After thinking for a long time, he still couldn't come up with a result or decision. Zhao Duan slammed the table irritably and decided to put this matter to tomorrow morning.
Then, the candle flame gradually went out, and Wang Shu became brighter and brighter.
The night passed quietly...
The next day.
Morning!
"Go to court! All officials have something to do, and they will withdraw from the court without any reason!"
Following Cao Shuang's announcement, the morning court officially began, and the Minister of Industry took the lead to stand up and report:
"Your Majesty, now that the Huns have entered the border, five of the ten heavy trucks at the border have been damaged. Among them, Xifengkou, Daliangcheng, Hetong, Suyun... etc. are the most serious!
Coupled with other breached cities in Hedong County, if you want to rebuild all these cities, even if it is just the cost, the court will need to spend three million taels of silver! "
After him, Prime Minister Zhang He also stood up and reported:
"Your Majesty, yesterday the county magistrates and prefects in the cities east of Hedong also reported on the disaster situation of the people in each county. This time, more than 1.3 million people were affected!
Although the Appeasement Department has been established urgently and the ministers of the Central and Central Governments have been dispatched to preside over it, when they went to Sinong Temple yesterday to adjust food, the Sinong Department only came up with 150,000 shi of food, not even half of it. It is not enough for disaster relief. Now the work of the entire Comfort Department has come to a standstill. Millions of victims are waiting for food! "
"Your Majesty! Our household department has no money!"
"Your Majesty, the Ministry of War has finished paying out the pensions for the wounded soldiers, but the rewards for the meritorious soldiers have not been paid out yet, and the Ministry of Revenue refuses to allocate money!"
"Do you fucking think I have money? Why don't you just sell me and see if I can get you two taels of silver."
As soon as the court came to court, all departments began to play frantically. The whole court was noisy, as if it were a vegetable market. All departments were blaming each other and passing the buck...
However, there is only one core point in the issue they are arguing about, and that is money!
Everyone is shouting that there is no money!
Repairing the city requires money!
Buying food for disaster relief costs money!
Rewarding meritorious soldiers requires money!
The Ministry of Accounts allocates money to various departments, but they still need money!
It’s all a matter of not having enough money!
Zhao Duan rubbed his brow with a headache and suddenly slapped the armrest of the dragon chair!
"enough!"
The loud noise suddenly stopped the noisy scene in the venue, and everyone looked at him in silence.
Zhao Duan first looked at the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue and asked:
"How much money does Hubu have now?"
Cui Wen, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, stood up and reported: "Back to Your Majesty, now the autumn tax collected by the Ministry of Revenue for this autumn harvest is less than one million taels after allocating the pensions for the soldiers who died in this battle."
Upon hearing that there was still one million taels left in the Ministry of Household Affairs, all departments immediately became excited!
"Call me first! I only need five hundred thousand taels!"
"Give it to me! I only need five hundred thousand taels!"
"Give us the Ministry of Works first. If the border town is not repaired, do you want to wait for the Huns to come again? Give us the Ministry of Works first!"
"Why! I have millions of victims waiting for food!"
"The officers and soldiers in our Ministry of War have been risking their lives before. This is the reward they deserve. Without them, would you still be able to sit here and discuss who should be given money? Give it to us first!"
Big bosses from various departments are competing!
The court, which had been quiet just now, became noisy again.
"Shut up!"
Zhao Duan roared again, and everyone stopped.
Zhao Duan glanced at the faces of the ministers below with his tiger eyes, stood up and angrily shouted: "Look! What do they all look like? How can you look like an important official of the imperial court?"
She was clearly the woman bargaining with the vendors at the market street!
Is it appropriate to still argue in the court? ! "
Everyone was silent, no one spoke.
After venting his anger, Zhao Duan also sat down, hesitated, and finally had no choice but to take out a memorial from his arms and throw it away.
"Let's all read it! Let us know your opinions after reading it."
Zhao Duan said in a deep voice.
All the officials were a little curious. In the end, the prime minister picked up the memorial before closing it. After reading the contents one by one, he couldn't help but have a look of surprise on his face. He touched his chin and started thinking.
At the same time, he also handed the memorial to Cui Wen, the Minister of Household Affairs.
When Cui Wen read the contents of the memorial, a smile suddenly appeared on his face, he handed the memorial to the Minister of Industry, and he began to think about it secretly.
Immediately afterwards, the memorial was passed on again and again in the hands of hundreds of officials.
Finally, everyone finished reading the memorial.
After Zhao Duan asked again, the court fell into a brief silence.
"What do you think? Dear ladies, what do you think?"
"Ah this..."
Prime Minister Zhang He touched his chin and said nothing, but Cui Wen, the Minister of Household Affairs, couldn't wait to urge him!
"If King Yun wants it, then give it to him. It just so happens that we can save a lot of money. Is there anything to hesitate about?"
"The minister of the Ministry of Industry seemed to be a little moved, but for some reason he didn't come forward. He was just thinking on the spot and didn't speak out."
The one who doesn't care the most is the Ministry of War. I just heard the Minister of the Ministry of War say: "I don't care what you do, the rewards for the hundreds of thousands of soldiers in my Ministry of War cannot be less!"
Everyone’s lips twitched!
Finally, Prime Minister Zhang He stood up and said:
"Your Majesty, logically speaking, it is a good thing that King Yun wants to remove these victims.
But the problem is, if all these victims are taken away by King Yun, it will not only increase the strength of the already powerful Yunzhou County.
What if Hedong becomes today's Liaobei County?
By then, the Ministry of Works will have money, and even if they want to find people to build the city, they can’t find anyone. Could it be that everyone has asked the Ministry of Works to come out? "
At this time, the Minister of Industry finally realized that something was wrong!
Yunzhou County has done this before!
The officials and landowners in Liaobei County are now working in the fields themselves. All the people have been taken away by Yunzhou County. They can't even find anyone to farm the land for them, so they can only work in it themselves!
It would be funny if all the people were taken away by Yunzhou County, and when their Ministry of Works started to repair the city, they suddenly found that there was no one left when they recruited corvees!
Immediately, the Minister of Industry and Commerce immediately objected!
"No, Your Majesty! We can't give people to Yunzhou County! We can't give them!"
"Are you going to give me money for disaster relief?"
When Cui Wen, the Minister of Hubu, heard this, he immediately became anxious and shouted at the Minister of Works.
The Minister of the Ministry of Works shrank his neck and said stubbornly: "That's a matter for your Ministry of Household Affairs. I don't care. People can't be given away. Where can we get people when we repair the city?"
"Hey! You little bastard, I have such a bad temper!"
The Minister of Hube began to roll up his sleeves. When Zhao Duan saw Cui Wen with a big beard, he wanted to do something. His head hurt even more, and he snorted heavily.
Cao Shuang immediately understood and shouted: "Li!"
The officials then came back to their senses and became quiet again.
Zhao Duan sighed helplessly and finally said: "I understand the situation.
The Ministry of Works wants money, the Ministry of War wants money, and the Department of Comfort also wants money, but the Ministry of Household Affairs has no money.
In this way, you can report how much money each department needs, and let me see how to solve it? "
The Minister of the Ministry of Industry immediately said: "Your Majesty, our Ministry of Industry wants three million taels!"
Zhao Duan's mouth twitched, but he still looked at the Ministry of War.
The Minister of War said: "Your Majesty, there is still a shortfall of 500,000 for meritorious service rewards!"
Zhao Duan looked at Prime Minister Zhang He again.
Zhang He cupped his hands and said: "The Appeasement Department still needs 240,000 shi of grain. Since the Xiongnu entered the customs, the price of domestic grain has increased significantly. Now it has doubled, and a pound of grain has risen to more than 20 yuan per pound. If you want to buy 240,000 shi of grain, you need at least 500,000 taels of silver!"
"Two half a million and one three million, right? In other words, the current shortage of the imperial court is about four million, but the Ministry of Household Affairs only has one million."
At this time, Cui Wen immediately said: "His Majesty said that he would leave enough 400,000 yuan to pay the officials, so only 600,000 yuan can be used!"
Zhao Duan was helpless and said again:
“There is a shortfall of 4.4 million!
In this way, we can agree to King Yun’s request, but we cannot agree to all of them!
I will make up part of this shortfall with 2 million from my internal funds, and let him take the remaining 2.4 million!
Don't worry, he has money! Take it out!
Zhao Duan thought of the carts of gold and silver that Zhao Jun transported back to the warehouse, and couldn't help but swallowed his saliva!
All the officials looked at each other, Zhang He stood up and frowned: "Your Majesty, do you mean to ask King Yun to pay for the person?"
…
(End of chapter)
