Chapter 104: A Sudden Counterstrike

“This…” Sha Chongyi had only been ordered to bite back, not prepared with such detailed knowledge. Caught on a sore spot by Zhang Jiuling, he immediately lost his composure.

However, having served as a censor for many years, he was skilled in verbal battles. He quickly regained his calm, furrowed his brows decisively, and cited evidence extensively: “Indeed, I, Sha, have never seen the scroll nor tested the sample, but I can infer from the cost of producing gunpowder at the Armory Bureau.”

To prove his point, he turned his gaze to Zhang Qian. “Thief Zhang, can you dare to tell your colleagues present how much it cost just to make those gunpowder pots in your workshop?”

The four gunpowder pots and their accessories were all made of pure copper. Many had visited and seen them, so the cost was well known—it couldn’t be low. Sha Chongyi had long kept this as a trump card in his mind, intending to use it at a crucial moment to catch Zhang Qian off guard. Unexpectedly, Zhang Jiuling’s pressure forced him to reveal it prematurely.

Even so, Sha still believed that if Zhang Qian disclosed the cost of the pots, many would abandon their sympathy and support for him.

But to his surprise, Zhang Qian responded bluntly: “You accuse the thief while crying ‘Stop thief,’ but you refuse to admit it. Those four gunpowder pots, plus the iron cauldron, stove, and other items, cost about four thousand strings of cash. However, I believe this expense is worth every coin.”

“Just for four gunpowder pots, you spent four thousand strings? And you say this is not a plan to weaken the state?” Sha Chongyi exclaimed, seizing on the figure of four thousand strings to make a big deal out of it. “And how much gunpowder did you produce this month? Barely ten thousand jin! Each jin costs nearly half a string of cash. With such expenses, which army could possibly afford this?”

“Ah, so much money?” As expected, before he could finish, the surrounding mid-ranking officials were all dumbfounded.

Though four thousand strings wasn’t a large sum for wealthy families, for these technical bureaucrats responsible for specific departments, it was enough to stir envy and resentment.

Especially for clean government offices like the Imperial Observatory and the Directorate of Imperial Books, whose annual budgets probably didn’t even reach one thousand strings. Zhang Qian’s ordinary armory bureau, a level below those, spent in one month what others used in four years. How could they keep calm?

In fact, it wasn’t just these technical officials who were shocked by the armory’s huge expenses. Emperor Li Xian of the Shenlong era, upon hearing that a jin of gunpowder equated to five hundred copper coins, felt his heart cringe.

Back when he was demoted from the throne by Empress Wu Zetian to Prince of Luling, his household was so poor that his wife Wei had to weave cloth just to afford winter clothes. Now, as ruler of the nation with vast wealth, he could not tolerate such reckless spending in any department.

The phrase “reckless spending” echoed in his mind, making Sha Chongyi’s earlier accusation of a “plan to weaken the state” all the more alarming. Li Xian’s brows knitted tightly as he fixed a steely gaze on Zhang Qian, waiting for a reasonable explanation.

Yet, to his fury, Zhang Qian responded to Sha’s accusations with a casual shrug: “Four thousand strings—is that a lot? Once the gunpowder pots are made, they will last at least twenty years. Spread over twenty years, that’s just two hundred strings a year. Such simple math, surely even Censor Sha can calculate it?”

Li Xian was momentarily stunned, his anger dissipating instantly.

“That’s just the cost for making the pots. What about craftsmen’s wages, wine, firewood, and daily maintenance? All need money,” Sha Chongyi, unwilling to be disproved, immediately began tallying other expenses after hearing Zhang’s amortization argument.

“Does Censor Sha live on thin air? You’ve surely heard the saying ‘A clever housewife cannot cook without rice.’ If the court wants gunpowder, do you think labor and materials come for free? If you can produce alcohol out of thin air, perhaps you could demonstrate it here. I’d gladly admit defeat!” Zhang Qian was confident in his reasoning skills. Simple words effectively blocked Sha’s accusations.

“I am a censor, overseeing all officials is my duty,” Sha Chongyi insisted stubbornly, “and you, as head clerk of the gunpowder bureau, show no thrift. Taking advantage of His Majesty’s trust, you squander public funds recklessly. Just for one gunpowder furnace, why use pure copper? If all five bureaus spent like you, how much reserve would the Tang treasury need to sustain?”

The gunpowder bureau was a sub-department under the Armory Bureau. There were probably seventy or eighty such sub-departments across the five bureaus and nine ministries of Tang. If one department’s spending of four thousand strings was normal, multiplying that by seventy or eighty would drive the Ministry of Revenue officials to desperation.

The figure cast a dark shadow over Emperor Li Xian’s face. Yet Zhang Qian remained calm and smiled lightly, then softly asked, “Censor Sha, since you know so well about the gunpowder bureau, do you know what lies behind it?”

“Of course, the northern wall of the Imperial City!” Sha Chongyi answered cautiously, unsure of Zhang’s intent.

“Then do you know why His Majesty named alcohol as ‘gunpowder’?” Zhang Qian’s cold laugh continued relentlessly.

“This substance cleans wounds and is extremely flammable!” Sha’s alarm grew stronger, and he quickly replied. Then he countered, “Don’t change the subject. What does the origin of the name ‘gunpowder’ have to do with your reckless spending?”

“If you know gunpowder is flammable and explosive, and that the Armory Bureau lies behind the city walls, why would you demand I be frugal? What is your true intention?” Zhang Qian retorted sharply.

Caught by this line of argument, even a clay figurine would have hardened. Moreover, with the ruby-haired girl’s grandfather present, Zhang dared not retreat further.

To demonstrate his capability to Old Fox Yang, Zhang dragged Sha into the realm of junior high physics and chemistry and struck decisively.

“This…” Sha was unprepared for Zhang’s counter, his mind momentarily overwhelmed.

Zhang, seizing the moment as in his free-fighting practice, pressed the attack: “The Armory Bureau lies just behind the Imperial City wall, separated from the Sanqing Hall by only a single wall. Alcohol is highly flammable and explosive; one careless spark could trigger a massive fire. I believe spending more to ensure the safety of the Imperial City and Sanqing Hall is only natural. And you, obsessed with saving money, put Sanqing Hall in danger. What are your true intentions?”

Sanqing Hall was not a residence but a shrine dedicated to Laozi, Li Er. The Tang royal family claimed direct descent from him. For an official to risk the safety of the emperor’s ancestral shrine just to save money was not mere pretense—it was a betrayal of the Tang dynasty itself.

Suddenly, nearly two-thirds of the officials in the Zi Chen Hall, from front to back, looked at Sha Chongyi as if he were a fool, their contempt mixed with some sympathy.

Sha, dizzy from Zhang’s assault, still refused to relent, croaking defiantly, “You’re speaking in lies! I don’t believe that not using pure copper for the gunpowder pots would cause fires. Is it impossible to make that gunpowder by any other means?”

“Better safe than sorry. No precaution is too much for the safety of the Imperial City,” Zhang said, blinking lightly at the ‘mouthy debater,’ then shook his head with a cold smile. “If I wanted to save money, it would be simple: with just an iron pot, a jar, a lid, and a bamboo tube, I could distill alcohol. The question is, do you dare let me set up such a crude workshop in your home? Would the soldiers on the front line dare to use that shoddy gunpowder on their wounds? As a censor, why waste time meddling with my gunpowder pots? Why force me to reveal cheap methods of distilling alcohol? Who sent you to expose me? For whose craftsmen are you trying to offer advice?!”