He Shen: Splitting the Profits with Emperor Qianlong

Hu Zongxian, the Ming Dynasty's Grand Supervisor of Military Affairs, died clutching a grain depot ledger with a zero balance. When he opened his eyes, he had become Shan Bao, a poor young man in the Qianlong era, who would later become Heshen.

In his previous life, he watched helplessly as his soldiers dispersed because their military pay could not be issued. In this life, he made one ironclad rule: separate ledgers for the imperial heir, official expenses, and personal salary, with every entry checked line by line and not a single coin mixed up.

When Qianlong needed money, he established an imperial treasury. When the southern tour ran short of silver, he set up a public ledger for the salt tax. When military supplies were urgently needed, he built an independent military supply fund. The entire court accused him of seizing power and amassing wealth, but only he knew the truth: every tael was recorded, and he had never stolen a single coin.

What he did not know was that Qianlong had long since laid a trap. The silver recorded under the name of the "imperial heir" would eventually become the evidence Jiaqing used to condemn him to death by a white silk cord.

Readers watch him check the books, entry by entry. Everything is clear, yet he walks step by step toward a dead end.

He thought that in this life he could finally repay the soldiers whose wages he had failed to pay. He did not know that after spending his whole life balancing Qianlong's accounts, he had even included his own life in the final tally.

"This time, His Majesty has money." Those were his last words before he died.

A clean ledger, a regret that can never be made right, and a tragedy whose ending the readers already know.