Watching the eunuch in charge speak for Dong Qianhong and the others. In fact, he did not miss this year. Although Situ Huanshuang and the others were not here, and their children were not around, Dong Qianhong and the other girls were still by his side. Just as the eunuch said, these women were all devastated before they followed him. Among them, the Qin family and the Li family are both pregnant.
This year, no matter how bad your mood is, you still have to get through it. I didn't mention this year before, but I just thought of my family members I hadn't seen for half a year, and Huang Qiong felt a little sad, so I just said it casually with emotion in my heart. But he didn't expect that this eunuch would plead for the girls and even say such words, which made Huang Qiong amused. This eunuch put a lot of thought into it.
Faced with this, Huang Qiong, the eunuch who had obviously put in a lot of effort to speak out these words today, smiled and said: "According to what you said, if I don't host this New Year's Eve dinner, I will still be sorry for them. Will it hurt their hearts? Then tell me, how should I live my life at this young age? Could it be that we have to live in a normal place in Jingzhao Palace, is this worthy of them? "
In fact, Huang Qiong had already guessed the true meaning of this eunuch. According to the custom, today is the Chinese New Year, and the eunuchs and maids in the palace are all rewarded. In recent years, the old man has not been celebrating the New Year in Xijing, so the eunuchs and maids in the palace naturally receive less rewards than when the old man was here. It's just an extra month of money and food every year. This number is less than half that in Jingzhao Palace.
And compared to Jingzhao Palace, there are not only a lot less in Xijing. And in some years, even a penny was paid. Just like last year, there was a severe drought in Longyou and Shaanxi, and the emperor was not in Xijing. During the Chinese New Year, the rewards are completely gone. He and the two general managers of Taiji Palace went to the Xijing Household Department several times to ask for money and food, but no one from the Xijing Household Department paid any attention to them.
Civil servants and eunuchs have been mortal enemies since the day there were eunuchs. Although there are no powerful eunuchs like those in the previous Tang Dynasty in this dynasty, the two-ranked Jinshi in the dynasty discriminate and look down on these eunuchs, which is no different from those in previous dynasties. Xijing is far away from the capital. There are only two heads of eunuchs in the Ministry of Internal Affairs here. The eunuchs in charge of the two palaces are much lower grade than Jingzhao, and the civil servants have no one to pay attention to them.
The two chief eunuchs of the two palaces, plus the two from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who have no authority, are basically just two decorations. On weekdays, there are eunuchs in charge who ignore the two chief eunuchs, and their legs are about to break. The Ministry of Household Affairs in Xijing said that there was a severe drought, and the Ministry of Household Affairs did not have enough money to provide relief to the victims. Nowadays, even the second-line officials cannot afford to pay their salaries, and there is no extra money to give them year-end bonuses.
These two chief eunuchs did not ask for a penny or a pound of food last year, and they were almost pissed to death by these civil servants. Although the old man is not here this year, he, the crown prince, is in Xijing. I am afraid that these eunuchs and maids have been eagerly waiting for this day since the day I entered Taiji Palace. I hope that the additional salary at the end of this year will be paid out on time.
The eunuch wanted to talk to him about this, but he didn't dare to say it directly. So I tried my best to go around and talk to myself about this in the name of hosting a New Year's Eve dinner today. He can come up with such an excuse, but this guy is very evil. But after Huang Qiong said this, although his tone was very calm, it frightened the eunuch. Thinking that he had said the wrong thing, he quickly fell to his knees and kowtowed desperately.
When I saw this eunuch, he was so frightened by his words that he became like this. Huang Qiong frowned, not wanting to say anything more. After waving his hand to let him get up, he said: "We still need to prepare for the family banquet. It will be held in Caizhiyuan. Prepare more food and wine. By the way, after the food is served, there will be no need for anyone to serve you. You can give it to the palace." The eunuchs and maids inside also prepared several tables for banquets."
"After a year of hard work, this is my time to express my condolences to everyone. Don't make things difficult, and tell the imperial chef to prepare more meat. Didn't Chang'an Mansion just bring in dozens of pigs? Arrange to kill them all, tonight The banquet should be richer, so that everyone can enjoy it more. Tell the eunuch in charge of the imperial kitchen that if he dares to take a penny tonight, let alone behead him alive."
"But there is one thing. Although it is New Year's Eve, no one is allowed to drink. If someone drinks, don't blame me for being unkind. From now on, no one in the palace is allowed to drink. This is an iron rule. You are allowed to drink today. Relax until Haishi, and those who are on night duty will all be on duty after Haishi. Also, I have given an order to Mr. Liu, asking him to bring his family into the palace to celebrate the New Year's Eve."
"They will probably have to work a little later tonight. For the sake of safety, we won't let them go back today. You are in Fuzhen Yuan, prepare a few rooms, and burn the fire dragons in the courtyard to keep them warm at night. Mr. Liu is good at wine, and he is also good at wine. I am a bit greedy for drinking, so I may have drank too much. I will arrange for their family to live there, and when you are done gathering, I will arrange for two palace maids to be sent over to serve you."
"The gift at the end of the year will be based on each person's three-month salary. In the twelfth month of the twelfth lunar month, the Ministry of Revenue has been notified. Before the Ministry of Revenue seals it, all the money and silk have been allocated and placed in the Daming Palace. . Arrange people later, go to the Daming Palace to get them. From now on, in front of the few people, it is better to serve with more care than anything else, and play less useless tricks. Hurry up and make arrangements,"
Although he gave the chief eunuch a lesson, Huang Qiong still gave him what he deserved. Moreover, the offer was much more generous than in previous years. Originally, this money should be allocated from the internal treasury. But Huang Qiong has an internal treasury, and even his personal money is in He Yao's hands. Fortunately, the old man kept all the money confiscated from Longyou Li Jiedu's house and did not ask for it to be sent to Jingzhao.
That Li Jiedu scraped the bottom three feet of Longyou, which made people angry and almost triggered a civil uprising in Tubo. This family's wealth is really very strong. The property confiscated from the house, not counting the rare treasures, the money and silk alone were enough to keep Huang Qiong very relaxed for a while. Coupled with the subsequent raids on the former prefect of Yan'an Prefecture and the money and goods harvested from Liu Jiedu's family on Shaanxi Road, Huang Qiong had more than enough money and goods.
Therefore, Huang Qiong was very generous in his move this time. Not only was it given to the second-level officials at the end of the year, it also made up for past salary arrears, fire money and ice money. An extra three months of money and food were given to the Xijing Camp and the Second Route Army. The Second Guards were rewarded with two months of extra money and food. Officials below the fifth rank of the Second Road were given a month's salary. On the day of distribution, Huang Qiong was personally in charge of the Xijing camp.
As a result, no one among the generals at all levels in the Xijing camp dared to embezzle a penny from it. At the same time, Huang Qiong requested that these rewards be distributed by the Second Road Supervisory Censor and to Shizhong, together with the censors sent by the Xijing Yushitai, and the military preparations of various prefectures. All the money and food allocated by the Ministry of Household Affairs will be distributed to everyone. If any of the generals in the guards dare to take advantage of others, they will be dealt with severely and quickly.
In fact, Huang Qiong spent three days with his abacus and tried to squeeze out the money and food to reward officials and sergeants from other places. Although there is a lot of property seized from those officials, there will still be a lot of money to spend in the coming year, but it cannot be spent indiscriminately. What Huang Qiong means is that what should be given must be given, and what has been owed in the past must be made up. No money that should not be spent should be spent indiscriminately.
After returning from Daming Palace and Xingqing Palace that day, Huang Qiong directly cut in half the money for the renovation of Daming Palace next year. The former prince's residence, which was built from Xingqing Palace, was sold directly after removing some over-standard buildings and replacing all the yellow tiles with green tiles. After all, it is Xijing City, the starting point of the Silk Road. The big businessmen here are really not short of money, and there are so many rich people.
After the notice was arranged, more than a hundred people came at once on the day of the auction. Huang Qiong arranged a bidding process, and the garden was finally auctioned for two million yuan. I don't know if those big businessmen really have a lot of money, or if they are trying to please the prince. Although the base price given by Huang Qiong was 800,000 yuan, it actually exceeded the value of the garden.
Moreover, Huang Qiong stipulated that the price increase for each placard should not be less than 20,000 yuan. However, according to reports from the officials in charge, the intensity of the on-site bidding was quite high. It was eventually bought by an unknown mysterious merchant for a high price of two million. Considering that no matter what the purpose of this person was, he was taken advantage of after all. Huang Qiong finally made the decision and gave away all the furniture in the garden.
As a result, a minister from the Household Department in Xijing, who was in charge of the auction, despised the prince with all his heart. He was too calculating and was really a profiteer. After working on it for a long time, it turns out that the prince in the garden had no intention of giving away the furniture he purchased? The person paid several times the high price and became a huge victim, so you are not willing to give it away as a gift. I thought this auction was a package auction.
The base price of 800,000 yuan includes all the unsurpassed furniture in the garden. Because as far as that garden alone is concerned, whether it is the building regulations or the area, it is actually not worth 800,000 yuan at all. Even taking into account the furniture made of huanghuali or mahogany inside, and all the other messy things put together, it is still barely enough.
However, although I despised this extremely treacherous prince. But the Minister of Household Affairs still breathed a sigh of relief after receiving such a large sum of money. The Longyou and Shaanxi 2nd Roads under the control of the Xijing Household Department can be considered self-sufficient in terms of money and food, except that the Shaanxi Road relies on the 800-mile Qinchuan River. Along Longyou Road, there are holes that cannot be filled every year.
Especially this year, the Ningxia Prefecture Party members rebelled, and they also brought Qingyang Prefecture, Pingliang Prefecture, and some prefectures and counties with them. When it’s fall tax time, it’s already extremely difficult to earn income, and now it’s even more difficult. The Xijing Household Department not only failed to collect taxes, but also had to spend a large amount of money and food as subsidies. Especially for Ningxia Prefecture, all the money and food needed this year are allocated by the Ministry of Household Affairs. In addition, Shaanxi state governments returned to the resettlement of disaster victims.
This year's Xijing Household Department's autumn tax has just been put into the treasury, and it can be said that it has bottomed out immediately. Even the river labor money for the coming year cannot be paid. Although the Jingzhao Household Department has to bear 70% of the money, the remaining 30% has to be raised by the Xijing Household Department. Now that I have received such a large sum of money, at least I will be able to reward the troops with money and food this year. If there is any leftover, it might be possible to supplement those officials.
There are a large number of herding supervisors guarding the Xijing camp, as well as the 50,000 soldiers and horsemen in the Xijing camp, plus a Xijing household department that has completely become a shabby settlement on Longyou Road this year. It has not been loosened in recent years. It can be somewhat relaxed this year. Therefore, it can be said that most of the repayment of arrears of salary to the Second Route officials and the money and food given to the troops came from here when the Ministry of Household Affairs was unable to reach home.
Although Huang Qiong likes that garden very much, for him, the daily maintenance of that garden is too expensive. Moreover, due to the war in Ningxia Prefecture this year and the severe drought last year, the two warehouses in Xijing's household department are almost starving to death. By the end of the year, no money or food could be spent to reward the Second Route Army. Moreover, at the end of the year, those nobles who have settled in Xijing will also be rewarded.
