Master Shen looked helpless.
This matter is not easy for him to handle.
Because Zhao Changping does take good care of him on weekdays, but Zhao Shangshu is a workaholic and takes official affairs very seriously. If he tries to persuade him through personal relationships, it is almost impossible to succeed.
However, when the emperor opened his mouth, Mr. Shen had no choice but to lower his head slightly and said: "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Household Affairs' financial management is reasonable and reasonable. I have no way to completely solve this matter, but..."
"If it takes a while, it shouldn't be a problem."
The emperor said solemnly: "Then let's wait. It's best to wait for two or three years, so that I can save more money. When the time comes..."
Having said this, His Majesty the Emperor said with some displeasure: "When the time comes, if the Ministry of Revenue wants to take care of the money, just let the Ministry of Households take care of it."
Shen Yi nodded silently and was about to stand up to leave. His Majesty the Emperor waved to him and said, "You don't want to go out. Let's have something to eat together in the inner hall. We will go out after we finish eating."
Shen Yi hesitated for a moment, then shook his head slightly: "Your Majesty, I should not stay in the inner hall for too long, otherwise it will be difficult to speak for a while."
The emperor touched his chin, nodded and said "Yes": "That's right, then you can go out first."
Mr. Shen bowed his hands and left from the inner hall.
After leaving the inner hall, he stretched out and found a pillar to rest against.
Soon, the imperial kitchen brought out plates of food for Shen Yi and other ministers to eat on the spot in Deqing Hall.
This is not the first time for civil and military officials to have dinner in the main hall, and it is not even a particularly rare thing. For so many years in the Chen Dynasty, if there are many things to do during every meeting of the imperial court, there will definitely be too much to talk about in half a day. In the afternoon, or even into the evening.
Those experienced ministers, or veterans, put a piece of ginseng under their tongue before going to court to replenish their vitality and physical strength.
This way you won't make a fool of yourself.
Only young officials like Mr. Shen can carry it with their bodies.
After the food in the imperial dining room was served, Mr. Shen, who was already very hungry, grabbed something to eat. He took a wooden plate and found Zhang Jian among the many officials. The two senior brothers found a corner to squat in. Next, talk and eat at the same time.
Zhang Jian is now a fifth-rank household minister, and he is also going to participate in the imperial meeting.
After the two brothers finished eating, Mr. Shen leaned against the corner and dozed off again. Zhang Jian was much more energetic in comparison. Seeing Shen Yi's appearance, he smiled and said, "Why, Zi Heng was spreading branches for the Shen family again last night?"
Master Shen opened his eyes and rolled his eyes at Zhang Jian.
"I have been an official for several years, and I have never gotten up so early before. Naturally, I am not used to it."
Zhang Jian laughed and said, "Brother, you are not in good health. Look at me. I spent the night at the Qinhuai River yesterday. Isn't it still full of energy now?"
Shen Yi didn't feel sleepy after what he said, and immediately said with a smile: "Even after Prime Minister Zhang and Uncle Zhang left Jiankang, no one will take care of senior brother, senior brother can't stay in the Qinhuai River every night."
"Nonsense, where did Ye Ye go?"
Zhang Yian coughed: "It's just occasionally."
The two chatted for a while, and Zhang Jian suddenly glanced at Shen Yi and asked: "Your Majesty just called you into the inner palace, was it because of the Ministry of Household Affairs..."
"A little unhappy?"
Shen Yi thought for a while, then nodded silently, and sighed helplessly: "No matter who it is in this world, he will not be happy if you take money from him."
Zhang Jian glanced around and whispered: "I persuaded the teacher..."
"It's no use."
"Master Zhao has such a temper that no one can persuade him from."
Shen Yi said softly: "But this is also a good thing. Without this temper, I would not be able to manage the household department so smoothly."
As of today, Zhao Changping has actually controlled the Ministry of Household Affairs for almost ten years.
In the past ten years, the Ministry of Accounts has basically had some surplus money every year, and there have been no mistakes in various accounts, and all types of taxes have been collected one by one.
These ten years can be said to be the clearest decade for the imperial court's accounts in more than sixty years since Nandu.
Therefore, even though Zhao Changping has already qualified to become the Secretary of the Central Committee and worship the Prime Minister, the emperor is reluctant to let him leave the Ministry of Household Affairs and still puts him in the position of the Ministry of Household Affairs and makes him the general accountant of Da Chen.
While the two brothers were still whispering, the Emperor came back and sat on the throne again.
At this time, most of the people had finished eating. The emperor glanced at everyone and coughed: "The imperial court has been resting for more than half a month, and various matters have accumulated. If they are not dealt with, I am afraid that I will not be able to leave Deqing Hall today. Have you eaten, sir? Let’s continue the discussion after eating.”
After hearing the emperor's words, all the civil and military officials stood back to their original positions and bowed to the emperor.
The emperor said "hmm" and glanced at the high eunuch beside him.
Gao Ming immediately stood up and sang two words at the top of his lungs.
"Meeting matters~"
So, everyone stood still.
The emperor first glanced at Shen Yi, who was still standing next to the pillar, and then focused his attention on Zhao Changping. After coughing, he said with a smile: "This morning, my God of Wealth said that the income of the Shipping Department should be transferred to the national treasury. , it will be uniformly deployed by the Ministry of Household Affairs, and I just thought about it seriously in the back hall."
"The income of this city's shipping company is also part of Dachen's tax revenue. It stands to reason that it should be paid to the Ministry of Household Affairs, and the Ministry of Household Affairs will allocate expenses uniformly."
"but…"
Having said this, the emperor paused and continued: "However, after all, the City Shipping Department has just been established. Most of us in Jiankang are unaware of many things and cannot make rash decisions. The City Shipping Department is headed by a doctor from the Ministry of War. Shen Yi went down to supervise the construction."
The emperor looked at Shen Yi and said in a deep voice: "Mr. Shen, tell me, are there any problems with the income of the Shipping Department being merged into the Ministry of Household Affairs?"
Mr. Shen bravely went out.
He started from almost the back of the team, took a deep breath all the way, walked to the middle of the hundred officials, and saluted respectfully to the emperor: "Shen Yi, the doctor of the Ministry of War..."
Just as he was about to salute, the emperor interrupted him and said directly: "There is no need to stick to etiquette, just tell the truth."
Shen Yi nodded helplessly.
At this moment, he only felt that there were countless eyes looking at him.
Among them, there are the eyes of the five big bosses of Zhongshu, as well as the scattered eyes of other yamen, but most of them should be the eyes of the Ministry of Revenue.
Even Zhang Jian, who had not yet officially taken up his post in the household department, followed his colleagues and stared at Shen Yi in a fake manner.
Mr. Shen first raised his hands to the emperor, and then to Zhao Changping: "I have seen Zhao Shangshu..."
Zhao Changping looked calm and said calmly: "Mr. Shen, you are very polite. Your Majesty asks you to say what you say."
Shen Yi nodded.
He took a deep breath, and after sorting out his words, he bowed his head slightly and said to Zhao Changping: "Zhao Shangshu, according to the truth, the money of the Municipal Shipping Department should be handed over to the Ministry of Household Affairs, but the five coastal shipping companies The reason why the company was able to establish and collect commercial taxes was mainly because of the coastal capital's Yamen, which cleaned up the offshore Japanese pirates and allowed me to bring peace to Haijiang."
"Today, the five guards under the Dusi Yamen are all built on the basis of the five municipal shipping departments."
"Until the end of last year, none of the five guards were fully formed, with less than 5,000 people each. They were still recruiting and training new soldiers."
"These five guardhouses..."
Shen Yi paused and said slowly: "The Ministry of Revenue has not contributed a penny so far. During the previous resistance against the Japanese army, the Jin Crown Prince ransacked the house and confiscated some money, and His Majesty also took out some internal funds and managed to form an army."
"Now that the Dusi Yamen has been established, the Ministry of Revenue cannot provide money, so it can only pay from the Municipal Shipping Department. These five Municipal Shipping Departments have just been established. If you want all merchant ships along the coast to enter and exit from the Municipal Shipping Department, not only We need cooperation from the coastal cities and it will take some time.”
"Right now, the income of the five municipal shipping companies is not much. It may be a little difficult to support the 25,000 people in the five health centers."
When Mr. Shen said this, he whispered: "Zhao Shangshu, what I want to say is that the money of the Shipping Department can be merged into the Ministry of Household Affairs, but in any case, we should wait for three to five years until the income of the Shipping Department becomes stable. , and after there are no major changes in the five guard stations, the income of the Shipping Department will naturally be transferred to the national treasury and allocated by the imperial court."
Zhao Changping glanced at Shen Yi silently, his eyes filled with relief.
However, there was still no expression on his face, and he just asked lightly: "Since the accounts of the Shipping Department are so complicated, and our Account Department is good at settling accounts, the Account Department will send people to clarify the accounts."
Shen Yi said helplessly: "Zhao Shangshu, when the five shipping companies were established, Eunuch Sun had already brought some accounting offices from the Ministry of Revenue. The accounts must be calculated clearly."
"It's just that... I think the Shipping Department still needs some time."
Zhao Changping glanced at Shen Yi first, and then stopped staring at Shen Yi. He looked at the emperor on the throne, bowed his head slightly and said: "Your Majesty, the City Shipping Department was supervised by Dr. Shen. Since Dr. Shen That being said, the matter of merging the revenue of the Shipping Department into the Ministry of Household Affairs can be put on hold for the time being, but..."
Zhao Shangshu changed the topic, lowered his head and said: "But the rules of the imperial court are rules after all, and it cannot continue like this. I ask your majesty to make a judgment. When can the income of the Shipping Department be merged into the Ministry of Household Affairs?"
This is giving the emperor a deadline.
The emperor rolled his eyes and laughed: "Since there are special circumstances in the local area, then this matter will be postponed for a while. As for when..."
"Um…"
He touched his chin and said, "Only until Hong De's thirteenth year."
Zhao Changping nodded silently and said: "Yes, then according to His Majesty's wishes, it will take a total of two years from today, the thirteenth year of Hongde."
Hearing Zhao Changping's words, the emperor couldn't help but feel depressed.
His original intention was to wait until the end of Hongde's thirteenth year, that is, three years!
But the words had already been spoken, and he couldn't bargain any more, so His Majesty the Emperor nodded helplessly.
"Okay, then this matter is settled."
The emperor looked at the officials, his tone a little tired.
"Now let's discuss the next thing..."
(End of chapter)
