Sky Screen Warning: I Help the Emperor Balance the Books

A sky screen descended, hanging over the entire realm of Dayao. Every word cut like a blade, striking at the foundations of the state! 【Autumn, the seventeenth year of Emperor Zhao's reign: the Yellow River burst its banks in Huazhou, interrupting grain transport and destroying two million shi of grain.】 The court and the people were struck with terror, and the officials trembled, convinced Heaven had sent down an omen. Only Shen Shou, a junior water-clock expert of the ninth rank at the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, opened a stack of hydrological records he had kept hidden for years. Others looked at the sky screen and saw a divine sign. Shen Shou saw a chance to audit the losses. “Your Majesty, the sky screen speaks not of divine wrath, but of the sand buildup at Baimajin reaching a critical point!” With a clatter of the abacus, gold flowed in by the tens of thousands. An open audit struck straight at the heart of the matter. From a low-ranking ninth-rank official to head of the Sky Mirror Advisory Office, I held no military power, meddled not in the judiciary, and formed no cliques. With nothing but a nine-grid abacus, I set the entire machinery of state into thunderous motion!