Chapter 6

Of course, not everyone could follow what I meant.

Take the Vice Minister of Works.

I was inspecting a project and found him checking the riverworks.

So I asked, offhand, "Vice Minister. What do you think matters most in a project?"

He answered seriously:

"Materials?"

"No."

"Craftsmen?"

"No."

"The budget?"

I nodded.

"And?"

The Vice Minister thought for a long time, then said, very carefully:

"…Sacrificial offerings?"

Me: "..."

Yeah. Not the person I was looking for.

Half a month later, the Ministry of Works still rolled out a new project management system.

Every project planned in advance. Deadlines clear. Responsibility assigned to a person.

Efficiency jumped.

I stood to the side, speechless for a long time.

I had just asked a casual question.

Why had they gone and upgraded court institutions again?

After that, I gave up testing people one by one.

There were too many officials. One-by-one screening, who knew how long that would take.

And the Emperor had clearly started noticing I was off.

If I kept going like this, I might expose myself before I ever found my husband.

So I decided to widen the net.

Screen from the Six Ministries down.

First target.

The Ministry of Revenue.

If a modern person had transmigrated into this world, the easiest place to leave fingerprints was probably finance.

I summoned the Ministry of Revenue officials and had them report on the last few years of fiscal conditions.

The whole pack of them launched in at once.

Field tax.

Commercial tax.

Salt tax.

Granaries.

Ledgers.

My head hurt.

After they'd talked for a full two hours, I finally couldn't take it.

"Have you ever tallied how much wealth a country actually creates in a year?"

The entire Ministry of Revenue went silent.

The Minister of Revenue stared for a long beat.

"Your Highness…"

"Total wealth?"

"This… how would one calculate that?"

That was when it hit me.

A concept like GDP didn't exist in this era at all.

And yet.

Three days later.

The Ministry of Revenue sent over a new memorial.

National Wealth Accounting Plan.

Inside was a detailed scheme for tallying land, population, commerce, production, and the rest of the data.

I finished reading it and went completely silent.

I just wanted to find a modern person.

How had I pushed through another fiscal reform?

The Emperor read the memorial and was even more delighted.

"This method is excellent."

"Implement it at once."

I stood to the side, blank-faced.

Second target.

The Ministry of Works.

I tried testing them with modern thinking again.

While inspecting a project, I asked out of nowhere:

"Did you hit this year's plan?"

The Minister of Works paused.

"Plan?"

"Does Your Highness mean the construction dates?"

I nodded.

"Something like that."

Result.

Half a month later.

The Ministry of Works rolled out:

Annual Engineering Planning System.

Every project set targets in advance and passed inspection in stages.

Efficiency jumped again.

I was done. I surrendered.

What was wrong with these ancient people?

I just wanted to find a transmigrator.

How had I spent the whole road turning Great Zhou into a modern management model?

And still.

No matter how I probed.

I never found that familiar person.

No familiar language.

No familiar habits.

No familiar reactions.

Was I…

wrong?

Had he never transmigrated into this world at all?

I was starting to sink when, all at once, things took a turn.