Princess Ruining was released and put in charge of pacifying the displaced people. Prince Qing, however, remained confined to his residence and was not allowed to leave.
The Emperor's intentions were clear, and the court officials secretly plotted among themselves. Some spared no effort to curry favor with Princess Ruining, while others remained stubborn old ministers who firmly believed that Prince Qing was the Emperor's only son and would ascend the throne sooner or later.
At this delicate moment, long-awaited good news arrived from the harem. The emperor's harem was simple, and his offspring were few; no good news had come for many years.
The one who is pregnant now is Consort Xue, who has been in the palace for many years and has never had a presence in the harem, but has now suddenly become the most sought-after person.
The emperor did not show any particular joy at this, but simply distributed the rewards according to the proper proportions for the harem, and left the rest to the empress to handle.
Empress Lu was currently preoccupied with Prince Qing's affairs and had no time to care for a mere young beauty. The Emperor hadn't given her any special attention either, so Empress Lu simply gave orders to others, her mind preoccupied with her son's matters.
However, in the imperial court, this matter stirred up some people's ambitions once again.
Originally, the emperor only had one son and one daughter. Now that the Feiyin under Prince Qing's control has run into a major mess, his ascension to the throne is indeed flawed. Most of the people who still care about Prince Qing are simply unable to bear Princess Ruining, a woman, interfering in court affairs.
But if Lady Xue could give birth to a son, everything would be different.
Chaos reigned in the imperial court, but the number of onlookers increased.
Empress Lu had heard about this, but she didn't care. She just smiled coldly and said, "What a lowly bastard dares to surpass my son?"
Even her son couldn't surpass Zhao Yao. Let alone a little one who hasn't even crawled out of its mother's womb yet?
This group of people are getting more and more confused as they get older.
The palace servants in Changqiu Palace dared not speak, but became even more cautious in their actions.
Princess Ruining has been meeting with many court officials these days, busy with disaster relief efforts. With worries on her mind and instructions from the Emperor, she has shed her former indecisiveness and become more assertive.
Some courtiers who were dissatisfied with her secretly cursed her as a "hen crowing at dawn," attributing the current widespread refugee crisis to Princess Ruining.
Princess Ruining didn't seem to care: "They only dare to gossip behind my back. When they come to my face, they don't dare to say a word."
Linlang was furious.
Linlang is now the chief lady-in-waiting to Princess Ruining, and she acts with great order and discipline. Although she is still resentful, she has not done anything outrageous for the sake of her princess.
Gu Yaoniang immediately shared her speculation with Princess Ruining. With prices in disarray, the world was descending into chaos. However, this chaos couldn't have arisen without cause. Someone must have been tempted by the illicit gains, using their power to enrich themselves.
Either an outsider tampered with it and copied Feiyin, or there was a problem within Feiyin Division itself.
The informants were sent out, and news quickly returned. Based on the amount of silver coins currently being printed by the Flying Silver Bureau, it should be roughly equivalent to the previously officially produced silver dollars, or at most, no more than 50%.
However, many people now go to the Silver Exchange to exchange for cash, but the Silver Exchange simply doesn't have that much silver.
At first, the officials of Feiyin Division did not take it seriously, but as time went on, they began to realize that something was wrong, and the situation gradually got out of control. They could no longer hide it, so they reported it to their superiors.
Before the imperial court could even react, the people began to riot. Many of them had only exchanged their cash for the extra silver offered by the Flying Silver Bureau, without truly accepting the Flying Silver; they merely used it as a form of currency, trusting it more because it was issued by the imperial court. Before they had truly accepted the Flying Silver, they heard the devastating news that the Flying Silver Bureau could no longer redeem cash.
The various local silver bureaus were affected, and were surrounded by local people every day. Zhang Wushan, now a minor official in the treasury, was assigned to check the records to see how much the silver inflows and outflows were between the silver inflows and the cash inflows.
Zhang Wushan and his men set up a stall at the entrance of the Feiyin Bureau in Shuojing, registering the amount and serial numbers of the Feiyin that the people currently had that they could not redeem.
The printing of silver coins was an unprecedented undertaking. Each silver coin was uniquely numbered by the Ministry of Revenue's Silver Coin Department. A method, understood only by those within the Ministry of Revenue, was used to assign a number to each coin based on its printing date, denomination, and order.
This serial number is not only a number, but also conveys information, enabling the verification of the authenticity of Fei Yin.
In other words, there can never be two identical Flying Silvers in the world.
But not long after, Zhang Wushan realized something was wrong.
He was good with numbers and had an excellent memory. Looking at the commercial draft in front of him, he suddenly stopped. Why did it seem so familiar?
Zhang Wushan snatched the book, which was already full and about to be sealed, from his deputy and began flipping through it. He flipped through it faster and faster until he finally stopped when he saw a page.
He placed the silver in his hand together with the number on the book, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper.
This series of events, though numerous, occurred in the blink of an eye.
The person who had just given Zhang Feiyin was frightened by Zhang Wushan's actions. Looking at the official before him, he asked tremblingly, "My lord, what's wrong?"
Zhang Wushan ignored it and examined the flying silver in his hand several times to confirm that it was undoubtedly printed by the Flying Silver Bureau and there was nothing wrong with it.
But there was clearly already a similar silver card before.
This is far more serious than a counterfeit silver note. A counterfeit silver note is the work of a villain, but two identical silver notes, both printed by the Silver Bureau, indicate a problem within the Ministry of Revenue itself.
Despite it being early spring, Zhang Wushan's back was soaked with sweat.
He said to the man in front of him, "There's something wrong with this flying silver; you have to stay."
We must keep it and investigate carefully to see if there is any problem. Similarly, he must send someone to retrieve the silver note that was registered earlier.
The man before him was an elderly gentleman, dressed in thin clothes with patches even in inconspicuous places. Startled by the words, he assumed it was Zhang Wushan and tried to snatch back the silver from his hand: "This is my money! Give it back!"
Zhang Wushan refused, and the two were about to come to blows. There were already many people, and Feiyin Division had lost the support of the people. The old man had no choice but to fall to the ground in the scuffle, shouting, "Murder! Murder! The officials are killing people! They're going to kill me! This is all my wealth, my God! I can't live anymore! I can't go on living!"
At first, he was just wailing and trying to avoid giving Fei Yin back, but as he cried, it turned into real crying. He thought about how he might never get back the silver, and grief overwhelmed him, so he cried even more desperately.
Amidst the whispers and pointing fingers, Zhang Wushan was only able to escape with the help of his deputy.
But this matter caused a huge uproar, resulting in a loss of prestige and face, so they had no choice but to close Feiyin Division down. Now, the situation has become serious.
Zhang Wushan was punished, but several pairs of identical flying silver coins ended up on Princess Ruining's desk.
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