The Silver Ledger

Year 47 of the Jingyuan era, Suzhou. Shen Yan opened the account book. There was blood on his hands. Not his own, but his elder brother's. The account book read: Year 43 of the Jingyuan era, the Shen family's main branch disbursed 120,000 taels of silver. Purpose: the north. That was the year his elder brother fell into the water. That was the year Shen Yan turned fifteen. Four years later, he took over the main branch and discovered that the Shen family wasn't doing business. It was keeping an entire empire running. The emperor, the officials, the border garrisons, the Northern Di: they were all the Shen family's clients. Clients could be replaced, but the business couldn't stop. He didn't want to be in this business. Neither had his elder brother. His brother was dead. Was the silver for the north ever disbursed again? It was. History books record emperors and generals. The account books record the real history.