this amount of money should have been purchased for 20,000 yuan. Where did the 12,000 cotton-padded jackets disappear? The seal approving this account belongs to a man who has been dead for ten years. A war with abacus begins. Shen Mo originally thought that he was just an ant seeking to survive among numbers. Until the "accidental" fire, until Wang Zhi, the admiral of the West Factory, put a knife on his neck and forced him to redo a "clean" account. He was forced into three whirlpools: Deep inside the palace: The emperor's treasury is flowing out of the palace through secret channels Southeast China Sea: A huge network of silver smuggling envelopes the bustling Shipping Department Nine-border defense line: Soldiers who could not receive cotton-padded jackets began to write complaints with bows and arrows Shen Mo held the real account book in his hand tightly - it was as thin as a cicada's wings, but heavier than a thousand pounds. Because behind every false number is a beacon tower at the border that may fall down, and a weaver in Jiangnan who may starve to death. What he wants to do is not to bring down anyone, but to let those who should see the numbers see the truth. This is not a novel about emperors and generals. This is a medical record about how "money" flowed in the blood vessels of the Ming Dynasty, and how it condensed into blood clots and caused necrosis of the empire's body.