Shouren Academy.
Gu Yan's fury made his hair stand on end.
He had suffered endless indignities at court, all because of Xu Qingxiao's rotten idea.
Selling offices?
This was an absolute disgrace.
For Great Wei, it was an utterly unacceptable humiliation.
They would lose every shred of dignity.
Yet, to his surprise, Xu Qingxiao slapped a stack of papers into his hands.
What was he giving him these for?
Gu Yan looked down, anger still burning in his eyes.
It was a financial statement.
Why show me a financial statement? How much silver could those merchants possibly pay? Xu Qingxiao, you really think too highly of them.
Gu Yan sighed inwardly.
But after scanning it carefully, he froze on the spot.
Tenth Rank official-merchant applications: 490,000.
Ninth Rank official-merchant applications: 150,000.
Eighth Rank official-merchant applications: 7,000.
Seventh Rank official-merchant applications: 2,000.
Sixth Rank official-merchant applications: 487.
Fifth Rank official-merchant applications: 144.
Fourth Rank official-merchant applications: 31.
Third Rank official-merchant applications: 10.
Second Rank official-merchant applications: 6.
First Rank official-merchant applications: 9.
Total application revenue: 7.835 billion taels of silver.
Actual total revenue: 7 billion taels of silver.
Projected total revenue for this year: 10 billion taels.
Ah. This!
The anger in Gu Yan's eyes vanished instantly, replaced by shock-utter, unparalleled shock.
Total application revenue: 7.835 billion taels of silver.
Actual total revenue: 7 billion taels of silver. After all, some applicants would request refunds, which was perfectly normal.
But Xu Qingxiao had projected total revenue for the year at 10 billion taels of silver.
What did that mean?
The Great Wei Dynasty currently collected 100 million taels in annual taxes. Although Great Wei was at its weakest, even at its height, its highest recorded revenue had only been a little over 2 billion taels of silver.
Xu Qingxiao's 10 billion