Late Ming: Building a Golden Age Again

Transmigrated to the second year of Wanli, near the end of the Ming dynasty. The fool Li Sui rises from obscurity overnight, going from grinning at everyone he meets to becoming the top scorer in the palace examinations. He had planned to coast through government service, living off the knowledge he'd accumulated in his previous life. But his good friend Li Rusong sent in a glowing recommendation that landed him right in front of Zhang Juzheng, the grand secretary. Forced into the job, Li Sui wasn't happy about it. If he couldn't be happy, then nobody else would be either. Heard the court officials are all rich? Is that money yours? You think you get to keep it? Every last coin goes into the state treasury! Heard the vassal princes and gentry own lots of land? We measured it. You've only got eighty mu! “What! My family owns eight hundred mu, and you're telling me it's only eighty?” So what? We measured it again! Now it's only forty mu! “Li! I'll impeach you!” Li Sui was delighted. “Grand Secretary, it's not that I don't want to do the job! Look, they can't stand me!” But the Grand Secretary wasn't pleased. You think you can just quit because you don't want to work? Looks like this donkey needs more fodder if it's going to run faster! “His Majesty has issued an order! You are to receive ten thousand taels of silver and a mansion!” Fine! It's not as if I can't do the job!