"Your Highness, I have an unkind request!"
Li Shiwen suddenly came up with a good idea. After thinking about it for a while, he thought he could give it a try.
"But it doesn't matter!"
A certain prince didn't know how this lover planned to save money, so he ignored what he said and dismissed it as farts.
"His Royal Highness is the chief editor of the military unit, and the results are brilliant. However, the current expenditure is huge, resulting in a sharp decrease in Taicang's silver reserves. In my opinion, if all the ministries under His Highness' jurisdiction can be responsible for their own profits and losses..."
Li Shiwen came up with such a solution after learning about the purchase of down jackets and cotton armor just now.
That is to let the prince pay out of his own pocket to reward the troops belonging to the East Palace.
In this way, the court can save millions of taels of silver.
Li Shiwen believed that in the past, the prince recruited troops and horses by himself, and the monthly salary and rice salary were also settled by the East Palace.
Based on this inference, wouldn't the same be true for cashing out silver rewards?
"Da Situ, your request is a bit excessive, isn't it?"
Xue Guoguan immediately understood Li Shiwen's true intention, and attacked his prospective son-in-law before he could answer.
The court's money is money, but the money from a prospective son-in-law is not money?
Such a request is simply unreasonable.
"Yes, Chief Situ, the new army is here to protect the country and kill the enemy with meritorious service. If the court fails to honor the reward, won't it make the officers and soldiers feel chilled?"
Feng Quan just tasted the sweetness and naturally spoke on the side of the prince.
The important thing is that Li Shiwen's words are irrational.
They all work for the imperial court, and all the ministries work together and fight side by side.
Seeing that someone has made great achievements, the court regrets not giving money?
This doesn’t make any sense whatsoever!
"I agree with what the chief assistant and uncle Da Zong said!"
Zhang Guowei has always only recognized reason and not people. What Li Shiwen said is really detrimental to the court's face.
"I agree with what the three of you said!"
Du Yinxi, the Minister of Civil Affairs, also held the same view. Just after an unprecedented victory, the court would not give any money or money.
Besides, it’s not like we really don’t have any money. If we squeeze out some from various items and add in the portion borrowed by the Crown Prince, we’ll be able to make up for it.
Wu Zong, the Second Assistant, Wang Jiayan, the Minister of War, Lu Zhenfei, the Minister of Medicine, Zhen Shu, the Minister of Criminal Affairs, and Zhong Qi, the censor of Zuodu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, did not immediately express their stance, but no one clearly supported Li Shiwen.
"I understand Li Aiqing's concerns. After all, the Ministry of Revenue is not well-off either. It would be easy for me to agree. As long as Aiqing transfers all the fiscal and taxation rights of Shandong into the accounts of the East Palace, it can be offset by five million taels." , I wonder what Li Aiqing thinks?"
Shandong had water transportation before, and now it has a large number of gold mines. Sea salt will be a pillar industry for future tax revenue. There are also many aquatic products to eat. Exchanging Shandong for five million taels of silver will not be a loss at all.
"this……"
Li Shiwen originally wanted to leave the tight troubles in the household department to the prince, but he didn't expect that he would immediately react, leaving him undecided and unable to make a quick decision.
Five million taels of silver is indeed a lot, but if Shandong, which is within the scope of Beiting's management and is second only to Sichuan, is allocated to the prince, the imperial court will undoubtedly suffer a big loss.
"I don't know how many years you have?"
What Li Shiwen meant was that it was impossible to allocate it permanently. It had to be set for a certain number of years, and it had to be a time acceptable to the court.
"ten years!"
"Inappropriate! Inappropriate! Shandong Haiyan is about to go on the market, and gold mines are being mined in various places. Coupled with the prosperity of water transportation, the annual income can reach millions of taels of silver! In Yichen's opinion, it can take up to three years!"
Li Shiwen's expectation was five years, but he had to leave room for bargaining.
"In this case, why not do this? I don't want the financial rights of Shandong Yiyu anymore. As long as the Ministry of Revenue withdraws from the telephone company, the railway company, the broadcasting company, and the thermal power plant, it costs nothing to buy the shares of the railway company, and the other three companies total Three million taels of silver will be refunded. In this way, not only will the court not have to spend a lot of money to reward the army, but the Ministry of Revenue will also receive three million taels of silver. Why not?"
Are you trying to compete with me?
You are still young!
"This...your highness, Rong Chen, please think twice!"
The prince changed his conditions again, which caught Li Shiwen off guard.
These four companies were the ones that I had to shamelessly get the prince to agree to have the Ministry of Accounts take shares in. Now if they are launched again, it would be like wasting all their previous efforts.
It was gratifying to be able to get three million taels of silver at once without the need to reward the army, but the future of the four companies was unlimited. How to choose between them made Li Shiwen very difficult.
"I don't know if the army under His Highness' command will gain another victory from now on..."
Li Shi asked first to ask clearly whether this was just once or once and for all. If it's the latter, it's really more cost-effective.
"Any reward has nothing to do with the imperial court. I will pay for it out of my own pocket. The imperial court does not need to spend one tael of silver or one stone of rice!"
To the extremely stingy Accountant Li, a certain prince was also very happy and agreed immediately.
Since I can afford to raise an army, I can also fight a war!
Otherwise, if we raise so many people, we might as well replace them with the same number of pigs!
"...I think this strategy is feasible!"
Li Shiwen thought quickly. Since the imperial court no longer had to deal with the affairs of the East Palace people, it would undoubtedly be a huge burden lifted.
Although Li Shiwen didn't understand border affairs, anyone with a little bit of brainpower could figure out that in the future, the prince would gradually replace the imperial officers and soldiers with people from the East Palace.
Now the number of people in the East Palace exceeds 50,000 to 60,000. If it continues to expand, it will approach the 100,000 mark. How can we still do it?
Not to mention the huge cost of raising troops, even if these 100,000 people defeated the Donglu, the imperial court could not afford to use the results to cash in the reward.
If we can no longer manage such matters and let the prince handle it himself, the burden on the household department will be greatly reduced, and at least the existing money can be used to support it until the end of next year.
"Then it's settled, come to court and get the contract to withdraw your shares!"
"yes!"
Isn't it just to reward the army with five to six million taels of silver? Although I am poorer than before, I still have this little money.
The worst we can do is use our strengths - tighten our belts!
The advantage of this is that these four companies will be controlled by themselves in the future, accounting for 70% of the shares, and they can do whatever they want!
Moreover, companies such as Imperial Oil, Xianji Chemicals, and Guanghui Pharmaceuticals are 100% controlled and will grow into giant-level companies in the future.
"Your Highness, then this tax..."
Li Shiwen was still thinking about collecting money from these companies, even his own mother couldn't forget it.
"If you still pay taxes at 20% of profits, I will not do any tax evasion!"
Originally it was for tax deduction, and later it was for the purpose of extorting money from Accountant Li that the Account Department was allowed to take shares. Now that it has been restored, then we can just pay taxes as before.
"That's good!"
If the prince insists on not paying taxes, Li Shiwen has no choice.
But things haven’t gotten to that point yet, and it would be great to be able to pay taxes as usual.
"Your Highness, I also have a merciless request!"
"Zhang Aiqing just speaks frankly!"
Isn't it possible that Chief Engineer Zhang asked to withdraw his shares like Li Shiwen?
The financial pressure on a certain prince is a bit great, but he still has to listen to what he has to say before speaking.
"I hope that in the future, the dividends received by the Ministry of Industry from many share-holding companies will be sent directly to the Ministry of Industry's yamen instead of going through the Accounts Department, so as to avoid deviations in the current accounts and even being eaten by moths!"
After today's incident, Zhang Guowei saw that Li Shiwen was a bit short-sighted and lacked foresight.
He gave up extremely valuable shares for petty conveniences and didn't bother to be associated with them.
I plan to let the Ministry of Works manage the money of the yamen on its own, without having to worry about my colleagues in the Department of Household Affairs.
"What does this mean, Da Sikong? The Ministry of Household Affairs has always been dedicated to their work..."
The excuse for these reasons was clearly that he did not believe the Ministry of Revenue, and Li Shiwen immediately expressed his dissatisfaction.
"There are so many projects managed by the Ministry of Works, and it would be time-consuming to have them handled by the Ministry of Household Affairs. Making decisions by yourself is easier for the operation!"
Now that he has made this request, Zhang Guowei will not give up easily. He also serves as the censor of Youqiandu, half a rank higher than Li Shiwen.
"you……"
"Okay! There is no need for you two beauties to be like this. After all, they are both dedicated to serving the public good! Since what the two beauties say makes sense, why not listen to my suggestions!"
"I am all ears!"
"The grudge between the two beauties is not personal, but an issue between the two ministries. I intend to open a bank in the East Palace, which is an external bank, bank account, etc. This bank is called 'Northern Bank', and the issuer is "Exchange notes", as the name suggests, are notes that can be redeemed for silver. Different from the previous silver notes, the Northern Bank prints exchange notes of the same amount as the amount of silver it reserves. It will not print more than one or two, and only issues large amount of exchange notes. , does not interfere with the circulation of small-sum consumer markets in the market. Money from the Ministry of Industry can be deposited in banks, and the same is true for the Ministry of Accounts. Regardless of the yamen, as long as you deposit money in the bank, you can enjoy an interest of 2% per year, and there is no limit on the amount. , no time deposit is required, just a current deposit that can be withdrawn at any time. The Ministry of Industry will deposit the money into the bank, and the bank will issue a redemption note. On the contrary, hold the redemption note. After verifying the relevant identity, you can redeem the cash. The Account Department can also transfer the money to Taicang If the silver is deposited in the bank, the annual interest of 10 million taels will be 200,000 taels, and the interest earned in five years will be one million taels. The interest earned can be controlled by the Ministry of Accounts, without the need to ask the court for instructions, and it is not necessary to enrich one's own pockets. Other than that, it is enough. , there is another advantage, that is, after each ministry deposits the money, some moths want to embezzle it, and they cannot get the money without cashing the bills. For example, in the Ministry of Industry, if cashing is used for all entries and exits, what the officials will get is a piece of paper. And it’s paper that can’t be spent. Anyone who dares to accept paper worth 10,000 taels or even 100,000 taels of silver has something wrong with his brain!”
Don’t you want to withdraw your shares?
Don’t you want me to reward the army myself?
I'm asking you to withdraw your shares now, and I'm also taking all your money in!
Since ancient times, good advice has been dismissed as fart, only routines can win people's hearts!
Now that you have no shares, all the money in Taicang still has to be deposited here in this palace!
What is this called?
This is called ability!
"Wonderful! Wonderful! I would like to deposit the Ministry of Industry silver into this bank!"
Zhang Guowei stroked his beard and thought for a moment, then agreed immediately, as long as it didn't fall into Li Shiwen's hands.
Although the prince is a brat, he has always been true to his word. It is for this reason that he has gained the respect of his ministers.
At present, in the entire Ming Dynasty, apart from Zhenhaibo Zheng Zhilong, the crown prince has the most money.
Once even the prince is short of money, it means that the Ministry of Revenue has already gone bankrupt and there is no need to worry about it anymore.
Prince Shicai also said that the interest earned can be used by each ministry at its own discretion.
If you deposit one million taels of silver, you can earn 20,000 taels of silver in interest.
Wouldn't it be better to use this money to improve the food for the Ministry of Industry?
Anyway, there is no way to enrich one's own pockets. How to eat is the Ministry of Industry's own business and has nothing to do with others!
"I would like to deposit the money from the Ministry of Rites into His Highness's bank!"
Feng Quan followed up by saying that although the Ministry of Rites did not have as much money as the Ministry of Work, it still showed their sincerity.
"In my opinion, by depositing silver in the bank, ministries can avoid being embezzled by moths and get a lot of interest. This is a good deed that is beneficial to the court!"
The cabinet had no money, and Xue Guoguan was too embarrassed to show off his little wealth. After thinking for a moment, he encouraged the ministers of other ministries under the banner of the imperial court.
"What the Chief Assistant said is reasonable. The bank run by the Prince is the safest place in the world!"
Wu Di, the second assistant who had been silent, suddenly agreed to Xue Guoguan's proposal. Generally speaking, as long as he did not object, Xue Guoguan's intention was the cabinet's intention.
Xue Guoguan is a quasi-state warrior. In a sense, what Xue Guoguan said was instructed by the prince.
Feng Quan, the Minister of Rites, also had a close personal relationship with Xue Guoguan, and it was usually just a matter of who expressed his position first and who came last.
Just now, Wu Di had already seen that Li Shiwen was alone and was about to become the target of public criticism.
Now he and Zhang Guowei are having a quarrel over how to save money.
Once the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Medicine, the Ministry of Punishment, and the Ministry of War all nodded in approval of the prince's proposal, the Ministry of Household Affairs was also left out of the equation.
Thinking of this, Wu Di followed up in time to avoid being forced to take sides in the end, which would be very offensive.
The current situation among the ministers is very delicate. Xue Guoguan and Feng Quan have both become the prince's yes-men.
Although Zhang Guowei, Du Yinxi, and Lu Zhenfei are not very close to the prince, they will fully support the prince's many orders.
Although Wang Jiayan and Li Shiwen repeatedly made trouble for the prince, they were restraining each other and could not wear a pair of trousers at all.
The remaining ministers of the Ministry of Justice, Zhen Shu, and the imperial censor of Zuodu, Zhong Qian, like Wu Di, are usually unwilling to take sides easily.
Wu Zong also saw that if the trouble really got to the point where a vote was needed, as long as the prince could tell the truth, he would definitely get more than half of the votes.
Reason with the prince...
Isn’t this asking for trouble? ? ?
Chen Biqian, Li Juesi, Yang Shicong, Shang Zhouzuo, Lin Yuji and others all had conflicts with the prince general, and the best outcome was to be dismissed.
Therefore, based on past experiences and lessons, being able to compromise with the prince is equivalent to victory.
Furthermore, now that Ming Dynasty has swept away its decline, there are signs of prosperity.
Having just defeated the 300,000-strong army of Emperor Taiji, Jun Min's morale is high.
The prince's reputation has almost reached a new high, so picking a moment to oppose him will definitely not end well.
"I agree with what the first and second assistants said!"
"I second the proposal..."
After Wu Yan expressed his stance, the remaining people also agreed.
Even a fool can understand that the two percent interest given by the prince is a benefit to the various ministries.
Moreover, this was given openly and justly, without any need to cover it up. Ministers of various ministries can use it reasonably and legally.
Wouldn't it be nice to buy some clothes for the officials in the yamen in winter, buy some seasonal fruits in summer, and add some meat to lunch?
If Li Shiwen interferes with this, he will become an enemy of all his colleagues.
Not many people dare to do this kind of thing that offends the public!
"Li Aiqing, what do you think?"
Being able to gain the support of the ministers was an expected result for a certain prince.
"...I...have no objection!"
Being betrayed by a bunch of bastards again, all of whom were profit-seeking and unjust, was the first thought that came to Li Shiwen's mind.
The prince has opened a bank, and all the ministries are willing to deposit money in it. Doesn't it mean that Taicang will be just a decoration in the future?
"Your Highness, if the bank is used on behalf of Taicang, how should the personnel who manage Taicang be arranged?"
Li Shiwen didn't want to deal with these offending matters by himself. Since the prince had taken over everything, he would leave it all to him.
"The Ministry of Household Affairs will continue to manage the money from now on, but it will not handle the money. I intend to set up a bank to reduce the possibility of Taicang's silver being misappropriated. Feng Aiqing is about to go on a mission to Monan. If he returns with a large number of livestock, it will be unfair. Do you need manpower to manage it? It’s not like the Ministry of Household Affairs has never managed it before. Isn’t it managing a lot of livestock now? Since the management is better, let’s continue to carry forward this experience over there! There is no need for Aiqing to shirk, money and livestock They are all valuable, and it’s not easy for livestock to be put directly into one’s sleeves, right?”
"..."
These words choked Li Shiwen to the point where he almost lost his breath!
