Wanwan said, "You can buy anything, whether it's food, fabric, or jewelry, but food is the best, like eggs or other common items."
And so, Kangxi and Wanwan each took five taels of silver to buy things.
Wanwan has been hanging out in shops since she was a child, so she knows the prices of items very well and is a master at bargaining.
Buy more vegetables and add a clove of garlic, more meat and add a scallion, buy the kind of fabric worn by palace eunuchs, and then ask the shopkeeper to give him some extra change, or some leftover fabric that the shopkeeper doesn't want anymore.
Anyway, when the two met, Wanwan had a lot of things in her hands, and Kangxi also had quite a few.
Kangxi said, "Speak now, what about now?"
Wanwan said, "When we go back to the palace, you'll see what it is and you'll understand why."
So Kangxi and Wanwan boarded the carriage to return to the palace.
After returning to the palace, Wanwan changed her clothes and then took Kangxi to the study.
He gave Kangxi the account book that had only been purchased in the palace, saying, "Xuan Ye, look at this and see why you know I absolutely have to leave the palace?"
Kangxi took the account book from Wanwan and began to examine it closely, growing increasingly alarmed with each reading. Eggs were listed as two taels of silver each. Yet, when he bought them outside the palace earlier that day, they cost one copper coin each. Chicken, too, cost less than one tael of silver per chicken, but the account book stated thirty taels per chicken.
Kangxi was increasingly alarmed as he read on.
Wanwan looked at Kangxi and said, "Now you know why you absolutely have to leave the palace, right?"
“Actually, I run my own business and shops when I’m at home, so I know all the prices very well. But I was afraid you wouldn’t believe me, so I’m going out with you today so you can see for yourself what the prices are really like.”
“Outside the palace, eggs cost one coin each, but the ledger says they cost two taels of silver each, plus cabbage… So you can imagine where the rest of the money went?”
"And most importantly, these things weren't priced like this during the late emperor's time; their prices gradually increased until they reached this level now."
"Even if the prices on the books are a little higher than before, they won't be much higher."
The implication is that these items were already ridiculously expensive during their limited-time period.
"But when you left the palace today, you saw that prices had hardly increased."
"Where did that money go? The court is currently at war, and the national treasury is empty. The emperor hasn't held a selection of concubines for several years, and the allowances for the harem have been reduced, but these allowances have all been cut into..." Wanwan didn't say this, but Kangxi had already thought of it.
When Kangxi heard this, he could no longer contain himself. He was the ruler of the world, the supreme emperor, yet he had been fooled by his own servants all this time?
How could he possibly tolerate this? He immediately said to Wanwan, "I know. I will investigate this matter thoroughly. However, I can only do so in secret. Once I find out, I will absolutely not tolerate or keep these parasites around."
It's not entirely Kangxi's fault. Ever since he abolished the Three Feudatories in the twelfth year of his reign, the national treasury had been strained, and the allowances for the concubines in the harem had been continuously reduced.
Unexpectedly, all these things ended up in the pockets of his own servants. Thinking of all the efforts he had made over the years to abolish the Three Feudatories and the immense pressure he had endured, while his own servants had dragged him down, Kangxi felt an urge to exterminate his entire family.
What surprised me even more was that these people had such great power and the audacity to embezzle tribute. Furthermore, because of the abolition of the Three Feudatories, I also reduced my own allowance, and some of the finest tea was not offered as tribute.
But the ledger shows that these teas are still being purchased. So where did all this tea go? And where did these tribute items go?
Putting aside the matter of tribute, in the palace, they were servants; even in some princes' residences, during the day, they were servants, serving their masters.
After returning home at night, he became the master, and he even hired a large number of servants to serve him. In terms of money, he lived no worse than his master.
In private, he even referred to himself as a "family of bondservants." How dare a mere servant call himself a noble family?
Emperor Kangxi never imagined that his momentary lapse in attention, or rather, that these so-called "bondservant families" would almost rot the very lifeblood of the Qing Dynasty.
However, his frugality only fostered a bunch of rats.
PS: During the Kangxi era of the Qing Dynasty, prices were relatively low, but the prices of goods purchased in the palace were quite high. An egg cost two taels of silver, then ten taels, and eventually, around the Daoguang Emperor's reign, a bowl of noodles cost a staggering one hundred and fifty taels of silver. Even the emperor had to wear patched dragon robes. All this money went into the pockets of these bondservants. Therefore, the decline of the Qing Dynasty was partly due to these servants; because of the lack of money, the national treasury was empty, there was no money for war, and no money for anything else.
Therefore, the author wanted to eradicate these so-called "bondservant families" at their root to avoid future troubles. Moreover, the world the author created is a parallel world; history cannot be changed in the first place, so changes can only be made in a parallel world.
Another reason is that the author also disliked these so-called bondservant families, and even more so the Uya clan. He didn't want her to have a good ending, nor did he want her influence to extend so far through the bondservant system. So he had Kangxi solve this problem.
Okay, let's get back to the main topic.
……………………
When Kangxi looked at the stack of evidence of crimes committed by the so-called "bondservant families" on the imperial desk in the Qianqing Palace, their actions over the years, and the money they might have embezzled, he was filled with rage but had nowhere to vent it.
They would use the tribute items that they couldn't use themselves, and they might even wear better clothes than they could, since they never lacked the finest silks, and they could eat as much of the green rice as they wanted, which many concubines couldn't afford.
There are also many antiques and paintings, estates, shops, and fields... truly countless.
Even Emperor Kangxi, the ruler of the country, had a private treasury that, in fact, even the current national treasury combined, didn't amount to as much as the wealth of these bondservant families.
So how could Emperor Kangxi not be angry? How could he not be furious? How could he not lose his temper?
Indeed, Emperor Kangxi posed three questions in a row (?_?)
I've worked so hard to abolish the Three Feudatories, withstood so much pressure, and still haven't succeeded. Meanwhile, those three—even a lowly servant dares to embezzle tribute and steal vast sums of money…
To use Kangxi's words for now, the sins they committed were truly countless.
Most importantly, it made Kangxi realize the potential threat to his life.
These so-called "bondservant families" strengthened their kinship ties through marriage and other means, creating a complex and deeply entrenched network of influence within the palace.
That's normal, though. After all, these people have existed since the founding of the Qing Dynasty. Over time, they've accumulated their influence, so it's not hard for them to have such a complex power structure.
What Kangxi found most unacceptable was that he had discovered a large number of individuals among these bondservant families who matched his personal information…
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