After the rebellion was successful, I realized that this place was the Red Mansion

Chapter 88 You Come to Sleep with Me Tonight
"Tell me about the situation in the palace."

Chu Yan gestured to Empress Zhang and Jia Yuanchun.

Empress Zhang sat still and looked at Consort Xian De.

"Your Majesty, please take a look at the palace account books first." Yuanchun stood up and took the accounts, and Chu Yan took them and looked through them.

"Across the Forbidden City, Daming Palace, the Western Garden, and various imperial estates, there are approximately 19,000 palace servants, 12,000 eunuchs, and 7,000 palace maids..."

Chu Yan watched and listened to Yuanchun's explanation.

Most of the seasonal vegetables, fruits, milk, goat's milk, etc. in the palace were supplied from the imperial farms near the palace, and about a thousand people were responsible for it.

There were about six thousand palace maids and eunuchs in the Forbidden City. When Chu Yan entered the palace, most of them came to kneel and pay homage.

On the left side of the Forbidden City is the Yunting Palace, where the palace maids are responsible for washing clothes, sweeping, sewing and other miscellaneous tasks, and there are also two to three thousand of them.

On the north side of the Forbidden City, in the northeast corner of the palace city, there is a Daming Palace, which was built during the reign of Emperor Taizong of Shun. It was basically modeled after the Daming Palace of the Tang Dynasty, even the name of the palace was copied. There were also thousands of eunuchs and palace maids there.

On the west side of the capital, a large area was designated as a royal garden area, called the Western Garden, and common people were not allowed to enter.

Many animals were raised in the Western Garden to satisfy the emperor's hunting and entertainment needs. There were also many palaces, pavilions, waterside pavilions, etc. in the Western Garden, which was somewhat similar to the Shanglin Garden in the Qin and Han Dynasties.

Many imperial farms were also located in the Western Garden, where there were many eunuchs, old palace maids and some hired farmers who were responsible for farming and providing food for the palace.

"The Western Garden is not yet complete. We were originally going to spend another five million taels of silver on building several palaces, but because Your Majesty proclaimed himself king in Jiangnan, this project had to be stopped."

Empress Zhang said lightly.

Chu Yan smiled. "He only stopped building the palace when I became king? He deserves to lose his kingdom. How much silver did he spend on the Western Garden?"

Jia Yuanchun replied, "Most of the Western Garden was inherited from the previous dynasty. Reconstruction began during the reign of Emperor Shun Renzong, and the cost has been incalculable. Therefore, when Emperor Shun ascended the throne, he allocated 10 million taels of silver at once to build nine immortal pavilions in the Western Garden for the retired emperor."

"The old emperor isn't going to live there?" Chu Yan asked.

"He stayed there for a few days, but later the Taoists said that the Forbidden City was the place where dragon energy converged, and he returned to the palace to inherit the destiny."

“How extravagant.”

Chu Yan looked at the accounts and shook his head with emotion.

The world belongs to one family, and this is fully reflected at this moment.

The emperor thought the imperial palace was too small, so he built the Daming Palace. But it was not enough, so he spent tens of millions of taels on the Western Garden, which was equivalent to using the country's annual tax revenue to satisfy his desire for travel.

"Stop the construction of the palace in the Western Garden." Chu Yan issued an order: "Except for the one that is almost completed, all other palace buildings will be demolished and the wood will be stored in a warehouse for future restoration."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Yuanchun's voice was calm and dignified.

Chu Yan looked through the accounts of Xiyuan again and said with a smile, "It would be great if there was a one-click recovery function. I would accept recovering only half of the money. I could recover 10 or 20 million silver for the national treasury. It's a pity that it can't be recovered. How much silver does it cost to maintain Xiyuan in a year?"

Yuanchun, Qinghe, and Keqing certainly didn't understand what "one-click recycling" meant, but they understood the general meaning, but they still found it absurd:
How can you recover the money after demolishing a built house?

Baochai was also puzzled. Why did the emperor have such an idea?

Empress Zhang said, "Just maintaining the palace would cost about a hundred thousand silver coins a year."

Chu Yan looked up at her and said, "You are truly worthy of being the queen who rules the country. A few hundred thousand silver coins is nothing to her."

Empress Zhang's face flushed, her expression vivid. She bit her lip and glared at him for a few times, but she couldn't help but say, "After the fall of my country, I have become accustomed to extravagance and wastefulness. I can't compare to the great talent and strategy of your Majesty, the founding emperor of your country!"

Baochai was secretly surprised. How could the queen of a fallen country speak like this?
"Empress sister-in-law..." Qinghe, who was sitting next to Chu Yan, was also worried about her.

Qin Keqing looked at Jia Yuanchun and saw that she was just sitting upright, as if she knew that the emperor would not be angry about such a small matter.

"Since the Queen has given me such praise, I will accept it."

While checking the accounts, Chu Yan said slowly: "But the Queen seems dissatisfied, you come to sleep with her tonight." Even though Queen Zhang had slept with him before, she was humiliated by him by "taking off her armor", and the people in the room were all his concubines, so she couldn't help but feel ashamed and angry.

After a long while, she finally managed to hold back her anger and said, "Your Majesty already has a beautiful woman to accompany you tonight, why do you bother to humiliate me?"

Xue Baochai was embarrassed by these words. She never imagined that the concubines in the palace served the emperor in this way... and their words did not shy away from romantic matters.

Her heart was pounding, and she felt for the first time the changes after entering the palace.

Qin Keqing was a little shy, but then smiled and said, "I have already planned to stay in the palace for a long time and am in no rush. Your Majesty has summoned the Empress to have sex with her. As a latecomer, how can I compete with her for favor?"

Empress Zhang took one look at her and knew she was a foxy woman, so she simply said, "I have no intention of arguing about these things, but I can't help myself."

Qin Keqing and Xue Baochai then remembered that she was from a fallen country, so they stopped talking.

Chu Yan continued to watch, ignoring their words. Fortunately or unfortunately, it was not up to them.

Yuanchun continued to explain to him.

The room was silent for a moment, with only Yuanchun's voice. Baochai relaxed a little because she knew that he was an easy-going person, and raised her eyes to look at the people in the room.

Princess Qinghe sat next to Chu Yan. She was beautiful and well-behaved. She had the nobility of a princess and was gentle and pleasant. She was about the same age as her.

Jia Yuanchun has a dignified demeanor and a gentle face; Qin Keqing is charming and attractive, speaks and acts gently and amiably, but dares to compete to become the favorite concubine.

Needless to say, Empress Zhang was once the mother of a country and is now favored by the new emperor.

In a room full of concubines, each with their own unique characteristics, how can she stand out?

"The palace spends about two million a year, but it's difficult to calculate the exact total," Jia Yuanchun reported.

"The palace's accounts are so confusing, it's no wonder you can't figure it out!"

Chu Yan looked up at them and said, "Keqing, you guys are here too. Come here, I'll tell you some accounting and reporting methods."

Several people were confused, but they all stood up and came to him.

"First, let me introduce you to bar charts and pie charts. They'll clearly show the proportions of various expenses..."

As a time traveler from the modern era, Chu Yan had already promoted a lot of knowledge from later generations when he was in Prince Qian's Palace, and changed all the mathematical calculation methods to those he was familiar with.

“Pie charts…number visualization.”

New and interesting words popped up one after another, leaving them overwhelmed.

After hearing this, Yuanchun realized that His Majesty wanted them to make a pie chart of the expenses of the emperor, empress, palace maids, eunuchs, and palace maintenance in the palace, so that it would be easier for him to cut expenses.

"Nearly 20,000 palace servants are too many. You should discuss and gradually reduce the number by half over the next few years."

Chu Yan looked at Empress Zhang and Yuanchun and said, "Start with me. The Empress and the Imperial Concubine should also set an example by reducing the number of eunuchs and palace maids who serve on a daily basis and releasing the palace maids to allow them to marry."

Eunuchs have no choice but to do anything outside the palace, but palace maids can get married and have children.

"Your Majesty is merciful~" Yuanchun said with a smile.

Baochai also laughed and said, "Emperor Taizong of Tang, in the early years of the Zhenguan era, released three thousand palace maids, which led to the beautiful saying, 'Three thousand resentful maids were released from the palace, and four hundred prisoners were returned to prison.'"

Several beauties took turns praising him, and Chu Yan couldn't help but smile. He threw down the accounts and said, "The reduction needs to be done slowly. Don't force people out of the palace. They will lose their livelihoods and the palace will be short of people."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"We still have some time. I plan to go take a look at the Daming Palace. If you want to go, you can follow me."

He didn't say anything about Keqing and Baochai, letting them stay or go, but Qin Keqing would probably go with him.

(End of this chapter)