Li Tuo was obviously a little drunk. He tapped the wine cup with his chopsticks and almost sang twice, "What is the imperial court? What are the royal nobles? In my opinion, they are the heart and brain of a person, and we humble people The little officials are arms, legs, fingers, toes..."
"On the surface, we have to listen to our heads and our hearts, but in fact we also have our own thoughts, and sometimes we can influence the decisions of our heads and hearts..."
"Let's just say that I, Li Tuo, can open this Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant today, but Prince Gong and Prince Chun really can't open it. Why? Because they have high status, so they have to understand the rules, Lao Yang If you politely say that the stove is closed, how can the prince force him to start the stove again just because he is greedy for a bite of duck?"
"If something like this happens, the prince's reputation will not be good, right? So Boss Yang respects the prince, but he may not be really afraid of the prince, because he knows that the prince has to save face, and he will not be so bottomless in doing things..."
Uh... Li Tuo burped and continued, "And we are not princes, let alone first- and second-rank officials. To put it bluntly, we people have never thought about leaving a name in history, and it is impossible for others to give us such a bastard." There is a place for the name, so we don’t have to ask for face, what’s the point of asking for face?”
"If Lao Yang doesn't give me this face today, then I won't give him face in the future... What did you say? You don't know how I will retaliate against him? Haha, there are so many ways..."
"It is said that the King of Hell is easy to meet, but the kid is difficult to deal with! We are the kid, why is the kid so difficult? Because the kid is doing specific errands and meets people directly!"
"For example, you are the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, but you have never sat in the Yamen for a day. You have been printing bonds in Xishan. You don't understand the routine... When you were sleeping, the Minister of the Ministry of Industry wanted to go to the Yamen. If people get together for a party, who will arrange the banquet? Who will go to the restaurant to reserve the table and choose the dishes? "
"We, we and the handymen are responsible for it ourselves. You can't expect the first- and second-grade officials to do this work themselves, right? So this is power. These restaurants have to sneak us around and give us kickbacks. , otherwise he won’t be able to continue this business!”
Lao Jiang took a piece of duck liver and put it in his mouth, chewed it and said, "Sir, you don't know the ways here. Do you think these are just small coins? You are totally wrong. I will tell you clearly. Do you know how many sets of accounts the Military Aircraft Department has?"
"Huh? Accounts?" Yang Zhi's mind couldn't keep up.
Lao Jiang sneered and said, "Several military officials control the allocation of the Ministry of Accounts. This is an open account that should be shown to the world. In addition, the Military Aircraft Department is a yamen close to the inner court. The emperor also has to allocate part of his private money to the military aircraft alone." Ministers use it to show favor..."
"This second account is between the military minister and the emperors. Sometimes the military minister wants to drink good tea, so he goes directly to the eunuch to ask for it. The imperial tea warehouse is not far from the military aircraft. To be honest, it is top-notch. Is it common for Dahongpao to steal those high-ranking officials and take them home secretly?"
"Ah? The minister of military aircraft still steals things from the emperor's family?" Yang Zhi sounded like an idiot.
"Hey... Sir, you have never been around Sijiu City. What nonsense is this? If a minister steals the emperor's things, can that be called stealing? As long as you don't steal the national treasure, a few taels of tea leaves What’s that?”
"And to tell you the truth, the more you steal, the more the emperor likes you. This shows that you are greedy and easy to control, and you are sincerely in love with the emperor... Can a son stealing his father's things be considered stealing?"
Li Tuo waved his hand and said with a smile, "Actually, these things also ended up in the second account. In the end, they were all regarded as rewards from the emperor. What I will talk about later is the third account, which is between our Zhang Jing and Bi Tie Shi." The accounts are..."
"The Military Aircraft Department wants to purchase pens, inks, paper and inkstones, right? Although you can go to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to get ready-made ones, but everyone has their own habits, and the things provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs may not be suitable for use. The flowers and fresh fruits displayed in the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter are not the same. Do you have to spend money to buy it? So we, Zhang Jing, still have a miscellaneous account in our hands, which is beyond the control of the senior officials..."
Old Jiang slapped his thigh with a snap, "Sir, I wonder if you have noticed that there has always been a stove in the room at the farthest side of the military aircraft department. It not only heats tea, but also supplies fried dough sticks and sesame cakes all day long. , tea soup and so on..."
"This is a rule left by Emperor Yongzheng. The Military Aircraft Department was set up to directly command the Northwest War. Someone has to be on duty here 12 hours a day. People can't go hungry! So the Military Aircraft Department provides food 12 hours a day Money must also be included in this account..."
"There are too many messy things. Do you have to pay for ice cubes in summer? Do you have to pay for charcoal for burning in winter? Don't tell me that the imperial court has a share of the supply. What is enough for you? It's not enough for the buyers to get kickbacks. ...Don’t be disgusted if I tell you a story!”
"Even pooping and peeing on a military plane costs money!"
With a clatter, the chopsticks in Yang Zhi's hand fell on the table, "What..."
"Haha, Sir, you really don't understand anything... People in the Military Aircraft Department don't go to the latrine? Especially when they are on duty in the middle of the night in winter, and people are eating, drinking and shitting in the house, who do you think will empty the toilet? ?Who will clean it?"
"We can't do it ourselves. In the end, we have to have the little eunuchs in the palace do all the work. Is this work in vain? Shouldn't we be rewarded with silver in the end..."
Li Tuo and Lao Jiang just talked about it in a few words, which made Yang Zhi dizzy. "Every now and then, the secretary office, Zhang Jing, and Bi Tie Shi will have to go out and have a drink together? You can't always be alone. Ah! It’s okay to spend it from your own pocket. My wife won’t be able to curse her to death later. The money for food and drinks at these parties must also be spent from this account..."
"Whenever there is a festival, brothers are not allowed to receive some welfare! How many duck tickets are there from Quanjude? How many kilograms of beef and mutton from Niujie are not allowed to be carried to the family? How many red envelopes are not allowed before the New Year? Where does this money come from?"
"Oh my God, after all this calculation, how much does it cost? Can the court afford it..." Yang Zhi asked doubtfully.
"We expect the court to give us?" The two said in unison, "Don't make us laugh, the court doesn't have that much money to give us, so we have to raise everything ourselves!"
Li Tuo seemed to really want to win over Yang Zhi. He decided to give him a good explanation, "My brother! Are there not many ways to make money in the Qing Dynasty?"
"The governors of each province secretly deport ice and charcoal tribute to the capital every year. This is already a semi-open secret. To put it bluntly, they pay homage to ice cubes in summer and charcoal money in winter... This is already a very huge industry, and each province deports 100,000 yuan to the capital every year. The numbers are all regulated, with more in the south of the Yangtze River and less in the northwest..."
"Bing Tan Jing will probably be divided into the following parts. Each province will leave a share for the officials in each province. This is easy to understand. The money deported from Guangdong will definitely give priority to officials of Guangdong origin. After that, the officials of the imperial court will divide it according to their rank. Senior officials take more, junior officials take less..."
"Then there are the eunuchs in Ouchi, who also have to take a large share. The last share is for us small officials who are doing errands..."
"Almost all yamen have independent internal accounts, and all petty officials and petty officials can profit from them... According to my estimate, the annual Bingtanjing in Sijiu City is at least about 20 million!"
...
