"It seems that I still underestimated the temptation of money to these people. It was just a test, but I didn't expect that it turned out to be a complete success..."
Zhao Junchen was sitting in the room of the Hubu Yamen, looking at the secret letter in his hand, muttering to himself with a little surprise. .
Not long after the Ministry of Works changed its stance, Zuo Lanshan sent someone to inform Zhao Junchen of the news. Although important officials from the Ministry of Works were interested in meeting Zhao Junchen in person, they were afraid that Wen Guanliang would get the news and delay the important event. , so in the end he just sent a trusted official to send a sealed letter to Zhao Junchen.
The secret letter contained a lot of content. In addition to expressing their admiration for Zhao Junchen and their dissatisfaction with Wen Guanliang, they also revealed all of Wen Guanliang's next plans to Zhao Junchen.
Wen Guanliang's plan to deal with Zhao Junchen was actually very simple. It was to ask the censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate to impeach the Ministry of Revenue for unclear accounts. The Ministry of Works immediately responded, saying that the Ministry of Revenue had repeatedly deducted money from the Ministry of Works on the pretext of insufficient money in the treasury. Various funding expenses caused delays in river defense, materials, city walls and other important tasks of the Ministry of Works. Emperor Deqing was asked to rectify the household department and audit the accounts.
If the Ministry of Revenue is the general manager of the court's money and food, then the Ministry of Industry is the government office that spends the most money and food. The two are closely related to each other. Such an impeachment will definitely cause shock to the government and the public. By then, if there is another prince The party, cabinet boss Huang Yourong, cabinet boss Shen Changmao and others made successive statements, so even if Emperor Deqing deliberately favored Zhao Junchen, he would have to issue an order to investigate the accounts department.
Once the accounts of the household department were audited, Zhao Junchen would not be able to take full control of the household department, which Zhao Junchen was forbidden to control.
This was only Wen Guanliang's preliminary plan. As for what would happen next, not even Zuo Lanshan and the others knew.
But Zhao Junchen could imagine that it was nothing more than tampering with the accounts, or finding fault with the eggs, in short, trying to find some problems, first involving some unimportant household officials, and then in Under coercion and inducement, he slowly opened his mouth and finally pointed the finger at Zhao Junchen.
The method is very simple, but also very effective. Throughout the ages, this approach has always been the most effective method for politicians to deal with political opponents in the officialdom. According to a later saying - "No official can withstand careful inspection. The key is whether there is careful investigation."
In the final analysis, when officialdom battles reach a certain level, the key is to unite allies, isolate opponents, and unite vertically and horizontally. As for methods, most of the time it is just a dispensable process.
Wen Guanliang understood this very well, so he planned to use the prince's party and united with two other cabinet ministers. If he suddenly launched an attack, he might be able to catch Zhao Junchen off guard.
Unfortunately, when Wen Guanliang was busy uniting Zonglianheng, he did not expect that there was a fire in his backyard. When Zuo Lanshan, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, Chen Dongxiang, the right minister of the Ministry of Industry, Gu Quan, the right deputy of the Inspectorate, and others betrayed him one after another, he Such a plan is destined to fail.
"However, Wen Guanliang reminded me that the account department's accounting methods need to be changed in the future."
Zhao Junchen thought secretly.
Nowadays, most of the accounting methods of the Account Department are very primitive. They can only equalize income and expenditure, but it is difficult to withstand scrutiny. It is not afraid of ordinary audits, but if you deliberately check carefully, many flaws will inevitably be exposed. In Zhao Junchen's view, the Ministry of Accounts can learn from the "advanced accounting methods" of later generations.
In fact, since Zhao Junchen returned to Beijing, he has not misappropriated any silver from the Ministry of Household Affairs. Unfortunately, although his upper beam is upright now, his lower beam is too crooked. All the doctors and foreign ministers in the household department are as greedy as wolves. , people who regard wealth as life, and Zhao Junchen still needs these people to help him control the household department, so he can only allow these worms to continue to exist, and when necessary, Zhao Junchen will find ways to help these worms Wipe your ass.
Thinking like this, Zhao Junchen secretly sighed. In today's Ming Dynasty, not only are there few honest officials, but they are also unable to be used by him. All Zhao Junchen can rely on is the power of those corrupt officials.
The only good thing is that these corrupt officials are very powerful.
"Come here, bring Jiang Qian to see me."
Following Zhao Junchen's loud shout, the yamen servant from the household department outside the door agreed and went.
………
After Zhao Junchen returned to Beijing, Xiao Gui and Cao followed and did not interfere much in the affairs of the Household Department, because Zhao Junchen had been familiar with the operations and rules of the Household Department during these days and did not intend to interfere at will.
During this period of time, Jiang Qian, the member of the household department, had always helped Zhao Junchen to handle all matters in the household department.
This Jiang Qian, as his name suggests, is humble and low-key. Although he is still young, in his early thirties, he is familiar with the operations of the household department and is quite scheming. When Zhao Junchen first came to the Household Department, he deliberately tried to please him. In the process of taking control of the Household Department, Zhao Junchen also made great contributions, so both the former Zhao Junchen and the current Zhao Junchen were very fond of him. He values him and has been deliberately wooing him.
Zhao Junchen didn't think Jiang Qian was very loyal to him. He might not have had any opportunistic intentions when he took refuge in Zhao Junchen, but Zhao Junchen also believed that Jiang Qian would never betray him and turn to Zhao Junchen unless he had to. After that, Jiang Qian was promoted from a seventh-rank official to a fifth-rank official. With the support of Zhao Junchen, his words in the Ministry of Household Affairs were even more important than those of the doctors. Compared with Zhao Junchen, other officials It is difficult for people to give him greater benefits.
Following Zhao Junchen's summons, Jiang Qian quickly arrived at Zhao Junchen's office room.
"I've met Mr. Zhao."
After seeing Zhao Junchen, Jiang Qian showed the utmost respect and knelt down to Zhao Junchen to ask his regards.
Zhao Junchen raised his hand and said, "Get up."
After Jiang Qian stood up, Zhao Junchen looked up and saw that Jiang Qian's face was getting paler, and he couldn't help but smile and shake his head.
Jiang Qian's biggest shortcoming is that he is lustful. These days, the brothel girls in the capital are doing great business after using fragrant pancreas, and Jiang Qian is one of the countless lingering customers.
"You, you should be more leisurely on weekdays. Sex is like a bone scraper. If you only care about temporary pleasure without restraint, and your body will be hollowed out at a young age, it is not worth it."
Hearing what Zhao Junchen said, Jiang Qian looked up carefully and saw that Zhao Junchen was just laughing and scolding, but did not mean to blame him. Jiang Qian quickly said with a flattering smile: "My lord, I will definitely abide by your teachings from now on." ...Your Majesty, you also know that I have this problem with you. Sometimes I just can’t control it, but I will never delay my business."
Zhao Junchen nodded and said nothing more. In this era when brothels are legal, some of Jiang Qian's actions are just private matters, and they are not about not paying after the work is done, so they are not worth making a fuss about.
Therefore, after Zhao Junchen made a few remarks, he cut to the chase and asked, "How are you preparing for the auction of soap supply this afternoon?"
Jiang Qian quickly replied: "My lord, everything has been prepared. According to your instructions, the relevant officials from the Department of Household Affairs are already familiar with the auction process. The venue is manned and the relevant procedures are all completed."
Zhao Junchen nodded and said, "That's good."
After a pause, Zhao Junchen said again: "I'm calling you this time. Do you want you to prepare the accounts of our household department? We need to redo them in the coming days. We must make sure that no one can see the flaws. yes."
Jiang Qian was startled, seemed to have thought of something, and asked: "Then Wen Guanliang, are you going to start with the accounts of our household department?"
Zhao Junchen smiled and said, "You are quite perceptive."
Jiang Qian said respectfully: "Since your lord, you and Wen Guanliang broke up, I have been guarding him secretly. I guess that if Wen Guanliang wants to deal with you, I'm afraid he can only come from our household department." We have taken action, so we have been on careful guard all the time. Please rest assured, sir, the accounts in the household department are clear and nothing can be found wrong."
Zhao Junchen shook his head and said: "Mr. Wen Ge is not that capable to intervene in our Account Department. I asked you to redo the accounts of the Account Department, just to be in case in the future. Now the accounting method of the Account Department, It’s too crude and can only balance expenditures. Everyone knows these methods, but if you investigate carefully, you can’t hide them.”
Hearing what Zhao Junchen said, Jiang Qian looked confused.
According to Jiang Qian's understanding, the accounting methods are nothing more than inflating expenditures, increasing losses in accounts, and false expenditures. Are there other methods?
Seeing Jiang Qian like this, Zhao Junchen smiled softly, his expression became more serious, and he explained in detail to Jiang Qian some of the accounting methods of later generations.
Zhao Junchen only had a superficial understanding of the methods used by later generations to falsify accounts, and could only give a rough idea, but even so, Jiang Qian was stunned. For example, "early and delayed recognition of revenue", such as "changes in income and expenditure items", such as "selective apportionment", such as "deficit conversion", etc., etc., were all unheard of by Jiang Qian.
Although many of these methods were not suitable for use by the Ministry of Revenue in Jiang Qian's opinion, they still made him admire them again and again.
According to Zhao Junchen's methods, from now on, the Ministry of Accounts can not only eat and drink grains legitimately, but also rationalize the deficit. After doing the accounting in this way, if you don't know Zhao Junchen's methods, it will be difficult to find out no matter how you check the accounts. Broken.
It has to be said that Jiang Qian is indeed a talent in some aspects. When Zhao Junchen explained, he only listened at first, but it didn't take long before he was able to draw inferences and discuss with Zhao Junchen. .
Even some of the methods proposed by Zhao Junchen could not be implemented in the Ministry of Household Affairs due to various reasons. He could also find alternative ways to implement them based on the actual situation.
After discussing with Jiang Qian for more than half an hour, and seeing that Jiang Qian had mastered these methods, Zhao Junchen said no more, just nodded and said: "In that case, when you go down, find some trustworthy officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs. Improve these methods and create new account books as soon as possible."
After this discussion, Jiang Qian admired Zhao Junchen extremely, his face was full of joy and pride, he nodded repeatedly: "Please rest assured, sir, with these methods, our household department will have nothing to fear from now on. "
Zhao Junchen nodded and said: "In that case, you go down and prepare. Also, I will not personally participate in the auction of the pancakes this afternoon and leave it to you. This matter concerns the relationship between the prince and me." You have to be careful about your bet."
Jiang Qian nodded again and again and said: "Don't worry, sir, I will never let you down."
While talking, Jiang Qian bowed and left.
Seeing the unbearable excitement on Jiang Qian's face when he left, Zhao Junchen couldn't help but frown slightly.
Of course he knew why Jiang Qian was so excited. After doing the accounting according to the methods Zhao Junchen taught him, from now on, officials in the Ministry of Revenue will not be afraid of being discovered if they do anything.
It is possible to unscrupulously embezzle money and public funds. For corrupt officials, is there anything else that would make them happier?
"By doing this, am I encouraging the people below to take bribes and bend the law?" Zhao Junchen frowned and thought to himself: "It seems that we must find an opportunity to beat them up, otherwise this household department will not know what kind of chaos it will be."
………
Zhao Junchen did not personally participate in the auction of soap supply in the afternoon. In fact, in the past two days, he had been avoiding businessmen from various places who wanted to trade secretly with him.
But although he did not personally participate, Zhao Junchen had been watching closely in secret, and Zhao Junchen was very satisfied with the result.
In fact, not only Zhao Junchen was satisfied, but all the officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs who participated in the auction were shocked by the intense process and amazing results of the auction.
To put it simply, for a batch of ordinary soap worth 50,000 yuan, the auction base price is 1,500 taels, but the average transaction price is 2,500 taels.
The fragrant pancreas is sold in batches of 5,000 yuan, and the auction reserve price is 1,800 taels, but the average transaction price is 3,200 taels.
The medicinal pancreas is sold in batches of 500 yuan, and the auction reserve price is 1,110 taels, but the average transaction price is 2,110 taels.
In other words, in the next year, the pancakes produced by the inner treasury were sold for a total of 1,446,000 taels!
Putting aside the manufacturing cost of the pancake, the net profit is no less than 800,000 taels!
For anyone today, this amount of money is a huge amount of money! !
Including Emperor Deqing, the same is true!
Therefore, when Zhao Junchen learned the result, he hurriedly went to see Emperor Deqing with a thick stack of banknotes. You can imagine how surprised and happy Emperor Deqing was.
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