"For the emperor, I can endure any hardship!"
As soon as Yan Shifan finished speaking, everyone was stunned. Then Gao Gong couldn't help but jump out and accuse: "Don't blame everything on the emperor! I see, this money is probably used by some people." Embezzled."
"You!" Yan Shifan was furious, and when he was about to retort, Yan Song spoke unhurriedly.
"Last year there was severe drought in two provinces and floods in three provinces. The imperial government allocated funds to build the Mudan River and Songhe River. In addition, more than 4 million taels were spent on building new dams in Jiangsu and Zhejiang alone."
As soon as Yan Song finished speaking, Gao Gong immediately looked through the account book in his hand over and over again. Seeing that he couldn't find any flaws, he had to sit down angrily.
"I don't understand. They are all doing things for the imperial court. Why does the one who does more suffer the greater injustice!" Yan Shifan burst into tears and spoke resolutely. He looked like a wise minister who is sharing the king's worries. Scanned them one by one from Xu Jie, Gao Gong, and Zhang Juzheng.
"Why do you always hold on to this extra money?"
"According to this, the Ministry of Revenue should sign." Lu Fang, who had been observing for a long time, spoke lightly.
"Ding!" A clear jade chime sound sounded from behind the bead curtain. Everyone present understood that the emperor had forgiven the loss, so they tacitly skipped the topic.
Behind the bead curtain, Emperor Jiajing recalled the palaces built by his predecessor, with green tiles and red roofs, which were extremely luxurious. His face darkened and he roared: "My money!"
"Okay, now that this matter is over, let's talk about the issue of river supervision overruns." Xu Jie, the deputy assistant to the cabinet, spoke slowly.
"The Ministry of Industry's budget at the beginning of the year was 4 million taels. At the time of settlement, it was 7 million taels. There was an overrun of 3 million taels. How do you explain this?"
When Yan Shifan heard this, he did not answer. He just turned his gaze to Lu Fang opposite, cupped his hands, and said softly: "The supervision of river channels is all handled by the Dongchang. The Ministry of Works is not sure about the specific matters. It is still up to Eunuch Lu. Answer it."
The smile on Lu Fang's face remained unchanged, and she took over the conversation: "It's like this. At the beginning of this year, officials in Jiangsu and Zhejiang reported that there might be a risk of floods, and then I asked the officials at Qintian Prison for confirmation, and they said they could not rule it out. There is a possibility of major floods in Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas."
Lu Fang said, took a sip of the tea on the table, and continued: "The Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas are our Ming Dynasty's important tax areas, so we must not lose anything! Then I sent Li Xuan as the river supervisor to investigate. This is Investigative Report.”
After Lu Fang finished speaking, he took out the report written by Li Xuan from his sleeve and handed it to everyone to check one by one.
Yan Shifan took the investigation report handed over by Lu Fang, but he couldn't help cursing in his heart: "This old fox, he picked it off in just a few words!"
Qingliu had no intention of embarrassing Lu Fang. He just glanced at it and dismissed the matter. After all, their main enemy at present was Party Yan, and there was no need to provoke another powerful enemy.
"Everything will be established if it is not established, and if it is not established, it will be ruined. If we continue to eat the grain in this way, the grain will be exhausted. I really don't know what else I can eat in the Ming Dynasty!" Zhang Juzheng put down the report in his hand and stroked his own angrily. beard.
"What do you mean by that?" Yan Shifan responded immediately, staring at Zhang Juzheng fiercely.
"You mean, are we going to have the same losses this year as last year?" Zhang Juzheng was not afraid at all and responded directly.
"If you have a little deficit here, we will have to increase taxes on the people next year. Are you going to let the people live?" Gao Gong also stood up and glared at Yan Shifan.
"Hmph, haven't all the accounts been checked? Taxes are taken from the people and used by the people. Why don't we need to spend money on each of these items? Do we need money for officials' salaries? Do we need money to build dams? No money is needed? Do you need money to transport wood and other materials? Not to mention the labor costs and wear and tear!"
"I see, there are some people who don't want to serve the court sincerely. They are all treacherous officials who are causing harm to the country and the people!"
Yan Shifan's eyes swept over everyone, with a look of disdain on his face.
"Who did you just call a traitor?" Gao Gong's tone was very calm, like a volcano about to erupt.
"The traitors have jumped out on their own, including Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng!" Yan Shifan emphasized word by word.
"Hmph, how do you write the word "treacherous"? It's a female character plus a "gan" character. I've been an official for so many years and I've only had one bad wife, and what about you? Mr. Xiao Ge, you just married the ninth concubine not long ago. "
"You!" Yan Shifan was furious, but could not find any reason to refute for a while.
Just when everyone was quarreling, and if they went any further, the imperial meeting would be upgraded to an unrestricted fighting competition, an untimely snoring sound sounded. Everyone looked at the sound and saw Yan Song with his head hanging down, and he didn't know when he fell asleep.
"I don't know if Mr. Yan Ge's behavior is considered a disgrace before the emperor." When Xu Jie saw this, he couldn't help but burst into laughter and uttered a few yin and yang sentences.
At this moment, there was movement behind the bead curtain. Jiajing was seen wearing a blue-gray Taoist robe with complicated water cloud patterns embroidered on it. He stood up from the dragon chair, walked out lightly, and chanted: "Lian His body is shaped like a crane, and two scriptures are written under a thousand pines. When I come to ask questions, I can't help but say, "The clouds are in the blue sky, and the water is in the vase."
"I'll bow to your Majesty!" When Jiajing came out, everyone stopped arguing and saluted, but Yan Song was still sleeping soundly. When Yan Shifan saw this, he was about to wake up his father, but was stopped by Jiajing.
"Let Mr. Yan Ge take a nap."
"Get up, get up, everyone get up!" Jiajing then looked at the others and waved his hands casually, and everyone stood up immediately.
"Do you know what poem I just read?"
"Reply to Your Majesty, this is a question poem written by Li Ao of the Tang Dynasty."
Yan Song's voice came, and everyone looked and saw that Yan Song had woken up at some point and was tremblingly saluting Jiajing.
"Mr. Yan Ge is right, this is exactly Li Ao's poem about asking questions."
Jiajing was in a good mood when he saw someone answering his question. Then he looked at Yan Shifan with a playful look in his eyes: "Mr. Xiaoge, is what Gao Gong just said true?"
"Your Majesty, I will send all the wives and concubines back to my parents' home when I get back." Yan Shifan turned pale when he heard Jiajing's question and quickly knelt down on the ground to defend himself.
"Okay, marrying a nine-bedroom concubine is not a big deal. Since ancient times, princes, generals, and ministers have always had wives and concubines? Besides, if you send her back, how will she live in the future? Keep it and spend more time on it. It's all about state affairs." Jiajing found an empty chair and sat down, comforting him.
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness! I will fight to the death for Your Majesty's death." Yan Shifan bowed to the ground with gratitude.
"Get up and learn from your father more in the future." Jiajing said, not forgetting to mention something.
"I have heard what you have discussed just now. A large part of the responsibility for the national treasury deficit last year lies with me! I was bewitched by the alchemists and built temples wantonly, wasting people and money, and even the national affairs were difficult. I am here first. I’ll apologize to you all!”
"Your Majesty, that's not allowed! It is the duty of ministers to feed the emperor and share his worries. How can we accept this gift from the emperor!"
I saw Xu Jie burst into tears and was the first to kneel on the ground. Then everyone else in the room also knelt down in panic. For a while, all the ministers were crying and in chaos.
