Chen Nan said this, ostensibly letting him go, but in fact he was digging a hole. If he agreed, it would be confirmed that he had planted a spy in the palace.
If he didn't do this, Zeng Xiangguo would not be able to explain why he found out that the queen had been poisoned, and he suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.
"Zeng Aiqing, seeing that you are so interested in this assassination, I will leave this case to you. In three days, I will give you all the information about the killer."
"Your Majesty, I——"
"Okay, that's it. Everyone, do you have anything to say?" Before Zeng Xiangguo could speak, Chen Nan looked at the ministers again.
Zeng Xiangguo's face was gloomy and uncertain, knowing that he could not afford to throw away this hot potato. He was so angry that Zeng Xiangguo winked at the officials behind him.
"Your Majesty, there has been a flood in Guangdong and Guangxi recently, and we are in urgent need of money and food."
"Your Majesty, the southeast coast was attacked by water bandits, resulting in heavy casualties. I request Your Majesty to send troops to annihilate them."
"Your Majesty, the nomads in Youzhou are rampant and have robbed tens of thousands of our men from the grain fields. Our women have been brutally humiliated and killed. The Youzhou garrison general has applied for support from the imperial court."
"Your Majesty, Chen and Qi have invaded our territory and requested a higher annual tribute. If we refuse to accept, they will launch a war on us."
…
After a long time of burning incense, Chen Nan's eyebrows almost knitted together. He also understood that those officials were all from Zeng Xiangguo, but what they said was true.
"Everyone, I will solve them one by one. That's it for today."
"Retreat from the court." Following the eunuch's loud shout, the officials knelt down again and shouted long live. After Chen Nan left, everyone stood up.
Walking out of the Tai Chi Hall, Zeng Xiangguo was surrounded by five or six officials. The leading official was the first to stand up: "Master Zeng, is this really good?"
"What should I be afraid of? He is just a faint king. Everything he said in the memorial is true. If he wants to usurp the throne, he should come forward."
"In less than two days, he will get tired of it and return to his mother's arms. We will still be in charge of the affairs of the Liang Dynasty."
"What Zeng Xiangguo said is absolutely true. The emperor is just a young boy. If the prime minister hadn't been running around day and night, this boat would have sunk long ago. It would be the emperor's turn to show off his power."
His name was Wen Yao, a die-hard loyalist of Zeng Xiangguo's lineage, and also the Minister of the Left of the Ministry of Personnel.
"Master Wen said it, and Prime Minister Zeng said it."
"Lord Wen is really as sharp as a torch, and Zeng Xiangguo is really as sharp as a torch."
A group of officials flattered Zeng Xiangguo and Wen Yao one after another. After leaving the palace gate, Chen Nan, dressed in imperial robes, stood on the palace tower and watched the officials leave. He secretly made up his mind to control the Daliang court as quickly as possible.
"Let the people from the Ministry of Finance come over." After saying that, he turned around and went downstairs. No one answered, but he also knew that the Minister of the Ministry of Finance was coming soon.
"Old minister, Wen Yao, the left minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, welcomes the emperor."
"I'm going to find a bachelor. What do you mean?" Chen Nan looked sideways at Mr. Yun, thinking he heard something.
"Your Majesty, our current household minister is just a minister. This position has been vacant many years ago." Mr. Yun said.
"Wait a minute, I remember that the last Minister of the Ministry of Justice was Nalan Xiao. Where is Nalan Xiao? Why don't I remember that he resigned on his own initiative?" Chen Nan frowned. He didn't know about it.
"To report to the Emperor, three years ago, Nalan Xiao was beheaded by the Emperor for taking bribes and perverting the law. In recent years, I have been in charge of the household department." Wen Yao was the first to speak, with an unconcealable pride in his voice.
"Okay, then, let me ask you again, how much money is there in the inner treasury that can still be used?"
"That, that, in recent years, there has been a famine in the empire, so we..." When Wen Yao talked about silver, the pride on his face had disappeared, replaced by a kind of shame.
"Stop showing off, how many taels of silver are left in my treasure house?" Chen Nan kicked Wen Yao angrily.
"Your Majesty, please forgive me. We don't have much silver left, just ten thousand taels."
"What? Ten thousand?" Chen Nan simply thought that he heard wrongly. In such a large country, the internal treasury is only one hundred thousand taels of silver. What is this concept?
"Your Majesty, we really only have ten thousand taels of silver. Due to natural and man-made disasters in the past few years, our finances have been stretched thin, and..."
"Shut up, have you embezzled our money?" Before Wen Yao could finish her words, Chen Nan grabbed her by the neck, and her eyes almost popped out.
This is not a pretense, he does have the ambition and strength to revitalize Daliang, but these are inseparable from money. Now there is only a mere one hundred thousand taels of silver in the treasury, which may not be enough to pay the salaries of the officials.
"Your Majesty, be careful with your body." Elder Yun saw Chen Nan's emotions and quickly stopped him. He didn't want Chen Nan to hurt his body, nor did he want Chen Nan to strangle Wen Yao to death.
"Ahem." As Chen Nan let go, Wenyao collapsed to the ground and kept coughing. Wenyao was over fifty years old. In ancient times, he was definitely considered an old man, but he was choked to death by Chen Nan. .
"Tell me what happened. If you can't tell me why, your whole family will die."
"His Majesty."
Then, she gave an overview of Daliang's financial situation over the years. The general idea was that floods and droughts were everywhere in the country.
In addition to natural disasters, there are also man-made ones. There are Huns and other nomads in the north, and there are water thieves on the coastline in the south. The two countries in the south are borders.
In addition to disaster relief, the imperial court also had to support the two empires. The army needed military pay and officials needed salaries. The annual taxes were too little.
If it weren't for the increase in taxes every year in recent years, Daliang's financial system would have collapsed long ago.
"Your Majesty, something bad has happened. A large number of refugees have gathered outside the imperial city. General Lan wants to ask you, do you want to capture all the refugees?"
Chen Nan was having a headache about taxation when he saw a captain walking in quickly from a distance. From the look on his face, it could be seen that the gate of this city must be very dangerous.
"Lead the way." He turned around and ran. Before he ran far, he turned back and asked Wen Yao.
"You come too."
"As ordered." Wen Yao felt something was wrong, but she had to listen to the emperor, so she had to follow him.
"Your Majesty, I'm useless. I can't drive those refugees out." Lan Yuan saw Chen Nan arriving on the wall of the imperial city and quickly stepped forward to apologize.
Chen Nan waved his hand and asked Lan Yuan to stand up. He looked out of the city and saw densely packed people fleeing below, numbering at least a thousand.
Chen Nan's face darkened: "Where do the refugees come from? There are so many of them?"
