Chapter 117 Even a Big Tree Has Withered Branches: "Grandma, Grandpa. Bao-ye is here, he came in through the side door." "How come..."

"Grandma, Grandpa. Bao-ye is here, he came in through the side door."

"Why did you come at this hour? Did you say anything about it?"

"When asked, he waved his hand repeatedly to the servants, saying that he would talk to the master and mistress first."

"Bring the person in directly and have them wait in the east wing study."

Construction workers can be deadly when they're rushing to meet deadlines. Before, Yu Lang spent his days either serving in the palace or by the Crown Prince's side, offering advice and talking his mind. Even so, Yu Lang still felt that he was working very hard and worrying a lot.

Now, overseeing several princely mansions and noble residences, the responsibilities have shifted from vague pronouncements to concrete actions. Watching the craftsmen demolish old residences and rebuild foundations according to blueprints, witnessing the gradual transformation from nothing to something, from old to new, is both gratifying and exhausting.

Yu Lang's attitude gradually changed from "men decide what happens outside, and the eldest mistress only needs to manage the household" when they first got married to "it's better to talk to Ji Yun about anything, whether it's good or bad, maybe she has some ideas."

The transition to "I have to say, I won't feel at ease until Grandma agrees" is a natural and smooth process. Even their study gradually has more of each other's things, and neither of them feels anything is wrong.

Even Chang Shun, who came from the outer courtyard to the east courtyard to report, didn't think there was anything wrong with the eldest mistress getting up so late for matters at the Ministry of Works, even if she wanted to see Baoshan, an outsider.

Baoshan is the eldest grandson of Fuchang. Fuchang is the head of the militia under Yulang. The Fuchang family has been the head of the militia for many years and had originally planned to let Baoshan take over for them in a few years.

Who knew that Yu Lang's career would take off so quickly over the past few years, rising from a Zuo Ling (a military officer) who was barely familiar with the affairs of the Banner to his current position.

Fu Chang, who used to talk about giving Changsun a position every now and then, is now still vigorous and working with Xiaoji Xiao Fan Gu to manage the affairs under the Zuo Ling in an orderly manner. According to him, Yu Lang doesn't need to worry about the miscellaneous affairs within the Zuo Ling, and he can at least work for Yu Lang for another ten years!

Baoshan was chosen by Yulang to stay by his side and was given the official position of scribe in the Plain Yellow Banner. The scribe was a low-ranking official, usually between the ninth and eighth ranks, and was usually responsible for the clerical work of the officers.

Baoshan is a steady and reliable person, and he is extremely sensitive to arithmetic and numbers. So even though Yulang is now a senior official in the Ministry of Works, with enough assistant ministers, clerks and so many clerks under his command, he still entrusts Baoshan to keep an eye on things secretly, so that having both overt and covert lines of communication is more secure.

The blueprints have been finalized, and the quantity calculations based on them have been completed. Yu Lang needs to submit the calculated quantities to the Vice Minister and Minister of Works, who will then forward them to the Emperor. Only after His Majesty's approval can he turn around and take the calculated quantities to the Ministry of Revenue to request the funds.

Getting money was the top priority. In this part, the Vice Minister and the Imperial Household Department worked together to negotiate with the Ministry of Revenue, while Yu Lang focused his main energy on how to arrange and allocate the craftsmen.

Some courtyards of several mansions were demolished and rebuilt, while others were renovated and repaired on the basis of the old houses. Which one to do first and which one to do later, and whether to give the carpenters who could work together a separate place to work, all these things had to be arranged properly, otherwise everything would be in chaos.

The money couldn't be provided all at once. The Ministry of Revenue allocated a sum of money first, which Yulang could then use to start his work.

Many things are spent the most time and energy on the initial wrangling and disputes. Once these issues are clarified, the subsequent construction schedule will be much easier to carry out.

In just one month, two batches of timber and stone were transported from the south to the capital, and the entire city was abuzz with excitement over the news that "His Majesty is going to divide the family property among his sons and build their own mansions."

Not to mention the officials and merchants who were actually working for the Ministry of Works and the Imperial Household Department, even those ordinary people who smelled the opportunity to make money and set up their restaurants at the gates of princes' and nobles' mansions to sell dumplings, potstickers, and tofu pudding, or even those who didn't have stalls but just carried a load of tea, all made a lot of money.

Another batch of timber is arriving at the dock in the next couple of days. Most of this timber will be used in the two princely mansions. I heard that there are more than a dozen particularly rare golden nanmu wood pieces, which have already been decided to be used on the core golden pillars of the main hall of the Zhijun Prince's mansion and the Chengjun Prince's mansion. This is a symbol of status and also a favor from His Majesty.

In addition to the officials in charge of the Ministry of Works leading the craftsmen to guard the docks and wait for the goods to arrive, Yu Lang also transferred several skilled men from his own command to keep watch, just in case someone took the opportunity to cause trouble.

Baoshan went with them to inspect the goods. The construction of the five mansions would cost a fortune. The Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works each had their own accounts. In addition, Yulang also asked Baoshan to set up a private account.

If nothing goes wrong, only he, Jiyun, and Baoshan will know about this private account. If something does go wrong, at least it's a way out. To put it bluntly, even if he dies, he'll at least know how he died.

"Don't worry, something serious must have happened at this time. Either the ship coming to the capital has run into trouble, or there's been a problem with the cargo on board."

"Grandma is so good at comforting people. Any problems with the ship or the cargo are definitely not a small matter. Why aren't you worried?"

“Baoshan is not reckless. He can handle ordinary matters on his own. If the ship sinks and the cargo is lost, the Ministry of Works will come knocking on the door even without his intervention.”

Therefore, for Baoshan to come knocking on such a dark and stormy night, it must mean that something went wrong with the cargo at the docks. Moreover, it must be something that others haven't discovered yet, but is so significant that he dares not delay in the slightest. Shen Wanqing had already guessed what it probably was.

There's no need to rush these things; once they've happened, it's a fait accompli. What matters is how things will end, or rather, how Yulang and the Crown Prince intend to resolve the situation.

"Grandpa, Grandma."

"Sir, the timber on this batch of ships heading to Tongzhou is incorrect."

"What's wrong with it? Is it because the quantity is too small or the quality is not up to par?"

"The quantity is correct, and the materials on the surface are also correct; they are all top-quality Phoebe zhennan and pine."

Baoshan didn't come over in the middle of the night to tease Yulang and Shen Wanqing or keep them in suspense. He took the tea that Xueyan brought and gulped it down. After Xueyan left again, he immediately told her everything that had happened that night.

Yulang asked Baoshan to record the private accounts. Baoshan not only recorded the accounts in detail, but also asked Fuchang to find a blind old man who had been a craftsman for most of his life in the outer city. He brought him along to specifically check the various materials transported from outside the city on the ship.

"Old Mi's eyes aren't completely blind, he just can't do fine work anymore. He's built houses all his life, and he cares about bricks, stones, and wood more than his own sons. He can tell the quality of any kind of wood, stone, or even sand and mud as long as it passes through his hands and ears."

The boat arrived at the shore at night. For Baoshan, boarding the boat was a bumpy ride, and he was afraid of accidentally falling into the river again. But for Lao Mi, it was a smooth journey. He was even humming a little tune as he boarded the boat.

Baoshan was one of Yulang's men, and officials at the docks and the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue knew this. No one thought anything was wrong or paid any attention when he brought his men to the ship to oversee the cargo. Old Mi casually moved among the boatmen, then lifted the tarpaulin-wrapped timber to caress it, occasionally even sniffing it.

The texture and taste seemed fine, but something didn't quite feel right. Old Mi was unsure and didn't dare to say anything rashly, so he stalled for time by talking about other things while he looked through them one by one.

"Old Mi has always been very confident in his skills. He can say whatever he wants about the wood and stone – if he says it's good, it's good; if he says it's bad, it's bad. Seeing that, I didn't rush him."

Old Mi inspected all the timber on several boats but found nothing wrong. It wasn't until the boatmen unloaded the timber and the sound of it hitting the ground woke him up.

"The timber has been replaced. The usual trick of replacing timber with wood is to use firewood and smudge it to look old. Old Mi can't hide that kind of trick from his nose. This time, those people did it carefully. They put a thin layer on the outside of the core. It feels and smells good. We'll only find out after the craftsmen use it for a while."

Baoshan was quite frightened at the time, but he quickly figured out what was going on. The worst thing about this kind of thing is dragging others down with you. The earlier it is discovered, the easier it is to handle. The later it is discovered, the harder it is to investigate and the more people will be involved.

If these timbers are accepted by the Ministry of Works at the dock tonight, then transported to the capital and distributed to various residences, and the craftsmen in charge of handling the timber discover something is wrong, it will be very difficult to pinpoint exactly where the problem lies.

At that point, it's possible that the supervisors and craftsmen will keep quiet out of fear and just use the pillars without any real knowledge, as long as the prince doesn't notice.

Either they report it and then pass the buck, eventually finding a few scapegoats to cover it up. As for the embezzled money, it's guaranteed to be nowhere to be found.

The missing timber will be re-transported, and the cost will ultimately be borne by the Ministry of Revenue and the national treasury. As for those who will be held accountable and implicated, Yu Lang, the Director of the Construction Department, will certainly not escape responsibility.

"Sir, this is all for you."

"I was just caught in the crossfire; if they're going to make a move, they're after the money."

Building a Prince's Mansion would cost at least 100,000 to 200,000 taels of silver. A Beile Mansion would cost around 100,000 taels. With all five mansions added up, the total cost would be around one million taels.

The imperial court's annual tax revenue is only around 30 million taels of silver. One million taels of silver could dredge a long stretch of the Yellow River or support a small-scale battle. Now, it's being used to build a few princely mansions and noble residences, so it's impossible that no one is eyeing that opportunity.

Yu Lang, the chief of the Construction Department, was mainly responsible for ensuring the quality of several mansions. Because quality was the key factor, Yu Lang had long been prepared to inflate prices during procurement and profit from the difference.

His attitude was, "Make money if you want. Even if you quote one or two taels of silver for an egg, I won't care, as long as you give me a chicken egg and not a duck egg."

Who knew that these people weren't content with just making money from one source, they wanted to profit from both. Not only did they want to profit from the price difference, but they also wanted to pass off inferior goods as genuine. The price was already several times higher than usual, and now the goods they received were not what they were promised. Who could stand that?

"Who cares who he's after? Let's investigate this or not."

Shen Wanqing had seen this kind of thing many times, and to be honest, she couldn't even pretend to be surprised. What she cared about now was whether or not the matter should be investigated.

The matter itself isn't difficult to investigate, since several ships were docked at Tongzhou Wharf. The real challenge is figuring out who had the audacity behind this, or rather, given their audacity, whether the investigation can continue based solely on Yulang's case.

Furthermore, if we push things too far like this, what will be revealed will definitely not only be Prince Zhi and the servants under each household.

With Lingpu in the Imperial Household Department, the Algishan brothers outside, and the followers and former officials of the Songgotu faction and the Shi family, were there really no officials in Jiangnan and the Southeast involved in this matter?

These kinds of things are either not investigated at all, or if they are, they will lead to a whole series of problems, and by then it will be too late for Yulang or the Crown Prince to stop them.

Furthermore, what should be the scope of the investigation? Should it only investigate this instance of substituting inferior goods for superior ones, or should it investigate all previous instances? Should the inflated prices reported by the Imperial Household Department and the purchasing personnel be investigated, and how much higher a price would be considered an inflated price?

After all, things like nanmu, pine, and stone don't have a fixed price. People say that the golden nanmu used to build the pillars of the two princes' mansions is hard to find anywhere in the world, and if you want to buy it, you have to pay this price. Even if the court and the princes want to use it, they can't just say it's not worth it because they think it's not worth it. Wouldn't that be like robbing them?

"Baoshan, take my badge and make a trip tonight. All the goods unloaded from the ship tonight are not allowed to enter the capital. Find a warehouse on the spot and put them in there first."

"Okay, I'll take care of it right away."

“Madam, find a way to enter the palace tomorrow morning. If this matter gets out of hand, the Shi family and the Shen family will probably be implicated. You should go and inform the Crown Princess first.”

"Okay, you don't need to worry about the Shen family. I'll get Wanlan over here."

The Shen family's caravan was also involved in this lucrative deal, but with Shen Hongji and Shen Hongshi in charge, they would at most earn a little more money, and they certainly wouldn't use inferior goods to undermine their son-in-law, Yu Lang.

Yu Lang nodded and immediately got up and walked out. He couldn't investigate this matter alone; he needed to drag the Vice Minister and the Minister of Works into it first.

The next day, before Shen Wanqing even left the house, Chang Shun came in to report that the Imperial Household Department and the Commander's Office had sent people to guard the warehouse. Since the Imperial Household Department and the Commander's Office had been alerted, it meant that the entire Ministry of Works had already communicated about the matter and wanted to take this opportunity to escalate it to higher levels.

In Yuqing Palace, Shi Qionghua, who was diagnosed with pregnancy last August, is already quite pregnant. Now, before March is even halfway over, according to the imperial physicians, she will give birth in about a month.

After hearing Shen Wanqing explain her purpose, Shi Qionghua was not surprised at all; on the contrary, she seemed quite happy.

"Do you remember when you held a birthday banquet for your mother at the beginning of the year, and afterwards you came to me and said you were tired of receiving gifts? If you were tired, how could I not be tired this year?"

Shi Wenbing did not die, and Shi's wife successfully married into Yuqing Palace. Suo'etu now seems to be neglected, but in another sense, this neglect means that Suo'etu's faction has not yet suffered the loss of being completely eradicated; everyone is just hiding their heads.

Soetu was unharmed, as were Mingzhu's faction. Shi Wenbing appeared loyal to the emperor, but his power was growing, and while he had capable men under his command, he also had sycophants who fawned upon him.

The fact that everyone is getting along so well and nothing major has happened means that those who want to take advantage of the situation and profit from it are still around. They don't usually show their true colors, but this year, with the construction of mansions for several princes and nobles, all sorts of scoundrels have started to surface.

"This child came at the right time. As long as the Crown Prince has no disloyal intentions, His Majesty will not take drastic measures. It would be better to take this opportunity to sort things out. A big tree has dead branches, and we can't wait for others to take care of them, or they will really become a disaster."

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Yu Da Gou! Roll up your sleeves and get to work! [Dog head holding a rose]