Chen Wenqi ignored everyone's questions and continued to read: "The governors of other provinces and their officials owe a total of 30 million taels of silver, the generals stationed in various places owe a total of 30 million taels of silver, and the officials of the imperial court owe a total of 20 million taels of silver... "
This time everyone was silent.
I really don’t know if I don’t tell you, but I’ll be shocked when I tell you!
I only knew that the national treasury had a lot of foreign debt, but I never thought there would be so much!
In fact, there have always been so many.
It's just that the previous Minister of Revenue was confused and incompetent. When reporting the inventory amount to Li Wanjiang, he regarded the IOUs as cash.
So much so that when Li Wanjiang learned that most of the so-called treasury silver was just IOUs, he was so angry that he almost fainted!
Then the confused official was dismissed and replaced by the shrewd Chen Wenqi.
That being the case, what else is there to say?
I want an account!
Easy to say.
Who wants it? Why?
This is a hard job that can offend people to death and exhaust you to death!
"Since everyone thinks it's time to clear up the debt, I don't know which lover is willing to share my worries?" Li Wanjiang was actually waiting for everyone to say this.
The people who had just pulled their necks and shouted for the account felt bad now, and they lowered their heads and shrunk their necks to avoid the emperor's eager gaze.
"I am willing to share the emperor's worries!" Seeing that everyone was silent, Zhu Xiaochuan could only bite the bullet and go ahead.
"You are the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Guard, and you are responsible for the safety of me and the palace. How can you be distracted by other things? It's inappropriate." Li Wanjiang objected directly.
"This is a matter for the Ministry of Household Affairs. Let me leave it to you." Chen Wenqi also stepped forward.
"That's not right. You have to take care of all the complicated matters in the household department. If you only focus on asking for accounts, can you do other things?" Li Wanjiang shook his head again and again.
Several more responsible ministers came forward and expressed their willingness to share the emperor's worries, but Li Wanjiang refused them all for various reasons.
Xiao Chen watched clearly and thought to himself that Li Wanjiang probably wanted to leave this drudgery to Prince Li Xian, right? Because for a while Li Wanjiang glared at the prince several times.
His eyes became increasingly sharp.
But the prince could just pretend not to see him, lowering his head in deep thought. Who knew what he was thinking?
In fact, smart people like Wang Anbang also guessed what Li Wanjiang meant, and they all cast suggestive looks at the prince.
I just missed your name, and you are still here in a daze.
Wake up, it's your turn to play!
"Prince, who do you think is the most appropriate person to send to do this job?" Seeing that the prince kept pretending to be confused, Li Wanjiang could only name him directly.
"When it comes to returning to my father, I think Chen Wenqi is very suitable." As soon as Li Xian said this, everyone changed their expressions.
My heart says are you deaf or stupid? Didn’t you hear what the emperor said just now?
"You have been the prince for so long and you have never done anything serious. You only know how to carry cages and walk birds around the brothels. No wonder Chen Jisheng is involved with you! This matter will be left to you. You have to pay all the debts within half a year. If you want to go back, retreat to the court!"
This is not the first time that Li Wanjiang has been in the court. The ministers have scolded the prince before. Xiao Chen has witnessed this twice with his own eyes.
In fact, Li Wanjiang could have told Li Xian about this matter in private, but he insisted on saying it in court...
It can be seen that the suspicion between father and son has reached a serious level.
Li Wanjiang did not have a private chat with his own son, but summoned Xiao Chen after the court was over.
We are still talking about Liu Ruyun’s marriage visit.
What he said was that he must be careful when he goes here, and must not let anything go wrong with my beloved concubine. After all, my wife was assassinated, which is a lesson learned from the past.
My wife is not safe in the palace, and I don’t know what will happen when I go out.
Apart from that, he was asked to monitor Liu Ruyun's every move, such as who did he meet on the road? What were you talking about? How long have we been chatting...
Also, after arriving in Myanmar, you should pay attention to the interaction between the king of Myanmar and Liu Ruyun, and try not to let Liu Ruyun have too much contact with her family, let alone in private!
Xiao Chen accepted the orders one by one and said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty. Nothing will happen to Concubine Liu Gui!"
This slave can use his head to guarantee that if anything happens to Concubine Liu Guifei... then the slave will definitely not come back.
It's impossible to come back.
After coming out of the emperor's palace, he quickly asked Wei Yuntian to go to the imperial prison and told the execution guards to be merciful, saying that the old injury on Chen Jisheng's butt was just fine, but he couldn't be beaten to a pulp again!
In addition, you can find a house outside and settle him down safely.
Why?
Just because we have to work from beginning to end, save people to the end, and send Buddha to the West... why are you talking so much nonsense? Go quickly!
Returning to the Xichang Yamen, everyone was called together for a meeting again. This time it was a real meeting, because visiting relatives was not a big deal, but it was a troublesome matter.
It is necessary to plan the route first, so that people can be sent to inform the provincial government departments along the way to prepare reception and security work in advance.
Of course, we cannot completely follow the announced route. We must have both reality and reality to ensure safety.
In addition, Li Wanjiang will definitely have rewards, and Xiao Chen will need to prepare these gifts.
How many carts, how many sedans and horses, how many entourages, how many guards are needed... Xiao Chen has to personally deal with it, because Li Wanjiang has given him a verbal order to take full responsibility for this matter, so he has to pay attention to every detail.
Fortunately, his subordinates are capable. He only needs to use his mouth, and Zhuge Xiaosheng, Ye Baiqing and others can handle the specific matters for him.
That’s a lot of trouble!
The thought of going so far gave him a headache. I wonder if it would be too late to invent a few steam cars now?
During the discussion, Li Hong and Liu Wenzheng burst in, one with a litigious look on his face, the other beaming with joy.
Li Hong went to the palace today to ask for a sum of money to renovate the Baochao Department and a large section of the palace wall that had been destroyed by the fire.
Unexpectedly, before he asked for money, the emperor cried out that he was poor, and finally walked away without a chance to show the money in his sleeves.
Although it was a small fortune, what should we do with this errand?
The budget requires 100,000 taels of silver, but the Ministry of Accounts only gives 20,000 taels. Are you kidding me?
Chen Wenqi was very difficult to get along with, and Ma Wuming, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, took time off due to illness and stayed home to do nothing. Not to mention that he was a minister and it was difficult to work hard with Chen Wenqi...
I am really worried to death.
"It doesn't cost a hundred thousand taels of silver to rebuild the Baochao Department and repair the palace walls, right?" Xiao Chen heard him tell his difficulties, but felt that he was wrong.
"Alas... Brother Xiao, you don't know something. You only count the cost of the materials, but what about the labor? These are all small things, the most critical transportation! Do you know how much it costs to transport so much wood and city bricks? silver?"
"That's all, but the fire also burned down the Rende Temple in the palace. The emperor ordered it to be repaired within two months! Those stone steps are all carved from a single big stone, and there is also a piece of stone needed for the main hall. The entire beam weighs tens of thousands of kilograms..."
